Media Murder for Monday

MOVIES

Universal Pictures has scheduled its adaptation of Jo Nesbo's thriller The Snowman for release on October 13, 2017. The film stars Michael Fassbender as an elite crime squad’s lead detective investigating the disappearance of a victim on the first snow of winter who fears an elusive serial killer may be active again.

The popular film noir festival Noir City returns to San Francisco's majestic Castro Theatre for its 14th edition, from January 22-31, 2016. This year's theme is "The Art of Darkness" and includes 25 "noir-stained films exploring the pressures, pitfalls, paranoia and pain of being an artist in an indifferent and often cruel world." Two of the featured films are Nicholas Ray's In a Lonely Place and Fritz Lang's Scarlet Street.

STX Entertainment released the first trailer for the thriller Desierto from writer-director Jonás Cuarón (Gravity) that stars Gael García Bernal and Jeffrey Dean Morgan.

TELEVISION

House of Cards creator David Fincher and actress Charlize Theron are bringing the show Mindhunter to Netflix. The show is based on the 1996 book Mind Hunter: Inside the FBI's Elite Serial Crime Unit by John E. Douglas and Mark Olshaker and tells the true story of Douglas’ work as an FBI profiler of serial killers and violent sex offenders. Some TV analysts see parallels between the project and long-running CBS television show, Criminal Minds.  

John Singleton’s 1980s cocaine-epidemic drama pilot Snowfall got a boost in its pickup chances at FX when the California Film Commission approved its application for tax incentives should it go to series. Snowfall is set against the infancy of the crack cocaine epidemic in Los Angeles in the 1980s and focuses on a trio of main characters – ambitious dealer Franklin Saint (Damson Idris), Mexican wrestler-turned-gangster Gustavo Zapata (Sergio Peris-Mencheta) and prodigal son Logan Miller (Billy Magnussen).

Amazon Studios announced a slate of new productions for 2016, including the political thriller Patriot. Lost alum Terry O'Quinn stars as a State Department director of intelligence and the father of intelligence officer John Tavner (Australian newcomer Michael Dorman), whose latest assignment is to prevent Iran from developing a nuclear weapon. The cast also includes Michael Chernus, Kathleen Munroe, Ailette Opheim and Kurtwood Smith, and was written and directed by Steven Conrad (The Secret Life of Walter Mitty).

The Librarians star Christian Kane hinted that a Leverage movie is "going to happen." The series originally aired on TNT from 2008-2012 and featured a crew of high-tech crooks who attempted to steal from wealthy criminals and corrupt businessmen.

Acclaimed murder-mystery series Shetland, based on the novels of Ann Cleves, returns for a new six-part tale featuring DI Jimmy Perez and his team, on BBC One on January 15.

James Franco is heading to Lifetime to remake Mother, May I Sleep With Danger? for the cult classic's 20th anniversary. The original film starred Tori Spelling as a young woman whose perfect boyfriend turns out to be an abusive monster.  

Good news for American Crime fans: ABC has made the first episode available for free on iTunes. Stars Felicity Huffman and Timothy Hutton will soon be returning for the second season, which premieres on January 6.

Fox International Channels said it will air the revived six-episode event series The X-Files day-and-date across more than 60 countries. Once again directed by creator and original showrunner Chris Carter, the show reunites FBI agents Fox Mulder and Dana Scully (David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson) and will air on FIC’s Fox channels immediately following its January 24 debut on Fox in the U.S.

Wondering when you favorite shows will return in the new year? Deadline has a list of the premiere dates for all new and returning shows in the first part of 2016.

PODCASTS/VIDEO/RADIO

Award-winning author Kim Powers stopped by CrimeFiction.FM to discuss his first work of crime fiction, Dig Two Graves, which introduces Ethan Holt, an Olympic champion, college professor, and father who is raising a 12-year-old daughter named Skip.

Debbi Mack welcomed British spy thriller author, Jeremy Duns to her Crime Cafe podcast.

GAMES

A new computer game introduces young girls to coding basics by giving them a fun mystery to solve, with the help of the original girl-detective, Nancy Drew. The game, which is titled Nancy Drew: Codes and Clues, will target users who are young girls, ages five to eight.

Mystery Melange Christmas Edition

Last-minute gift givers (or just general book lovers) can take heed of some giveaways for the holidays: Criminal Element has a chance to win eight different books, several with holiday themes; and author Sue Coletta organized a Rafflecopter to win 30 crime novels.

Janet Rudolph has once again compiled a list of Christmas-themed mysteries for her blog Mystery Fanfare. Check out all the titles, beginning with A-D followed by E-H, then I-N, O-R, and finally S-Z.

Actor Stephen Fry has lent his vocal talents to two classic detective stories Audible is giving away as an exclusive Christmas gift to its members. The Coin of Dionysius and The Game Played in the Dark feature blind detective Max Carrados, part of Ernest Bramah's Carrados series that sometimes outsold Sherlock Holmes in the Edwardian era. If you don't have Audible, you can read the stories online (hat tip to Crime Fiction Lover who has the links).

Washington Post critic Michael Dirda chose "12 Books for Christmas" that include The Big Book of Sherlock Holmes Stories, edited by Otto Penzler, and The Spectrum of English Murder: The Detective Fiction of Henry Lancelot Aubrey-Fletcher and G.D.H. and Margaret Cole.

Classic Mysteries offers up suggestions of books you might consider as "stocking stuffer" gifts to introduce readers to mysteries from the Golden Age and beyond. Need more ideas? Read Me Deadly has 13 more Golden Age nuggets.

CBC Radio's Mystery Book Panel came up with a list of "13 gripping good books for the holidays."

If you're a classical music like I am, look no further for gifts (for a friend or yourself) with the recently-announced Grammy Nominees.

If you're looking for some fab holiday entertaining recipes, check out the Mystery Lovers Kitchen blog, with some Scottish Brown Sugar Shortbread Cookies, and the Cozy Chicks Blog  and some Red Velvet Truffles. If you're avoiding gluten, try the Mystery Lovers Kitchen Gluten-free Yule Log recipe.

Think you're a true Christmas fanatic? See how many of these "10 Interesting Facts about Christmas and Its Traditions" you know. (Hat tip to Bill Crider.)

Take a trip down memory lane with Mashable's video list of "100 years of toys will make you nostalgic for gift-giving of the past."

Mashable also made note (tongue-in-cheek) of "11 Christmas traditions from around the world we should all adopt immediately."

Sherlock star Benedict Cumberbatch sent a letter to Santa For National Letter Writing Day in the UK. But he was mostly asking for peace and literacy for the children of the world. And maybe a little something for himself.

Author, blogger, consultant, and former law enforcement officer Lee Lofland has a new take on a holiday classic, with "The Twelve Graveyard Shifts of Christmas."

What do you do when you work  in a company best known for its vacuum cleaners? According to these Dysons' engineers, it's only logical that you build a Christmas tree using the power of wind to create floating ornaments.

