Beverle Graves Myers is an American author of mystery novels and short stories. Her major work is the Tito Amatomystery series set in 18th-century Venice, published by Poisoned Pen Press. She is also the co-author, with Joanne Dobson, of a stand-alone crime novel set in New York Cityon the eve of World War II. Myers' novels are traditional mysteries which feature a large cast of characters, a deep sense of time and place, and meticulously researched period details. Myers' short stories are set in a variety of times and places; several stories feature her series characters.
Background
Myers was born and raised in Louisville, Kentucky. Her father was an attorney, her mother a homemaker. Myers attended the University of Louisville, earning a BA in History and an MD from the School of Medicine. She also completed a residency program in psychiatry and practiced at a public mental health clinic in eastern Kentucky for approximately ten years before taking up writing full-time. Myers and her husband, Lawrence, now divide their time between Louisville, Kentucky and Southwest Florida. The couple has two adult children and four grandchildren.
Career
Myers combined her love of history, opera, Italy, and mystery to write the Tito Amato mystery series. She often states that she fell in love with the mystery genre while reading Agatha Christie as a young girl. She credits Anne Rice's Cry to Heaven and Steven Saylor's Gordianus the Finder series with providing inspiration for her historical series that follows the career of Venetian castrato soprano and amateur sleuth Tito Amato. Her first novel, Interrupted Aria, was published by Poisoned Pen Press in 2004. The complete series encompasses six books. Her first published short story, "A Baroque Phantom," was also set in Venice and has been followed by numerous others. Four stories which have been published in Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine form a series featuring Nicco Zianni, an 18th-century "Private Eye." Myers' work has been nominated for the Macavity Award, Kentucky Literary Award, and Derringer Award. One of her short stories, "Haven City," was named a Notable Story of 2006 by the Million Writers Award. She is a member of Mystery Writers of America and the Historical Fiction Authors Cooperative. She has served on the boards of the Midwest Chapter of MWA, HFAC, her local Sisters in Crime chapter, and was Program Chair for the Kentucky Woman's Book Festival 2006.
