Anne Frasier

Anne Frasier (born c. 1950s) is a pseudonym for Theresa Weir.

Anne Frasier (a.k.a. Theresa Weir) is a New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of twenty-five books and numerous short stories that have spanned the genres of suspense, mystery, thriller, romantic suspense, paranormal, fantasy, and memoir. During her award-winning career, she's written for Penguin Putnam, Simon & Schuster, HarperCollins Publishers, Bantam Books/Random House, Silhouette Books, Grand Central Publishing/Hachette, and Thomas & Mercer. Her titles have been printed in both hardcover and paperback and translated into twenty languages. Her memoir, THE ORCHARD, was a 2011 Oprah Magazine Fall Pick, Number Two on the Indie Next list, a featured B+ review in Entertainment Weekly, and a Librarians’ Best Books of 2011. Going back to 1988, 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 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. All of 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 and International Thriller Writers.

The Orchard (by Theresa Weir)

An Oprah Magazine Fall Pick Featured Review in Entertainment Weekly Number Two on October Indie Next List BJ's Book Club Spotlight LIbrarians' Best Books of 2011 Maclean's Top Books of 2011 On Point (NPR) Best Books of 2011 Abrams Best of 2011 Publishers Lunch (Publishers Weekly) Favorite Books of 2011 Eighth Annual One Book, One Community 2012, Excelsior, Minnesota Target Book Club Pick, September 2012

Frasier/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 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 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. She continues to write romance under Theresa Weir.

Writing 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 (April 2012)

Woman in a Black Veil (July 2012)

Dark: Volume 1 (short stories, July 2012)

Dark: Volume 2 (short stories, July 2012)

Black Tupelo (short-story collection July 2012)

Girls from the North Country (short story, August 2012)

Made of Stars (short story, August 2012

Play Dead reissue (February 2014)

Stay Dead (April 2014)

From the Indie Side (Anthology, 2014)

Writing as Theresa Weir

The 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, Reviewer’s 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)

Max Under the Stars, short story (2010)

The Orchard, a memoir (September 2011

The Man Who Left, a memoir (April 2012, New York Times Bestseller, Barnes & Noble Bestseller, Amazon.com bestseller)

Girl with the Cat Tattoo (June 2012)

Come As You Are (September 2013)

Geek with the Cat Tattoo (2013)

Come As You Are (2013)

He's Come Undone (2014)