The Barry Best

Deadly Pleasures Mystery Magazine announced the finalists for the 2026 Barry Awards, named after reviewer Barry Gardner, which celebrate the best works being published in the field of crime fiction each year. Winners will be revealed at the Bouchercon conference in Calgary, Canada, on October 22, 2026.  Congratulations to all the finalists!

Best Mystery

The Impossible Thing, Belinda Bauer (Atlantic Monthly)
Crooks, Lou Berney (William Morrow)
King Of Ashes, S. A. Cosby (Flatiron Books)
The Black Wolf, Louise Penny (Minotaur Books)
The White Crow, Michael Robotham (Scribner)
Presumed Guilty, Scott Turow (Grand Central)

Best First Mystery

Leverage, Amran Gowani (Atria Books)
All The Other Mothers Hate Me, Sarah Harman (Putnam)
Dead Money, Jakob Kerr (Bantam)
The Vanishing Place, Zoe Rankin (Berkley)
Stillwater, Tanya Scott (Atlantic Monthly)
Julie Chan Is Dead, Liann Zhang (Atria Books)

Best Paperback Original Mystery

Crimson Thaw, Bruce Robert Coffin (Severn River)
Splintered Justice, Kim Hays (Seventh Street Books)
Making A Killing, Cara Hunter (William Morrow)
If Two Are Dead, Rick Mofina (MIRA)
Wolf Six, Alex Shaw (Boldwood Books)
The Dentist, Tim Sullivan (Atlantic Crime)

Best Thriller

Witness 8, Steve Cavanagh (Atria Books)
The Oligarch’s Daughter, Joseph Finder (Harper)
Midnight Black, Mark Greaney (Berkley)
Clown Town, Mick Herron (Soho Crime)
Head Cases, John McMahon (Minotaur Books)
The Mailman, Andrew Welsh-Huggins (Mysterious Press)

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
 
Oscar nominee Kumail Nanjiani (Eternals), O’Shea Jackson Jr. (Den of Thieves), Emmy winner John Leguizamo (John Wick), and Tony winner Dan Fogler (Fantastic Beasts) are joining previously announced Josh Hartnett in the cast of the action-thriller, All Day & All Night. Written by Tommy Wirkola and John Niven, the story follows reformed bank robber Billy Davies (Hartnett), who returns to a life of crime to come up with tuition money after his daughter gets into Harvard. But when the bank heist goes horribly wrong, he and his crew (Nanjiani, Jackson Jr.) accidentally stumble onto the set of a failing reality TV show. Now Billy must stay on air long enough to figure out an escape plan from the cops (Leguizamo and Fogler) trying to arrest him and the mob trying to kill him, while the producers must keep the show on air long enough to boost their ratings and evade cancellation.


Philippine Leroy-Beaulieu is set to make her producing debut through her Mariri Productions banner on an untitled Morocco-set action-thriller, in which she’ll also star. Currently in development, plot details on the project are being kept under wraps, but the film is written by Sam Boyer, who won the 2022 Academy Nicholl Fellowship for his action-thriller, Ojek, and was named on the 2023 Black List for his kidnapping thriller, Foragers. Best known for her role as Sylvie Grateau in the hit Netflix series, Emily in Paris, which was recently renewed for a sixth season, Leroy-Beaulieu is a veteran French actress who has also been seen in Call My Agent!, The Crown, and more.


The first trailer dropped for Guy Ritchie‘s long-awaited action-thriller, In the Grey. Being released on May 15, the film follows a covert team of elite operatives sent to take on a ruthless despot and steal back a billion-dollar fortune he cheekily swiped for himself. As the trailer suggests, much of the action is perpetrated by the team’s two heavies, a cocky American known as Bronco (Jake Gyllenhaal) and a more no-nonsense Brit called Sid (Henry Cavill), both more than adept in things that go bang and boom, with Eiza González as their handler. Kristofer Hivju, Emmett J. Scanlan, Jason Wong, and Michael Vu also star, alongside Fisher Stevens, Rosamund Pike, and Carlos Bardem.


