News Squib: Murder in Palm Beach? Not In This Century!

It’s Squib Saturday. Time to share the best, most interesting (or most entertaining, or most outrageous) tidbit of information I’ve gleaned from all the stuff I’ve read –or done– this week:  Local Paper Celebrates 20 Homicide-Free Years in Palm Beach

 

People are always getting bumped off in Palm Beach, the exclusive, upscale island playground of the rich, beautiful and famous on South Florida’s Atlantic Coast. But only in novels and movies. For my first thriller, Scandal, I chose the North End of the island as the scene for the murder of a TV talk show host while she was swimming in her oceanfront pool. Better-selling authors like James Patterson, Lawrence Sanders, Stuart Woods, and Lawrence Block as well as local authors with the Palm Beach Writers Group, like Erik Brown, have also set murder mysteries on the ultra-rich island.

Murder Milestone

In real life, however, the 5 square-mile island of Palm Beach is virtually crime-free. Where else could you have a front page headline in the local paper proclaiming: “Last island homicide occurred two decades ago.” Even then, the Palm Beach Daily News, known locally as the Shiny Sheet, got it wrong: The last homicide occurred more than 20 years ago in June 1996 when wealthy widow, Geraldine Pucillo was found strangled in the shower of her home on Seaspray Avenue. Continue reading “News Squib: Murder in Palm Beach? Not In This Century!”