Elaine Viets – 2011
Elaine Viets capped a successful gig of over two decades as a columnist at the St. Louis Post-Dispatch by easing out of the position and into the job of writing novels. Although she developed a large following with appearances on St. Louis TV and radio, her career move away from writing columns – many of which were based on the quirkiness of South St. Louis – proved to be wise. Her first series in the world of books was based on the sleuthing of newspaper columnist Francesca Vierling, and St. Louis readers found many of the characters in those novels resembled well-known local figures, including a few high-profile media people. For her novel writing, Elaine won the Agatha, Anthony and Lefty Awards.