TELEVISION/STREAMING

Dutch actor Michiel Huisman (Nashville) has been tapped as the male lead opposite Taylor Schilling in NBC‘s crime drama pilot, What The Dead Know. Written by Beth Rinehart, the procedural is based on former New York City death investigator Barbara Butcher’s memoir of the same name. What the Dead Know centers on highly intelligent, hyper-vigilant death Investigator Ava Ledger (Schilling), who is really good with dead bodies—it’s just the living that give her trouble. The series follows Ava as she teams with the NYPD to solve their toughest cases. Huisman will play William Grant, an experienced NYPD homicide detective who thinks justice is simple—black and white.


Benjamin Bratt has been cast in key recurring roles in two series, including Season 2 of Prime Video’s Ballard (the other is the NFL drama, The Land, at Hulu). Based on Michael Connelly’s best-selling novels, Ballard follows LAPD Detective Renée Ballard (Maggie Q), where she began on the night shift at the Hollywood station before transitioning to the department’s Cold Case Unit, where she continues to fight to earn respect in the ranks. Bratt will portray Ryan Ainsley, a former DEA Agent who traded taking down hardened drug dealers for a simpler life as a cowboy tending to his Idaho ranch. Titus Welliver, Courtney Taylor, Michael Mosley, Rebecca Field, Victoria Moroles, Amy Hill, and John Carroll Lynch also star.


Azita Ghanizada (Suits LA,), William Fichtner (Armageddon), and Kathleen Wilhoite (Murdaugh Murders) are set to recur in the upcoming MGM+ series, Bosch: Start of Watch, a prequel that expands the Bosch Universe into the past. Based on Michael Connelly’s best-selling book series, Bosch: Start of Watch is set in 1991 Los Angeles and follows 26-year-old Harry Bosch (Cameron Monaghan) during his earliest days as a rookie cop. Ghanizada will play Stacy, an ambitious, razor-sharp lawyer drawn to the thrill of criminal power; Fichtner plays Calhern, a respected defense attorney-turned-power broker in L.A.’s criminal underworld; and Wilhoite will play Helen, Bosch’s devoted foster mother, whose recent loss of her husband has left a deep wound.


Martin Sensmeier (The Terminal List, Yellowstone) has joined the cast of AMC's Dark Winds for Season 5, which is currently in production in Santa Fe, New Mexico. In a series regular role, Sensmeier will play Terry Bai, a former Vietnam vet turned racetrack worker with ties to Chee (Kiowa Gordon) from middle school. Based on the Leaphorn & Chee book series by Tony Hillerman, Dark Winds is set in 1971 on a remote outpost of the Navajo Nation near Monument Valley and follows Lt. Joe Leaphorn (Zahn McClarnon) of the Tribal Police as a series of seemingly unrelated crimes besiege him. The closer he digs into the truth, the more he exposes the wounds of his past. He is joined on this journey by his new deputy, Jim Chee (Gordon).


Emmy and Oscar winner Tommy Lee Jones (The Fugitive) is the latest actor to join the cast of FX‘s The Lowdown for Season 2. Jones is the second casting of the season so far, following Betty Gilpin, announced earlier this month. From creator Sterlin Harjo, the first season of The Lowdown follows the gritty exploits of citizen journalist Lee Raybon (Ethan Hawke), a self-proclaimed Tulsa "truthstorian" whose obsession with the truth is always getting him into trouble. While Lee’s no idealist, he’s fiercely committed to exposing corruption and unearthing the city’s hidden rot, even when it puts him at risk. The show’s freshman season also starred Tim Blake Nelson and Keith David and featured guest stars Kyle MacLachlan, Jeanne Tripplehorn, Ryan Kiera Armstrong, Michael "Killer Mike" Render, Kaniehtiio Horn, Tracy Letts, Peter Dinklage, and the late Graham Greene.


