Mystery Melange

Frances's oldest and most coveted literary prize the Goncourt Award has been given to 62-year crime writer Pierre Lemaitre for his lost-generation novel Au revoir la-haut (Goodbye Up There), about people displaced during the First World War.

Bestselling crime authors Michael Connelly and Martin Cruz Smith "will reveal how they've kept readers at the edge of their seats for decades" at a talk in New York on December 4. For ticket information, check out the New York Public Library information page.

One of the remaining "Big Five" publishers, Randon House (or "Random Penguin," as many like to call it), is pulling together crime fiction-related titles from across its various publishing divisions to create the website Dead Good. The site "creates one crime brand for all of Random House" and will cover film and TV as well as books.

The British Library is going to publish two more rare Golden Age novels. They are the first two published detective stories by John Bude, one of the founders of the Crime Writers' Association, and will feature introductions by author Martin Edwards.

To commemorate the winner of the Deanston Scottish Crime Book of the Year 2013, Malcolm Mackay's How a Gunman Says Goodbye, Deanston Single Malt Scotch Whisky is offering a bottle of 12 year old whisky by all the nominated authors. (Hat tip to Mystery Fanfare.)

The Q&A roundup this week includes Jeffery Deaver talking with fellow author Declan Burke about Deaver's latest book, The Kill Room; Carolyn Hart joined the Femmes Fatales for a discussion about "classic mysteries"; and Carolyn Mulford stopped by Writers Who Kill to chat about her "Show Me" series.

Stumped about what to serve up for your Thanksgiving dinner? The Mystery Lover's Kitchen has a few recipe ideas including this one for Cornbread and Sausage Stuffing. Or, how about some pumpkin French Toast for Thanksgiving morning?

Media Murder for Monday

MOVIES

Colin Firth has signed on to star in the adaptation of French author Jean-Patrick Manchette's novel Three to Kill. Firth will play a salesman whose quiet life is shattered when he's attacked while on vacation. Bewildered, he goes on the run, communicating with his family by telegram while he tries to track down his mysterious pursuers.  (Hat tip to Omnimystery News.)

Simon Pegg ("Scotty" in the Star Trek reboot) has signed on to reprise his role as IMF resident computer/gadget whiz Benji Dunn for Mission Impossible 5.

Vulture unveiled the first trailer for the film based on the non-fiction book Devil's Knot: The True Story of the West Memphis Three. Based on the true story about three murdered boys and the controversial trial that followed, the project stars Reese Witherspoon, playing one of the mothers of the murdered boys, and Colin Firth as a detective dedicated to making sense of the bizarre clues of the murder case. 

A trailer was also posted for the film Sabotage, starring Arnold Schwarzenegger. The project was originally tited Ten (loosely based on Agatha Christie's Ten Little Indians mystery novel) and follows a DEA taskforce who start getting picked off one by one after a successful raid on a drug cartel's safehouse.

TELEVISION

How Sherlock Changed the World is a two-hour special airing on PBS Tuesday, November 26, 9:00-11:00 pm ET. It explores the impact of the fictional crime detective on real forensic techniques.

Also on Tuesday, the 26th, TMC's A Night at the Movies airs a new documentary looking at how cops and robbers have played an important part of film history. Crime authors/editors appearing on the show include James Ellroy, Heywood Gould, Otto Penzler, Chuck Hogan, Michael Connelly, George Pelecanos, Don Winslow, Joseph Wambaugh, Randy Jurgensen, Philip Kerr, Lee Child, Tess Gerritsen, Karin Slaughter, and Robert Daley.

FX is developing a mini-series about one of the most dangerous gangs of the Old West, the Dalton Brothers. The project is titled Desperadoes and is based on the 1979 novel by Ron Hansen.

The CW network is developing Painted Girls, a historical series set in 1880s Paris. Based on the book by Cathy Marie Buchanan, the story follows "the turbulent and exciting world of La Belle Epoque – decadence, poverty, sex, drugs and a serial killer running rampant throughout the city."

