Tag: Heather Weidner

Deadly Southern Charm is a cozy mystery anthology from Sisters in Crime – Central Virginia

This volume collects original tales by Frances Aylor, Mollie Cox Bryan, Lynn Cahoon, Judy Chalkey, Stacie Giles, Barb Goffman, Libby Hall, Bradley Harper, Sherry Harris, Maggie King, Kristin Kisska, Samatha McGraw, K.L. Murphy, Genille Swope Parente, Deb Rolfe, Rod Sterling, S.A. Warwick, and Heather Weidner.

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Featured photo: Detail from the cover of Holland’s, a Magazine of the South. 1926.

About the Authors

Frances Aylor, CFA combines her investing experience and love of travel in her financial thrillers. MONEY GRAB is the first in the series.  www.francesaylor.com
Mollie Cox Bryan is the author of cookbooks, articles, essays, poetry, and fiction. An Agatha Award nominee, she lives in Central Virginia.  www.molliecoxbryan.com
Lynn Cahoon is the NYT and USA Today author of the best-selling Tourist Trap, Cat Latimer and Farm-to-Fork mystery series. www.lynncahoon.com
A. Chalkley is a native Virginian. She is a writer, retired public safety communications officer, and a member of Sisters in Crime.

Stacie Giles lived many places before settling in Virginia where she is returning to ancestral Southern roots, including a grandfather who was a Memphis policeman.
Barb Goffman has won the Agatha, Macavity, and Silver Falchion awards for her short stories, and is a two-time finalist for US crime-writing awards.www.Barbgoffman.com
Libby Hall is a communication analyst with a consulting firm in Richmond, Virginia. She is also a blogger, freelance writer, wife, and mother of two.
Bradley Harper is a retired Army pathologist.  Library Journal named his debut novel, A KNIFE IN THE FOG, Debut of the Month for October 2018.  www.bharperauthor.com
Sherry Harris is the Agatha Award-nominated author of the Sarah Winston Garage Sale mystery series and is the president of Sisters in Crime.www.sherryharrisauthor.com
Maggie King penned the Hazel Rose Book Group mysteries. Her short stories appear in the Virginia is for Mysteries and 50 Shades of Cabernet anthologies. www.maggieking.com
Kristin Kisska is a member of International Thriller Writers and Sisters in Crime, and programs chair of the Sisters in Crime – Central Virginia chapter. www.kristinkisska.com
Samantha McGraw has a love of mysteries and afternoon tea. She lives in Richmond with her husband and blogs at Tea Cottage Mysteries.www.samanthamcgraw.com
K.L. Murphy is a freelance writer and the author of the Detective Cancini Mysteries. She lives in Richmond, Virginia, with her husband, four children, and two dogs.www.Kellielarsenmurphy.com
Genilee Swope Parente has written the romantic mystery The Fate Series with her mother F. Sharon Swope. The two also have several collections of short stories. www.swopeparente.com
Deb Rolfe primarily writes mystery novels. This is her first published short story. She and her husband enjoy life in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia.

Ronald Sterling is the author of six books and draws upon his colorful and varied life experience as a U.S. Airman, saloonkeeper, private detective, realtor, and New Jersey mayor.
S.A. Warwick, in the last century earned a bachelor’s degree in American Studies. Ever since, she has been trying to decipher the American enigma.
Heather Weidner is the author of the Delanie Fitzgerald Mysteries. She has short stories in the Virginia is for Mysteries series, 50 SHADES OF CABERNET and TO FETCH A THIEF. She lives in Central Virginia with her husband and Jack Russell terriers.  www.heatherweidner.com

The Editors

Mary Burton is a New York Times, USA Today and Kindle best-selling author. She is currently working on her latest suspense. www.maryburton.com
Mary Miley is a historian and writer with 14 nonfiction books and 5 mystery novels to her credit. www.marymileytheobald.com

>>> Enter to win one of ten print copies of Secret Lives and Private Eyes <<<
Business has been slow for Private Investigator Delanie Fitzgerald, but her luck seems to change when a tell-all author hires her to find rock star Johnny Velvet.

Could the singer—whose career purportedly ended in a fiery crash almost thirty years ago—still be alive?
As if sifting through dead ends in a cold case isn’t bad enough, Delanie is hired by loud-mouth strip club owner Chaz Wellington Smith, III, to uncover information about the mayor’s secret life. When the mayor is murdered, Chaz becomes the key suspect, and Delanie must clear his name. She also has to figure out why a landscaper keeps popping up in her other investigation. Can the private investigator find the connection between the two cases before another murder—possibly her own—takes place?
Secret Lives and Private Eyes is a fast-paced mystery that will appeal to readers who like a strong, female sleuth with a knack for getting herself in and out of difficult, and sometimes humorous, situations.

