Her Alibi by Mary L. Schmidt

1/12/2025

Award-winning, multi-genre, multi-volume author Mary L. Schmidt, introduces us to this highly celebrated memoir, “Her Alibi”:
Visions of her Cherokee grandmother, Cordie, flashed through Mary's mind as her mother, Marguerite, informed her that her stepfather shot himself and was in the hospital. Oh no!

No! This can't be! Not after the joking around at my home last night. NO!!!! Did she use me last night? She'd never use her scapegoat child. No, she couldn't! Even Marguerite wouldn't sink that low! Or would she? Marguerite had always been abusive and vile to most people, and especially to her children and husbands, but would she shoot Harold?
Yet, here I was, and I had to tell the police that, yes, my mother was at my home all evening and into the night. How despicable that my mother connived her way into using me as her alibi.
This book is a true memoir drawing upon the locals and inspiration of the areas in which the author lives and works. Names of towns, places, facilities, and people are real except for three men. Any resemblance to persons living or dead is not coincidental in nature and places where events take place are from her life growing up.

Amazon Number One Bestseller - 2022
Literary Titan - Gold - 2022
SoCal Book Awards - Honorable Mention - 2022
Reader's Choice Book Awards - Finalist 2023
London Book Awards - Honorable Mention 2023
Los Angeles Book Awards - Honorable Mention 2023
NABE - Gold - Best Book in the Category of True Crime Fall 2023
Author Shout Reader Ready Award Winner - Recommended Reads 2024
Silver Medalist in Non-Fiction/True Crime Readers Favorite 2024
IAN Book of the Year Awards Finalist Family Relationships 2024
Author Shout Reader Ready Award Winner - Recommended Reads 2024
Life Experiences/Memoirs Winner International Impact Awards 2024

This story was hard to take in. I have heard many stories of abusive parents but this is one of the worst.

This book is quite well written. It has an engaging style and a good tempo.
Abuse of this type is horrific and children are seldom believed.
I am sorry you had to endure this suffering at the hands of the person who should have been your protector and cheerleader.
4.9 stars for certain things I am picky about.

You can buy this book:
https://www.amazon.com/Her-Alibi-Mary-L-Schmidt-ebook
https://www.goodreads.com/-her-alibi
https://www.booksamillion.com/p/Her-Alibi/Mary-L-Schmidt
https://www.walmart.com/Her-Alibi-Paperback
https://www.waterstones.com/book/her-alibi/mary-l-schmidt
https://www.barnesandnoble.com/her-alibi-mary-l-schmidt
https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/her-alibi-4

You can follow the author:
https://x.com/MaryLSchmidt
https://whenangelsfly.net
https://www.facebook.com/mary.schmidt.50/
https://www.instagram.com/mschmidtphotography/
https://www.youtube.com/channel/-Mary-Schmidt
https://www.instagram.com/mschmidtphotography/
https://www.facebook.com/mary.schmidt.50/

I have reviewed another book by the author:
www.wordrefiner.com/book-reviews/when-angels-fly

Copyright © 2025 Mark L. Schultz except for the author’s introduction

39 Comments

Mary L. Schmidt link

1/13/2025 09:04:11 am

Thank you for your thoughts on this memoir. Sadly, others have been used as alibis by one or both parents in coverups of terrible things. My stepdad's story had to be told. Thank you.

Mark

1/13/2025 09:24:23 am

There is no excuse for what you went through.

Please, tell us more about yourself. Perhaps something a little bit beyond your bio.

Mary L Schmidt link

1/13/2025 09:54:08 am

I was in Miami in November of 2024 for this very book receiving a solo silver medal in the Reader's Favorite book awards. It was awesome meeting other writers that I knew from social media and friends. My husband, Mike, wants to go back and eat ALL of the autyhentic Cuban dishes at Versailles. In all honesty, if you win an award such as this one, try to attend. The connections with others around the globe is amazing. This was our fourth trip after not going for five years due to Covid. You learn alot about marketing and you get so many pictures to use with marketing.

1/13/2025 12:52:24 pm

That was a wonderful experience. Congratulations! Thank you for sharing that recent story and a good piece of advice.
I am with your husband, I love trying new foods! There is not much that I don't like.

