Mystery Melange

If you want a literary way to "read in the new year," check out Janet Rudolph's listing of New Year's Mysteries, Crime Fiction, Thrillers, and Movies.

Just in time for New Year's Eve parties, The Guardian's Henry Jeffreys also took a look at a history of booze in books, from from Brideshead Revisited to James Bond.

The 50th California International Antiquarian Book Fair will celebrate its 50th Anniversary February 10-12, 2017 at the Oakland Marriott City Center. The special exhibit for the anniversary year will highlight the University of California, Berkeley's Bancroft Library genre fiction holdings, including items from the extensive collection of influential author, critic, and literary mentor Anthony Boucher; first editions by early members of the Northern California Chapter of Mystery Writers of America; selections by popular western and adventure writer Kenneth Perkins; MWA Grand Master Ross Macdonald, and more.

A call for papers was announced on the topic of "Hardboiled History: A Noir Lens on America's Past," for an event at the University of Warwick in the UK on May 19, 2017. The main confirmed speaker is Warren Pleece, comic artist and graphic novelist, with more guests to be announced later.  (HT to Ayo Onatade at Shots Ezine.)

The Seattle Times' Adam Woog reviewed the new release from Hard Case Crime, the very first publication of a lost work by Erle Stanley Gardner. Although Gardner is best known today for his Perry Mason series, he also penned hardboiled detective team of Cool and Lam, stars of 29 novels (1939 -1970). It's one of the latter that has just been published, The Knife Slipped, meant to be the second book in the Cool and Lam series until the publisher shelved it for Bertha Cool’s tendency to "talk tough, swear, smoke cigarettes, and try to gyp people."

The Rap Sheet’s "Favorite Crime Fiction of 2016" includes lists from seven of its frequent contributors, Jim Napier, Seven Nester, Kevin Burton Smith, Stephen Miller, Jacques Filippi, Ali Karim, and J. Kingston Pierce.

Editor Alec Cizak is considering resurrecting his Pulp Modern magazine in a new format and he's looking for some feedback. You can read about his thoughts on why the previous model didn't work and what he's thinking about doing via his blog. (Hat tip to Sandra Seamans.)

The new (and possibly last) Sherlock series starring Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman premieres in just four days, but The Guardian recently posted an article that might tide you over. It takes a look at the global fascination with the show and offers a few teasers about the upcoming series. When Cumberbatch was asked, "Is it the darkest season yet?" He replied, “I would say it probably is."  Co-creator Mark Gattis, who also plays Mycroft Holmes in the show, says it's time for a slightly nicer Sherlock who is "less of the irritatingly smug know-it-all we saw in earlier episodes." Meanwhile, the New York Times had an article on how "Sherlock Opens Up the Old Boys Club to Women."

Amazon announced that crime and thrillers were Audible's most popular audiobooks in the UK in 2016, with more than half of the top 20 new releases downloaded in 2016 falling into that category.

After reading Debra H. Goldstein's post earlier this week about the Sisters in Crime "We Love Short Stories" Initiative, Peter DiChellis posted "Five Reasons To Love Reading Short Mystery Stories" on the Short Mystery Fiction Society blog.

David Talbot of the San Francisco Chronicle penned the essay, "Dashiell Hammett: a hero for our time," finding parallels "between Trumpism and McCarthyism" and noting that it’s a good time for us to recall Hammett’s heroism when he stood up to Eugene McCarthy, Roy Cohn, and the Hollywood blacklists.

Music journalist and author Chris Nickson (best known for his historical mystery Richard Nottingham series) takes the Page 69 test to the latest book in his Tom Harper mystery series, The Iron Water. For those unfamiliar with the test, the Canadian academic Marshall McLuhan developed a theory of how to choose a book: first of all, read page 69. If you like it, then chances are you'll like the rest of it too.

The Guardian reported on a wave of recent police memoirs and how officers are making crime pay with "a rich stew of corruption, villainy and remorse."

Another Guardian article compiled a list of the "Top 10 slangy crime novels," or those that provide the richest seam of words and phrases.

The What Culture website compiled a listing of "8 Female Action Films You Probably Haven't Seen," noting that "there have always been female-led action movies but before James Cameron introduced Linda Hamilton and Sigourney Weaver to machine guns, they existed mainly at the fringes of cinema."

Fans of the film John Wick who are eagerly looking forward to the sequel will be happy to hear that Chapter Two will also coincide with the release of a John Wick comic book that will expand the franchise ever further.

The new issue of Flash Bang Mysteries is out, with editor BJ Bourg serving up new short fiction from Barbara Eliasson, Bruce Harris, Craig Faustus Buck, C.M. Saunders, John Frain, and John M. Floyd.

The featured crime poem at the 5-2 this week i
s "Who's There" by Charles Rammelkamp.
 
In the Q&A roundup, The Australian spoke with Patricia Cornwell about her new Dr. Kay Scarpetta novel, Chaos, and how the forensic world has changed since the first book in that series; and the Mystery People chatted with author Eric Beetner about muscle cars, 8-track tapes, and his new novel, Leadfoot.

Media Murder for Monday

MOVIES

Anonymous Content and Campanario Entertainment have acquired rights to the Federico Axat novel La Ultima Salida (Kill The Next One), which Craig Rosenberg will adapt for film. The story centers on Ted McKay, who's about to put a bullet in his brain when his doorbell rings and a stranger makes him an offer worth a temporary stay of self-execution: a last heroic act that would protect his family from the pain of his suicide, but puts him at the center of a grisly game of manipulation and death.

It seems Expendables 4 is closer to being a reality - Splendid Film has picked up the rights to screen the action franchise sequel across German-speaking Europe, with Sylvester Stallone, Jason Statham and Arnold Schwarzenegger reprising their respective roles - however it appears this will be the last film in the series.

French director Francois Ozon (The Swimming Pool) has hired Jacqueline Bisset to team with French stars Marine Vacth and Jeremie Renier in the French language erotic thriller L’Amant Double. The project began filming last week in Paris with Ozon directing from his own script, although plot details are being kept under wraps.

Bestselling crime writer Harlan Coben French adaptation of No Second Chance will finally be available for viewing in the U.S. on Netflix (with subtitles). No Second Chance is about a doctor who is shot in a home invasion in the serene fictional Jersey suburb of Kasselton and whose baby daughter is kidnapped.

Dax Shepard, who is writing, directing, and starring in the film reboot of the buddy cop action comedy CHiPS for Warner Bros, admitted that the film is going to have an R-rating due to the more "adult" material of language, violence, and the amount of nudity and sexual situations.

The final poster and trailer were released for John Wick 2, which once again stars Keanu Reeves as an ex-hitman who came out of retirement to track down the gangsters that took everything from him.

TELEVISION

Jason Egenberg's new production company is teaming up with Alec Baldwin's production company for an adaptation of Crooked Brooklyn, the 2015 book by Michael Vecchione, former chief of the Rackets Division in the Brooklyn District Attorney’s office.

USA Network’s breakout new drama series Shooter, which only premiered on November 15, has already been renewed for a second season. The show stars Ryan Phillippe as a former Marine and decorated sniper who is on the run trying to clear his name and save his family.

Former Harry Potter star David Thewlis has signed on for a role as a regular in the third season of Fargo, playing V.M. Vargas, a dedicated capitalist who teams up with the folks who employ Ewan McGregor's Emmit Stussy, known as the "Parking Lot King of Minnesota." Other new cast hires also include Boardwalk Empire alum Michael Stuhlbarg, who joins in a recurring role as Sy Feltz, Emmit’s right-hand man and consigliere, as well as Scoot McNairy, Shea Whigham, Karan Soni, Fred Melamed and Thomas Mann.

The CW offered up an extended look at Season 1 of the CW’s new drama series Riverdale from Warner Bros. TV. Set in present day and based on the iconic Archie Comics characters, Riverdale is a subversive take on Archie, Betty, Veronica and their friends, exploring the surrealism of small-town life — the darkness and weirdness bubbling beneath Riverdale’s wholesome façade, including a murder mystery.

