Media Murder for Monday

MOVIES

Aaron Sorkin is in negotiations to adapt Michael Lewis' best-selling nonfiction book Flash Boys for Sony. Envisioned as a financial thriller similar to another Lewis book, Moneyball, the plot deals with the practice of high-frequency trading on Wall Street and how it became a way to rig the system.

As Kevin Bacon takes a break from The Following while it's on summer hiatus, he's joining the cast of not one but two thrillers: the untitled Black Mass project opposite Johnny Depp as notorious Irish mobster Whitey Bulger, with Bacon playing the FBI Special Agent in charge of the Boston field office; and Cop Car, an indie thriller from director Jon Watts about a police officer hunting down the two kids who stole his car for a joyride, unaware that there’s a dead body in the trunk (with Bacon playing the corrupt cop). Bacon has already filmed another role in the supernatural thriller 6 Miranda Drive.

Sam Raimi is spearheading the adaptation of Jake Tapper‘s bestselling book The Outpost: An Untold Story Of American Valor. The Afghanistan-set thriller details the true-life siege upon American Combat Outpost Keating in Kamdesh.

Channing Tatum, Tilda Swinton, and Ralph Fiennes are in talks to join George Clooney in the Coen Brothers’ Hail Caesar! movie. The plot centers on "a studio executive and fixer in the Golden Age of Hollywood, whose job it was to keep the salacious private scandals of the town's biggest stars out of the press."

In a bit of timely World Cup-themed news, Bugeater Films has optioned writer-director Darryl Wharton-Rigby's Wall Pass, a feature treatment for a soccer-themed thriller inspired by current events surrounding soccer's biggest event. It's inspired in part by the real-life tale of the government of Ghana delivering $3 million in cash in order for its team to continue playing, with a twist:  when the courier is ambushed on the way to make the drop, he has less than 12 hours to recover the stolen money.

Will Poulter (We're the Millers) is in negotiations to join Leonardo DiCaprio in Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu's revenge thriller, The Revenant.

Wes Bentley and Jaimie Alexander have signed on to star in psychological thriller Broken Vows, which also marks the feature directorial debut of Belgian Bram Coppens. The plot centers on a charming yet troubled man who erupts into psychotic rage when a woman rejects him.

James Bond fans will have to wait a little longer; director Sam Mendes has brought back Skyfall original writers Neal Purvis and Robert Wade to Bond 24 to "punch up" John Logan's screenplay, a move that may "cause a significant delay in the production."

Emmett/Furla/Oasis Films and Grindstone Entertainment released a trailer for the thriller The Prince, starring Jason Patric as a long-retired assassin who is pulled back into the life when someone grabs his daughter. Patric is joined by Bruce Willis in the film, playing a crime boss with a score to settle that goes back 20 years.

TELEVISION

Irish crime fiction author Stuart Neville's book Ratlines is being devloped into a TV series. The adaptation of the novel, which is about Nazis harboured by the Irish state following WWII, is being jointly developed by Belfast-based KGB Screen and Dublin-based Ripple World Pictures, with development funding from RTE Drama and Northern Ireland Screen.

Sarah Jessica Parker may be returning to television in an adaptation of Busted: A Tale Of Corruption And Betrayal In The City Of Brotherly Love, a police crime thriller written by Wendy Ruderman and Barbara Laker. Co-produced by Anonymous Content (True Detective), the story follows the true-life efforts of Ruderman and Laker to uncover one of the biggest police corruption scandals in Philadelphia’s history, which earned them a Pulitzer Prize for investigative reporting.

Anti-mafia journalist and author Roberto Saviano will present the series based on his best-selling expose Gomorrah at the Munich Film Festival. Weinstein Company has picked up U.S. rights for the series and is also believed to be considering an English-language adaptation.

AMC renewed its Revolutionary War spy series Turn for a second season.

The 10-episode one-hour crime drama Spotless starts pre-production in London in early July. Billed as a "darkly humorous and irreverent" family drama that revolves around organized crime, the international cast includes Canadian actor Marc-André Grondin (C.R.A.Z.Y) , France’s Denis Ménochet (Inglourious Basterds), British actress Miranda Raison (24: Live Another Day) and Downton Abbey’s Mr Bates, Brendan Coyle.

Fans of Pablo Schreiber, who plays prison guard George "Pornstache" Mendez on the Netflix comedy Orange is the New Black, will be disappointed to hear the news that his participation will be limited in the upcoming third season. But fear not—Schreiber will be a series regular in HBO's new show The Brink, a dark comedy about a geopolitical crisis and its effect on three desperate men, U.S. Secretary of State Walter Hollander (Tim Robbins), lowly Foreign Service officer Alex Coppins (Jack Black), and ace Navy fighter pilot Zeke Callahan (Schreiber).  

CBS released its fall schedule, including NCIS and N
CIS: New Orleans, which will air back-to-back on Tuesday evenings, Person of Interest, Hawaii Five-0, Blue Bloods, CSI, NCIS: Los Angeles, Criminal Minds, and Elementary.

Fox released a trailer for its Batman prequel series Gotham, with the cast discussing their roles. We also learn a little more about Detective James Gordon's involvement in the Wayne Murder case.

PODCASTS/VIDEO/RADIO

The latest Crime and Science Radio features Dr. D.P. Lyle and Jan Burke hosting "You’ll Tell Me No Lies: An Interview With Paul Bishop, Interrogation Expert, Author, and Retired LAPD Detective."

NPR's summer series "Crime in the City" continues with a look at rural West Virginia in the fictional city of Guyandotte, where Julia Keller's mystery series is based.

Omnivoracious sat down for a Q&A with Karin Slaughter, talking about her new standalone crime novel, Cop Town.

THEATER

The Closer's Kyra Sedgwick, Tony nominee Craig Bierko, Emmy nominee Matt McGrath, and stage and screen actress Annika Boras will star in the premiere of Academy Award winner John Patrick Shanley's The Danish Widow. Shanley describes the mystery play as "disturbing, funny, deadly serious, sexy – like a Hitchcock film with a modernist edge." The production is part of the Powerhouse Theater season at Vassar College and runs July 16-27.

Mystery Melange

Finalists for the Macavity Awards were announced yesterday. The nominees are voted on by members and friends of Mystery Readers International and subscribers to Mystery Readers Journal, with the winners announced at Bouchercon on November 13. The nods in the Best Novel category include Sandrine’s Case by Thomas H. Cook; Dead Lions by Mick Herron; Ordinary Grace by William Kent Krueger; The Wicked Girls by Alex Marwood; How the Light Gets In by Louise Penny; and Standing in Another Man’s Grave by Ian Rankin.

