Murder in the Sierra Mountains #Bookgiveaway

Bear Creek in the Southern Sierra

Though my setting is not in a foreign country, I have a hunch it’s a place that most of your readers have never been—and maybe never heard about.

My Deputy Tempe Crabtree mystery series is set in the mountains—the Southern Sierra to be exact. The small town itself is called Bear Creek, named after the river that runs through it. Tempe is the resident deputy of the entire area. This is a fictional community, but it is similar to where I live.  Higher in the mountains is a stand of old growth Sequoias—huge trees that have been here for hundreds of years.

The Yokut Indians once hunted and fished all over this land. Now many live on a reservation tucked away in a beautiful valley surrounded my huge mountains. A casino has changed their way of life, lifting them out of poverty and given them the opportunity to open many other businesses. In my book, the reservation is the Bear Creek Reservation and the Indians, the Yanduchi. The tribe has many wonderful legends and stories and I’ve used some in different books in the series.

Tempe has left Bear Creek at times to investigate other murders. Once she traveled to the beach community of Oxnard and Eagle Rock (in Los Angeles) while trying to find out information about a widow and possible murderer. 

Another time, she was sent to the town of Crescent City on coast next to the Oregon border to speak with relative and friends of a murdered artist. There she met and heard about the Tolowa people and had a near encounter with Big Foot.

In another book she learned that the Indians close to home had their own version of Big Foot called the Hairy Man—and had more than a near encounter with him.

Tempe also has Indian roots though her education into Native American ways was lacking until she met Nick Two John, the owner of the local Inn. With each book, Tempe has learned more and more about her heritage including the spiritual side.

Do enter my giveaway contest for a copy of the previous Deputy Tempe Crabtree mystery, BEARS WITH US. Leave a comment and you're automatically entered. Include your email addy so I can get in touch with you should your name be selected at random. The winner will be announced on my blog (http://marilynmeredith.blogspot.com) on December 12, 2012. Good luck!

Raging Water  Deputy Tempe Crabtree’s investigation of the murder of two close friends is complicated when relentless rain turns Bear Creek into a raging river. Homes are inundated and a mud slide blocks the only road out of Bear Creek stranding many—including the murderer.

Find Raging Water on Amazon.

Other books in the series: Deadly Trail, Deadly Omen, Unequally Yoked, Intervention, Wing Beat, Calling the Dead, Judgment Fire, Kindred Spirits, Dispel the Mist, Invisible Path, Bears With Us, Raging Water.

Marilyn Meredith is the author of over thirty published novels, including the award winning Deputy Tempe Crabtree mystery series, the latest Raging Water from Mundania Press. Writing as F. M. Meredith, her latest Rocky Bluff P.D. crime novel us No Bells, the forth from Oak Tree Press. 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://marilymeredith.blogspot.com/

Marilyn borrows a lot from where she lives in the Southern Sierra for the town of Bear Creek and the surrounding area.