Fans of the cancelled series Hannibal, who've been hoping for bread crumbs about a possible revival of the show, may be happy to hear that director Bryan Fuller is toying with the idea of bring it back as a mini-series with occasional runs, similar to the BBC's Sherlock. The producers evidently came close to a deal with Amazon but didn't believe they could produce a Season 4 in the timeframe that Amazon wanted, so a miniseries format might have more appeal.

Criminal Minds cast member Damon Gupton, who plays newbie Stephen Walker, teased that there are surprises in store for the second half of season 12, including "some twists and turns. There are some things you wouldn't expect from a particular team member."

PODCASTS/VIDEO/RADIO

Blog Talk Radio welcomed author David Morrell, the award-winning author of First Blood, the novel in which Rambo was created, whose latest novel is the Victorian mystery/thriller, Ruler of the Night.

The Two Crime Writers and a Microphone podcast featured Andy Martin (of Reacher Said Nothing fame) and bestselling author Lee Child himself.

In the final episode of a three-part mini festive special on the A Stab in the Dark podcast, Mark Billingham was joined by Silent Witness' William Gaminara, who played Professor Leo Dalton in the pathology crime drama alongside a couple of stints on the classic long-running police show.

Mystery Melange - Christmas Edition

This is a specially-themed holiday version of Mystery Melange for the week, and I hope everyone has a very happy holiday season!

In a letter to readers he posted on Facebook, legal thriller author John Grisham suggested "10 reasons why books make the best gifts."

Janet Rudolph has updated her listing of Christmas-themed or Christmas-set mysteries over at her blog Mystery Fanfare. The list has grown pretty large over the years, so she's subdivided it into four alphabetical sections with hundreds of offerings. Hopefully that will be plenty enough book fodder to help tide you through the stressful season and give you something to do while waiting for the guests to arrive.

For a real-life Christmas literary mystery, look no further than the famous poem "A Visit from St. Nicholas."  Almost 200 years after it was published in New York's Troy Sentinel, we still don't know who really wrote it.

The private investigator/attorney duo of Colleen Collins and Shaun Kaufman, who also operate the blog Writing PIs, remembered a few of their favorite investigation stories that occurred during the holidays, from the silly to the heartfelt.

The featured crime poem over at the 5-2 Weekly is an appropriate seasonal offering, "Depression Era Christmas Eve Bank Robbery" by Robert Cooperman.

Joining in the holiday spirit, author James Patterson donated $250,000 to indie bookstores, to be divided between 149 independent booksellers. (Full list here.)

Criminal Element wondered, "What’s Your Favorite Holiday Murder Weapon?" and offered up a poll.

Mystery Lovers Kitchen has several holiday-themed recipes for you, such as Holiday Pernil: Slow-Roasted Puerto Rican-Style Pork Shoulder from Cleo Coyle; Christmas Week butter cookie recipe from Daryl Wood Gerber a/k/a Avery Aames; and Dried Cherry and Candied Ginger Scones from LucyBurdette.

Think you know everything about the beloved Christmas special, Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer? And How the Grinch Stole Christmas and A Christmas Story? TV Guide posted "5 Fun Facts" about all three holiday classics, and I'll bet there are a few there that may surprise you.

If you're in the mood for some different holiday fare, The Guardian compiled a list of "Best Christmas Films," including a few untraditional crime-themed choices, from violent heist films to lo-fi indies. The Guardian's John Mullan also focused on "Christmas Chaos in Literature," specifcally their movie versions, and how "the real Christmas classics tell stories of fraught family gatherings, orgies of consumption and festivities for one."

Charles Dickens' tale of a holiday change of heart, "A Christmas Carol" has endured as a Christmas classic for more than 200 years and been translated into dozens of languages. Now, it's getting a fresh translation — into emoji.

Writers Digest often features writing prompts for fun, and the latest is "Rudolph's Revenge": "After years of teasing and name-calling, Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer has finally had it. Write a strongly-worded letter to all the other reindeer from Rudolph, allowing him to air his grievances and announce that he is quitting to join (fill in the blank)." Might make a great party game!

Media Murder for Monday

Welcome to Monday and this week's look at the latest crime drama news:

AWARDS

The Screen Actors Guild nominees announced last week featured a few crime-related roles, including: Best Actor in a Television Movie or Limited Series nods to Sterling K. Brown and Courtney B. Vance for The People V. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story and John Turturro for The Night Of; Felicity Huffman and Sarah Paulson also received nominations for American Crime in the Best Actress/Limited Series category; and in the category of Best Actor, TV Series, Rami Malek was nominated for Mr. Robot. For the complete lists of nominations, click here.

MOVIES

Mauro Borrelli has sold the action thriller script, Trigger, to Cronton Media, a division of China’s Huace Film & TV. Borrelli will also direct with production taking place between China and Thailand. Trigger centers on an aging hitman who goes rogue after his employer gives him a final contract — to kill his own daughter. Borrelli is best known for his collaborations with director Tim Burton, working as illustrator and artist on such films as Sleepy Hollow, Planet Of The Apes and Dark Shadows.

Rogue One: A Star Wars Story bad guy Ben Mendelsohn is eyeing another villainous role, currently in negotiations to play the Sheriff of Nottingham in Lionsgate’s Robin Hood: Origins. The movie stars Taron Egerton as the titular character, a war-hardened crusader who joins a Moorish commander in an audacious revolt against the corrupt English monarchy. Also in the cast are Jamie Foxx as Little John, Eve Hewson as Maid Marian, and Fifty Shades of Grey actor Jamie Dornan playing Will Scarlett, Robin Hood’s half-brother.  

Orion Pictures and Samuel Goldwyn Films acquired U.S. rights to the Israeli thriller Past Life, written and directed by Avi Nesher. The story is set in 1977 and based on the true story of two Israeli sisters who delve into the dark mystery of their father’s story of surviving World War II and discover that it may be more complicated than they originally believed. The revelations that come to light threaten to tear their family apart.

A trailer was released for the heist comedy Going In Style, which stars Oscar winners Morgan Freeman, Michael Caine, and Alan Arkin as retirees on a mission for justice. Zack Braff helmed the film, which is a remake of the 1979 picture of the same name.

The first trailer was released for Unforgettable, a thriller from producer and rookie director Denise Di Novi that stars Katherine Heigl as an unstable stalker.

TELEVISION

Bates Motel series lead Freddie Highmore has lined up his next project, taking on the role of real life gangster George Nelson. Bates Motel executive producer Kerry Ehrin is behind the project, which takes place during the Great Depression in the 1930's and depicts the life of the notorious gangster George Nelson, who was nicknamed "Baby Face" for his youthful appearance and short stature. The drama is being described as a love story that will chronicle Nelson's rise from a small-time bank robber in Chicago to the FBI's Public Enemy No. 1.

ABC has given a straight-to-series order to Somewhere Between. The murder drama is based on a Korean project and follows Laura Price, who is certain her daughter Serena is going to be murdered. She doesn't know who the murderer is or why she's killed, but she knows exactly when, where, and how it will happen. Despite this, her attempts to keep her daughter safe fail, and Serena's fixed, unmovable, terrifying fate keeps her directly in the path of her killer.

NBC is developing an hour-long drama based on the thriller Single White Female, the 1992 movie that starred Jennifer Jason Leigh and Bridget Fonda. The story follows Allie Jones, a software designer living in New York City, who advertises for a roommate after she discovers her live-in fiancé has been cheating on her. She soon finds something very strange is going on with the tenant, who decides to move in—on Allie's life.

Fox TV picked up a script commitment for an adaptation of James Renner’s book The Man From Primrose Lane, with feature director-producer Alexandre Aja (The Hills Have Eyes) helming the project. Renner also penned the script, which tells the story of a bestselling true-crime author who investigates the murder of an old man, leading to an  understanding of the reality-altering power of his own obsessions — and how they may be connected to the deaths of the old hermit and David’s beloved wife.

