How My Rocky Bluff P.D. Series Has Changed

Because the entire Rocky Bluff P.D. mystery series is now being re-published by a new house, I’ve been re-editing each book. In the process I’ve found some interesting tidbits and errors, besides the usual typos and repeated words.

(My new publisher’s logo)

The overuse of ellipses: I could have been called the Queen of ellipses. Why one of many editors didn’t call me on this I have no idea.

Because the first book, Final Respects, was written long ago, most of police officer characters sport mustaches. They don’t come off until about the 5^th book in the series. In the first two books, there’s a lot of smoking, even in the police department. In California, is it no longer legal to smoke in a public building. My new publisher wants this to stay as is.

One big error I found was that in No Sanctuary one of the lead female character is made a Vice-Detective, which she still is in the next book—but not in the one after that or any of the later ones. I figured out how to correct it.

I’ve found that I’ve changed the hair color of at least one of the characters—but that will be an easy fix.

Actually, though I am making changes along the way, I’m pleased with the writing and the plots.

One big thing that influenced how I wrote these books was having my cop son-in-law tell me that the police never work on one case at a time. Because of that, there are many things going on in every book..

I’m sure as I continue to work my way through the editing of the rest of the novels, I’ll find other errors. This has been an interesting process.

Though the first book, Final Respects, has the same cover used when it was first published, the subsequent books will have a new look.

And yes, I’ve written this series under the name F. M. Meredith. Why I used that is a whole other story.

If you’ve never read this series, once it’s all available once again, I hope some of you will try it.

Marilyn