If you're feeling a bit Grinch-like this holiday season, you might enjoy binge watching the list of movies NPR compiled, "Oh Holy Fright: Christmas Horror Movies That Slay."

In that same vein, if you are thinking about poisoning someone this Christmas (only in your books, of course!), you might think again, according to Dr. Kathryn Harkup, a chemist and author of A Is for Arsenic: The Poisons of Agatha Christie.

Not a fan of Christmas sweaters? Try these "10 alternatives for people who hate Christmas jumpers."

And if all else fails, find that warm, buzzy holiday cheer through the "12 Days of Cocktails" via Omnivoracious.

Media Murder for Monday

AWARDS

The film and TV nominees for the Critics' Choice Awards were announced last week. Fargo led the TV pack with eight nominations, including Best Movie Made for Television or Limited Series and acting nominations for Patrick Wilson, Kirsten Dunst, Nick Offerman, Jesse Plemons, Bokeem Woodbine, Cristin Miloti, and Jean Smart. Other crime drama nods in the TV category included Luther and its star Idris Elba; Hugh Dancy (Hannibal), Rami Malek (Mr. Robot), Liev Schreiber (Ray Donovan), and Viola Davis (How to Get Away With Murder). On the cinema side, Bridge of Spies and its director Steven Spielberg and star Mark Rylance also received nominations.

The London Critics’ Circle also announced their 2015 nominees, with nods to Bridge of Spies (actor Mark Ryland), The Revenant (director Alejandro G Iñárritu, stars Leonardo DiCaprio and Tom Hardy and Film of the Year), and Sicario (actors Benicio Del Toro and Emily Blunt and Tom Ozanich for sound design).

The American Film Institute delayed the date on which it chose the Top 10 films of 2015 so that its jury could see a number of films that didn’t screen until late in the year. But late last week, AFI released its "best" lists, including the movie Bridge of Spies and TV shows The Americans, Better Call Saul, Fargo, Homeland, and Mr. Robot.

MOVIES

The crime thriller Too Late is getting a special 35mm-only theatrical release this spring nationwide. The film stars John Hawkes as a troubled private investigator hired to find a missing woman with whom he has a messy relationship. The project was framed as a story in five acts shot in the 35mm Techniscope format, with each chapter comprised of a single 20+ minute uncut shot.

German producers Philipp Kreuzer and Jörg Schulze are launching Maze Pictures with their first project being an adaptation of The Crimson Rivers, the best-selling novel by Jean-Christophe Grangé. Set in the world of the macabre, the thriller follows two detectives investigating a series of grisly murders.

Laura Linney is in talks to star in the psychological thriller The Dinner, with Oren Moverman set to direct from his own script. Based on the novel by Herman Koch, the story is set at a dinner in Amsterdam and revolves around around two brothers, one running for prime minister of the Netherlands, who must deal with their teenage sons having committed a violent crime. The book was previously adapted in 2013 by Menno Meyjes as a Dutch drama and screened at the Toronto International Film Festival. It was also the source for a 2014 Italian drama from Ivano De Matteo and screened at Venice where it won the Europa Cinemas Label as best European film.

The Charlie's Angels reboot has taken a step closer with the hiring of Evan Spiliotopoulos to write the script. Spiliotopoulos most recently penned the script for another action thriller, the Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson-starring Hercules in 2014. Director Elizabeth Banks had been previously announced as the film's director.

Charlotte Gainsbourg is in talks to join Michael Fassbender and Rebecca Ferguson in The Snowman, the adaptation of Jo Nesbo's thriller, which will be exec produced by Mrtin Scorsese and directed by Tomas Alfredson. The story centers on idiosyncratic Oslo police department detective Harry Hole who investigates the murder of a woman whose scarf is found wrapped around a snowman.

Black Label Media acquired rights to an untitled feature film that centers on the 2011 scandal that rocked the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department and centers on Operation Pandora’s Box, a secret program masterminded by the LASD to hide an informant inmate that was feeding the FBI dirt on abuse at the Men’s Central Jail. Jesse Zwick (About Alex) and Michael Weintraub will write the script.

TELEVISION

Kiefer Sutherland is returning to the small screen for ABC's conspiracy thriller Designated Survivor. He'll play a low-ranking member of the United States Cabinet who finds himself suddenly destined for the Oval Office as the appointed President after a massive attack during a State of the Union leaves the POTUS, the V.P. and everyone else above Sutherland’s paygrade dead.

Amazon Studios picked up the action-drama Bulletproof. To be written by Corey Miller (CBS’ Reckless), the show revolves around a female Marine sniper-turned-assassin who is hired to kill a cop. The same company that is producing the pilot, EuropaCorp, also just cut a deal with mystery writer David Baldacci to develop a project.

Good news and bad news for fans of TNT programming: the network has renewed the mystery adventure drama The Librarians, the serialized crime drama Murder In The First, and the crime procedural Major Crimes. At the same time, TNT canceled Public Morals, Legends, and Agent X.

Fans of Fargo are going to have to wait until 2017 for the third season of the FX series, according to show creator Noah Hawley. As previously announced, the new season will be set in 2010, four years after Season 1, but will not include any of the first season regulars as primary players in the action. [Warning: This article link contains spoilers for the entirety of Fargo season two...]

PODCASTS/RADIO/VIDEO

PBS' Masterpiece announced Masterpiece Studio, a new podcast that will "give an insider's view to some of the most popular shows presented on Masterpiece." The first installment of the podcast will go live on Dec. 21, with an interview with Sherlock actor and co-creator Mark Gatiss.

On this latest Crime and Science Radio, the topic is  Men of Valor," an interview with author and weapons expert John F. Mullins, Major U.S. Army Special Forces (Ret.)

Debbi Mack's Crime Cafe welcomed crime fiction author Kenneth Wishnia to chat about his Filomena Buscarsela mystery series and other novels, as well as the anthology Jewish Noir.

The latest Thrilling Reads podcast hosted Cheryl Bradshaw, the New York Times & USA Today bestselling author writing in the genres of mystery, thriller, romantic suspense, and paranormal suspense.

Author Jeff Shelby joined CrimeFiction.FM to discuss his new book, the sixth in Joe Tyler mystery series, Thread of Revenge.

If you're a fan of NPR's comedy quiz show, "Wait, Wait, Don't Tell, Me," you're probably familiar with the part of the show where they invite a celebrity guest to answer a series of questions. In one recent episode, Lee Child stopped by so the bestselling author could answer three questions about books that sold really, really badly.

Mystery Melange

Writing for The New Republic, Sarah Weinman investigated the case of the "Disappearing Black Detective Novel" and the career of Hughes Allison, a black mystery writer with a once-promising future whose works paved the way for Chester Himes and Water Mosley.

Leeds-based writer Kathleen McKay has won Moth Publishing’s Northen Crime Competition with her novel Hard Wired, which will be published in summer 2016. The Northern Crime Competition was founded to "recognise and publish talented new crime writers from the North of England."