British actress Clare-Hope Ashitey has signed on to star in the forthcoming crime drama Seven Seconds from Killing creator Veena Sud for Netflix. When tensions run high between African-American citizens and Caucasian police officers in Jersey City after a teenage African-American boy is critically injured by a cop, an assistant prosecutor (Ashitey) is caught up in the tragic case. Ashitey joins a cast that includes two-time Emmy winner Regina King, David Lyons, Michael Mosley, Russell Hornsby, Raul Castillo, and Beau Knapp.

Reba McEntire is returning to television as the star of a potential new Marc Cherry drama series at ABC. The untitled drama project, which was picked up with a script-plus-penalty commitment, is described as "a Southern Gothic soap opera," set in the aftermath of a terrorist attack on a small town. The action kicks off when an FBI investigator arrives and has to team up with the town's local sheriff.

The Good Wife spinoff The Good Fight announced another of the GW characters is joining the new show; Carrie Preston is currently slated to return as Elsbeth Tascioni in a multi-episode arc.  Meanwhile, CBS Access released the first trailer for The Good Fight.

Canada's CTV network is anchoring their mid-season lineup with the thriller series Cardinal, which premieres on January 25th. Cardinal was adapted for television by Canadian Screen Award-winner Aubrey Nealon (Orphan Black) from the award-winning novel Forty Words for Sorrow, the first of the John Cardinal Mysteries by author Giles Blunt. The series stars Billy Campbell (The Killing) as Detective John Cardinal and Karine Vanasse (Revenge) as his rookie partner, Detective Lisa Delorme.

The Oxygen network is allegedly eyeing a crime-themed makeover, according to Deadline. Oxygen's Crime Time programming block, recently expanded from three to four nights a week, boosted the network's total-day ratings on those days by 44% in 4Q vs. the same period last year. Talks are underway with prolific crime drama producer Dick Wolf (of the Chicago PD franchise), as well as other producers, about being part of the new Oxygen.

Showtime released the full Season 6 trailer for Homeland, which tackles the topic of Islamaphobia head-on. Clare Danes returns, who is joined by a new president (new cast member Elizabeth Marvel), and also features Saul (Mandy Patinkin) taken against his will and brings back Quinn (Rupert Friend) after his near-death experience in Season 5.

PODCASTS/VIDEOS/RADIO

The latest Stab in the Dark podcast featured host Mark Billingham talking to actor Kris Marshall about his early career starring in comedy film and television before ending up as the star of the popular crime drama Death in Paradise.

Authors on the Air podcast host and thriller author Jenny Milchman interviewed authors Nichole Christoff, Michael Niemann, Hollie Overton, and Amy Shojai about why getting published is the best gift they could imagine.

Mental Floss compiled a listing of "10 Must-Listen True Crime Podcasts" for true-crime junkies.

THEATER

Actor Bill Ward, a star of ITV's Emmerdale, will be taking over the role of Peter James' famous literary Detective Superintendent Roy Grace after its initial run. The play will receive its world stage premiere at the Orchard Theatre, Dartford, in January 2017, with Shane Richie playing Grace until Ward takes over the reins in April.

Mystery Melange

The Theakston Old Peculier Crime Writing Festival has announced its 2017 line-up that will mark the 15th annual celebration of the genre. The Special Guests announced to date are "titans of the genre" Lee Child, Ian Rankin, Peter May, Stuart MacBride, and Kathy Reichs. Last year's successful event sold-out with 14,000 individual tickets over four days, so you might want to nail down your tickets now.

The upcoming conference Agatha Christie: A Reappraisal has issued a call for papers on the topic. The two day conference will take place June 19-20 at Lucy Cavendish College, University of Cambridge, with keynote speakers Julius Green, author of Curtain Up: Agatha Christie: A Life in Theatre, and Merja Makinen, author of Agatha Christie: Investigating Femininity. For more details and a list of possible themes, check out this posting from Shots Magazine.

The Detection Club, Britain’s oldest club for crime writers, has honored award-winning Chichester crime writer Peter Lovesey with an 80th birthday tribute, a collection of short stories by its members. The book, Motives for Murder, was edited by Martin Edwards and comes with a foreword by Len Deighton. 

Speaking of short stories, Transworld is publishing a collection of Jack Reacher short stories in June 2017, set to be the first time all Lee Child's shorter fiction featuring Jack Reacher have been collected into one volume.

Scottish crime author Denise Mina undertook her own investigation into the tragic story behind a pensioner who lay undiscovered for years after dying alone. The man's story became national symbol of social isolation.

By rights, author Ian Rankin should have been an accountant, and if not for a poor exam performance and giving up on a PhD, we might never have had Inspector Rebus.

John Clarkson is the author of several thrillers and crime novels who applied the Page 69 Test to his latest novel, Bronx Requiem.

Agatha Christie was also an inveterate traveler, visiting countries in nearly every continent on the map, from the Canary Islands to New Zealand, and found inspiration for some of her most famous novels abroad. If you’re looking to travel in Christie's shoes, you have plenty of options all over the world, as this rundown from Book Riot attests.

Crime writer Ian Rankin is set to appear in the BBC spoof police show Scot Squad in a cameo playing himself. Scot Squad sends up "Scotland’s first united police force" as it follows a "new brand of Bravehearts, there to protect and serve."

This week's crime poem at the 5-2 is "Poisoned" by Daniel D'Arezzo, and this month's featured pulp story over at Beat to a Pulp is "Labor Pains" by Scott Adlerberg.

In the Q&A roundup, Debbie De Louise stopped by Omnimystery News today to chat about the second mystery in her Cobble Cove series, Between a Rock and a Hard Place; Ryan Bracha took Paul D. Brazill's "Short, Sharp Interview" challenge; and The Writers Life blog welcomed Malia Zaidi to discuss the latest book in her Lady Evelyn mysteries series, A Darker Shore.

Media Murder for Monday

Here's the latest wrap-up of news from the world of crime dramas:

AWARDS

The Golden Globe nominations were announced this morning, with a few crime-related movies picking up nods. Hell or High Water, a film about a divorced father and his ex-con older brother who resort to a desperate scheme to save their family's Texas ranch, was included in the Best Drama category. Deadpool, about a mercenary with a morbid sense of humor who's subjected to an experiment leading to accelerated healing powers and a quest for revenge, was nominated in the Best Comedy/Musical category (with star Ryan Reynolds nominated for Best Comedic Actor). Isabelle Huppert was nominated in the Best Dramatic Actress category for Elle, a film about a successful businesswoman who gets caught up in a game of cat and mouse as she tracks down the unknown man who raped her. Jessica Chastain was also nominated in that category for Miss Sloane, a paranoid political thriller about a lobbyist who takes on gun control.

In the TV category, nods for Best Drama series included the supernatural thriller Stranger Things, as well as two other crime-fantasy shows, Game of Thrones and Westworld. The Best Series Actor category honored Rami Malek for Mr. Robot; Bob Odenkirk for Better Call Saul; Matthew Rhys for The Americans; Liev Schreiber for Ray Donovan, and Billy Bob Thorton for Goliath. Best Actress nods included Kerri Rusell, The Americans; Winona Ryder, Stranger Things; and Evan Rachel Wood, Westworld.

MOVIES

The Film Noir Foundation celebrates the holidays by "tossing aside the Christmas treacle for a headlong dive into a double bill of danger and darkness" On Wednesday, December 14th. Eddie Muller will host the seasonally themed program at San Francisco's Castro Theatre, with the lineup including Quentin Lawrence's Cash on Demand (1961) at 7:30 and Harold Ramis' Ice Harvest (2005) at 9:30. Muller will also reveal the theme and complete film schedule for the upcoming NOIR CITY 15 festival coming to the Castro Theatre January 20-29, 2017. (A bonus note: Holiday Giving at NOIR CITY Xmas will have collection bins for both the San Francisco Firefighters Toy Program and the SF-Marin Food Bank at the event.)

Twentieth Century Fox has picked up the spec script The State, a project hailing from the writing duo of Rory Haines and Sohrab Noshirvani. David Lonner and Ben Rowe from Oasis Media are set to produce the international action thriller that follows a father in a desperate race to rescue his son.

