Mystery Melange

Peter James was awarded the Crime Writers' Association Diamond Dagger, handed out each year by the CWA to a writer with a career marked by sustained excellence. James, who joins previous winners such as Elmore Leonard, Lee Child, Simon Brett, Lindsey Davis, and Val McDermid, is best known for his series of novels about the adventures of Detective Superintendent Roy Grace.

The inaugural issue of Dead Gun magazine is out, with new short tales of mayhem and murder from Paul Heatley, T. Fox Dunham, Bill Baber, Jeremy Estes, Robin Wyatt Dunn, Dusty Wallace, Christopher Davis, S.W. Lauden, J. David Jaggers, Jay Helmstutler, Bruce Harris, and Mark Sim. (Hat tip to Sandra Seamans.)

Writing for The Independent, author Benjamin Black discussed why The Long Goodbye by Raymond Chandler is not only the book of a lifetime but without question Black's favorite novel, even if it's not the best or most technically accomplished of the Marlowe novels.

If you are unfamiliar with Raymond Chandler's "Rules for Writing Mysteries," here's a refresher.

The Crime Fiction Ireland Blog profiled Dublin-born author Freeman Wills Crofts (1879–1957), one of the "big five" in the Golden Age of detective fiction who is largely unknown now, but whom Raymond Chandler described as "the soundest builder of them all when he doesn't get too fancy."

The International Crime Fiction blog noted there is a tendency in Western culture to present the evolution of crime fiction during the 20th century "as a purely Western phenomenon," and pointed out the genre was not exactly absent in Soviet Russia.

The Los Angeles Times profiled "A place where crime is often stranger than fiction."

Are you addicted to the true crime-based series Making of a Murderer? If so, Jeff Somers compiled a list for B&N of "7 Books to Read After You Binge-Watch Making a Murderer."

Speaking of true crime, researchers and trial consultants worry that shows like Making of a Murderer, along with fictional shows like Law & Order, may transmit undue biases onto future juries.

Meanwhile, The Guardian tapped author Rohan Gavin to opine on red herrings, maguffins, and double identities, in his "Top tips for writing detective fiction."

If you were one of those unlucky (like me) not to be able to join the recent Agatha Christie-themed cruise that followed the crime-writer’s visit to Tenerife in the late 1920s, travel writer and Christie fan Allis Moss has a summary for you, complete with Christie’s grandson Mathew Prichard and on-board plays.

Flavorwire took a look at "Bizarre Hollywood Murder Cases," some that remain unsolved.

The new crime poem at the 5-2 is "Minnesota Jump" by Kurt Nimmo, and the new monthly story at Beat to a Pulp is "Fundamental Breach" by William E. Wallace.

In the Q&A roundup this week, Criminal Element sat down with Suzy Spencer, author of the book Breaking Point, which deals with the case of Andrea Yates, who drowned all five of her children in 2001; the Mystery People ensnared Josh Stallings to talk about his novel Young Americans, a heist novel set in the glam-rock scene of seventies-era San Francisco; Omnimystery News welcomed Jim Stewart (author of Ochoco Reach) and Rebecca Marks (On the Rocks); Libby Cudmore took Paul D. Brazill's "Short, Sharp, Interview" challenge about her debut novel, The Big Rewind; Icelandic author Ragnar Jónasson talked with Eurodrama about his influences and being published in the UK; and Karin Slaughter interviewed fellow author Alifair Burke about Burke's new thriller, The Ex.

Media Murder for Monday

It's time for this week's crime drama news:

MOVIES

Emma Donoghue, the writer of both the novel and Academy Award nominated-screenplay Room, is teaming up with Monumental Pictures to make a feature adaptation of her novel Frog Music. The novel is set in the summer of 1876 in San Francisco in the grip of a record-breaking heatwave, smallpox epidemic, and festering racism and fear, and is inspired by the real-life unsolved murder of a young woman, Jenny Bonnet.

Kill the Messenger director Michael Cuesta has signed on to helm American Assassin, based on a script by Stephen Schiff from the Vince Flynn spy novel. CBS Films has been aiming to make a movie centered on Flynn's protagonist, Mitch Rapp, for several years and has decided to focus first on how Rapp became a CIA agent.

