Media Murder for Monday

MOVIES

If you're headed to the Toronto Film Fest, Deadline has a rundown of the films that will be featured, including Life of Crime, based on Elmore Leonard's novel The Switch, about two common criminals in 1970s Detroit (played by John Hawkes and Mos Def) who kidnap the housewife (Jennifer Aniston) of a corrupt real estate developer (Tim Robbins) and hold her for ransom; Mystery Road, about a detective who returns to his outback hometown to investigate the brutal murder of a teenage girl found in a drain under a highway outside of town; and Prisoners, starring Hugh Jackman as a father who takes the law into his own hands after his young daughter goes missing.

Judge Dredd star Karl Urban told Comic Con that the movie "exploded" on home video, selling 650,000 units in the first week, prompting him and producer/screenwriter Alex Garland to plan a sequel. The original film was based on a popular comic strip and focused on a violent, futuristic city where the police have the authority to act as judge, jury and executioner, leading a cop to team with a trainee to take down a gang that deals a reality-altering drug.

Fight Club is getting a sequel—as a graphic novel. Author Chuck Palahniuk, on whose work the 1996 Brad Pitt film was based, said, "Chelsea Cain has been introducing me to artists and creators from Marvel, DC and Dark Horse, and they're walking me through the process. It will likely be a series of books that update the story 10 years after the seeming end of Tyler Durden."

Via Omnimystery News:  Tribeca released a trailer for the thriller A Single Shot, adapted from the novel by Matthew F. Jones, about a hunter who becomes the hunted in the backwoods of West Virginia.

TELEVISION

ABC has put in a development order for Lawless, about a maverick lawyer who returns to her hometown to right the wrongs she left behind. It is inspired by the real life of crusading trucker-turned-lawyer Wynona Ward, founder of Have Justice Will Travel, which provides free legal representation and support services to victims of domestic violence in rural areas.

ABC also announced a limited series about the Cold War, based on the book Circle of
Treason: A CIA Account of Traitor Aldrich Ames and the Men He Betrayed, scheduled to premiere in 2014.

Jack Wagner (The Bold and the Beautiful), Rachel Blanchard (Clueless) and Cameron Mathison (All My Children) have been tapped to star in a Hallmark two-hour backdoor pilot and potential primetime series, My Gal Sunday. The project is based on the book of short stories by Mary Higgins Clark about attorney/PI Sandra "Sunday" O'Brien-Parker (Blanchard) and her new husband/partner Henry Parker (Mathison), whose deep political ties and romance put them at the center of intrigue and scandal.

Sherlock season three has cast its nemesis for Benedict Cumberbatch's sleuth. Lars Mikkelsen (who appeared in the original Dutch series The Killing) will play Charles Augustus Magnussen, who is likely based on a character from one of Arthur Conan Doyle's short stories about a murderous blackmailer.

Ruth Bradley (Big Thunder) and Boardwalk Empire alum Meg Steedle have been added to the cast of the World War II sci-fi/crime drama from executive producer Gale Anne Hurd. Horizon centers on a secretary (Bradley) at the FBI who discovers that her husband might have been killed in a battle with a spaceship in the South Pacific. Steedle will play the secretary's best friend and a refined debutant-turned-upper-level FBI secretary.

Michelle Forbes (who played a Dionysus-worshiping immortal on HBO's True Blood and a grieving mother on
AMC's The Killing), has landed a recurring role in the NBC
drama Chicago Fire. Forbes will play a high-ranking consultant with the State Fire Marshal's office.

Terrence Howard has joined M. Night Shyamalan's limited series for Fox, Wayward Pines, playing a Sheriff who takes offense when Secret Service agent Ethan Burke (Matt Dillon) comes
in to town to investigate the disappearance of two agents.

There were many sneak previews of the upcoming 2013-14 television season at the recently-wrapped ComicCon, incuding a panel about Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. Although the panel didn't include footage, it did have actors like Clark Gregg (Agent Phil Coulson) and Ming-Na Wen (Agent Melinda May), as well as pilot director Joss Whedon talking about the project. You can see a portion of the panel at CinemaBlend.

ABC released a few first looks at the surprises coming up in season 6 of Castle. New cast members include House star Lisa Edelstein as a tough Fed whom Beckett wants to emulate (she'll appear in at least three episodes) and Myko Olivier as Pi, whom Alexis (Molly Quinn) met in Costa Rica.

PODCASTS/VIDEO/RADIO

The July 27 edition of Suspense Radio featured author Marcus Sakey, Toni Hill, and Dan Graffeo.

THEATER

New casting was announced for the National Theatre's West End production of The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time, currently running at the Apollo Theatre, with the new company to begin performances Sept. 2. The play was adapted by Simon Stephens from Mark Haddon’s best-selling novel of the same name about a 15-year-old amateur detective with Asperger's Syndrome.