Jordana Brewster (Fast & Furious) has been tapped as a lead opposite Joel Kinnaman, John Malkovich, and Jennifer Jason Leigh in Bishop, Prime Video‘s upcoming thriller series. The crime drama follows homicide detective Bishop Graves (Kinnaman)—brilliant, battle-scarred—who will put all of his skills to the test in the hunt for an elusive killer targeting San Francisco’s moneyed class. As this increasingly audacious killer develops a devoted following among the city’s powerless, Bishop becomes convinced these murders connect back to SF’s most powerful man, his own father, Lincoln Graves (Malkovich). Brewster will play Kat Claiborne, a seasoned inspector at the San Francisco Police Department. Leigh plays Lincoln Graves’ sister, and aunt to Bishop.


Emmy- and Tony-nominated David Morse (We Were Liars) has joined the cast as a new series regular opposite Jeremy Renner and Edie Falco in the upcoming fifth and final season of Taylor Sheridan‘s Paramount+ drama, Mayor of Kingstown. Morse will play Russell Hardy, a seasoned FBI agent sent to Kingstown. In the wake of Tracy’s (Nishi Munshi) murder and the vengeance visited upon Callahan by Mike (Renner) and Kyle (Taylor Handley), FBI agent Russell Hardy (Morse) arrives in Kingstown searching for the “fugitive” Callahan. A true lawman, Agent Hardy threatens to unearth all of Mike’s sins and secrets, and disrupt Kingstown’s tenuous balance of power. In addition to Renner, Falco, Morse and Handley, the lead cast also includes Laura Benanti, Hugh Dillon, Tobi Bamtefa, and Derek Webster. Necar Zadegan, Nichole Galicia, and Lennie James will also return.    


In an extremely rare move, CBS has picked up the Yellowstone spinoff, Marshals, for a second season after only two episodes. Luke Grimes stars as Kayce Dutton, son of Kevin Costner’s John Dutton, who after Yellowstone stayed in Montana and is persuaded to join an elite unit of U.S. Marshals led by his friend Pete Calvin (played by Logan Marshall-Green). In the first episode, this group, which also includes Belle Skinner (Arielle Kebbel), Andrea Cruz (Ash Santos), and Miles Kittle (Tatanka Means), is searching for some bad guys hiding in the depths of the ranch. The series also features a number of familiar faces from Yellowstone: Brecken Merrill, reprising his role as Kayce’s son Tate, Gil Birmingham as Thomas Rainwater, and Mo Brings Plenty as Mo. 


PODCASTS/RADIO/AUDIO

Brad Meltzer stopped by the House of Mystery podcast to talk about his novel, The Viper, the latest in his Zig and Nola thriller series, which unravels a shocking cold case with a personal—and deadly—twist.


On Crime Time FM, Neil Lancaster chatted with Paul Burke about Lancaster's new police thriller,  The Dark Heart; Scottish crime fiction; a love of spies; James Herriot; useful idiots, and more.


On the latest episode of Murder Junction, hosts Vaseem Khan and Abir Mukherjee chatted with debut crime novelist M.K. Oliver about A Sociopath's Guide to a Successful Marriage, and the inspirations behind it, including the real Lalla Rookh who gives the book's protagonist her name.


Meet the Thriller Author welcomed psychological thriller author Maria Frankland to discuss her writing journey, creative process, and the inspiration behind her latest novels.  


Barbara Peters was in conversation with Rhys Bowen and Clare Broyles on the Poisoned Pen podcast.


On the latest episode of Get to Know, hosted by DP Lyle and Kathleen Antrim, Sandra Brown, author of 77 New York Times bestsellers, discussed her writing and how she enjoys good theater, bad puns, and fancy jackets.


Authors on the Air spoke with Kat Rosenfield about writing, switching from YA to Adult, and her new thriller, How to Survive in the Woods.

