Media Murder for Monday

It's the start of a new week and that means it's time for a brand-new roundup of crime drama news:


THE BIG SCREEN/MOVIES

Benedict Cumberbatch has confirmed he remains committed to adapting Rogue Male, the classic British novel he says inspired Ian Fleming to write James Bond. Cumberbatch and his production company, SunnyMarch, announced in 2016 they planned to adapt Geoffrey Household’s book, but the feature film has yet to get off the ground. Speaking on the SmartLess podcast, Cumberbatch said he hoped to slate the shoot for 2026.  Published in 1939, Rogue Male follows an unnamed English sportsman who attempts to assassinate a European dictator, strongly implied to be Adolf Hitler. He is caught, tortured, and left for dead, but escapes back to England, where he hides out in the countryside with enemy agents and police in pursuit.


TELEVISION/STREAMING

Jay Ellis (Running Point, All Her Fault) is set to headline The Rookie: North, Alexi Hawley’s anticipated spinoff from his long-running ABC drama, The Rookie. Unlike the first Rookie spinoff, The Rookie: Feds, which starred Niecy Nash as the oldest rookie in the FBI Academy, The Rookie: North follows closely the premise of the mothership series starring Nathan Fillion, centering on a middle-aged guy who becomes the oldest rookie cop, while transplanting the setting from urban Los Angeles to rural Washington state. Alex Holland (Ellis) believed his mid-life wasn’t worthy of a crisis. But after a violent home invasion ignites a dormant purpose, Alex battles a lifetime of failed commitments by joining the Pierce County Police Department as its oldest rookie. Policing from the urban coast to the rural forest where backup isn’t five minutes away, Alex must prove to his skeptical training officer, his fellow rookies, and himself, that he’s finally found something worthy of the fight.


FX has given a series order to Far Cry, based on the popular video game franchise. The limited anthology series hails from Noah Hawley (Fargo, Alien: Earth) and It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia creator Rob Mac, with Mac set to star. The series will stream on Hulu in the U.S. and Disney+ internationally. Like Fargo, each season will retain Far Cry‘s signature standalone storytelling format, according to producers, with each season set in a new setting following a new cast of characters. Far Cry is a long-running first-person shooter franchise published by Ubisoft, which has generally been praised for its gameplay and memorable villains.


In more gaming adaptation news, Toby Wallace (Euphoria, Bikeriders) has become the first actor officially set as a series regular in Netflix’s Assassin’s Creed live-action series, based on Ubisoft’s best-selling video game franchise. Wallace is said to be playing the co-lead in Assassin’s Creed, a high-octane thriller centered on the secret war between two shadowy factions — one set on determining mankind’s future through control and manipulation, while the other fights to preserve free will. The series follows its characters, said to be different from the games, across pivotal historical events as they battle to shape humanity’s destiny. 


If you're wondering when your favorite shows are returning to mid-season schedules in the U.S, Deadline has a handy list of 2026 premiere dates for new and returning series on broadcast, cable, and streaming.


PODCASTS/RADIO/AUDIO

T. Jefferson Parker was in conversation with Barbara Peters on the Poisoned Pen podcast, discussing his new thriller, Wild Instinct, featuring former Marine sniper Lew Gale, now a detective with the Orange County California Sheriff’s Department.


Get to Know podcast host, Tracey Devlyn, sat down with bestselling authors Simon Gervais and Ryan Steck to talk about The Second Song, their new high-octane espionage thriller.


Debbi Mack's latest guest interview on the Crime Cafe podcast was semi-retired attorney and crime writer, James Polkinghorn.


On Meet the Thriller Author, Alan Petersen had the pleasure of speaking with Brian Andrews—one half of the powerhouse writing duo Andrews & Wilson—about their newest thriller, Tom Clancy: Executive Power. This marks the 26th novel in the Jack Ryan saga and the third time Andrews & Wilson have carried forward the legacy of one of the most iconic names in the thriller world.


On Crime Time FM, AA Dhand (Harry Virdee) and Alex Dahl (Playdate/Stolen Girl) discussed what it's like seeing your novel come to life on the screen, and tips for wannabe script writers.


On the Pick Your Poison podcast, Dr. Jen Prosser looked at which ingredient in beer other than alcohol causes disease in humans; what might be defense attorneys' favorite medical diagnosis; and why everyone has a positive blood alcohol level, even if they don’t drink a drop.

