Attack of the M's, Part II

[Stephen Brayton]

Today, I turn the coveted blog chair over to a wonderful woman I've met at Killer Nashville and didn't get to spend as much time talking with as I would have liked. Today she honors me by stopping by my place on her blog tour to promote her latest endeavor, Murder In The Worst Degree. So be nice to her or I won't let you play in my neighborhood anymore.

Where My Titles Come From

Sometimes a title jumps out at me when I’m writing the book. The first book in the Rocky Bluff P.D. series has its big climax at a funeral. Final Respects seemed most appropriate.
Next came Bad Tidings and the main character in this one has to deliver bad news to many and gets some of his own. Obvious title—at least I thought so.
Fringe Benefits is all about a bad cop who uses his job for nefarious purposes. No trouble coming up with that title.
My cop son-in-law gave me the idea for Smell of Death when he told me books, movies and TV did not do a good job of depicting how bad dead people smell.
No Sanctuary was another no-brainer. It is about two churches, two preachers, two wives and a murder. A lot of the action goes on at both churches.
A beheaded corpse and the murder weapon quickly brought to mind An Axe to Grind.
Angel Lost refers to two major happenings in this mystery, one of them being the mysterious appearance of an angel in a store window.
Not everyone in my critique group was happy with my choice of title for No Bells, but it is what someone says toward the end of the book and I thought it was perfect. Since I was the author I got to choose.
I couldn’t think of a title for this one, and one of the members of my critique group came up with the title Dangerous Impulses and it fits.
And now for the latest, Murder in the Worst Degree, a friend suggested the title before I’d written anything. I thought it was a great title, I just had to think up a plot that fit—and I think I did.
So you see, I don’t have a magic formula—some titles come easy and others don’t.
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 I’ll be visiting Janet Greger at http://jlgregerblog.blogspot.com/