1+1 = A Mystery

I first posted this on the blog five years ago to celebrate my father's 80th birthday. Sadly, we lost him to cancer this past February, but I thought it might be a nice tribute to re-post this one more time in honor of a man who taught college math for 55 years, up until a year before his death. I don't know how many thousands of students he taught during that time, but many of them have gone on to teaching positions of their own, and so Papa's legacy continues on in each and every student down the line.

This is a look at the mysteries of math, i.e., crime fiction works that have used math or mathematicians as a central theme.

It might surprise some to realize how often math and mathematicians have been used throughout the history of the genre. The father of the modern mystery, Edgar Allan Poe, brought the subject into his 1845 short story "The Purloined Letter," in which C. Auguste Dupin solves the case and engages the Prefect of Paris in a discussion of mathematics and the nature of reasoning. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle,
who once told a reporter that Poe's Dupin "is the best detective in fiction," made Professor Moriarty, the archenemy of Sherlock Holmes, a mathematician.

Other giants of the genre followed suit, with S.S. van Dine’s Philo Vance in 1929's The Bishop Murder Case, which deals with a series of killings in the house of a senior mathematics professor where most of the victims and suspects are mathematicians. Agatha Christie in The Bird with the Broken Wing 1930),
has her protagonist Mr. Satterthwaite deal with "a most brilliant mathematician" who had authored a book "totally incomprehensible to ninety-nine hundredths of humanity." Even Rex Stout’s Nero Wolf crossed paths with a mathematician in two stories, And Be a Villain (1948) and The Zero Clue (1952) where a mathematician uses operations research to solve mysteries and may be usurping Wolfe's reputation in the process, until he's promptly murdered.

When it comes to series fiction, there have been fewer takers. A few novelists have taken on the task, the most prolific being John Rhode, one of the pen names of Cecil John Charles Street (1884-1964). His protagonist Dr. Lancelot Priestley, a British mathematician and former professor who was forced to resign after an argument with university authorities, was featured in fifty books, starting with The Paddington Mystery. His writing is fairly representative of the Golden Age of detective fiction, but the writing utilizes an understated sense of humor (two of his books included murder committed respectively with a squash and hedgehog). 

Patricia McElroy (P.M.) Carlson, who taught psychology and statistics at Cornell University before deciding that mystery writing was more fun, has published books with different protagonists, but her first featured a New York professor of statistics, Maggie Ryan. Carlson penned eight works in the series, starting with Audition for Murder in 1985 and ending with Bad Blood in 1991. 

Erik Rosenthal is another intrepid author who created a mathematical hero in Dan Brodsky, who obtained his Ph.D. from the mathematics department at U.C. Berkeley in 1976, teaching part-time
and working part-time as a P.I.  Rosenthal’s two books featuring Brodsky, The Calculus of Murder (1986) and Advanced Calculus of Murder (1988) include an inside look at life on the Berkeley campus in the 60s and 70s. They also feature an unlikely pet, the guinea pig Hypatia (named after the female Greek mathematician), and a romantic interest for Brodsky in the form of Eileen St. Cloud, a mathematician on the faculty at Rice University.

Desmond Cory, the pseudonym used by British mystery and thriller writer Shaun Lloyd McCarthy, is best-known for his British secret agent, Johnny Fedora and the TV and movie screenplays.  But his last-published works are a series of four novels with protagonist John Dobie, Professor of Mathematics in Cardiff, Wales (known as "Columbo with a chair in mathematics"), starting with Strange Attractor in
1991.  Although some mathematicians might take exception with Cory's claim that mathematicians are terrible cooks the series manages to bring in a blend of chaos and set theories, logic, and probability,
especially in The Catalyst. (1991)

There are many other stand-alone mysteries featuring mathematics, although not as many from an academic standpoint. One of the most unusual would have to be After Math (1997) by Miriam Webster, the non de plume of Amy Babich, a Ph.D. in mathematics. Her book features the ghost of math professor Ray Bellwether who tries to solve the mystery of his own murder. Along the way he crosses paths (so to speak) with other curious mathematicians, some living, some dead.

Another contemporary, and unconventional work, is the brainchild of Jeff Adams, a 2005 short story published in "Math Horizons." It's titled "Cardano and the Case of the Cubic" and is a parody of the stereotypical early 20th century hard-boiled PI, set within the framework of 16th century mathematician Gerolamo Cardano. ("That's what had me worried. Girls with quiet elbows can't be trusted. I deduce these things. I'm a mathematician. My name's Cardano.")

And you don't have to look much farther than your TV to see how mathemathics can be used in criminal detection—the CBS drama Numb3rs, which tried to make math sexy, was one of the network's most popular shows during its five seasons from 2005-2010.

Mystery Melange

Denise Mina was honored with a rare repeat performance as winner of the Theakston Old Peculier Best Crime Novel Award for the second year in a row. Her novel Gods and Beasts edged out other nominated books by Mark Billingham, Chris Ewan, Peter May, Stuart Neville and Stav Sherez.