A new exhibition at Pointe-à-Callières Museum in Montreal reveals a side of Agatha Christie that is as unusual as unexpected, delving into her "secret life in archaeology."

In spring of 2016, Oneworld Publishing will launch a new crime imprint called Point Blank, curated by editor Jenny Parrott and encompassing literary crime, thrillers and psychological suspense by UK and international writers. The list will launch in February with French Concession, a "bold and smokily atmospheric Chinese noir" by Xiao Bai, and A Perfect Crime by A Yi, described by the Wall Street Journal as a “psychological probe into a pathological mind."

The new issue of Mystery Scene Magazine profiles The Library of America's collection of eight lost classics of the genre published in the 1940s and '50s; crime writers Megan Abbott and Lisa Scottoline add their perspectives on Golden Age female detective writers; Ed Gorman interviews prolific author and mystery genre advocate, Robert Randisi; Joseph Goodrich reviews the TV series Foyles War; Jake Hinkson looks back at Orson Welles and his significant contribution to film noir; and Kevin Burton Smith comes to the rescue of all you procrastinators out there with the magazine's annual gift guide for mystery lovers.

The second issue of the UK-based quarterly magazine Crime Scene focuses on Scandinavian crime TV, with a major feature on The Bridge and one on Kenneth Branagh’s Wallander as well. Plus there are more articles about TV crime, including an interview with Luther star Idris Elba, an interview with David Baldacci, and a cornucopia of book reviews.  (Hat tip to Crime Fiction Lover.)

Mystery Weekly Magazine's December issue features the cover story "Stand-In" by Ellery Queen alumna Carolyn E. Kourofsky, as well as more original mysteries from Nupur Tustin, Calvin Demmer, James Blakey, and Robert Petyo.

It's not too early to be thinking about the upcoming movies in 2016, and Popsugar compiled a list for bibliophiles of "28 Great Books That Are Getting the Movie Treatment in 2016," including the adaptations of Paula Hawkins' Girl on the Train and Inferno by Dan Brown.

A new digital archive from Gale, a part of Cengage Learning, is bringing more than 2 million pages of primary source material to support the study of nineteenth century history, literature, law and criminal justice. The project is titled Crime, Punishment, and Popular Culture, 1790-1920 and provides access to trial transcripts, police and forensic reports, criminal case files, detective agency records, detective novels, newspaper accounts, true crime literature and more to enhance the understanding of the intersection of law and society during a pivotal era of social change.

Stanley Trollip profiled South African crime fiction for the Murder is Everywhere blog, noting that over the last fifteen years there has been an explosion of authors writing contemporary crime fiction in the country.

The Guardian studied the rising popularity of the true-crime genre on TV led by US podcast Serial, Channel 4’s recent The Murder Detectives, and bestselling books.

More Top of 2015 lists are out, including Crime Fiction Lover contributors with their "Top 5" of the year; The Rap Sheet continued its slate of guest bloggers posting their favorites of the year, including Part Two of Jim Napier's list, and contributions from Stephen Miller, Kevin Burton Smith, Ali Karim, Anthony Rainone and Seamus Scanlon, and Rap Sheet editor J. Kingston Pierce; The Guardian compiled a list of Best Crime and Thriller Books; the Wall Street Journal chose its Best Mystery picks; Ominivoracious listed its "Best Mysteries, Thrillers & Suspense of 2015"; and the Chronicle Herald posted "Top selections for mysteries of 2015."

This week's crime poem at the 5-2 weekly is "Driving While Black" by Charles Rrammelkamp, and the new monthly story at Beat to a Pulp is "Fundamental Breach" by William E. Wallace.

In the Q&A roundup, Jo Bannister chatted with Huffington Post about Desperate Measures, the latest book featuring police officer Hazel Best; Art Taylor stopped by the Do Some Damage blog to discuss On the Road with Del & Louise, a book that Kirkus Reviews called "one of the year's promising debuts"; O
mnimystery News welcomed Joseph B. Atkins to talk about his new novel Last Chance; Michael Connelly took the five-question challenge from The Globe and Mail; Louise Penny stopped by the Mysterious People blog to offer insights into her writing and career; and Peter James joined D.P. Lyle for a conversation about You are Dead, the eleventh novel in the Detective Superintendent Roy Grace series.

Media Murder for Monday

AWARDS

The Golden Globe Awards were announced late last week, and although crime dramas weren't much in evidence on the film side, they were leading contenders on the TV end of things. Best Drama Series nominees include the cyberthriller Mr. Robot (USA) as well as the dramatized look at the criminal exploits of Colombian drug lord Pablo Escobar, Narcos (Netflix). Among the nominees for Best TV movie or limited series, notables included Fargo (FX) and American Crime (ABC). For all the nominees in the various categories, click here. For nominations by TV shows and networks, use this link and for the nominations by films and studios, check out this link.

The Screen Actors Guild also announced this year's top performances in film and television. Johnny Depp was nominated for his turn as iconic criminal Whitey Bulger in Black Mass, and Mark Rylance for the Cold War drama Bridge of Spies. Crime drama acting nods included Rami Malek for Mr. Robot, Bob Odenkirk for Better Call Saul, Idris Elba for Luther, Ray Liotta for Texas Rising, Claire Danes for Homeland, and Viola Davis for How to Get Away with Murder.

The Writers' Guild of America announced its nominees for the best Television, New Media, News, Radio & Promotional Writing in 2015. The Drama Series category includes The Americans, Better Call Saul, Games of Thrones, Mad Men, and Mr. Robot. For the complete (and long) list of the finalists, check out this link.

MOVIES

Turner Classic Movies and Fathom Events are extending their partnership to screen classic films in theaters through 2016. Two of the films to be shown next include The Maltese Falcon 75th Anniversary on Feb. 21 and 24 and On The Waterfront starring Marlon Brando in the classic tale of crime and corruption among unionized dock workers in New York and New Jersey (April 24 and 27).

TELEVISION

Showtime announced that the political crime drama Homeland will be returning next year a sixth season, although no details were released as to the locale or which characters will return along with Carrie (played by Clare Danes).

Fox greenlighted a second season of the supernatural-psychological mystery drama Wayward Pines, based on the book by Blake Courch. Season 2 will pick up right where Season 1 left off and introduce a new character that arrives in the mysterious town and is immediately drawn into the central rebellion.

Fox also ordered the event series Shots Fired, which examines "the dangerous aftermath of racially charged shootings in a small town in Tennessee." Sanaa Lathan (The Perfect Guy) will star as an expert investigator who digs into the cases, alongside a special prosecutor sent to the town by the Department of Justice.

CBS is developing Now You See Her, a legal drama based on the book by James Patterson and Michael Ledwidge. Blue Bloods executive producer Siobhan Byrne O’Connor is penning the adaptation and will also serve as one of the executive producers, along with Patterson. Now You See Her centers on a successful attorney at a boutique New York City law firm who hides her past as a murderer until a case threatens to expose her and upend her new life and career.

