Anne Frasier
Encyclopedia
Biography
Anne Frasier is a pseudonym for Theresa Weir, a USA Today bestselling author of nineteen novels that have spanned the genres of suspense, mystery, thriller, romantic suspense,paranormal, and memoir. Her books have been printed in both hardcover and paperback and translated into twenty languages. Weir’s debut title was the cult phenomenon AMAZON LILY, initially published by Pocket Books and later reissued by Bantam Books. Writing as Theresa Weir she won a RITA for romantic suspense (COOL SHADE), and a year later the Daphne du Maurier for paranormal romance (BAD KARMA). In her more recent Anne Frasier career, her thriller and suspense titles hit the USA Today list (HUSH, SLEEP TIGHT, PLAY DEAD) and were featured in Mystery Guild, Literary Guild, and Book of the Month Club. HUSH was both a RITA and Daphne du Maurier finalist. Well-known and respected in the mystery community, she served as hardcover judge for the Thriller presented by International Thriller Writers, and was guest of honor at the Diversicon 16 mystery/science fiction conference held in Minneapolis in 2008. Frasier books have received high praise from print publications such as Publishers Weekly, Minneapolis Star Tribune, and Crimespree, as well as online praise from Spinetingler, Book Loons, Armchair Interviews, Sarah Weinman’s Confessions of an Idiosyncratic Mind, and Ali Karim’s Shots Magazine. Her books have featured cover quotes from Lisa Gardner, Jane Ann Krentz, Linda Howard, Kay Hooper, and J.A. Konrath. Her short stories and poetry can be found in DISCOUNT NOIR, ONCE UPON A CRIME, and THE LINEUP, POEMS ON CRIME. She is a member of Sisters in Crime, International Thriller Writers, and Crimespace.Future releases:
The Orchard — a Theresa Weir memoir (hardcover) September 2011 Grand Central Publishing
Deadly Treats — a Halloween anthology edited and compiled by Anne Frasier (trade paperback) September 2011 Nodin Press
Theresa Weir was born in Burlington, Iowa, a river town settled by German, Irish, and Dutch immigrants. Her blue-collar parents divorced when she was six, and the next twelve years were spent in poverty, moving to and from Florida, Iowa, California, Illinois, and New Mexico. She graduated from Artesia High School, Artesia, New Mexico. After high school she worked as a waitress, a factory worker at Albuquerque’s Levi Strauss (where she sewed the Levi’s logo on the back pocket of jeans), followed by a secretarial position at Wally's LP Gas in Santa Fe, New Mexico. At age nineteen, she joined her uncle at his bar in rural Illinois across the Mississippi River from her birthplace of Burlington, Iowa. While tending bar at the Pilot House, she met an apple farmer and the two married three months later. Shortly after moving to the farm, she began writing. Four years later she was offered a contract with Pocket Books and her first novel, the ground breaking and multi-award winning Amazon Lily (Theresa Weir), was published in 1988.
Frasier/Weir began writing in the mid 1980s. Her first manuscript, Amazon Lily (Theresa Weir), was rejected by multiple agents and publishers because they believed that her hero was unlikable. The novel finally sold and went on to win the Romantic Times Best Romantic Adventure Writer Award, but Frasier continued to encounter editors who disliked her characters. In Frasier's words, her characters are "imperfect people who had problems, who didn't always make the right choices, but in the end triumphed." The characters have real, interesting problems, including a hero with agoraphobia
Agoraphobia
Agoraphobia is an anxiety disorder defined as a morbid fear of having a panic attack or panic-like symptoms in a situation from which it is perceived to be difficult to escape. These situations can include, but are not limited to, wide-open spaces, crowds, or uncontrolled social conditions...
and a heroine with an eating disorder.
Her work has been popular with readers and fellow romance writers, however, and in 1999 she was awarded a Romance Writers of America
Romance Writers of America
Romance Writers of America is a national non-profit genre writers association. It provides networking and support to individuals seriously pursuing a career in romance fiction and supports top authors such as Nora Roberts and Judith McNaught.-History:...
RITA Award for Best Romantic Suspense for her novel Cool Shade. She has also been awarded the Daphne du Maurier award for romantic suspense, and she has been awarded Romantic Times Career Achievement Award and been nominated for a Romantic Times Reviewers' Choice Award for Long Night Moon.
During her years of writing romance novels, Frasier's editors often asked her "to remove the blood and bodies" from her plots. She decided that instead it would be easier for her to remove the romance and focus more completely on the mystery of the story. After several years, she found a publisher willing to allow her to move her writing into this new direction. Although she has now stopped releasing new romance novels, her thrillers do contain elements of romance.
As Anne Frasier
- Hush, USA Today bestseller, RITA finalist, Daphne du Maurier finalist (2002)
- Sleep Tight, USA Today bestseller (2003)
- Play Dead, USA Today Bestseller (2004)
- Before I Wake (2005)
- Pale Immortal (2006)
- Garden of Darkness, RITA finalist (2007)
- Once Upon a Crime anthology, Santa's Little Helper (2009)
- The Lineup, Poems on Crime, Home (2010)
- Discount Noir anthology, Crack House (2010)
- Deadly Treats Halloween anthology, editor and contributor, The Replacement (September 2011)
- Once Upon a Crime anthology, Red Cadillac (March 2012)
As Theresa Weir
- Forever Man (1988)
- Amazon Lily, RITA finalist, Best New Adventure Writer award, Romantic Times (1988)
- Loving Jenny (1989)
- Pictures of Emily (1990)
- Iguana Bay (1990)
- Forever (1991)
- Last Summer (1992)
- One Fine Day (1994)
- Long Night Moon, Reviewers' Choice Award, Romantic Times (1995)
- American Dreamer (1997)
- Some Kind of Magic (1998)
- Cool Shade RITA winner, romantic suspense (1998)
- Bad Karma, Daphne du Maurier award, paranormal (1999)
- The Orchard, a memoir (September 2011)