Quote of the Week

 

Friday's "Forgotten" Books: The Edgar Winners

In honor of the Edgar Awards announced this week, I thought I'd highlight The Edgar Winners anthology published in 1980 and edited by Bill Pronzini. There are two dozen short stories included from writers who were awarded an "Edgar" for excellence by the Mystery Writers of America between 1948 and 1978.

As Pronzini states in his introduction, this anthology is

"The first anthology to bring together in one volume only those stories that have received the coveted Edgar as the Best Mystery Short Story of its year....These twenty-four stories include some of the finest mystery fiction to be published in the past four decades. Moreover, they represent the widest possible variety of types, themes, styles and authors—testimony to the fact that the mystery story, contrary to what certain critics would have us believe, is by no means a limited and hidebound genre."

A little history is in order, too, as the first two years of the Edgar Award for the short story were given for bodies of work; the third went to Ellery Queen's Mytery Magazine; and the next four were given to one-volume single-author collections. The current policy of honoring a single story didn't begin until 1954, and thus, Pronzini chose representative stories from the pre-1954 categories to be included here.

The stories are printed chronologically, from 1947's "The Adventure of the Mad Tea Party," by Ellery Queen (Frederic Dannay and Manford Bennington Lee), up through "The Cloud Beneath the Eave" by Barbara Owens, the winner from 1978. Other names are indeed a "Who's Who" of giants in crime fiction, short or long forms, including William Irish (a/k/a Cornell Woolrich), Lawrence G. Blochman, Philip MacDonald, Roadl Dahl, Stanley Ellin, Edward D. Hoch, Joe Gores, and Robert L. Fish. On the other hand, it's interesting to see how many of the winning stories were penned by authors who, for whatever reason, never went on to widespread name recognition, like William O'Farrell, Warner Law, and Margery Finn Brown.

The themes and styles Pronzini alluded to above range from detective stories to psychological suspense, police procedurals, character studies, morality plays, social commentaries, and "gently nostalgic glimpses of the past, even what might be termed an avant-garde literary exercise." If you're looking for a book that provides an overview of the best writing in a variety of short mystery fiction sub-genres, then this is a good place to start.

Derringer Delights

 

The Short Mystery Fiction Society (SMFS) announced the winners of the annual Derringer Awards today. The SMFS is a group of writers, readers, editors, publishers, and others dedicated to the promotion and celebration of mystery and crime short stories. Since 1998, the SMFS has awarded the annual Derringers to outstanding published short stories and people who've greatly advanced or supported the form. The Best Anthology Derringer was also presented for the first time in 2025. The winners will receive medals that are presented during Bouchercon, the World Mystery Convention. Congrats to all the winners and finalists!

Best Flash Story (Up to 1,000 words):  "The Man Under the Bridge" by Bern Sy Moss (Spillwords, 6/1/2025)

Other finalists:

• "Bradycardia" by Elizabeth Dearborn (Punk Noir Magazine, 2/4/2025)
• "Check Rear Seat" by Carl Tait (Exquisite Death, 5/1/2025)
• "It All Comes Out in the Wash" by James Patrick Focarile (Gumshoe Review, 10/31/2025)
• "Just Like Old Times" by Shari Held (Yellow Mama, 2/15/2025)

Best Short Story (1,001 to 4,000 words):  "Blind Pig" by Michael Bracken (Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine, September/October 2025)

Other finalists: 

• "Chains" by Frank Vatel (All Due Respect, 9/1/25)
• "Hollywood Prometheus" by Christa Faust (Crime Ink: Iconic: An Anthology of Crime Fiction Inspired by Queer Icons, Bywater Books)
• "The Artist" by Linda Ann Bennett (Midnight Schemers & Daydream Believers: 22 Stories of Mystery & Suspense, Superior Shores Press)
• "Wax On, Wax Off" by Nina Mansfield (Donna Andrews Presents Malice Domestic: Mystery Most Humorous, Wildside Press)

Best Long Story (4,001 to 8,000 words):  "Whatever Kills the Pain" by C.W. Blackwell (Whatever Kills the Pain, Rock and a Hard Place Press)

