Amy Myers

Amy Myers (born 3 August 1938) is a British mystery writer. She is best known for her Marsh and Daughter mystery series, featuring a writing team consisting of a wheel-chair bound ex-policeman and his daughter, and for another series featuring a Victorian era chef, Auguste Didier.[1] Myers' books have been favourably reviewed in Library Journal,[2][3][4][5] Publishers Weekly,[6][7] Booklist,[8] and Kirkus Reviews.[9][10][11] Myers has also been published several times in Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine.[12][13] Janet Hutchings, the magazine's longtime editor, called Myers "one of our best and most frequent contributors of historicals" (i.e., historical mysteries).[13]

Personal life

Myers was born in Barnehurst,[14] which was still considered part of Kent in 1938. (In 1965, the town became part of Greater London.) It was while working in publishing that Myers met her soon-to-be American husband. Myers oversaw the publication of an autobiography by English bullfighter Henry Higgins; she met Higgins, his co-author, and the co-author's cousin, James Myers, born in Buffalo, New York.[15][16] Although American-born, James Myers, has spent his adult life living in Europe.[16]

For 10 years, the Myers maintained a commuter marriage, dividing their time between Paris, where James worked, and London, where Amy worked.[1][15][17] It was during her stays in Paris that Myers dreamed up the character for her first mystery series, Auguste Didier, a half-English, half French chef who reluctantly dabbled in detection during the late Victorian and Edwardian periods.[17] The couple now live in Kent full time.[2][15][17]

Writing career

Like the character Luke Frost in Myers' Marsh and Daughter series, Myers was once a publisher. She served as director of the now-defunct publishing firm of William Kimber & Co. Ltd., which specialised in war and theatrical memoirs, autobiographies, biographies, and tales of hauntings.[17] Myers published her first mystery, Murder in Pug's Parlor, in 1986. In 1988, Myers turned to writing full time. After 11 Auguste Didier mysteries, Myers introduced former police detective Peter Marsh and his daughter Georgia in The Wickenham Murders in 2004. The father–daughter team write true-crime novels in which they expose an injustice or sleuth out the answer to an unsolved crime from the distant past.[18] The Marshes' investigations almost inevitably involve them with present-day murders stemming from secrets involving the past.[18] Myers launched a third series in 2007 with Tom Wasp and the Murdered Stunner. Tom Wasp, a Victorian era chimney sweep in East London, solves crimes along with his former apprentice, Ned.[18] Myers' fourth series, written with the help of her car buff husband, began in 2011 with Classic in the Barn.[16] That series features a modern-day classic-car restorer in Kent, Jack Colby, who helps the police with cases involving classic cars.[18]

For her romances, historical sagas and suspense novels, Myers created the pseudonym Harriet Hudson, although she has occasionally also used the names Laura Daniels and Alice Carr.[17][15]

Myers also writes reviews of other books at the online crime and thriller magazine Shots.[17]

Mystery novels

Auguste Didier series

Marsh and Daughter series

Tom Wasp series

Classic Car series

Under the pseudonym Harriet Hudson

The Ashden Quartet

(set in the English homefront during World War I at the rectory in the Sussex village of Ashden)

Under the pseudonym Laura Daniels

References

  1. 1 2 Vicarel, Jo Ann (1 September 2007). Library Journal 132 (14): 116. ISSN 0363-0277.
  2. 1 2 Klett, Rex E. (1 November 2004). "The Wickenham Murders". Library Journal (Media Source, Inc.) 129 (18): 58. ISSN 0363-0277.
  3. ↑ Vicarel, Jo Ann (1 August 2007). "Murder and the Golden Goblet: A Marsh and Daughter Mystery". Library Journal (Media Source, Inc.) 132 (13): 55. ISSN 0363-0277.
  4. ↑ Vicarel, Jo Ann (1 September 2008). "Murder in the Mist: A Marsh and Daughter Mystery". Library Journal (Media Source, Inc.) 133 (14): 102. ISSN 0363-0277.
  5. ↑ Jacobsen, Teresa L. (1 June 2011). "Classic in the Barn: A Case for Jack Colby, Car Detective". Library Journal (Media Source, Inc.) 136 (10): 84. ISSN 0363-0277.
  6. ↑ "Tom Wasp and the Newgate Knocker". Publishers Weekly (PWxyz LLC) 257 (11): 41. 15 March 2010. ISSN 0000-0019.
  7. ↑ "Classic in the Barn: A Case for Jack Colby, the Car Detective". Publishers Weekly (PWxyz LLC) 228 (20): 59. 16 May 2011. ISSN 0000-0019.
  8. ↑ Flanagan, Margaret (15 December 2012). "Classic in the Clouds". Booklist (American Library Association) 109 (8): 21. ISSN 0006-7385.
  9. ↑ "Book Review: Tom Wasp and the Newgate Knocker". Kirkus Reviews (Kirkus Reviews, LLC) 78 (6): 229. 15 March 2010. ISSN 1948-7428.
  10. ↑ "Book Review: Classic Calls the Shots". Kirkus Reviews (Kirkus Media, LLC) 80 (12): 1218. 15 June 2012. ISSN 1948-7428.
  11. ↑ "Book Review: Classic Mistake". Kirkus Reviews 81 (14): 330. 15 July 2013. ISSN 1948-7428.
  12. ↑ "2011". Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine. Retrieved 1 December 2013.
  13. 1 2 Hutchings, Janet (27 March 2013). ""History Mystery" (by Amy Myers)". Something Is Going To Happen: The Editor of Ellery Queen′s Mystery Magazine. Retrieved 1 December 2013.
  14. ↑ "Amy Myers Author Profile". Goodreads. Retrieved 16 September 2012.
  15. 1 2 3 4 "Our Authors: Amy Myers". Severn House Publishers. Retrieved 16 September 2012.
  16. 1 2 3 Myers, James. "Crime in the Fast Lane". Retrieved 16 September 2012.
  17. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Myers, Amy. "Author Web Page". amymyers.net. Retrieved 16 September 2012.
  18. 1 2 3 4 Myers, Amy. "The Characters, Amy Myers' Web Page". Retrieved 16 September 2012.

External links

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