J.T. Ellison and Laura Bendict

Don’t you just hate it when that old, long-forgotten X-rated film you made years ago gets dragged up again? In J.T. Ellison’s The Judas Kiss, just released this week, Nashville homicide investigator Lieutenant Taylor Jackson is investigating the murder of a beautiful and pregnant suburban housewife, who was savagely beaten to death in front of her toddler. Everyone suspects the woman’s husband, but Jackson isn’t so sure. When her investigation turns up an amateur porn ring, old footage of Jackson in a sexy, saucy film suddenly surfaces and the lieutenant has to save her career and her relationship, and solve the murder, all at the same time. Fast-paced and taut, The Judas Kiss is causing quite a stir in mystery circles.

Also reading and signing today is Laura Bendict, who will present her new title Looking for Mr. Lonely Hearts. (Early review buzz says the book is much better than the unfortunate title would lead readers to believe.) In Lonely Hearts, three little girls tell one lie and ruin a young priest’s life. Years later the girls are all grown up, with broken lives and a common threat. A seductive stranger has inserted himself into their lives. Is he just a man? Or an instrument of revenge for the priest?

Hear two of today’s best procedural mystery writers at 6 p.m. Murder by the Book, 2342 Bissonnet. For information, call 713-524-8597 or visit www.murderbooks.com. Free.
Fri., Jan. 9, 6 p.m., 2009