Mystery Books News Welcomes Marilyn Meredith

Mysterious Reviews in partnership with the Hidden Staircase Mystery Books is pleased to welcome Marilyn Meredith on her virtual tour to promote her latest book in the Rocky Bluff Police Department series, Smell of Death, which she writes under the name of F. M. Meredith. She is also the author of the award winning Deputy Tempe Crabtree mystery series.

Marilyn is a member of Sisters in Crime, Mystery Writers of America, EPIC, and on the board of the Public Safety Writers of America. She was an instructor for Writer’s Digest School for ten years and served as an instructor at the Maui Writer’s Retreat and many other writer’s conferences. She makes her home in Springville, California, which is much like Bear Creek where Deputy Tempe Crabtree lives. For many years, she lived in a beach community similar to her fictional Rocky Bluff.

Today Marilyn is talking to us about writing a mystery.

So often I’m asked, “Where do you get your ideas?”

Sometimes an idea just pops into my head. More often, I’ve seen an article in a newspaper that’s stirred my imagination. Other times, the idea comes from things that have happened either to me or someone I’ve heard about.

With Smell of Death, the latest in my Rocky Bluff P.D. series, several elements contributed to this crime novel. The series itself is set in a fictional beach community along the coast of California, somewhere north of Ventura and south of Santa Barbara. For over twenty years I lived in a similar beach community and had several neighbors who were police officers. Because we were all friends, partying and playing together, I was able to observe how the job affected the family and the family affected the job. This is something I’ve attempted to show in all of the books in this series.

The title came from the fact that in movies and on TV, you can’t smell the horrific odors that accompany death.

My heroine is based on the female officers that I’ve done ride-alongs with, especially one who was raising her son alone. The hero is a composite of several officers I’ve known over the years. The one who contributed the most to the Rocky Bluff P.D. series is no longer with us, a 15- year-veteran of the Oxnard Police Department, who was also my son-in-law and loved to tell me about his adventures. He was a great resource.

One thing I’ve learned over the years is police officers love to tell stories. Once when I was going on a ride-along, I arrived right when they were changing shifts. Once the men learned I was an author, they began telling one story after another. Yes, some of the tales have turned up in my books.

To point out some differences between my Rocky Bluff P.D. crime novels and my Deputy Tempe Crabtree mystery series are with the Rocky Bluff P.D. series, the main characters change from book-to-book, and in the Crabtree series, Tempe is always the main character. Though the Rocky Bluff P.D. series is set back in time a bit, it is the darker of the two, while the Crabtree series is more current.

People will often ask, when will either one of the series come to an end. That’s a question I can’t really answer. When the time comes for that to happen, I’ll know. Until that time, the characters in both series are live and well inside my head.

Thanks, Marilyn, for such insightful information. We're delighted you took the time to visit with us today and look forward to having you return again soon.

For more information about Marilyn and her books, visit her website at FictionForYou.com. You can read our review of Smell of Death by F. M. Meredith at Mysterious Reviews.

We'd also like to thank Pump Up Your Book Promotion for organizing Marilyn's virtual book tour and inviting us to participate.

Return to Mystery Books News ...