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.