Other finalists: 

• "A Sign of the Times" by Tom Milani (Sleuths Just Wanna Have Fun: Private Eyes in the Materialistic Eighties, Down & Out Books)
• "Masterpiece" by Mark Thielman (Black Cat Mystery Magazine 16, September 2025)
• "Six-Armed Robbery" by Ashley-Ruth M. Bernier (Donna Andrews Presents Malice Domestic: Mystery Most Humorous, Wildside Press)
• "Zebra Finch" by donalee Moulton (The Most Dangerous Games, Level Best Books - Level Short)

Best Novelette (8,001 to 20,000 words):  "The Temporary Murder of Thomas Monroe" by Tia Tashiro (Clarkesworld, January 2025) (audio version)

Other finalists: 

• "Aswarby Hall" by David Dean (Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine, March/April 2025)
• "Loose Change from a Mini Cooper" by Frank Zafiro (Chop Shop Episode 10, Down & Out Books)
• "Saint Bullethead" by Nick Kolakowski (Fighting Words: Bruisers, Brawlers, & Bad Intentions, Leonardo Audio)
• "The High Priest of Low Men" by C.W. Blackwell (Myopic Duplicity: Do the Ends Ever Justify the Means?, Leonardo Audio)

Best Anthology (previously announced):  TIE - Hollywood Kills: An Anthology edited by Adam Meyer & Alan Orloff (Level Best Books - Level Short) and On Fire and Under Water: A Climate Change Crime Fiction Anthology edited by Curtis Ippolito (Rock and a Hard Place Press)

Other finalists: 

• Crimeucopia - The Not So Frail Detective Agency edited by John Connor (Murderous Ink Press)
• Gone Fishin': Crime Takes a Holiday, The Eighth Guppy Anthology edited by James M. Jackson (Wolf's Echo Press)
• Midnight Schemers & Daydream Believers: 22 Stories of Mystery & Suspense edited by Judy Penz Sheluk (Superior Shores Press)
• On Fire and Under Water: A Climate Change Crime Fiction Anthology edited by Curtis Ippolito (Rock and a Hard Place Press)
• SoWest: Danger Awaits! A Desert Sleuths Anthology edited by Claire A. Murray, Eva Eldridge, Suzanne E. Flaig, Denise Galley, and Sarah Smith (DS Publishing)

Theakston Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year Award Longlists

 

Harrogate International Festivals today announced the 18 titles longlisted for the Theakston Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year Award 2026, the UK and Ireland’s most prestigious crime fiction award, now in its twenty second year. The longlist, voted for by an academy of journalists, reviewers, booksellers, bloggers, podcasters, and industry representatives, showcases stories that transport readers from gangland Yorkshire to a haunted Dartmoor country house, from wartime Glasgow to a remote Scottish island, and features a host of remarkable sleuths – from the world’s first AI detective, to a time-travelling cold case investigator. Crime fiction fans are now invited to help whittle 18 down to 6 by voting for their favorite novels to reach the shortlist, with the winner of the coveted award announced on the opening night of the Theakston Old Peculier Crime Writing Festival on Thursday July 23rd.

The Longlist includes:

•  What Happens in the Dark by Kia Abdullah (HarperCollins, HQ Fiction)
•  The Midnight King by Tariq Ashkanani (Profile Books, Viper)
•  The Impossible Thing by Belinda Bauer (Penguin Random House, Bantam)
•  What The Night Brings by Mark Billingham (Little, Brown Book Group, Sphere)
•  Human Remains by Jo Callaghan (Simon & Schuster)
•  The Death of Us by Abigail Dean (HarperCollins, Hemlock Press)
•  The Chemist by A.A. Dhand (HarperCollins, HQ Fiction)
•  Beautiful Ugly by Alice Feeney (Pan Macmillan, Pan Fiction)
•  The Frozen People by Elly Griffiths (Quercus Books)
•  The Examiner by Janice Hallett (Profile Books, Viper)
•  The Blue Hour by Paula Hawkins (Penguin Random House, Doubleday)
•  Clown Town by Mick Herron (John Murray Books, Baskerville)
•  Quantum of Menace by Vaseem Khan (Bonnier Books, Zaffre)
•  Paperboy by Callum McSorley (Puskin Press, Vertigo)
•  The Good Liar by Denise Mina (Penguin Random House, Harvill)
•  Gunner by Alan Parks (John Murray Books, Baskerville)
•  We Live Here Now by Sarah Pinborough (Orion Publishing Group, Orion Fiction)
•  A Schooling in Murder by Andrew Taylor (HarperCollins, Hemlock Press)

