Murder Strikes a Chord - A Guest Post, Review, & Giveaway

I'm pleased to welcome Cassidy Jamison to Cozy Up With Kathy today. You can find Cassidy on the pages of the Pearly Girl Mystery series by Heather Weidner. MURDER STRIKES A CHORD is the first book in the series and was released

A Day in the Life of Cassidy Jamison, Owner of Celebrations at Ivy Springs
MURDER STRIKES A CHORD: A Pearly Girls Mystery
Keylight Books from Turner Publishing
By Heather Weidner

Hi, y’all. I’m Cassidy Jamison, and I own Celebrations at Ivy Springs. I’m an event planner, and my property is nestled in the heart of the Blue Ridge Mountains near Staunton, Virginia. Guests can celebrate their special events or hold meetings, parties, or concerts in my amphitheater, serenity garden, or glamped up converted daily barn. I inherited the property from my grandparents. The property comes with some unusual history, too. It was home to my grandfather’s infamous honky-tonk that burned to the ground in the 1980s, and there’s a cave on the back of the property that is rumored to be part of an old family bootlegging tradition.

I am so fortunate to have a great team that handles everything all the reservations and decorating. My late grandmother’s Boomer friends, the Pearly Girls, grew up in the era of Jackie O and Camelot, and they got their nickname because they are never caught without their signature pearls. Ruthanne Carmichael, Aileen Roberts, Kate Carlson, and Roxie Matthews help me with all the planning and consulting, even if sometimes they offer too much advice (like trying to fix me up with any eligible bachelor in the tri-county area). But they mean well.

For a small town, we have had more than our share of excitement, and it wasn’t quite what any of us bargained for. But I guess I should start at the beginning. I was overjoyed to land a three-weekend event, the Groovin’ through the Decades concert series, featuring the Weathermen. The gals were over the moon to finally meet their favorite rockers, and the concerts with music from a variety of eras would give our bottom line a boost that would put my business in a good place for the upcoming year. Everything was planned and publicized, and then the Weathermen arrived in their giant buses with their roadies and drivers. I was happy to let them set up camp near the barn since the only motels nearby were Sid “Pro Quo” Proctor’s no-tell motels on the outskirts of town, and the gals were horrified to even mention them as a serious consideration for lodging.

On the day the buses arrived, the Pearly Girls finally recovered from acting all swoony and giggly, and we went over to meet the band and their manager. After that, the gals took advantage of every opportunity to “unexpectantly” bump into the band. The funny thing was that when I got an up-close look at the musicians, they weren’t as dreamy or polite as the gals had described.

One morning, Elvis and I went for one of our walks, and we found something strange in the serenity garden. The Weathermen’s lead singer, Johnny Storm, was floating face down in my koi pond. Definitely not a Zen moment. When word got out, there was a media frenzy, and not the kind of publicity that I ever wanted. Then the police set their sights on Roxie because she was the last person to be seen with Johnny Storm on the night of his murder.

The gals were beside themselves. I had to help Roxie clear her name. I spent the next few days poking around for clues and talking to anyone who was around on the night of the murder. The clock was ticking. I needed to solve the murder before Roxie was arrested and the curtains closed on the concert series and maybe my business.

 

**********************************************************************

Review

 

 MURDER STRIKES A CHORD by Heather Weidner

The First Pearly Girls Mystery

 

After her grandmother died Cassidy Jamison took over her family's property making Celebrations at Ivy Springs a destination event spot in the heart of the Blue Ridge Mountains. With the help of the Pearly girls, her grandmother's good friends, Celebrations hosts weddings, parties, concerts and more. Cassidy is excited to be hosting the Groovin' through the Decades music festival headlined by the Weathermen. The Pearly girls are even more excited being huge fans from back in the day. The rockers have not mellowed with age, however, not only partying far harder than Cassidy and seeming to snipe and fight each other. Still their first show was a hit and Cassidy hopes the festival will bring recognition to Celebration at Ivy Springs and tourist dollars for the town. But when she and her dog, Elvis, find the body of the lead singer dead in her koi pond, the recognition she gets may not be that welcome. And when the sheriff starts considering one of the Pearly girls guilty of murder she knows she needs to figure out who killed the frontman. 

MURDER STRIKES A CHORD proves that age is just a number and older folk can be vibrant, fun loving, and can party even harder than some decades younger! I love the Pearly girls and their zest for life. While I'm much closer in age to them than Cassidy, I relate to Cassidy's desire for early nights more than the late night partying by the others. Cassidy makes a fine protagonist. She's a competent businesswoman who knows how to delegate. She cares for her town as well as her property, preserving its history while still looking to the future. She also is a smart sleuther-limiting risks and calling in her own security detail as well as the sheriff's department when things get dicey.

 

Seventy year old rockers can still be a handful as Cassidy soon discovers. Their antics and their history provide lots of red herrings as the mystery progresses. Clues come from a variety of sources, including Cassidy's internet searches and I appreciate how she doesn't deliberately put herself in danger.

Music and memories combine in the fun debut mystery, MURDER STRIKES A CHORD. Be prepared to bop to your favorite musical hits and enjoy a laugh or two as you enjoy this trip to the beautiful Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia.

 

*********************************************************************

 Murder Strikes a Chord: A Pearly Girls Mystery by Heather Weidner

About Murder Strikes A Chord

Murder Strikes a Chord: A Pearly Girls Mystery
Cozy Mystery 1st in Series
Setting - Virginia
Publisher: ‎ Keylight Books;
1st edition (March 18, 2025)
Hardcover: ‎ 256 pages

Veronica Mars meets The Golden Girls as event planner Cassidy Jamison and her four sixty-year-old employees race to solve a rocker’s murder before the curtains close on their show and their business.

When Cassidy Jamison inherited her late grandmother’s event planning business, she also inherited her grandmother’s friends—four sixty-year-old women known around town as the Pearly Girls—as part-time employees. Now Cassidy barely has time to breathe between spending every waking hour trying to keep her business afloat and the Pearly Girls out of trouble and focused on event planning.

So when she lands a three-weekend event complete with a chart-topping band, she’s thrilled. Until she and her chihuahua mix Elvis find the body of the Weathermen’s lead singer in her venue’s koi pond. With the help of the not-so-helpful Pearly Girls, Cassidy must stave off the bad publicity, navigate the prying questions of the local police department, and solve the murder before the media frenzy shutters her business for good, and takes one of the Pearly Girls with it.

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, and Murder by the Glass, 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.

Social Media Links: 

Website and Blog: http://www.heatherweidner.com  

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/HeatherWeidnerAuthor  

Threads: https://www.threads.net/@heather_mystery_writer 

 BlueSky: Heather Weidner (@heatherweidner.bsky.social) — Bluesky  

TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@heather_weidner_author  

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/heather_mystery_writer/  

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/8121854.Heather_Weidner  

Amazon Authors: http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B00HOYR0MQ  

Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/HeatherBWeidner/  

BookBub: https://www.bookbub.com/authors/heather-weidner-d6430278-c5c9-4b10-b911-340828fc7003  

Twitter/X: https://twitter.com/HeatherWeidner1  

Purchase Links - Amazon - B&N - Bookshop.org