Fifteen years ago, actor Laurence Fishburne starred n an HBO movie as Socrates Fortlow, based on the character and novels by Walter Mosley. Now, Fishburne will be playing the character again, only this time it's for an HBO series titled The Right Mistake. Mosley's Fortlow is an ex-convict seeking redemption after serving 27 years in prison

Good news for Foyle's War fans:  ITV has ordered an eighth season of the post-WWII procedural. Michael Kitchen will return as Christopher Foyle, who continues to be immersed in the dangerous world of espionage as a Senior Intelligence Officer for MI5. (Hat tip to Omnimystery News.)

CBS has promoted Chi McBride to a show regular on Hawaii Five-0, playing SWAT Captain Lou Grover (a character from the original series).

The HBO movie about real-life Ponzi schemer Bernie Madoff appears to be picking up some steam. Robert De Niro was already signed to play the disgraced financier, but HBO recently hired Lie To Me creator Samuel Baum as the new writer, and HBO also optioned a second book, Truth And Consequences: Life Inside The Madoff Family by Laurie Sandell to use as material in the project.

BBC One will show the Australian Doctor Blake Mysteries, featuring Craig McLachlan as Doctor Lucien Blake, airing daily  Monday to Friday, beginning today.

PODCASTS/VIDEO/RADIO
 
The Crime and Science Radio program coming up this weekend on November 30th is "Private investigators: Who are these guys?" with special guest David Corbett

THEATER

A stage production of Strangers on a Train, based on the Patricia Highsmith novel, opened at the Gielgud Theater in London. It runs through February 22 and stars Laurence Fox and Jack Huston.

The whodunnit musical Murder for Two is currently playing off-Broadway at New World Stages. The two-man play features Brett Ryback as up-and-coming detective Marcus and Jeff Blumenkrantz as close to a dozen characters, while the two accompany each other on piano.

Mystery Melange

The Romantic Times Book Reviews announced the finalists for its 2013 Reviewers’ Choice Awards, including five categories of mystery and thriller works (contemporary, historical, suspense/thriller/first mystery, and amateur detective). For all the nominees, check out the RT website link above.

Thanks to Pulp Curry for pointing out that Contrappasso, an Australian magazine of international writing and poetry, has a noir issue out. Focusing on both noir fiction and film, there are essays on The Maltese Falcon, The Strange Love of Martha Ivers, Dashiell Hammett, Charles Willeford and Walter Mosley.

Lee Lofland, author, former law officer, and the driving force behind the Writers' Police Academy, annnouced that the 2014 WPA guest of honor will be Michael Connelly. More information about the conference and registration will be posted on the website soon, including the Saturday night banquet, "An Evening With Michael Connelly."

The next issue of Mystery Readers Journal (Volume 29:4) will focus on Medical Mysteries. Editor Janet Rudolph is looking for articles, reviews and "author! author!" essays between 500 and 1,500 words. The deadline is January 5.

This week's crime poem at the 5-2 is "Above Suspicion" by Ken Tufford. Editor Gerald So also put out a call for love-themed crime poems to be published in February 2014.

Chris Rhatigan, Editor of All Due Respect, took the "Six Question" quiz and revealed some changes to the magazine, including a new featured author section in each issue, where an elite crime fiction author will contribute a short story and an interview. There will also be reviews, editors' choices for new and classic books, and other non-fiction.

The University of Gdansk and the State School of Higher Professional Education in Elblag are presenting their 2nd International Postgraduate Conference September 11-13, 2014. The topic: Crime Fiction: Here and There and Again. The aim of the conference is to discuss crime fiction across national borders, across cultures, across languages, across genres, across arts and across different media. They are currenty accepting papers that deal with one or more points related to the theme, which Ayo Onatade has listed on the Shots Magazine blog.

