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

Sony Pictures won a bidding war for distribution rights to the thriller, The Surgeon, starring Oscar winner Michelle Yeoh. Yeoh plays an expert surgeon who is abducted and forced to operate on a mysterious patient, only to turn 35 years of surgical expertise against her captors and outwit them in a fight for survival. The project is directed by Dr. Roshan Sethi and also stars Martin Freeman, Laurie Davidson, Yuri Kolokolnikov and Joseph Mydell.  


Heat 2 is eyeing Ebon Moss-Bachrach (The Bear) to play Kelso, a character originated by the late Tom Noonan in Michael Mann’s 1995 original film. Heat 2 is both a sequel to the 1995 film and an adaptation of the novel by Mann and Meg Gardiner that was published by HarperCollins in 2022. The project also stars Leonardo DiCaprio, who will play thief Chris Shiherlis (originally played by Val Kilmer); Christian Bale, who will play Vincent Hanna, the dogged LAPD Robbery Homicide detective (originally played by Al Pacino); and Stephen Graham, who will play thief Neil McCauley (originally played by Robert De Niro). Additionally, Odessa Young will play Charlene (originally played by Ashley Judd) and newcomer María Cid is in talks to play Gabi (a new character for the sequel).


TELEVISION/STREAMING

Hulu is developing The Parsifal Mosaic, a drama series based on Robert Ludlum’s bestselling novel, starring and executive produced by Sam Worthington and Sofia Carson. Written by Wes Tooke, the story follows Michael Havelock (Worthington), who is ready to get out of the game after years of dangerous field work for the CIA—until he learns that his partner Jenna Karas (Carson), secretly the love of his life, has betrayed him, which leads to the unraveling of a powerful conspiracy that reaches around the globe.


Sky has found its Mikael Blomkvist and Lisbeth Salander for the network’s upcoming TV adaptation of Stieg Larsson’s The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. David Oyelowo (Silo) and rising star Viola Prettejohn (The Crown) will play the leads in the adaptation, which comes fifteen years after the movies starring Daniel Craig and Rooney Mara. Sky’s long-gestating TV version of the first in Larsson’s Millennium trilogy brings the story to the present day. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo follows cancelled star journalist Blomkvist and uncompromising hacker Salander as they investigate the disappearance of Harriet Vanger, who vanished more than three decades ago from the secluded island home of one of Sweden’s most powerful industrial dynasties. As they delve deeper into the Vanger family’s buried past, their investigation draws them closer to a chilling threat unfolding dangerously close to them in the present.  


Zazie Beetz (Joker), Ben Foster (Emancipation), Stella Baker (Scarpetta), and John Hoogenakker (One Battle After Anothew) have been added as recurring cast members of the new Paramount+ series, Discretion. They join the previously announced lead cast of Nicole Kidman, Elle Fanning, Josh Lucas, Colton Ryan, and Stephan James. Production is currently underway with an expected premiere in 2027. The eight-episode limited series, adapted from bestselling author Chandler Baker’s short story, Discretion is a legal thriller about a summer associate, Lenny (Fanning), at a prestigious Dallas law firm who uncovers a web of NDAs masking a dark truth. When she realizes she signed the same agreement, her discoveries put her in the crosshairs of the firm’s most powerful female partner, Sharon (Kidman)—upending their mentor-protégé dynamic and raising the question: who gets to keep secrets, and at what cost?


Oscar winners Susan Sarandon and Olivia Colman have joined Paddy Considine, America Ferrera, Alex Hassell, and Kit Harington in the thriller series, Army of Shadows, which is now filming in Paris and London. Inspired by Jean Pierre Melville’s 1969 film and Joseph Kessel’s book, the drama follows the emergence of the French Resistance to the Nazi Occupation of France during World War II and shows how resistance takes shape in an occupied Great Britain. Out of the shadows emerges a former soldier known only as Berry, who starts building a secret resistance network. An unlikely group starts to coalesce around him – people who’ve decided they can’t look away any longer: a soldier, a student, a radiographer, a journalist. Ordinary people, with ordinary lives, making an extraordinary and irreversible choice. Rounding out the ensemble cast are Leila Farzad, Luther Ford, Amara Okereke, Patrick O’Kane, Anjli Mohindra, Ed Ashley, and Zoë, Telford.