Matt Duffett has come on board to pen the feature film adaptation of the popular and violent graphic novel 39 Minutes. The original comic, published in 2013 and written by William Harris and illustrated by Jerry Lando, is a brutal take on the heist genre, with the main character a disgraced ex-Marine in the employ of the FBI who embarks on a vicious crime spree with his former unit, now bitter and jaded towards the country they once served. They have 39 minutes to pull off their robberies and anyone can become a target in that time.

Matthias Schoenaerts and Jeremy Irons have signed on to join Jennifer Lawrence in the film Red Sparrow. The story, an adaptation of the Jason Matthews espionage novel, follows a Russian intelligence officer (Lawrence) who is ordered against her will to become a "Sparrow," a trained seductress, and to operate against a young CIA agent who handles the agency’s most important Russian mole. Joel Edgerton is also attached to star.

Damian Lewis is in final negotiations to play the villain in Ocean’s 8. Rihanna, Mindy Kaling, Sarah Paulson, Anne Hathaway, Cate Blanchett, Sandra Bullock and Sarah Paulson all star in the film, with Bullock playing the leader of the gang and Lewis starring as her ex-lover and the target of the group's big heist.

A teaser-trailer was released for the upcoming science-fiction thriller movie The Circle, written and directed by James Ponsoldt and starring Emma Watson, Tom Hanks, John Boyega, Patton Oswalt, Bill Paxton, Karen Gillan, and Ellar Coltrane. Based on the bestselling book by Dave Eggers, the story follows a young woman as she rises through the ranks of the world’s largest tech and social media company and is encouraged to live her life with complete transparency - but no one is really safe when everyone is watching.

TELEVISION

ABC has put in development Down in the Valley, an hourlong crime drama from writer-directors David Posamentier and Geoff Moore (Better Living Through Chemistry) and TriStar Television. The project is described as a darkly comedic hourlong crime drama and family soap told from the perspective of a talented female police officer who returns home to Napa Valley to support her struggling family after her troubled sister disappears and leaves her infant daughter in need of care. When she joins the Napa County Sheriff’s Department to make ends meet, she quickly realizes that this posh, bucolic, small town paradise has more than its fair share of big-city problems.

Fox has given a script commitment plus penalty to Basket Case, an hourlong drama based on the bestselling 2002 book by Carl Hiaasen. Basket Case centers on former hotshot investigative reporter Jack Tagger, who’s now an obituary writer — and a mess, "consumed by his own mortality. Joined by a dysfunctional group of friends, this redemptive crime drama uncovers the sun, fun, and seedy underpinnings of South Florida."

TNT and John Wells (Animal Kingdom) are joining forces again for the mystery thriller pilot The Deep Mad Dark. The story follows Detroit neurosurgeon Polly Lewis whose once closest friend comes home after living many years in a strange, off-the-grid community in Belize only to insinuate herself into Polly's life in audacious ways that threaten everything Polly has achieved.

Rowan Atkinson will reprise his role as Georges Simenon's eponymous Inspector in the new film Maigret's Dead Man, airing on ITV at 9pm on Christmas Day. Inspector Maigret receives calls from a mysterious man who seeks police protection, but when the man’s body turns up, Maigret's investigation takes him from the slums of Paris to a series of vicious, murderous attacks on three wealthy farms in Picardy.

CBS announced the premiere date for the upcoming Good Wife spin-off. The Good Fight will debut on CBS on Sunday, Feb. 19 at 8/7c, with all subsequent episodes airing exclusively on the network's streaming service, CBS All Access. Picking up one year after the events of the Good Wife finale, The Good Fight begins after a financial scam destroys the reputation of a young lawyer, Maia Rindell (Rose Leslie), and all the savings of her mentor, Diane Lockhart (Christine Baranski). Forced out of Lockhart & Lee, Maia and Diane join Lucca Quinn's (Cush Jumbo) law firm. The Good Fight also stars Bernadette Peters, Justin Bartha, Sarah Steele, Delroy Lindo, Paul Guilfoyle and Erica Tazel.

The BBC released a trailer for Season 4 of Sherlock, with the first episode, "The Six Thatchers," premiering January 1 in both the U.S. and the U.K. The producers have also partnered with Fathom Events to broadcast the finale of the season (and possibly the series) on January 16 and January 18 in roughly 350 movie theaters all across the country, including 15 minutes of extra footage.

PODCASTS/VIDEO/RADIO

Noir on the Radio host Greg Barth welcomed crime fiction author Paul Bishop, who brings his experience as a nationally renowned interrogator and behaviorist during his 35 years with the Los Angeles Police Department to his latest novel, Lie Catchers.

NPR's Art Silverman reads a lot of crime thrillers, and in the last year, he's noticed "The Internet of Things" seems to being playing a big role as the weapon of choice in mystery plots, as he explains in this All Things Considered clip.

Award-winning author Belinda Bauer joined Alex Dolan on the Thrill Seekers podcast to discuss her latest novel, The Beautiful Dead.

Mystery Melange

At the Wolfe Pack's annual Black Orchid Banquet (an event held each year to honor the birth anniversary of Rex Stout), the Nero Wolfe Award for the best American mystery novel was handed out to David C. Taylor for Night Life, the first novel in a series of historical mysteries set in 1954 NYC. Also announced was the winner of the Black Orchid Novella Award, which this year went to author Steve Liskow for "Look What They've Done to My Song, Ma."  (HT to Classic Mysteries.)

Goodreads announced the winner of this year's Goodreads Choice Awards, with Stephen King's End of Watch winning in the Mystery/Thriller category. For the other finalists, click on over here.

Noir at the Bar returns to Glasgow on January 19, hosted by Jay Stringer and Russel D McLean. The lineup of participating authors announced thus far include Louise Welsh (The Bullet Trick and The Girl on the Stairs) and ES Thomson (Dark Asylum).

Also on January 19 in the UK, the Crime Writers Association's Forensic Outreach program will present its very first Candlelit Crime Writing Salon. For the inaugural event, Jade Chandler, the Editorial Director of Crime Thriller Fiction at Vintage, Penguin Random House UK, and Hellie Ogden, a literary agent at Janklow & Nesbit UK, will be on hand to share their expertise and insights into the world of publishing. Participants will also be able to enter a Two Sentence Crime Fiction Story Competition. For more information, check out this link.

Continuing the lists of end of the year "best books," The Library Journal posted its picks for the best mystery and thriller novels of 2016.

Mike Ripley's December issue of his Getting Away with Murder column for Shots Magazine has a recap of The Winter Lunch of the Margery Allingham Society; a look at crime fiction set against the backdrop of the Second World War; a mini-profile of author Walter Satterthwait who uses historical figures in his crime fiction such as the recent two-book series featuring Lizzie Borden; a look at international crime fiction, some holiday offerings, and much more.

Writer Vikas Datta profiled Sir Basil Home Thomson (1861-1939), who served as a colonial administrator, prison governor, intelligence officer, head of the CID at New Scotland Yard in the early 20th century — and was one of the first victims of an alleged sting. He was also among the first individuals to pen police procedurals.

Criminal Element took a look at the brutal real-life crime in Salem, Massachusetts, which inspired author Edgar Allan Poe to write his famous psychological murder mystery, "The Tell-Tale Heart."

The C.E.'s Dave Richards also profiled "5 Current Crime Comics You Should Be Reading."

The new issue of Crime Scene, the UK’s only glossy magazine devoted to crime fiction, includes a preview of the upcoming installment of the BBC's Sherlock starring Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman; interviews with author Lee Child, creator of Jack Reacher, and Jamie Dornan, who played Paul Spector in the BBC’s TV series The Fall, and much more. (HT to Crime Fiction Lover.)

The latest issue of the online 'zine Mysterical-E is out, with 11 new short stories; a new Crime Chronicles column by F. G. Thorsen; a look at Fargo by Anita Page; Gerald So's TV wrap-up; Edward W. L. Smith's character study of Nero Wolfe; author interviews, and more.

Patti Abbott has a new flash fiction story at Shotgun Honey, titled "Chemo Demo."