Needle Magazine's Summer Issue is available for the Kindle, bringing you noir short fiction at its best: Dennis Tafoya, Sarah Weinman, Clayton Lindemuth, Brad Green, Bruce Holsinger, Kieran Shea, Ed Kurtz, Jimmy Callaway, Scott Miles, C.J. Edwards, Amy Yolanda Castillo, Alan Orloff, B.A. Hoffman, and Neliza Drew. Back issues (including the Winter 2012 issue with my story "Push Comes to Shove") are also available.

After the recent Scandinavian invasion in crime fiction, there have been attempts by publishers around the world to take advantage of that success and put forth their own regional crime novels as "the next big thing." The latest in that line is French crime fiction, but the French may have weight to back it up: the Crime Writers Association awarded the 2013 International Dagger (a tie) to French authors Fred Vargas, for The Ghost Riders of Ordebec, and Pierre Lemaitre for Alex.

Bookvibe is looking to be the "next big thing" in online book discovery sites, competing with the likes of Goodreads, Library Things and Shelfari. The site offers up book recommendations to users by extracting data from their Twitter handle and may add recommendations from Facebook, Tumblr, and Instagram (and even Goodreads and LibraryThing) down the road.

In the Q&A roundup this week, Jesse Giles Christiansen chats with Dark Phantom Review about his new novel Pelican Bay; Margaret Coel discusses her Wind River Mysteries with Omnimystery News; Jason Matthews talks to Omnivoracious about his spy career and how his debut novel, Red Sparrow, had to be fine-tooth-combed by the CIA's "publication review board"; and Jeff Pierce has a lengthy interview with prolific author Ed Gorman, originally for January Magazine, which Jeff reposted on his Rap Sheet blog.

Heads up to you bookstores out there. Researchers in Belgium discovered that shoppers are more likely to engage in leisurely browsing—and ultimately purchase books in certain popular genres,
including romance novels—if the store is infused with the scent of chocolate. I could have told them that.

Media Murder for Monday

MOVIES

Sony has opted not to adapt the third installment, The Lost Symbol, of Dan Brown's Robert Langdon thriller series as the next movie in its franchise. Instead, star Tom Hanks and director Ron Howard will be reuniting for Brown's novel Inferno, set in Europe and inspired by Dante, author of the 14th century poem The Divine Comedy. They're aiming for a release date of December 2015.

Although CBS passed on the Beverly Hills Cop TV series spin-off, showrunner Shawn Ryan is working with Paramount to put the failed-pilot into development as a movie. There's no word on whether the pilot's stars Brandon T. Jackson and Christine Lahti will be a part of the film.

Lotus Entertainment and Davids Canton Production are teaming up for an adaptation of the psychological thriller Restart based on Matthew Klein's novel No Way Back (published this spring by Corvus). Brad Anderson (The Call, The Machinist) has signed to direct the film, which focuses on an ordinary man who discovers his entire life is being infiltrated and manipulated by a terrifying criminal network. (Hat tip to Omnimystery News.)

Vladimir Kulich (The Vikings) has joined the film reboot of the 1980s television series The Equalizer. Kulich will play a Russian oligarch who funds an international black market enterprise, in opposition to star Denzel Washington's former covert agent who hires himself out to those in need.

Here's your first look at Academy Award winning actor Sean Penn in the adaptation of Jean-Patrick Manchette's thriller novel The Prone Gunman (retitled The Gunman for the film). Penn plays Jim Terrier, an international operative forced to go on the run.

TELEVISION

The Emmy Award nominations announced last week include include nods for Outstanding Drama to Breaking Bad, Downton Abbey, Game Of Thrones, Homeland, House of Cards and Mad Men. There are several other crime drama-related nominations, but all of them are for cable networks (or Netflix) and none for broadcast networks. For the full listing, check out this listing from Cinemablend.

Imagine Entertainment (Ron Howard and Brian Grazer) and 20th Century Fox have picked up rights to Andrew Gross's No Way Back for a television series, according to a notice the author posted on his Facebook page.

The Sundance Channel has chosen the series The Red Road (f/k/a The Descendants) for its second original scripted series. The show is described as "a hard-hitting drama that revolves around Harold Jensen, a sheriff struggling to keep his family together while simultaneously policing two clashing communities: the small town where he grew up and the neighboring Ramapo Mountains, home of the Ramapo Mountain Indians."

As Omnimystery News reported, ABC has renewed its summer drama Rookie Blue for a fifth season. (ON also has a Telemystery Scoresheet to keep track of the status of your favorite shows.)

The CBS sci-fi thriller Person of Interest has promoted Amy Acker and Sarah Shahi to series regulars for Season 3, as was announced at a recent Comic-Con panel. Root plays a talented assassin and cyber-hacker for hire who is intent on setting the Machine free, while Shahi plays a fearless operative in a secret paramilitary organization that tracks and eliminates terrorists.

The musical episode of USA's comedy-detective series Psych, featuring Tony Award winner Barry Bostwick and Anthony Rapp, is scheduled to air in December. Playbill has a trailer.

Charlie Hunnam is in talks to star in Triple Nine, a cop drama that Anonymous Content is developing, and Christoph Waltz and Cate Blanchett are also in the running to join the cast. The thriller was written by Matt Cook and focuses on a group of thieves in L.A. who plan to kill a cop (a "Code 999" in police parlance) to divert attention from their own crime scene across town. 