The new specialty publisher 221B Baker Street Press LLC is soliciting submissions. The company publishes only Sherlock Holmes pastiches in both digital and paperback formats, whether it's novels, novellas, short story collections, oranthologies. For more information and guidelines, check out the link here.

For your next vacation: the New York Times featured literary-minded hotels, adding that "many new hotels aim to distinguish themselves with old-fashioned pages that guests can actually turn, housing libraries that range from historic collections to trendy ones."

Fair is Fair

The international Miami Book Fair is taking place this week, up through Sunday, November 24th, with headliner guest Dan Brown. Crime fiction events include a panel at noon on Saturday, sponsored by the Mystery Writers of America, which includes Libby Fischer Hellman (Havana Lost); Miriam Auerbach (Dirty Harriet), Deborah Sharp (Mama Gets Trashed), and Fausto Canel (Dire Straits). Then on Sunday at 11 a.m.,  there's a panel with Jeff Lindsay (Dexter’s Final Cut), Peter de Jonge (Buried on Avenue B); Tim Dorsey (The Riptide Ultra-Glide); and Bill Petrocelli (The Circle of Thirteen).

Across the Pond, there are two other terrific events taking place this weekend, including:

November 22-23, 2013
Irish Crime Fiction Festival
Trinity College, Dublin
Scheduled authors include Declan Burke, Jane Casey, Paul Charles, John Connolly, Conor Fitzgerald, Alan Glynn, Declan Hughes, Arlene Hunt, Kevin McCarthy, Brian McGilloway, Eoin McNamee, Niamh O’Connor, Louise Phillips, Peter Quinn, Michael Russell and Stuart Neville; and Michael Connelly will be interviewed by John Connolly.

November 21-24, 2013
Iceland Noir
Reykjavik, Iceland
This inaugural Iceland crime fiction event is designed to be "informal" with free admission and the chance to rub elbows with authors like Iceland's Yrsa Sigurðardóttir, Ragnar Jonasson, Sigurjón Pálsson; British authors Quentin Bates and Michael Ridpath, who write crime series set in Iceland; and visiting authors, including Ann Cleeves and Susan Moody.

Media Murder for Monday

MOVIES

DreamWorks is tapping director Scott Waugh for an untitled film said to be an international heist project involving a man who needs to pull of a seemingly impossible job and recruits his "off the rails" brother.

Via Omnimystery News: Crime author Jason Statham is set to star in a new film adaptation of the book Viva La Madness by J. J. Connolly, with Connolly writing the adapted screenplay. The main character in the film was first portrayed by Daniel Craig in the 2004 film Layer Cake.

Bill Kennedy is in negotiations to write the script for the snowbound thriller Cyberstorm, based on Matthew Mather’s self-published e-book. The story centers on an average New York family trying to survive as society comes crashing down both online and off, and New York is cut off from the rest of the world.

2013's White House action thriller Olympus Has Fallen is getting a sequel. Stars Gerard Butler, Aaron Eckhart, Morgan Freeman, Angela Bassett and Radha Mitchell all return, although the plot moves to London, where the President, his trusted Secret Service bodyguard, and an English MI6 agent are the only ones who can stop a plot to take down London during the Prime Minister's funeral.  

The British/American writing team of Rory Haines and Sohrab Noshirvani have sold the thriller script From Here To Albion to Participant Media. Set in a coastal English town, the story follows the aftermath of a tragic accident and the malevolent stranger seeking revenge on the perpetrators and the detective who covered it up.

Tony Winner Ellen Barkin, Jim Parsons and Isla Fisher are in talks for the thriller Visions, which centers on a pregnant woman who joins her husband at his vineyard home and begins to have "unsettling visions."

A trailer was released for the upcoming American Hustle, starring Christian Bale as a con artist and Bradley Cooper as an FBI agent who go head-to-head in the crime drama, based on the FBI ABSCAM operation of the late 1970s and early 1980s.

