Elaine Viets

File:Elaine Viets on Charles Snider Show.jpg

Viets interviewed in 2006

Elaine Viets is a Midwestern American newspaperwoman and mystery writer.

Life and career

A native of St. Louis, Missouri, Viets has a degree in journalism and became a longtime popular media figure in St. Louis. She was a regular columnist for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch for twenty-five years, her columns focusing mostly on local issues and human-interest fare. She also hosted the local light-news television program Viets Beat, for which she won Emmy Awards in 1989 and 1990. After moving to Washington, D.C., and leaving the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Viets wrote a syndicated column carried by United Feature Syndicate and later by United Media.

She also began writing mystery novels and eventually left the newspaper business almost entirely to become a full-time novelist. Viets first drew on her professional experience to produce four novels set in St. Louis and featuring fictional St. Louis newspaper columnist Francesca Vierling (and exciting speculation over which characters might represent real-life Post-Dispatch figures).

By the time she had written the last of these, Viets had relocated to Fort Lauderdale, Florida, in 1997, which became the locale for her next novels, the Dead-End Jobs series. Viets researches these books herself by taking the same sort of low-level dead-end jobs—telemarketer, shop clerk, and so forth—as the series' protagonist, Helen Hawthorne.

Viets, married for over thirty years to author and actor Don Crinklaw, is active in the trade organizations Mystery Writers of America and Sisters in Crime. She is a board member of the Mystery Writers of America. In 2004 she was nominated for three Agatha Awards. In 2005, she won awards presented for Best Short Story at two notable mystery conventions: an Agatha Award at Malice Domestic Ltd and an Anthony Award at Bouchercon, both for her story Wedding Knife.

On April 11, 2007, Viets's fellow contributors to The Lipstick Chronicles reported that Viets had suffered a stroke. According to a subsequent update, Viets is recovering well and is again creating mysteries based on real life and the people who live it.

She appeared one the very first episode of Mythbusters during the "Biscuit Bullet" story.

Publications

Francesca Vierling, Newspaper Columnist

#	Title	Publication Date	Publisher	ISBN
1	Back Stab	1997	Dell	Template:Isbn
2	Rubout	1998	Dell	Template:Isbn
3	The Pink Flamingo Murders	1999	Dell	Template:Isbn
4	Doc in the Box	2000	Dell	Template:Isbn

Dead-End Job

#	Title	Publication Date	Publisher	ISBN
1	Shop Till You Drop	2003	Signet	Template:ISBN
2	Murder Between the Covers	2003	Signet	Template:ISBN
3	Dying to Call You	2004	Signet	Template:ISBN
4	Just Murdered	2005	Signet	Template:ISBN
5	Murder Unleashed	2007	Signet	Template:ISBN
6	Murder with Reservations	2007	NAL Hardcover	Template:ISBN
7	Clubbed to Death	2008	NAL Hardcover	Template:ISBN
8	Killer Cuts	2009	Signet	Template:ISBN
9	Half-Price Homicide	2010	NAL Obsidian	Template:ISBN
10	Pumped for Murder	2011	NAL Obsidian	Template:ISBN
11	Final Sail	2012	NAL Obsidian	Template:Isbn
12	Board Stiff	2013	NAL Obsidian	Template:Isbn
13	Catnapped!	2014	Obsidian	Template:ISBN
14	Checked Out	2015	NAL Premier Mystery Series	Template:Isbn
15	The Art of Murder	2016	NAL Berkley New American Library Premier Mystery Series	Template:Isbn

Josie Marcus, Mystery Shopper

#	Title	Publication Date	Publisher	ISBN
1	Dying in Style	2005	Signet	Template:Isbn
2	High Heels Are Murder	2006	Signet	Template:ISBN
3	Accessory to Murder	2007	Signet	Template:Isbn
4	Murder with All the Trimmings	2008	Signet	Template:Isbn
5	The Fashion Hound Murders	2009	Signet	Template:Isbn
6	An Uplifting Murder	2010	Obsidian	Template:Isbn
7	Death on a Platter	2011	Obsidian	Template:Isbn
8	Murder Is a Piece of Cake	2012	Obsidian	Template:Isbn
9	Fixing to Die	2013	Signet	Template:Isbn
10	A Dog Gone Murder	2014	Signet	Template:Isbn

Angela Richman, Death Investigator

#	Title	Publication Date	Publisher	ISBN
1	Brain Storm	2016	Thomas & Mercer Brilliance Audio Kindle	Template:Isbn
2	Fire and Ashes	2017	Thomas & Mercer Brilliance Audio Kindle	Template:Isbn
3	Ice Blonde	2018	JABberwocky Literary Agency Kindle	Template:Isbn
4	Death Grip	2021	JABberwocky Literary Agency Kindle	Template:Isbn

Anthologies and collections

Title	Contents	Publication Date	Publisher	ISBN
Images of St. Louis	Introduction	2000	University of Missouri	Template:Isbn
Blood On Their Hands	Red Meat	2003	Berkley Prime Crime	Template:Isbn
High Stakes	Sex and Bingo	2003	Signet	Template:Isbn
The World's Finest Mystery and Crime Stories	Red Meat Sex and Bingo	2004	Forge	Template:Isbn
Chesapeake Crimes I	Wedding Knife	2004	Quiet Storm	Template:Isbn
Show Business is Murder	Blonde Moment	2004	Berkley Prime Crime	Template:Isbn
Drop-Dead Blonde	Killer Blonde	2005	Signet	Template:Isbn
Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine	After the Fall	January/February 2006
Many Bloody Returns	Vampire Hours	2007	Ace Books	Template:ISBN
Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine	Death of a Condo Commando	May 2009
Vampires in Love	Vampire Hours	2010	Barnes & Noble	Template:Isbn
Crimes by Moonlight	The Bedroom Door	2010	Berkley Prime Crime	Template:Isbn
Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine	Main Squeeze	November 2015
Happy Homicides 2: Thirteen Cozy Mysteries	Red Meat	2016	Spot On Publishing Kindle
Deal with the Devil and 13 Short Stories	The Seven	2018	Crippen & Landru	Template:Isbn

Other books

Title	Coauthor	Publication Date	Publisher	ISBN
Urban Affairs: Tales from the Heart of the City		1988	Patrice Press	Template:Isbn
Viets Guide to Sex, Travel and Anything Else That Will Sell This Book		1993	Patrice Press	Template:Isbn
St. Louis: Home on the River	Quinta Scott	1995	Towery Pub	Template:Isbn
How to Commit Monogamy: A Lighthearted Look at Long-Term Love		1997	Andrews McMeel Publishing	Template:Isbn
How to Survive the Happiest Day of Your Life		1997	Dh Audio (audio cassette)	Template:Isbn
Censored Viets		1996	Wildstone Audio (audio cassette)	Template:Isbn

External links

• Elaine Viets' website
• Southern Scribe interview with Elaine Viets
• Crescent Blues interview with Elaine Viets
• Writerspace interview with Elaine Viets