New questions.

Are you a full-time or part-time writer?

What kind of work do you do if you are a part-time writer? Feel free to skip that question, if you would rather not answer.

1/13/2025 05:38:49 pm

Hi. That food was truly awesome.

I see I have typos. I will do begtter.

I write part time only. I have hand tremors that keep me from writing as much as I'd like to write. The same with painting.

To compound that issue, I'm actually fully disabled.

That trip to Miami was very hard. I had wheelchair assistance every step of the way.

Not only that, but my balance is bad...bad enough that I fell on the step go the stage in Miami. I knew I was going to hit my left knee first and knew I was in front of everyone present, then I blacked out. My husband is a blessing. He helped my back up with assistance from the award presenter, Mark Wayne Adams, and only after I did a head to toe assessment of my injuries. As a registered nurse, I worked high trauma and high acuity settings. I'm okay now, but I had to assess my ribs that were broken prior and only partly healed. If you fall with partly healed ribs, you have a greater chance of puncturing a lung. I'd also had back surgery three months before, and that was a scary time with the fall.

But hey, I'm here now so all is okay now...not healthy, but better. I have no fix for me for my tracheobroncomalacia, acquired. I did spell that right.

You seem to ge me to writing a lot on here. My income is fixed, so I have no choice but to try and do what I can, when I can. I'll be paying off Miami for three yers, but it was worth it.

1/13/2025 07:24:02 pm

That trip was hard! I know a little bit about balance disorders, my wife has Meniere's disease.
The hand tremors are limiting no doubt.
I have never heard of that disease of the trachea. But I have had a punctured lung. It healed pretty quickly.

New question.

What are your three favorite genres to read for pleasure?

1/14/2025 09:15:42 am

I understand Meniere's disease.

Tracheobronchomalacia, acquired, affects the trachea and both bronchi. It is rare, and debilitating. Mine was caused by silent reflux I did not know I was doing. Suffice to say, my esophagus has not worked in years. It has zero motility.

Three favorite genres for pleasure?

Historical romance, memoirs, and poetry. What are yours?

1/14/2025 09:38:15 am

Zero tracheal motility must make eating quite difficult. I imagine that you take small bites and chew thoroughly.

My three favorite genres to read for personal pleasure are science fiction, fantasy and historical fiction.

When I was almost a teenager in a very small town, I wanted to read all of the books in our library. I didn't achieve my goal but reading has always been my happy place.

New question.

Has writing changed the pleasure of reading for you?

1/14/2025 10:35:11 am

Zero esophageal motility means small meal amounts as food simply dumps into my stomach. Too much and instant reflux.

With tracheobronchomalacia, acquired, my trachea collapses at will, the surgery to repair my trachea ring by ring by ring would kill me as I'd never get off a ventilator.

When I was a kid, I was always getting new libtrary cards. I've a zillion books over and over again.

I much preferred losing myself in a book in my bedroom over life downstairs.

Reading has improved my writing and I catch things in other books, but I let most of that go and focus on the book itself. The plot...how it moves...the twists...I have a greater affinity for those elements.

1/14/2025 02:34:33 pm

I have no doubt that books were a welcome escape for you. For me it was merely a way to escape near-terminal boredom.

New question.

Why do you write?

1/15/2025 08:56:59 am

Why do I write?

My first book, When Angels Fly - and you read and helped with spelling - was to honor my son who passed away from the effects of chemo on his body. I wanted to honor Sammy and to leave the book as a written testimonial for my only living child. His PTSD is such that he's never been able to read this book.

Book two, The Big Cheese Festival, is a book on bullies. I wanted to help bullied children badly.

Book three, Suzy Has a Secret, is about good touch versus bad touch, with a parents and educators section in the back. I use the swimsuit rule in this book. Molested children are dear to my heart.

I've written every book from my heart, they all have elements of truth in each one. Some more than others.

