Occupation: Owner of the Fern Valley Camping Resort

Hi, all. I’m Jules Keene, and I own the Fern Valley Camping Resort. About three years ago, I returned home to the Blue Ridge Mountains to the campground my parents bought in the 1970s. After my divorce from the Idiot, I used my degree in interior design to help my dad restore a bunch of vintage trailers.

We turned old, beat up campers into posh “glamping” trailers with wine chillers, plush beds, and all kinds of electronic doo-dads for “glamourous camping.” And I’m really proud that we saved them from the scrapheap and preserved their history for future generations. I themed each one of them with special décor like the 1947 Robin Hood Trailer that is decked out in honor of its namesake, the 1959 Sunliner Caravan that sported a posh pink Barbie fashion design in honor of the year that the camper and the doll debuted, and the 1953 Redman New Moon, decorated in honor of Desi Arnaz and Lucille Ball’s movie from the same year, The Long, Long Trailer.

My trusty sidekick, Bijou, a spunky brown and white Jack Russell Terrier, and I spend most of my days (and nights) keeping the resort that I inherited viable. I’m always promoting on our social media sites and looking for ideas for fun get-aways like crafters’ weekends, writers’ retreats, wine tastings, and romantic Valentine weekends. It’s a full-time job and then some. But I love it, even if my aunt Roxanne, who works here part-time says that I worry too much about keeping the resort out of the red.

I have a great team that handles everything from reservations and activities to keeping the grass cut and the guests fed in the resort’s Lodge. The resort sits on 25 acres in the gorgeous Blue Ridge Mountains near Charlottesville, Virginia. Even though the work hours aren’t traditional, I wouldn’t trade this for any other job in the world even if we do get an occasional cranky guest.

This morning, started out like any other. Bijou and I took care of the calls and registration until Roxanne came in to cover the front desk and store. I even had some requests for hammocks and archery equipment. I also reminded everyone that we have all the fixin’s for our world famous skillet s’mores at the nightly bonfire. Everything for the perfect vacation.

Today was much quieter than earlier in the week, when one prickly guest kept complaining and arguing with another family with three small boys. The fussy guest is a writer who’s working on the next great American novel, and everything disturbs his focus. My staff has been tiptoeing around him and trying to be as accommodating as possible. I’m just glad today has been without altercations and complaints.

While I was out checking on the property and enjoying the sereness of the mountains in springtime, two of my guests were traipsing around the woods on a bird-watching expedition. The quietness of the morning evaporated when they tripped over the body of another resort guest, you guessed it, the cantankerous writer. And to make matters worse, he was found dead in only his red, satin unmentionables.

So, my guests and I spent the afternoon answering questions from the local sheriff, Matt Hobbs, and his deputy, Charles “Bubba” Dempsey. I am distraught over the loss of guest and beside myself over a murder on my property. I’m not sure how long this investigation is going to go on. I’m hoping they find the person responsible soon, so this doesn’t cause my other guests to panic. What am I going to do if I start losing reservations during our busy season? I can’t have my guests feel unsafe in a place that supposed to be happy, vacation spot.

Vintage Trailers and Black Mailers, A Jules Keene Glamping Mystery #1
Genre: Cozy
Release: October 2021
Purchase Link

There is nothing like finding a dead body, clad only in red satin thong, on your property to jolt you from a quiet routine. Jules Keene, owner of the posh Fern Valley Camping Resort in the Blue Ridge Mountains, is thrust into the world of the Dark Web when one of her guests, Ira Perkins, is found murdered in the woods near her vintage trailers. Jules quickly discovers that the man who claimed to be on a writing retreat was not what he seemed, and someone will go to any length to find what he left at her resort. Jules, along with her Jack Russell Terrier sidekick Bijou, has to put the rest of the missing pieces of a blackmailing scheme together before her business is ruined.

Jules’s resort, set in the heart of Virginia’s Blue Ridge Mountains near Charlottesville in the quaint town of Fern Valley, offers guests a unique vacation in refurbished and upcycled vintage trailers. Hoping to expand her offerings, she partners with her maintenance/security guy to create a village of tiny houses, the latest home DIY craze, but a second murder of a reporter interrupts Jules’s expansion plans. Curiosity gets the best of her, and she steps up her sleuthing to find out what Ira Perkins was really doing and what he hid at her resort.

About the author
Through the years, Heather Weidner has been a cop’s kid, technical writer, editor, college professor, software tester, and IT manager. Vintage Trailers and Blackmailers is the first in her cozy mystery series, the Jules Keene Glamping Mysteries. She also writes the Delanie Fitzgerald mystery series set in Virginia (Secret Lives and Private Eyes, The Tulip Shirt Murders, and Glitter, Glam, and Contraband).

Her short stories appear in the Virginia is for Mysteries series, 50 Shades of Cabernet, Deadly Southern Charm, and Murder by the Glass, and her novellas appear in The Mutt Mysteries series (To Fetch a Thief, To Fetch a Scoundrel, To Fetch a Villain, and To Fetch a Killer).

She is a member of Sisters in Crime – Central Virginia, Sisters in Crime – Chessie, Guppies, International Thriller Writers, and James River Writers.

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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