CHRISTOPHER MEEKS reads from A DEATH IN VEGAS and SHELLY LOWENKOPF reads from LOVE WILL MAKE YOU DRINK AND GAMBLE, STAY OUT LATE AT NIGHT

A Death in Vegas (White Whisker Books) 

Love Will Make YOu Drink and Gamble, Stay Out Late At Night (White Whisker Books)

Join us tonight for a very special eventing with local publisher White Whisker Books!

In A Death in Vegas, the president of a company that specializes in beneficial bugs for organic gardeners discovers a young woman dead in his Las Vegas hotel suite. She had worked as a sexy lady bug at his convention booth -- and he had nothing to do with her death. While that's being investigated, the FBI raids his booth on a money-laundering scam that he knows nothing about. Soon, the coroner doesn't have good news, either. Who has set him up? Why? With the police and FBI are against him, and his wife missing, he flees to find answers and his wife.

Love Will Make You Drink and Gamble, Stay Out Late at Night brings a number of Shelly Lowenkopf's previously published short stories together in a single volume. Lowenkopf is best known as a master instructor of fiction writing and a book editor. He taught for over thirty years at the University of Southern California, and now at the noted College of Creative Studies, University of California, Santa Barbara. All the while, he's been publishing these short gems. All the stories revolve around life in Santa Barbara, the oceanside city north of Los Angeles, where people go after they've burned out in San Francisco and L.A. But there's no safe haven anywhere. Interwoven into Santa Barbara's picturesque setting, the people in these twelve stories reveal what their hearts and souls encounter in relationships. Their misreadings, mistakes, and misadventures bare what happens to people who love another. 

Praise for A Death in Vegas

"With his tongue planted firmly in cheek, Christopher Meeks spins a charming and surprisingly sexy tale of murder, betrayal, and the importance of beneficial insects." -Mark Haskell Smith, author of Baked and Raw: A Love Story

"I've never, ever wanted to go to Vegas. I don't care if what happens there, stays there. But Christopher Meeks makes me want to go so I can find out who done it. A fun, exciting read, with Chris's usual wonderful writing and great sense of humor." -Jessica Barksdale Inclan, author of Her Daughter's Eyes and How to Bake a Man.

"Christopher Meeks had me at page three. I couldn't wait to find out how Patton Burch was going to explain the naked body he woke up to in his Las Vegas hotel room - first to the cops and then to his wife." -Sam Sattler, Book Chase

Praise for Love Will Make You Drink and Gamble, Stay Out Late at Night

"Shelly Lowenkopf is a gifted, humane story-teller. Love Will Make You Drink and Gamble, Stay Out Late at Night' is a delight."--Aram Saroyan

Christopher Meeks first published short fiction in a number of literary journals, and the stories are available in two collections,The Middle-Aged Man and the Sea and Months and Seasons. His literary novels have received much acclaim. For instance, The Brightest Moon of the Century is a story of a man who yearns for love and success, covering over thirty years—a tale that Marc Schuster of Small Press Reviews describes as “a great and truly humane novel in the tradition of Charles Dickens and John Irving.” Recently, Meeks has focused on crime novels. His first, Blood Drama, has a graduate student in theatre (writing a thesis on David Mamet) in a struggle with a ruthless killer. The new A Death in Vegas is a mystery based on the death of a young woman and the wrong man charged with it. Visit Christopher Meeks online at www.chrismeeks.com.

Shelly Lowenkopf taught in the University of Southern California’s Master of Professional Writing Program for 34 years, has taught at the annual Santa Barbara Writer’s Conference since 1980, and has been guest lecturer in many schools and conferences. He is currently Visiting Professor at the College of Creative Studies, UCSB, with classes in noir fiction, the modern short story, genre fiction, and developing a literary voice. Mr. Lowenkopf has served as editorial director for literary, general trade, mass market, and scholarly book publishers, seeing over 500 books through the editorial and production process. His own short fiction has appeared widely in the literary press.