Mystery Melange

PEN America is offering the opportunity to be in your next favorite book or show via an auction to win a chance to have your name or a loved one’s name in an upcoming work by one of the participating writers and receive a signed copy. All proceeds from the auction directly support PEN America's new Author Safety Program, a program designed to protect writers facing harassment, threats, and intimidation both online and in person. The participating crime fiction authors include Lee Child, David Baldacci, and Jean Hanff Korelitz. Emmy Award-winning writer and director Scott Frank (Dept Q, Monsieur Spade) will also name a character after you (or someone you love) in his next project if you're the highest bidder. The bidding closes on May 15th.


The Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania Mystery Bookshop's one-day iScream for Mysteries conference is back this Saturday, May 2, from 11-4. New and returning authors taking part include Laura Bradford, Ellen Crosby, Barbara Early, Robert Swartwood, and more, with panels, author trivia, and book signings. For registration information, follow this link.


The third annual Murder She Wrote Festival returns to Mendocino, California from May 1-3. The event celebrates the TV series starring Angela Lansbury as mystery writer-turned amateur sleuth, Jessica Fletcher, which ran for 12 seasons from 1984 to 1996, and was also continued in movies and tie-in novels written by various authors, including Donald Bain, Jon Land, Terrie Farley Moran, and Barbara Early. The heroine’s fictional hometown of Cabot Cove was actually Mendocino, at least for the show’s exterior scenes, including the Blair House Inn, which represented Jessica Fletcher’s home in Cabot Cove, Maine, where the series was allegedly set.


Three of the UK’s most celebrated crime writers, Clare Mackintosh, Vaseem Khan, and Cally (C.L.) Taylor, have joined forces with UK Finance’s Take Five to Stop Fraud campaign to create a trilogy of original short stories designed to help the public spot scams. Read Between the Lies uses the power of storytelling to bring fraud prevention to life - tapping into the nation’s love of crime fiction to expose how scams really work. Each story is inspired by real fraud tactics and encourages readers to "think like a detective" and apply the same instincts they use in crime books, TV, and podcasts to everyday situations. To find out more about the Take Five to Stop Fraud’s Read Between the Lies campaign and how to protect yourself from fraud, visit this link.


Mystery Writers of American revealed the winners of the Edgar Awards last night, and in honor of that occasion, Molly Odintz of Crime Reads asked nominees to contribute to a roundtable discussion on the state of the crime world today and to weigh in on the pleasures and pitfalls of the writing life. You can read part one of that roundtable here and part two via this link.


The Folio Society is presenting a newly illustrated edition of Agatha Christie’s The Murder of Roger Ackroyd to celebrate the novel’s 100th anniversary. The Murder of Roger Ackroyd was published in June 1926, six months before Agatha Christie famously vanished for eleven days. Proclaimed by the Crime Writers' Association as "the finest example of the genre ever penned," the title is consistently voted among Agatha Christie's best novels.  (HT to Shots Magazine)


On Art Taylor's "The First Two Pages" blog feature, he welcomed P.M. (Pamela) Raymond to talk about her linked-stories collection, Things Are as They Should Be and Other Words To Die For.


This week's crime poem up at the 5-2 Crime Poetry Weekly is "Senseless Acts of a Madman" by G. Emil Reutter.