Quote of the Week

 

Friday's "Forgotten" Books: The Night the Gods Smiled

Eric Wright was born in London, England in 1929 to a poor working-class family, an experience he later detailed in his memoir, Always Give a Penny to a Blind Man. When he was 22, he immigrated to Canada and eventually became an English professor, chair of the English department, then Dean of Arts at Ryerson Institute of Technology in Toronto.

Wright penned dozens of stories, many of them crime fiction, and served as editor of Criminal Shorts: Mysteries by Canadian Crime Writers, published in 1992. He also created not one or two, but four different detective series including police officer Mel Pickett; Lucy Trimble Brenner, who inherits a Toronto private detective agency; and part-time community college English teacher named Joe Barley, who also works part-time as a private eye.

His most popular literary creation, however, is Charlie Salter, a Toronto cop suffering from middle-aged depression when he's first introduced in The Night the Gods Smiled, the author's debut novel in 1983. The book won the Arthur Ellis Award for Best Crime Novel, the Crime Writer's Association's John Creasey Award, and the City of Toronto Book Award.

At the start of the story, Salter's doldrums are compounded by police politics that have left him working what's essentially a desk job. When he's offered the first interesting case to come along in awhile, he jumps at the chance. David Summers, an English professor at a local college, has been murdered in a Montreal hotel room during a conference. Initially, the only clues are a lipstick-marked glass and a whisky bottle used to crush Summer's skull, but Salter soon realizes he has a long list of potential suspects, including a prostitute, mistresses, the victim's bitter wife, his squash partner, his stock-broker and assorted colleagues and students.

Salter is an engaging character, self-righteous, outspoken, and happily married, albeit with an undercurrent of cultural/class friction between his police officer status and his wife's wealthy family. His mid-life crisis sees him taking up squash after meeting the victim's playing partner, and developing a crush on Summer's favorite student, a free-spirited young woman named Molly.

Wright is known for his "lucid and agreeably laconic style," as one reviewer put it, while Kirkus adds that "the balance between sleuthing and gentle character-comedy is maintained beautifully throughout—with superior dialogue, intriguing Canadian specifics, and not a single cliché in sight." There were eleven Salter books in all, first published in hardcover until the series was dropped by Signet. A few reprints are available, including an omnibus of the first three novels in the series, published by Dundurn.

Happy Booksgiving

 

Mystery Melange - Thanksgiving Edition

Thriller author James Patterson and Bookshop.org are launching a literary award called the James Patterson and Bookshop.org Prize. The first place winner will receive $15,000 while the runner-up will receive $10,000, with both titles promoted on Bookshop.org and by participating indie bookstores. Indie booksellers from qualifying stores will be able to nominate titles and vote for the longlist, shortlist, and final winners. Nominations will open on January 5, 2026, with the ten-book longlist scheduled to be announced on February 9, the five-book shortlist announced on March 16, and the winner on April 6.


More "Best of 2025" lists have been released lately for your reading and/or holiday shopping pleasure. Audible compiled its favorite audio mysteries, and the Chicago Public Library system revealed its top print mystery selections (via Deadly Pleasures Magazine).


Janet Rudolph has updated her list of Thanksgiving-themed mysteries over at the Mystery Fanfare blog, including a few titles for younger readers.


The authors at the Mystery Lovers Kitchen blog are on hand to provide some Thanksgiving recipes and reads, including Roast Turkey Breast (perfect for a small Thanksgiving dinner) from Vick Delany; Impossible Pumpkin Pie from Peg Cochran aka Margaret Loudon; a trio cranberry delights via Leslie Budewitz (Cranberry Fig Compote, Cranberry Coffee Cake, and Cranberry Whipped Goat Cheese); Sweet Potato Biscuits by way of Molly MacRae; plus many more.


In the Crime Reads essay, "Murder, with a Dash of Nutmeg: Why Food and Mystery Pair So Well in Fiction," Carmela Dutra explained why "There’s something wildly satisfying about following a trail of cookie crumbs that leads to a killer, especially if you can pause for a pun and some pie along the way."


Mysteryrats Maze podcast via Kings River Life has a thanksgiving story titled "The Shocking Assault Upon Sophronsia Morgan’s Cranberry Aspic" by Erica Obey.