Author Rex Stout (1886-1975) was recently inducted into the New York State Writers Hall of Fame. His Nero Wolfe books have been in print continuously since they were published, translated into dozens of languages, and been the subject of numerous adaptations. Rex Stout also waged a personal campaign against Nazism during World War II (serving as Chairman of the War Writers Board and writing and broadcasting the CBS radio program "Our Secret Weapon"), and was a tireless advocate for the rights of authors.

Angry Robot Books announced they are shutting down their crime imprint, Exhibit A and YA Imprint, Strange Chemistry. Angry Robot started as an imprint of Harper Collins UK in 2008 and spread to the U.S. in 2010, when it was acquired by Osprey and specialized in niche markets. Angry Robot said in a statement that these two particular niche areas weren't selling well enough for them to continue. Still, it leaves editors like Bryon Quertermous and authors like Daniel O’Shea, Karen Sandler, Bartholomew Daniels, Terry Irving, and Patti Abbott high and dry. You can still buy some of their books, for now.

Mary Higgins Clark and Alafair Burke are teaming up to co-write a novel that will be published in November. Titled The Cinderella Murder, the book will continue with the adventures of Higgins Clark's television producer Laurie Moran and her investigations into cold case murders.

Amazon released a list of its choice for the "Best Books" so far in 2014, including the Mystery, Thriller & Suspense category.

Jessy Randall continues the "Reference Book Grudge Match" for the Hey, Dead Guy blog, this time pitting The Oxford Companion to Crime and Mystery Writing edited by Rosemary Herbert to Wikipedia. So who won?

Thuglit's latest issue has brand-spanking new stories by Mathew McBride, Jessica Adams, Hector Luis Colon, Scott Grand, Kenneth Levine, Michael Cebula, J. David Gonzalez, and Max Sheridan.

The new issue of Yellow Mama is out, with new dark fiction, poems, illustrations and reviews.

The latest crime poem at the 5-2 is "Girls' NIght Out" by Kayla Wheeler.

The Q&A roundup this week includes Michael Koryta chatting with Omnivoracious about his writing and self-proclaimed "warped and twisted mind"; Earl Emerson drops by the Sons of Spade blog to discuss his private eye Thomas Black; Megan Abbott chats with the Mystery People; and Merry Jones joined Omnimystery News for a conversation about the second in her Elle Harrison series.

What Happens in Vegas?

The 2014 American Library Association Annual Conference is coming up in Las Vegas this Thursday, June 26 through Tuesday, July 1. Among the many sessions, speakers, and awards scheduled during the event is the Pop Top Stage, which this year focuses on on mystery, crime fiction, and poetry. Among the features:

On Saturday, a "Mob Panel" (10–11 a.m.) kicks off the festivities with Geoff Schumacher, Morgan St. James, Frank Cullotta, Tony Montana, and Geno Munari. That's followed by "Women in Mystery" (3–4:30 p.m.) with Rachel Howzell Hall, Hannah Dennison, Jane K. Cleland, and Kelli Stanley.

On Sunday, there’s an International Crime Fiction presentation (10–11 a.m.) and on Monday, a panel will explores "Seedy Criminal Underbellies" (10–11 a.m.) featuring Deborah Coonts and Hank Phillippi Ryan.

Plus, the three days of readings, discussions, and presentations throughout the conference will include author event sessions in the Exhibit Hall with crime fiction notables such as Jane Cleland, Hannah Dennison, Sue Ann Jaffarian, Alexander McCall Smith, Karin Slaughter, Kelli Stanley, and Elaine Viets. (Hat tip to Publishers Weekly.)

Mystery Melange

The finalists for the Shamus Awards for excellence in private eye fiction were announced last week, with winners to be handed out at the PWA Banquet at Bouchercon in Long Beach, California, November 14. The nods in Best Novel category include Little Elvises by Timothy Hallinan; The Mojito Coast by Richard Helms; W is for Wasted by Sue Grafton; The Good Cop by Brad Parks; and Nemesis by Bill Pronzini. For the entire listing, check out the Guns, Games, and Gumshoes website.

Nominations for the David Awards for the best mystery published during the prior calendar year were also announced. The awards are named in memory of David G. Sasher, Sr., and handed out at the annual Deadly Link Conference in New Brunswick, NJ. The authors/books include Lethal Treasure by Jane Cleland; There Was an Old Woman by Hallie Ephron; Condemned to Repeat by Janice MacDonald; The Wrong Girl by Hank Phillippi Ryan; and Dark Music by E. F. Watkins.

Thanks also to Crime Scraps Review for noting that Robert Harris won the 5th Annual Sir Walter Scott Prize for Historical Fiction with An Officer and A Spy, his account of the true-life Dreyfus Case where Jewish officer Captain Alfred Dreyfus was falsely accused of espionage.

The blog Down These Mean Streets is celebrating the 75th anniversary of Ellery Queen's debut as a radio detective by offering a complete series DVD set of the Ellery Queen 1975 television series (starring Jim Hutton as Ellery and David Wayne as Inspector Queen). The details are here on how to enter before midnight on June 20th.

Thanks to Ayo Onatade at the Shots Magazine blog for noting the upcoming final installment of the "Noir Is the Colour" series at the French Institute in London. The first three events sound like there were entertaining and informative, and the June 26th program features author Marc Dugain and former Observer crime fiction critic, Peter Guttridge, discussing notorious California "Co-ed Killer" Edmund Kemper from the 60's and 70's.

Mystery Writers of America University travels next to Philadelphia on Saturday, June 28th. Although sponsored by the MWA, the full-day seminar isn't genre-specific, covering the novel-writing process through such topics as "Dramatic Structure and Plot," "Character," and "Editing."  Instructors include award-winning authors Reed Farrel Coleman, Kathleen George, Jeff Lourey, Hank Phillippi Ryan, and Daniel Stashower. The registration deadline is June 19.

Geoffrey Wansell of The Daily Mail looked at the increasing popularity of crime fiction around the world in an article titled "From Irene to Baghdad Central: The new wave of crime fiction taking the world by storm."

The Washington Post reported on the new publisher, Syndicate Books, founded by former bookstore owner and director of marketing and publicity for Soho Press, Paul Oliver. The initial focus will be out-of-print mysteries and crime fiction like the Ted Lewis’s Get Carter (originally titled Jack’s Return Home), unavailable in the U.S. for 40 years.

