John Lutz Book Signing on Saturday, August 27, from 1:00 to 3:00 p.m.

St. Louis author John Lutz will sign copies of Serial, the latest in his detective Frank Quinn thriller series, on Saturday, August 27, from 1 to 3 p.m. at Big Sleep Books, 239 N. Euclid, St. Louis.

From John Lutz' web site:

John Lutz's work includes political suspense, private eye novels, urban suspense, humor, occult, crime caper, police procedural, espionage, historical, futuristic, amateur detective, thriller; virtually every mystery sub-genre. He is the author of more than forty novels and over 200 short stories and articles.

His novels and short fiction have been translated into almost every language and adapted for almost every medium. He is a past president of both Mystery Writers of America and Private Eye Writers of America. Among his awards are the MWA Edgar, the PWA Shamus, The Trophee 813 Award for best mystery short story collection translated into the French language, the PWA Life Achievement Award, and the Short Mystery Fiction Society's Golden Derringer Lifetime Achievement Award.

He is the author of two private eye series, the Nudger series, set in St. Louis, Missouri, and the Carver series, set in Florida, as well as many non-series novels. His SWF Seeks Same was made into the hit movie Single White Female, starring Bridget Fonda and Jennifer Jason Leigh, and his novel The Ex was made into the HBO original movie of the same title, for which he co-authored the screenplay.

Dennis Lehane's Moonlight Mile Nominated for 2011 Best Novel Barry Award

Dennis Lehane's Moonliight Mile has been nominated for a Barry Award as "Best Novel" by the readers of Deadly Pleasures magazine. The Barry Awards will be presented at Bouchercon right here in St Louis in September.

From Dennis Lehane's web site:

Amanda McCready was four years old when she vanished from a Boston neighborhood twelve years ago. Desperate pleas for help from the child's aunt led investigators Kenzie and Gennaro to take on the case. The pair risked everything to find the young girl -- only to orchestrate her return to a neglectful mother and a broken home.

Now Amanda is sixteen -- and gone again. A stellar student, brilliant but aloof, she seemed destined to escape her upbringing. Yet Amanda's aunt is once more knocking on Patrick Kenzie's door, fearing the worst for the little girl who has blossomed into a striking, clever young woman—a woman who hasn't been seen in weeks

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"Nowhere to Run" Nominated for 2011 Best Novel Barry Award

Nowhere to Run by C.J. Box has been nominated for a Barry Award as "Best Novel" by the readers of Deadly Pleasures magazine. The Barry Awards will be presented at Bouchercon right here in St Louis in September.

C.J. Box won both the Anthony and Barry Awards for Best First Novel in 2001 for Open Season.

From C.J. Box's web site:

Joe Pickett’s in his last week as the temporary game warden in the isolated town of Baggs, Wyoming, but there have been strange things going on in the surrounding mountains, and his conscience won’t let him leave without checking them out: reports of camps looted, tents slashed, elk butchered. And then there’s the runner who’s gone missing -– an Olympic hopeful who’d been training in the region and then just…vanished. Joe doesn’t mind admitting that the farther he rides, the more he wishes he could just turn around and go home. And he is right to be concerned. Because what awaits him is like nothing he’s ever dealt with, like something out of an old story, except this is all too real and all too deadly. When he’d first saddled up, he’d thought of this as his last patrol. What he hadn’t known was just how accurate that might turn out to be.

"I'd Know You Anywhere" by Laura Lippman Nominated for 2011 Best Novel Anthony Award

Laura Lippman's I'd Know You Anywhere has been nominated for a 2011 Anthony Award as Best Novel. The Anthony Awards are given at each annual Bouchercon World Mystery Convention with the winners selected by attendees. The award is named for the late Anthony Boucher (William Anthony Parker White), well-known writer and critic from the New York Times, who helped found the Mystery Writers of America. This year's Bouchercon will be held this September 15-18 right here in St. Louis.

From Laura Lippman's web site:

Eliza Benedict cherishes her peaceful, ordinary suburban life with her successful husband and children, thirteen-year-old Iso and eight-year-old Albie. But her tranquillity is shattered when she receives a letter from the last person she ever expects -- or wants -- to hear from: Walter Bowman. There was your photo, in a magazine. Of course, you are older now. Still, I'd know you anywhere.

