Saturday, April 30, 2016

"A Crushing Death" by F.M. Meredith




I'm thrilled to have Marilyn Meredith visiting with us today as one of the stops on her blog tour for her new release. I've read the other books in her Rocky Bluff PD mystery series and I'm looking forward to reading "A Crushing Death."


Marilyn Meredith (aka F.M. Meredith) and Craig Johnson

Patricia: Marilyn, when did you know that you wanted to be a writer?

Marilyn: Very soon after I learned how to read.  My first long efforts began after reading the Little House on the Prairie books. I wrote my own version of one. And no, I don’t have a copy, it was when I was about 10 or 11. Sometime in that same period I wrote and illustrated a book about a fairy—and I received my first rejection from a publisher. The note told me to keep on writing.
                                          
Patricia: If, for some reason, you couldn’t be a writer, what profession would you have chosen?

Marilyn: I’ve had several other jobs or professions while being a writer and I’ll start with my first:
I had my first babysitting job when I was 10 and it was with 4 tiny tots. I fell asleep and the parents couldn’t wake me to let them in—they had to go to a pay phone and call me. Despite that I continued to babysit until I married and left home.

My first paying job as a married woman was as a telephone operator, information and long distance. I did that off and on for years.

Teacher in a pre-school for developmentally disabled children. I worked there for 10 years and was one of my favorite professions. I also taught in two different day cars in low-income areas, and was also a teacher in a pre-school for disadvantaged and non-English speakers.

For over 23 years I owned and operated a residential facility for 6 women with developmental disabilities. Another of my favorite professions. During that same time period I organized, ran and taught accredited classes for people who wanted to have licensed adult residential facilities as well as required continuing education classes.

I am still writing a newsletter for residential care administrators.

You can probably guess why I’m not doing a lot of the professions I enjoyed. Yes, I’m getting older and don’t have the physical energy to do what is required for those jobs.

Patricia: Do you have a bucket list, things you still want to do and/or places you want to visit?

Marilyn: I no longer enjoy traveling as I once did, so I’ll never be traipsing off to faraway places. I have been to Alaska and Hawaii twice, Mexico several times and visited many of the states. We once tent-camped from California to Maryland and back—and I never tent camped again. I do hope to continue wandering about my home state of California and especially trips to the coast. As far as what I want to do, I hope to be able to continue giving talks to writers groups, going to book and craft fairs, and mystery conferences.

I’m thankful I’ve had such a rich life full of family and wonderful friends, and many adventures.

Some of you who have more exciting bucket lists than mine, share some in the comments.


A pile of rocks is found on a dead body beneath the condemned pier, a teacher is accused of molesting a student, the new police chief is threatened by someone she once arrested for violent attacks on women, and Detective Milligan’s teenage daughter has problem.

Buy link: http://www.amazon.com/Crushing-Death-Rocky-Bluff-P-D/dp/1610092260/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1457618775&sr=8-1&keywords=A+Crushing+Death+by+F.M.+Meredith
Bio:
F. M. Meredith who is also known as Marilyn Meredith is nearing the number of 40 published books. Besides being an author she is a wife, mother , grandma and great-grandmother. Though the Rocky Bluff she writes about is fictional, she lived for over twenty-years in a similar small beach town. Besides having many law enforcement officers in her family she is counts many as friends. She teaches writing, loves to give presentations to writing and other groups, and is a member of Mystery Writers of America, three chapters of Sisters in Crime and on the board of Public Safety Writers Association.
Facebook: Marilyn Meredith
Twitter: MarilynMeredith
Contest: Once again, the person who comments on the most blogs during this tour, can have a character named after them in the next Rocky Bluff P.D. mystery. Tomorrow you can find me here:

15 comments:

  1. Welcome to my blog, Marilyn!
    I finished reading "A Crushing Death" last night and I plan to review it today. It was a great read! I love the series!

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  2. Thank you for hosting me today, Patricia. I'm so glad you liked A Crushing Death. (I love your books too.)

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  3. Always interesting to learn more about someone's past history. It will be no surprise to you to learn that I was a Persian cat breeder back in the 1970 and had several show cats. Now I just raise alley cats! Glad you are still writing books and sharing your vast knowledge with other writers.

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    1. I love to hear about folks--we are cat people too, hubby even more than I am. He cares for the feral cats people drop off.

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  4. Sounds to me Marilyn that you have had a very rewarding life, not just the success of your writing, but more so with your caring for people. You are a special person and I'm proud to know you. Now, as for my bucket list, I have always wanted to visit every state in the union, not for just a week or so but for a month or two. I like to interview people from those states about their lives. My darling wants to visit Europe and or Asia, but I'm interested in seeing the United States. I want to go to the Kentucky Derby, Time Square for New Years and I'd to visit as many National Parks as possible. I certainly hope to see in Vegas.

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    1. I'll be in Vegas--God willing amd the creek don't rise--as my dad used to say. I never had the desire to go to Europe or Asia.I did go to the Edgars in New York one year and had an amazing time.

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  5. You never fail to impress me, Marilyn. Great interview, and I can't wait to read the new book.

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    1. Thanks, Marja, it's just that I've lived a long time so of course I've done a lot.

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  6. I just finished reading A Crushing Death, and it was wonderful. Just like all the Rocky Bluff mysteries. It appears we have something in common. My very first paying job was as an information operator, too, back in the day when Bell Telephone was the only telephone company, LOL!

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    1. I'm glad you enjoyed the book, Evelyn. I started as an information operator in Los Angeles for Ma Bell, then went on to be a long distance operator in Oxnard. It was a great fall-back job whenever we needed money.

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  7. Amazing life you've had, Marilyn... such interesting jobs, even more than jobs, a calling. I only babysat once. They had a German Shepherd named Beauty who wouldn't let me back in the house when I went out to get the older kids for dinner, leaving the baby alone in the house! She wouldn't even let the kids back in. We sat outside for 3 hours listening to her growl and snarl til the parents came home. Luckily the baby was fine... hungry, but fine.

    As for bucket list: I want to live in Hawaii, Japan, Australia and Ireland. I want to bungee jump and parachute out of an airplane. I want to spend a month in on the space platform. I want to sing on television and star in my own TV show (or blockbuster movie, I'm not fussy - LOL) I want my son to get married and have grandkids for me, but I'm not sure how successful I'll be in fulfilling that dream. I want to teach sessions at writers conferences and guest lecture at universities on fiction writing. And I want at least one book to top somebody's best seller list. As you can see, I don't have many lofty goals... LOL

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    1. I thought I replied to this already, Susan, but let me say again, I love all your goals!

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  8. Looking forward to seeing you and Joe in Vegas--about as far away from home as I want to roam this days. Looking forward!

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  9. I want to visit every continent (3 so far); all 50 states (about 35 so far); fly first class at least once; go river rafting; zip lining; be on a bestseller list; teach writing (I'm presenting a webinar next year, so that's a start); see the Northern lights; find a cure for cancer---if only!

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