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Oline H. Cogdill

Joseph Olshan's 'Cloudland' a step forward for crime fiction

Last updated Sunday, April 22, 2012 - 7:25am

"CLOUDLAND." By Joseph Olshan. Minotaur Books. $24.99.

The effect of violence on small communities continues to be one of the most provocative themes for mystery fiction. Joseph Olshan expands that plot device for an in-depth character study of a woman who is emotionally stagnant because of her inability to forgive those she loves.

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'The Professionals' serves up likable criminals

Oline H. Cogdill Sun Sentinel

Last updated Sunday, April 1, 2012 - 8:17am

"THE PROFESSIONALS." By Owen Laukkanen. Putnam. $25.95.

In his excellent debut, Owen Laukkanen mixes the economic downturn and a bleak job market for a suspenseful and insightful thriller about four out-of-work, newly graduated college friends who become kidnappers.

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Sociopathic photographer on the brink in stunning novel

Oline H. Cogdill Sun Sentinel

Last updated Sunday, February 26, 2012 - 8:28am

"AVAILABLE DARK." By Elizabeth Hand. Minotaur. $23.99.

In addition to introducing many readers to international mysteries, especially those from Scandinavian countries, Stieg Larsson's heavily tattooed heroine has allowed unconventional characters to flourish.

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Liked 'Presumed Innocent'? Love 'Defending Jacob'

Oline H. Cogdill Sun Sentinel

Last updated Sunday, February 12, 2012 - 8:31am

"DEFENDING JACOB." By William Landay. Delacorte Press. $26.

Scott Turow's 1987 "Presumed Innocent" was a watershed for the legal thriller, delivering what started out as a typical plot that evolved into a tense look at the law, ethics and revenge, as it moved to a jaw-dropping finale.

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'Pineapple Grenade' a slap-happy romp

Oline H. Cogdill Sun Sentinel

Last updated Sunday, January 29, 2012 - 5:08pm

"PINEAPPLE GRENADE." By Tim Dorsey. Morrow. $24.99.

At this point in Tim Dorsey's comic series about a serial killer who wreaks havoc on those who don't respect Florida or its history, the Tampa, Fla., author could easily give up any pretense of a plot.

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Rebuilding a life amid a stunning landscape

Oline H. Cogdill Sun Sentinel

Last updated Sunday, January 29, 2012 - 4:58pm

"THE ROPE." by Nevada Barr. Minotaur. $25.99.

Since 1993, Nevada Barr has given readers solid, intriguing tours of America's national parks from Texas to Michigan to the Florida Keys, including an urban national park in New Orleans, via her series heroine, park ranger Anna Pigeon. In this series, readers have been swept up by the vistas, the breathtaking beauty of nature and by the ruthlessness of man. The petite Anna -- fearless, resilient, insightful -- has proven to be an exceptional guide.

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'Lunatics' a mystery romp with lots of laughs

Oline H. Cogdill Sun Sentinel

Last updated Sunday, January 22, 2012 - 6:15am

"LUNATICS." By Dave Barry and Alan Zweibel. Putnam. $25.95.

The aptly named "Lunatics" delivers exactly what one would expect from two award-winning humorists: an outrageously funny, irreverent, over-the-top comic mystery that has no boundaries.

How funny is "Lunatics?"

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Debut novel takes readers for a comic ride

Oline H. Cogdill Sun Sentinel

Last updated Sunday, January 1, 2012 - 8:55am

"RANCHERO." By Rick Gavin. Minotaur. $24.99.

In his debut, Rick Gavin offers a comic romp through the Mississippi Delta, "less a place than a boot on your neck," where eccentricities thrive, pathetic criminals flourish and the absurd can pass for the norm. Yet despite its outlandishness, Gavin shows a deep affection for this area of Mississippi and its residents via his hero, Nick Reid, a former cop turned repo man for a low-level rental shop.

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Michael Connelly shows how police work really works

Oline H. Cogdill Sun Sentinel

Last updated Tuesday, December 6, 2011 - 2:19pm

"THE DROP." By Michael Connelly. Little, Brown. $27.99.

Michael Connelly's novels, especially those about LAPD homicide detective Harry Bosch, have never been simple police procedurals. Instead, Connelly's excellent books mirror contemporary issues and Los Angeles' vagaries while being, at the heart, a character study of Bosch for whom justice is more than a word.

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'Buried Secrets' offers best of spy novel elements

Oline H. Cogdill Sun Sentinel

Last updated Monday, July 18, 2011 - 12:43pm

"BURIED SECRETS." By Joseph Finder. St. Martin's Press. $25.99.

A major reason that the spy novel has not just endured but thrives is the unique spin that some authors bring to this subgenre.

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European best-seller 'Before I Go to Sleep' make U.S. debut

Oline H. Cogdill, Sun Sentinel McClatchy Newspapers

Last updated Sunday, June 26, 2011 - 2:23pm

"BEFORE I GO TO SLEEP." By. S.J. Watson; Harper. $25.95.

The fragility of memories has been a key element in some intriguing novels, such as those by Laura Lippman, Harlan Coben and Dennis Lehane, as well as movies, from the noir "Memento" to the rom-com "50 First Dates."

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Former senator draws from real life for his fiction

Oline H. Cogdill, Sun Sentinel

Last updated Sunday, June 19, 2011 - 9:59am

Bob Graham, one of Florida's most high-profile politicians, now adds novelist to his resume with "Keys to the Kingdom," a political thriller that suggests a 9-11 cover-up.

Since retiring from the U.S. Senate in 2005 after three terms, Graham, 75, has served on a number of national committees.

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Jack the Ripper resurrected in cerebral thriller

Oline H. Cogdill, Sun Sentinel

Last updated Monday, May 23, 2011 - 3:02pm

"NOW YOU SEE ME." By S.J. Bolton.Minotaur. $25.99.

The fascination with Jack the Ripper, who terrorized London's Whitechapel area beginning in 1888, never seems to wane. For more than 120 years, facts and myths about the deranged killer have melded until even Ripperists find separating reality from fiction difficult. Jack the Ripper, who was never caught, has spawned a plethora of nonfiction books about who he might have been and just as many novels that use those crimes as a background.

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Heist has a crook with a heart of gold

Oline H. Cogdill, Sun Sentinel

Last updated Monday, February 21, 2011 - 1:03pm

COLD SHOT TO THE HEART. By Wallace Stroby. Minotaur. 304 pages. $24.99.

In his fourth stand-alone book, Wallace Stroby shows why the heist novel -- a noirsh thriller in which a theft is at the plot's center -- is gaining a resurgence.

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Author doesn't tease with fiction debut

Oline H. Cogdill, Sun Sentinel

Last updated Monday, December 20, 2010 - 2:44am

"FRONT PAGE TEASER: A LIZ HIGGINS MYSTERY." By Rosemary Herbert. Down East Books. $14.95.

Liz Higgins is tired of the light features she writes for the Bay State Banner, such as her recent story that involved her taking a child to rate the area Santas.

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