Sunday Music Treat

Ever hear a song used over and over in commercials and wonder where it came from? Advertisers seem to use the same classical tunes ad infinitum, and here is one you've probably heard in ads and movies, but may not know its source, the very lovely "Flower Duet" from the opera Lakmé by French composer Leo Delibes (sung here by Sabine Devieilhe & Marianne Crebassa):

 

 

 

 

Quote of the Week

 

Friday's "Forgotten" Books: A Different Kind of Summer

Gwendoline Butler (1922-2013) had limited success as a writer before she began a police procedural series featuring a young Scotland Yard Inspector, John Coffin, penning eight Coffin novels between 1956 and 1962. When Butler's husband took a job teaching in St. Andrews, Scotland, the author decided she wanted a change from Coffin and found her inspiration one day when she saw a young red-haired Scottish policewoman. She later asked the local police chief about the young officer and was told she was a recent graduate on a rapid promotion track. Thus was born the character of Detective Charmian Daniels of the fictional Deerham Hill CID and, as some have given credit to the author (written under her pen name of Jennie Melville), the birth also of the woman's police procedural.

Melville also dipped her pen into the romantic suspense well for a time, evening receiving a Romantic Novelists Association Major Award in 1981, but eventually returned to both Inspector Coffin and Detective Daniels. She went on to write over 70 novels and was a recipient of the Crime Writers Association Silver Dagger in 1973 and shortlisted for the Golden Dagger for another novel.

One critic elevated Melville/Butler to a status equal to the Four Great Founding Mothers: Christie, Sayers, Allingham and Marsh, not only due to their writing, but in light of how many other elements they had in common: all well-educated (Butler lectured at Oxford), all prolific writers, all wrote on subjects other than detective fiction, and four of the group had supportive husbands. If she is not as well remembered as the others, it may be due to the fact that writers who she helped paved the way for, such as P.D. James and Ruth Rendell, eventually eclipsed her in acclaim.

Melville's writing of her female detective, Charmian Daniels, shows elements of early feminism, and as the character grew through the years, Detective Daniels also reflected the changing roles of women and attitudes toward them, particularly in a traditional man's field, law enforcement. Daniels grows in her career through time and is eventually promoted to Chief Superintendent with a move to Windsor. In an interview with Clues: A Journal of Detection in 2000, Butler said, "I was determined she [Daniels] should be a success and I suppose in a sense I was basing her on what would have happened to me if I'd remained in academic life when on the whole in my day, even more so now, women do climb the ladder. I was in the generation that was expecting to be successful as a woman in whatever field they ventured."  

In Melville's A Different Kind of Summer, dating from 1967, the fifth outing for Detective Daniels, Daniels is still a sergeant when an unidentified body arrives on a train into town in a coffin minus head or hands. It's up to Daniels to figure out which of many missing women this could be, including an increasing number of young girls vanishing in London. As she gets deeper into the case, she tries to stay objective and focused even as she starts receiving menacing phone calls and has to deal with a new young assistant, Christine Quinn, and a hysterical troublemaker who claims she's lost her sister.

There's been a lot of hue and cry lately about the amount of violence against women in crime fiction novels, and a mutilated female corpse would fall into that category, but in a commentary included in the original publication of A Different Kind of Summer, Melville said that she was interested in people committing crimes and why some people, usually women, form the victim syndrome in that the bad guys sense these victims are afraid (a reason why policewomen acting as decoys often fail to lure attackers, because their sense of confidence is too obvious).

Melville has a low-key writing style, blending social commentary with quirky characters, detailed plotting, and thoughtful writing for the most part, although in general, it's her novels with Inspector John Coffin where she's had her greatest success. One wonders if writing from a woman's point of view was too close to home to provide the inspirational distance required or if perhaps the fact the author's brother was Warden of the Toynbee Settlement in London gave her more of a first-hand experience with male protagonists. In either case, with Melvill's Daniels or Butler's Coffin, there's a lot of good material there, enough to show that grouping her with the "Four Great Founding Mothers" isn't that much of a stretch. If you're a fan of the "Golden Age" of detective fiction, then you'll enjoy these series.