The release of The Savant is back on, a year after Apple TV put the thriller starring Jessica Chastain on hold three days before it was slated to premiere on Sept. 26, 2025, following the assassination of right-wing political activist Charlie Kirk. The Savant follows an undercover investigator known as “The Savant” (Chastain), who infiltrates online hate groups to stop domestic extremists before they act. The cast also includes Cole Doman, Jordana Spiro, Trinity Lee Shirley, Toussaint Francois Battiste, Michael Patrick Thornton, Pablo Schreiber, and James Badge Dale. The exact premiere date hasn't been set, but it's scheduled for some time in spring of 2027.


Jack Ryan showrunner, Steven Kane, is developing ABC’s Dive with 20th Television, and Dwayne Johnson, and Dany Garcia’s Seven Bucks company. The show is set in New Orleans and follows an elite team of police divers and investigators who solve crimes that begin where the surface ends.

Netflix is teaming with Sarah Lancashire (Happy Valley) and Abi Morgan (The Split) in the dark thriller, Witch Hunt. Lancashire plays August Howell, a descendant of the "Witch of Cambridge." Released after 30 years in prison for drowning her three young daughters, she comes home to a community that does not want her back. But when concern grows that her return has triggered a modern-day witch hunt in the university town, the police must turn to August’s last surviving daughter, Professor Wren Howell, to help find the killer.


Diane Lane has joined the cast of Hulu‘s upcoming thriller limited series, Victoria, joining previously announced Li Jun Li. Created and written by Hall (I Am Not Okay with This), and set in the cutthroat world of San Francisco’s elite, Victoria follows a brilliant con artist who finds herself in a dark web of power and luxury while in the crosshairs of a seductive killer who knows her secrets.  


In a post on social media, Mariska Hargitay (Benson) teased the return of her former partner, Detective Elliot Stabler, played by Christopher Meloni, to Law & Order: SVU as the show marks its milestone 600th episode, scheduled to air on November 12. Meloni last reprised his role as Detective Elliot Stabler in the Season 27 premiere episode of SVU titled "In the Wind," which aired on September 25, 2025. Meloni’s spinoff Law & Order: Organized Crime was canceled in April after a five-season run.


MASTERPIECE Mystery! released a trailer for Maigret's second season, premiering Sunday, October 18th at 9pm ET. In Season 2, Jules Maigret (Benjamin Wainwright) faces his greatest test yet. As crimes grip Paris, Maigret finds himself fighting on two fronts: hunting dangerous killers while defending his unorthodox methods against internal politics, betrayal, and a department waiting for his luck to run out. The series is based on the novels by author Georges Simenon.


PODCASTS/RADIO/AUDIO

Sara Paretsky chatted with Paul Burke on Crime Time FM about her new spy thriller Bad Company, being a Chicago Pitbull, and falling out of bed in Paris as inspiration for a novel.


On the Poisoned Pen Bookstore podcast, John Charles was in conversation with Kate Mooney about new latest book, The Woman of the House.


Debbi Mack's latest guest on the Crime Cafe podcast was Phil Halton, author of nonfiction and crime fiction titles including Red Warning.


On the Spybrary podcast, Tim Shipman spoke with David McCloskey about the origins of London Station, his fifth novel, and the real-world intelligence relationship that helped him build its fictional conflict.


Sisters in Crime spoke with A. W. Powers, author of the Psychic Guardian Angel series, the Psychic Sidekick series, the standalone thriller Properly Dead, and more.


House of Mystery Radio welcomed Alice Fitzpatrick to discuss her novel, A Dark Death, set in a sleepy Welsh island where archaeologists discover a body ritualistically laid out in their trench.


Andrew Bridgeman, author of the Emma Noble thriller series, joined Kathleen Antrim and DP Lyle on the Outliers Podcast.

Sunday Music Treat

Well, it certainly doesn't feel like autumn in these parts, but perhaps this piece will get you in the mood just in time for the Vernal Equinox, which took place this past Thursday, September 22. It's the first movement of the "Autumn" concerto from Antonio Vivaldi's The Four Seasons, featuring violinist Joshua Bell with the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields:

 

Quote of the Week

 

Friday's Forgotten Books: The Hanging Doll Murder

It's amazing that Roger Ormerod (1920-2005), a native of Wolverhampton, Staffordshire, England, managed to end up as writer, given his background. Born in 1920, he worked various jobs, including postal worker, shop loader in an engineering factory, clerk in county court, inspector for Department of Social Security, and listed his hobbies as amateur tailoring, wine making, stereo photography, and high fidelity.