Q: Heather, thanks for stopping by! Tell us a little bit about your main character, Delanie.
A: Delanie Fitzgerald is my sleuth. She is a sassy private investigator who has a knack for getting herself in and out of humorous situations. She lives in a Sears Catalog house from 1939. Her partner, Duncan Reynolds, is a computer geek/hacker who has an English bulldog named Margaret.

Q: I love those Sears Catalog Homes! So how much of you is in your protagonist? How would you feel about Delanie if you met her in real life?
A: We are both redheads, and we both like junk food, driving Mustangs, and dogs. But that’s about where the similarity ends. Delanie gets into way more trouble than I ever did. I think she and I would be friends. We have a lot of the same interests. She would be fun to hang out or have adventures with.
Q: Do your characters change and evolve throughout consecutive books in the series?
A: Delanie grows as a character throughout this book and into the next one. In Secret Lives and Private Eyes, she gets into a little trouble by crossing some lines in her investigations. By book two, she’s learned from some of her earlier missteps.
Q: Have you ever thought of killing someone that you know in real life–on the pages of a murder mystery, I mean?
A: Hasn’t every mystery writer? I always tell my unruly co-workers that they’re going to end up in a dumpster in a future book. I sprinkle in characteristics of real people in all of my books and stories. Family, friends, and co-workers will probably see names and phrases that they recognize.
Q: How realistic is your setting? Do you take liberties, or are you true to life?
A: I write what and where I know. My stories and novels are all set in Virginia. The location gives me a lot of freedom to develop my mystery in a world with trees, cows, farmland, suburbia, skyscrapers, and the mighty James River. My sleuth, Delanie Fitzgerald, lives in a quaint Sears and Roebuck catalog bungalow that fits her quirky style. While there are some catalog homes in the Hopewell area, I took the liberty of moving one to Chesterfield County for my private eye. From 1908 to 1940, the homes were originally ordered and delivered by rail to the owners who assembled them on their property.
Delanie zooms around the countryside and through the city in her black Mustang. She investigates clues or tails suspects in and around many historic places. While the story, characters, and the murder are fiction, many of the locales are real, and I hope it provides readers some insight into a region jam-packed with lots of American history, great restaurants, and Southern flair.
Q: When the movie or TV series is made, who plays the major parts?
A: I think Jennifer Lawrence could play Delanie Fitzgerald. Duncan Reynolds could be played by Brenton Thwaites, Nicholas Hoult, or Ansel Elgort. Client and strip-club owner, Chaz Smith, could be played by Charlie Sheen or Gary Oldman. And 80s rocker Johnny Velvet could be played by Jon Bon Jovi or Johnny Depp.

The Movie Cast — Jennifer Lawrence, Ansel Elgort, Gary Oldman, Johnny Depp

Q: What’s the worst and best advice you’ve heard or received as an author?
A: The best advice I ever received was “Don’t Give up!” Writing is hard work, and you’re going to need thick skin. If you want to be a writer, be persistent.
I’ve had people make comments about how easy it is to write a book. Well, sort of. I always imagined the life of an author as someone who drank a lot of coffee and wrote brilliant books. I didn’t realize how much editing, revising, proofreading, marketing, and social media go along with the job. I love every minute of it, but it’s not always easy or fast. Publishing is often a slow process.

About The Author
Originally from Virginia Beach, Heather has been a mystery fan since Scooby Doo and Nancy Drew. She currently lives in Central Virginia with her husband and a pair of Jack Russell terriers. She is a member of Sisters in Crime International, Guppies, and Sisters in Crime – Central Virginia. Heather’s short stories appear in Virginia is for Mysteries and Virginia is for Mysteries Volume II. Her debut novel, Secret Lives and Private Eyes, will be published on June 20, 2016.
She is currently President of Sisters in Crime – Central Virginia.
Author Links
Website & Blog: http://www.heatherweidner.com/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/HeatherWeidner1
FB: https://www.facebook.com/HeatherWeidnerAuthor?ref=hl
Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/crazyforwords13/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/heather_mystery_writer/
Google+ : https://plus.google.com/+HeatherWeidner