Mission Impossible: 5 has been given a Christmas 2015 release date.

TELEVISION

The co-creators of Homeland and Heroes are bringing an action adventure event series to USA Network. The six-episode miniseries Dig centers on an FBI agent stationed in Jerusalem who uncovers a conspiracy 2000 years in the making that threatens to change the course of history.

Netflix announced it ordered a fourth and final season of the drama The Killing. AMC has canceled the show twice, and Netflix will pick up six episodes to officially wrap up the direction of the show.

Paramount Television is adapting the 1990 film Ghost for a series. Akiva Goldsman and Jeff Pinkner will co-write the pilot script (based on the original screenplay by Bruce Joel Rubin, which won an Academy Award). The plot follows the ghost of a murdered man whose spirit doesn't die and teams up with a pyshic to avenge his death and offer closure for his fiancée. (Hat tip to Omnimystery News.)

The CBS procedural The Mentalist promoted actress Emily Swallow to a series regular. She makes her debut in the December 1st episode as Kim Fischer, a mysterious woman who will have an influence on Jane's life. Other cast changes include the exits of Amanda Righetti and Owain Yeoman, with Rockmond Dunbar, who will play FBI Supervisory Agent Dennis Abbott, becoming a regular on the show.

PODCASTS/VIDEO/RADIO

Bestselling author Patricia Cornwell joined WTVR to talk about her Kay Scarpetta series.

NPR's Diane Rehm Show welcomed John Grisham to discuss his latest legal thriller, Sycamore Row.

Coming up this weekend on Suspense Radio, November 23rd:  Kevin Finn, Susan Sloate and Beth Groundwater. On November 24th: Lesley Diehl. On Crime & Science Radio, Jan Burke interviews Cat Warren.

THEATER

The Geffen Playhouse in Los Angeles is currently staging a production of Play Dead, written by Todd Robbins and the magician Teller (of "Penn & Teller" fame). Teller also directs Robbins in the play, described as "a mesmerizing and terrorizing look at life, death and the horrific wonder between. Weaving together storytelling, illusion and telepathy proves that there is nothing more arousing than unholy resurrection and we're never so alive as when we’re scared to death."

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The Indie Mystery & Thriller Bestseller List

Based on sales at independent bookstores nationwide for the eight-week period ending October 20, 2013, here are the bestselling mystery and thriller titles:

1. The Cuckoo’s Calling by Robert Galbraith
2. Never Go Back by Lee Child
3. The Silent Wife by A.S.A. Harrison
4. Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn
5. The Racketeer by John Grisham
6. How the Light Gets In by Louise Penny
7. Inferno by Dan Brown
8. W Is for Wasted by Sue Grafton
9. The Bat by Jo Nesbø
10. Joyland by Stephen King
11. Bad Monkey by Carl Hiaasen
12. The Quest by Nelson DeMille
13. The Beautiful Mystery by Louise Penny
14. Defending Jacob by William Landay
15. The English Girl by Daniel Silva
16. The Last Man by Vince Flynn
17. A Wanted Man by Lee Child
18. Still Life by Louise Penny
19. Creole Belle by James Lee Burke
20. Broken Harbor by Tana French
21. The Hit by David Baldacci
22. Light of the World by James Lee Burke
23. Mission to Paris by Alan Furst
24. Just One Evil Act by Elizabeth George
25. The Bones of Paris by Laurie R. King

Mystery Melange

Members of the Crime Writers' Association (CWA) in the UK voted for their choice for best crime novel ever, and the winner is . . . The Murder of Roger Ackroyd by Agatha Christie. Christie was also chosen as the "best crime writer of all time." Other contenders included Arthur Conan Doyle, Raymond Chandler, Thomas Harris and Wilkie Collins.

