Cassidy Jamison is visiting Ascroft, eh? to tell us about Murder Strikes a Chord, the first novel in the Pearly Girls mystery series.

Welcome, Cassidy. Let’s get started, shall we?

Tell us about the novel that you live inside. Is it part of a series? If so, please tell us about the series too. Hi, I am Cassidy Jamison, and I own Celebrations at Ivy Springs, nestled in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia. It’s an event planning service with lots of amenities for any occasion. The property has an amphitheater for concerts and events, a serenity garden, and a glamped up barn for indoor events. In Murder Strikes a Chord, my team is hosting the Groovin’ through the Decades concert series that stars the popular band from the 1970s, the Weathermen. This story is the first on that Heather recorded about all our adventures. It’s the first in the Pearly Girls Mystery series.

Does the writer control what happens in the story or do you get a say too? Heather does a good job of recording what goes on her in Ivy Springs. I love my job and my team. When I inherited the property from my grandmother, her friends, the Pearly Girls, stepped in to help me run the business and plan events. They are a hoot. They’re all retired, and they get in way more trouble than I do. My team is made up of Aileen Roberts, a former elementary school teacher, Kate Carlson, a former nurse, Ruthanne Carmichael, a former accountant, and Roxie Matthews, the fashion plate of the group who has a reputation around town as a cougar.

How did you evolve as the main character? I used to be in marketing in Washington, DC. I returned home when my grandmother passed away. I decided to continue her business, and I moved into the top floor of the old farmhouse. It’s my business offices downstairs, and my apartment is on the second floor. I share my place with Elvis, my black and brown Chihuahua mix.

Do you have any other characters you like sharing the story with? If so, why are you partial to them? The Pearly Girls take every opportunity to play match maker for me. They think someone my age needs to have more fun. They have tried to fix me up with any eligible guy in the tri-county area. I think I can do just fine at finding my own dates. In this story, I have several prospects, and everyone will have to be patient and see which one I choose.

What’s the place like where you find yourself in this story? I love living in the valley, surrounded by the gorgeous Blue Ridge Mountains. The property has so much history. The serenity garden with its koi pond is probably my favorite spot. It has a perfect view of the mountains. We use it for weddings and celebrations. But the property also has a cave on the property, and rumor has it that my family used it for its bootlegging activities during Prohibition.

Is there anything else you’d like to tell readers about you and the book? I was thrilled to land the concert series, featuring the chart-topping band, the Weathermen. And the Pearly Girls were over the moon to finally meet their favorite rockers from the 1970s. I was hoping the concerts, showcasing music from a variety of eras, would help me bridge some generation gaps with the gals.

When Elvis and I found lead singer Johnny Storm dead in the koi pond in the serenity garden, it created a media frenzy, and not the kind I ever wanted. I had to solve the murder before the curtains close on the concerts and my business.

Thank you for answering my questions, Cassidy, and good luck to you and your author, Heather Weidner, with Murder Strikes a Chord, the first book in the Pearly Girls mystery series.

Readers can learn more about Cassidy and her author, Heather Weidner, by visiting the author’s website and her Facebook, Threads, TikTok, Goodreads, Bookbub, Instagram and Pinterest pages. You can also follow her on BlueSky and Twitter/X.

The novel is available at the following online retailers:

 Amazon – B&N – Bookshop.org 

About Heather Weidner: Through the years, Heather Weidner has been a cop’s kid, technical writer, editor, college professor, software tester, and IT manager. She writes the Pearly Girls Mysteries, the Delanie Fitzgerald Mysteries, The Jules Keene Glamping Mysteries, and The Mermaid Bay Christmas Shoppe Mysteries.

Her short stories appear in the Virginia is for Mysteries series, 50 Shades of Cabernet, Deadly Southern Charm, Murder by the Glass, First Comes Love, Then Comes Murder, and Crimes in the Old Dominion, and she has non-fiction pieces in Promophobia and The Secret Ingredient: A Mystery Writers’ Cookbook.

She is a member of Sisters in Crime: National, Central Virginia, Chessie, Guppies, and Grand Canyon Writers, International Thriller Writers, and James River Writers, and she blogs regularly with the Writers Who Kill.

Originally from Virginia Beach, Heather has been a mystery fan since Scooby-Doo and Nancy Drew. She lives in Central Virginia with her husband and a pair of Jack Russell terriers.