Mystery Melange

Libby, the leading library reading app, unveiled the winners of the third annual Libby Book Awards. Celebrating the best in digital reading, the awards recognize outstanding ebooks and audiobooks across a variety of genres, highlighting the most compelling, thought-provoking, and widely loved titles of the year. Titles are selected by Libby's on-staff librarians, and the finalists and winners are voted on by public libraries across North America. The Best Mystery nod went to The Librarians by Sherry Thomas, with the runner-up being Murder Takes a Vacation by Laura Lippman. Liann Zhang's Julie Chan Is Dead snagged the Best Thriller award, with runner-up honors going to The Ghostwriter by Julie Clark. 

The latest recipient of the Dove Award is Stewart King, associate professor of European languages at Monash University (Melbourne, Australia), a specialist in Spanish and Catalan crime fiction who has edited or co-edited six books, as well as serving as co-editor of the journal Crime Fiction Studies.The Dove Award, established in 1986 and named after George N. Dove, past President of the Popular Culture Association and author of numerous articles and books on detective fiction, is presented each year by the PCA Mystery and Detective Fiction Area for outstanding contributions to the serious study of mystery/detective/crime fiction. Previous winners include Barry Forshaw, Martin Edwards, Janet Rudolph, P.D. James, H.R.F. Keating, Julian Symons, and more. (HT to The Bunburyist)


Sisters in Crime has two upcoming online sessions via Zoom for members and the general public. The first, on March 15th, is titled "Why You Should Write Short Stories," with Ashley-Ruth Bernier, Barb Goffman, and P.M. Raymond, where attendees will learn how writing short stories can help them develop their craft as well as their career. The second, on March 17th, covers "Business of Writing: Indie Publishing," a panel discussion with three successful indie published authors who will explore the business side of indie publishing, covering topics such as finding copyeditors and cover artists, promotional schedules, direct sales, working with libraries and booksellers and more. The sessions are free for SinC members and $15 for the nonmembers.

This coming Monday, March 16, there will be a Noir at the Bar event in Kittery, Maine at The Dance Hall, 7 Walker St, with doors opening at 6pm. Literally Kittery bookstore is co-sponsoring and will provide books for signing. Authors scheduled to appear include:  Allison Keeton, Brenda Buchanan, Carolyn Wilkins, Gabriela Stiteler, Gregory Bastianelli, John Nardizzi, Matt Cost, Rebecca Turkewitz, Sarah Lamagna, and Zakariah Johnson. Drinks (wine and beer) will be available for purchase, and there will be complimentary snacks to keep you fortified between frights. Tickets are $10.


About 10,000 writers published an "empty" book in protest over AI using their work without permission or compensation. Titled Don’t Steal This Book, the only content is a list of their names. Copies of the work are being distributed to attenders at the London book fair on Tuesday, a week before the UK government is due to issue an assessment on the economic cost of proposed changes in copyright law. Several crime fiction authors have contributed to the copyright protest, including Slow Horses author, Mick Herron, and Richard Osman (of the Thursday Murder Club series). Publishers will also launch an AI licensing initiative at the London book fair.


Writing for the Promoting Crime Fiction blog, Lea O'Harra profiled Japanese crime fiction, which has  been enjoying a renaissance of late, even then only a tiny percentage have been translated into English. The American-born O'Harra did her postgraduate work in Britain and then worked full-time for thirty-six years at a Japanese university. She notes that the detective novel or, in Japanese, Tantei Shosetsu, is one of the most popular literary genres in Japan and one of the oldest, and offers up a brief history of the genre in that country.


Lisa Under gathered a panel of crime fiction authors for Crime Reads to discuss "The Greatest Dangerous Female Characters in Literature." In addition to her own picks, Unger snagged input from Megan Abbott, Ace Atkins, May Cobb, Laura Lippman, Kate White, Heather Gundenkauf, Alafair Burke, and Ruth Ware.