But somehow in the middle of that, he wrote some 22 standalone crime novels; four novels in a series featuring Philipa Lowe and Oliver Simpson; 16 books in a series featuring private detective David Mallin; and 11 in his Richard and Amelia Patton series, a total of 53 books, all penned between 1974 and 1998.

His interest in crime fiction began with Sherlock Holmes stories in Savoy magazines he discovered at his grandmother's house which started him on his path to writing, which went basically nowhere...until what he called a "freak acceptance" of his first TV play as his first sale, which landed an agent who said he wrote better novels. The first of those, Time to Kill, featuring P.I. David Mallin, was published when Ormerod was 54. He once said about his writing philosophy: "I am principally interested in human motivation in respect of crimes, rather than the mechanics of them. My main intention is to entertain rather than to instruct."

Ormerod's creation Detective Inspector Richard Patton is known as a maverick and a pain in the neck by his superiors, who flouts regulations and won't follow orders, which is why they're relieved when he decides to take early retirement. At the start of The Hanging Doll Murder (published in the UK as Face Value), Patton is due to retire in three days. But he's surprisingly ambivalent about the move, especially when the sadistic Clive Kendall, a child-rapist whom he'd jailed years before, is released from prison. Retirement seems even less likely when Patton faces yet another loose end relating to the Kendall case, the husband of Amelia Trowbridge, who's gone missing and whose burned-out car is discovered in a ravine. As Patton navigates around the clues, including a hanging doll with a goatee beard, the case becomes even more personal when he finds himself getting too close to the prime suspect—Amelia.

Trevor Royle, in the St. James Guide to Crime and Mystery Writers, summarized Ormerod's writing style as having a "nonchalance . . . reminiscent at times of Raymond Chandler. As well as realism of background, Ormerod's writing is notable for its terse and natural dialogue and for an ability to switch the direction of the narrative." Ormerod has also received positive reviews for his characterizations and insights into complex human relationships and motivations, as in this excerpt, musings from Patton:

That Sunday had been my last rest-day in harness, so I'd decided to treat it as a trial run for all my glorious days of freedom ahead. I'd rolled out of bed. A new day. Tra-la! But it hadn't lasted long. After breakfast, the grey day had seemed insupportable indoors, and all I had to fall back on was the same old routine. It had therefore occurred to me to drive out into the country and dicker around with a couple of minor issues. But Brason had to go and upset the equilibrium by offering interest, and Ted Clayton had presented a clear line of action I wasn't going to be in a position to carry through. It left me tense, my mind racing, and staring out at the wind-blown drifts of heavier flakes past my window. Like my life, I thought in disgust, colourless and insubstantial, and blowing past.

One criticism of Ormerod's work may be what Reginald Hill of Books & Bookmen called an unnecessary twisting and twisting at the tail of Face Value "till the whole thing was bent out of shape." In fact, Ormerod is known for his labyrinthine plots and deep barrel of clues, and by the time he does wind down the denouement, there might be a touch of "it's about time," but all in all, The Hanging Doll Murder is a solid procedural with a pinch of psychological and suspense genres thrown in. Trevor Royle wasn't far off in calling Ormerod "one of Britain's best traditional crime writers."

Scandinavian Superiority

Euro Crime's Karen Meeks revealed that seven crime novels from Finland, Iceland, Norway, and Sweden have made the shortlist for the 2026 Petrona Award for the Best Scandinavian Crime Novel of the Year. The winner will be revealed on October 22.

The Petrona Award was established to celebrate the work of Maxine Clarke, one of the first online crime fiction reviewers and bloggers, who died in December 2012. Maxine, whose online persona and blog was called Petrona, was passionate about translated crime fiction but in particular that from the Scandinavian countries. The award is open to crime fiction in translation, either written by a Scandinavian author or set in Scandinavia and published in the UK in the previous calendar year.

