“I’ve written a lot of different genres, but in everything I’ve written, someone dies.”
And that is how LSUA graduate Ashley Weaver became a well-known author of soon to be seven books in the Amory Ames mystery series.
Having written since a young age, Weaver always had a dream of becoming an author, but when she first enrolled in LSUA she was on the path to becoming an educator. However, once she took an English class at the University, she changed her major, which laid the groundwork to becoming a published author upon her graduation from LSUA.
Her first book, however, was not penned at LSUA or even after graduation. Weaver completed her first full-length novel in high school where her friends would offer critiques over the lunch table. Since then, she has grown to be not only the author of the Amory Ames series, but also a nominee for an Edgar Award for her first book Murder at the Brightwell. The Edgar Awards are the equivalent of the Oscars for the mystery book world and while she didn’t take home the prize for Best First Novel, she did have the chance to attend the ceremony while sitting among such writers as Stephen King.
Weaver’s love for mysteries began at a young age with books such as Nancy Drew, The Hardy Boys, and Encyclopedia Brown. She says that she always felt as if mysteries are unique because they allow the reader to take part in the story as they try to solve the crime along with the detectives.
Her books allow the reader to follow Amory Ames and her husband Milo in 1930’s England as a wealthy couple who have a knack for finding, and solving, mysteries. Aside from the mysteries, readers also get to explore the Ames’ marriage, which isn’t always on solid footing. Even though the books are written from Amory’s point of view, Weaver says she enjoys writing both of her main characters even as she mentions wouldn’t want to be married to Milo.
When writing her books, Weaver explains that she doesn’t know who the killer will be until well into the writing process. She says she begins with writing random scenes and later rearranges and fills in between. Along the way, she gives all of the characters a motive to have committed the crime and eventually decides who makes the best fit before going back to make sure her new found killer makes sense. She says that if she doesn’t know who the killer is, then hopefully the reader won’t either.
Weaver already has six books of the Amory Ames series on store shelves with the seventh one finished and available in September 2019. In addition to Murder at the Brightwell, she is also the author of Death Wears a Mask, A Most Novel Revenge, Intrigue in Capri, The Essence of Malice, and An Act of Villainy. She will begin work on the eighth book of the series soon. All books are available in local bookstores, libraries, and Amazon as well as in audio format and large print.