Tag Archive for: Smell of Death

Planning Ahead for a New Rocky Bluff P. D. Mystery Debut

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I don’t have a cover yet, but the the title is Dangerous Impulses. This follows No Bells which centered on Officer Gordon Butler, whose romantic interest is the major suspect in murder case. He risks his life and his job to prove her innocent.

For those who might be interested in catching up on the series, my whole idea when I wrote the first one, was to show how the job of being a police officer affected the family and what was going on in the family affected the job.

When I wrote, Final Respects, I had no idea it would be the beginning of an on-going series.

When I’d finished writing, I realized that I wanted to know more about these people who lived and worked in the small southern California beach community of Rocky Bluff.

Though the characters continue, different ones have starring roles. In Bad Tidings, Lt. Gilbreath often has to be the bearer of bad tidings and receives one of his own.

Fringe Benefits is about a very bad cop. It is also the introduction of Officer Gordon Butler, who has become the favorite of fans of the series.

Officer Stacey Wilbur plays an important role in Smell of Death and it is the beginning of the romance between her and Detective Milligan.

No Sanctuary is about two churches, two ministers, two wives and one murder. Officer Stacey Wilbur, Detective Milligan and Gordon Butler play interesting parts, and Stacey begins her extra job in vice.

An Axe to Grind is about the death of a stalker. For those following Stacey and Doug Milligan’s romance, things are definitely heating up.

Stacey is so busy planning her wedding she isn’t paying enough attention to the job–and there almost isn’t a wedding in Angel Lost.

And of course, No Bells, where Officer Gordon Butler puts his job on the line in his efforts to prove his lady love innocent.

Of course all these books are available in the usual places in paper and ebooks.

Just remember, I wrote them as F. M. Meredith, which is a whole other story.

Marilyn aka F. M. Meredith

Is It Really Worth It?

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My latest Rocky Bluff P.D. mystery, No Bells, (sort of a cozy police procedural) has been out since February and I’ve been promoting it like crazy. In fact, half of my time has been taken up with promotion of it and the next book coming in my Deputy Tempe Crabtree mystery series.

This one features Officer Gordon Butler. Poor guy, nothing seems to go right for him. He’s the butt of jokes. In No Bells he finally falls in love with the “girl of his dreams” but she turns out to be the prime suspect in a murder case. He is willing to risk his job and his life to prove her innocent.

Gordon has many fans. When he was looking for a room to rent, one of the fans of this series for a moment considered offering him her extra bedroom.

I promoted the heck out of this book, arranged a fun month-long blog tour, received glowing reviews, promoted on Facebook and Twitter and of course my own blog, attended conference and had in-person events but when my publisher posted the best selling books for the quarter, No Bells wasn’t on the list.

This series has been published by two other publishers. Oak Tree Press is now the publisher and she has republished all the previous books in the series. I know there are some readers out there who like to start at the beginning of a series–so I’m hoping this is a good thing.

This is the order of the series:


Final Respects
When I wrote this I didn’t plan to continue the series, but I fell in love with the characters and wondered what would happen to them next.
Bad Tidings
This offering focuses on Lt. Gilbreath and the bad news he has to deliver to families of victims and some bad news of his own.
Fringe Benefits
The story of a very bad cop and how he nearly gets away with murder.
Smell of Death
Officer Stacey Wilbur and Detective Milligan work together on three murder cases and this is where their romance begins.
No Sanctuary
A tale of two churches, two ministers, two wives and one murder–and the romance continues.
An Axe to Grind
A decapitation of a stalker leads to Detective Milligan’s disappearance. Though the subject is grim, one reader said despite that, it was humorous.
Angel Lost
Stacey plans her wedding, captures a pervert–and disappears on her wedding day. An angel appears in a downtown window.
No Bells (description is above.)


Though this is an on going series, each book is written as a stand-alone. They do not need to be read in order, though most of the characters continue on.

My intention all along has been to show how the job affects the family and what goes on in the family affects the job. Years ago I lived in a neighborhood filled with police officers and their families, I had lots of coffee and conversations with the wives, and as couples we partied together. Later my son-in-law became a cop and told me his stories after his shift. The tradition has continued and I have a grandson who is a police officer and a grandson-in-law who is a deputy sheriff.

Rocky Bluff, where the stories take place, is a fictional beach town in California between Ventura and Santa Barbara.

