Sherry Ickes
- Sep 10
- 4 min read

Heather Weidner is…On the Writing Block!

Updated: Sep 23

Welcome everyone! Firstly, who is Heather?

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, and First Comes Love, Then Comes Murder, and she has non-fiction pieces in Promophobia and The Secret Ingredient: A Mystery Writers’ Cookbook.

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.

Do you have a writing schedule, or do you write whenever you can squeeze it in?

I am an IT manager by day, so I schedule most of my writing time. I’m an early bird. I get up at 5 and write until I start work. I usually write during my lunch break. If I hit my word count, then I’m done for the day. If not, I do some more writing in the evening.

Do you always know who the killer is, or do your characters surprise you in the

end?

I am a planner/plotter. I outline all of my books before I start writing, so I know who the killer is. But sometimes, the characters do surprise me, and they take on a life of their own. I had a character in the Delanie Fitzgerald Mysteries who was supposed to appear in book one. He was so outrageous and zany. Readers loved him, and he became a regular in the series.

Any advice for other authors?

Be persistent. If you want to be an author, you need to stick with it. Writing is a business, a tough business. It takes a lot of work and time, but it is worth it when that box of books arrives with your name on the cover.

How much is based on real life versus made up?

My stories are fiction, but there are a lot of real-life elements. No one around me is safe. I am always jotting down ideas, cool names, and snippets of dialog. I keep a big idea spreadsheet, and I read through this as soon as I start to plot the next book. Crimes and murder motives can be sparked from true stories. I am a Virginia gal. I write where I know, so all of my stories are set somewhere in the Commonwealth. Readers will recognize real places and a lot of references to pop culture.

Are there any animals in your book? If so, describe them and how involved they are in the investigation.

We share our home with two crazy Jack Russell terriers. They’re part of our family, so it’s natural that all my stories have pets. In the Mermaid Bay Christmas Shoppe Mysteries, Jade Hicks shares her home with a chubby French bulldog named Chloe. The Christmas store has its own mouser, Neville the Devil cat. He’s a beautiful tuxedo cat who was a stray who decided to stay. He and Chloe have a love/hate relationship. All the pets are integral to the stories, and they often help uncover clues. My Delanie Fitzgerald mysteries has Margaret, the English bulldog. My Jules Keene Glamping series has Bijou, the zany Jack Russell Terrier, and my new series (coming March 2025), the Pearly Girls Mysteries has Elvis, a spunky Chihuahua mix.

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What is Twinkle Twinkle Au Revoir about?

Love is in the air when Hollywood arrives in Mermaid Bay, and the town may never be the same. Fans will do almost anything to get a glimpse of the actors or a chance to be an extra in the Love Channel’s “My Coastal Valentine.” Crowds flock to the cozy beach town from all over and business is booming for Christmas shop owner, Jade Hicks, until the body of a testy reporter is found in one of the actor’s rooms. And if murder isn’t bad enough, someone tries to kill the show’s star, hunky Raphael Allard.

The cozy little beach town feels cursed, as the Love Channel threatens to pull out of the project. Jade and the gang, Lorelei, Peppermint Patti, Bernie, Chloe, and Neville the Devil Cat, have to solve the crimes before it ruins the town’s reputation and breaks the hearts of fans across the country.