This week's crime poem at the 5-2 is "The Citation" by Jay Frankston.

In The Q&A roundup, The Strand Magazine interviewed Hank Phillippi Ryan about her Charlotte McNally series and the exact moment when she told her husband she wanted to write novels; the Mystery People welcomed author Adi Tantimedh to talk about his latest book, Her Nightly Embrace; and Criminal Element chatted with Duane Swierzynski about his painkiller-addicted, vigilante series, The Black Hood and what it's like writing novels vs. comics.

Media Murder for Monday

AWARDS

The Los Angeles Film Critics Awards were handed out last night. Among crime drama nods, The Best Actress winner was Isabelle Huppert for her role in Elle, playing a successful businesswoman who gets caught up in a game of cat and mouse as she tracks down the unknown man who raped her.

The New York Film Critics Circle had previously announced their choices for the best films/performances on December 1, with Isabelle Huppert again a big winner. Best non-fiction film (documentary) was also won by O.J.: Made in America, which previously won four Critics’ Choice documentary awards for feature, limited doc series, director, and sports doc.

The 22nd annual Critics' Choice Awards were announced late last week by The Broadcast Film Critics Association. Among the multiple-nominated films were the crime dramas Hell or High Water and Jason Bourne. For a complete listing, check out this link via Hollywood Reporter.

MOVIES

Jodie Foster has signed on to star in Drew Pearce's directorial debut, Hotel Artemis, which is based on an original script by Pearce (Iron Man 3 and Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation). The project is being produced by Ink Factory, the London-based production company that most recently worked on The Night Manager, the critically acclaimed miniseries based on John le Carré’s novel. Although few details have been released about the plot of Hotel Artemis, the thriller is set in the near-future and creates “its own distinctive crime universe," with Foster taking on the role of "The Nurse."

Sons Of Anarchy actor Tommy Flanagan is reuniting with his co-star Charlie Hunnam in the upcoming Michael Noer-directed remake of Papillon, based on the classic 1973 film that starred Dustin Hoffman and Steve McQueen. Written by Aaron Guzikowski, the film (which also stars Rami Malek) is a modern retelling of the original that was based on the memoirs of convicted felon and fugitive Henri Charriere. Tommy will play a mysterious figure with a dark past that Papillon encounters on his journey.

The Sundance film festival lineup was announced for 2017. The slate includes Crown Heights, based on the true story of a man who devotes his life to proving his best friend innocent of murder; I Don’t Feel at Home in This World Anymore, about a depressed woman and her obnoxious neighbor who get in over their heads when trying to avenge a burglary and butting heads with a pack of degenerate criminals; Casting JonBenet, a documentary based on the unsolved murder case of the child beauty queen; The Force, a cinema verite´ look at the long-troubled Oakland Police Department; The Nile Hilton Incident, where Police Detective Noredin is handed the case of a murdered singer and realizes the investigation concerns the power elite close to the President’s inner circle, and more.

TELEVISION

Salzman and Canada's Thunderbird Films are bringing Faye Kellerman's best-selling Decker-Lazarus crime fiction series to the small screen. The production house optioned Kellerman's debut novel, The Ritual Bath, which is set in the world of Orthodox Judaism in the California hills and features LAPD detective Peter Decker and Rina Lazarus, a widowed mother who witnesses a brutal crime and helps solve it.

NBC has put in development an hourlong procedural drama from Mike Daniels (Sons of Anarchy), described as "a character-driven police procedural with an emotional spin." The untitled drama explores the complex personal life of a former cop and mother who returns to the force to solve the murder of her detective husband.

Grimm executive producers Sean Hayes and Todd Milliner had previously announced they were working on another drama project at NBC and Universal TV, the network and studio behind the supernatural cop drama starring David Giuntoli. They've since announced that Giuntoli will also star in the action adventure mystery that's centered around a group of D.C. grad students who accidentally uncover a 40-year-old secret that leads them to attempt to unravel an unsolved murder, find hidden blood money, and avoid being killed by an assassin from the past.

Sex And The City and White Collar alum Willie Garson is set to co-star in and co-executive produce an hourlong untitled drama at NBC that's based on a story by Garson. It centers on an idealistic young former foster child who now works as a paralegal while advocating for those in need from all walks of life.  

Daniel Brühl (Rush, Inglorious Bastards) and Luke Evans (The Girl on The Train, The Hobbit trilogy) have been cast in key roles in The Alienist, TNT’s upcoming straight-to-series drama based on the international best-selling novel by Caleb Carr. The psychological thriller is set in the Gilded Age of New York City in 1896 when a series of haunting, gruesome murders of boy prostitutes leads newly appointed Police Commissioner Theodore Roosevelt to call upon criminal psychologist (aka alienist) Dr. Laszlo Kreizler (Brühl) and newspaper reporter John Moore (Evans) to conduct the investigation in secret.  

Michael Mosley has signed on for a regular role in the 10-episode Netflix crime drama Seven Seconds, the new project from The Killing creator Veena Sud. Based on the 2013 Russian action movie The Major, the story follows tensions between African American
citizens and Caucasian cops in Jersey City after a teenage African American boy is critically injured by a cop. Mosley will play Joe "Fish" Rinaldi, a seasoned New Jersey detective assigned to work with prosecutor KJ Harper (still to be cast). Patrick Murney will portray Gary Wilcox, a cop working with Diangelo (David Lyons), Osorio (Raul Castillo), and newcomer Peter Jablonski (Beau Knapp) on the Narcotics squad in Jersey City.

BBC One recently aired a new documentary titled Serial Killers: The Women Who Write Crime Fiction. The show featured prominent crime writers Val McDermid, Patricia Cornwell, Martina Cole, husband-and-wife author team Nicci French, Sarah Phelps, and Paula Hawkins in interview with presenter Alan Yentob. The program also explored why readers of crime are mostly women and more often than not, the writers are too. No information yet on a possible PBS or BBC America broadcast date.

Quantico is moving from its Sunday slot to Mondays starting in January as part of ABC's midseason schedule, taking over the time slot currently occupied by freshman drama Conviction that ends its run after 13 episodes. Meanwhile, Quantico cast members explained the midseason finale's twist and cliffhanger to the Hollywood Reporter.

CBS announced its scheduling plans for winter and spring 2017, with Ransom, a hostage negotiator procedural, kicking off the network's new midseason lineup on Sunday, Jan. 1 before moving to its regular time on Saturday, Jan. 7. Training Day, a reboot of the Oscar-winning corrupt cop drama, premieres Thursday, Feb. 2, with Bill Paxton taking on the Denzel Washington role as the crooked veteran detective and Justin Cornwell in the Ethan Hawke role as his idealistic young partner. Katherine Heigl's new show Doubt will premiere Wednesday, Feb. 15, with the former Grey's Anatomy star playing an attorney who starts to fall for her client, who is accused of murdering his girlfriend 24 years prior.

A trailer was released for the upcoming true-crime documentary Beware the Slenderman (premiering Jan. 23), which tells the tale of the notorious 2014 stabbing of a 12-year-old Wisconsin girl by two of her classmates. The accused girls told authorities they did it to appease the Slender Man, a fictional ghoul taken from a popular horror-story collective online.

The Hollywood Reporter put together a slide show of all known TV shows that are ending in 2017.

PODCASTS/VIDEO/RADIO

The newest Crime and Science Radio podcast featured "Naming The Unidentified, Finding The Missing" : An Interview With J. Todd Matthews, Director of Case Management and Communications for the National Missing and Unidentified Persons System.

Steve Cavanagh and Luca Veste, hosts of the podcast Two Crime Writers and a Microphone, recently welcomed Ayo Onatade from Shots Magazine and UK crime author Mark Billingham.

A Stab in the Dark host Mark Billingham is joined in the studio by The Poison Tree and Broadchurch author Erin Kelly and creator of Death In Paradise Robert Thorogood to discuss the art of adaptation. Paul Hirons also spoke with writer and producer Adam Hamdy who explained the top 5 tips he uses to adapt crime fiction.  