I waited 10 years after my mother's death to write Her Alibi. I had to write this book. I had to give closure to my stepdad's children. And I did. Then Thanksgiving after it published, my middle stepbrother, well, I asked him if he had read it and he said no. So, hubby brought copies out and I gave them to his kids - adult kids age 58 and older. A HUGE thing happened. One morning, I was in my recliner, blanket over my head, focusing on Jesus, my quiet time with Him. I felt a nudge on my foot and thought it was hubby letting me know he was going somewhere, then I realized that he knew NOT to touch or speak to me when I'm with Jesus. I received a second nudge on my foot. I came out of my quiet time, and saw no one, heard no one, but a giant feeling and knowing that my stepdad let me know intuitively that he was happy his story was out, that his children finally have some closure. When I told this to one of my stepbrothers, he stood up and gave me a huge bearhug that just wouldn't stop. He finally had some closure. My stepdad died in 1982. My mother passed in 2012. Her Alibi came out the middle of 2022. What it gave to my stepsiblings was beyond measure.

So, you see, I have many reasons why I write.

1/15/2025 10:32:22 am

You have many reasons to write. No doubt about that. Thank you for writing. Adult child abuse is abhorrent to me also.

New question.

Does your work, past or present, have any influence on your writing?

1/15/2025 12:39:58 pm

Having worked as a registered nurse for decades, I'm able to add medical situations into my books.

My son with cancer, well, that was a huge help in caring for him.

I have a Christmas trilogy set in Evergreen, Colorado. They are romance/Christmas/thriller/espionage and more genres with each of the three books: Christmas in Evergreen, Romance in Evergreen, and Heart of Evergreen.

I added medical elements to each book or if someone was born with a disability. I have a character who is a little person, though little, she is smart as a whip and gets things done, yet I also showed the side of some things that limit or cause a need for better access to what they need to do due to their short stature.

A piece of me is always in a book. One character has scoliosis, and with that has her spine also inverting inwards towards the middle, and the last part of her spine, well, the vertebra spiral on downward to the end. This makes the vertebra close together around the spinal cord, but didn't cause a neural tube defect. This character has pain issues, and was not a candidate for surgical intervention. She tried many different therapies, and then one actually worked which is two wires threaded up her spine targeting certain nerves for stimulation. This is turn blocks pain impulses from reaching the brain. I explain this better in my book. This is also a piece of me in the book, my spine is deformed, I have wires, and now I'm in 70% less pain than I have been in for decades.

So, my past medical work comes in handy. My last book, my 54th, includes twin births and what to do and watch for, you name it. Adding in bits and pieces to my books helps with variety and I keep up on current nursing trends despite not being able to work.

1/15/2025 05:58:33 pm

54 books. Congratulations!

A bit of realism in a story seems like a good idea. Especially when the author knows what they are talking about. It makes a difference for many readers.

I have heard that scoliosis is painful. You have found a therapy that lessens the pain, congratulations.

New question.

Who was the first person to inspire you to write something to publish?

1/16/2025 09:12:57 am

A grade school teacher. It started as a two-stanza rhyming poem. No set rhythm, just two short rhyming stanzas.

Around age 10, my class was placed in groups of four or five. We were challenged to write a play. I was just learning to type on an old manual typewrter. So I spoke up and said I would write it out.

Well, I used carbon paper, that is or was a real thing, between pieces of paper until I had enough for four copies plus the original was typed at the same time. Lots of errors, erasing, but the top copy was readable.

So, we ended up as I read my part, then the others in turn responded with their part or they made up their part as we went along with our skit. We had everyone laughing. I wasn't sure how to feel at the time. I was sure we flunked the skit, but we did receive great grades.

1/16/2025 10:27:32 am

I remember carbon paper and carbon copies well. The first several books I proofed were carbon copies. With electric typewriters there was an easy adjustment for the keys to strike the top paper harder and produce a better carbon copy. We are dating ourselves.

The play sounds cute and sometimes improvisation produces good results.

New question.

Have you ever seen a UFO or UAP, Unidentified Aerial Phenomena?

1/16/2025 12:33:18 pm

I've never, to my knowledge, seen a UFO or UAP. Never.

But, I have photographed the ISS from the top of a mountain in Colorado, and watched as it went by overhead. For those who've never see the ISS, check online when it will be visible in your location and the time. You will be given the day, the time, and the direction it is moving. I've caught it in the daytime, too.