A federal judge has rejected a copyright appeal brought by the estate of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and reaffirmed that Sherlock Holmes is now in the public domain. The move makes it legal for writers, filmmakers and others to make free use of Holmes, Watson and any elements of the canon that appeared in Conan Doyle works published prior to Jan. 1, 1923.

Suspense Magazine's June issue is out, with profiles of bestselling authors Joseph Finder, David Baldacci, Eric Jerome Dickey, Eric Van Lustbader, Jan Elizabeth Watson, and Donna White Glaser. The new columns "Across the Pond" and "ITW Reader Corner" are back, as is Dr. D.P. Lyle, who returns with a new "Forensic Files" article on Medical Malpractice in Mysteries and Thrillers.  

Jessy Randall at the Hey Dead Guy blog is beginning a series of three posts looking at reference works on detective fiction, comparing expensive print sources to the information available online for free. First up, Bruce F. Murphy's Encyclopedia of Murder and Mystery versus Wikipedia.

Author and law professor Alifair Burke chose some of her favorite crime fiction books for Omnivoracious that show the real lives of lawyers outside the courtroom.

This week's crime poem at the 5-2 is "Vandals" by Wilda Morris. The featured story at Beat to a Pulp this week is "Dust to Dust" by Terrie Farley Moran.

In the Q&A roundup, Brian Stoddart bravely takes Paul D. Brazill's "Short, Sharp Interview" challenge; Peter Mayle talks with the New York Times about his third work of crime fiction featuring private investigator Sam Levitt; Megan Abbott sat down for an interview with the Memphis Flyer and the National Post about her novel The Fever; and Omnimystery News interviewed Eileen Brady, whose debut novel Muzzled was the winner of the 2013 Discover Mystery Award from Poisoned Pen Press.

Tim Maleeny and the Book Passage Mystery Writers Conference

The 21st Annual Book Passage Mystery Writers Conference is coming up in Corte Madera, California on July 24-27. Participants will learn all the clues to a successful writing career from authors, editors, agents, and publishers via classes on setting, dialogue, suspense and point of view. Panels of detectives, forensic experts, and other crime-fighting professionals also provide invaluable information that allows writers to put realism into their work.

This year's event continues its tradition of distinguished authors and teachers, including Tim Maleeny, who stopped by IRTM to discuss why he enjoys participating in the conference. Maleeny is the author of the acclaimed Cape Weathers series, including Stealing The Dragon, Beating The Babushka, Greasing The Piñata, and Jump. Maleeny's short fiction has won the prestigious Macavity Award and appears in Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine, Ellery Queen, Crimespree Magazine, and the anthologies Death Do Us Part, Uncage Me, and Thriller 2.

IRTM:  What is the most rewarding part of teaching at the conference?

TM: A good writer is always learning — reading other writers, trying new perspectives, deconstructing stories in their head — so being on the faculty at Book Passage is a chance to keep on top of your game. I think all of us on the faculty learn as much from interacting with the conference attendees as they do from us.

Another invaluable part of a weekend like this are the friendships you make with other writers. The conference is big enough to be truly intensive when it comes to the workshops, but intimate enough to really get to know the other writers. Some of my best friends, most loyal readers and even occasional collaborators are writers whom I met at Book Passage.

IRTM:  What advice do you wish you received when you were a new author?

TM: I was already published when I first attended Book Passage as a student, so my only regret is that I hadn't known about conferences like this sooner. I was clueless a community of writers like this even existed. Had I gone to Book Passage when I was first getting serious about writing, I would have spared myself a lot of heartache along the way. Even if you're shy about your writing, even if you're not sure what you're doing, force yourself to attend a conference or two. You'll find like-minded souls who will help you on the path to publication.

IRTM:  What do you hope aspiring writers will get out of this conference?

TM: For most it's inspiration, for some it's a gentle kick in the ass to stop procrastinating (something I sorely needed), and finally some help seeing your story through a reader's eyes, so you'll know if the story you're trying to write is the one that's appearing on the page.

A few laughs as well — it's curious but the folks writing about murder and mayhem are invariably the nicest and funniest people you'll ever meet. (Maybe it's because they let all their aggressions out on their characters, so they have only positive energy left for those of us who live outside the pages of a book.)

 

For more information about the Book Passage conference and to register, check out the official website. You can also click on the banner in the top right-hand side of this page, and if you mention In Reference to Murder when you register, you'll receive a $10 gift certificate.

Media Murder for Monday

MOVIES

Warner Bros has hired Australian actor/filmmaker Kieran Darcy-Smith to direct Blackwater, a fact-based story scripted by Gideon Yago. The story follows the controversial contractor, its role in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and four of its employees facing trial in the killings of 14 Iraqi civilians and the wounding of 18 others.

Russell Crowe and Ryan Gosling are in early talks to star in Shane Black's noir film The Nice Guys. The film is set in 1970s Los Angeles and follows muscle-for-hire and recovering alcoholic Jackson Healy and Holland March, a private eye and practicing alcoholic, who are brought together by the suicide of a fading porn star that turns into a far-reaching murder conspiracy rooted in smog and the U.S. auto industry.

Actress Isla Fisher will join her husband Sacha Baron Cohen in Sony's upcoming spy spoof Grimsby, directed by Louis Leterrier. The plot centers on a British black ops spy (played by Mark Strong) forced to go on the run and team up with his "idiotic English football hooligan brother" (Baron Cohen).

A full trailer was released for Sin City: A Dame to Kill For, based on Frank Miller's graphic novels, and starring Josh Brolin, Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Eva Green.

TELEVISION

Imagine TV optioned The Perfect Kill: 21 Laws for Assassins, the upcoming book by decorated CIA agent Robert B. Baer (his Syriana earned George Clooney an Oscar).  The series chronicles the history of assassination as a political tool and outlines his rules for an effective kill.

The House of Dolls, the first book in David Hewson’s new Amsterdam-based crime series featuring detective Pieter Vos, has been optioned for a Dutch TV series by Eyeworks, a subsidiary of Warner Brothers Television. (Hat tip to Ayo Onatade at Shots Magazine.)

The Australian show Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries has been renewed for a third season. You can catch the first two seasons on Netflix in the U.S. or via Acorn in other regions.

Fans of the original Swedish crime drama The Bridge (upon which an American version was based) will be disappointed to hear that actor Kim Bodnia won't be returning for Season 3 due to "different perceptions of the season's content," according to co-producer spokesman Anders Landstrøm.

Showtime's Homeland is adding Raza Jaffrey (of Smash fame) and Michael O'Keefe (King & Maxwell) for Season 4. Jaffrey will play Aasar Khan, a decorated lieutenant-colonel in the Pakistan intelligence service, and O'Keefe will play deputy station chief John Redmond, stationed in the CIA's Pakistan outpost.