Author Debbi Mack interviewed crime fiction author Simon Wood on the Crime Cafe podcast.

The Chat Noir Mystery & Suspense Radio Show featured guest author Linda Davis.

On BBC Radio online, you can listen to the first episode of "The Cinderella Killer," based on Simon Brett's novel. Bill Nighy stars as Brett's protagonist Charles Paris, a charming alcoholic actor who often takes on detection by assuming a variety of roles.

Hat tip to Elizabeth Foxwell for posting Professor Bruce Campbell's William & Mary Tack Faculty Lecture on "The Detective Is (Not) a Nazi: German Pulp Fiction."

In EQMM’s April 1947 issue, Harry Kemelman, creator of the best-selling Rabbi David Small series, saw print for the first time as the winner of a special prize for best first story in EQMM’s second annual worldwide short-story contest. His story "The Nine Mile Walk,' is featured in the monthly EQMM podcast series, read by another author whose first story appeared in EQMM, book reviewer Steve Steinbock.

The Invisible Event blog paid tribute to John Dickson Carr on the 110th anniversary of the author's birth and noted that you can listen to the first 10 episodes of "Murder by Experts," a radio drama project Carr was involved with, for free at Archive.org.

Mystery Melange

The Mystery Writers of America named Max Allan Collins and Ellen Hart as the 2017 Grand Masters, an honor that celebrates "the pinnacle of achievement in mystery writing and was established to acknowledge important contributions to this genre, as well as for a body of work that is both significant and of consistent high quality." MWA also announced the winner of the Raven Award for "outstanding achievement in the mystery field outside the realm of creative writing," which will be presented to Dru Ann, as well as the winner of the Ellery Queen Award for "outstanding writing teams and outstanding people in the mystery-publishing industry" to be given to Neil Nyren, Editor-in-Chief of G.P. Putnam's Sons. They will be honored at the 71st annual Edgar Awards Banquet in New York City on April 27.

The Mystery People's Scott Montgomery and Molly Odintz will join other community voices for the panel discussion "Social Justice in Crime Fiction" at a KAZI Book Review event on December 3 at Huston-Tilletson University in Austin, Texas.

The Murder on the Beach Mystery Bookstore in Delray Beach, Florida, is getting ready to celebrate its tenth anniversary with a grand celebration on Friday, January 8, 2017, from 6-9 p.m. The party will feature appearances by authors Hank Phillippi Ryan, Charles Todd, and PJ Parrish, and the public is invited to "chat with your favorite authors, have some wine and munchies, and get an autograph or two or ten."

The American Literature Association Symposium "Criminal America:  Reading, Studying and Teaching  American Crime Fiction" has announced a call for papers on the topic. The event will take place March 3-4 in Chicago and feature as Keynote Speaker author and professor Charles Rzepka of Boston University (read more about one of his works here). The organizers also hope to produce an edited volume made up of the best work presented at the conference.

It's not too early to be planning your crime fiction conference schedule for next year, and St. Hilda's College Mystery and Crime Conference 2017 announced the lineup for the UK conference scheduled for August 18-20. Natasha Cooper will take the Chair with featured conference speakers including Val McDermid, Andrew Taylor, and Yrsa Sigurðardóttir, "Queen of Nordic Noir." (HT to Shots Magazine.)

The holiday issue of Mystery Scene Magazine features Oline Cogdill's interview of Lee Child; a profile of cozy mystery author Joanne Fluke; an essay by Lawrence Block who considers the series character; a look at a new radio dramatization of the entire Sherlock Holmes canon, and much more.

Rap Sheet blogger J. Kingston Pierce chose his list of the "10 year's finest criminous tales" for Kirkus Reviews.

The North Carolina Literary Awards included the Sir Walter Raleigh Award won by Terry Robers' That Bright Land, a novel described as a "Southern Gothic thriller" following the hunt for a serial killer in the North Carolina mountains after the Civil War. Established in 1952, the award has gone to such writers as Reynolds Price, Fred Chappell, Lee Smith, Doris Betts, Charles Frazier, Kay Gibbons and John Ehle.

If you're an unpublished Canadian crime fiction author, here's an opportunity for you to gain a publication credit: the Mesdames of Mayhem are planning their third collection of crime fiction stories, which will be released next fall, with one spot reserved for a story by a Canadian writer who has never been published in the crime fiction genre. For more information and submission deadlines, check out this link.

A newly-discovered HG Wells ghost story is to be published for first time in The Strand magazine. "The Haunted Ceiling," a macabre story of strange goings-on in an old house, is thought to have been written in the mid-1890s.

Fans of the TV crime thriller The Blacklist may be happy to know that the first graphic novel based on the series has been released. Penned by Steve Piziks, the graphic novel story reveals a new Blacklister known as The Bodysnatcher, who "brings abduction to a whole new level and into an art form."

A website founded by the author of the most authoritative book on D.B. Cooper, Geoffrey Gray, is releasing hundreds of FBI investigative documents related to the case. The Cooper case is one of America's most enduring mysteries — the only unsolved hijacking of a commercial airliner in the country's history by a man known as "D.B. Cooper."

If you're a devotee of the reading challenges that pop up toward the end of each calendar year, check out this vintage mystery scavenger hunt for something a little bit different.

A recording of one of the world’s earliest audiobooks has been discovered by a Canadian collector. The 1935 recording of an audio version of the novella "Typhoon" by Joseph Conrad was the world’s first audiobook of a long general fiction work, although a Bible recording and one of an Agatha Christie mystery novel had already been released.

Mystery author Sandra Balzo is the latest "victim" to take the Page 69 Test, sharing an excerpt from her new novel To The Last Drop.

A new bookstore themed hostel awaits your visit to Japan:  Book and Bed has branches in Tokyo and Kyoto and features "5,000 books for guests to read, a special bar stocked with local beers, and bunks inside the shelves to sleep in."

This week's featured
crime poem at the 5-2 is "Detached Member" by Bonnie Stanard.

In the Q&A roundup,the latest 9MM Interview over at Crime Watch showcased Neil Broadfoot chatting about his series featuring journalist Doug McGregor; Erik Arenson took Paul D. Brazill's "Short, Sharp Interview" challenge to discuss his new collection The Throes of Crime; the eBook Nerd Reviews blog snagged author Caytlyn Brooke to talk about her new YA thriller that follows two girls as they fight for their freedom during a high-stakes adventure in the Louisiana swamps; and Alison Gaylin stopped by Shots Magazine to discuss her latest work, What Remains of Me.

Media Murder for Monday

It's a "light" news week due to the Thanksgiving holiday, but here's some of the latest crime drama action making headlines:

MOVIES

Centropolis Entertainment picked up film rights to the spec script Scarletville from screenwriter Jason Young. Described as a thriller in the vein of Blood Simple or Red Rock West, the project centers on a deadly criminal who shows up in the deceptively-quiet, small town of Scarletville, leading a diner owner named Hank to spin a series of dark and twisted stories in order to delay the felon long enough for the law to arrive.

Enrique Murciano is the latest to join the cast of Netflix’s David Ayer-directed film Bright, playing a gang leader named Poison. Will Smith, Joel Egerton and Noomi Rapace also star along with Edgar Ramirez, Lucy Fry and Ike Barinholtz. The project was written by Max Landis and is styled as a "fantasy cop thriller set in a world where human and mythical creatures co-exist."

Sylvester Stallone has walked away from the action film Godforsaken less than two weeks before production was set to begin. He was to play an ex-con who learns that his estranged son has been killed and sets out on a mission to protect his remaining family while also seeking vengeance against his son’s killers.  

The sequel to the 2015 surprise box office hit Kingsman: The Secret Service has had a bit of a delay in release date. The Golden Circle was originally supposed to be released on June 16, 2017, but Fox announced it will be delayed until October 6, giving it a spot in the fall schedule away from all the other highly-anticipated blockbusters hitting theaters in the summer.

TELEVISION

ABC has bought the thriller drama Salamander, which is based on the 2012 Belgian series. Salamander centers on a brilliant but misanthropic engineer "who recruits a skeptical female FBI therapist to help him track a mysterious bank robber whose theft of 66 specific safety deposit boxes, belonging to the rich and powerful, sets in motion a series of blackmails that may be linked to a greater conspiracy."