In the Q&A roundup, author John Cheshire spoke with Crime Fiction Lover about his debut novel, System Lockout, which centers around a ransomware attack on National Health Services across London; Author Interviews spoke with Catherine Mack, the pseudonym for Catherine McKenzie, about This Weekend Doesn't End Well for Anyone, the new novel in her Vacation Mystery Series; and Deborah Kalb chatted with author/screenwriter Gregory Poirier, about his new Max Starkey thriller, A Thousand Cuts, and also with author/attorney Marc S. Perlman about his new espionage thriller, The Riddle of the Trees.

Edgar Distinction

 

Mystery Writers of America revealed the winners of the 2026 Edgar Allan Poe Awards, honoring the best in mystery fiction, nonfiction, and television published or produced in 2025. The 80th Annual Edgar® Awards were celebrated tonight at the New York Marriott Marquis Times Square. Congrats to all the winners and finalists!

BEST NOVEL: The Big Empty by Robert Crais (Penguin Random House – G.P. Putnam’s Sons)

Also nominated:

Fagin the Thief by Allison Epstein (Penguin Random House – Doubleday)
The Dream Hotel by Laila Lalami (Penguin Random House – Pantheon Books)
Wild Dark Shore by Charlotte McConaghy (Macmillan Publishers – Flatiron Books)
Hard Town by Adam Plantinga (Hachette Book Group – Grand Central Publishing)
The Inheritance by Trisha Sakhlecha (Penguin Random House – Pamela Dorman Books)
Presumed Guilty by Scott Turow (Hachette Book Group – Grand Central Publishing)

BEST FIRST NOVEL BY AN AMERICAN AUTHOR: Dead Money by Jakob Kerr (Penguin Random House – Bantam Books)

Also nominated:

Killer Potential by Hannah Deitch (HarperCollins – William Morrow)
All the Other Mothers Hate Me by Sarah Harman (Penguin Random House – G.P. Putnam’s Sons)
Johnny Careless by Kevin Wade (Macmillan Publishers – Celadon Books)
History Lessons by Zoe B. Wallbrook (Soho Press – Soho Crime)

BEST PAPERBACK ORIGINAL: The Backwater by Vikki Wakefield (Sourcebooks – Poisoned Pen Press)

Also nominated:

Listen by Sacha Bronwasser (Penguin Random House – Penguin Books)
The Sideways Life of Denny Voss by Holly Kennedy (Amazon Publishing – Lake Union)
Broke Road by Matthew Spencer (Amazon Publishing – Thomas & Mercer)
One Death at a Time by Abbi Waxman (Penguin Random House – Berkley)

BEST FACT CRIME: Murderland: Crime and Bloodlust in the Time of Serial Killers by Caroline Fraser (Penguin Random House – Penguin Press)

Also nominated:

They Poisoned the World: Life and Death in the Age of Forever Chemicals by Mariah Blake (Penguin Random House – Crown)
Blood and the Badge: The Mafia, Two Killer Cops, and a Scandal That Shocked the Nation by Michael Cannell (Macmillan Publishers – Minotaur Books)
Out of the Woods: A Girl, a Killer, and a Lifelong Struggle to Find the Way Home by Gregg Olsen (Amazon Publishing – Thomas & Mercer)
Story of a Murder: The Wives, the Mistress, and Dr. Crippen by Hallie Rubenhold (Penguin Random House – Dutton)

BEST CRITICAL/BIOGRAPHICAL: Edgar Allan Poe: A Life by Richard Kopley (University of Virginia Press)

Also nominated:

V is for Venom: Agatha Christie’s Chemicals of Death by Kathryn Harkup (Bloomsbury – Sigma)
The Kingdom of Cain: Finding God in the Literature of Darkness by Andrew Klavan (HarperCollins Christian Publishing – Zondervan)
Cooler Than Cool: The Life and Work of Elmore Leonard by C.M. Kushins (HarperCollins Publishers – Mariner Books)
Criss-Cross: The Making of Hitchcock’s Dazzling, Subversive Masterpiece Strangers on a Train by Stephen Rebello (Hachette Book Group – Running Press)

BEST SHORT STORY: “Julius Katz Draws a Straight Flush,” by Dave Zeltserman (Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine)

Also nominated:

“Reading at Night,” by Graham Greene (The Strand Magazine)
“The One That Got Away,” by Charlaine Harris (Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine)
“Orphan X: A Mysterious Profile,” by Gregg Hurwitz (Penzler Publishers – Mysterious Press)
“Lucky Heart,” by Tim Maleeny (Blood on the Bayou – Case Closed, Down & Out Books)
“The Kill Clause,” by Lisa Unger (Amazon Original Stories )

BEST JUVENILE: Blood in the Water by Tiffany D. Jackson (Scholastic Press)

Also nominated:

Montgomery Bonbon: Murder at the Museum by Alasdair Beckett-King (Candlewick Press)
What Happened Then by Erin Soderberg Downing (Scholastic Press)
A Study in Secrets by Debbi Michiko Florence (Simon & Schuster – Aladdin)
The Midwatch Institute for Wayward Girls by Judith Rossell (Penguin Young Readers – Dial)
Mystery James Digs Her Own Grave by Ally Russell (Random House Children’s Books – Delacorte Press)

BEST YOUNG ADULT: Under the Same Stars by Libba Bray (Macmillan Publishers – Farrar, Straus and Giroux BFYR)

Also nominated:

Catch Your Death by Ravena Guron (Sourcebooks – Sourcebooks Fire)
This is Where We Die by Cindy R.X. He (Sourcebooks – Sourcebooks Fire)
The Scammer by Tiffany D. Jackson (HarperCollins Children’s Books – Quill Tree Books)
Codebreaker by Jay Martel (St. Martin’s Publishing Group – Wednesday Books)

BEST TELEVISION EPISODE TELEPLAY: “Pilot” – Paradise, Written by Dan Fogelman (Hulu)

Also nominated:

“End of the Line” – Ballard, Written by Michael Alaimo & Kendall Sherwood (Amazon/Fabel)
“Episode 101” – The Lowdown, Written by Sterlin Harjo (FX on Hulu)
“These Girls” – Long Bright River, Written by Nikki Toscano & Liz Moore (Peacock)
“Ye’iitsoh (Big Monster)” – Dark Winds, Written by John Wirth & Steven Paul Judd (AMC)

ROBERT L. FISH MEMORIAL AWARD: “How It Happened,” by Billie Kay Fern (Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine)

Also nominated:

“A Textbook Example,” by Luis Avalos (Sacramento Noir, Akashic Books)
“Baggage,” by Rick Marcou (Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine)
“Bloodsurf,” by Tiffany D. Plunkett (Hollywood Kills, Level Best Books – Level Short)
“Grand Theft Auto in the Heart of Screenland,” by Robert Rotstein (Hollywood Kills, Level Best Books – Level Short)


THE SIMON & SCHUSTER MARY HIGGINS CLARK AWARD: All This Could Be Yours by Hank Phillippi Ryan (Macmillan Publishers – Minotaur Books)

Also nominated:

Five Found Dead by Sulari Gentill (Sourcebooks – Poisoned Pen Press)
Savvy Summers and the Sweet Potato Crimes by Sandra Jackson-Opoku (Macmillan Publishers – Minotaur Books)
No Comfort for the Dead by R.P. O’Donnell (Crooked Lane Books)
Last Dance Before Dawn by Katharine Schellman (Macmillan Publishers – Minotaur Books)


THE G.P. PUTNAM’S SONS SUE GRAFTON MEMORIAL AWARD: Gone in the Night by Joanna Schaffhausen (Macmillan Publishers – Minotaur Books)

Also nominated:

Cold as Hell by Kelley Armstrong (Macmillan Publishers – Minotaur Books)
Rage: A Novel by Linda Castillo (Macmillan Publishers – Minotaur Books)
Fallen Star by Lee Goldberg (Amazon Publishing – Thomas & Mercer)
The Red Letter by Daniel G. Miller (Sourcebooks – Poisoned Pen Press)


THE LILIAN JACKSON BRAUN MEMORIAL AWARD:  A Senior Citizen’s Guide to Life on the Run by Gwen Florio (Severn House)

Also nominated:

