Monday, November 10, 2014

Blog Tour Stop: River Spirits


While filming a movie on the Bear Creek Indian Reservation, the film crew trespasses on sacred ground, threats are made against the female stars, a missing woman is found by the Hairy Man, an actor is murdered and Deputy Tempe Crabtree has no idea who is guilty. Once again, the elusive and legendary Hairy Man plays an important role in this newest Deputy Tempe Crabtree mystery.
 How Tempe Crabtree got her Name

When I realized that I wanted a character who was part Indian, I wanted a name that sounded Indian, but unique.

Years ago, my sister did our family genealogy and when I read about my great-grandmother on my father's side and all that she went through, I was amazed by her strength and independence. Of course I'd heard about her from my father, but I never met her.

Her parents named her Temperance and she was called Tempe from the time she was a little girl. She met and married Newt Crabtree in what was called Globe at the time--now Springville where I live. She gave birth to several children who died soon after birth. When a girl was born she called her Hope because she hoped she’d live. (She did, and several more children were born after that, including my grandmother.) Just living back in that time period was tough. She was a true pioneer. When her husband died, she lived on her own for many years.

The resident deputy that I had pictured in my mind had many of the same attributes and personality traits that I'd learned about my great-grandmother. The more I thought about it, the more I realized that Tempe Crabtree was the perfect name for my heroine.

Marilyn Meredith
Marilyn Meredith is the author of over thirty-five published novels, including the award winning Deputy Tempe Crabtree mystery series, the latest River Spirits from Mundania Press. Marilyn is a member of three chapters of Sisters in Crime, Mystery Writers of America, and on the board of the Public Safety Writers of America. She lives in the foothills of the Sierra. Visit her at http://fictionforyou.com and her blog at http://marilymeredith.blogspot.com/

Contest: The winner will be the person who comments on the most blog posts during the tour.
He or she can either have a character in my next book named after them, or choose an earlier book in the Deputy Tempe Crabtree series—either a paper book or e-book.

You can find me tomorrow visiting with my good friend Lorna Collins who wanted to know where I get my inspiration after writing so many books. http://lornacollins-author.blogspot.com/

From the publisher, all formats:
For Kindle:
Amazon paperback:
For Nook
http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/river-spirits-marilyn-meredith/1120425385?ean=2940150347090

12 comments:

  1. Thank you so much for hosting me today, Patricia. I always love stopping by your place.

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    1. Marilyn, it's my pleasure. I love to have you visit. I ordered "River Spirits" and I can't wait to read it. I love your Tempe Crabtree series!

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  2. Glad to see you again, Marilyn and glad you used Tempe for your character's name and not Temperance. I'm at work and wasn't able to open your trailer (I think that's what it is), but I have seen the trailers on your website. I thought I'd tell you that the link for this blog is wrong on your website. It may delay some people finding this. The link is http://pat-writersforum.blogspot.com/ See you tomorrow.

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  3. I love her name. It's perfect for her and memorable without being just plain weird.

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    1. I think it works well too, Lorna. Glad to see your back from what sounded like a wonderful vacation.

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  4. This is a great story, Marilyn! And touching--makes Tempe even more endearing to me... (A light aside, one of my puppies is named Tempe, a pretty special pup)

    Madeline

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    1. Thanks for commenting, Madeline. I heard that story from my dad--several time.

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  5. Your story is very touching and I'm glad you found such an endearing person to fashion Tempe after. Wonderful story!
    Marja McGraw

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  6. Hi, Marja, I did get to meet one of my great-aunts and she took me around and told me all about the family's history in Springville--which I call Bear Creek in my series.

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  7. I love the story of how you named Tempe. I used one of my grandmother's names for a character also. Doesn't it just make you feel so much more connected to the character?

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  8. Tempe was my great-grandmother and I never met her though I heard many stories about her life.

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