ST. CLAIRSVILLE — Award-winning crime writer and novelist Robin Yocum will speak at the St. Clairsville Library on Wednesday, March 18 at 6 p.m.

St. Clairsville Library’s two book clubs – both fiction and non-fiction groups – will have the opportunity for an exclusive meet and greet with Yocum preceding the public presentation at 5 p.m. These events have been sponsored in great appreciation by the Friends of the St. Clairsville Public Library. Call the library to register, 740-695-2062.

Following both talks, Yocum will sign copies of his latest thriller, “The Last Hitman,” which is set in Steubenville and the Upper Ohio River Valley.

The novel was released Dec. 2 by Crooked Lane Books. Publishers Weekly called The Last Hitman “electrifying” and the Akron Beacon-Journal called it “masterful.”

Yocum, a Brilliant native and former associate sports editor of the Martins Ferry Times Leader, is a Barnes & Noble No. 1 Bestseller and a finalist for both the Edgar Allan Poe and Dashiell Hammett awards. His novel, “Favorite Sons,” was named the USA Book News book of the year for mystery/suspense.

“The Last Hitman” is his seventh novel. He has also written two works of non-fiction. During his tenure as a reporter with the Columbus Dispatch, Yocum won more than 30 local, state and national journalism awards.

In “The Last Hitman,” Cipriani has been exiled by the mob family he served for 40 years in Steubenville. The FBI wants the information Cipriani possesses and tries to flip him. Believing loyalty should be a two-way street, he considers the FBI’s offer. There are no secrets in this business, and the hitman finds himself a target. Scrambling to stay alive, he attempts to exact a final revenge on the family he once served.

“Angelo was my protagonist in a short story I wrote for Strand Magazine, and I decided that he had more to say,” Yocum said. “I used the short story as inspiration for the novel. The challenge was creating a story that would make my readers root for a mob hitman. Not an easy task, but hopefully readers will see the good in Angelo.”