[Music] Welcome to Between the Cover Summer# Series, where we shine our spotlight on South Florida authors.

I'm Anne Bok, and joining me# is awardwinning mystery fiction critic Alen Cogdell.

Her reviews have appeared in more than# 300 publications worldwide and she herself has also received a Raven Award for Mystery Writers of# America.

Alen, it is always such fun when you are here.

Thank you for being here and you are the# go-to person to find out what to read next.

So, let's kick it off and why don't we start# with the ever incredible Carl Hyeston and Fever Beach.

and thank you for having me.

I love# doing this.

Fever beach, you know, Carl Hyestin, he's a social critic.

He's a humorist.

And this# is another one of his laugh out loud with a social message.

It revolves around a white supremist who# is the dumbest person in the world.

None of the groups will have him.

And so he gets involved and# everything he does is incompetent and stupid and so funny.

I I just started it and you're right,# nobody wants him.

The Proud Boys even went, "No, no, no, thank you.

We we'll pass."

There's also# Michael Connelly.

Tell me about Night Share.

Michael Connelly always is delivers.

I think he's# one of the best living consistent writers we have today.

This launches a new series and it's set# in Catalina Island, which is a area I don't know about, but it's 20 miles from Los Angeles and a# small town.

And it's about a new sergeant who's who's sent there and he gets involved with the# local people there with the rich and also the tourists who come every week.

It's a great series# launch and I think it's going to have a lot of um of of movement.

Uh he also has another book# coming out in October which will be the Lincoln Lawyer.

So it's a double Connelly year with the# Lincoln lawyer and Bosch and this new book.

I mean we're set.

We are.

We're indeed set.

Laura Litman# has been on the show several times.

I know she has a new book, Murder Takes a Vacation.

Yes.

And she# what she does is she combines the amateur sleuth with a hard edge plot.

And it's about a woman# who's 68.

She's been a widow for 10 years.

She's always lived a very simple life, but she finds# an $8 million lottery ticket in the parking lot.

And she doesn't want to do much with it, but she's# convinced to go on a cruise.

and a cruise that she will take in France.

And it is a fun trip.

I want# to be with this woman every time.

And of course, it's not smooth sailing.

That's good for the# readers.

8 million dollar lottery ticket.

What could go wrong?

Exactly.

Megan Abbott.

I love her# books.

The last time she was with us, it was a ballet story.

I think it was called The Turnout.# The new book, totally different.

El Dorado Drive.

Yes.

takes place in Michigan in Gross Point and# it's about scams.

She's such a smart writer.

It's about scams, women perpetuating scams on other# women and um it's about three sisters that on they're broke.

They get into this scheme.

It's a# pyramid scheme and it kind of goes from there and it's such an involving plot and you like these# women but you also want to slap them.

She's a very clever writer.

I cannot wait to get my hands# on on that book.

Elaine Vitz, who lives in South Florida, uh, one one of the natives, has a new# book and is does she also have a new character?

New character, new series, new everything.

The# book is Sex on Sex and the Beach or Sex, Sex, and Death on the Beach.

Yes, that's it.

Okay.# It revolves around this uh apartment complex uh that is on a beach in a fictional town.

It's# apartment complex that couldn't exist only in fiction.

And it is uh about a woman who has this# owns this.

She inherited from her grandmother.

And um everyone wants to buy this place cuz the# it's right on the beach and developers keep coming at her.

People trying to condemn the# the building.

It's got secret staircases and only eight apartments.

And a woman is found in# a hole they they're digging to replace a pipe.

It's funny, but it's also got a serious# tone about building your own family and accepting people for who they are.

And it's a# really fun read.

And of course, for its title, it's a beach book.

It's a beach book and a murder# book, right?

We have some debut authors that I would love to talk about.

And Florida Palms by Joe# Pan.

Joe Pan is the author.

Tell me about this.

I love discovering debut authors.

I love the old# ones.

