This month, on THE CRIME SCENE, we are privileged to have S.W. Lauden guest host the show. S.W. Lauden’s short fiction has been published by Out of the Gutter, Criminal Element, Shotgun Honey and Crimespree Magazine—among many others.

His short story, “Customer,” will be featured in the upcoming anthology, WAITING TO BE FORGOTTEN: STORIES OF CRIME AND HEARTBREAK INSPIRED BY THE REPLACEMENTS (Gutter Books—Oct. 15, 2016).

His debut novel, BAD CITIZEN CORPORATION, features the adventures of a Southern California punk rock cop named Greg Salem. The second novel in that series, GRIZZLY SEASON, will be published October 11, 2016.

Naomi Hirahara, born and raised in Southern California, is the Edgar Award-winning author of the Mas Arai mystery series, which features a Japanese American gardener and atomic-bomb survivor who solves crimes (SUMMER OF THE BIG BACHI, GASA-GASA GIRL, SNAKESKIN SHAMISEN, BLOOD HINA and STRAWBERRY YELLOW). Books in this series have been translated into Japanese, Korean and French (September 2015 publication date).

MURDER ON BAMBOO LANE, her new mystery series with a female twentysomething LAPD bicycle cop, was released with Berkley Prime Crime in spring 2014. Her next in the series, A GRAVE ON GRAND AVENUE, was released in April 2015.

For more information, go to her website, www.naomihirahara.com.

Rob Hart is the author of New Yorked, nominated for an Anthony Award for Best First Novel, as well as City of Rose and the upcoming South Village.

He’s also the publisher/COO at MysteriousPress.com and the class director at LitReactor.

Rob’s short stories have appeared in Shotgun Honey, Crime Factory, All Due Respect, Thuglit, Needle, Kwik Krimes, Helix Literary Magazine, and Joyland. He’s received both a Derringer Award nomination and honorable mention in The Best American Mystery Stories 2015. Non-fiction articles have been featured at LitReactor, Salon, The Daily Beast, Mulholland Books, Criminal Element, The Literary Hub, Electric Literature, the Powell’s bookstore blog, and Nailed.

South Village, the third entry in the Ash McKenna series, will be out in October 2016, followed by a fourth book in summer 2017. He’s also co-writing a novella with James Patterson as part of theBookShots program.

The music in this episode is from THE MISSION CREEPS, whose album FRIGHT NIGHT FREAK OUT was just released.