Guest Marilyn Meredith with A Visit to Rocky Bluff, California

Please help me welcome Marilyn Meredith back to my Travels. We have something in common besides being mystery writers. She grew up where I was born, Los Angeles (although I moved away at the age of 3 months).

Here's her trip! Be sure an look below for the character naming contest.

People who live in California know that it is a state with many differences. I grew up in Los Angeles, and it was possible to go play in the snow one day and head to the beach the next. In fact you could do both in one day if you really wanted to.

Rocky Bluff is not a real place, but it has its roots in a couple of real places. Located on the coast of Southern California, it is situated between Santa Barbara and Ventura. It is not a real town nor is it based on a real town.  However, the beach part is similar to the way the beach was in Oxnard many years ago (where I lived while raising my family) with funky bars and run-down rentals. 

The main drag itself has similarities to several small towns with some modernization, but still many old brick and stucco buildings with false facades. A Chinese eatery upstairs over a Mexican restaurant is much like one we frequented in Oxnard years ago.

The houses that climb up the hillsides look like homes I’ve seen in Ventura.  In fact, Detective Doug Milligan’s house, a small Victoria, is one I visited years ago. 

In Rocky Bluff, the freeway leading north to Santa Barbara crosses over the top of where the town changes from residential to rural with ranches and orange groves.

I don’t know about other authors, but I can visualize Rocky Bluff and all its different neighborhoods. To me it is as real as any place I’ve ever been. In fact, I probably know more about this little beach town than any I’ve ever lived in.

So, if you’re ever traveling on 101 and find yourself  somewhere between Santa Barbara and Ventura, look carefully toward the ocean and you might catch a glimpse of the bluffs that gave Rocky Bluff its name.

Blurb for the latest RBPD mystery, Murder in the Worst Degree: The body that washes up on the beach leads Detectives Milligan and Zachary on a murder investigation that includes the victim’s family members, his housekeeper, three long-time friends, and a mystery woman.

Bio: F. M. Meredith aka Marilyn Meredith is the author of over 35 published books. She enjoys writing about police officers and their families and how what happens on the job affects the family and vice versa. Having several members of her own family involved in law enforcement, as well as many friends, she’s witnessed some of this first-hand.

Webpage: http://fictionforyou.com/

Blog: http://marilynmeredith.blogspot.com/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/marilyn.meredith/

Contest:

Once again I am offering the opportunity to have your name used for a character in a book if you comment on the most blogs during this tour for Murder in the Worst Degree.

Tomorrow you’ll find me at visiting Jackie Houchin at http://bit.ly/1f5UFj0.

Guest blogger and contest! F.M. Meredith

  I'm pleased to be hosting prolific mystery writer, F.M. Meredith, sometimes known as Marilyn. Please be sure and notice the comment at the bottom about her contest!

Places I’ve Traveled as a Writer

Never would I have gone to Anchorage, Alaska if it hadn’t been for Left Coast Crime first and a few years later, Bouchercon. The first time, I also visited a school in a tiny village called Kwithlik. To get there, I traveled in a Suburban on a frozen river. (Scary!) The second time, I stayed in Wasilla with a Native friend who I met on the first visit.

church in New Orleans

My first and only trip to New York City was to attend Edgar week and the Edgar awards. I was in awe the whole time I was there—it looks just like it does in the movies and TV.  (I know that sounds dumb, but I couldn’t help just staring at everything that seemed so familiar.) From there, my friend and I took the train to Washington DC and then on to Arlington, VA for Malice Domestic. I attended Malice a second time and included a visit to my husband’s hometown in Cambridge MD.

Hawaii

When I was asked to be an instructor at the Maui Writers Retreat, I didn’t hesitate a moment to pack my bags and jump on a plane. Of course I took hubby too, and he had a great time while I was busy working with students all day. Besides being in a beautiful place, I had a great time.

Because of various mystery cons, I’ve visited places I’d never have thought of visiting, sometime with hubby sometimes by myself: Bellevue and Seattle WA, Austin, El Paso, Plano and San Antonio TX, Madison and Milwaukee WI, New Orleans LA, Oklahoma City OK, Orlando and Tampa FL, Nashville TN, Portland OR, and Virginia Beach, VA.

We fell in love with Omaha NE when Mayhem in the Midlands (now sadly no more) met there for ten years.

Though I may have visited Las Vegas and Reno NV with my hubby, I’ve also gone there for writers’ conferences.

Sedona AZ

I’ve been to one end of California (Crescent City and Redding in the North, to Temecula and Dana Point in the South) and from coast to coast, giving talks at writers’ conferences and attending Left Coast Crimes and Bouchercons.

Now I’m back on the road again to promote the latest in my Rocky Bluff P.D. series, Dangerous Impulses. I’m headed to Epicon in Vancouver WA this month. and have various places in California to go. In July it’ll be off to Vegas for the Public Safety Writers Association’s annual conference.

Thank you, Kaye for letting me tell you about places I’ve been. It’s been a wonderful experience with great memories.

Now a bit about Dangerous Impulses:

An attractive new-hire captivates Officer Gordon Butler, Officer Felix Zachary’s wife Wendy is befuddled by her new baby, Ryan and Barbara Strickland receive unsettling news about her pregnancy, while the bloody murder of a mother and her son and an unidentified drug that sickens teenaged partiers jolts the Rocky Bluff P.D.
Buy it here: http://tinyurl.com/byxomtk

Contest:

The person who comments on the most blog posts on this tour may have a character named after him or her in the next Rocky Bluff P.D. crime novel or choose a book from the previous titles in the Rocky Bluff P.D. series in either paper or for Kindle.

Rocky Bluff P.D. Series:

Though each book in the Rocky Bluff P.D. series is written as a stand-alone, I know there are people who like to read a series in order. From the beginning to the end:

Final Respects

Bad Tidings

Fringe Benefits

Smell of Death

No Sanctuary

An Axe to Grind

Angel Lost

No Bells

Dangerous Impulses

F. M. Meredith’s Bio:

F.M. is also known as Marilyn Meredith, the author of the Deputy Tempe Crabtree series. She first became interested in writing about law enforcement when she lived in a neighborhood filled with police officers and their families. The interest was fanned when her daughter married a police officer and the tradition has continued with a grandson and grandson-in-law who are deputies. She’s also serves on the board of the Public Safety Writers Association, and has many friends in different law enforcement fields. For twenty plus years, she and her husband lived in a small beach community located in Southern California much like the fictional Rocky Bluff. She is a member of three chapters of Sisters in Crime, Epic, and Mystery Writers of America.

Webpage: http://fictionforyou.com/

Blog: http://marilynmeredith.blogspot.com/

And I’m on Facebook and Twitter as MarilynMeredith

Tomorrow I’m visiting here: http://deniseweeks.blogspot.com/