Yesterday, late, the edits for my latest Rocky Bluff P.D. mystery arrived, so I dived into them immediately. That's how I spent the morning.
Oh what fun. I'd mixed up characters' names so many times, glad my editor caught them all.
Another big distraction was receiving this month's issue of the San Joaquin chapter of Sisters in Crime because there was a wonderful review of Seldom Traveled in it.
Seldom Traveled
Living in the foothills of the Sierra gives an immediacy and personality to nature that is missing in town. From the danger of bears rummaging in the trash bin to the scream of a mountain lion after prey, the drought brought predators and flames down to my door last summer. In this fifteenth Tempe Crabtree mystery, forest fire comes to the mountain community of Bear Creek.
Tempe is a Tulare County Deputy Sheriff. Returning from a vacation she is plunged back into work by the search for an escaped felon and a missing woman. When wealthy socialite Mariah Konstanzer is found murdered the trail of clues leads Tempe into the deadly heart of a conflagration.
“I can’t go any faster. If we break down, we’ll be in a worse mess than we are now.” She eased around one curve and then the next…. She braked.
“What are you doing?”
“We aren’t going to make it. Not this way anyway. Take a look ahead.”
A wall of flames crossed the road. The treetops on either side blazed. Sparks flew high
into the sky. (page 117)
Does Tempe survive to return in a sixteenth volume? You must read the book to find out! Marilyn Meredith writes excellent books that are a believable slice of life without being boring or profane. The language is clean, the sex offstage and the action scenes are page turners. The hazards of mountain fire are well researched, the characters are realistic.
I really appreciate the bits of Tempe’s Yokut heritage sprinkled into the stories as well as the Native American designs on the book covers. This book can be read as a stand-alone. It is truly a pleasure to read about people with well-balanced psyches and interesting lives, a combination that is rare in fiction these days. This book is highly recommended and a keeper.--Reviewed by Terrell Byrd.
And there were some other things that cropped up--but finally, here I am!
Marilyn
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4 comments:
You do at least twice as much as anyone else I know! I don't know how you keep all the balls in the air!
You go, girl! You are an overachiever!
If you're wrapping up another Rocky Bluff series book, sounds like a new book tour coming up in the near future. The area you live in is so beautiful and you're so lucky you're not in those California flood areas right now.
We have had lots of rain, the river behind our house is full and rushing. It has flooded some areas, but not anything like other places.
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