Scott Phillips (born 1961) is an American writer primarily of

crime fiction Crime fiction, detective story, murder mystery, mystery novel, and police novel are terms used to describe narratives that centre on criminal acts and especially on the investigation, either by an amateur or a professional detective, of a crime, ...

in the noir tradition. He was born in

Wichita, Kansas Wichita ( ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Kansas and the county seat of Sedgwick County. As of the 2020 census, the population of the city was 397,532. The Wichita metro area had a population of 647,610 in 2020. It is located in ...

, and after co-writing and directing the independent short film ''Walking Blues'' lived for several years in France, working as a translator and photographer. He returned to the United States living in

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...

as a screenwriter, co-writing a 1996 thriller called ''Crosscut'' among many other projects, both credited and uncredited. He has sometimes been confused with another author of the same professional name. His first novel, ''

The Ice Harvest ''The Ice Harvest'' is a 2005 American neo-noir black comedy film directed by Harold Ramis, written by Richard Russo and Robert Benton, based on the 2000 novel of the same name by Scott Phillips and starring John Cusack, Billy Bob Thornton, and ...

'', was published in 2000, and won the California Book Award, as well as being nominated for the Edgar Award and

Hammett Prize The Hammett Prize is awarded annually by the International Association of Crime Writers, North American Branch (IACW/NA) to a Canadian or US citizen or permanent resident for a book in English in the field of crime writing. It is named after crim ...

, and shortlisted for the Crime Writers' Association

Gold Dagger The Gold Dagger is an award given annually by the Crime Writers' Association of the United Kingdom since 1960 for the best crime novel of the year. From 1955 to 1959, the organization named their top honor as the Crossed Red Herring Award. From ...

Award. A black comic noir thriller set in the low-rent world of sleazy Wichita strip clubs on Christmas Eve 1979, ''The Ice Harvest'' was adapted into a film of the same title in 2005. He followed this in 2002 with ''The Walkaway'', a combined prequel/sequel and spin-off to ''The Ice Harvest'' set in Wichita during the 1940s and 1980s. His third novel, ''Cottonwood'', set in Kansas and California during the

Western Western may refer to: Places *Western, Nebraska, a village in the US *Western, New York, a town in the US *Western Creek, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western Junction, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western world, countries that id ...

era, was published in 2004. ''Rut'', a study of quirky characters in a post-apocalyptic Colorado followed six years later, but in the meantime Phillips had published several well-received short stories, later collected with some previously unpublished works in ''Rum, Sodomy, and False Eyelashes''. Many characters in these stories either turn up at other points in their lives in Phillips' novels, or are related to characters in those volumes, thereby making much of Phillips' output to date an evolving tapestry of cross-generational familial connections. Phillips returned to his ever-decadent Wichita as a setting for his next novel ''The Adjustment'', exploring the snowballing petty corruption of a returning World War II veteran. ''Rake'' followed, originally published in the French language and telling the story of a minor television star from the United States who finds greater fame in Paris and pulls himself into a darkly comic tangle as he pursues women and a movie deal. ''Hop Alley'', a companion to ''Cottonwood'' was next. The publication of ''St. Louis Noir'' of which he is the editor and a contributor followed in 2016. Most recently, ''That Left Turn At Albuquerque'', was released in 2020. Phillips lives in

St. Louis, Missouri St. Louis () is the second-largest city in Missouri, United States. It sits near the confluence of the Mississippi and the Missouri Rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a population of 301,578, while the bi-state metropolitan area, which e ...

, with his wife and daughter.

Books

* ''

'' (2000) * ''The Walkaway'' (2002) * ''Cottonwood'' (2004) * ''Rut'' (2010) * ''Rum, Sodomy, and False Eyelashes'' Short Story Collection (2011) * ''The Adjustment'' (2012) * ''Rake'' (2013) * ''Hop Alley'' (2014) * ''St. Louis Noir'' Editor/Contributor (2016) * ''That Left Turn At Albuquerque'' (2020)

References

External links

Scott Phillips's official web site

Scott Phillips' Facebook Profile
1961 births Living people 21st-century American novelists American crime fiction writers American male novelists Writers from Wichita, Kansas Writers from St. Louis 21st-century American male writers Novelists from Missouri {{US-novelist-1960s-stub