AMC released a trailer for its upcoming "film noir" series, Low Winter Sun, about two detectives (Mark Strong and Lennie James) who murder a dirty cop in their department.

PODCASTS/VIDEO/RADIO

On CBS This Morning last week: Robert Kolker, author of Lost Girls: An Unsolved American Mystery.

THEATER

The full cast was announced for the return of the Jonathan Church-helmed production of Bertolt Brecht's The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui. Performances in Chichester's Minerva Theatre in the UK begin August 15, before moving to the West End's Duchess Theatre. The play is set in Chicago in the 1930s, where the Great Depression is the perfect time for Arturo Ui and his mob of gangsters to run protection rackets for both workers and businesses.

GAMES

The makers of the original Police Quest video game hope to resurrect the police procedural adventure with Precinct via a Kickstarter project. The game will include puzzles and mysteries as well as planned action sequences like shootouts, car chases, and foot pursuits. The developers
are hoping for a June 2014 release.

Mystery Melange

The indie publisher L&L Dreamspell has released many print and digital books in various genres, including crime fiction, for the past seven years. The endeavor was the dream of good friends Linda Houle and Lisa Smith (hence the publisher's name), and I was very fortunate to have them publish two of my Scott Drayco stories in one of their anthologies. Sadly, I received news that Linda Houle passed away last week following a long and courageous battle with breast cancer. Remaining partner Lisa Smith doesn't feel she can continue the venture, so the company is closing down. Although I don't know of any memorial funds set up so far, I'm sure the American Cancer Society would welcome donations in Linda's memory.

In happier news, the 2013 Thriller Awards were handed out this past weekend at ThrillerFest in New York City. Congratulations to

• Best Hardcover Novel – Brian Freeman, Spilled Blood (SilverOak)
• Best Paperback Original – Sean Doolittle, Lake Country (Bantam)
• Best First Novel – Matthew Quirk, The 500 (Reagan Arthur Books)
• Best E-Book Original Novel – CJ Lyons, Blind Faith (Minotaur Books)
• Best Young Adult Novel – Dan Krokos, False Memory (Hyperion Books CH)
• Best Short Story – John Rector, “Lost Things” (Thomas & Mercer)

The Strand Magazine Critics Award winners were also announced: the Award for Best Novel went to Defending Jacob by William Landay; the Critics Award for Best Debut Novel went to The 500 by Matthew Quirk; and Faye Kellerman was given the Lifetime Achievement award for excellence in crime writing. 

A record 61 books are in contention Sisters in Crime Australia's 13th Davitt Awards for the best crime and mystery books by Australian women in 2012. The winners will be presented at gala dinner on August 31 by leading New Zealand crime writer, Vanda Symon, at the Thornbury Theatre in Melbourne. For all the nominees in the various categories, check out the SinC Australite website link above.

The summer edition of Mystery Scene Magazine is out, which editor Kate Stine sums up thusly: "From the rousing derring-do of Susan Elia MacNeal's WWII espionage to the thoughtful examination of China's headlong modernization in Qiu Xiaolong's Inspector Chen police procedurals to Elaine Viets' darkly amusing take on the US economy in her Dead End Jobs mysteries, this jumbo issue of Mystery Scene will kick your summer reading into high gear."  There are many more features, too, and the usual great columns and reviews.

ThugLit Issue #6 is "ready to blow up your face with eight killer tales from some of the best crime writers on the mutherlubbin' PLANET." Stories include "Pin" by Hugh Lessig; "Wheels" by Rena Robinett; "Come on Home" by Scott Adlerberg; Having Chiqui" by Kieran Shea; "Soul Collection" by T Fox Dunham; "Sweet Caroline" by Jessica Adams; "The Ghost Wife" by Aaron Fox-Lerner; and "Rogues Gallery" by BH Shepherd

Sherlock Holmes Mystery Magazine returns with its July/August 2013 issue, presenting the best in modern and classic mystery fiction, with columns from Lenny Picker and Mrs Hudson, plus original short fiction from Marc Bilgrey, Carla Coupe, Paullette Gaudet, Janice Law, Nijo Philip, Jack Grochot, Laird Long, Jay Carey and John M. Floyd.

Elizabeth Foxwell, editor of Clues: A Journal of Detection, wanted to remind everyone that the submission deadlines are approaching on two Clues Call
for Papers: the global crime scene (July 19) and Tana French and Irish
crime fiction (Aug 1). The magazine does, however, consider essays outside of these
themes on an ongoing basis. Check out the website for more details and guidelines.

The biannual NoirCon has opened submissions for the literary journal Noir Riot, to be published in conjunction with the festival in 2014 in Philadelphia. The goal is to "offer a comprehensive, up-to-the-minute examination of the noir universe, with contributions from both rising stars and authors of worldwide renown, and sections dedicated to fiction, nonfiction and poetry." For guidelines and submission periods, check out the Noir Riot website.

