Marilyn's Musings

One thing I haven't mentioned with all the re-issuing of the Deputy Tempe Crabtree mysteries--they all are now the same size and have much bigger print. I think that's a real improvement. Raging Water   is set in Bear Creek which has a close resemblance to the town of Springville where I live. In this particular story, after monumental rains Bear Creek has become swollen and raging. The same thing has happened here with the Tule River that flows behind my house. Much more rain that we're used to and melting snow in the high country has made our usually small river treacherous. In the story, not only has the river become a danger, but a huge mud slide has made the one and only road out of town impassable.  One of my favorite characters in this one is Miqui Sherwood who is based on a friend of mine who begged to be in this book. Everything about Miquie from description, house and pets is based on my friends. She loved the depiction. The two women who di...

While I was visiting the Central Coast Chapter of Sisters in Crime, the speaker, a criminologist, shared many interesting tidbits. Among them were a few facts about fingerprints. Latent fingerprints are collected from all over. The computer helps match fingerprints. Using both the state and federal system, sometimes will come up with a match in about two minutes. The latest FBI system will check against all fingerprints in the system. Of course, the fingerprints must be in the system. State law prohibits including the fingerprints of teachers and others who have had to be fingerprinted for their job. And murders. There are very few true stranger murders. The killer is usually someone the  victim knows. But--there are around 200 active serial killers in the United States now. Serial killers usually stalk their victims. Profiling isn't always a good thing. Knee jerk reactions are almost always bad. Surveillance cameras are everywhere.The average American is video tape...