NBC announced it's renewing The Blacklist, which will debut its Season 4 next year. The crime drama revolves around Raymond "Red" Reddington (James Spader), a former United States Navy officer turned high-profile criminal who gets immunity from the FBI to guide their operations in investigating his list of the most dangerous criminals in the world.

TNT has given series orders to the dramas Animal Kingdom and Good Behavior. The network ordered 10 episodes of both series, with production set to begin in 2016. Animal Kingdom centers on 17-year-old Joshua Cody, played by Finn Cole, who moves in with his freewheeling criminal relatives in their Southern California beach town after his mother dies of a heroin overdose. Based on Blake Crouch’s series of books, Good Behavior stars Michelle Dockery as Letty Dobesh, a thief and con artist whose life is always one wrong turn, or one bad decision from implosion – which is exactly how she likes it

USA is developing the docudrama 8 Years Lost From Blumhouse TV. Conceived to look and feel exactly like a true crime documentary, the project tells the story of Jayna Beckner, a teenage girl who went missing in 2007 and whose body is discovered eight years later. When we learn these remains were just a few weeks old the mystery deepens– where has Jayna been all this time? And why was she killed now?

The BBC is airing the three-part adaptation of And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie. Although fans in the U.S. will have to wait until production partner Lifetime announces a broadcast date for the mini-series, you can console yourself with a trailer for the show. Hard-core Christie fans may need to fasten their seat belts, as it appears the adaptation may not be quite what they're accustomed to.

ABC released a trailer for its Madoff miniseries, starring Richard Dreyfus as the infamous and disgrace con man and Blythe Danner as his wife.

In a new behind-the-scenes look at the upcoming X-Files mini-series, the show's stars and creators assured fans they won't be disappointed with the direction the show is taking.

The first trailer was released for the Netflix series Making a Murderer, which follows the case of of Steven Avery, a Wisconsin man who served 18 years in prison for a rape he didn't commit, and was charged with murder two years after he got out.

PODCASTS/VIDEO/RADIO

CBC Radio documentary producer Karin Wells traveled to Ystad, a picture-perfect little town on the south coast of Sweden, where Henning Mankell set the Wallander novels, to find out more about the literary phenomenon of Swedes airing their society's problems in bestselling crime novels.

This month's Crime Vault podcast had hosts Mark Billingham and Michael Carlson interviewing British crime fiction author John Harvey, creator of the Resnick series of novels among many others; plus reviews of Le Carre: The biography by Adam Sisman, Mulberry Bush by Charles McCarry, Alison Gaylin’s Into The Dark and Graham Hurley’s The Order Of Things; and discussions of crime dramas The Detectives, Black Mass, Unforgotten, and more.

Crime Fiction FM welcomed journalist and screenwriter John Schulian to discuss his debut crime novel, A Better Goodbye and  some of the primary characters in his book, which include an ex-boxer, a massage girl, a washed up B-movie actor and thug.  

The latest Thrilling Reads podcast featured Stacy Green, the author of the Lucy Kendall thriller series and the Delta Crossroads mystery trilogy.

Mystery Melange

John Verdon has won the 2015 Nero Award for Peter Pan Must Die, the fourth novel in his series about retired homicide detective Dave Gurney. This announcement was made this past weekend during a banquet hosted by the New York City-based Nero Wolfe/Archie Goodwin fan organization, The Wolfe Pack. Also in contention for this year’s prize were Herbie’s Game, by Timothy Hallinan; The Detective & the Pipe Girl, by Michael Craven; First Light, by Al Lamanda; and The Detective, by James Patrick Hunt. (Hat tip to the Gumshoe Site.)

The "Best of 2015" lists continue apace with the New York Times' "100 Notable Books of 2015"; the Boston Globe's "Best Books" list; The Guardian's Best crime and thriller books of 2015; and Marilyn Stasio's picks for the NYT of what are essentially her standout crime fiction books of the year.

Writing for the Rap Sheet, author and podcaster Steven Nester put forth his choices for Favorite Crime Fiction of 2015, Part One.

French publisher Gallimard has published C'est l'histoire de la Série Noire to mark the 70th anniversary of its crime fiction series Série Noire, which helped establish the literary reputation of hardboiled authors such as Chester Himes (Coffin Ed Johnson/Grave Digger Jones series) and Charles Williams (Dead Calm). The Bibliothèque des littératures policière in Paris is hosting an exhibition in conjunction with the book.  (Hat tip to Elizabeth Foxwell.)

In the aftermath of the recent horrible and tragic San Bernardino shooting, USA Today took a look at other couples and crime that go back decades and far beyond Bonnie and Clyde.

Chanuka began on December 6, and Janet Rudolph compiled a list of Chanuka-themed crime fiction books on her Mystery Fanfare blog.

We have to say good-bye to two more crime fiction authors in 2015, with news of the death of Scottish writer William McIlvanney at age 79 and Hazel Holt at age 87. In addition to earning the title "the godfather of tartan noir," McIlvanney was also an influential poet, journalist and broadcaster. He penned the Laidlaw trilogy and numerous other Glasgow-based works such as Docherty, The Big Man, and The Kiln. Holt was best known for her Mrs. Malory series and Dear Charlotte, a British mystery based on the letters of Jane Austen.

Pulp Modern editor Alec Cizak posted a notice that he'd contemplated shutting down the 'zine but has since decided he's going to continue publishing and is actively seeking short stories through the end of this month. He prefers crime stories on any subject matter, "the most shocking, outrageous crime stories ever written."

The Bad Sex in Fiction Award this year went to former lead singer of The Smiths, Morrissey, for his writing in List Of The Lost. Other finalists include George P. Pelecanos for his book The Martini Shot. You'll have to read the article for excerpts from all the "winning" entries.

A new UK site, Armchair Investigator, features top crime investigators who are all passionate about crime fiction and are keen to review latest titles and be part of the crime fiction community. Reviewers include the first woman to ever reach Detective Chief Supt in Greater Manchester Police; a top Met Police officer; a former CIA agent who now lives in Israel; a top private investigator well-known for his work in tracking down missing people in France; and one of the country’s leading forensic academics from Derby University.

This week's featured crime poem at the 5-2 is "Cell Block 5" by Olivia Romano.

In the Q&A roundup, Jeff Cohen stopped by the Promoting Crime blog to talk about his career and writing four mysteries a year; Redbrick culture critic Holly Reaney chatted with author Marnie Riches, the award winning author of The Girl Who Wouldn't Die about life, books and advice for 18 year olds; Phyllis Entis was featured at Omnimystery News talking about the second entry in her Damien Dickens, P.I. series, The White Russian Caper; the International Thriller Writers snagged an interview with Janet Hutchins, editor of Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine, to talk about the publication's past, present, and future as it looks to its 75th anniversary in 2016; the Mystery People welcomed Tom Pitts to talk about his new novel Hustle; Karin Slaughter stopped by the Atlanta Journal Constitution to discuss true crime and her latest thriller, Pretty Girls; Tim Hallinan survived "Twenty Questions" via Dana King's blog One Bit at a Time; and The Mystery People sat down with James Lee Burke to talk about his latest novel, House of the Rising Sun that features Texas Ranger Hackberry Holland.