Early bird registration for the Malice Domestic 26 conference is the end of the year, after which rates will go up on January 1st. Everyone who registers before the end of the year will receive an Agatha Nomination Ballot in the beginning of 2014. Malice Domestic is also participating in Maryland Public Television's Holiday Gift Auction which helps support programming, outreach and education. Two comprehensive registration passes for Malice 26 (and other great items) are up for auction.

UK crime writer Ann Cleves and publisher PanMacmillan are sponsoring a writing contest for British residents. Entrants will have the chance to collaborate with Cleeves herself on a short story, and the winning work will be published in an anthology she is putting together.

Suspense Magazine's November issue takes a loot at authors Sara Paretsky, Adam Nevill, Phil Rickman, Susan Boyer, and debut author T.L. Costa. There are also excerpts of James Patterson and Anne Rice's latest work, short stories, articles, Lisa Gardner explaining how to submit your manuscript, and Donald Allen Kirch talks "Stranger than Fiction."

The Mysterious Bookshop announced it's getting on board with the new eBook retailer, Zola Books, something of a trend among indie bookstores. Zola works by curating book lists from readers and a computer-generated recommendation system. Users have the opportunity to connect with their favorite authors, brick and mortar bookstores and publishers though interactive profile pages (similar to Facebook). the eBooks are compatible in all formats, and eventually, readers will be able to subscribe to their favorite bookstore, which will receive a percentage of profits from eBooks sold.

This week's featured crime poem over at the 5-2 is "Wet Wind Distribution" by David S. Pointer; the weekly Beat to a Pulp short fiction offering is "A Day on the River, A Night in the Mountains" by Dyer wilk.

The Q&A roundup this week includes Ian Rankin, chatting with Crime Fiction Lover about his latest novel featuring the Edinburgh Inspector Rebus; and Marilyn Meredith stopped DV Berkom Books for an interview about her two mystery series.

Amazon selected its picks for the Top 20 best Mystery, Thriller & Suspense novels of the year, topped by Stephen King's Joyland.

Like to have a cuppa tea while you read your favorite books? The Prologue Tea Company has a line of teas based on literary classics (even a Sherlock Holmes version).

Promote Your Independents

The annual Small Business Saturday is coming at the end of this month on November 30th, and indie bookstores are a large part of that celebration. Authors are pitching in, too, with more than 285 authors signing up to handsell their books at 225 bookstores across the U.S.

As Bookselling This Week reported, some of the authors already on board are James Patterson at the Classic Bookshop in Palm Beach, FL; Jess Walter at Auntie's Bookstore, Spokane, WA; Martin Cruz Smith at Book Passage, Corte Madera, CA; A.S. King will be at Aaron’s Books in Lititz, PA; Mike Lawson at the University Bookstore in Renton, WA; Ace Atkins at Square Books, Oxford, MS; and many more.

IndieBound.org has a map of participating bookstore locations and authors that you can check for locations near you. You can also follow the IndiesFirst Twitter feed using the hashtag #IndiesFirst for the latest news.

Media Murder for Monday

MOVIES

Universal Pictures has hired Justin Lin (the director of Fast and Furious) to helm the fifth installment of The Bourne Identity franchise, starring Jeremy Renner. The story is being written by Anthony Peckham, who also penned Invictus and Sherlock Holmes.

Millennium Films won an auction bidding for the spec script The Civilian by Rachel Long and Brian Pittman, in hopes it will turn into another Bourne Identity franchise. The story follows an American doctor whose identity is stolen by a covert operative and must assume the dangerous mission of the spy who stole it to clear his own name.

Millennium Entertainment acquired the 3D indie action crime thriller Run, starring William Moseley (Chronicles of Narnia) as an American teenager who uses his free-running skills to pull off small robberies with his father (Adrian Pasdar) until a new girlfriend (Kelsey Chow) "and the promise of going straight encourages him to use his skills for good."

James Badge Dale is joining Cate Blanchett in writer-director David Mamet‘s thriller Blackbird, playing a military major trying to discover the truth about the political secrets of a woman’s grandfather who was in U.S. special ops during the 1960s.

