The 2012-13 Bloody Thursday opens on September 27th with this year’s Spotted Owl Award presentation. Receiving the award are Johnny Shaw, winner of the Stan Johnson Outstanding Debut Mystery award for his novel Dove Season and Bill Cameron, winner of the 2012 Spotted Owl for his novel County Line. Both authors will speak about their books and work, and will answer questions.

Johnny ShawJohnny Shaw was born and raised on the Calexico/Mexicali border, the setting for his debut novel, Dove Season. Although he has been writing for over twenty years, it took that same amount of time for him to finally revisit and explore the people and places of the Imperial Valley, California and the Desert Southwest. He returns to the area in his new novel Big Maria, a raucous adventure set in Blythe, California and Arizona’s Chocolate Mountains—due out September 25, 2012.

Bill CameronBill Cameron is the author of dark, gritty mysteries featuring Skin Kadash: County Line, Day One, Chasing Smoke, and Lost Dog. Bill’s short stories have appeared in Portland Noir, First Thrills, Deadly Treats, West Coast Crime Wave, Puppy Love Noir, and Diaries of Misspent Youth. In addition to his Spotted Owl win for County Line, Bill’s previous books have all been Spotted Owl finalists. He’s also been nominated for the Left Coast Crime Rocky Award and the 2011 CWA Short Story Dagger Award.

The meeting will take place at Terwilliger Plaza, opening with a reception at 7:00pm, with the presentation at 7:30pm. All meetings are free and open to the public. Learn more at our Bloody Thursdays page.