Carla Damron and Dr. Richard Layman, best-selling authors and nearby residents of Columbia have signed on to participate in the first-ever Killer Nashville event to be held Friday and Saturday, September 15 and 16 in Nashville, Tennessee.

Damron, a current resident of Hopkins is a clinical social worker and has drawn from that experience to create a series of books which make up the Caleb Knowles Mysteries . The first installment, Keeping Silent , was recently followed up with the publication of Spider Blue , in 2005. Damron was recently awarded the Outstanding Mental Health Professional of the Year by the state chapter of the National Alliance for the Mentally Ill. Excerpts from her latest release can be found on her website at carladamron.50megs.com

Dr. Layman, who resides in Columbia, is vice president of Bruccoli Clark Layman, Inc., and Manly, Inc., a reference-book publisher in Columbia. He attended Indiana University, the University of Louisville, and USC where he received his PhD. He is co-trustee of the Dashiell Hammett Literary Property Trust and has written extensively on Hammett, including the first full-length biography and the descriptive bibliography. His Selected Letters of Dashiell Hammett and Discovering The Maltese Falcon and Sam Spade were both nominated for the prestigious Edgar Awards. He has also co-edited eight volumes of New Black Mask , and four volumes of A Matter of Crime , both collections of crime stories.

Killer Nashville is sponsored by both the Mystery Writers of America (MWA), a national writers organization now in its 61st year and the Southeast Mystery Writers of America (SEMWA). The event is being hosted by Nashville, Tenn. based American Blackguard Inc.

For more information on Killer Nashville or to see a list of addition confirmed participants visit www.killernashville.com.