A common question people ask authors is “Where do your ideas come from?” Because I write two different series, sometimes the idea for the next book is right there waiting to be written, but not always.

When it was time to come up with the 12th book in the Rocky Bluff P.D. series, I had no idea what I should write about. Because much of this series is about the police officers and their families, there were some ongoing problems and events in their lives to continue with—but I had no clue when it came to what kind of crime to introduce.

Out of the blue, one of my author friends sent me an email that said, “You should write about a crushing death.” Okay, interesting, but I had no idea what a crushing death was so I investigated via the Internet.

What I learned was long ago, many different cultures would pile stones on someone’s chest in an effort to make him or her tell the truth. Of course it seldom, if ever, worked, instead the person died. Ah, ha, a new way to kill someone off.

From there the questions to be answered were:

Who was the victim?

What was the motive?

Where did it happen?

Who was involved?

Right away, the ideas began to flow and I began to envision in my mind exactly how the plot should go. Oh, of course there were side threads that I began to weave into the story, but I had the main idea.

The title was obvious, A Crushing Death.

Anyone else have unusual ways an idea for a mystery came to you?

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F. M. Meredith who is more commonly known as Marilyn Meredith

A Crushing Death Blurb:
A pile of rocks is found on a dead body beneath the condemned pier, a teacher is accused of molesting a student, the new police chief is threatened by someone she once arrested for violent attacks on women, and Detective Milligan’s teenage daughter has a problem.

F. M. Meredith who is also known as Marilyn Meredith is nearing the number of 40 published books. Besides being an author she is a wife, mother, grandma and great-grandmother. Though the Rocky Bluff she writes about is fictional, she lived for over twenty-years in a similar small beach town. Besides having many law enforcement officers in her family she counts many as friends. She teaches writing, loves to give presentations to writing and other groups, and is a member of Mystery Writers of America, three chapters of Sisters in Crime and on the board of Public Safety Writers Association.

Learn more about Marilyn and her books at her website and blog. She can also be found on Facebook and Twitter.