HANK PHILLIPPI RYAN: You can only do it once—have a debut novel.
I was honored to be an Edgar judge for Best First last year, and plowed though dozens
and dozens and dozens of debuts. The Edgar nominees glistened like jewels among
them. It was amazing how they stood out.
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| Ashley Weaver |
One was Ashley Weaver’s chic and clever Nick and Nora-ish mystery Murder at the Brightwell—words like
lavish and viscount and champagne and playboy and gala and cloche occur, as do
jewelry and resort and chauffeur. You get the picture. We all loved it!
And now, Ashley Weaver takes her characters to a new
adventure. (And you can only do that once, too—write your second novel!) Where does she
come up with this stuff? You’d never guess. First, she had a dream…
ASHLEY WEAVER: I’ll be the first to admit: as a mild-mannered
librarian, I’m not exceptionally daring in my day-to-day affairs.
Don’t get me
wrong. I love to travel, to see new places and have adventures. But I’m also a
big fan of good old routine. Most days will find me happily sitting at my desk,
ordering or cataloging books and drinking large quantities of coffee from my favorite
sassy (but true!) mug.
While public libraries aren’t exactly as quiet as the old stereotype
suggests, there is something soothing about being surrounded by books, and the
library was always one of my favorite places long before I thought of working
there. What better place for a writer to flourish, after all, than surrounded
by rows and rows of beautiful books!
(The library, my natural habitat.)
Yes, I
enjoy a quiet life . . . until I get home at night, that is. My evenings are
filled with drama and danger. Of the fictional variety. When it comes to books,
the more mayhem the better! For as long as I’ve been reading, I have loved
mysteries. I love the thrill of the unknown, of being caught up in the hunt for
clues that will make everything clear. I love the moment when I’m reading a book and the scene becomes so intense
that I have to close the pages for a few moments before I can face it.
It’s no surprise, then, that when I started writing, it was always
mystery stories that I wanted to tell. My Amory Ames Mysteries came about when
I had a dream with my character’s name. That was it. There were no other
details in the dream. But I knew right away who she was and what kind of story
she belonged in, and everything just unfolded from there.
I discovered as I mapped out Amory’s adventures that writing a
character’s risky behaviors is perhaps even more fun than reading about them.
In fact, that’s one of my favorite things about being a writer: getting my
characters into trouble that I would be sensible enough to avoid! I would never,
for example, visit disreputable pawnbrokers in disguise to haggle over stolen
jewels or confront a killer I’d caught red handed. But Amory would, and does,
and shows no sign of learning her lesson!
Of
course, that’s the stuff that heroines are made of. A bit of recklessness
and the willingness to put oneself in jeopardy is what gets mysteries solved,
after all. And what makes reading them so enjoyable! I suppose it is inevitable, then, that Amory
will keep sticking her nose where it doesn’t belong and getting into all sorts
of mischief. I will be enjoying every minute of it, and I hope readers will
too!
So, despite
my quiet day job, I live a life of mystery. As both a reader and a writer, I
love the idea that characters are up for a challenge and can meet undauntedly
whatever calamities come their way, solving the crime and saving the day.
That’s not to say my day job doesn’t have its own exciting
moments. There was that especially lovely one last year when my love of
libraries, mysteries, and writing combined, and I got to put my first mysterynovel on the library’s shelf. As a librarian, I can’t image a much bigger
adventure than that!
HANK: So, in honor of Avery, let’s do a library shout out! What’s you favorite library, or the one that
changed your life, or the one you frequent these days?
(And you do remember, just saying, the paperback of TRUTH BE TOLD
is now on sale, and I do mean sale! $5.03…and I have a very VERY special offer
for you right here! http://bit.ly/1Kp5ZIP
AshleyWeaver is the Technical Services Coordinator for the Allen Parish Libraries in
Louisiana. Weaver has worked in libraries since she was 14; she was a page and
then a clerk before obtaining her MLIS from Louisiana State University. She
lives in Oakdale, Louisiana.
Following the murderous events at the Brightwell Hotel, Amory Ames is
looking forward to a tranquil period of reconnecting with reformed playboy
husband Milo. Amory hopes a quiet stay at their London flat will help mend
their dysfunctional relationship after their unexpected reconciliation.
However, she soon finds herself drawn into another investigation when Serena
Barrington asks her to look into the disappearance of valuable jewelry snatched
at a dinner party.
Amory agrees to help lay a trap to catch the culprit at a lavish masked ball hosted by the notorious Viscount Dunmore. But when one of the illustrious party guests is murdered, Amory is pulled back into the world of detection, enlisted by old ally Detective Inspector Jones. As she works through the suspect list, she struggles to fend off the advances of the very persistent viscount even as rumors swirl about Milo and a French film star.
Once again, Amory and Milo must work together to solve a mystery where nothing is as it seems, set in the heart of 1930s society London.
Amory agrees to help lay a trap to catch the culprit at a lavish masked ball hosted by the notorious Viscount Dunmore. But when one of the illustrious party guests is murdered, Amory is pulled back into the world of detection, enlisted by old ally Detective Inspector Jones. As she works through the suspect list, she struggles to fend off the advances of the very persistent viscount even as rumors swirl about Milo and a French film star.
Once again, Amory and Milo must work together to solve a mystery where nothing is as it seems, set in the heart of 1930s society London.