These books are written under the name F. M. Meredith and are available in all the usual places as trade paperback and ebooks.

Now I’m working on the next one in the series–untitled as yet.

Marilyn aka F. M. Meredith


Book Launch

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My book launch for Smell of Death was Saturday. I live in California but during the winter you never know what the weather might be like. We’ve had plenty of sunny days since the beginning of the year, but this wasn’t one of them.

That was the first of the problems. Three storms in a row rolled in since Wednesday, with Saturday’s forecasted as the “biggie.” The weather wasn’t the only problem.

My major publicity was in our local weekly newspaper which comes out on Thursday–mine didn’t show up in my mailbox until Saturday morning. I have no idea if the rest of the deliveries were as late.

First we stopped at our local coffee and sandwich ship, Coffee Etc., where the owner had graciously agreed to bake cookies for the event. (I don’t bake anymore–it’s one of the things I’ve given up in my old age, like ironing.) Wow! She’d made a tray of the most beautiful cookies–two kinds–lemon (tasted like eating lemonade) and chocolate chip with raspberry drizzled over the top. Also yummy.

We took them and my books, table, etc. to the Visitor’s Center. We also manned the Visitor’s Center for the afternoon. Which is fun, because people stop by to find out if they can get to the giant Sequoias from here. You can, but yesterday you couldn’t get far without chains because along with the rain came lots of snow at the higher elevations.

The launch was scheduled for one, so we had plenty of time to set up. We also visited with the editor of the local paper who had the morning shift for the Visitor’s Center. She ended up staying through most of the afternoon because interesting people stopped by–not necessarily to buy books.

However, six of my fans displayed their loyalty by coming despite the foul weather and bought books. (I’ve done worse at book store signings.) While we were there we met a lovely woman from Oklahoma and her sister who had recently recovered from brain surgery. The gal from Oklahoma lived in Moscow, Russia, for a year and told some fascinating stories.

One of my granddaughter’s highschool teachers and a friend stopped in and the teacher assured me Jessica’s boyfriend was wonderful. (We already knew that.)

One of my fans who always buys any new book I’ve written dashed in for a minute and stayed for a half hour as she brought me up to date on General Hospital (the soap).

All-in-all, we had a good time, sold a few books, and ate lots of delicious cookies.

Marilyn
http://www.fictionforyou.com/

Weather and Other Items of Interest … or Not

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Hubby and I just returned from the Central Coast (California) community of Arroyo Grande. The weather was wonderful! Sunny and gorgeous. As we drove down the coast, the ocean sparkled. People who want to visit California beaches would be smart to go in February when the weather is often sunny as can be. In the summer, often the fog rolls in, making it chilly.

The weather was quite a contrast to the previous weekend when we were in snowy Chicago. We loved that too, though. In fact, I thanked the organizers of Love is Murder, our reason for being there, for having such a lovely snow storm for our entertainment.

The reason we were in Arroyo Grande was for me to participate with the Central Coast chapter of Sisters in Crime in a library presentation–which I did, of course. I’m always up for talking about my books and meeting new people. A chance to go to the coast was a huge incentive. We used to live in Oxnard (which is near Ventura) about one mile from the beach, and frankly, I miss the proximity to the ocean.

It was in Oxnard that I first became interested in writing about law enforcement. Our first house was in a neighborhood with police officers, firemen, and Navy personnel and their families. We partied and had coffee with our neighbors and got to know them all very well. Years later, my youngest daughter married a police officer who loved to tell me stories about what happened on his shift–he even took me on a tour of the police station and on a rather scary ride-along.

In my Rocky Bluff series (much darker than my Deputy Tempe Crabtree series), I’ve drawn quite a bit on my experiences from the days I hung out with those policemen and their families. If you’re interested, here’s a video about the latest book, Smell of Death,

http://au.youtube.com:80/watch?v=B1Q_1YJe2XQ

And to bring this back around to the beach, the Rocky Bluff series is set in a fictional beach community somewhere on the coast between Ventura and Santa Barbara–with some resemblance to Oxnard back in the time when I lived there.

Traveling around to promote books is fun, though not at all profitable. What I truly like best is meeting new people and my travels have been a great way to do it.

Now, back to working on my income taxes. Ugh!

Marilyn
http://fictionforyou.com