Mary Steenburgen is joining the women-in-prison series Orange is the Black, although it's not yet known whether she will be guest-starring or a regular. Meanwhile, cast member Dascha Planco was promoted to a regular role in the series, continuing her portrayal of pregnant inmate Dayanara Diaz.

Joe Adler has been promoted to series regular on The Mentalist, continuing his role as an FBI agent who specializes in computers.

Steven Bochco's new drama Murder in the First debuted strongly for TNT, becoming the number one new series launch on cable. The procedural stars Taye Diggs and Kathleen Robertson as homicide detectives investigating two seemingly unrelated murders that end up being connected.

FX decided not to go forward with the series Hoke starring Paul Gianatti as hardboiled (and possibly insane) homicide detective Hoke Moseley in pre-chic Miami in the mid-1980s.

PODCASTS/VIDEO/RADIO

Author Linda Fairstein joined Late Night host Seth Meyers to discuss her latest thriller Terminal City.

Jo Nesbø was interviewed by host John Mullan at the Guardian books podcast about his Harry Hole detective series and how to pronounce his name.

The latest Crime and Science Radio program is titled "The Art and Science of Law Enforcement: An Interview with Robin Burcell." D.P. Lyle and Jan Burke chat with the author about her books and her experiences as a police officer, a forensic artist, a hostage negotiator, and a detective.

Rick Rinehart appeared on NPR's Weekend Edition Sunday to discuss his grandmother, mystery author Mary Roberts Rinehart, who is buried at Arlington National Cemetery alongside her husband, Dr. Stanley Marshall Rinehart, a doctor in the Army Medical Corps.

THEATER

Cloak and Dagger, a new whodunit noir musical spoof by Ed Dixon, is making its world premiere at the Signature Theatre in Washington, DC. The send-up of 1950s film noir centers on the third-rate detective Nick Cutter and features four actors playing nearly 20 roles. Music and lyrics are by Ed Dixon with orchestrations by Jordan Ross Weinhold.

Joseph Goodrich's adaptatio
n of The Red Box, the fourth novel in Rex Stout's Nero Wolfe series, is making its world premiere at Park Square Theatre in St. Paul, Minnesota and runs through July 13, 2014. Mystery Scene magazine sat down with Goodrich for an interview about the adaptation process.

Year’s Best Crime Novels (so Spake Booklist)

The American Library Association's review magazine Booklist compiles "best of" lists each year, although their "year" is a "Booklist crime fiction year," from May 1, 2013, through April 15, 2014. The latest list of top ten crime fiction novels included six stand-alones, two series entries, and two books that seem to be the first volumes in new series. There are three historicals and one set in the future; four take place in the U.S., with one each in Budapest, Quebec, Ireland, France, England, and Mexico. Booklist also selected ten top picks for debut crime fiction title, all outlined below:

THE YEAR'S BEST CRIME NOVELS

The Cairo Affair, by Olen Steinhauer. 2014
How the Light Gets In, by Louise Penny. 2013
In the Morning I’ll Be Gone, by Adrian McKinty. 2014
Natchez Burning, by Greg Iles. 2014
Night Film, by Marisha Pessl. 2013
An Officer and a Spy, by Robert R. Harris. 2014
The Orphan Choir, by Sophie Hannah. 2014
The Rules of Wolfe, by James Carlos. 2013
Shovel Ready, by Adam Sternbergh. 2014
The Thicket, by Joe R. Lansdale. 2013

BEST CRIME FICTION DEBUTS

The Abomination, by Jonathan Holt. 2013
The Ascendant, by Drew Chapman. 2014
The Curiosity, by Stephen P. Kiernan. 2013
Decoded, by Mai Jia. Tr, by Olivia Milburn. 2014
The Deliverance of Evil, by Roberto Constantini. Tr, by N. S. Thompson. 2014
The Last of the Smoking Bartenders, by C. J. Howell. 2013
North of Boston, by Elisabeth Elo. 2014
Precious Thing, by Colette McBeth. 2014
Shovel Ready, by Adam Sternbergh. 2014
The Word Exchange, by Alena Graedon. 2014

Mystery Melange

Yesterday, the North American Branch of the International Association of Crime Writers announced that this year's recipient of the Hammett Prize is Richard Lange for Angel Baby. The award is given to literary excellence in the field of crime writing by a U.S. or Canadian author and was handed out at what was to be the very last (alas) Bloody Words conference. The other finalists were Cataract City: A Novel, by Craig Davidson; Green Light for Murder, by Heywood Gould; Caught, by Lisa Moore; and The Double, by George P. Pelecanos.

The Crime Writers of Canada announced the Arthur Ellis Awards last week. The Best novel award went to Seán Haldane for The Devil’s Making; Best First Novel to J. Kent Messum for Bait; Best Novella to Melodie Campbell, The Goddaughter’s Revenge; Best Short Story, Twist Phelan, "Footprints in Water," Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine; Best Book in French, Maureen Martineau,  L’enfant promis; Best Juvenile/YA, Elizabeth MacLeod, Bones Never Lie; and Best Unpublished First Novel (Unhanged Arthur) to Rachel Greenaway, Cold Girl.

The International Crime Fiction seminar at Queens University in Belfast, Ireland, is taking place June 13-14. Author Declan Burke has a bit more about the event and some of the best-selling authors who will be in attendance.

All Due Respect, a quarterly digital and hard copy magazine, is looking for crime stories of at least 2,000 words for their next issue. ADR also sends accepted stories for consideration in the annual Best American Mystery Stories series, the O. Henry Awards, and the Spinetingler Awards. (Hat tip to Sandra Seamans.)

Spy novelist David Ignatius described his four favorite spy cities for the Omnivoracious blog.

Colleen Collins, who co-authored How to Write a Dick and operates the Guns, Gams & Gumshoes blog, wrote about the "First U.S. Female Private Eye: Kate Warne," for Digital Book Today.

CNN reported on how libraries are being reinvented for "hanging out, messing around and geeking out" for teens, especially in low-income communities, to promote creativity, critical thinking and hands-on learning.

Is this the beginning of the turnaround for the troubled Nook eReader? Barnes & Noble is going to offer a co-branded Nook with Samsung.

The Collins English Dictionary solicited Twitter users to suggest and vote on a new (and currently in use) word to add to the tome. The winner: "Adorkable,"  defined as: "adj slang socially inept or unfashionable in a charming or endearing way [blend of ADORABLE and DORK]."