Mrs. Christie at the Mystery Guild Library by Amandah Chapman (Penguin Random House – Berkley)
The Marigold Cottages Murder Collective by Jo Nichols (Macmillan Publishers – Minotaur Books)
Murder Two Doors Down by Chuck Storla (Crooked Lane Books)
Vera Wong’s Guide to Snooping (On a Dead Man) by Jesse Q. Sutanto (Penguin Random House – Berkley)

SPECIAL AWARDS  (previously announced)

Grand Master

• Donna Andrews
  
• Lee Child
  

Raven Award

• Book Passage, Corte Madera CA

Ellery Queen Award

John Scognamiglio, Kensington Books

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

In a competitive situation, Fifth Season has landed rights to High Rise, the 2025 thriller novel from bestselling Australian author Gabriel Bergmoser. Bergmoser will pen the feature adaptation, and Patrick Hughes is set to direct, in a reunion with Hidden Pictures and Huge Film following their work on the recent Netflix hit War Machine. Billed as "Die Hard meets The Raid," High Rise follows a rogue ex-cop who tracks down his estranged daughter to a grimy high-rise — only to find she doesn’t want to be rescued, least of all by him. Before either can react, the entire city’s criminal underworld descends on the building with a bounty on his head and no concern for her survival. Floor by floor, a broken father and daughter must fight their way through fifteen stories of killers with only each other to rely on.


Two-time Academy Award nominee Melissa McCarthy (Can You Ever Forgive Me? and Bridesmaids) is in talks to star in Turpentine, a new thriller directed by The Penguin and Mare of Easttown's Craig Zobel. Based on a script by Justin Varava that made the 2024 Black List, Turpentine follows a deadbeat son who hires friends to rob his own parents to pay off a bookie, with disastrous results. Connor Storrie (Heated Rivalry) is also currently in talks to star in the thriller.


Universal Pictures’s upcoming Miami Vice movie officially has its Tubbs and Crocket as well a new title as Michael B. Jordan and Austin Butler are set to star in Miami Vice ’85 with Joseph Kosinski directing. The film will be shot for Imax and is slated for a release date of August 6, 2027. The film explores the glamor and corruption of mid-80’s Miami in an all-new version of Miami Vice, inspired by the pilot episode and first season of the landmark Universal Television series that influenced culture and set the style of everything from fashion to filmmaking.

After working together on The Beekeeper and A Working Man, David Ayer and Jason Statham are reteaming on action-thriller John Doe, with Ayer directing from a script by screenwriter Zak Penn (Ready Player One, The Avengers). Statham is set to play the Man With No Name in the film, which will chart the story “of a man with no memory, no past, and no name — and only one face he can’t forget: Eliza. As fragments of his identity return, he discovers he was trained for a mission still in motion and is being hunted by the very people who sent him. With enemies closing in, John must choose between finishing what he started… or protecting the one thing that makes him feel human: love.” 


James Gray's anticipated next film, the gritty crime thriller Paper Tiger, has joined the Palme d’Or race at the Cannes Film Festival, while Neon has snagged North American rights. Written and directed by Gray, the film stars Adam Driver, Scarlett Johansson, and Miles Teller and follows two brothers who pursue the American Dream, only to become entangled in a scheme that turns out to be too good to be true. As they try to navigate their way through an ever-more dangerous world of corruption and violence, they find themselves and their family brutally terrorized by the Russian “Mafiya.”


TELEVISION/STREAMING

A24 UK won a bidding war to option rights to Nick Brucker’s upcoming heist novel, White Smoke (set to be published in 2027), with plans to adapt it into a TV series. Benedict Cumberbatch is set to star in the film, which centers on a group of duplicitous con men and thieves determined to steal the Vatican’s most remarkable treasures during a papal conclave. Nick Brucker is the pseudonym of speculative fiction writer Nicholas Binge, whose latest novel Dissolution was hailed as one of the best books of 2025 by the New York Times and is being adapted at Sony Pictures with Eric Heisserer penning the screenplay.


