Maggie Toussaint is contributing the short story “High Noon at Dollar Central” to Killer Nashville Presents…First Kills. Formerly an aquatic toxicologist contracted to the U.S. Army and a freelance reporter, Southern author Maggie Toussaint writes mysteries, romances, and science fiction. With thirteen published books to her credit, her latest release is Bubba Done It, book two in her “Dreamwalker Mystery Series,” featuring an amateur sleuth who talks to the dead. An active member of Mystery Writers of America and Sisters In Crime, Maggie’s won three writing awards, including the Silver Falchion for Best Mystery. She lives in coastal Georgia, where secrets, heritage, and ancient oaks cast long shadows.
Jaden Terrell is contributing the short story “Peace, Sometimes” to Killer Nashville Presents…First Kills.
Jaden Terrell (Beth Terrell) is a Shamus Award finalist, a contributor to Now Write! Mysteries (a collection of writing exercises by Tarcher/Penguin), and the author of the Jared McKean private detective novels Racing The Devil, A Cup Full of Midnight, and River of Glass. Terrell is the winner of the 2009 Magnolia Award for service to the Southeastern Chapter of Mystery Writers of America (SEMWA). A former special education teacher, Terrell is now a writing coach and developmental editor whose leisure activities include ballroom dancing and equine massage therapy.
Jonathan Stone is contributing the short story “Mailman” to Killer Nashville Presents…First Kills. Stone does most of his writing on the commuter train between the Connecticut suburbs and Manhattan, where he is the creative director of a midtown advertising agency. His six published novels have all been optioned for film. Two of his short stories are anthologized in the Mystery Writers of America annual collections. “Hedge” appears in The Mystery Box, edited by Brad Meltzer, and “East Meets West” can be found in Ice Cold – Tales of Intrigue from the Cold War, edited by Jeffrey Deaver. A graduate of Yale, Jon is married with a son and daughter in college. His latest novel is The Teller.
Clay Stafford, Editor & Publisher of Clay Stafford Books, is contributing the short story “Savage Gulf” to Killer Nashville Presents…First Kills.
Stafford is an award-winning author, screenwriter, filmmaker, and music composer. He has sold over 1.5 million hardcover copies of his children’s adaptations and has seen his film work distributed in over 14 languages. Publishers Weekly named Stafford one of the Top 10 Nashville literary leaders playing “an essential role in defining which books become bestsellers” not only in middle-Tennessee but also extending “beyond the city limits and into the nation’s book culture”. He is the founder of Killer Nashville and publisher/editor-in-chief of Killer Nashville Magazine. Previously associated with Universal Studios and PBS, he is currently CEO of American Blackguard, Inc., near Nashville, Tennessee.
Eyre Price is contributing the short story “Sad Like a Country Song” to Killer Nashville Presents…First Kills.
Eyre Price is the author of the award-winning, international chart-topping Blues Highway Blues and other books in his Crossroads thrillers series, including Rock Island Rock and Star Killer Star. Price was a corporate litigator for fifteen years before leaving the practice of law to raise and home-school his son, Dylan. The two now live in the South Carolina Lowcountry with a collection of dogs and cats in a little house not far from the sea.
Anne Perry is contributing the short story “Shutter Speed” to Killer Nashville Presents…First Kills. Perry is the international bestselling author of over fifty novels, which have sold over 25 million copies. The Times selected her as one of the 20th Century’s “100 Masters of Crime”. In 2015 she was awarded the Premio de Honor Aragón Negro.
Her first series of Victorian crime novels, featuring Thomas and Charlotte Pitt, began with The Cater Street Hangman. The latest of these, The Angel Court Affair, is her most recent of many appearances on the New York Times bestseller list.
In 1990, Anne started a second series of detective novels with The Face of a Stranger. These are set about 35 years before the Pitt series, and feature the private detective William Monk and volatile nurse Hester Latterly. The most recent of these (21st in the series) is Corridors of the Night (April 2015).
