The Eyes on Utopia Murders (Paperback) (ISBN-13: 9781628152470)

Barbara D'Amato was the 1999-2000 president of Mystery Writers of America. D'Amato is also a past president of Sisters in Crime International. She writes a mystery series starring Chicago freelance investigative reporter Cat Marsala, a series starring Chicago patrol cops Suze Figueroa and Norm Bennis, and standalone novels. D'Amato is a playwright, novelist, and crime researcher. Her research on the Dr. John Branion murder case formed the basis for a segment on Unsolved Mysteries, and she appeared on the program. Her musical comedy The Magic Man and the children's musical The Magic of Young Houdini, written with husband Anthony D'Amato, played in Chicago and London. Their Prohibition-era musical comedy RSVP Broadway, which played in Chicago in 1980, was named an "event of particular interest" by Chicago magazine. A native of Michigan, she has been a resident of Chicago for many years. D'Amato has been a columnist for the Sisters in Crime newsletter and Mystery Scene magazine. She has worked as an assistant surgical orderly, carpenter for stage magic illusions, assistant tiger handler, stage manager, researcher for attorneys in criminal cases, and she occasionally teaches mystery writing to Chicago police officers. Awards The first annual Mary Higgins Clark Award, 2001, for Authorized Personnel Only The 1998 Carl Sandburg Award for Excellence in Fiction and the 1999 Readers Choice Award for Best Police Procedural for Good Cop, Bad Cop The 1992 Anthony Award for Best True Crime and the 1993 Agatha Award for Nonfiction for The Doctor, the Murder, the Mystery The 1999 Readers Choice Award for the story "Hard Feelings" The 1999 Agatha, Macavity and Anthony Awards for Best Short Story for "Of Course You Know that Chocolate Is a Vegetable."