Marilyn's Musings

My love of Tehachapi shows through in this tale set in my favorite mountain community. If I had to move somewhere, Tehachapi would be my choice. I used many real locations in Spirit Wind like the amazing railroad turn around, the place where hikers can be picked up an taken into town, the community of Stallion Springs, and the Tehachapi Police Station, but there are also plenty of made-up spots too. What was fun to hear was readers who told me they knew exactly where the made-up places were. The information about the huge earthquake is true--except as far as I know, no inmates escaped like happens in the book. If you haven't read Spirit Wind yet, it's only .99 cent on Kindle for the next few days. Marilyn https://www.amazon.com/Spirit-Wind-Tempe-Crabtree-Mysteries-ebook/dp/B07Q4G1X25/ref=sr_1_1?crid=174LX7P1CE6P4&keywords=Spirit+Wind+by+Marilyn+Meredith&qid=1661435132&s=digital-text&sprefix=spirit+wind+by+marilyn+meredith%2Cdigital-text%2C181&sr=1-1

    Spirit Wind  emerged from my love of the mountain town, Tehachapi. I’d been there several times years ago doing bookstore appearances. Plus, we drove by Tehachapi often when on our way to visit family in very southern California and trips to Las Vegas. Tehachapi has the biggest turbine wind farm in California. These huge machines cover the mountain side and our a definite fascination. And another big attraction is the railroad loop that goes around one of the mountains. We’ve gone to the lookout point often to watch this amazing engineering feat. Years ago, a huge earthquake devastated Tehachapi. Homes and businesses crumbled, railroad tracks twisted, and a women’s prison was destroyed. Ideas started popping up in my imagination of how I could incorporate all of this into a Deputy Tempe Crabtree mystery and I started jotting ideas down, and a plot formed. To see how it turned out visit   https://www.amazon.com/Spirit-Wind-Tempe-Crabtree-Mysteries...

I'm off and running-or to be more accurate, stumbling toward writing the next Deputy Tempe Crabtree mystery. I am woefully behind for several valid reasons, the biggest being re-editing all my Rocky Bluff P.D. mysteries. However there were many other blockades along the way: newsletters to write, for me and the two organizations for which I am the newsletter editor. You can read one here:  https://policewriter.com/wordpress/pswa-newsletter-march-2018/ Another that happens to every author: Life. We have a new great-grandbaby due to arrive soon so that means lots of excitement--and one of my great grandsons is getting married this month, which also brings much excitement. Since Tempe will be traveling to a new location, I've been doing some Internet research about Tehachapi. It is one of my favorite places though I knew little about it's history. I've also purchased a small history book written by one of the locals. It had lots of interesting information inc...

We were up early and left about 6 a.m. for Tehachapi. Used GPS on Blackberry because wasn"t sure where to get off main highway for festival. We stopped at McDonald's for breakfast and Mrs.B kept telling us to make a u-turn from my purse. We were the first to arrive so I got to pick my spot. They had tables and chairs and tent covering. It was obvious many of the authors had never done a festival like this and didn't bring a table covering. I just have a black plastic tablecloth that I decorate with crime scene tape. Does the trick. I also have stands with prices on them for my books. An author's husband who bought earlier books in my Temoe Crabtree series bought four more before things got started. Sales weren't what I'd call brisk but I sold more books than most, hadn"t out many cards and talked to lots of folks. I was tickled to see old friend Claudia Elliott who is now the wditor of the Tehachapi newspaper. (She bought books too.) Some authors I noticed...