Sony released a trailer for the reboot of Robocop, starring Joel Kinnaman as the detective-turned-crime-fighting cyborg.

TELEVISION

The Secrets of the Scotland Yard will air Sunday, November 17 on PBS stations in the U.S. From the conviction of Britain’s first Railway Murderer on up to present day, the program will show how the Yard’s elite detective divisions, such as the Flying Squad, continue to foil sophisticated criminal activity to keep Scotland Yard at the forefront of global policing.

Bestselling novelist Patricia Cornwell is developing a new crime drama for ABC. Based on one of Cornwell's characters, the story is titled Greta Stone and described as focusing on "a young, orphaned, highly skilled female cop, who has an uncanny ability to solve crimes." (Hat tip Omnimystery News.)

TBS has given the go-ahead to the half-hour pilot Tribeca, a comedic police procedural written and executive produced by Steve Carell and Nancy Carell. The show is said to be in the same vein as Fox’s Brooklyn Nine-Nine.

M*A*S*H icon Alan Alda is coming aboard The Blacklist to portray an old foe of Raymond 'Red' Reddington (James Spader), a master criminal who works with the FBI to catch other villains.

Marvel signed a deal with Netflix to develop at least four original series, followed by a miniseries for the streaming service. Netflix committed to at least 13 episodes for each of the four shows, which will be featured on Marvel heroes Daredevil, Jessica Jones, Iron Fist and Luke Cage, in that order.

Lionsgate originally optioned Norwegian crime fiction author Jo Nesbø's book Headhunters for film, but instead has signed a deal with HBO
for an hourlong television project based on the best-selling 2008 book.
The plot centers on a corporate headhunter who becomes the hunted when
his life and marriage are suddenly targeted by an unknown individual
(Another hat tip to Omnimystery News)

Former Fringe star Kirk Acevedo and Breaking Bad's Emily Rios are set to guest star on an upcoming episode of NBC's supernatural procedural, Grimm, playing two military veterans.

PODCASTS/VIDEO/RADIO

One of the featured guests on NPR's Diane Rehm Show recently was Diamond Dagger Award–winner Frederick Forsyth, talking about his new terrorism spy thriller, The Kill List.

Recent Suspense Radio podcasts have included a one on one with Matthew Quinn Martin; a chat with Joshua Graham, Geoffrey Girard and Layton Green on November 9th; and a Q&A with Bill Walker and Brian Anthony on November 10th.  Also coming up this Saturday on Crime & Science Radio is the show "What the dog knows, the Science and Wonder of working with dogs," with special guest Cat Warren

Dave Zeltseran's story "More than a Scam" was included in the recent CrimeCityCentral's podcast. The story received honorable mention in the 2002 Best American Mystery Stories.

THEATER

California's Pasadena Playhouse is presenting a new production of Reginald Rose's classic drama Twelve Angry Men, directed by Sheldon Epps, with a cast of six white and six black actors. The story, adapted into a classic movie version with an all-star cast in 1957, centers on one dissenting juror in a murder trial who slowly manages to convince the others that the case is not as obviously clear as it seemed in court.

Hot Shorts for Cold Weather

If you're in the mood for some good short crime fiction, there are three new entries hot off the presses. Grove/Atlantaic and Mysterious Press just released The Hunter and Other Stories by iconic author Dashiell Hammett. These aren't reprints, but rather new Hammett stories found among his personal archives, as well as some screen treatments long buried in film-industry files. The volume is edited by Julie M. Rivett, Hammett's granddaughter, and Richard Layman, author of the first full-length biography of Hammett, Shadow Man.