This week's featured crime poem at the 5-2 is "Joy Wears a Stocking Mask" by Catherine Wald, and the weekly pulp story at Beat to a Pulp is "Miracle on 191st Street" by Steve Romagnoli.

In the Q&A roundup, Joshua Swainston stops by Paul D. Brazill's blog for a "Short, Sharp Interview"; Matthew Quirk chatted with The Mystery People about his latest thriller, The Directive; and Glass Key Award-winning author Jørn Lier Horst was interviewed by Crime Fiction Lover about his writing and his life as a police officer.

Media Murder for Monday

MOVIES

Oscar-winning director Oliver Stone will be at the helm of a biopic about Edward Snowden, based on The Snowden Files, journalist Luke Harding's account of events surrounding reports about Snowden in The Guardian newspaper.

Universal Pictures is remaking the South African thriller iNumber Number about an undercover police detective who crosses over from cop to robber in order to orchestrate a major heist. David DiGilio has been hired to write the script.

In more remake news, Kamala Films and producer Guy Stodel are teaming up for an English-language remake of the Spanish heist thriller 25 Kilates, about a petty thief and a mob enforcer who hatch a daring plan to break free from the criminal underworld in Barcelona.

Writer-director Bryan Bertino has been hired by MGM to script Abe, based on the chilling short film about a robot serial killer from British writer/director/VFX artist Rob McLellan.  

Jeremy Renner is joining Tom Cruise and Simon Pegg in the 2015 installment of the Mission Impossible franchise, directed by Christopher McQuarrie.

Josh Brolin is set to co-star in Sicario, a CIA drama about a Tucson SWAT officer who is recruited on a cartel-destroying mission. He joins Emily Blunt and Benicio Del Toro in the cast.

Tom Hardy has signed on board The Revenant, a film starring Leonardo DiCaprio as nineteenth century fur trapper who seeks revenge on friends who stole his belongings after he was mauled by a bear and left for dead.

Christian Slater will star opposite James Franco in Adderall Diaries, directed by Pamela Romanowsky. The story follows a troubled and drug-addicted writer (Franco) who becomes fascinated by the trial of a man suspected of killing his ex-wife (Slater) and decides to create a book focusing on the case.

The official trailer was released for November Man, the upcoming film starring Pierce Brosnan an ex-CIA operative who gets caught up in a plot involving his former protege and the Russian president-elect.

TELEVISION

NYBD Blue creator Steve Bochcho's latest crime drama, Murder in the First, premieres tonight on TNT. The series stars Kathleen Robertson, Taye Diggs, and Tom Felton in the procedural that follows one long case thoughout each season, a la The Killing and True Detective.

Sundance Channel is airing the six-part series Rectify, starring Aden Young as an ex-con adjusting to his former life in small-town Georgia when the politician who put him behind bars makes it his business to see that he gets sent back to jail.

Life Of Pi star Suraj Sharma is joining the cast of Showtime's Homeland for the upcoming fourth season, according to TV Guide, which also reported that Laila Robins (In Treatment) and Corey Stoll (House of Cards) will be on board.

Dominic Cooper will reprise his Captain America role as Tony Stark's father in Marvel's Agent Carter. The limited television series is part of ABC's midseason schedule next year, and continues the theme of fighting crime in the post-World War II 1940s.

Two of Exorcist director William Friedkin’s crime dramas, Killer Joe And To Live And Die In L.A., are being developed as potential TV series.

Pedro Pascal (Game of Thrones) is joining the cast of Netflix's upcoming series Narcos, which follows "the true-life story of the growth and spread of cocaine drug cartels across the globe" and their battle with law enforcement.

NBC announced its Fall Schedule, including crime dramas The Blacklist on Mondays, Chicago Fire on Tuesdays, Law & Order:SVU followed by Chicago P.D. on Wednesdays, and Grimm on Fridays.

PODCAST/VIDEOS/RADIO

NPR's Diane Rehm Show featured an interview with David Ignatius, author of The Director, a CIA thriller being adapted for film by Sony Pictures.

Mystery Melnage

The winners of the Lammy Awards from the Lambda Literary society for LGBT fiction were announced on Monday. The nod for Best Gay Mystery went to The Prisoner of the Riviera: A Francis Bacon Mystery, by Janice Law, while the winner of Best Lesbian Mystery was High Desert by Katherine V. Forrest. For all the nominees, click here.

The Audie Awards for excellence in audiobooks handed out top honors last week. Unleashed by David Rosenfelt (read by Grover Gardner) won in the mystery category, while The Hit by David Baldacci (read by Ron McLarty and Orlagh Cassidy) won in the thriller category. Sherlock Holmes was also a big winner (in a way), with The Complete Sherlock Holmes by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (read by Simon Vance) winning the "classic" award, and Sherlock Holmes in America by John L. Lellenberg et al. (read by Graham Malcolm) winning for short stories.

The Hogarth Shakespeare's project of updating the classics for a new era expanded again with the announcement that author Gillian Flynn (Gone Girl) will take on Hamlet. She joins other writers like Jo Nesbo (Macbeth) and Margaret Atwood (The Tempest).

The Paris Review profiled the classic pulp magazine Black Mask in honor of Dashiell Hammett's birthday last week.

The Boston Globe wrote an article on bestselling thriller author Joseph Finder and his risky decision to buy out his publishing contract and leave his longtime publisher and agent, writing his next novel without a signed deal in place.

Author/blogger Martin Edwards discusses the new book #Youdunnit, with three stories from Nicci French, Tim Weaver, and Alastair Gunn that involved suggestions for plot, character and such from crime fans via Twitter.

The latest issue of All Due Respect is out, with a profile of Jake Hinkson, who has a new book from Crime Factory titled Saint Homicide. Plus there is new fiction from Angel Luis Colon, Patti Abbott, Jessica Adams, Mike McCrary, Chris Leek, Rob Hart, Alec Cizak, and Jen Conley, an interview with Beat to a Pulp publisher David Cranmer, and a plethora of reviews. 

The Writers Police Academy is once again sponsoring its Golden Donut Short Story Contest. Entrants are challenged to write an entire story using exactly 200 words (including the title) and must use the photo provided on the contest website as inspiration. There's a surprise guest judge this year, with details coming soon.

The latest sweepstakes over at The Criminal Element is the "Seven Deadly Reads." Enter to win books by Lawrence Block, Michael Craven, Robert Rotstein, Katherine Hall Page, Jonathan Holt, Jane Casey, and Gregg Olsen and Rebecca Morris.