Sam Raimi is circling the director's chair for the remake of Jacques Audiard’s thriller, A Prophet, based on the screenplay rewrite by author Dennis Lehane. The original film followed an illiterate French-Arab teen who is sent down for six years and initiated into the prison’s criminal underworld, then starts plotting "his rapid rise through the violent and brutal inmate hierarchy to become a formidable player."

Robert Knepper has been cast in Paramount’s upcoming sequel Jack Reacher: Never Go Back, playing Gen. Harkness, a retired general-turned-CEO of a private military contractor firm. The film once again stars Tom Cruise in the title role as he returns to the headquarters of his old Army unit, only to find he’s been accused of a 16-year-old murder.

Theo James is in talks to take over the role Josh Hutcherson was to play in the political thriller Backstabbing for Beginners, playing an idealistic UN program coordinator who becomes involved in the fight for oil in post-war Iraq and uncovers a conspiracy. Ben Kingsley is already on board to play a mentor for Hutcherson's character in the project, which is based on international relations veteran Michael Soussan’s memoir Backstabbing For Beginners: My Crash Course In International Diplomacy.

TELEVISION

USA Network has given a 10-episode, straight-to-series order to Eyewitness, an adaptation of the Norwegian crime thriller Øyevitne. The show explores a grisly crime from the point of view of the eyewitnesses, two innocent teenage boys who secretly witness a shooting in a forest and barely escape with their lives.

David Simon’s The Deuce, set in the porn industry during the 1970s and ’80s and starring James Franco, has landed a series order from HBO. The project is co-written by author George Pelecanos and centers on twin brothers, Vincent Martino and Frankie Martino, (both played by Franco) who became fronts for mob control of the volatile and lucrative sex industry.

In addition to a new Nancy Drew reboot, CBS gave pilot commitments for two new crime dramas from Supergirl executive producer Greg Berlanti. The first is Out of Body (written by Jennifer Johnson), which follows a criminal who finds himself transported into the bodies of people in peril, and must use his experience to keep from being killed, and the second is an untitled project (from writer Chris Fedak) that follows a young billionaire tech genius who utilizes his cutting-edge technology to partner with a street-smart but old-school San Francisco police detective.

Sherlock fans may be disappointed to hear that the fourth season of the show probably won't air until sometime in 2017, according to PBS president Paula Kerger. Although the show will begin production early this year, the busy schedules of Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman add up to a delay in Sherlock's timeline.

ABC released a trailer for the return of How to Get Away with Murder, which premieres on February 11th.

A trailer was also released for the second season of the BBC's Yorkshire crime drama Happy Valley, with Catherine Cawood continuing to head up her team of police officers in The Calder Valley. James Norton, who plays Tommy Lee Royce, also returns for Season 2, although there will be new stars and new story lines.

The BBC also posted a trailer for its upcoming miniseries adaptation of John Le Carré's novel The Night Manager, starring Tom Hiddleston as a former soldier working as a night manager at a hotel who is recruited by British Intelligence to complete an undercover mission, with double-crossing courtesy of Hugh Laurie.

PODCASTS/VIDEO/RADIO

Suspense Radio's Inside Edition podcast started off the new year with a trio of bestselling authors, including Alan Jacobson, Jeff Abbott, and Leigh Adams. 

Private eye author M. Ruth Myers chatted with mystery author Debbi Mack on Crime Cafe about Myers' Maggie Sullivan mystery series and other works.

CrimeFiction.FM welcomed debut author R.W. Wallace to talk about her atmospheric mystery, The Red Brick Cellars, set in Toulouse, France, where two unlikely sleuths team up to solve the murder of a beloved politician.

THEATER

Theatre Out, Orange County's gay and lesbian theatre company, is presenting an all-male version of the Stephen Sondheim-Hugh Wheeler classic Sweeney Todd (The Demon Barber of Fleet Street), which, like the recent Broadway revival, will be set in an insane asylum. David C. Carnevale directs the production, which continues through Feb. 13 at the California venue.

The stage thriller Gaslight opened at Toronto's Ed Mirvish Theatre, with a run through February 28th. The show features northern Irish actress Flora Montgomery alongside Game of Thrones stars Owen Teale and Ian McElhinney in the psychological tale of a woman convinced she's losing her mind when her husband is away on business - but is the terror only in her imagination or are dark secrets living in her home? The surprise arrival of a retired detective leads to a shocking discovery that shakes her respectable Victorian marriage to its core.