The Shamus Sampler, also just released in ebook form, is edited by Sons of Spade blogger Jochem Vandersteen and features new private eye fiction from Bill Crider, James Winter, Jeffrey Marks, Stephen D. Rogers, and many more. In Reed Farrel Coleman's introduction, he notes that private eye fiction isn't as popular as it once was, with the explosion of so many other types of crime fiction (cozies, thrillers, Scandinavian, etc). But he adds that the PI is an "important cultural icon because he or she embodies the struggles we all face as individuals in an increasingly confusing, alienating, and potentially dangerous world."

The new Dallas Noir continues the "city noir" series of anthologies from Akashic Press. David Hale Smith penned the intro, saying that "In a country with so many interesting cities, Dallas is often overlooked—except on November 22 every year. The heartbreaking anniversary keeps coming back around in a nightmare loop, for all of us. On that day in 1963, Dallas 'became' American noir." The volume has 16 new stories divided into three sections, "Cowboys, "Rangers," and "Mavericks."

Mystery Melange

RIP Michael Palmer, a physician turned bestselling medical thriller author, who died last Wednesday at the age of  71. Palmer's 20th novel, Resistant, will be published in May 2014. His best known work was Extreme Measures, later adapted into a movie starring Hugh Grant.

Not one, not two, but three conferences are coming up this weekend. The Tony Hillerman Writers Conference convenes in Santa Fe, NM, with presenters including Margaret Coel, James McGrath Morris, Craig Johnson, David Morrell, and Anne Hillerman; Boston hosts the New England Crime Bake with Guest of Honor Meg Gardiner; and there's Murder and Mayhem in Muskego, Wisconsin, where over a dozen internationally best-selling authors will be featured.

If you happen to find yourself in Austin, Texas, tomorow night, head on over to Opal Divine's at 7 p.m. for a "Noir at the Bar" event featuring members of the Mystery People blog. Jon Basoff , Anonymous-9 and Nate Southard (writing as Jassy Mackenzie), will be on hand to discuss their books.

Noir Nation is giving away free Kindle copies of its second issue through this Friday, November 9th.

Mike Ripley's latest "Getting Away with Murder" column for Shots ezine includes a look into the book-party seasonal fun across the Pond, reviews of Norwegian policeman Jorn Lier Horst's novel Closed For Winter and a new anthology of crime-related essays, and much more.

The new crime poem over at the 5-2 is "Morning Report" by Toby Speed, and this week's fiction at Beat to a Pulp is "Everybody Knows About a Broken Heart" by Kent Gowran. 

Criminal Element is sponsoring a five-book giveaway in their "Good and Evil" sweepstakes.

This week's Q&A roundup includes CJ Howell chatting with Crime Fiction Lover about Howell's new book The Last of the Smoking Bartenders; and Sarah Weinman joined Pulpetti to discuss her anthology Troubled Wives, Twisted Daughters.

The Chicago Tribune reported on the developing trend of "take a book, leave a book" Little Free Libraries around the U.S.

Internationally best-selling crime author Jo Nesbo chose his "6 Favorite Books" for The Week.

Think you know a lot about conspiracy literature? The Guardian has a quiz to test your knowledge.

The Guardian also posted a look at "10 crime writers turned detective," from Edgar Allan Poe and Arthur Conan Doyle up to PD James.

Media Murder for Monday

MOVIES

Ben Affleck has signed on to direct an untitled political thriller set in Africa about a group of mercenaries called in to topple an African warlord.

Michael Fassbender is in negotiations to star in the gangster-centered drama Trespass Against Us, to be the debut feature effort for music video and TV director Adam Smith.

The action thriller The Coup began filming in Thailand. The project stars Owen Wilson and Pierce Brosnan and follows an American family living in Southeast Asia who find themselves caught in the middle of a violent military uprising.

The film adaptation of the original TV series Veronica Mars released a trailer for the film, scheduled for 2014. The project found part of its funding recently via a successful Kickstarter drive. The story will continue the adventures of star Kristen Bell as the title character who moonlighted as a private eye while a student under the mentoring of her detective father. 

