A Series Being Revived
Marilyn Meredith
When my publisher for the Rocky Bluff P.D. mystery series had several strokes, the publishing company ceased to function. Though the books were still up on Amazon and presumably still being purchased, no royalties were passed on.
Because the publisher is also a friend, making the decision to take my rights back was difficult, but seemed the only wise thing to do. With the original publisher’s okay, Aakenbaaken & Kent published the books that had been contracted already, including #13 in the series, Unresolved.
Once I received my rights back, I approached A & K about republishing the whole series. He agreed and we’ve begun the process.
Because there are so many books in the series, we’re starting at the beginning. This means re-editing, of course. Once we started, we both realized how dated things were, after all the first book, Final Respects, was written in 1980. Most police officers sported mustaches, and smoking still went on in public buildings. When I wrote this, I had no idea it would end up being a series.
One of the first thing the publisher noticed was my too generous sprinkling of ellipses in the book—something I fixed in later books. One of the first things I noted was my overuse of exclamation points.
The second book, Bad Tidings, brought about another surprise. Though the writing holds up, it’s a bit more gory and sexy than I write today. And of course there are no cellphones and there are a couple of times characters use a pay phone. Also reading it again, brought back memories of some happenings that inspired parts of this mystery.
In Fringe Benefits I discovered I’d changed a couple of characters’ hair colors in later books. I’m glad to find out so I can make some fixes. The mustaches have continued, and water beds are introduced.
Smell of Death had something I’ve always wanted to change and that was the color of the shoe on the cover—easier to change the colors of the shoes in the story itself which I’ve now done. This book was a bit harder to edit for me as the subject matter is a bit dark. What was fun to read again was the beginning of a romance that continues in the next book.
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