 

Here are the shortlisted titles:

 

• Snæbjörn Arngrímsson - One True Word tr. Larissa Kyzer (Pushkin Vertigo, Iceland)
• Stella Blómkvist - Murder Tide tr. Quentin Bates (Corylus Books, Iceland)
• Jón Atli Jónasson - Broken tr. Quentin Bates (Corylus Books, Iceland)
• Ørjan N Karlsson - Into Thin Air tr. Ian Giles (Orenda Books, Norway)
• John Ajvide Lindqvist - The Writing in the Water tr. Michael Meigs (Amazon Crossing, Sweden)
• Satu Rämö - The Grave in the Ice tr. Kristian London (Zaffre, Finland)
• Antti Tuomainen - The Winter Job tr. David Hackston (Orenda Books, Finland)

 

Mystery Melange

A debut author from Glasgow made history by becoming the first to win both the debut crime novel prize and the prestigious McIlvanney prize for the best Scottish crime book at the recent Bloody Scotland festival. Frances Crawford, 63, who started writing later in life, was awarded both prizes for A Bad, Bad Place at the crime writing event in Stirling. This was also the first year with an all-woman shortlist for the debut prize. 

As part of the Word’s WRITE Festival which takes place throughout the whole of September in South Shields, England, there will be a Noir at the Bar on Friday, September 25 with crime writers reading from their works. That's followed on Saturday, September 26, with the one-day South Tyneside Crime Fiction Festival, with author talks, Q&A sessions, and book signings. Authors scheduled to participate include Mark Billingham, Chris Bridges, Ajay Chowdhury, Nicci Cloke, CJ Cooke, Abigail Dean, Araminta Hall, CE Hulse, Zoe Rankin, Emma Styles, and G.D. Wright.


Sisters in Crime New York is presenting a panel titled "Your Anthology Submission: How to Craft a Short Story that Stands Out," on October 4, 2026 at the Jefferson Market Library in New York City. Nina Mansfield will moderate a panel that includes award winning authors Kathleen Marple Kalb, Richie Narvaez, and Lori Robbins to discuss how to put your best foot forward when composing a short story submission. They'll also cover the craft of writing short stories, and submission do’s and don’ts so that your anthology submission will have the best chance of being accepted.

On October 15, 2026, Noir at the Bar returns to Seattle, Washington, at Kells in Pike Place. Scotti Andrews takes on hosting duties, wrangling readings from the participating authors who include: Will Viharo, Bethany Maines, Russ Thayer, KB Anderson, Randy Moon, Hayley M. Moon, Gerald Elias, and Roz Ray.


Venice Noir, the celebrated festival of crime fiction set against the iconic canals and labyrinthine streets in the coastal Italain gem, has revealed its 2026 international program, to be held 12–15 November 2026. Highlights include a discussion by historian and biographer Lucy Worsley on the legacy of "Agatha Christie, Fifty Years On"; Ian Rankin exploring "The Two Faces of Dr Jekyll"; Peter Stothard and Josephine Quinn harking back to Ancient Greece and Rome on "Ancient Terrors, Modern Echoes"; and Anna Mazzola and Gregory Dowling discussing "Venetian Gothic."  Matteo Strukul, Alberto Toso Fei and Ilaria Tuti are amongst the Italian authors slated to take part. (HT to Crime Time UK.)

The 2026 Barbara Neely Scholarship Award is now open to submissions. Two scholarships - one for published Black writers and one for non-published Black writers - are accepting applications until November 1, 2026. Established in 2021, Mystery Writers of America’s Barbara Neely Awards honor the late Barbara Neely, a trailblazing Black crime novelist who was named an MWA Grand Master in late 2019 but who passed away before being publicly honored at the 2020 Edgar Awards banquet. Each award carries a $2,000 cash prize to assist the winner with their writing craft and a one-year membership in MWA, which includes membership in the winner’s local chapter. For more information, follow this link.

Mystery Readers Journal has a call for articles on the subject of mysteries set in India. They're seeking articles, reviews, and author essays (500–1500 words, first person, up-close and personal about yourself, your books, and the theme connection) about crime fiction set in India. The deadline is November 5, 2026.