Anne won an Edgar award in 2000 with her short story “Heroes”. The main character in the story features in an ambitious five-book series set during the First World War. Her other stand-alone novels include her French Revolution novel The One Thing More, and Sheen on the Silk, which is set in the dangerous and exotic city of Byzantium.
Moving into a different area, Anne has responded to requests for workshops and teaching by producing her first ‘how to write’ instructional DVD “Put Your Heart On The Page” and her much-loved tote bagss which also carry that slogan. Both items are now available to buy direct from her website. For US customers order the DVD on Amazon.com today: http://amzn.to/1sqyziM or order the audiobook today: http://amzn.to/Y6KwNH.
Jon Jefferson is contributing the short story “Giving Blood” to Killer Nashville Presents…First Kills. Jefferson—the “writer” half of the bestselling crime-fiction duo “Jefferson Bass”—is a prolific author, journalist, and documentary filmmaker. Collaborating with forensic anthropologist Dr. Bill Bass (founder of the University of Tennessee’s “Body Farm”), Jefferson has written two nonfiction memoirs and nine crime novels, seven of them New York Times bestsellers. Jefferson has also written and produced more than two-dozen documentaries for the History Channel, the Arts & Entertainment Network, the Oxygen Network, and the National Geographic Channel. His two National Geographic documentaries about the Body Farm were broadcast worldwide, to an audience of millions.
Jon Jefferson is contributing the short story “Giving Blood” to Killer Nashville Presents…First Kills. Jefferson—the “writer” half of the bestselling crime-fiction duo “Jefferson Bass”—is a prolific author, journalist, and documentary filmmaker. Collaborating with forensic anthropologist Dr. Bill Bass (founder of the University of Tennessee’s “Body Farm”), Jefferson has written two nonfiction memoirs and nine crime novels, seven of them New York Times bestsellers. Jefferson has also written and produced more than two-dozen documentaries for the History Channel, the Arts & Entertainment Network, the Oxygen Network, and the National Geographic Channel. His two National Geographic documentaries about the Body Farm were broadcast worldwide, to an audience of millions.
Steven James is contributing the short story “Second Thoughts” to Killer Nashville Presents…First Kills.Steven James is the critically acclaimed author of more than three dozen books, including the Patrick Bowers and Jevin Banks thriller series, and he has recently released the first book of his teen suspense trilogy, Blur. Steven’s other works span a variety of genres including non-fiction, fantasy and drama. He has a master’s degree in storytelling and has taught writing and creative communication around the world. When he’s not writing or speaking, you’ll find him trail running, rock climbing, or drinking a dark roast coffee near his home in eastern Tennessee.
Retired forensic psychologist and college professor Richard Helms is the author of eighteen published novels and multiple short stories. His latest title, Paid in Spades, published by Clay Stafford Books, was nominated for a Shamus Award in the “Best Original Private Eye Paperback” category. He has been nominated six times for the SMFS Derringer Award, six times for the PWA Shamus Award, twice for the ITW Thriller Award, and once for the MRI Macavity Award. He is one of only two authors ever to win the Derringer Award in two different categories in the same year–2008, for “The Gospel According to Gordon Black” (Thrilling Detective Website) and “Paper Walls/Glass Houses” (Back Alley Webzine). He also won the 2011 ITW Thriller Award for Best Short Story, for “The Gods for Vengeance Cry“, a Pat Gallegher story that appeared in Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine in 2010.
He is a past president of the Southeastern Chapter of Mystery Writers of America, and served on the MWA National Board of Directors from 2011 to 2013. He was presented with SEMWA’s Magnolia Award for service to the chapter in 2017. Besides writing, Helms enjoys woodworking, traveling, reading, gourmet cooking, and rooting for his beloved Carolina Tar Heels and Carolina Panthers. A lifelong North Carolinian, Richard Helms and his wife Elaine live in Charlotte, NC.”