Reviewer Oline H. Cogdill will be moderating a discussion with Tracy Clark as part of the Palm Beach County Library System’s Writers LIVE! program.

This week, Oline H. Cogdill also reviews “Friends and Liars” by Kit Frick.

2025 was another outstanding year for mystery novels, with standard favorites and debuting authors offering their stories. Here are writer Oline H. Cogdill’s favorites.

Oline H. Cogdill also reviews “At Midnight Comes the Cry: A Clare Fergusson/Russ Van Alstyne Mystery” by Julia Spencer-Fleming.

Oline H. Cogdill also reviews “At Midnight Comes the Cry: A Clare Fergusson/Russ Van Alstyne Mystery” by Julia Spencer-Fleming.

Oline H. Cogdill also reviews “Watch Us Fall” by Christina Kovac, calling it an intriguing psychological thriller.

2025 was another outstanding year for mystery novels, with standard favorites and debuting authors offering their stories. Here are writer Oline H. Cogdill’s favorites.

2025 was another outstanding year for mystery novels, with standard favorites and debuting authors offering their stories. Here are writer Oline H. Cogdill’s favorites.

2025 was another outstanding year for mystery novels, with standard favorites and debuting authors offering their stories. Here are writer Oline H. Cogdill’s favorites.

The Babs of Ron Currie’s unwieldly titled “The Savage, Noble Death of Babs Dionne” is a lesson in contrasts — a fiercely loving, protective mother who is the ruthless head of a crime syndicate.…

Oline H. Cogdill reviews “Wild Instinct” by T. Jefferson Parker and “Murder at the Scottish Games” by Traci Hall.

We also review “Hollywood Kills: An Anthology,” edited by Adam Meyer and Alan Orloff.

We also review “The Disclosure” by Emmy Award-winning reporter Mel Taylor, who covered South Florida for more than 20 years.

Deep in New Zealand’s bush is “The Vanishing Place,” a place so hidden that few people can escape from it and practically no one can find it, as Zoë Rankin so evocatively describes in her fascinati…

“The Proving Ground,” featuring Lincoln Lawyer Mickey Haller, moves briskly as devious attorneys, shadowy surveillance teams, witness intimidation and suspense fuel the plot.

“A Christmas Witness” works as a solid police procedural and an emotional homage to Charles Dickens’ “A Christmas Carol,” according to mystery book writer Oline H. Cogdill.

“A Christmas Witness” works as a solid police procedural and an emotional homage to Charles Dickens’ “A Christmas Carol,” according to mystery book writer Oline H. Cogdill.

“Catch Me If You Can” follows the exploits of Frank Abagnale Jr., who fooled people across the country into believing he was a Pan Am pilot, doctor, secret service agent and lawyer.

Comic theater is a challenging adroit meld of wry humor, physical slapstick, verbal timing, invisible stagecraft and a devotion to maximizing the opportunities for unscripted bits of business. All …

Comic theater is a challenging adroit meld of wry humor, physical slapstick, verbal timing, invisible stagecraft and a devotion to maximizing the opportunities for unscripted bits of business. All …

The author delivers a multi-layered plot that skillfully weaves history and culture into her novel, “The Bone Thief.” This should prove to be a long-running series.

Plus, smart “Double Crossing Van Dine” anthology breaks all the rules of detective fiction.

Randy Wayne White’s novels have fused a solid look at environmental concerns with adventure and well-placed action through his now iconic Doc Ford, a scientist with a secret background as a governm…

Fame can be double-edged. It can elicit admiration but also jealousy and even obsession veering into stalking. That’s the situation that bedevils the popular and appealing Tessa Calloway in Hank Ph…

Author Lou Berney’s spare writing, akin to the late Elmore Leonard, quickly gets to the heart and soul of each character.

Racism, bribery, political corruption, and a disregard for players' well-being score thematic touchdowns in Mississippi Blue 42. Eli Cranor'

Also, outstanding ‘Crime Ink: Iconic’ anthology delivers stories about LGBTQ+ life.

“Salt Bones” is about hopelessness and hope, while “Witch’s Orchard” unpacks small-town secrets.

Will there be a last-minute reprieve for the popular comfort-food institution that’s been serving up mouthfuls of nostalgia since 1999?

“Happy Wife” moves at a brisk pace, enhanced by the self-indulgent, gossipy characters. Meanwhile, “The Felons’ Ball” is a well-choreographed, entertaining story.

Delray Beach author Daniel G. Miller delivers an energetic private detective novel with a solid police procedural, bits of Korean culture and visits to New York neighborhoods.

Award-winning poet Joe Pan confidently delivers an uncompromising look at the criminal underworld of Central Florida in his fiction debut.

Delray Beach author Daniel G. Miller delivers an energetic private detective novel with a solid police procedural, bits of Korean culture and visits to New York neighborhoods.

Elias Weiss Friedman, creator of the popular social media account the Dogist, firmly believes that dogs can change lives. He discusses this

Thousands of miles separate Alaska and Florida, but the states have in common breathtaking landscapes, open spaces and natural resources — all of which are ripe for exploitation as A.J. Landau expl…

“The House on Buzzards Bay” is part “The Big Chill” and all simmering suspense, showcasing the talents of Dwyer Murphy, who lives in Miami-Dade County.

Sisters fall prey to a scheme that promises wealth and female-empowerment in Megan Abbott’s new “El Dorado Drive,” one of the best thriller’s of the year.

Kristen L. Berry’s new novel tackles racism, family, community, motherhood and decades of secrets wrapped in a solid plot filled with believable characters and situations.

Fort Lauderdale author Elaine Viets has combined a wide swath of humor with serious undertones in “Sex and Death on the Beach: A Florida Beach Mystery.” And she will be discussing her book in Pompa…

Author Laura Lippman combines a light amateur sleuth story with a harder-edged thriller, combining both types of mysteries, which seldom intersect, into a cohesive solid plot.

Author Laura Lippman combines a light amateur sleuth story with a harder-edged thriller, combining both types of mysteries, which seldom intersect, into a cohesive solid plot.

More than blood seeps into the soil of an elite Napa Valley winery in the outstanding Blood on the Vine. TV writer and showrunner J.T. Falco

Michael Connelly has remained one of today’s top mystery writers — if not the top mystery writer — by consistently pushing his plots, characters and settings in different directions. It’s no …

Author Lisa Black injects sturdy, involving pacing into this fourth novel about the crime experts at the Locard Institute.

As usual, there’s a plot but it’s more like a series of cohesive vignettes. And laugh-out-loud moments. Lots of them.

Deanna Raybourn’s “Kills Well With Others” brings back Billie, Mary Alice, Natalie and Helen, who refuse to have their skills disparaged or be overlooked because they are women in their 60s. The fo…

Why? Because April is when a so-called curse kicks in for the novel’s protagonists, the Wieland family.

Mystery fiction has changed drastically since 1930, the time frame for Marie Benedict’s clever and engaging “The Queens of Crime” set in England. Back then — in England and America — most best-sell…

“The Good Bride” centers around a woman whose family (and nature) seem conspired against her. “Every Day a Little Death: Crime Fiction Inspired by the Songs of Stephen Sondheim&#8…