Although Thanksgiving is primarily an American tradition, it's also celebrated on various dates in October and November in Canada, Saint Lucia, Liberia, the Australian territory of Norfolk Island, and unofficially in countries like Germany, plus there are other harvest festival holidays around the world at this time of year. So perhaps it's fitting we don't neglect international crime fiction and crime fiction in translation. Crime Reads featured a look at "The Best Fiction in Translation of Fall 2025"; Publishers Weekly listed some new "Mysteries & Thrillers in Translation"; and PW also profiled "New Crime Fiction from Belgium, France, and Quebec."


This week's crime poem up at the 5-2 Crime Poetry Weekly is "Whips" by Fatimah Akanbi.


In the Q&A roundup, Ayo Onatade spoke with Abir Mukherjee for Shots Magazine about the writing of his award-winning novel, Hunted, and his return to his Wyndham and Banerjee series; The Guardian interviewed Sophie Hannah, author of the Agatha Christie Poirot continuation novels, about discovering Agatha Christie’s alter ego, Frances Farmer’s life-changing story of survival, and Hannah's favorite self help books; and Lisa Haselton spoke with both M. Jayne LaDow about her new spicy cozy novel, A Pilgrimage of Whispered Truths, and Austin Camacho about his new action-thriller, True Target.

Author R&R with Emily Hanlon

Emily Hanlon was raised in Texas, educated in Boston, and now lives in New York. She worked as a personal injury litigator for many years, first as a plaintiff’s attorney presenting the stories of injured clients, then changing sides and telling the stories of clients accused of causing those injuries. Finally ending up as an arbitrator, she publishes over fifty decisions a year that seek to unravel the truth behind those always contradictory versions. A life of listening to witnesses and sifting through facts has prepared her well for creating the complex entanglements of murder mysteries. Having converted late in life after watching the joy that faith brought to her husband and three sons, she, like her sleuths in the Martha and Marya mysteries, is a eucharistic minister, active in the St. Vincent de Paul Society, and a card-carrying Church Lady. Through her books, Emily shares her love of the Church and of a good “whodunit.” 

The Martha and Marya mystery series began with Who Am I to Judge in 2023 and A Cloud of Witnesses in 2024, with the latest release this fall, The Wagers of Sin. When an elderly billionaire businesswoman drops dead during her wedding to a much younger golden boy at the very moment of the “I dos,” her improbable bridesmaid, Marya Cook—the lavender-clad, Bible-quoting octogenarian sleuth known to the locals as the Purple Pest—cries, “Murder.” Marya’s sensible sidekick, Uber driver Martha Collins, sees her to-do list balloon as she juggles her sleuthing with police politics, money problems, and maybe…just maybe…romance.

Join Martha and Marya on a cruise to the Greek Isles and back to Pequot Bays, New York, waterfront home to the wealthy and those who serve them. They meet the rich victim’s hopeful heirs, shady servants, and of course, the frustrated fiancé, as Marya combines her eye for “the little things” with her own peculiar logic to sift through the multitude of murderous motives, means, and opportunities in search of the killer—gambling against the odds at high-stakes roulette…and murder. 

Emily Hanlon stops by In Reference to Murder to talk about writing and researching her books:

One of the reasons I set my books in contemporary time is that I didn't want to do the extensive research necessary for historical fiction. I have had to do considerable research in my career as a lawyer, and I wanted the freedom to write fiction, not research facts. 

 But of course, some research is necessary. My mysteries start with the murder. How it is done informs everything else—who would die that way, and who would kill that way.  So, the most important research for me is the manner in which the murder is committed. Fortunately, I know an expert I can consult--my primary care doctor. He's come up with some unique ideas on how to kill someone at my annual examinations or in the emails I pepper him with while I am writing my books. He's been so influential that he has become a character in my most recent book. In the first two books, Marya Cook, my octogenarian sleuth known around town as the Purple Pest, would consult her "Dear Dr. Stokes," and inform the reader what he had told her about, say, a poison or the side effects of a medication. But for my third book, the real Dr. Stokes had come up with such a unique and effective method of murder, that I had the doctor, himself, make an appearance in the book to explain the deadly details directly to the reader. 

