Marilyn's Musings

Saturday was the March meeting of the San Joaquin Chapter of Sisters in Crime. I was one of the founding members--and I've belonged ever since. We've met in various places, seen people come and go--though some of the ones who sat around the table talking about starting a SinC chapter are still around. I enjoy belonging for many reasons. The monthly newsletter has evolved into a truly newsy publications that alerts members to the next meeting and speaker, a review of the previous meeting, writing news, book reviews, and conference information. The speakers are always varied and top notch from authors to professionals in all different law enforcement fields, coroners, field trips to hear crime expert Dr. Eric Hickey speak about serial killers, psychopaths and other interesting individuals along with details about their crimes. We made a field trip to the museum to see a Sherlock Holmes exhibit and once we went to the hanger where the police and sheriff's helicopters res...

This question was asked of everyone last weekend at our Sisters in Crime meeting. What popped into my head and I wrote was that I'd pay off all my bills and help out my kids. Today a million doesn't go nearly as far as it used to. I got to thinking about what else I could do with the money. My church was my next thought. Our church is small but does mighty work--the work I think God expects churches to do. We have a food pantry and give out food nearly every day--especially toward the end of the month. We pay people's first month's rent, utility bills and fix their cars. Our pastor and his wife haul people to and from church, to the doctor's and to the hospital. Their cars are always breaking down and at the moment they are borrowing a church member's. So I think next on my list would be to get the pastor and his wife and economical car they could use to do all their ministering duties. Our church needs work that always has to wait because there's no...

K. J. Dahlen   The Inspiration for Bones Bones started out as a short story but I wasn't happy with it. So I took another stab at it and somehow it all came together.  I love this story, and this book was actually my first book to be published. Rogue Phoenix Press  agreed to reprint it and gave it a new life. I love the way Max gets the ones responsible for the murders of eight women. He has to fight to get the persons responsible but he does get them. The twists and turns in this book leave a person wondering who the guilty one really is, at least for a little while. Max has to use his wits to bring the truth out and he does. Joey does her best to bring the women back to life and that's the key to solving the case. Everybody plays his or her part and somehow all the loose ends are tied up. Hunter takes a heck of beating and gets shot but survives. He also gets a new respect for the people he works with. Max has some demons in his past he has to deal with. ...

Swift Edge by Laura DiSilverio ISBN: 978-0-312-62444-6 2011 release from St. Martins Minotaur, 291 pages.   Judicious blending of two quite different characters as private investigators carries this story of murder and identity theft on a roller coaster of humor and tension. Gigi Goldman, one half of the investigator team of Swift Investigations is inept at best. I mean how about trying a surveillance gig from a yellow Hummer? Charlie Swift is the more competent partner with background and experience and she carries the bulk of the serious investigation that is at the core of this slickly written, well-laid out story. A world class figure skater disappears on the eve of national trials. Charlie Swift is up for the challenge of finding the guy but she keeps stumbling over her partner Gigi and Gigi’s petulant teen-aged daughter. Then the client, another figure skater, disappears, a world-renowned coach is attacked and almost everywhere she goes, somebody...

Hubby and I decided we weren't going to fly anymore to far off places. Making all the plane changes, hurrying from here to there with loaded bags, rising three of four hours after going to bed to get to the airport on time, to say nothing of the cost had gotten to be too much for us old folks. Though we attended every single Epicon from the beginning, we skipped last year's in Williamsburg, Va for all the above reasons. For awhile this year's Epicon was going to be a cruise from the East Coast and I knew we wouldn't do that one. Then the venue changed--San Antonio would be the place. We loved San Antonio when we went there once before, but we stuck to our guns. That is until Lingering Spirit became a finalist for an Eppie. Now I've had other books that were finalists for an Eppie and I've never won. I know what those movie stars feel like at the Oscars. You can't help but be hopeful and then disappointed when your name isn't called. I didn't e...

As my followers know, I try to post something new on my blog every day--sometimes I leave a post up for another day usually because I haven't gotten around to writing something new. I like to showcase other authors, post reviews of books I've read, give a writing tip now and then, and quite often I talk about what I'm doing to promote my own work--and I like to post photos of my family too. I've worked really hard to set up a blog tour for my next Rocky Bluff P.D. crime novel, No Bells . With one exception it's just about ready to go. It will launch on April 3rd. You might wonder why the odd beginning date. I will just be coming home from Left Coast Crime on the first and figure I'll have way too much to do on that first whole day at home. Of course, I'll already have been to Epicon in the middle of the month. (San Antonio, TX.) I always try to keep up with Facebook and Twitter though I usually on send a Tweet out once or twice a day. Though...

Interview of Anna McClean  Please tell me about your background.             First, thanks so much for hosting me!             I was a small town kid who spent an awful lot of time daydreaming and reading…and never outgrew that need to live many, many lives.  As a young adult, I studied literature and traveled in Europe, filling my eyes and my imagination, and as soon as I settled down again – first in Boston, then in the Finger Lakes area of New York State – I started to write.  I’ve worked as a waitress, apartment rental agent, hotel maid, bookkeeper,  journalist, and college professor…in that order.  But always, always, I was writing. What inspired this particular book?             Louisa May Alcott herself.  Her character, Jo from Little Women, was my role model when I was young....