Publisher Tony Burton of Wolfmont Press has announced a call for submissions for the company's latest charity anthology, Hungry for Justice. He's  looking for stories from 2,000 to 3,000 words in length that explore crime and punishment in the less-affluent portions of America. Proceeds from the anthology will be donated to Feeding America, an organization that deals with the issues of hunger and food insecurity that many people in America face each day. (Hat tip to Terrie Moran at Women of Mystery, who just signed a three-book deal for a series on her Read 'Em and Eat Cafe mystery series with Berkley.) Tony posted submission info on Dropbox.

The Telegraph and publisher Harvill Secker are joining forces to launch a new competition in crime fiction for UK residents. But even if you're not submitting to the contest. The Telegraph is going to feature some of Harvill Secker's most successful crime authors conducting masterclasses on the paper's website over the next several weeks, in both written and video form.

In an era when it seems there is a bookstore closing every week comes word that a new indie bookstore focusing on science fiction, fantasy and mystery is opening in the Astoria neighborhood in New York City. Enigma plans on having a backyard garden where customers can lounge and read
outdoors, as well as hosting  events like murder
mystery nights, "geek" trivia competitions, spoken word performances,
screenings of old sci-fi movies, reading groups, and literacy classes
for kids.

What Makes You Put a Book Down?

Goodreads surveyed its many thousands of members to see which books were abandoned the most often and the reasons why (looking at reader self-reported review and bookshelf details). They compiled the details in an infographic, a helpful reminder to authors on how to keep readers interested.

Media Murder for Monday

MOVIES

It's official: Sam Mendes is indeed returning for the next film in the James Bond franchise. After his successful stint directing the recent Skyfall, it appeared he might not be available for the next installment, but apparently Mendes and the producers have come to an agreement. The film, Bond 24, will also bring back Skyfall screenwriter John Logan and actor Daniel Craig as 007.

20th Century Fox has acquired CyberStorm, a self-published book by Matthew Mather, with Chernin Entertainment serving as producer. Described as "a frighteningly realistic depiction of what would happen after a global digital meltdown from an organized attack," the story centers on a New York man and his family as they try and survive isolated in Manhattan with millions of scared and confused people around them. Mather is a former cybersecurity expert turned author who started out his career working at the McGill Center for Intelligent Machines.

Ben Affleck is in final talks to star as the male lead in David Fincher's big screen adaptation of best-selling mystery novel Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn. This is leading to rampant speculation about which "girl" will play the title role, and allegedly Natalie Portman, Charlize Theron and Emily Blunt are currently the frontrunners.

Johnny Depp is in negotiations to star in the adaptation of the 1970s comedy-thriller novel Mordecai by Kyril Bonfiglioli (finished after the author's death by Craig Brown). Depp would play the role of debonair art dealer and part-time rogue the Hon. Charlie Mortdecai who globehops while on the trail of a stolen painting that contains a code for a hidden bank account full of Nazi gold.

Here's your first look at Solace, an indie supernatural thriller starring Anthony Hopkins stars as a psychic crime analyst who comes out of retirement to help a veteran FBI agent (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) solve a series of bizarre murders. 

Swedish director Jesper Ganslandt has been signed to direct Mission: Blacklist, a thriller starring Robert Pattinson as a brilliant young military interrogator who spearheads the capture of Saddam Hussein. The story is based on the real life experiences of soldier-turned-intelligence agent Eric Maddox and his book, Mission: Black List #1 – The Inside Story Of The Search For Saddam Hussein – As Told By The Soldier Who Masterminded His Capture.

Alfred Hitchcock's silent films have been added to the UN organization's U.K. Memory of the World Register. Hitchcock's films are among 11 items chosen from U.K. libraries, archives and museums to represent British heritage.

TELEVISION

Brad Furman has signed on to direct a drama pilot based on James Patterson's book series Private about  former CIA agent-turned-private eye Jack Morgan. Jane Rosenthal and Robert De Niro of Tribeca Productions will serve as executive producers for the project.

Cote de Pablo, who plays former Mossad agent Ziva in NCIS, has said she is leaving the show in the upcoming Season 11 "after finishing Ziva's storyline."

Theresa Rebeck (Smash, NYPD Blue) is developing Fortune, a new drama series for Bravo that is inspired by Charles Dickens' Bleak House. The series is said to follow a similar plotline, although it will be set in the present and follow a prominent New York family and the battle over an inheritance after the patriarch dies suddenly under mysterious circumstances.

Former House star Lisa Edelstein has signed to guest star in several episodes on ABC's Castle, playing a federal investigator.

William Abadie (Ugly Betty, Samantha Who) will join Showtime's Homeland for a multi-episode arc, playing Alan Bernard, a seemingly charming international journalist.

PODCASTS/VIDEO/RADIO

NPR's Jacki Lyden chatted with author Mukoma Wa Ngugi about Black Star Nairobi, the second in a series featuring Ishmael and O and their Black Star detective agency in Kenya.