In the 60s, my mother was huge on UFOs. She bought a huge telescope just to watch for them. She was adamant about what was and what wasn't a UFO and forced us older kids to view her findings. I saw airplanes only. Then I learned some constellations.

Is there life out there? Definitely! As a world, we are not advanced enough for meeting others. Did things happen in Roswell and Area 51? Most likely. Everything starts with a seed of truth. I'm not worried about aliens or UFOs.

As a Star Trek fan and other sci-fi shows, it would be cool to meet some nice aliens.

1/16/2025 02:03:39 pm

If there are aliens it would be cool to meet nice ones. I doubt we would survive any other type of encounter. A theme frequently explored on one of my favorite TV shows when I was young. The Twilight Zone.

New question.

Have you ever seen a cryptid, an animal unknown to modern zoologists, or found evidence of one?

1/16/2025 07:07:14 pm

A cryptid - you are too funny! I'm 99.9% sure I have not.

But in my 20s and 30s we did lots of caving and travel in the USA and Canada, so who knows? That little tiny 0.1%.

1/16/2025 07:53:06 pm

I haven't seen a cryptid either. There were times when I was hiking in the woods or SW Washington that I felt like I was being watched. But I never saw anything I didn't recognize.

New question.

How many drafts did your book go through before publishing?

1/17/2025 10:17:59 am

For Her Alibi, and it is a short book, one draft and one round of edits. The subject matter was all I could do then. You caught a couple things when you read it.

My next book is a children's book on the loss of a pet. I'm using the loss of a real pet, small dog, and how kids and adults feel. I'm using a real little dog, and the story is such that two lines of text per page with graphics is it. The edits will be much faster and that will be done before I do the illustrations. I think of Grizz when planning this book.

1/17/2025 10:21:22 am

The loss of a pet is painful. I have missed Grizz for around 10 years now.

That will be a good book. Have you thought of making a set of your books for helping kids cope with the worst parts of life?

New question.

Is there anything unconventional about your writing technique? Why is that?

1/17/2025 06:31:56 pm

I have one set of 12 sequential books plus six others that deal with children's issues.

I don't think I'm unconventional. I don't plot or outline but I'm not a pantser either. I know the beginning, the middle and the ending. I keep a note card(s) on characters. I jot down key elements I plan to use. Then I start.

1/17/2025 06:38:01 pm

You're right. You are neither a pantser nor a plotter. You're a hybrid. Pretty much in the middle of the spectrum. It helps when you know a lot about your topic.

New question.

Have you ever done NaNoWriMo, National November Writing Month?

1/18/2025 06:26:08 am

Hybrid? I do tend to write what I know and what I don't know, I research heavily. I can write elements I want in a book, even if I don't the element or location very well, then when it is time, I research.

I've never done NaNoWriMo due to hand tremors.

1/18/2025 07:40:38 am

That makes a lot of sense.

New question.

Have you done any ghostwriting?

1/18/2025 07:56:12 am

Ghostwriting? That would be a no.

1/18/2025 10:02:05 am

I suspected as much. I wanted to ask because it's one of my questions.

New question.

Have you ever written any fan fiction when you were younger? If so, what storyline were you mimicking or following?

1/18/2025 04:26:24 pm

I've never written fan fiction. When I could escape my mother, I read and lost myself in books. I preferred pretending to be Nancy Drew or Cherry Ames, etc...I also pretended to be females in a couple of comic strips like Dr. Morgan and me as June.

1/18/2025 05:39:30 pm

Very good, I have not written fan fiction either. It never occurred to me to try that. Like you, I wanted to read and nothing more.

New question.

What do you think of the current controversy regarding AI, Artificial Intelligence, and writing books?

1/19/2025 09:03:46 am

AI is not for me as far as writing goes. I put bits of me in each book, some more than others. I have not and will not use AI in writing a book. A book created with AI will stand out as such due to the way it works. Using AI is not being a creative person. AI will add word count, but they are general sentences that contain generalities that require no brain and heart use. NOT. FOR. ME.

I have not and will not use AI in creating a book cover. I have what I need for book covers such as my brain and images that I photograph or create.