In the Q&A roundup, Isabel Booth, the pen name of Karen Jewell, a former trial attorney and now a writer, applied the Page 69 Test to her new novel, Then He Was Gone; on Promoting Crime Fiction, Dot Marshall-Gent was in conversation with Carol Westron about her writing career, her Galmouth Mystery series, and more; and Writer Interviews chatted with Lyla Lane about her new mystery, The Best Little Motel in Texas.

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
 
Jason Clarke (A House of Dynamite) has signed a deal to join Viola Davis in Ally Clark, a new thriller coming together at Amazon MGM Studios, although no details were released regarding the role to be played by Clarke. The project is written by Jose Ruisanchez and Irwin Winkler, with Phillip Noyce on board to direct. The plot description per Deadline:  "Ally Clark takes us from the towering skyscrapers of New York City to the sweltering bayous of Louisiana and the icy peaks of Alaska, following investigator Ally Clark (Davis) as she embarks on a perilous inquiry into an international conglomerate following the suspicious death of a close friend."


TELEVISION/STREAMING

After a bidding war, See-Saw Films (Slow Horses) has landed the rights to adapt the Lovejoy detective novels for TV, which were made into a popular BBC series in the late 1980s and early 1990s starring Ian McShane. Set in East Anglia, Lovejoy is about a charismatic antiques dealer with an almost mystical knack for spotting genuine artifacts and scams. He frequently pivots from dealer to detective, outmaneuvering rivals, criminals, and occasionally the police. Published under the nom de plume Jonathan Gash, Lovejoy is a set of 24 books from Dr. John Grant, published between 1977 and 2008. See-Saw wants to create a "contemporary reimagining of the Lovejoy novels that will strip away the nostalgia of the 1980s adaptation and return to the unrulier spirit of the books."


The BBC reported that a series of cozy crime books by Glenda Young set in Scarborough are being developed for television. Inspired by the author's childhood holidays on the North Yorkshire coast, the four-book series follows the escapades of a bed and breakfast landlady-turned-amateur-sleuth solving quirky murders.


AMC is developing The New Gothic from One Tree Hill star Hilarie Burton Morgan. Burton Morgan is writing the series with her frequent collaborator, Nick Gray, and is producing through her Mischief Farm banner, which she set up with her husband, The Walking Dead star Jeffrey Dean Morgan. Per its logline, The New Gothic redefines the legendary storytelling of the American South as it follows the collision of the enterprising Bloom family with the resurrected Mississippi Mafia. "Set in a landscape stained by red clay and bad blood, villainy is commonplace—but power is singular."


Molly Griggs (The Residence) has been tapped to star opposite Damon Wayans Jr. in the NBC drama pilot, Puzzled, from writer Joey Falco and Universal Television. Based on the Danielle Trussoni novel, The Puzzle Master, the drama follows once-promising college athlete Mike Brink (Wayans), who is transformed by a traumatic brain injury that gives him the unique ability to see the world in an unexpected way and helps him solve crimes with local police. Griggs will play Quinn Abbott, a tightly wound Atlanta PD detective. The smartest kid in class, she always knows the answer and isn’t afraid to correct you when you’re wrong. In addition to Wayans Jr., Griggs joins previously cast series regular Christina Elmore who plays Angela, the head of Atlanta P.D.’s Major Crimes Section.


Melissa Fumero (Brooklyn Nine-Nine) will star opposite the previously announced Matthew Gray Gubler in CBS's Einstein. Fumero will play Teri, a Detective Inspector for the New Jersey State Police. Rosa Salazar was originally cast in the role but wanted out of her option after the network decided to delay the series until the 2026-27 season. Einstein follows Lewis Einstein (Gubler), the brilliant but directionless great-grandson of Albert Einstein. He spends his days as a comfortably tenured professor until his bad-boy antics land him in trouble with the law, and he is pressed into service helping a local police detective (Fumero) solve her most puzzling cases. Lewis is a popular professor at Princeton … when he actually shows up for class. Irreverent and misguided, his genius and famous name weigh heavily on him, but using his gift to help solve homicides may finally offer his life some direction and purpose.


