Today, I’m hosting one of my favorite authors, Marilyn Meredith.
Marilyn has had so many books published, she’s lost track of the count, but it’s getting near 40. She lives in a community similar to the fictional mountain town of Bear Creek, the big difference being that Bear Creek is a thousand feet higher in the mountains.
She is a member of Mystery Writers of American, three chapters of Sisters in Crime, and is a board member of Public Safety Writers of America.
Deputy Tempe Crabtree and the Spirit World
First, I want to thank Evelyn for hosting me today. Though we’ve never met in person, I consider her to be my friend.
Many of the mysteries in the Deputy Tempe Crabtree mystery series center around or have mention of ghosts or spiritual entities. It wasn’t something I planned; it evolved naturally through the many books in the series.
You may have wondered if I’ve encountered ghosts in my own life, and the answer is “no.” I will admit to an interest or to be honest, a fascination with ghostly tales and haunted houses.
The first spirit appeared in the 4th mystery, Intervention, in the form of a great blue heron.
When Tempe called back the dead in Calling the Dead, to find out the truth about a murder and a suicide, she opened herself up to the spirit world. In other books, spirits have appeared to Tempe, most notable in Spirit Shapes, which not only had ghosts, but evil spirits and even angels.
And of course, a title like River Spirits, lets the reader know that there are spirit that come from unusual places.
Not as it Seems features spirits of early Californian natives from the Chumash and the Salinans.
In A Cold Death Tempe encounters the ghost of a young girl who helps unravel the murder of one of the guests in the snow-bound lodge.
In Tempe’s latest quest, Spirit Wind, there’s a haunted house, a ghost, and a spirit voice in the wind.
Ghosts and spirits from the past have made appearances in other Tempe Crabtree mysteries, but because I’m a “pantser” which means I write from the seat-of-my-pants, rather than outline, I’m usually quite surprised when I realize that something supernatural wants to be on the scene.
I’m not sure what that means except that I’m always happy to include these other worldly beings when they are nudging me to jump into whatever story I happen to be working on. I think they add interesting elements to the plots and I’m certainly not going to ignore them. And I must admit, I’ve had fun writing about them
Do you enjoy mysteries with a touch of the supernatural?
Marilyn
Spirit Wind
A call from a ghost hunter changes Deputy Tempe Crabtree’s vacation plans. Instead of going to the coast, she and her husband are headed to Tehachapi to investigate a haunted house and are confronted by voices on the wind, a murder, and someone out to get them.