Media Murder for Monday

MOVIES

San Francisco's historic Castro Theatre will once again offer up its Noir City Xmas movie festival on December 16th. This year's event will screen Max Ophüls' The Reckless Moment (1949) at 7:30 and Henry Hathaway's Kiss of Death (1947) at 9:30, both in 35mm.  (Hat tip to Janet Rudolph.)

After successfully helming the latest Mission Impossible installment, Rogue Nation, Christopher McQuarrie has signed on to again direct the follow-up, M:I 6. The story line and casting, however (other than Tom Cruise as star), have yet to be announced.

Warner Bros. released the first trailer for Shane Black‘s detective movie The Nice Guys, starring Ryan Gosling and Russell Crowe. Set in Los Angeles in the 1970s, Gosling plays a private eye who teams up with a bruiser played by Crowe to investigate a porn star’s suicide, ultimately uncovering a conspiracy involving air pollution and the auto industry.

TELEVISION

Fox has closed a script deal for the TV franchise Rambo: New Blood, based on the feature films starring Sylvester Stallone, although the new series will explore the complex relationship between Rambo and his son, J.R., an ex-Navy SEAL. Stallone has an option to reprise his famous titular character in the TV version, although no official word has been released.

Former Smallville star Tom Welling is returning to television to star in the CBS drama Section 13, written by Bones alumna Carla Kettner. Section 13 centers on a CIA black ops officer-turned-private contractor (Welling) who, after a personal tragedy, joins a covert organization devoted to carrying out the most difficult and dangerous high-stakes assignments.

BBC One has ordered the six-part, pre-apocalyptic drama Hard Sun from Luther's Neil Cross. Set in contemporary London, it will feature detective partners and enemies who seek to enforce the law and protect their loved ones in a world that every day slips closer to certain destruction.

Amazon Video is set to produce the legal drama Trial, its straight-to-series drama starring Oscar winners Billy Bob Thornton, William Hurt, Olivia Thirlby, Maria Bello, Molly Parker, and Sarah Wynter. Trial, which has a 10-episode order, was written by David E. Kelley (Ally McBeal) and Jonathan Shapiro (The Practice)

Quentin Tarantino wants to bring Elmore Leonard's Forty Lashes Less One to the small screen. The title refers to the biblical concept that forty lashes would kill a man, so the maximum punishment you might give before death would be 39. In Leonard's book, a black man and a Chiricahua Apache man have been sentenced to death but are given a second lease on life if they can track down five of Arizona’s most dangerous criminals.  

Fargo is going back to the future in its third season that takes place a couple of years after the events of Season 1, set in 2006 (the in-progress second season is set in 1979). Characters from Season 1 or even older versions of characters from Season 2 could potentially return, just as there have already been connections between the first and second seasons: the character of Lou Solverson appeared in both seasons, played by Keith Carradine in Season 1 and Patrick Wilson in Season 2.

Discovery has put in development the scripted anthology drama series Manifesto, from Black List writer Andrew Sodroski and Kevin Spacey and Dana Brunetti’s Trigger Street. The show will explore how the FBI caught infamous criminal masterminds, with each season following a different case. The first season will focus on the FBI agent, a highly specialized linguist, who used unconventional means to bring Ted Kaczynski, aka the “Unabomber,” to justice after nearly a 20-year manhunt.  

Fans of Rizzoli and Isles and Major Crimes will be happy to hear that TNT announced the return dates of the two popular crime dramas. Major Crimes will resume the rest of its fourth season on Monday, Feb. 15, and the following day, Rizzoli & Isles will kick off the remaining six episodes of its sixth season with back-to-back episodes.

FX released the first full trailer for its miniseries American Crime Story: The People Vs. O.J. Simpson based on Jeffrey Toobin's book The Run of His Life. Premiering February 2, the project's cast includes Cuba Gooding Jr. as Simpson, Sarah Paulson as Marcia Clark, Sterling K. Brown as Christopher Darden, Courtney B. Vance as Johnnie Cochran, John Travolta as Robert Shapiro, David Schwimmer as Robert Kardashian and Connie Britton as Faye Resnick.

Ripper Street fans will rejoice at the return of Victorian police procedural for its fourth season in January, but in the meantime, you can watch the 90-second trailer that includes new cast members David Threlfall (Shameless) and Matthew Lewis (Harry Potter).

PODCASTS/RADIO/VIDEO

The latest Crime & Science Radio podcast, "Bones Tell the Tale," featured forensic anthropologist turned best-selling author Kathy Reichs.

Debbi Mack's Crime Cafe welcomed author Austin Camacho to chat about his Hannibal Jones mystery series and other novels.

On Crime Fiction FM, author and emergency room physician, Melissa Yi, discussed the fourth book in the Hope Sze series, Stockholm Syndrome.

Percival Constantine was the most recent guest on Thrilling Reads. The author was born and raised in the Chicagoland area and now lives in Japan, where he's worked as editor, formatter, letterer, and author of comics, short stories, novellas and novels.

Joe Clifford talked about his debut novel Lamentation on Speaking of Mysteries.

Mystery Melange

The Ireland AM Crime Novel of the Year was handed out to After the Fire by Jane Casey. For the other shortlisted titles, visit the Irish Book Awards official website.

Also just announced were the Goodreads Readers' Choice Awards, with The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins winning in the Mystery/Thriller category. For a listing of all of the finalists, check out the official Goodreads awards page.

The "Best of the Year" lists have begun, with the Washington Post throwing its hat into the ring by announcing its choices for "Best mystery books and thrillers of 2015." J. Kingston Pierce also picked his Best of the Best for Kirkus Reviews with a list of "10 of the Most Arresting Crime Novels of 2015."

Seattle will host an upcoming Noir at the Bar event on December 9 in The Alibi Room. Featured authors schedule to appear and read from their works include Robert Dugoni, Ingrid Thoft, Brian Thornton, Sarah Chen, Danny Gardner, Frank Zafiro, and Michael Pool.

The Autumn edition of Mysterical-E features ten new original short tales of crime fiction, plus Gerald So's column on crime dramas on TV and film, an article on holiday mysteries by C.A. Verstraete, interviews with Mars Preston and Virgil Alexander, and the usual assortment of book reviews.

In an article for The Atlantic, Marshall Jon Fisher profiled Charles Willeford, "The Unlikely Father of Miami Crime Fiction," and how he sparked the modern South Florida mystery craze including such authors as Carl Hiaasen and James W. Hall.

Did you know you can take a tour of the CIA museum? Well, online, at least. The website exhibit includes declassified artifacts associated with the CIA's predecessor, the Office of Strategic Services, as well as foreign intelligence organizations, and the CIA itself.

