Today, as part of her blog tour to promote her latest novel, Spirit Shapes, Marilyn Meredith is visiting with us. I've asked her to tell us where she got the idea for her novel. Welcome, Marilyn!
As with all my
books, the idea came from several different places. I’d been reading about
different ghost hunters on Facebook. We have one that advertises tours in
nearby Porterville and another I see who visits haunted places around Ventura
County. I was privileged to go on one with the ghost hunter from Ventura.
Along with a
small group of friends we toured the old Ventura Court House in the evening and
in one section without any lights on. We were told tales about many of the
ghosts who resided there but didn’t see any. The ghost hunter led us all around
the old part of Ventura pointing out various ghostly hangouts and telling us
about the ghosts when they were alive.
Hubby and I
stayed twice in one of the places that he pointed out, a remodeled bed and
breakfast that once had been a residential hotel and a flophouse. The first
time we stayed, we had a large room that had obviously been an apartment at one
time. The closet probably had once held a Murphy bed. The bathroom was big
enough to be a kitchen—which I bet it was back in the day when everyone shared
the bathroom down the hall. On this trip we learned that one of the rooms in
the B & B was haunted—Room 17.
The next time we
made a reservation we asked for Room 17—and were warned it was haunted. This
room was tiny compared to the first one we’d stayed in—and much to our
disappointment, no ghostly visitation. Our daughter informed us hubby would have
had a better chance if he’d stayed there alone, as the ghost was a prostitute
during her lifetime. Frankly, the room we stayed in previously felt more like
it might have some ghostly residents.
Though there are
many other elements in Spirit Shapes, ghost hunters and
spirits play a bit part in the story.
Blurb for Spirit
Shapes: Ghost hunters stumble upon a murdered teen in a haunted house.
Deputy Tempe Crabtree's investigation pulls her into a whirlwind of restless
spirits, good and evil, intertwined with the past and the present, and demons
and angels at war.
To buy directly from the publisher in all formats:
Also available directly from Amazon.
Marilyn at the Library
Bio: Marilyn Meredith is the author of over thirty published
novels, including the award winning Deputy Tempe Crabtree mystery series. She
borrows a lot from where she lives in the Southern Sierra for the town of Bear
Creek and the surrounding area, including the nearby Tule River Indian
Reservation. She does like to remind everyone that she is writing fiction.
Marilyn is a member of EPIC, three chapters of Sisters in Crime, Mystery
Writers of America, and on the board of the Public Safety Writers of America.
Visit her at http://fictionforyou.com and follow her blog at http://marilynmeredith.blogspot.com/
Contest:
The person who
comments on the most blogs on this blog tour will have the opportunity to have
a character named after him or her in the next Deputy Tempe Crabtree mystery.
Tomorrow I’ll be
visiting at: http://crimewriters.blogspot.com/