At the 5-2 this week, you can read the latest crime poem, titled "Muse Noir" by Mehnaz Sahibzada, while this week's featured pulp story at Beat to a Pulp is "The Pastor's Boy" by Jay Nunnery.

RIP to Honora (Honey) Finkelstein, who co-wrote the Ariel Quigley series with Susan Smily. Their book The Chef Who Died Sautéing was a finalist for the 2006 Agatha Award for Best First Novel.

The Q&A roundup this week includes Michael Zimecki and Bracken MacLeod, both taking Paul D. Brazill's "Short, Sharp Interview" challenge; Clare Donoghue chats with Crime Fiction Lover about her debut novel, Never Look Back; Sean French and Nicci Gerrard (the husband and wife team working as Nicci French), engaged in a "micro interview" with Crime Fiction Lover.

The Guardian posted a listed of "12 Literary Insults to Make You Weep."

Downton Abbey saved a library after it donated £20,000 to villagers for the under-funded library in Bampton, in Oxfordshire for "for putting up with shooting of" the show.

If you have a few minutes and need a brain break, check out Mystery Soduku over at Omnimystery News.

Author R&R with Kate White

Kate White is the New York Times bestselling author of nine works of fiction—six Bailey Weggins mysteries and three suspense novels, including Eyes on You (June 2014). For fourteen years she was the editor in chief of Cosmopolitan magazine, and though she loved the job (and the Cosmo beauty closet!), she decided to leave in late 2013 to concentrate full time on being an author.

Her books have received starred reviews from a variety of publications and she has been covered everywhere from The Today Show to The New York Times. Her first Bailey Weggins mystery, If Looks Could Kill, was named as the premier Reading with Rippa selection and soon shot to number one on Amazon. (And it’s now being made into an opera). She is published in 18 countries around the world.

Kate stopped by In Reference to Murder today to take some Author R&R (Reference and Research), talking about her experiences researching her Bailey Weggins mysteries and her latest standalone suspense novel, Eyes on You, especially how much fun she has with research—she once had her daughter stalk her through the woods so she could better describe the sounds of someone being followed.

Researching

It was kind of an act of desperation. I was working on my sixth Bailey Weggins mystery while also holding down a demanding, full time job as the editor-in-chief of Cosmopolitan magazine, and I needed to get to the Dumbo (Down under the Manhattan Bridge Overpass) section of Brooklyn to reacquaint myself with the area for a scene in my book. But no matter how hard I tried to shift things around on my schedule, I couldn’t come up with three hours to spare.

Fortunately, the Internet saved me. There were not only photos of Dumbo streets online but also videos of those streets, and they gave me a decent feel for the look and layout of the neighborhood.

Though I rescued the situation, I hated having to take that kind of shortcut. You see, I LOVE doing research. I adore prowling around neighborhoods, combing through resource material, and interviewing people who know things I don’t. To me, spending an hour on the phone with an expert on the death cap mushroom is pure bliss. I promised myself then that one day I’d have time to really research my books.

And finally that day came. A few years ago I resigned from Cosmo to work full time as an author. Admittedly the main reason was so I could experience the pleasure of working on my own while I still had the chance and also concentrate more fully on writing, but a lovely offshoot has been the ability to research my pants off.

Last Monday, for instance, was a delicious day for me. I’m currently at work on my fourth stand-alone novel (the third, Eyes on You, just came out in June), and I wanted to set some scenes in Nolita (the area North of Little Italy in Manhattan) and also around Wall Street, neighborhoods I’ve certainly visited as a New Yorker but am not completely familiar with. I spent an entire day exploring these spots, walking up and down streets, taking notes, snapping photos with my iPhone, even stopping at a French bistro for lunch with a glass of rose (and writing it off as a business expense!).  

Researching not only provides an author with critical info, but it also offers moments of exhilaration, as you finally stumble on something that’s been stubbornly elusive.

There can be an almost magical element to research, too, the way it sparks your imagination. Research can generate whole new plots twists, ones you never saw coming before. There have been countless times when I’ve ended up adding a new scene or turning point or even a new character to a book because of details I’ve dug up.  

In many ways, researching is like solving a mystery, with you as the private eye or the amateur sleuth.

Occasionally, however, doing one’s homework can get you into trouble. I’ve been yelled at for being in places I shouldn’t have been (“Excuse me, miss. What are you doing here?”) or rebuffed by someone who thought I was being nosy. And when I was writing my stand-alone Hush, I had one particularly awkward moment. The book is set in the world of fertility treatment and so for research I snuck over during one of my lunch hours to attend a free, open-to-the-public workshop at a fertility clinic. All of a sudden one of the other participants strolled over to me and said, “Wait, aren’t you the editor of Cosmo?” I knew she must be wondering what the heck I was doing there, since I was in my fifties and had two grown kids. I also worried that she might be indiscreet. It wasn’t hard to imagine the headline that might appear a day later in one of the tabloid gossip columns: “Bump Alert! 50-something Cosmo editor considering another baby!”

But fortunately my secret was safe! And nothing since has deterred me from the sweet pleasure of playing amateur sleuth when it comes to finding the facts. And today, thankfully, I have more time than ever to do that.

About the author

In addition to her mysteries, Kate is currently editing the Mystery Writers of America cookbook, a selection of recipes from many of the top-selling authors. Kate is also the author of several very popular career books, including I Shouldn’t Be Telling You This: How to Ask for the Money, Snag the Promotion, and Create the Career You Deserve, and Why Good Girls Don’t Get Ahead but Gutsy Girls Do. Visit her via her website, blog, Twitter, and Facebook.

Literary Rock Stars

Book Expo America added a new event this year, BookCon, produced by the same folks behind New York Comic Con. While BEA is usually geared more toward industry insiders, BookCon was open to the general public – at least the first 10,000, as attendance was maxed out at that limit, with each attendee forking over $30 for a one-day event pass (kids got in free).

Barbara Marcus, head of Random House children’s books, told The Bookseller that BookCon’s was "the most diverse population I’ve ever seen at a book event." Attendees were black, white, Asian, local, foreign; mother/daughter duos; teenage boys hoping to see comic book legend Stan Lee; and even grey-haired seniors, some navigating through the crowded space on motorized wheelchairs.

The day was filled with author Q&A panels, autographing sessions, storytelling podcasts, special screenings, literary quiz shows and the chance for fans to interact with close to two hundred authors. What was really encouraging was the response from the fans. As Shelf Awareness noted, there were long lines snaking through the BookCon areas, and the crowd limits meant "tearful attendees were turned away from some full events."