In the summer of 1985, when she was fifteen, Eliza was kidnapped by Walter and held hostage for almost six weeks. He had killed at least one girl and Eliza always suspected he had other victims as well. Now on death row in Virginia for the rape and murder of his final victim, Walter seems to be making a heartfelt act of contrition as his execution nears. Though Eliza wants nothing to do with him, she's never forgotten that Walter was most unpredictable when ignored. Desperate to shelter her children from this undisclosed trauma in her past, she cautiously makes contact with Walter. She's always wondered why Walter let her live, and perhaps now he'll tell her -— and share the truth about his other victims.

Yet as Walter presses her for more and deeper contact, it becomes clear that he is after something greater than forgiveness. He wants Eliza to remember what really happened that long-ago summer. He wants her to save his life. And Eliza, who has worked hard for her comfortable, cocooned life, will do anything to protect it -— even if it means finally facing the events of that horrifying summer and the terrible truth she's kept buried inside.

"Faithful Place" by Tana French Nominated for 2011 Best Novel Anthony Award

Tana French's Faithful Place has been nominated for a 2011 Anthony Award as Best Novel. The Anthony Awards are given at each annual Bouchercon World Mystery Convention with the winners selected by attendees. The award is named for the late Anthony Boucher (William Anthony Parker White), well-known writer and critic from the New York Times, who helped found the Mystery Writers of America. This year's Bouchercon will be held this September 15-18 right here in St. Louis.

In 2007, Tana French won the Edgar Award for Best First Novel for In the Woods.

From Tana French's web site:

Back in 1985, Frank Mackey was nineteen, growing up poor in Dublin's inner city and living crammed into a small flat with his family on Faithful Place. But he had his sights set on a lot more. He and his girl Rosie Daly were all set to run away to London together, get married, get good jobs, break away from factory work and poverty and their old lives.

But on the winter night when they were supposed to leave, Rosie didn't show. Frank took it for granted that she'd dumped him - probably because of his alcoholic father, nutcase mother, and generally dysfunctional family. He never went home again.

Neither did Rosie. Everyone thought she had gone to England on her own and was over there living a shiny new life. Then, twenty-two years later, Rosie's suitcase shows up behind a fireplace in a derelict house on Faithful Place, and Frank is going home whether he likes it or not.

Getting sucked in is a lot easier than getting out again. Frank finds himself straight back in the dark tangle of relationships he left behind. The cops working the case want him out of the way, in case loyalty to his family and community makes him a liability. Faithful Place wants him out because he's a detective now, and the Place has never liked cops. Frank just wants to find out what happened to Rosie Daley and he's willing to do whatever it takes, to himself or anyone else, to get the job done.

Steve Hamilton's "The Lock Artist" Nominated for 2011 Best Novel Anthony Award

The Lock Artist by Steve Hamilton has been nominated for a 2011 Anthony Award as Best Novel. The Anthony Awards are given at each annual Bouchercon World Mystery Convention with the winners selected by attendees. The award is named for the late Anthony Boucher (William Anthony Parker White), well-known writer and critic from the New York Times, who helped found the Mystery Writers of America. This year's Bouchercon will be held this September 15-18 right here in St. Louis.

Steve Hamilton's first novel, A Cold Day in Paradise, won the 1999 Edgar and Shamus Awards for Best First Novel, and was short-listed for the Anthony and Barry Awards.

From Steve Hamilton's web site:

Marked by tragedy, traumatized at the age of eight, Michael, now eighteen, is no ordinary young man. Besides not uttering a single word in ten years, he discovers the one thing he can somehow do better than anyone else. Whether it’s a locked door without a key, a padlock with no combination, or even an 800-pound safe... he can open them all.

It’s an unforgivable talent. A talent that will make young Michael a hot commodity with the wrong people and, whether he likes it or not, push him ever closer to a life of crime. Until he finally sees his chance to escape, and with one desperate gamble risks everything to come back home to the only person he ever loved, and to unlock the secret that has kept him silent for so long.