Colette Bancroft

The sixth novel about private detective Jackson Brodie is a compelling mystery and a witty romp through the genre’s tropes.

Surveys by the New York Times of literary lights and of general readers reveal a wealth of excellent books and some startling omissions.

The 16th novel about the Los Angeles private detective revolves around a missing man and several dangerously beautiful women.

Next time you’re out on the waters of Tampa Bay, if you happen to see a woman hanging over the side of a boat above an upside-down, live blacknose shark, making a tiny incision in its skin to insert a tracking transmitter, wave hello.She might well be Jasmin Graham, a marine biologist and the author of the vibrant new memoir “Sharks Don’t Sink: Adventures of a Rogue Shark Scientist.”The book combines two of her great passions: learning about sharks and promoting diversity in the sciences.This is…

Starting with its deeply ironic title, Laura van den Berg’s new novel, “State of Paradise,” is a creepy, hypnotic, disturbing portrait of Florida that, if you’ve spent any time here, simultaneously seems like surreal speculative fiction and just another day in the Sunshine State.This compelling novel is the third by van den Berg, after “The Third Hotel” and “Find Me.” (She’s also published four collections of short stories.) A Florida native, she’s steeped in the state’s unique culture.Not that…

Addison McKellar is living the dream — she has a tasteful Tudor mansion in one of the toniest neighborhoods in Memphis, a couple of sometimes sweet kids and a charming, socially connected husband, Dean, whose construction company keeps the money flowing in. But now Dean has disappeared, and the harder Addy looks for him, the more it seems like he was never there.Joanna Grayson lived the dream back in 1967, when she co-starred in a movie with Elvis Presley called “Easy Come, Easy Go.” In Memphis,…

Most kids love a parade, whatever the occasion.But with all of the colorful Pride events going on around the Tampa Bay area this month, some little ones might wonder what the celebration is about.If your kids ask that question, Rob Sanders is ready to help with “Queer and Fearless: Poems Celebrating the Lives of LGBTQ+ Heroes,” his latest book for readers ages 6 to 9.Sanders, a Brandon resident and veteran of teaching in Hillsborough County schools, is an accomplished children’s author. “Queer a…

Ever wonder about Clete?Since acclaimed crime fiction author James Lee Burke started writing about his best-known character, Louisiana detective Dave Robicheaux — that was in “The Neon Rain” back in 1987 — Dave has almost always had Cletus Purcel at his side.In their early days as New Orleans police officers, Dave and Clete were known as the Bobbsey Twins from Homicide. Their professional paths diverged, but their friendship has remained a deep bond.To Dave’s passionate knight errant, Clete play…

TERRA CEIA — When Hurricane Ian roared ashore as a Category 4 storm on Sept. 28, 2022, bestselling author Randy Wayne White was at his home in Sanibel.White’s videos of the storm surge went viral: the rising water submerging trees and, at its worst, lapping onto the balcony off the house’s living room — 12 feet above the ground. The wind was so loud, even inside the house, that it drowned out voices.Watching one video during a recent interview, he says a big rectangular object floating on the su…

“Lake County” opens with the aroma of orange blossoms, but it’s not long before you catch the scent of death.This book, the sixth historical thriller by St. Petersburg writer Lori Roy, captures 1950s Florida so evocatively you might break into a sweat while you read it. Or that could be a reaction to its tense and tightly woven Southern noir plot.Roy’s five earlier novels, including the Edgar Award winners “Bent Road” and “Let Me Die in His Footsteps,” all have rural or small-town settings. She’…