That's the sort of reaction you usually see reserved for rock stars and Hollywood celebrities. And yes, even there were a few Hollywood celebrities on hand, the majority of folks came for the literary component. Hopefully, the event will expand next year so more fans can meet and greet with their favorite writers and not be turned away. At any rate, it does lovers of the printed word good to see so many excited and engaged readers thrilled to support authors and their books.

Ordinary Grace Redux

William Kent Krueger stopped by In Reference to Murder last year to talk about what was then his new book, Ordinary Grace. That book has since gone on to win the Edgar Award for Best Novel, Midwest Booksellers Choice Award for Best Fiction, Dilys Award, Left Coast Crime "Squid" Award for Best Mystery Set Within the United States, and is also nominated for the Goodreads Choice Award, Barrys, and Anthonys. So I thought it fitting to repost Krueger's Q&A about his writing and this extraordinary book:

Bestselling author William Kent Krueger's novels have won the Minnesota Book Award, Friends of America Writers Prize, Barry Award, Dilys Award and back-to-back Anthony Awards for best novel, among other honors. Although known primarily for his novels featuring part-Ojibwe, part-Irish Cork O'Connor, a former Chicago cop turned private investigator living in the backwoods of Minnesota, Krueger's latest novel, Ordinary Grace, is a departure for him.

Krueger notes it's a different story from any in the Cork O'Connor series, focused on creating a particular time (the summer of 1961) and a particular small town deep in the heart of the Minnesota River valley that allowed him to examine memories, emotions and themes arising from his own adolescence. 

Ordinary Grace has its official release today, and in honor of the book launch, Krueger stopped by In Reference to Murder for some Q&A:

IRTM: You've described Ordinary Grace as really the story of what tragedy does to a man's faith, his family and ultimately, the whole fabric of the small town in which he lives. You also noted it was inspired in part by memories and emotions arising from your own adolescence and uses themes important to you through the years. How much of this book is fiction and how much is a window into your own soul?

WKK: “A window into my own soul” may be a bit strong, but it’s certainly a story for which I mined a good deal of memories, emotions, and experiences from my own adolescence.  One of the initial seeds for Ordinary Grace was the desire to recreate a time and place that I knew well.  I spent a lot of my formative years living either on farms or in small towns, and I wanted to capture—for myself and, I’m hoping, for readers—the essence of those years.  For a boy, thirteen is an important age.  It’s a threshold.  You stand with one foot in childhood and the other poised to step into manhood, and because of the confusion, the constant assessing of who you are and wonderment about who you are becoming, what happens in that time stays with you in a dramatic way.  That’s what I wanted at the heart of the story. 

IRTM:You've said the story for Ordinary Grace haunted you for a few years, and it was the most amazing period of writing you've ever experienced. What was your favorite part of the book to write?

WKK: There are so many scenes I love in this book.  But maybe my absolute favorite is the post-funeral scene in which the title—Ordinary Grace—takes on a very specific and special meaning in the story.  Another favorite is the scene at the quarry in which Frank, the story’s thirteen-year-old narrator, gets into it with an older, bigger, meaner kid named Morris Engdahl.  It’s a scene full of conflict and comedy and, because of the presence of a stunning young woman in a revealing bathing suit, rife with sexual tension as well.  I love the fact that Frank acts from his gut, without particular regard for the consequences, and I love the result.  Overall, perhaps, what I liked best was creating the tight relationship between Frank and his younger brother Jake.  A lot of love is exchanged there.

IRTM: Marilyn Stasio, writing for the New York Times, said that "For someone who writes such muscular prose, Krueger has a light touch that humanizes his characters." Muscular prose is a phrase often associated with Hemingway, who happens to be one of your writing influences. Do you feel that some of Hemingway's literary genes have become part of your writing DNA?

WKK: In my early years, I used to try to write like Papa Hemingway.  Eventually I realized how pointless that was, turned away from struggling to write the great American novel, and embraced the mystery genre.  I hoped I might finally write something that a publisher would buy and readers would enjoy.  Best decision ever.  But I didn’t abandon Hemingway completely.  Trying to write like a master taught me the power of language, and always, when I write, it’s with an understanding that words, rhythm, cadence matter in a good piece of writing.  Honestly, I’ve never been certain what was meant by “muscular prose.”

IRTM: In researching your other books, you've studied the Ojibwe and Arapaho, you've traveled to remote locations, interviewed various primary sources such as people in involved with the Secret Service, hospitals, the military, psychology, weapons technology. Was there anything new or unusual you had to research for the writing of Ordinary Grace?

WKK: In my very early thinking, I considered having Frank’s father, Nathan Drum, be a high school English teacher in a small town, because that was my father.  But because I also wanted to deal with the larger question of the spiritual journey, a minister seemed a better choice.  Growing up, I knew a number of PKs (preacher’s kids), but what it means to be a minister in a small community was completely outside my own experience.  I’m fortunate to know a couple of retired Methodist ministers, so I spent a good long time talking to both of them about their own time as ministers in rural Minnesota.  Fascinating material, and I’m sure their insights helped breathe life into Nathan Drum.

IRTM: What does your writing process look like? Do you aim for daily or weekly word counts? And how are you and Cork and your other characters handling the move from the St. Clair Broiler coffee shop? Any withdrawal symptoms?

WKK: Unless I have a deadline looming, I try to be relaxed in what I expect from any writing session.  That said, I’m very disciplined in my approach.  I write every day, twice.  The first round begins in a local coffee shop about 6:00 A.M. and lasts for a couple of hours.  Then I return to the coffee shop in the afternoon for another couple of hours.  This used to take place at the St. Clair Broiler, a Saint Paul landmark café.  I wrote there for a good twenty years.  For reasons I won’t go into, we parted ways a while back, but it was an amicable separation.  No withdrawal symptoms, but a lot of wonderful memories of my time in booth #4.

IRTM: Have you written a book (or short story) you love that you haven't been able to get published?

WKK: The manuscript that preceded Iron Lake (my first published novel and the first in the Cork O’Connor series) was a horribly written piece of work.  It was called The Demon Hunter and was about the ultimate battle between good and evil fought, I kid you not, in the cornfields of Nebraska.  I still like the story—go figure—and someday, if I have the time, I might return to that piece to see if I can do it justice.

IRTM: Are there certain characters you'd like to revisit, or is there a new theme or idea you'd love to work with?

WKK: I’m at work on a second novel set in southern Minnesota, titled This Tender Land.  Although still in its infancy, the story, when fleshed out, should deal with how we shape the land in which we live and how the land, in turn, shapes us.  It’s about those things we love enough to die for and love enough to kill for.  I like the fact that it’s another novel set in the agrarian southern part of our state, which has a beauty very different but no less remarkable than the great north woods I write about in the Cork O’Connor series.