Now that the Christmas shopping season is in full swing, the Chicago Tribune's Lloyd Sachs compiled a listing of "Crime fiction to give as gifts."

Writing for The Guardian, Andrew Miller showcased his "Top 10 of the best dialogue in crime fiction," from Agatha Christie to Raymond Chandler.

Although this isn't particularly crime fiction-related, it is a bit of interesting literary-related news: archaeologists digging up Shakespeare's home in Stratford-upon-Avon, uncovered the playwright's kitchen, including a hearth and cold storage pit.

The new crime poem at the 5-2 this week is "Melodrama at the Biograph" by Sharon Israel.

In the Q&A roundup this week, author John Benedict stopped by Omnimystery News to talk about the latest installment of his medical thrillers, Fatal Complications; Scott Butki interviewed Belgian author Bavo Dhooge, whose first book to be translated into English, Styx, was just published, for The Mystery People; and author David Morrell spoke with fellow author and crime fiction legend Lawrence Block about his latest work, The Girl with the Deep Blue Eyes.

Media Murder for Monday

MOVIES

The good news for Morgan Freeman fans is that he is in a new movie just released in the UK, a thriller titled Momentum, in which Freeman plays a corrupt U.S. senator in South Africa involved with a diamond heist that goes terribly wrong. The bad news is the film has been a financial disaster thus far, making only $69 dollars profit in its release in ten UK cinemas. The film also stars ormer Bond girl Olga Kurylenko (Quantum of Solace) who is targeted by a hitman, played by the British actor James Purefoy.

Leonardo Di Caprio's new thriller Revenant is already receiving critical acclaim and Oscar buzz ahead of its theatrical release. But the film's gore apparently is a bit much for some preview-goers to take, with some walking out on the screening. The story follows a man (DiCaprio) who is attacked by a bear, witnesses the murder of his son, and is left for dead by the rest of his hunting party, then recovers to embark on a journey of revenge.

TELEVISION

In a competitive bid, Liza Marshall and Kris Thykier’s Archery Pictures won the television rights to option Rattle, the debut novel by former Daily Mirror showbiz reporter Fiona Cummins. Rattle is about a sinister bone collector with a macabre obsession for his museum of medical oddities who is hunted by Detective Etta Fitzroy before the psychopath can add to his collection with fresh bodies.

CBS is developing an untitled police drama from producer Aaron Kaplan that revolves around a unique, highly effective task force comprised entirely of African-American police officers, which was assembled in the early 1970s by the Boston Police Commissioner to prevent and solve crimes in previously neglected areas of the city.

Showtime has greenlighted Dark Net, an eight-part docuseries that explores the dark side of technology, to premiere Thursday, January 21. The series is an exploration of the netherworld where virtual and physical lives collide with themes such as bio-hacking, cyber-kidnapping, digital warfare, online cults, pornography addiction, the webcam sex trade and more.

HBO has put in development Bastards, a drama based on the Israeli series Nevelot. It's described as a thriller with dark comedic overtones that "follows two elderly Vietnam vets in contemporary Miami, whose resentment of today’s entitled youth causes a small act of self-defense to snowball into something much bigger."

FX announced it has ordered a third season of Fargo, the critically-acclaimed anthology series based on the Coen Brothers' 1996 film of the same name. Creator Noah Hawley will return to run the Emmy-, Peabody- and Golden Globe-winning show, which is in the midst of its second season, with the cast still to be determined.

TNT cancelled the spy series The Transporter, meaning it won't return for a third season. The program, which was based on the movie series of the same name, starred Chris Vance in the lead role of courier Frank Martin, originally played in the films by Jason Statham.

Quantico is adding three recurring characters to the cast. Jay Armstrong Johnson (Sex And The City 2), Lenny Platt (How To Get Away With Murder) and Li Jun Li (Minority Report) will appear in multi-episode arcs beginning with the midseason premiere on March 6.

A new trailer was released for the BBC's TV movie special of Luther, with Idris Elba is back as tormented genius DCI John Luther.

PODCASTS/VIDEO/RADIO

Suspense Magazine's Story Blender podcast, hosted by author Steven James and Susan May Warren, welcomed Steve Martini, author of critically-acclaimed legal thrillers, to talk about how research and location work together to provide the impetus for great stories, and how to dip your imagination into the darkness to write gripping villains.

The Thrilling Reads podcast festured author H.N. Wake, who lived in Africa, Asia and Europe for 20 years where she worked primarily with the US Government before turning her hand to writing political espionage thrillers.

This week's guest on Crime Fiction FM was award-winning author C. Joseph Greaves, who stopped by to discuss his new book, Tom & Lucky (and George & Cokey Flo).

THEATER

Sherlock's Benedict Cumberbatch had a return stint playing Hamlet on stage in London, and now, it appears, it is his TV rival's turn to take on the role. Andrew Scott, who played Moriarty in the BBC TV series, will take on the same Shakespeare role at London's Almeida Theatre.

Mystery Melange

Walter Mosley has been chosen as the 2016 Grand Master by Mystery Writers of America (MWA), an honor that represents the pinnacle of achievement in mystery writing. The MWA also announced the Raven Award for outstanding achievement in the mystery field outside the realm of creative writing, with two honorees this year, editor and scholar Margaret Kinsman, and Sisters in Crime. Also announced was the the Ellery Queen Award, established in 1983 to honor “outstanding writing teams and outstanding people in the mystery-publishing industry," which will be handed out to Janet Rudolph, editor of the Mystery Readers Journal.

Wordharvest Writing Contests announced that the Tony Hillerman Prize for Best First Mystery Novel was awarded to The Homeplace by by Kevin Wolf, which will be published by St. Martin’s Press in September 2016. The Tony Hillerman Mystery Short Story winner was Robert E. Evans for "A Simple Thing, Rather Elegant."

The Santa Barbara Independent profiled "Ross Macdonald at 100: The Rediscovery of Santa Barbara’s Greatest Writer."

This year is the 50th anniversary of Truman Capote's celebrated In Cold Blood, and the Sydney Morning Herald's Andrew Stephens delved into the topic of true crime dramas in both book and media forms, asking, "why do we sit spellbound as humans do their worst?"

The BBC took a look at a new book that explores the life and career of secretive Inverness mystery writer Elizabeth Mackintosh, who died in 1952. Mackintosh was one of the UK's most successful novelists and playwrights but is better known by her pen-names including Josephine Tey and Gordon Daviot.

The Washington Review of Books profiled the new scholarly work, The Legendary Detective: The Private Eye in Fact and Fiction, by John Walton, a professor of sociology at the University of California-Davis. As the author states, "This is a study of American society and culture that reveals how the detective business arose, fashioning its own fictions, in tandem with a culture industry that was constrained by commercial fact, each a piece of the larger political economy and both subject to an essential interplay."

Another new book on private detectives was discussed in the Wall Street Journal with a look at The Legendary Detective by John Walton and its take on the private eye in fact and fiction.

