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Author Pen Name:

Robin Yocum

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Author Bio

Robin Yocum is known for his fiction set in the Ohio River Valley. His novel, The Last Hitman, which is set in Steubenville, Ohio, was released Dec. 2, 2025, by Crooked Lane Books.

Favorite Sons was named the 2011 Book of the Year for Mystery/Suspense by USA Book News. A Brilliant Death was a Barnes & Noble No. 1 bestseller and a finalist for both the 2017 Edgar Award and the Silver Falchion Award for best adult mystery. The Sacrifice of Lester Yates was a finalist for the 2021 Dashiell Hammett Award for outstanding crime writing.

He has written two works of non-fiction: Dead Before Deadline . . . and Other Tales from the Police Beat (2004 – University of Akron Press); and Insured for Murder (1992 – Prometheus Books), which he co-authored with Cathy Candisky. Yocum is also the co-host of Dead Before Deadline, a true-crime podcast that features crimes he covered during his time as a police and investigative reporter for the Columbus Dispatch.

Bio Snippets for Social Media

Robin Yocum is an Edgar and Hammett finalist known for his fiction set in the Ohio River Valley.

Interest in Participating in Panels or Story Time

I'm happy to serve on any panel involving fiction, mysteries, suspense, thrillers, etc. If you would like me to sit on a panel, just slot me in where you think I'd be the best fit.

Book 1:

The Last Hitman

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Summary

Publishers Weekly called The Last Hitman "electrifying." The Akron Beacon-Journal called it "masterful."

There was a time when being a “made man” meant something. Angelo Cipriani was a member of the inner circle of the powerful Fortunato Crime Family, which controlled the Upper Ohio Valley. Of course, Angelo would never admit that such an organization existed, let alone to all of the bodies he dropped for his boss. Angelo was a loyal soldier, even after a rival family strafed him with bullets and put him in a coma for three weeks.

But times have changed. Four decades have passed, and the glory days of mob rule have waned. As drugs replace the mob’s traditional revenue streams and the FBI looks to bring down the Fortunatos, Angelo finds himself on the outside with the current administration, essentially, “on the shelf.” He spends his days pining over a waitress at the local diner and reminiscing with a one-legged former colleague in a nursing home.

Angelo was a man of honor in a world that he now barely recognizes.

But when the FBI shows up, Angelo realizes the past is far from dead and buried. Faced with old secrets and fresh betrayals, Angelo finds himself unretired: The Last Hitman is ready to get back to work.

Book 2:

The Sacrifice of Lester Yates

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Summary

The Sacrifice of Lester Yates was a finalist for the International Crime Writers Association's Dashiell Hammett Award.

Lester Yates is the notorious Egypt Valley Strangler, one of the country’s most prolific serial killers. Or, is he? Yates is two months from his date with the executioner when Ohio Attorney General Hutch Van Buren is presented with evidence that could exonerate him. But Yates is a political pawn, and forces exist that don’t want him exonerated, regardless of the evidence. To do so could derail presidential aspirations and change the national political landscape. Yates’ execution will clear a wide political path for many influential people, including Van Buren, who must battle both the clock and a political machine of which he is a part.

Book 3:

A Brilliant Death

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Summary

A Brilliant Death was a finalist for the Mystery Writers of America's Edgar Allan Poe Award.

Amanda Baron died in a boating accident on the Ohio River in 1953. Or, did she? While it was generally accepted that she had died when a coal barge rammed the pleasure boat she was sharing with her lover, her body was never found. Travis Baron was an infant when his mother disappeared. After the accident and the subsequent publicity, Travis’s father scoured the house of all evidence that Amanda Baron had ever lived, and her name was never to be uttered around him. Now in high school, Travis yearns to know more about his mother. With the help of his best friend, Mitch Malone, Travis begins a search for the truth about the mother he never knew. The two boys find an unlikely ally: an alcoholic former detective who served time for falsifying evidence. Although his reputation is in tatters, the information the detective provides about the death of Amanda Baron is indisputable—and dangerous. Nearly two decades after her death, Travis and Mitch piece together a puzzle lost to the dark waters of the Ohio River. They know how Amanda Baron died, and why. Now what do they do with the information?

Allergies and Dietary Restrictions

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