{{short description|American novelist}} {{Infobox writer | image = | image_size = | alt = | caption = | pseudonym = | birth_name = Virginia Rudd Lanier | birth_date = {{Birth date|1930|10|28}} | birth_place = [[Madison County, Florida]], U.S. | death_date = {{Death date and age|2003|10|27|1930|10|28}} | death_place = [[Fargo, Georgia]], U.S. | resting_place = | occupation = Novelist | language = English | education = | alma_mater = | period = | genre = [[Mystery fiction|Mystery]] | subject = | movement = | notableworks = ''Jo Beth Sidden'' series | spouse = Robert Lanier | partner = | children = Michael Stewart | relatives = | influences = | influenced = | awards = | signature = | signature_alt = | website = | portaldisp = }}
'''Virginia Rudd Lanier''' ({{Birth date|1930|10|28}} – {{Death date|2003|10|27}}) was an [[Americans|American]] [[mystery fiction]] writer, author of a series featuring bloodhound trainer Jo Beth Sidden.
==Biography== Lanier was born in [[Madison County, Florida]] in 1930. She was an [[orphan]] and was adopted by Ira and Mary Holt Rudd.<ref name="GWMW">{{Cite book|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=sng45wl5QckC&pg=PA139 |publisher=[[Greenwood Publishing|Greenwood]] |title=Great Women Mystery Writers |chapter=Virginia Lanier |page=139 |first=Elizabeth Blakesley |last=Lindsay |year=2007 |edition=2nd |editor-first=Kathleen Gregory |editor-last=Klein |location=Westport, CT |isbn=9780313334283 |lccn=2006026202 |oclc=70921441}}</ref>
===Death=== Lanier died in her home in October 2003 after a long illness.<ref name="GWMW"/><ref name="Pittsburgh">{{Cite news|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=7YkNAAAAIBAJ&pg=4561,177195 |title=Other Deaths |newspaper=[[Pittsburgh Post-Gazette]] |date=Nov 1, 2003 |access-date=2012-04-12 |page=D-3}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.accessnorthga.com/detail.php?n=185068 |title=Bloodhound mystery writer dies in south Georgia |work=AccessNorthGa |date=2003-10-30 |access-date=2012-04-12 |agency=[[Associated Press]]|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130411190024/https://www.accessnorthga.com/detail.php?n=185068|archive-date=2013-04-11}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.valdostadailytimes.com/news/local_news/local-author-virginia-lanier-dies/article_d0de9121-0dbe-5b87-9c17-fd6136947eb6.html |title=Local author Virginia Lanier dies |newspaper=[[Valdosta Daily Times]] |date=2005-12-06 |access-date=2020-05-08}}</ref>
==Bibliography== Lanier published her first book in 1995 at age 65 after having thrown a book across the room in disgust and attempting to write something better herself.<ref name="GWMW"/><ref name="Pittsburgh"/>
===Novels=== *''[[Death in Bloodhound Red]]'' (1995) *''The House on Bloodhound Lane'' (1996) *''A Brace of Bloodhounds'' (1997) *''Blind Bloodhound Justice'' (1998) *''Ten Little Bloodhounds'' (1998) *''A Bloodhound to Die For'' (2003)
===Short stories=== *"Bark M for Murder" (2006) (with [[J. A. Jance]], [[Lee Charles Kelley]] and Chassie West)
===Awards=== Lanier's [[debut novel|début novel]] ''[[Death in Bloodhound Red]]'' won the [[1996 Anthony Award]] for "Best First Novel" and was also nominated for the same honour at the [[Agatha Awards]] the previous year.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.bouchercon.info/nominees.html |title=Bouchercon World Mystery Convention : Anthony Awards Nominees |publisher=[[Bouchercon]] |access-date=2012-04-18 |archive-date=2012-02-07 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120207060829/http://www.bouchercon.info/nominees.html |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref name="agatha">{{cite web |url=http://www.malicedomestic.org/agathaawards_past.html |title=Malice Domestic Convention - Bethesda, MD |publisher=[[Malice Domestic]] |access-date=2012-04-18 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100412020049/http://www.malicedomestic.org/agathaawards_past.html |archive-date=2010-04-12 |url-status=dead }}</ref> Her fourth novel, ''Blind Bloodhound Justice'', was nominated for the 1998 Agatha Award in the "Best Novel" category.<ref name="agatha"/> Lanier's last novel, ''A Bloodhound to Die For'', was nominated for the [[Mary Higgins Clark Award]] at the 2004 [[Edgar Awards]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.thrillingdetective.com/trivia/triv50.html |title=Edgar Award Winners and Nominees in the Private Eye Genre |publisher=Thrilling Detective |access-date=2012-04-18}}</ref>
===Adaptations=== As of 1998, the ''Jo Beth Sidden'' series was optioned to be the basis for a [[Hollywood (film industry)|Hollywood]] movie or a TV [[Mini-series]]. However, this project appears to have been scrapped.<ref>{{Cite news |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=VlxaAAAAIBAJ&pg=6893,2592680 |title=Virginia Lanier: Southeast Georgia Success Story |newspaper=Waycross Journal-Herald |date=Mar 13, 1998 |page=19 |access-date=2012-04-12}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.mysterynet.com/lanier/author.shtml |title=Virginia Lanier, Mystery Author, at First Look at the Crime |publisher=Mysterynet |first=Jeffrey |last=Marks |author-link=Jeffrey Marks |access-date=2012-04-12 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120306081059/http://www.mysterynet.com/lanier/author.shtml |archive-date=2012-03-06 |url-status=dead }}</ref>
==See also== *[[Mystery (fiction)]] *[[List of female detective/mystery writers]] *[[List of female detective characters]]
==References== {{reflist}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lanier, Virginia}} [[Category:20th-century American novelists]] [[Category:21st-century American novelists]] [[Category:American mystery writers]] [[Category:1930 births]] [[Category:2003 deaths]] [[Category:Anthony Award winners]] [[Category:American women mystery writers]] [[Category:20th-century American women novelists]] [[Category:21st-century American women novelists]]