Five Mystery Writers You Should Check Out at Book Fair
While everyone loves a good mystery, it’s a genre overrun with writers, which makes it hard to decide who’s worth your time. To assist you, we’ve compiled a list of five mystery writers, both debut and established, who are participating in the Miami Book Fair this weekend and worth checking out. No matter what you’re looking for — from financial thrillers to highbrow mystery to the historical — we’ve found something for you.
James Grippando
Any Law and Order fan who likes a good “ripped from the headlines” plot will appreciate Need You Now (Harper). Grippando, the bestselling author of 19 suspense novels, brings us an intricate thriller that begins with a Madoff-esque financier committing suicide before reporting to federal authorities on charges of $60 billion securities fraud. A young financial advisor, Patrick Floyd, is pulled into the investigation with his former girlfriend, and they soon uncover a conspiracy. The novel is filled with complicated twists and turns, as well as plenty of action for those who are looking for a James Bond-type element in their mysteries.
Reading Saturday November 17 at 11:00 AM
Sharon Potts
With suspense novel The Devil’s Madonna, local author Potts takes us from Miami Beach to 1930s Berlin. Kali Miller finds herself caring for her 93-year-old grandmother, Lillian, when she almost burns her home down. Stricken with paranoia, Lillian believes she’s been discovered by someone from her past, and that person knows of a painting she’s hid for 70 years — since her time as a young actress in Nazi Germany. The Devil’s Madonna is a psychological thriller that looks at good vs. evil and what lies between.
Reading Saturday November 17 at 11:00 AM
Joy Castro
In Castro’s debut novel Hell or High Water (Thomas Dunne/St. Martin’s), her slightly damaged protagonist Nola Céspedes is a young reporter in New Orleans who is handed the opportunity to write more than her usual puff pieces — an investigative series on the hundreds of sex offenders who disappeared with the evacuation of New Orleans during Hurricane Katrina. As she researches the story she finds herself deep in an investigation of a tourist abducted from the French Quarter. The novel is an edge-of-your-seat thriller, but it provides much more than that. Nola (whose name is an acronym for the city) is a deep, complicated, often funny character. Castro also addresses the sociological issues of race and class, proving that mysteries need not be shallow.
Reading Sunday November 18 at 10:30 AM
Jean Zimmerman
Zimmerman, an author of several historical non-fiction works, has tried her hand at a novel with The Orphanmaster (Viking), a mystery set in 17th century Manhattan (or Dutch colony of New Amsterdam at the time). Blandine van Couvering, a young female trader in grain, cloth, and fur, realizes that orphan children are disappearing. She joins forces with a dashing British spy to investigate the case, which includes a multitude of suspects. Of course, these this handsome pair can’t work together without a little romance thrown into the mix, which always adds to the fun of a good thriller.
Reading Sunday November 18 at 12:00 PM
Joseph Olshan
Olshan, known for his literary fiction, turns to mystery with Cloudland (St. Martin’s Press). Catharine Winslow was an investigative reporter before she decided to hole herself up in rural Vermont and write a household hints column. Her calm life suddenly becomes much more complicated when she discovers a body in her yard that may be a victim of a serial killer. Catharine’s forensic psychiatrist neighbor who is assisting with the investigation soon turns to her as a sounding board, and she realizes that she may be more personally involved then she ever foresaw. Cloudland is the suspense novel for those who prefer highbrow fiction — much less action, but extremely thoughtful writing.
Reading Sunday November 18 at 10:30 AM
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