Occupation: Owner of Celebrations at Ivy Springs

Hi, y’all. I’m Cassidy Jamison, and I own Celebrations at Ivy Springs. I’m an event planner, and my place in the Blue Ridge Mountains near Staunton, Virginia is used for meetings, parties, concerts, and weddings. I inherited the property from my grandparents. There’s a glammed up dairy barn for hosting large events. I also have an outdoor amphitheater and a serenity garden with an amazing view of the mountains. The area 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 sexagenarian 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, Aileen, Kate, and Roxie 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 recently, and it wasn’t quite what any of us bargained for. It all started a few weeks ago on a day that began like any other day for Elvis (my chihuahua mix), the Pearly Girls, and me in the converted farmhouse that serves as the office, conference room, and my upstairs apartment. But it ended up quite differently with all of us shell-shocked and in a daze.

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 or serene 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.

Murder Strikes A Chord: A Pearly Girls Mystery, Book 1
Genre: Cozy Mystery
Release: March 2025
Format: Print, Digital
Purchase Link

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 the author
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.

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