Daniel Silva was a guest on NPR's Diane Rehm Show: to discuss his latest spy novel, The English Girl.

THEATER

Enigma is an interactive, migrating mystery theatre performance that leads audiences on a clue-laden journey throughout Brooklyn Heights in New York, with performances Fridays through Sundays through October. Audience members embark on a journey into the heart of Brooklyn Heights, armed with a map and tasked with searching for a celebrated esoteric mystery writer.

An Awesome Array of Anthologies

Short fiction is perfect for bite-sized reading, whether you're taking a work break, waiting at the doctor's office, or just want a quick story fix. This summer brings some recent and upcoming crime fiction anthologies that you can seek out and maybe even take to the beach with you. They range from classic crime to dark horror to a book of essays about one of the most popular mystery conventions, and include many of the best writers working crime fiction today.


The Mammoth Book of Best British Mysteries volume 10, once again edited by Maxim Jakubowski, brings you the best in British crime fiction with 30 gripping stories from beloved bestselling authors and exciting new up-and coming talents.


In honor of the 25th anniversary of the Malice Domestic convention this past June comes the essay collection Not Everyone's Cup of Tea, available from Wildside Press. Elizabeth Foxwell, a cofounder of the convention, wrote a piece on the Malice anthologies, and there are photos and plenty of essays, speeches, program notes, and other contributions from distinguished authors such as Rhys Bowen, Charlaine Harris, Carolyn Hart, Peter Lovesey, and Peter Robinson.


Also released in June was Crime Square, an anthology of twenty top-flight mystery writers—including Max Allan Collins, John Lutz, Reed Farrel Coleman, Robert S. Levinson, Martin Meyers and Warren Murphy—who portray New York City's Times Square through a century of murder and mayhem as a place where danger lurked around every corner, and where characters walked its streets with the easy confidence of a con man.


Noir Carnival from Fox Spirit Books hit the bookshelves on July 4th. K.A. Laity collected and edited tales that reflect the spirit of a dark carnival, "whether you picture it as a traveling fair in the back roads of America or the hedonistic nights of the pre-Lenten festival where masks hide faces while the skin glories in its revelation, it’s about spectacle, artificiality and the things we hide behind the greasepaint or the tent flap." The nineteen stories range the gamut from "In the Mouth of the Beast" by Li Huijia to "She's My Witch" by Paul D. Brazill and everything inbetween.


Author/blogger Sarah Weinman serves as editor for Troubled Daughters, Twisted Wives, Stories from the Trailblazers of Domestic Suspense, due in bookstores August 27. As Weinman notes, where would bestselling authors like Gillian Flynn, Sue Grafton, or Tana French be without the women writers who came before them? The book includes fourteen hair-raising tales by women who—from the 1940s through the mid-1970s—who took a scalpel to contemporary society and sliced away to reveal its dark essence.


Akashic Books continues their "City Noir" series with the latest release in that line, Manila Noir (Philippines), offering fresh noir from one of the most intense, congested, and overpopulated cities in the world. As Publishers Weekly notes, the Filipino take on noir "includes a liberal dose of the gothic and supernatural, with disappearance and loss being constants." Jessica Hagedorn, a Filipino native, serves as editor and divides the book into three sections. Part One is called "Us Against Them;" Part Two is entitled "Black Pearl of the Orient" and Part Three is "They Live By Night."


A little farther into the future (possibly sometime in the Fall), Akashic Books is adding Belfast Noir to its "City Noir" series, with contributors to include Lee Child, Alex Barclay, Gerard Brennan, Ruth Dudley Edwards and many more, with editorial direction from Adrian McKinty and Stuart Neville.


Although the pub date hasn't been announced yet, Criminal Element's inaugural Malfeasance Occasional anthology, titled Girl Trouble, is due sometime this summer with fourteen tales from the likes of Patricia Abbott, Hilary Davidson, Brendan DuBois, Robert Lopresti, and Chuck Wendig,

Mystery Melange

Congrats to this year's Macavity Award nominees, which include Best Novel nods to:  Gillian Flynn, Gone Girl; Peter May, The Black House; Louise Penny, The Beautiful Mystery; Hank Philippi Ryan, The Other Woman; B.A. Shapiro, The Art Forger; and Ariel S. Winter, The Twenty Year Death.

Lee Lofland is seeking donations for the raffle and silent auction at the annual Writers' Police Academy. Profts from the WPA go to the criminal justice foundation at the host police academy to supplement the training budget for police officers and other first responders, many of whom volunteer their time and equipment to teaching workshops at the WPA. If you are a published author, send along signed copies of your books or TV and film scripts, and if you're not a published author, you can still help out – past donations have included chocolates, craft items, oil paintings, cell phones, DVD's, police items, hats, and a guitar signed by numerous country music stars. If you have an item to donate, contact Lee via his website.