IRTM: Every writer has to deal with rejection at some point. What was the toughest criticism you've been given as an author, and alternatively, what was the best compliment?

WKK: The toughest criticism early on was from an agent who’d asked to read that first manuscript of mine, The Demon Hunter.  She told me it was one of the worst pieces of fiction she’d ever read.  Though she tried to be gentle, her reaction devastated me.  Of course, she was right, and I learned a great deal from the experience.  As for compliments, one of the best I ever got came from my son.  He was pretty young when Iron Lake came out, and I wasn’t certain if he really understood what all the hoopla was about.  Then one day, as I was chauffeuring him somewhere, from the backseat of our car he said simply, “Dad, I’m really proud of you.”  Made me cry.

IRTM: Last year, you and three other authors (John Connolly, Liza Marklund, MJ Rose) embarked on the Atria Great Mystery Bus Tour. What was the highlight and "lowlight" of the tour and do you think you'd do it again?

WKK: Without a doubt, the highlight was the company on the bus.  John and Liza and MJ and all the folks who accompanied us were great, entertaining companions.  The low point was when the toilet on the bus plugged up.  Don’t get me started on that one.

IRTM: Although Ordinary Grace is a standalone novel, Cork O'Connor fans will be thrilled to know the thirteenth book in the series, Tamarack County, is scheduled for release in August 2013. Can you tell us about that and the further adventures of the O'Connor clan?

WKK: Tamarack County was inspired by a true event.  A couple of years ago, I read a newspaper account of man who’d been convicted of murder and sent to death row, where he spent nearly twenty years.  Then a group who takes on the cases of these kinds of individuals to be certain that justice has been done began looking into his situation.  In the course of their investigation, they discovered that, at the time of this man’s trial, the prosecution had in its possession information that basically proved his innocence, but they never shared this information with the defense.  On being released from prison, the man said he wasn’t bitter about all those years he’d spent behind bars.  His only wish was that those who’d put him there knowing he was innocent would somehow have to pay for their trespass of justice.

Which got me to thinking.  What if an Ojibwe in Tamarack County, Minnesota, was convicted of murder and spent many years in jail.  And what if information eventually comes to light proving his innocence, information the prosecution had at the time of trial but never shared.  And what if, as soon as this situation becomes public, the people responsible for the man’s unjust incarceration—the judge, the prosecutor, the law enforcement officers—begin to be murdered.  And what if it was Cork O’Connor who’d headed up the investigation that put the man behind bars.  So Cork is in the cross hairs.

IRTM: And finally: lutefisk or Minnesota hotdish?

WKK: Although I consider myself Minnesotan, I’ve never tasted lutefisk.  But top anything with tater tots and it becomes Minnesota hotdish, and what’s not to love?

Media Murder for Monday

MOVIES

Robert De Niro has signed to star opposite Robert Pattinson in French filmmakers Olivier Assayas' Idol's Eye. Details of the heist action-thriller are being kept under wraps, according to the Hollywood Reporter.

John Moore (A Good Day to Die Hard) has been hired to direct The Hunters, based on the book by Chris Kuzneski, with a screenplay by Robert Mark Kament (Taken). The story follows a team of renegades financed by a billionaire philanthropist who are tasked with finding the world's most legendary treasures.

At Cannes, Drafthouse Films acquired the U.S. distribution rights to Cedric Jimenez’s period crime thriller La French, starring Jean Dujardin. The film takes place in the late 1970s in Marseille and is based on the true story of the judge who tried to stop the powerful French Connection drug cartel.

Here's the first trailer for A Walk Among the Tombstones, based on Lawrence Block's novel of the same name. The story features Liam Neeson as recurring character Matt Scudder, an ex-NYPD cop who now works as an unlicensed private investigator operating just outside the law.

Jeremy Renner fights the CIA in a new trailer for Kill the Messenger, based on the true story of reporter Gary Webb, who uncovered a massive CIA-fronted narcotics operation.

TELEVISION

Last week, both the Television Critics Association and Broadcast Television Journalists Association announced their nominees for their annual program awards. Crime dramas represented on those lists include Breaking Bad, Orphan Black, True Detective, The Americans, Brooklyn Nine-Nine, Fargo, Broadchurch, House of Cards, and Sherlock: His Last Vow.

Paramount TV and Anonymous Content (the executive producer of HBO's True Detective series) is mounting a series inspired by Caleb Carr’s best-selling novel, The Alienist. Set in late 19th-century New York, the story follows the new—and suspect—breed of forensic psychologist detectives (known as "alienists") who work in secret to try and target a serial killer under the direction of newly appointed police commissioner, Theodore Roosevelt.

Eric Overmyer (Treme, Boardwalk Empire) is taking on showrunner duties for the series Capitol Crimes, based on the mystery series by author Warren Adler about a female homicide detective and senator’s daughter who solves high-profile murders in prestigious D.C. circles.

True Detective creator Nic Pizzolatto revealed some details about the second season of the show, hinting that there will be three leads, and the setting will be somewhere in California.

Director Adam Shankman and screenwriter David Kajganich (The Invasion) are creating a drama series for HBO, set in the pre-Stonewall New York City of the late 1960s. Titled Open City, the story explores characters from disparate corners of Manhattan "as they navigate the cultural revolutions and political turmoil of the era, including the unlikely alliance between the Mafia and the city’s gay community in the opening of a West Village nightclub."

USA Network released a Covert Affairs teaser promo for the upcoming new season, which premieres Tuesday, June 24. It shows Annie's latest mission hitting too close to home when a major explosion rocks the CIA.

PODCASTS/VIDEO/RADIO

This week on Crime and Science Radio: Deadly Doctors, Killer Nurses and other Medical Miscreants, with guest Bea Yorkerr. Yorker is renowned for her research into Munchausen By Proxy, her landmark study of medical serial killers, and her publications on other topics that bring law, psychology, medicine, and ethics together.

In episode 2 of Drinking with Writers, author Richard Lange join host Paul Losada to discuss Lange's crime novels This Wicked World and Angel Baby, how he’s been juggling a new work schedule in film and television development, and advice every writer should live by.

THEATER

The latest film-to-stage adaptation appears to be a new production of George Roy Hill’s 1973 Oscar winner The Sting, which starred Robert Redford and Paul Newman. Set during the Great Depression in Chicago, the film is about two con men who plan an elaborate revenge scam.