Author-educator Andy Martin shadowed crime fiction author Lee Child to observe the creative process all the way from the first word (“Moving”) to the last (“needle”), and the result is an interactive Q&A for the New York Times and the new book Reacher Said Nothing: Lee Child and the Making of Make Me.

A look at the latest journal reviews of crime fiction includes Declan Hughes writing for the The Irish times and offering up new books by Michael Connelly, Ian Rankin, Robert Galbraith, and Sarah Weinman.

This week's featured crime poem at the 5-2 is "Again one hand" by Simon Perchik.

In the Q&A roundup, father-son duo of Jonathan and Jesse Kellerman talk about collaborating for the first time on the novel The Golem of Hollywood; Karla M. Hull stopped by Omnimystery News to discuss her new first in series mystery, A Sip of Death; Sons of Spade welcomed S.W. Lauden, a prolific short-story author whose debut novel, Bad Citizen Corporation, has just been published; The CBC chatted with crime writer Ian Rankin about his new novel Even Dogs in the Wild; and The Mystery People snagged Eric Beetner in a Q&A about his new novel The Rumrunners.

Media Murder for Monday

MOVIES

Kenneth Branagh has come on board the new film adaptation of Agatha Christie's Murder on the Orient Express as both director and star, taking on the role of Hercule Poirot. Branagh is also a co-producer along with Ridley Scott (The Martian), Simon Kinberg (The Martian, X-Men: Days of Future Past), and Mark Gordon (Steve Jobs) with Michael Green (Blade Runner 2) writing the screenplay,

DreamWorks has acquired The Travelers, the latest thriller by New York Times best-selling author Chris Pavone. The book is descripted as a "Hitchcockian thriller with shades of Mr. And Mrs. Smith and North By Northwest."

Writer-director Christopher McQuarrie is rumored to be considering a return to the Mission Impossible franchise for the sixth installment. Paramount and Skydance plan to potentially begin shooting as early as next August, with Tom Cruise once again on board to headline the picture.

Actor/comedian T.J. Miller is developing a project for Dreamworks titled Ex Criminals, with Miller starring in the project about a dysfunctional couple whose streak of bank robbing comes to a halt when they break up the night before their biggest heist ever.

Bruce Willis, Kellan Lutz and Dan Bilzerian star in the new trailer for the CIA spy thriller Extraction about a deadly father-son team.

A trailer was released for the dramedy Central Intelligence, starring Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson as an undercover CIA badass who drags Kevin Hart’s unwilling office worker into a mission of world shattering importance.

TELEVISION

Noah Hawley is adapting the Kurt Vonnegut novel Cat's Cradle as a limited series for FX. The 1963 novel satirizes the Cold War arms race and plays on societal anxiety over military annihilation and increased militarization in the world.

Gotham and Blindspot were among the leading contenders in the nominations for the American Society of Cinematographers’ television awards, announced last week. Gotham received two of the five nominations in the Episode of a Regular Series category, one each for cinematographers Christopher Norr and one for Crescenzo Notarile.

ABC has announced its midseason premiere dates including The Catch, which stars The Killing's Mireille Enos as a fraud investigator who finds herself the victim of a con perpetrated by her own fiancé (Parenthood's Peter Krause), plus American Crime, Quantico, and more.

PODCASTS/VIDEO/RADIO

The latest Crime and Science Radio featured Todd Matthews of NamUs on "Identifying The Dead, Finding The Missing."

Joining Debbi Mack on Crime Cafe, author Donna Fletcher Crow chatted about her Monastery Murders series and other novels.

Robert Crais was the featured guest on Speaking of Mysteries, discussing his latest book, The Promise, the latest outing for detective Elvis Cole and supporting cast of Joe Pike, Jon Stone, Scott James and Maggie, the LAPD K-9.

This month's Crime Vault Live featured author Mark Billingham and journalist-author Michael Carlson grilling Ian Rankin about Rebus, retirement ages and his new book Even Dogs in the Wild; and there are reviews of new releases by Stephen King, Jo Nesbo and Tess Gerritsen, and much more.

On Crime Fiction FM, award-winning author Joseph Badal stopped by to discuss his new book, Death Ship,the fifth in his Danforth Saga thriller series.

Mystery Melange

Kirkus Reviews named its list of the "Best Mysteries and Thrillers of 2015."

Amazon editors also chose their Best Books lists for 2015, including Best Mystery, Thriller, and Suspense. For all the titles on the list, check out this link.

A bit of sad news from the mystery conference world:  the Love is Murder Conference, held annually since 1998 in Chicago and handing out the Lovey Awards, is cancelling its 2016 event. Organizers said that diminishing attendance and financial considerations caused not only the cancellation of this upcoming LIMCon but all future conferences, as well.

American Southern noir writer Joe R. Lansdale will be a featured guest at Italy’s Noir in Festival, held in the Alpine resort of Courmayeur, receiving the conference's Raymond Chandler Award. He'll also be showcasing his new book Honky Tonk Samurai, the latest in a series which is the basis for upcoming six-episode SundanceTV series Hap and Leonard.

The Boston Globe profiled Tess Gerritsen, who takes a break from her Rizzoli & Isles series with the standalone thriller, Playing with Fire, for which the author wrote the chilling musical composition at this new book’s core.

Lit Hub profiled Raymond Chandler - how his dual life in the UK and U.S. affected his writing and how plots were merely pegs on which to hang characters and language. Or, as the author himself said, "Very likely Agatha Christie and Rex Stout write better mysteries. But their words don’t get up and walk. Mine do."

Crime Syndicate Magazine has announced that the guest editor for their first issue is Eric Beetner, who is seeking submissions through December 5 for crime stories of 1500 to 4500 words. As to what types of stories they're looking for, "We love stories about violence, greed, lust, debauchery, and any combination of those things." (Hat tip to Sandra Seamans.)

Brenda Starr, the glamorous, feisty redheaded reporter created by Dale Messick, captivated newspaper readers from 1940 through the comic's demise in 2011. But Brenda Starr is staging a comeback to headline a mystery novel series created by USA Today bestselling author J.J. Salem, with the first title, Black Orchid Murders, set for publication in Spring 2016. The 21st century version finds the character in her early 40s working as a TV pundit and visiting college professor. But she returns to hard news at a digital start-up when a series of murders targeting Chicago's elite hits too close to home, "all while navigating the complexities of modern life with a younger lover, a tycoon ex-husband and a head-strong, college-aged daughter showing signs of becoming Brenda Starr 2.0."

Eighty-five years after its first publication, Agatha Christie’s short story series, "The Mysterious Mr. Quin," is getting new life as an app. The story follows a group of socialites who gather for a party in a ritzy British country home and obsess over Derek Capel, a friend of the group who committed suicide 10 years earlier under suspicious circumstances. Over the course of the night Mr. Quin, a mysterious interloper, helps the guests piece together the true cause of Capel’s death. The app updates the action to the present day and allows viewers to click through the characters’ social media walls, feeds and albums to learn the plot.

