More on Titles by Marilyn Meredith

Thought I'd piggy-back on Linda Thorne's post about titles.

When I first started my Deputy Tempe Crabtree mysteries, I thought I'd keep the titles to 2 words: Deadly Trail, Deadly Omen,Unequally Yoked, then I went to one word, Intervention, followed by Wingbeat.

I began to realize that it was more important to use a title that somehow fit the books. Sometimes I know what the title will be before I begin. At others, I don't have a clue until I'm all done.

Because the Tempe books often center on or have some native legend or mystique in them, I've used part of a quote from an American Indian for a title. That's where I got the title for the next on due out in August--Seldom Traveled.

A couple of books I've had to ask my critique group for suggestions for titles, and received just the perfect one.

Someone gave me the title, Murder in the Worst Degree. I thought it was great, wrote the next book in the Rocky Bluff series planning to use the title, but it wasn't until the last two chapters did I realize how it fit the story.

My latest in that series, A Crushing Death was easy because it is the way someone dies. And the idea for the murder came from a fellow mystery writer.

The book I'm working on now, I have no clue about what the title should be--yet.

Marilyn