The International Crime Fiction Association announced a call for papers for the fourteenth Captivating Criminality conference, to be held at Bath Spa University, Corsham Court, UK, from 24-26th June 2027. The theme is "Methods of Murder."  The keynote speakers this year will include Renáta Zsámba alongside two experts on poison, Barbara Hall and John Know, curators of the Poison Garden at the Alnwick Garden, Northumberland, UK. Main questions addressed by the conference will focus on how and why different methods of murder are deployed, both as fiction and true crime; forensics; and how has the representation of murder evolved from Victorian crime (with its emphasis on blunt objects and knives) to more modern, technologically mediated methods? Abstracts are due by by 31st January 2027. (Delegates must be members of the International Crime Fiction Association for 2027 in order to attend this conference.)


The International Thriller Writers organization (ITW) is awarding scholarships in three separate categories for ThrillerFest 2027:  the Fresh Perspectives Scholarship for any underrepresented author, published or unpublished; the Undiscovered New Voices Scholarship for any unpublished author who is writing a mystery/thriller novel (80-100k words); and the ThrillerFest 2027 Scholarship for any ITW member (active members only). Fresh Perspectives and Undiscovered New Voices scholarship recipients will receive a $1,000 (USD) stipend and a free pass to attend ThrillerFest XXII, whereas the ThrillerFest 2027 Scholarship (for ITW members) recipients receive a free pass to attend ThrillerFest, but do not receive a travel stipend. Applications must be submitted by January 15, 2027.


Some sad news to report: Jeff Pierce over at The Rap Sheet blog brings us news about the passing of author Steven F. Havill, best known for his long-running series of mysteries set in fictional Posadas County, New Mexico, who died on August 27 following a bout with bone cancer. He was 81 years old.


Art Taylor's "The First Two Pages" featured Robin Templeton reflecting on her story, “The Legend of Samuel Savage,” inspired both by a story from 17th-century Maryland, which was included in Hooked on Urban Legends—And Murder! edited by Donna Andrews, Barb Goffman, and Marcia Talley.


Kevin Tipple's Thursday Treats this week has news of Short Mystery Fiction Society Mystery Magazine: Volume 1 Number 1; Trifles : a Quarterly for Devotees of Sherlock Holmes Volume I Issue 3; DEATH CAMAS: Best New England Crime Stories 2026, and much more.


This week's crime poem up at the 5-2 Crime Poetry Weekly is "Impostor" by Thomas Piekarski.

In the Q&A roundup, Erin Cotter applied the Page 69 Test to her new Renaissance-set young adult mystery novel, A Dangerous Bargain; and Crime Fiction Lover spoke with Canadian author Anthony Bidulka about QUANT, his new novel that brings back PI Russell Quant after a hiatus of nearly 15 years.

The Divine Davitts

Sisters in Crime Australia revealed the winners of the 2026 Davitt Awards, culled from 126 books entered across four categories, reflecting the best of crime fiction published in the past year by Australian women crime writers. Congrats to all the winners and finalists!

Adult Fiction:  Joanna Jenkins, The Bluff, (Allen & Unwin)

Other finalists:

• Shaeden Barry, At Café 64, (Echo Publishing)
• Zeyneb Gamieldien, Learned Behaviours, (Ultimo Press)
• Fiona Hardy, Unbury The Dead, (Affirm Press)
• Sally Hepworth, Mad Mabel, (Macmillan Australia)
• Angie Faye Martin, Melaleuca, (HQ Fiction) Debut

Non-Fiction:  Kate Wild, The Red House, (Allen & Unwin)

Other finalists: 

• Sonia Orchard, Groomed, (Simon & Schuster)
• Lucy Sussex & Megan Brown, Outrageous Fortunes, the biography of Mary and Geroge Fortune, (Black Inc Books)

Young Adult:  Amy Doak, What Have They done to Liza McLean? (Penguin Randon House Australia)

Other finalists: 

• Kate Emery, A Murder Is Going Down, (Allen & Unwin)
• Carla Salmon, We Saw What You Started, (Pan Macmillan Australia) Debut 

Children's Books:  Sarah Armstrong, Run, (Hardie Grant Children’s)

Other finalists: 

• Highly Commended:  Amelia Mellor, Oceanforged: The Wicked Ship, (Simon & Schuster Australia)
• Jacqueline Harvey, The Girl and the Ghost, (Penguin Randon House Australia)
• Gisela Ervin-Ward, True South, (Midnight Sun) Debut

Best Debut: Angie Faye Martin, Melaleuca, (HQ Fiction)

Kerry Greenwood Readers’ Choice Award: Sally Hepworth, Mad Mabel, (Macmillan Australia)