(From Nashville Scene's Southern Festival of Books coverage, October 7, 2009)

J.T. ELLISON Ellison's hero, Taylor Jackson, is a hard-boiled, soft-shouldered Nashville homicide detective whose foxy description doesn't match anyone within 300 yards of the Central Precinct. Still, Jackson's adventures always have the ring of truth to them—perhaps that's because Ellison counts actual Metro detectives among her collaborators. In Ellison's latest adventure, The Cold Room, Jackson confronts yet another serial killer. (Who knew Music City was such a hotbed of gruesome crime?) This one, known as "The Conductor," starves his victims in a glass coffin before he has his way with them. What Jeff Lindsay's Darkly Dreaming Dexter does for Miami, Ellison's Jackson novels do for Music City. One of the book's stars is the city itself, which comes across shiny and exciting even amid scenes of cold-blooded horror. 4 p.m. Friday, Room 12; 3 p.m. Saturday, Room 16 PAUL V. GRIFFITH