TELEVISION

NBC is adapting Harlan Coben's novel Gone For Good, about a man whose endless search for his missing and allegedly murderous brother, Ken, is "filled with so many twists and turns it leaves him doubting the actions of everybody he’s ever loved."

NBC is also turning to author Chesea Cain for a new project, adapting her new thriller series for the small screen. Titled One Kick, the story centers around a woman abducted as a child who now works for a mysterious billionaire thanks to his resources and high-tech tools she needs to hunt down predators and rescue other abductees.

ABC has ordered a crime thriller from writer Charles Randolph, adapted from the best-selling novels by Liza Marklund that were turned into the hit Swedish drama series Annika Bengtzon: Crime Reporter. (Hat tip to Omnimystery News.)

The CW ordered a script-to-series commitment from 24's Matt Michnovetz. The project is titled The Cover, and is described as an FBI drama about the Irish Mob.

NBC ordered a script commitment for a potential series based on author Thomas E. Sniegoski's series about Remy Chandler, an angel who embraces earthly life as a Boston private eye with a variety of useful "superpowers."

CBS put in development a legal drama titled Alleged, about a defense attorney who takes on the most important case of his life: defending his own brother, a successful surgeon and father of two who is accused of murdering his wife.

Omnimystery News reported on four projects under development at ABC and TNT, including: a pilot based on a book by Alexandra Robbins about a female FBI agent who is also a former member of a secret
society; a PI drama featuring a former LAPD homicide detective, whose
disabling injury gives him a new ability to solve the most difficult
cases; the legal thriller Entrapment in which a prosecutor is accused of murder; and Public Morals, starring Ed Burns as a late 1960s-era NYPD cop.

Starz is working with Owen Wilson to develop an FBI period drama titled WonderWorld. Set during the Reagan era, the story is inspired by one of the biggest real-life undercover operations in FBI history, and follows two straight-arrow agents as they infiltrate the Mob-controlled porn industry of the 1980s.

HBO released the new trailer and teaser art for the highly anticipated drama series True Detective and launched the companion site darknessbecomesyou.com, with images, animations, videos and interactive features. The project stars Matthew McConaughey and Woody Harrelson as Louisiana detectives whose lives collide and entwine during a 17-year hunt for a killer.

Royal Pains star Paulo Costanzo is set to guest star on the CBS police procedural Criminal Minds, playing an old friend from Garcia's (Kirsten Vangsness) troubled past who she hasn't seen since she joined the BAU. Criminal Minds will celebrate its 200th-episode milestone this season, in an episode bringing back former regular Paget Brewster.

The USA Network tapped Shane Coffey as the star for its new series Novice, about a recent college graduate whose job search leads him to a position with a Korean crime organization.

Law & Order: SVU detectives Fin (Ice-T) and Rollins (Kelli Giddish) will guest star on the Chicago Fire spin-off, Chicago PD.

Meanwhile, Fox released the first eight minutes of its upcoming futuristic crime drama Almost Human.

Broadchurch creator Chris Chibnall is co-writing a novel with author Erin Kelly based on the popular BBC crime drama. The novel will "elaborate on the existing plot and delve deeper into the lives and backstories of the characters."

Hat tip to author Chris Fowler for pointing out that Channel 4 announced Danny Boyle is working with on a comedy-drama set in a London police station and also given the go-ahead to No Offence, an eight-part comedy series about a trio of female cops, by Paul Abbott. Plus, the police spoof Scot Squad was given a full series order and returns to BBC Scotland next year, while the second series of Charlie Brooker’s police parody Touch of Cloth will be aired in the summer.

PODCASTS/VIDEO/RADIO

Lawrence Block joined Craig Ferguson on the Late Late Show, talking about his writing and his recent self-publishing effort.

On this week's Crime and Science Radio, the feature was "The Infancy of Toxicology", an interview with Deborah Blum, Author of The Poisoner's Handbook.