Michael Milligan (SiREN) has booked a recurring role on Fox’s 24: Legacy, the real-time limited series that chronicles a race against the clock to stop a terrorist attack on U.S. soil. Milligan will play Theo Sterling, a new programmer at CTU headquarters described as a strange combination of computer geek and Fifth Avenue chic.

The third season of Gotham will be adding another new face in the form of Dexter alum James Remar, who has signed on to play Frank Gordon when Gotham returns from winter hiatus in 2017. Frank is the long-absent uncle of Jim Gordon who left Gotham after the death of his brother.

Penelope Ann Miller is set to star in Lifetime network’s latest ripped-from-the-headlines TV movie, Prison Break: The Joyce Mitchell Story. The project is inspired by the infamous 2015 jailbreak in upstate New York pulled off by convicted murderers Richard Matt and David Sweat that launched a 21-day manhunt for the pair. Matt was found and killed in the attempt to apprehend him, and Sweat eventually was found and taken into custody.

Ahead of the Season 1 finale on December 10, BBC America has ordered a 10-episode second season of the original scripted series Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency for premiere in 2017. The order will be an increase of two episodes from the freshman year's eight total.

A first look at Uncle Sherlock, perhaps? In a teaser photo released from Season 4 of the Benedict Cumberbatch/Martin Freeman drama Sherlock, the crime-fighting partners are seen with John Watson's wife Mary (Amanda Abbington) and a baby strapped to John's chest. Mary’s pregnancy was announced in the Season 3 finale so the appearance of the baby seems to indicate Season 4 will jump ahead in time a few months.

PODCASTS/VIDEO/RADIO

Noir on the Radio host Greg Barth welcomed crime viction author Elka Ray, a UK/Canadian author and illustrator based in Hoi An, Vietnam.

The Guardian Books podcast investigated Nordic noir with Kati Hiekkapelto and Antti Tuomainen, two of Finland’s rising literary stars.

Alex Dolan, host of The Thrillseekers podcast, chatted with Laura McHugh, the author of The Weight of Blood and Arrowood and winner of the International Thriller Writers Thriller Award and also the Killer Nashville Silver Falchion Award for Best First Novel.

Mystery Melange, Thanksgiving Edition

Janet Rudolph has compiled her latest list of Thanksgiving mysteries and crime fiction on her blog Mystery Fanfare. You can also check out last year's list link here.

The Mystery Lovers Kitchen group has posted several Thanksgiving recipes for you to try, from pumpkin crunch cake to Irish cranberry bread to leek pepper biscuits, paleo autumn quiche, and more.

Kings River Life published a couple of Thanksgiving short stories online, "Holiday Summons" by KM Rockwood and "Felony at Farquhar Farms" by Andrew MacRae.

The Bord Gáis Energy Irish Book Awards were announced last week, including the winner of the Crime Fiction Book of the Year, The Trespasser by Tana French. Also among the winners, The Ryan Tubridy’s Listener’s Choice went to Liz Nugent for her psychological thriller, Lying In Wait.

Congratulations also to Ann Cleves, who was announced the winner of Iceland Noir's first-ever Honorary Award for Services to the Art of Crime Fiction.

The Washington Post editors chose their "best mystery books and thrillers of 2016," with ten titles in all.

Amazon announced its choice for the "top ten books of 2016," with the year's most-buzzed book The Underground Railroad by Colson Whithead taking the top spot. But also on the list are the thriller titles The Wolf Road by Beth Lewis and Before the Fall by Noah Hawley.

One sad note this week: as many of you may have heard by now, 28-year-old crime fiction author Roger Hobbs, author of the thrillers Ghostman and Vanishing Games, died of an overdose on November 14 in Portland, Oregon. Hobbs was an up-and-coming bright light, becoming the youngest person ever to win a CWA Ian Fleming Steel Dagger, in 2013. In 2014 he won the Strand Critics award and was also nominated for the Edgar, Barry, and Anthony awards. In 2015, he became the youngest person ever to win the Maltese Falcon award. Needless to say, our thoughts and prayers go out to his family and friends.

By way of celebrating the Scottish Book Trust's Book Week Scotland taking place from 21 to 27 November, Ion Magazine delved into Scottish crime fiction, a/k/a "targan noir," by taking a look at places and landscapes that inspired them via an interactive map.

Speaking of Scotland, the new book festival Granite Noir, which will take place over two days from February 24, will feature famous literary guests including Denise Mina, Christopher Brookmyre, and Stuart MacBride. As well as Scottish authors, the event will invite Scandinavian crime writers to talk to audiences about their novels and working methods. Visitors will also be able to attend film screenings, workshops.

A lot has been made lately about print vs. ebooks in terms of popularity and where publishing is headed, but as an article on JStor points out, the future of books may be won by  ... audio.

Speaking of the future and technology, The Atlantic took a look at the computational tools being used to analyze books’ emotional arcs but so far, the data is unclear as to what they can really find out about literature.

Neil S. Plakcy penned a guest post for Criminal Element, discussing the history of homosexuality in crime fiction and how the trailblazers in the genre inspired his own writing.

Mashable investigated "Film noir, Nancy Drew and the evolution of the aesthetics of mystery."

Bustle rounded up a list of "10 terrifying thrillers for winter guaranteed to keep you up all night."

In the Q&A roundup, Ominimystery News welcomed authors Carl Schmidt to discuss his private eye series and Joe Cosentino to talk about his Jana Lane series; Ian Rankin chatted with the Vancouver Sun about mortality, Rebus, and Scottish crime; The Clarion Ledger welcomed author Beverly Lowry to discuss her new book, Who Killed These Girls? Cold Case: The Yogurt Shop Murders, based on the still unsolved 1991 case of the deaths of four Austin, Texas, girls that has left the families and community without answers for 25 years.

Media Murder for Monday

Start off your Thanksgiving week with the latest crime drama news:

MOVIES

Awesomeness Films is adapting Teresa Toten’s YA novel Beware That Girl, eyeing Elle Fanning for the starring role. Cut from the same cloth as psychological thrillers Gone Girl and The Girl on the Train, the film follows two girls at an elite Manhattan private school as they manipulate each other in a game of cat and mouse: Kate is a scholarship student who survives by lying her way into friendships with wealthy classmates while Olivia is the "it" girl of the Upper East Side with a dark and mysterious past. When a charming and handsome new faculty member joins their school, the girls are forced to bring their secrets to light.

Oscar-winning actor Matthew McConaughey is in negotiations to take a critical role in White Boy Rick from director Yann Demange. The film is based on a spec script by Logan and Noah Miller that's based on the real-life story of Richard Wershe Jr. Set in the mid-1980s, the story follows Wershe Jr. when he became an undercover informant for local and federal law enforcement agencies at the age of 14 only later to become a major drug dealer, arrested after officers found 17 pounds of cocaine on him (at the age of 17), receiving a sentence of life in prison.  McConaughey is being eyed for the role of the senior Wershe, a blue-collar factory worker, struggling with the collapse of the auto industry as he tries to keep his family together.

Screenwriter Derek Kolstad is teaming up with Alan and Peter Riche to take on an adaptation of Tim Lebbon's novel Endure. Pitched as an intense and relentless action thriller in the vein of Deliverance and The Most Dangerous Game, the story centers on a female lead out to get revenge on a group that organizes human trophy hunts for the elite and wealthy, and may be responsible for the disappearance of her husband. It’s being pitched as a potential franchise-starter that could introduce the world to a female John Wick.

Laurence Fishburne is set to star alongside Royalty Hightower in the indie film Ruby In Murdertown, a crime thriller that marks the feature directorial debut of Leah Rachel, who also wrote the script. Production on the indie is slated for next year. Hightower, the 11-year old who had a breakout turn in the Sundance film The Fits (and was just nominated by the Gotham Awards in the Breakthrough Actor category), plays a young drifter driving around in her '77 Chevy Caprice, who decides to take action after her father (Fishburne) is framed for murder in a crime-ridden Midwest wasteland. 