Jon Beavers (One Battle After Another) has been set to star opposite Emily Deschanel in the untitled one-hour crime drama written by Dean Georgaris and John Fox.  The project is inspired by the work of expert profiler and author Dr. Ann Burgess, subject of the 2024 Hulu docuseries Mastermind: To Think Like a Killer. It follows Professor Georgia Ryan (Deschanel), a trailblazing psychologist who challenges the field of criminology by shifting the investigative focus to the victim rather than just the perpetrator in order to uncover the crucial clues that more traditional methods leave behind. Alongside her team, this pioneering expert consults with the FBI to solve the most baffling and elusive cases. Beavers will play Will Andover, who was the top profiler in his class at Quantico, but then he had a fall from grace. Now at a crossroads in his career, he desperately needs a win.


Netflix has ordered a fourth season of the political action thriller, The Night Agent, starring Gabriel Basso, which will shoot in Los Angeles after two seasons in New York following the Canada-based first installment. In Season 3, Night Agent Peter Sutherland (Basso) is called in to track down a young Treasury Agent who fled to Istanbul with sensitive government intel after killing his boss. This kicks off a sequence of events where Peter, working with a relentless journalist (Genesis Rodriguez), investigates a dark money network while avoiding its paid assassins. Season 3 was the first without Luciane Buchanan as female lead, Rose, opposite Basso’s Peter.


High Potential is returning to ABC for a third season with a new showrunner following the exit of Todd Harthan, who is leaving to focus on Eragon, the live-action adaptation of Christopher Paolini’s YA The Inheritance Cycle book series. High Potential stars Kaitlin Olson as Morgan, a single mother with an IQ of 160 working as a cleaning lady at the Los Angeles Police Department who becomes a consultant for the LAPD’s Major Crimes division. The cast also features Daniel Sunjata as Karadec, Javicia Leslie as Daphne, Deniz Akdeniz as Lev “Oz” Ozdil, Amirah J as Ava, Matthew Lamb as Elliot, and Judy Reyes as Selena. The show is currently in the back half of its second season with the Major Crimes unit investigating a complicated murder and Morgan dealing with her kids growing up.


MASTERPIECE on PBS has announced that Miss Scarlet will conclude its run with Season 7. The series stars Kate Phillips (Wolf Hall: The Mirror and the Light), Tom Durant-Pritchard (The Forsytes), and returning cast members Paul Bazely, Tim Chipping, Evan McCabe, Felix Scott, Cordelia Bugeja, and Ansu Kabia. Filming has started for six episodes to wrap up the story of Eliza Scarlet, Victorian London’s first female private detective. Inspired by her father’s work as a private eye, Eliza (Phillips) has spent the last six seasons breaking the glass ceiling while solving countless mysteries. She hasn’t done it alone though – within Scotland Yard, she was first aided by her childhood friend William “The Duke” Wellington (Stuart Martin), then by police Inspector and love interest Alexander Blake (Durant-Pritchard). Colleagues Moses (Ansu Kabia) and Clarence (Paul Bazely) have backed her up on case after case, and Ivy (Cathy Belton) has been a mainstay of support at home.

PODCASTS/RADIO/AUDIO

On Spybrary, Tim Shipman sat down with thriller author, James Wolff, who worked as a British intelligence officer for over ten years, to unpack his latest spy novel, Spies and Other Gods.


Dana Stabenow joined the Poisoned Pen podcast to discuss her latest novel, Harvey Girl.


Debbi Mack's latest guest on the Crime Cafe podcast was Joy Ann Ribar, author of the Deep Lakes and Bay Browning mystery series.


On Wrong Place, Write Crime, host Frank Zafiro spoke with Dan Bronson about his Jack Shannon series, including the new release, Shout at the Devil, and some great Hollywood stories.


House of Mystery chatted with Robyn Harding (The Drowning Woman), about her latest novel, Stranger in the Villa, a psychological thriller about a couple rocked by infidelity who move to a villa in Spain’s Costa Brava to rebuild their relationship, only to welcome a pair of visitors who have no intention of leaving.