About Eppie Winner, Lingering Spirit

For those of you who don’t know, my son-in-law, Mike Cole, a 15 year vet of the Oxnard P.D. became a deputy in El Dorado County. He was there 6 months and was killed. I loved Mike like a son. He came to my house for coffee after his shift, told me all his stories and even took me on a ride along. He’s the one who got me interested in writing about law enforcement. When he died, it was devastating to everyone in our family. He left a wife and three children. This happened a long time ago—but he is the one who inspired me to write about mysteries containing people in law enforcement and their loved ones (and sometimes not so loved ones.). My Rocky Bluff P.D. series is the result of Mike’s influence.

A few years after Mike was gone I wrote Lingering Spirit, a much fictionalized version of what happened to Mike and his family afterwards and I called in Lingering Spirit. My description of the book is that it’s a romance with a supernatural touch. It was first published by an e-book publisher I wasn't happy with, and I finally pulled it. After I became one of Oak Tree Press’s authors, Lingering Spirit was published as a trade paperback. Later, it was once again an e-book and made available for the Nook and Kindle. Oak Tree entered the e-book into the Epic’s e-book awards for supernatural/mystical romances—and I was shocked and delighted that it won at their annual conference this weekend in San Antonio.

Still floating on air,

Marilyn Meredith