I do use AI to create funny squirrel memes but before AI I used my own photos of our backyard wild squirrels in funny memes I created alone in Photoshop. I have 10-year-old memes I still use to this day.

I usually create my own graphics background using elements of my covers. I have created backgrounds to place covers on such as general snow-capped mountain peaks for my background. My cover is what stands out and my text. So, I use a mix of ones I have AI create and images that are free on Pixabay for backgrounds. I've never used AI for graphics in a picture book. Those are my own.

1/19/2025 09:09:37 am

I have been laughing at your squirrel memes for years! Thank you for so much entertainment. I appreciate your talent with graphics and covers. I have little skill in that area.

Since more 95 percent of published books have spelling and punctuation errors, I wonder how much of that will appear in a book written using AI. One of these days I will buy one, if it's cheap just to find out. Let me know if you see one. Authors are supposed to disclose if they used AI in writing the book. I wonder how many disclose that information.

New question.

Have you encountered a troll reviewing one of your books?

1/20/2025 09:31:43 am

Thanks for liking my squirrel memes. Squirrels can really funny. .

I never thought about errors in AI writing. Does't AI give you a brief synopsis? Probably many errors of some sort, I'm sure. I doubt many would disclose using AI. Again, the generalites and ambiguity of paragraphs should stand out as AI written. Paragraphs without heart and brain use.

New question.

Trolls happen here and there and not sure why. Do people hire trolls? I do know that legitimate reviews are hampered by those from trolls. Legit reviews are removed, even though legit. That has happened to me a lot.

1/20/2025 09:39:28 am

Early last year AI was pretty good at writing short stories. IAI functions quite well with short answers but the creators have been improving the program steadily. Now, an author can develop a plot and characters and then ask the AI to write a story in the style of a famous author.

Some trolls seem to like to get another person riled up. Others seek to prevent a book from selling. Most trolls haven't read the book and their ignorance shows.

New question.

Why do you think authentic reviews have been removed from some of your books?

1/21/2025 08:37:38 am

Well, then. I guess AI has come a long way. I had NO idea. But not for me.

On Amazon, their algorithms change all the time every day. Some are removed for no reason I can discern. If a person swaps reviews with another author, that can stand out.

I've taken to making screenshots of legit reviews and then pressing to get them back on as legit. This slows down writing and other creative endeavors and household chores.

1/21/2025 08:46:04 am

Yes, the algorithms change quite often. The plebians are seldom warned or given an explanation.

Six years ago, or maybe more. Amazon got tired of fake reviews and review mills. Some of the review mils were quite rough. They would offer a review for a low price and then charge you more if you wanted more than one star. Many authors were trading reviews also. Amazon went wild and started deleting reviews and accounts like crazy. If your account was deleted anything you rented from Amazon, such as books on your Kindle were gone. Some authors had their books removed from Amazon and I think any royalties were lost to the author. Getting reinstated was very hard.

Last question.

What was the first paying job you worked as a kid and how old were you?

1/21/2025 09:23:19 am

First paying job was as a babysitter for the first time ever for a toddler. Diaper changes were easy and feeding was easy. She was one year old. Her mom started a new job. He mom lasted three days at the new job as it was really hard to do the work. I was a three day babysitter for a one-year-old. Then I got a job as dishwasher at a cafe that had giant auto dishwashers...then promo to waitress...then hired on as special waitress at fancy hotel eatery. The tips were huge at that place. Anyway, from there I did other jobs, graduated high school, college, nursing, on staff and travel nursing, and then disability and writing. That sums it up. Thank you for having me on here. I appreciate it.

1/21/2025 09:54:05 am

Babysitting for a neighbor was one of my earliest paying jobs also. She had three kids under eight. I also mopped the kitchen floor sometimes.

Being a traveling nurse must have been interesting and challenging in some ways.

Thank you for hiring me to help promote your book, Mary. I have enjoyed our chat quite a bit. You have been a fabulous guest on the Word Refiner channel.
Until next time, keep on writing.

1/21/2025 10:35:52 am

Thank you, Mark.

Her Alibi by Mary L. Schmidt

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