The new crime poem at the 5-2 Weekly is "Another Death" by Jennifer Lagier.

In the Q&A roundup this week, the MysteryPeople grilled Alen Mattich, author of the Marko della Torre novels; Matt Hilton takes Paul D. Brazill's "Short, Sharp Interview" challenge about his eries featuring PI Tess Grey, and her sidekick, Nicolas “Po” Villere, who is an ex-con; and David Baldacci was featured in a Q&A via The Telegraph.

Media Murder for Monday (Belated)

MOVIES

Christopher Nolan’s 2000 breakout thriller, Memento, is getting a remake courtesy of AMBI Pictures. The original version starred Guy Pearce as a man who is tracking down his wife’s killer but suffers from a unique from of memory loss. AMBI head Monika Bacardi added that "We intend to stay true to Christopher Nolan’s vision and deliver a memorable movie that is every bit as edgy, iconic and award-worthy as the original.”

Starz subsidiary Anchor Bay Entertainment has acquired U.S. Rights to What Lola Wants, a new crime drama from The Sheinberg’s The Bubble Factory. The project focuses on Lola, the 16-year old daughter of Hollywood royalty who fakes her own kidnapping to cover her running away from home, only to get kidnapped for random money.

Morgan Freeman has signed on for Cold Warriors from Millennium Entertainment, with Raja Gosnell set to direct the spy action/comedy.  Morgan will play a retired CIA agent and current stepfather who enlists the help of his video gram programmer stepson to finish a Cold War era mission.

Scott Eastwood has been cast as the brother of the character Ben Affleck will play in the upcoming prohibition-era crime drama Live By Night, based on Dennis Lehane's novel. Affleck plays Joe Coughlin, the son of a prominent police captain, who enters a world of organized crime that takes him from Boston to Florida and Havana, Cuba. Also in the cast are Chris Messina, Sienna Miller, Zoe Saldana, Elle Fanning, Max Casella and Chris Cooper.

Danish actor Pilou Asbæk has landed the male lead in Rupert Sanders' adaptation of the Japanese manga Ghost in the Shell, teaming up with female lead, Scarlett Johansson. The story follows the exploits of a member of a covert ops unit of the Japanese National Public Safety Commission, which specializes in fighting technology-related crime.

To celebrate Sarah Weinman's new anthology, Women Crime Writers: Eight Suspense Novels of the 1940s and 1950s, New York City’s Film Forum will host a series of films in December based on the works of pioneering mid-century women crime writers. Included in the series are Ride the Pink Horse by Dorothy B. Hughes and Don’t Bother to Knock, adapted from Charlotte Armstrong’s Mischief.  

TELEVISION

Fox has put in development Crooked, described as a family soap with a procedural spine that explores the bonds – and corruption – of police brotherhood in New Orleans. The show, said to be inspired by true events, centers on a longtime corrupt detective who is busted, his cases overturned and a thousand of the city’s worst criminals are released back onto the streets, one case at a time.

Jada Pinkett Smith will star and executive produce the ABC thriller pilot Murder Town. She'll play Wilmington, Delaware’s, first African American District Attorney, who finds herself confronted by old loyalties and loves, a shocking revelation about her murdered husband, and a polarizing, racially charged case that threatens to burn her and her city to the ground.

Canada's CTV announced it has picked up a TV series based on the 2000 John Cardinal mystery book by author Giles Blunt, Forty Words for Sorrow. The project, which tells the story of the gruesome murder of a 13-year-old girl found in an abandoned mine shaft, snagged Orphan Black and Saving Hope's Aubrey Nealon as writer and showrunner and will air in late 2016 or early 2017.

Close on the heels of NBC announcing it was adding an extra episode to the first-season order for the crime drama Blindspot, comes word that the network is renewing the freshman series for a second season. The show centers on a beautiful woman (Jaimie Alexander) with no memories of her past who is found naked in Times Square with her body fully covered in intricate tattoos who must partner with the FBI to discover the truth about her identity and get to the bottom of a conspiracy.

NBC announced it is renewing both Chicago Fire and Chicago PD for the 2016-2017 season.

ABC’s Wicked City wasn't so lucky, however, becoming the first new series this fall to be yanked off the schedule. The show centered around a killing spree set against the backdrop of the sex, politics and popular culture of 1980s Los Angeles

AMC announced a return date for Better Call Saul, returning for Season 2 on Monday, Feb. 15.

Meanwhile, ABC announced its midseason schedule return dates.

Eliza Coupe (Happy Endings) is joining the cast of ABC’s Quantico, beginning with the show’s 10th episode. She'll play Hannah Wyland, a Quantico graduate whose ambition, combined with her looks and her confidence, has rocketed her past her competition.

Fox is revamping its mid-season beginning in January to accommodate American Idol, which returns for its final season, relocating Sleepy Hollow to Fridays, while Bones is being put on the bench, with a return date and slot TBD. The new drama Lucifer will be paired with The X-Files revival on Mondays.

TNT has renewed Murder In The First for a third season to air in 2016. The crime drama, created by Steven Bochco and Eric Lodal, averaged an OK 2 million viewers in its second season, which wrapped its run on August 25. T
aye Diggs and Kathleen Robertson star.

Netflix announced an original true-crime, 10-part docuseries, Making a Murderer, which is being billed as "the most compelling American crime story you've never heard of." Set to premiere in December, the show tells the story of Steven Avery, wrongly convicted of assault and subsequently awarded millions of dollars based on the way his case was handled. But at the same time his assault case was prompting reforms to the criminal justice system, he became the prime suspect in a horrific second crime.

PODCASTS/RADIO/VIDEO

HarperCollins and the team at Killer Reads have shared a couple of videos featuring crime authors Tim Rob Smith and Mark Billingham being interviewed on their work by fellow crime writer Simon Toyne.

Debbi Mack's Crime Cafe podcast featured a Q&A with guest blogger Austin Camacho, or rather, his literary creation Hannibal Jones, a DC detective.

Crime Fiction FM welcomed debut author Sue Coletta to discuss her new book, the chilling psychological thriller, Marred.

THEATER

The 39 Steps, a "mix a Hitchcock masterpiece with a dash of Monty Python," is being staged by the San Jose Stage Company from November 25 to December 20.

GAMES/APPS

TELL and Agatha Christie Productions (ACP) have launched a new storytelling app based on Christie's short story collection The Mysterious Mr Quin, starring Game of Thrones actor Gethin Anthony in the lead role. The app allows viewers not only to experience the drama but to share and comment on their favorite content. On reaching the mystery's conclusion, the audience is then able to revisit content, to uncover further details of the plot and continue piecing the puzzle together.

J.J. Abrams' production company Bad Robot has partnered with Infinity Blade developer Chair Entertainment for a video game set in the shadowy world of espionage. Spyjinx is described as "a mix of action-strategy, dynamic world-building and RPG character development," and it's coming to PC and mobile devices in 2016.