A Cortez author has been tapped as a finalist for the 2015 Colorado Book Awards.

Colorado Humanities recently nominated Chuck Greaves, author of "The Last Heir," for the 2015 Colorado Book Awards. The winner will be announced later this month.

In a recent blog post, Greaves wrote that he had a mid-life crisis in 2006, but instead of buying a sports car or cheating on his wife; he resigned from a law firm and started writing crime fiction.

"I created a wisecracking lawyer/detective named Jack MacTaggart, and I unleashed him on an unsuspecting world of wealth and privilege," Greaves explained.

Taggart first appeared in Greaves' debut novel, "Hush Money," which received critical acclaim including the SouthWest Writers' International Writing Contest. "Green-eyed Lady" followed as the second Taggart book, and "The Last Heir" is the third in a series of mystery novels.

Greaves and two other nominees, Andrew Gulliford and Katrina Blair, will be showcasing their works at the Cortez Library at 6 p.m. on June 18.

A Fort Lewis College professor, Gulliford was nominated for best anthology for "Outdoors in the Southwest." Blair, a Durango restaurateur, was nominated in the general nonfiction category for "The Wild Wisdom of Weeds: 13 Essential Plants for Human Survival."

tbaker@cortezjournal.com