Media Murder for Monday

TV

Bad news for fans of the Charlie Huston novel The Mystic Arts of Erasing All Signs of Death, about a slacker who joins a crime scene clean-up crew. HBO had ordered a pilot for a series that was filmed under the direction of Alan Ball (True Blood), but decided not to take the series after all. No word yet on whether the series will find life on another network.

Fox's Lie to Me starring Tim Roth hasn't been canceled — yet — although the network cut the current season order by nine episodes down to a total of 13. The official explanation is that Fox won't need more episodes because Lie To Me is only slated to run through Jan. 31, with midseason drama The Chicago Code taking over its slot on February 7. 

CSI creator Anthony Zuiker is not only developing Deperado, a new crime drama for CBS set in an Antonio, he also has three other dramas in the final stages of development, including Detail, featuring a private female security expert; Treadstone, themed around a fictional CIA unit; and Spirits, featuring a team of three young women who solve paranormal mysteries. (Hat tip to Omnimystery News.)

DHX Media and screenwriter Michael Amo are shooting a pilot in Toronto for Shaw Media. Titled Befriend & Betray, it's based on the true-life story of Alex Caine, a man from Montreal who spent 25 years infiltrating the Hells Angels, Asian triads and other criminal brotherhoods, something even the Royal Canadian Mounted Police weren't able to do. 

Season 7 of the police drama The Closer will be its last. Star and Emmy-winner Kyra Sedgwick made the decision, adding that "I cannot fathom how difficult it will be to say goodbye to the incredible family we’ve created on The Closer. I will always be grateful to James Duff for his love and friendship, as well as for creating such a rich and complex character who I have loved living with year after year."

Comedian Dane Cook is joining the cast of Hawaii Five-0, playing the brother of Dan-O (Scott Caan). His first episode is currently scheduled to air in February 2011.

PODCASTS/RADIO

NPR' Weekend Edition Saturday interviewed Graham Moore about his debut novel The Sherlockian. Moore also talked about his own fascination with mysteries that began in childhood when he learned to read by passing Agatha Christie novels back and forth with his mother.

Plains FM interviewed Craig Sisterson of the Crime Watch blog about the announcement of Alix Bosco's novel Cut & Run as the inaugural winner of the Ngaio Marsh Award for Best Crime Novel. Sisterson also discused the creation and future of the Award, what books might be in the running for next year, and New Zealand crime fiction in general.

THEATER

American Psycho is being developed as a musical. The show's composer, Duncan Sheik, said to "Think about Malcolm McDowell singing songs during A Clockwork Orange." The project has been in development since 2008, when producers David Johnson, Jesse Singer, Nate Bolotin and Aaron Ray bought the rights to adapt the novel by Bret Easton Ellis. Playwright Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa notes "There are murders, and they are on stage in full view of the audience…I think there's going to be a lot of blood. Obviously, it's not for the people who want to see Elf."