Contact: Steve Levesque, Andrew Purcell
LUCK Media & Marketing, Inc. (818) 232-4175
info@luckmedia.com, www.luckmedia.com

SEVENTH ANNUAL KILLER NASHVILLE CONFERENCE WELCOMES BESTSELLING WRITERS TO MUSIC CITY

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The Three-Day Event at the Hutton Hotel Culminated in a Special Performance By Famed Author Jeffrey Deaver’s “XO” Band

Novel writers and readers alike converged August 23-26 at the Hutton Hotel in downtown Nashville, Tenn.  at the annual mystery/suspense conference,  Killer Nashville. Created by writer/filmmaker Clay Stafford, the event was headlined by best selling authors, C.J. Box, Jeffery Deaver, Heywood Gould and Peter Straub amongst many other notable novelists and publishing professionals.

Writers of mystery, suspense and thrillers were honored this year as author, Jonathan Stone took home the coveted 2012 Claymore Award for his work on the novel “Again,” while the 2012 Silver Falchion Award was claimed by C. Hope Clark for “Lowcountry Bribe.” The Crime Scene Detective Award went to Logan Masterson and Chester D. Campbell earned the SEMWA Magnolia Award.

“This was probably the best Killer Nashville ever. The enthusiasm and interest from the attendees was amazing, as was our list of stellar panelists. People are emailing us to tell us that they are coming back and, not only that, they are bringing their friends with them! There’s no greater testimonial than that,” exclaimed Stafford, president and founder of Killer Nashville.

As an added attraction, New York Times bestselling author Jeffrey Deaver’s “XO” Band, fronted by longtime Nashville-based recording artist and renowned independent folk/Americana singer Treva Blomquist, performed for an energized crowd Saturday evening at the Awards Banquet playing all eleven songs from the recording “Jeffery Deaver’s XO (The Album),” resulting in the famed writer himself joining other attendees on the dance floor.

“Perhaps the high point, for me, was the live performance of the songs from the XO album, performed by Treva Blomquist and the entire band that recorded the CD. Not only was it a huge delight to hear my lyrics-so wonderfully set to music and arranged and performed-but I was thrilled to see the reaction of the audience. People listening, smiling, getting choked up . . . and dancing. I never in a million years would have thought that people would be dancing to lyrics I’d created (and, okay, the beat helped too!)” recalled Deaver.

Other highlights at this year’s Killer Nashville conference included manuscript critiques (fiction, nonfiction, short story, screenplay, marketing, query), a realistic crime scene from agents of the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation (TBI), prizes and author book signings.

Founded in 2006, Killer Nashville is a volunteer-produced event for the purpose of providing a networking and educational forum for those in the publishing industry and for helping writers and readers to connect. Numerous authors have found publication and a new fan base through the all-volunteer effort of the Killer Nashville organization.

For more information visit, www.killernashville.com