The July issue of Suspense Magazine has exclusive interviews with authors about their latest releases, including: James Rollins about his novel The Eye of God; Tami Hoag and The 9th Girl; Brad Taylor and his new Pike Logan military thriller The Widow's Strike; Richard Godwin and One Lost Summer; and former British Intelligence bureau chief Matthew Dunn discusses his spy novel, Slingshot. Also, bestselling author Lisa Gardner talks about overcoming the dreaded synopsis headache, and there are many more articles and reviews.

Issue #5 of Pulp Modern, which blends literary and genre fiction, is now available via Amazon with new short stories by Patti Abbott, A.A. Garrison, Ron Scheer, C.J. Edwards, Sam Graves, Robert Helfst, Scotch Rutherford, Jason Darcy, Gene Hines, Luther Jackson, and Stanley Rutgers. Edited by Alec Cizak.

There's a new criminally-good poem up at the 5-2, titled "On the First Hot Night in May" by Alison Morse.

The Q&A roundup this week includes Jeffery Deaver chatting with The Hollywood Reporter about his talks to "ripped-from-the-headlines, Hollywood-ready novels" on topics such as assassinations, intelligence, drones and twisty mysteries; and Ruth Jacobs is the latest "Short, Sharp Interview" subject at Paul D. Brazill's blog.

I recieved a note from a Los Angeles artist the other day. Loren Kantor makes original woodcut prints inspired by classic film noir movies. Check out some of his creations, including James Cagney, Humphrey Bogart, Lauren Bacall, Edward G. Robinson, Marlon Brandon and even Edgar Allan Poe.

Need another reason to read books? A study published in the journal Neurology found that a lifetime of reading slows cognitive decline.

Media Murder for Monday

MOVIES

Producer Jonathan Sothcott is teaming up with J.K. Amalou to co-produce the London-set hitman thriller Assassin, starring Danny Dyer as as a professional contract killer who who realizes his latest victim is the estranged father of the girl he has fallen in love with.

U.K. musician and actor Martin Kemp will direct the upcoming British crime drama Top Dog, a movie adaptation of the cult novel by Dougie Brimson, Green Street. The story centers on London villain Billy Evans (played by Leo Gregory) who bites off more than he can chew when he crosses a more dangerous criminal gang.

The Mentalist executive producer Chris Long is putting together a documentary about the Great Train Robbery, based on interviews with one of the original gang members behind the infamous heist.

Here's your first look at Benicio Del Toro in character as Pablo Escobar in Paradise Lost, which also stars Josh Hutcherson (The Hunger Games, Detention) and Claudia Traisic. The film, from first time director Andrea Di Stefano, is scheduled for release next year.

If you have a few million dollars lying around, the submersible car called the Lotus Esprit (that actually works!) from the James Bond film The Spy Who Loved Me is going up for auction on September 9th.

TELEVISION

BBC Two has ordered a TV movie project titled Legacy, based on the spy thriller novel by Alan Judd about a young spy who discovers the disturbing truth about his father’s complex past in Cold War London. The film project will be written by Paula Milne, directed by Pete Travis, and star Boardwalk Empire's Charlie Cox, The Hour's Romola Garai, Sherlock's Andrew Scott and My Week With Marilyn's Simon Russell Beale.

TNT added Louis Lombardi (24 and The Sopranos) to the cast of its upcoming period cop drama Lost Angels (previously known as L.A. Noir). The show is is based on the book by John Buntin about the battle between former Los Angeles Police Chief William Parker (Neal McDonough) and mobster/former boxer Mickey Cohen (Jeremy Luke).

Camryn Manheim (The Practice) will guest-star on the two-part Season 9 premiere of Criminal Minds.

To celebrate the final season of AMC‘s Breaking Bad, the network has partnered with The Film Society Of Lincoln Center for week-long celebration, starting July 26 and running until July 30, for a free Breaking Bad marathon.

TVLine took a First Impression look at Fox's new Almost Human series slated for the fall. The show is set in the year 2048 where human cops are each paired with an MX-43 android.

The Ion Network has picked up rights to broadcast reruns of USA dramas Burn Notice and White Collar, which join other recently picked-up shows including fellow USA dramas Psych and Monk and TNT's Leverage.

VIDEO

This Wednesday, the Museum of Contemporary Art in downtown Los Angeles will launch a new webseries called CRIME: The Animated Series through its new contemporary art video initiative MOCA.tv. The series was created by Sam Chou of Toronto's Style5 and author/filmmaker Alix Lambert, whose book CRIME inspired the series. Each of CRIME's six parts are produced by a different animator/designer in their own personal style and feature interviews with law enforcement, criminals and the victims of crime. The free screening will be followed by a panel discussion.

Mystery Melange

The Harrogate Festival announced the short list for the 2013 Theakstons Old Peculiar Crime Novel of the Year, including: Denise Mina for Gods and Beasts; Mark Billingham for A Rush of Blood; Stav Sherez, for A Dark Redemption; Stuart Neville for Stolen Souls; Chris Ewan for Safe House; and Peter May for The Lewis Man.

ThrillerFest starts a week from today, featuring 2013 ThrillerMaster, Anne Rice, and special guests Michael Connelly and T. Jefferson Parker. The jam-packed schedule has a little something for every crime fiction fan, from an impressive array of panels to author signings, cocktail parties and more. Registration is still open for all-conference passes or day passes.

