Media Murder

 

Here's a roundup of news from the world of mystery fiction and crime dramas on radio, TV, film, and the stage:

On December 21st at 10pm ET, the Investigation Discovery network will premiere the new series The Shift, which follows a team of homicide detectives at the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department.

WETA's Author Author! has an interview with Louis Bayard about his book The Black Tower.

On December 18, The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson featured Michael Connelly, author of The Brass Verdict (hopefully they'll have the video up soon).

The Telegraph featured a piece on Dame Stella Rimington, the former director general of MI5, who was surprised when her criticisms of the television series Spooks led to the makers offering her a position as their official consultant.

The Writers Guild has nominated the writing teams for Dexter (Scott Buck, Daniel Cerone, Charles H. Eglee, Adam E. Fierro, Lauren Gussis, Clyde Phillips, Scott Reynolds, Melissa Rosenberg, Tim Schlattmann) and The Wire (Ed Burns, Chris Collins, David Mills, David Simon, William F. Zorzi, Richard Price, Dennis Lehane, George Pelecanos) in the category for best drama series.

The Guardian reviewed Hungarian film-maker Béla Tarr's adaptation of the Georges Simenon thriller The Man From London.

Director Justin Chadwick is penning an adaptation of Stef Penney's prize-winning novel The Tenderness of Wolves for Film 4 and Target Entertainment. Shooting is planned for 2009, under the direction of Justin Chadwick (The Other Boleyn Girl).

The Crimespree Cinema blog posted a link to new Photos released by Warner Brothers from the shoot for the movie Whiteout. It stars Kate Beckinsale (Underworld, Pearl Harbor) as U.S. Marshall Carrie Stetko, who has been sent to Antarctica to solve the continent's first murder.

If you live in the UK or have access to shortwave, you might try and find BBC Radio 7 and its lineup of detective shows.

The 2008 International Mystery Writers' Festival has released a CD of live radio plays recorded at the festival, Ray Bradbury's "It Burns Me Up" from a 1940's collection of noir tales and Mary Higgins Clark's "Crime of Passion."

Writers Digest TV just added three pay-per-view video workshops from Thrillerfest 2008, with Eric Van Lustbader, James Rollins, and Steve Martini.