I love the ones that keep giving us series, but I love a a new author.

This is set on the# Spice Coast.

So, that's an area that's very seldom written about in in books.

And it's about two high# school graduates who are just slackers.

They don't really want to work.

They'd rather sit around and# smoke weed, watch television, play video games, and their their opportunities are really low.

So# they take a job moving furniture for one of their father.

The father spent time in prison for drug# trafficking and he's trying to go straight.

Yeah.

Right.

So they get involved with drug trafficking# and the it's a very gritty book.

Very true to Florida.

Good plot and his his his um I think what# he does the best is making us like and appreciate these two slackers and really care about them.# It also gives a good atmosphere of the aerospace industry and of uh that part of Florida.

I# think he's going to have a long career.

Oh, that's excellent.

I I agree with you.

I don't know# that I've read a book with the a mystery with the the space coast as the backdrop.

It's usually# Miami, South Florida.

I I haven't one read one either.

Uh this past year, Ashton uh Clifton# came out with a book set in Orlando and Tampa, and that was a nice area to go to, too.

But Space# Coast, I lived there for a while, so this is a really good book, and I got to warn you, it is# gritty.

I'm all for it.

Absolutely.

Let's go to Kristen L. Berry.

She has a book.

She is a debut# author.

The book is We Don't Talk About Carol.

And you are all in on this book.

I am all in on this# book.

I can't wait to see the rest of her career.

It's about a young journalist who's going through# her grandmother's things and she finds a picture of a woman she didn't know.

Turns out it was her# aunt who disappeared in the 60s and had never been talked about again.

And she disappeared along with# several other black young girls at the same time.

So she starts digging into who is Carol,# what happened, why they never discussed it, why the police never really investigated it.# It was the 60s and it was a young black woman, so they didn't.

And she also worries about herself# because she got involved covering a story about another young black girl and she got so obsessed# with this case, it almost ruined her marriage.

And she right now is trying to keep her marriage.# They're trying to have a baby, but she cannot stop investigating what happened about Carol and# why her family never talked about it.

I am so on this book.

I think it's going to be a terrific# um award winner and I hope she has a long career and her background is a PR and communication.# So, that is fascinating.

I am putting this at the top of my list.

All of these are going to be# wonderful reads.

It is always so good that you are here to tell us this and I look forward# to every one of your Suns Sentinel reviews.

Children's literacy scores in Florida as well# as in the country are declining.

Meanwhile, there are challenges to books.

Banned# books are increasing on, you know, from the school shelves.

Quite a few of these# are mystery fiction as well.

What's your take?

I think kids, children of any age should be# allowed to read what they want to and it should only be with their parents, not the government.

I# started reading mysteries when I was at eight or nine and I started with Agger Christie, Rex Stout.# I have never read a Nancy Drew, but Nancy Drew, there's a lot of young adult, a lot of children's# books out right now that are mysteries.

And I think those are great ways to engage children# because they're a puzzle.

there's something they can solve and it's not they don't talk down to# them.

I am so against censorship.

I can understand if a parent doesn't want their child to read a# certain book.

That's fine.

That's a family thing.

But I think the idea of banning books of all these# great books that kids may never discover.

I think it's wrong.

I am totally on board with it with# everything that you said.

And I to me I don't care what a child reads as long as they pick up a# book and read it, right?

they don't understand it, that's that that's fine, too.

But your parents and# mine were of the the same mind, the same mindset, let them read.

When I was 12 years old, I# tried to check out a James Bond book.

Now, when I did check it out, it went over my head# about the sex and the violence.

I just thought it was a fun story.

They had to track my mother# down to make sure it was okay, which was not easy because we didn't have a phone.

So, they knew she# was she was in town because I was at the library.

Ala, it is always a treat for me when you are# here.

I want to thank you so much.

I look forward to your next review.

And thank you.

I'm Anne Bok.# Please join me on the next Between the Covers.