Early on, an editor (not my current editor/publisher) advised me to add a dog or a recipe to my story—that readers like that kind of thing.  I like dogs better than cooking, but I haven't had a dog since I was 12, so that required some research. Rather than undertaking comprehensive research about dog habits and behaviors, I contacted a dear friend who is a dog person. I would ask her basic questions like what would a dog do when they meet someone they don't like—say a murderer? Or what would a dog do if they came upon a pile of rocks with a dead body under it? And she was able to answer my questions. She owned a chocolate Lab named Quincy, and now, my assistant sleuth Martha Collins owns a chocolate Lab named Quincy. 

I also use the internet—a lot. I cannot imagine how authors wrote before computers. I even use it for little things. I recently learned that I have aphantasia—I can't visualize objects in my mind's eye like most people do. So, for example, if I want to describe a house in an expensive seaside community but can't picture what a typical rich person's house on the water would look like, I pull up a picture from the internet. 

 

You can learn more about Emily Hanlon via her website and follow her on Facebook and Instagram. The Wagers of Sin is now available via Chrism Press and all major bookstores.

Media Murder for Monday

It's the start of a new week and that means it's time for a brand-new roundup of crime drama news:


THE BIG SCREEN/MOVIES

Daisy Ridley (Star Wars) is set to star in the action-thriller, The Good Samaritan, directed by Pierre Morel (Taken) and based on an original screenplay from Rambo: First Blood screenwriter, Matthew Ian Cirulnick. The synopsis reads: “When successful entrepreneur Dr. Rosalind Carver (Ridley) and her husband Matt rescue a wounded man drifting off the coast of Indonesia, they believe they’re saving a life – not stepping into a deadly conspiracy. Within hours, their yacht vanishes, Matt is abducted, and paradise turns into a trap. Hunted by pirates and imprisoned by corrupt officials, Rosalind’s only hope lies in Sean Fuller, a private military contractor whose motives are as mysterious as his past. Together, they must navigate a maze of deceit and violence in a land where no one can be trusted.” Production is being lined up for spring 2026 in Brisbane, Australia on the Gold Coast.


Christian Bale is in talks for a major role alongside Leonardo DiCaprio in Michael Mann's Heat 2, based on a script Mann co-authored with Meg Gardiner. It was not immediately clear which role Bale will play. The 1995 heist movie Heat starred Al Pacino as Detective Vincent Hanna, Robert De Niro as Neil McCauley, and Val Kilmer as Shiherlis. Heat 2, the book, was penned by Mann and Gardiner but not as a novelization of the film—instead telling the story of everything that happens to the principal characters before and after. The book jumps between two time periods: one following Shiherlis and Hanna, trying to evade the LAPD following the bank robbery gone bad; and a second, which takes readers back to Chicago in 1988, when McCauley, Shiherlis, and their high-line crew are taking scores on the West Coast, the U.S.-Mexico border, and in the Windy City.


Director and cinematographer, Gabriel Beristain, will helm the psychological thriller, Mia: See Clearly. Golsa Sarabi’s Golsa Enterprises will produce, with Sarabi in the title role. The story follows Mia, a brilliant but disillusioned former intelligence operative, who becomes entangled in a vast surveillance conspiracy. She uncovers a syndicate capable of manipulating perception itself. As events unfold, Mia is pursued across Chicago, Detroit, and New Orleans as she races to expose the truth. Along the way, she faces her ultimate adversary: an AI-created doppelganger who has all of her knowledge but none of her humanity.


TELEVISION/STREAMING

OneGate Media bought the international rights to the crime thriller, Blind, which is based on Swiss author's Christine Brand’s bestselling Milla Nova series of novels. The upcoming TV drama adaptation is much anticipated—so much so that Swiss broadcaster SRF is developing a second season of the TV adaptation ahead of the launch of the first season next year. The plan is for a returning drama, with each season based on one of Brand’s books. Blind follows Nathaniel, a visually impaired bartender who claims a pregnant woman was kidnapped from his bar. Investigators find signs of a struggle but no trace of the victim, and Inspector Bandini identifies Nathaniel as the prime suspect. Determined to prove his innocence, Nathaniel finds an ally in investigative journalist Milla. Together, they uncover a web of lies, secrets, and hidden connections.


