Mystery: Guns & Gams (2009): Los Angeles Times Festival of Books

The
Los Angeles Times Festival of Books began in 1996 with a simple goal: to bring together the people who create books with the people who love to read them. The festival was an immediate success and has become the largest and most prestigious book festival in the country, attracting more than 130,000 book lovers each year.

Mary McNamara has worked for the Los Angeles Times for 19 years, writing extensively about the inner workings of Hollywood. She lives in Los Angeles with her husband and three children. Oscar Season is McNamara's debut novel.

Cara Black is the author of nine books in the Aimee Leduc series. She frequently visits Paris, but lives in San Francisco with her husband and son. Her latest mystery is Murder in the Latin Quarter.

Harley Jane Kozak is an actor whose screen credits include "Parenthood," "The Favor" and "Arachnophobia." Her debut novel, Dating Dead Men, received the Agatha, Anthony and Macavity awards. Her recent book is A Date You Can't Refuse.

Lisa Lutz's comic novels include Curse of the Spellmans, an Edgar Award finalist, and most recently, Revenge of the Spellmans. Lutz currently lives in California, where a motion picture adaptation of "The Spellman Files" is in development at Paramount Pictures.