James Mangold is set to co-write, direct, and executive produce a series adaptation of his 1997 movie, Cop Land, from Paramount Television Studios and Miramax Television. The film starred Sylvester Stallone as the sheriff of a small New Jersey town who comes into conflict with the corrupt New York City police officers who live there. The cast also included Peter Berg, Janeane Garofalo, Robert Patrick, Michael Rapaport, Annabella Sciorra, Noah Emmerich, and Cathy Moriarty.


The Night Agent  has lined up Bosch star Titus Welliver, Trevante Rhodes (Moonlight), Li Jun Li (Sinners), and Elizabeth Lail (You) as new series regulars opposite star Gabriel Basso in Season 4 of the Netflix action thriller, which is relocating from New York to Los Angeles for its fourth installment. Welliver is said to be playing Duval, a special DOJ prosecutor; Rhodes is believed to be playing Dom, Peter Sutherland’s (Basso) new partner; while Li is thought to be playing Dom’s wife Min. And, in a reveal The Night Agent fans have long been waiting for, Lail will play Peter’s ex-fiancée Zoe. Dedicating himself to his new career as a Night Agent, Peter swore off romantic relationships after his job had put Rose Larkin, his love interest for the first two seasons, in danger. He may now be thrown back into that arena with his ex-fiancée, Zoe, re-entering his life.


Helena Bonham Carter is departing the latest installment of the HBO drama series, The White Lotus, just over a week after filming began in France. An HBO spokesperson said that, "With filming just underway on season four of ‘The White Lotus,’ it had become apparent that the character which Mike White created for Helena Bonham Carter did not align once on set. The role has subsequently been rethought, is being rewritten and will be recast in the coming weeks." Carter was among the first cast members announced for Season 4 of the Mike White-created murder mystery, following weeks of speculation about her casting. Details on her character remain under wraps, though it was reported to be a central role in Season 4’s plot. The recasting won’t impact production timing, with schedules shifting to focus on the rest of the cast’s stories while recasting takes place.


MASTERPIECE PBS has announced that Marble Hall Murders, the final Susan Ryeland mystery adaptation from best-selling author Anthony Horowitz, will premiere on Sunday, September 6, 2026 at 9/8c. Joining the previously confirmed leads of Lesley Manville (The Crown) as Susan Ryeland and Tim McMullan (The Crown) as Atticus Pünd, are Jamie Blackley (The Last Kingdom), Mark Bonnar (Dept. Q), Daniel Cerqueira (A Gentleman in Moscow), Patricia Hodge (A Very English Scandal), Harry Lloyd (Game of Thrones), Rupert Penry-Jones (Spooks), Anneika Rose (Line of Duty), Danny Sapani (Killing Eve), and Zubin Varla (Andor). In Marble Hall Murders Editor Susan Ryeland is hired to work on a continuation novel of the Atticus Pünd series, written by a troubled young author (Blackley). When the job leads Susan into another murder case, she unexpectedly finds herself a suspect. PBS MASTERPIECE also announced the premiere date for The Marlow Murder Club Season 3 (starring Samantha Bond) as being Sunday, September 6th.


PODCASTS/RADIO/AUDIO

On NPR's Weekend Edition Saturday, Scott Simon spoke with Anthony Horowitz about his new book, A Deadly Episode.


Paul Burke interviewed Matthew Carr on Crime Time FM about his latest historical crime thriller, The Emperor of Seville; Bernardo de Mendoza; sixteenth-century Spain; terrorism; financial thrillers; and white ruff crime.


On Murder Junction, Vaseem Khan and Abir Mukherjee spoke with undercover policeman-turned-crime writer Neil Lancaster about his latest Max Craigie novel and the mysterious Scottish grave that led to the series. They also chatted about Neil's previous life guarding nuclear reactors - in the company of dogs.


On Criminal Mischief, DP Lyle spoke with retired detective and story consultant Adam Richardson, who spent seventeen of his twenty-eight years in law enforcement as a detective in California, including assignments to state and federal task forces. He has been helping screenwriters, fiction authors, TV shows, and film productions with the cop stuff in their stories since 2015.


Spencer Quinn discussed his latest novel, Cat on a Hot Tin Woof, with  Barbara Peters for the Poisoned Pen podcast.