Thug Lit's latest issue for the Kindle, edited by Todd Robinson, includes eight tales from Kieran Shea, BH Shepherd, Rena Robinett, Scott Adlerberg, Jessica Adams, T Fox Dunham, Hugh Lessig and Aaron Fox-Lerner.

The latest issue of Yellow Mama has hit the digital shelves, featuring Part 2 of "The Flame Job" by Paul Dick. There are also some supernatural horror stories, noir and hardboiled goodies, flash fiction and poetry, to boot. 

If you want to get a jump on the titles coming out in the fall and winter, Publishers Lunch compiled excerpts from 40 top forthcoming fall/winter titles into a free ebook, published to coincide with Book Expo America. The list isn't exclusively crime fiction, but does include titles such as W Is for Wasted by Sue Grafton, and there are more books on the Commercial Fiction buzz list.

Media Murder for Monday

MOVIES

Director Christopher McQuarrie is spearheading a film adaptation of the ITV miniseries Unforgiven, about a woman who completes a prison stint for the murder of two policemen who'd come to evict her family from their farmhouse and soon unwittingly becomes a target for revenge.

Warner Bros. is in negotiations for movie rights to the Encyclopedia Brown children's book series by author Donald J. Sobo. The books followed the exploits of the son of a local police chief, who runs his own detective agency out of the family's garage. The studio and producers working with writers for ideas in hopes of turning the books into a film and potential franchise.

Philip Seymour Hoffman has joined the cast that includes Tom Hardy and Noomi Rapace in the upcoming Soviet Union-based thriller Child 44, adapted from the bestselling novel by Tom Rob Smith.

Kate Walsh (Private Practice, Gray's Anatomy) will co-star opposite Joseph Morgan, Ron Perlman, Walton Goggins and Nicole Badaan in Dermaphoria, the psychological suspense film based on the novel by Craig Clevenger. 

The film adaptation of the novel Inherent Vice by Thomas Pynchon has added another member to its cast. Law & Order regular Peter McRobbie has signed on to play loan shark Adrian Prussia.

Ryan Reynolds has replaced Jake Gyllenhall in the lead role in Mississippi Grind. The story following a gambler on a losing streak (Ben Mendelsohn) who teams up with a younger gambling addict (Reynolds) to take a road trip through the South, hoping to rake in money and leave their bad luck behind.

20th Century Fox released a trailer for the crime thriller Runner Runner set for a September 2013 release. The film follows a grad student (Justin Timberlake) who gets caught between the FBI and a gambling tycoon in Costa Rica. (Hat tip to Omnimystery News.)

TELEVISION

USA Network has greenlighted two additional episodes for Psych's upcoming eighth season, bringing the episode order up to 10. For one of the extra episodes, the network is letting fans choose from three episodic storylines, with the winning premise to be announced at the Psych Comic-Con panel on July 18 hosted by returning guest star Cary Elwes.

Hallmark Channel is producing a two-hour backdoor pilot titled The Mystery Cruise, based on the book The Santa Cruise by Mary Higgins Clark and Carol Higgins Clark. The program will star Gail O'Grady (NYPD Blue, Boston Legal) and Michelle Harrison (Emily Owens M.D.) as two best friends and unlikely business partners who team up and use their talent for detection and unorthodox ways to solve crimes.

Sky Atlantic released a first-look teaser and stills from its upcoming drama Fleming. It's set against the backdrop of war-torn London and explores the early life of the charming, enigmatic creator of 007, Ian Fleming. Dominic Cooper plays James Bond's creator, and Lara Pulver stars as the author's future wife Ann O'Neill.

Via Omnimystery News comes word that Ineffable Pictures plans to adapt Declan Hill's bestselling non-fiction book The Fix into a crime drama for television. The book focuses on the multi-billion dollar illegal Asian gambling industry.

Fox not only announced its fall schedule—including its crime drama fixture Bones and the new show, Sleepy Hollow—it indicated it would be premiering its shows a week earlier than the other networks.

PODCASTS/VIDEO/RADIO

Former district attorney, Emmy-winning judge and debut author Jeanine Pirro appeared on The View to talk about her book, Sly Fox: A Dani Fox Novel.

THEATER

If you are lucky enough to be in London tonight, get tickets to the one-night-only performance of The Audience at the Apollo Theatre. Doctor Who's Matt Smith and Sherlock's Andrew Scott are to star in a new one-off play as the Doctor meets Professor Moriarty. Skyfall's Ben Whishaw will also appear as James Bond's gadget-master Q, while Helen Mirren will play the Queen.
The production is part of A Curious Night at the Theatre, a charity gala aiming to raise money for charities Ambitious about Autism and The National Autistic Society.

Tony winner Rupert Holmes' stage adaptation of John Grisham's best-selling novel A Time to Kill will begin previews September 28 at the John Golden Theatre in New York. This is the first-ever Grisham work to be adapted for the stage