Scott Adkins, who was recently seen in Doctor Strange, has joined the cast of Accident Man, based on a character from the graphic novel by Pat Mills and Tony Skinner. He joins Ray Stevenson, Ashley Greene, David Paymer, Amy Johnston, Ray Park and Michael Jai White in the film, which is directed by Jesse Johnson and set to go into production this month in the UK. Stu Small co-wrote the script (with Adkins) which follows the story of hitman Mike Fallon, known for making assassinations look like unfortunate accidents. His cavalier attitude changes the day his ex-girlfriend, Beth, is murdered by his own crew.

Forest Whitaker is in talks to join Johnny Depp in Labyrinth, the real-life drama based on the criminal investigation behind the murders of rap legends Tupac Shakur and Notorious B.I.G.  Whitaker would play a journalist who teams with Depp's disgraced LAPD detective, who has been unable to solve the mysterious deaths of two of hip-hop's biggest stars. The project is based on journalist Randall Sullivan’s book LAbyrinth - A Detective Investigates the Murders of Tupac Shakur and Notorious B.I.G., the Implication of Death Row Records’ Suge Knight, and the Origins of the Los Angeles Police Scandal.

At least one of the original male stars from Ocean's Eleven is headed to the (mostly) all -female spinoff in the franchise, Ocean's Eight. Matt Damon will have a bit part in the upcoming film, which stars an army of illustrious A-listers ranging from Cate Blanchett and Sandra Bullock to Anne Hathaway and Rihanna.

Mark Wahlberg, J.K. Simmons, John Goodman and Kevin Bacon go on a manhunt for the Boston Marathon bombers in the new trailer for Patriots Day, based on the true story of the 2013 Boston Marathon bombing.

TELEVISION

Amazon Studios picked up the Hitchcockian spec script Holland, Michigan, with Peter Dealbert attached to produce. Written by Andrew Sodroski, the thriller centers on a housewife in the midwest who suspects her husband is having an affair, but as the story unfolds, she learns that her husband might be leading a secret life. Errol Morris was previously announced as director and Bryan Cranston, Naomi Watts, and Edgar Ramirez are attached to star. Amazon is looking to start production in the spring.

The team behind fantasy procedural drama Grimm are developing a new series for NBC titled Treasure. The mystery series follows a group of grad students in Washington, DC who accidentally uncovers a 40-year-old secret which leads them on a wild ride through real history as they attempt to unravel an unsolved murder, find hidden blood money, and avoid being killed by an assassin from the past.
 
Fox has put in development the legal drama Hawk from Rosewood executive producer Andy Berman and creator/executive producer Todd Harthan.Written by Berman, Hawk is described as a law show with a twist, centering on a con man with special skills, who tries to reconcile his criminal past when he becomes the in-house legal investigator for the glossy LA firm he almost took down.

BBC America greenli
t an eight-episode dramatic thriller series Killing Eve to premiere in 2018. Based on the novellas by Luke Jennings, Killing Eve revolves around Villanelle, a psychopathic assassin, and Eve, the woman charged with hunting her down. Eve is a bored, whip-smart, pay-grade security services operative whose desk-bound job doesn’t fulfill her fantasies of being a spy. Villanelle is an elegant, talented killer who clings to the luxuries her violent job affords her. The two fiercely intelligent women, equally obsessed with each other, go head to head in an epic game of cat and mouse. 

In other news from The Beeb, AMC has closed a co-production deal with BBC Worldwide North America for BBC One's drama series McMafia created and written by Oscar-nominated Hossein Amini (Drive) and James Watkins (The Woman in Black) and starring James Norton (Grantchester, War & Peace). Inspired by Misha Glenny's 2008 best-selling book, the organized crime series that centers on the English-raised son of Russian exiles with a mafia history, who has spent his life trying to escape the shadow of that criminal past, building his own legitimate business and forging a life with his girlfriend Rebecca. But when his family’s past murderously returns to threaten them, Alex is drawn into the criminal world and forced to confront his values to protect those he loves. The series will also star David Strathairn, Juliet Rylance, Aleksey Serebryakov, Marie Shukshina, and Faye Marsay.

Meanwhile, UK's ITV has given the green-light to Bancroft, a four-part police thriller with two women at its heart: Elizabeth Bancroft, a respected DCI who has given her life to the police force and is trusted and adored by her colleagues; and DS Katherine Stevens, an ambitious, fast-tracked recruit whose assignment to cold cases disturbs the ghosts of the past including those among the lives of her colleagues.

Christopher Meloni (Law & Order: SVU) is set to star in an unusual drama for Syfy titled Happy!. Meloni will play Nick Sax, once the top detective in a big city police department but after losing everything he holds dear, he becomes a hit man for the mob and uses his earnings for drugs and booze on the wrong side of town. Sax manages to survive a hit that goes horribly wrong...only to have his life changed forever when he begins to see an imaginary blue-winged horse.

One longtime cast member of Hawaii Five-0 is moving on, as Masi Oka, who plays Chief Medical Examiner Dr. Max Bergman on the CBS police procedural, will be leaving the show after seven seasons as a series regular. The show's creative team insist that Max's story arc will be given a proper conclusion on the show as he rides off to greener pastures. 

The CW network announced its midseason schedule, and things don't look good for the freshman show Frequency, which has essentially been canceled and will have its finale Wednesday, Jan. 25. Peyton List stars as NYPD Detective Raimy Sullivan who discovers she is able to speak to her deceased father Frank Sullivan in 1996 via his old ham radio. Her attempts to save his life trigger the "butterfly effect", changing the present in unforeseen ways and to fix the damage, she must work with her father across time to solve a decades-old murder case.

Fox released a trailer for the final season of Bones, which premieres January 3.

PODCASTS/VIDEO/RADIO

Libby Fischer Hellmann, who hosts the Second Sunday Crime podcast, had the tables turned as Authors on the Air host Pam Stack interviewed Libby about her thirteen thrillers and numerous short stories, as well as what it's like to be a writer in this brave new world of publishing.

The Thrill Seekers podcast welcomed Charles Belfoure,the bestselling author of The Paris Architect and House of Thieves, who is also an architect by profession.

A Stab in the Dark's Mark Billingham chatted with Michael Connelly as the two crime writers discussed U.S. crime drama, Raymond Chandler, jazz versus country and Michael's adaptations which star Titus Welliver, Matthew McConaughey and Clint Eastwood. Paul Hirons also spoke with to Rosewood's leading man Morris Chestnut, who reveals what it's like to work with co-star Jaina Lee Ortiz and what a location gives to a crime drama.

Crime Cafe host and author Debbi Mack interviewed thriller author Reece Hirsch on the Crime Cafe podcast.
 
THEATER

The Vertigo Theatre, located at the base of the Calgary Tower in the heart of downtown Calgary, is staging a production of Agatha Christie’s mystery classic The Hollow, as part of the company's BD&P Mystery Theatre series. The story follows an unhappy game of romantic follow-the-leader that explodes into murder one weekend at The Hollow, home of Sir Henry and Lucy Angkatell.  

A pairing of one-act thrillers by Agatha Christie, The Rats and The Patient, are heading to the West Valley Playhouse in Canoga Park, California, opening on November 26 with a run through December 18. The Rats is about an adulterous pair of lovers who are asked individually, to a London flat for drinks but soon realize that they have been set up as victims, while The Patient deals with a woman severely injured in a fall (an accident, attempted murder, or suicide?) who's unable to speak, but with the aid of Dr Ginsberg's ingenius device, tries to solve the attempted murder.

GAMES

Put your detective skills to the test with Agatha Christie: The ABC Murders, a point-and-tap mystery adventure that seamlessly moves participants through the classic murder novel in the shoes of Christie’s famous protagonist, Hercule Poirot. Players take on the role of Poirot, an eccentric Belgian detective with a Watson-like assistant and a sharp mind, and are tasked with figuring out the identity of a serial killer who chooses his victims based on the first three letters of the alphabet.