In a bidding war, Netflix has nabbed Trigger Point, starring Joel Edgerton (Train Dreams) with a straight-to-series order. The action crime drama, which has been picked up for eight episodes, comes from writer Harrison Query (Heads of State), director Jeremy Saulnier (Rebel Ridge), A24, and producer Joe Hipps (Ozark). Trigger Point follows a group of former Tier One Special Forces Operators who sell their elite skills to the criminal underworld behind the front of a private military contracting firm — and the FBI agent who’s hunting for them. Edgerton will play the lead, Red, an ex-Tier One Operator-turned-criminal.

Lupin creator George Kay is penning the thriller, Gone, for ITV starring David Morrissey (The Walking Dead) and Eve Myles (Keeping Faith). Set against the backdrop of a prestigious private school, a foreboding forest, and the quiet sprawl of Bristol, Gone follows local Headmaster Michael Polly (Morrissey), who becomes the prime suspect in his wife Sarah’s disappearance. An upstanding member of the community, Michael is inscrutable and likes order and precision in his working life, but then he encounters gutsy Detective Annie Cassidy (Myles), and a compulsive game of cat and mouse begins as she chips away at his veneer in search of the truth. The series is inspired by the career and work of a former Detective Superintendent for Gloucestershire Police, Julie Mackay, and ITV Crime Correspondent Robert Murphy, and partly inspired by their book, To Hunt A Killer.


The BBC announced the third series of Jimmy McGovern’s BAFTA-winning hit drama, Time, set in a young offenders' institution. The three-part drama will be led by new addition to the cast, David Tennant (Dr. Who, Thursday Murder Club) as Prison Officer Bailey, with Siobhan Finneran (Happy Valley, Out of the Dust) reprising her role as Marie-Louise, a prison chaplain.


NCIS: New Orleans alumna Necar Zadegan is returning to CBS as a series regular on the network’s upcoming drama series, CIA, headlined by Tom Ellis and Nick Gehlfuss. Zadegan will play one of the leads in the FBI offshoot, the Chief of Station role originally played by Michael Michele, who departed the series earlier this month.


CBS has unveiled its 2025-2026 midseason lineup which features the series premieres of FBI offshoot CIA; Harlan Coben’s Final Twist; and the returns of Watson, Tracker, the NCIS franchise and more. CIA, initially scheduled for a fall premiere in the Monday 10 PM slot, was moved to midseason amid a showrunner change and will now premiere on Monday, Feb. 23 at 10 p.m., following mothership FBI at 9 p.m. Meanwhile, Watson is moving back to its original night, premiering its second season on Sunday, March 1 at 10 p.m. It follows Tracker, which shifts to a new 9 p.m. time slot. The new true-crime series Harlan Coben’s Final Twist debuts Wednesday, Jan. 7 at 10 p.m.


PODCASTS/RADIO/AUDIO

On the latest Poisoned Pen podcast, Barbara Peters was in conversation with Jeffery Deaver and Isabella Maldonado about their new thriller, The Grave Artist.


On Crime Time FM, Abigail Dean (Girl A) and Jennie Godfrey (The List of Suspicious Things) discussed true crime, second book syndrome, and what it's like to have a smash hit debut.


Vaseem Khan and Abir Mukherjee spoke with crime writer Alexandra Benedict, dubbed the "Queen of the Christmas Thriller" about her latest book, The Christmas Cracker Killer, on the latest episode of Murder Junction.


Twin brothers Allen and Brian Manning stopped by Meet the Thriller Author to discuss their John Stone action-thriller series.


Authors on the Air welcomed Peggy Townsend to talk about her new mystery, The Botanist’s Assistant, which features Margaret Finch—six feet tall, fiercely organized, lover of schedules, and proud inhabitant of a tiny cabin in the woods. Her obsessive attention to detail makes her indispensable in her university botany lab… and it may also put a target on her back when she decides a recent death is no accident.


The Get to Know podcast spoke with Mary Anna Evans, author of two nonfiction books on Agatha Christie, as well as the Justine Byrne Historical Mysteries and the Faye Longchamp Archaeological Mysteries.


Criminal Mischief chatted with Robert T. Kelley, who spent 30 years in the technology industry, as well as publishing the quarterly literary journal, The Maine Review, and blogging for Maine Crime Writers, about his debut novel, the technothriller, Raven.


On the Pick Your Poison podcast, Dr. Jen Prosser profiled a toxin that has killed thieves robbing houses and what pesticide is so poisonous it depletes the ozone layer.