USA Today and Wall Street Journal bestselling author Lori Armstrong left the firearms industry in 2000 to pursue her dream of writing for a living. The first book in her Julie Collins series, BLOOD TIES was nominated for a 2005 Shamus Award for Best First Novel. HALLOWED GROUND received a 2006 Shamus Award nomination, a Daphne du Maurier nomination, and won the 2007 WILLA Cather Literary Award. SHALLOW GRAVE was nominated for a 2008 High Plains Book Award and finaled for the 2008 WILLA Cather Literary Award. SNOW BLIND won the 2008 Shamus Award for Best Paperback Original. The first book in the Mercy Gunderson series, NO MERCY won the 2010 Shamus Award for Best Hardcover Novel and was a finalist for the WILLA Cather Literary Award. MERCILESS was a finalist for the 2013 WILLA Cather Literary Award. Lori is also the NY Times and USA Today Bestselling author of contemporary, western and erotic romance under the pen name Lorelei James. Lori lives in western South Dakota.