Tod Goldberg’s latest crime novel, “Only Way Out,” has been nominated for the Los Angeles Times Book Prize in Fiction. “I am surprised, honored, and humbled,” said Goldberg, founder and director of the Low-Residency MFA program at UC Riverside’s Palm Desert Center. “This is my second time being a finalist, but the first time in over 20 years!”

Tod Goldberg and Ivy Pochoda are among 20 featured writers

The series honors the best mystery short fiction published in the previous year.

The fictional stories are influenced by the desert southwest.

Tod Goldberg’s “The Outside In” was the first essay awarded a grant as part of a California Desert Arts Council initiative