COLETTE BANCROFT has been the book editor at the Tampa Bay Times since 2007. In addition to writing reviews and interviewing authors, she directs the annual Tampa Bay Times Festival of Reading. She served two terms on the board of the National Book Critics Circle. Bancroft earned degrees in English from the University of South Florida and the University of Florida, and she wishes she had finished her dissertation on the novels of Raymond Chandler.

Introduction

Part I: Suburb Sinister
"The Guardian" by Michael Connelly (Hyde Park)
"Chum in the Water" by Lori Roy (Tierra Verde)
"I Get the Same Old Feeling" by Karen Brown (Davis Islands)
"Triggerfish Lane" by Tim Dorsey (Palma Ceia)

Part II: Blood in the Water
"Only You" by Lisa Unger (Clearwater Beach)
"Extraordinary Things" by Sterling Watson (Pass-a-Grille)
"Local Waters" by Luis Castillo (Indian Rocks Beach)

Part III: Grifters' Paradise
"Tall, Dark, and Handsome" by Ace Atkins (Westshore)
"The Midnight Preacher" by Sarah Gerard (34th Street)
"Jackknife" by Danny López (Gibsonton)

Part IV: Family Secrets
"It's Not Locked Because It Don't Lock" by Ladee Hubbard (Lake Maggiore)
"Marked" by Gale Massey (Pinellas Park)
"Pablo Escobar" by Yuly Restrepo Garcés (Largo)
"Wings Beating" by Eliot Schrefer (Safety Harbor)
"The Bite" by Colette Bancroft (Rattlesnake)