Author R&R with Lis Wiehl

Lis Wiehl earned her Juris Doctor from Harvard Law School and her Master of Arts in Literature from the University of Queensland and has forged a career in both tracks. As an attorney, she served as a Federal Prosecutor in the United States Attorney’s office, was a legal analyst and reporter for NBC News, NPR’s All Things Considered, and Fox News, and is a Professor of Law at New York Law School. On the literary side, she has published a series featuring Seattle prosecutor Mia Quinn and homicide detective Charlie Carlson, although her latest legal thriller is The Newsmakers.

The Newsmakers centers on TV reporter Erica Sparks, who is detemined to success in the cutthroat world of big-time broadcasting, even if it means leaving her eight-year-old daughter in the custody of her ex-husband. Erica lands her dream job at Global News Network in New York, but on her very first assignment, Erica inadvertently witnesses — and films — a horrific tragedy, scooping all the other networks. Mere weeks later, another tragedy strikes — again, right in front of Erica and her cameras. But when she becomes a superstar overnight, is it due to her hard work or the result of a spiraling conspiracy that may expose her troubled past?

Wiehl stops by In Reference to Murder today to take some Author R&R and discuss the inspiration for the novel:

I was sitting in a steakhouse in midtown Manhattan when the idea for The Newsmakers hit me.

I'd been casting around for an idea for a new mystery-thriller series. I quickly decided I wanted to set it in a world I knew intimately: cable network news. After all, I'd been a legal analyst and anchor at FOX News for almost 15 years.

I've always been fascinated by journalism and its search for the truth. I think it's a noble and important profession. But it does have a darker side. It gives rogue reporters a platform to advance their careers by embellishing, or even making up, stories. I remembered the Jayson Blair scandal. Blair was the young New York Times reporter who both plagiarized and fabricated stories, often inventing characters and putting words in their mouths that bolstered whatever point he was trying to make in his article. What would happen, I wondered, if an ambitious, even ruthless television journalist engaged in the same thing, with devastating repercussions?

I felt the idea was promising but that it lacked a certain oomph. Then one day my friend Steve Berry, who also writes thrillers and mysteries, and is also an attorney, was in New York. He visited me at FOX news headquarters at 1211 Sixth Avenue, and we then went out to lunch at Del Frisco's steakhouse directly across the street. I was sitting facing the street and over Steve's shoulder I could see 1211 and it scrolling news ticker.

I told Steve my thoughts about my new series, the idea of a reporter who basically creates news to further his career. Steve listened thoughtfully, nodded, and then said the two words that ignited my imagination: "Go big."

I looked across the street at the towering skyscraper that seemed to pierce the clouds, its lower floors belted with the continuous news feed, and it hit it me: What if it wasn't one immoral reporter who was manufacturing the news, what if it was an entire network, led by an evil megalomaniac? And what if his goal wasn't just personal ambition, it was nothing less than world domination?

I felt an immediate surge of adrenaline and ran my brainstorm past Steve, whose eyes lit up. I'm afraid I was lousy company for the rest of the meal, because I couldn't wait to get back to my office and start making notes.

As I scribbled, my excitement grew and I called my agent, Todd Shuster, who has a fantastic editorial eye. Todd loved the idea. He had just read a psychological thriller called The Mentor by Sebastian Stuart, and suggested Stuart might be a strong collaborator. I called Seb and we had an immediate rapport, bouncing ideas off each other with mounting enthusiasm. To my delight he came on board.

The star of the series is Erica Sparks, a young and ambitious regional reporter with more than one dark secret in her past. Erica is the product of an abusive childhood, and struggles to build a healthy relationship with her own 8-year-old daughter. When she's hired by a fledgling cable news network founded by tech billionaire Nylan Hastings, she moves to New York and slowly finds herself pulled into a web of evil and depravity. While the story is certainly big and plot driven, we worked to layer the book with emotional complexity and suspense.

It was great fun to take readers behind the scenes at a cable news network and introduce them to everyone from the hair and makeup people, to the sound and camera techs, to the CEO. It's a messy, thrilling, and ruthless world that literally has its finger on the planet's pulse.

That's how my new series was born. Sometimes I wonder what would, or wouldn't, have happened if Steve and I had swapped places at lunch that day.

© 2015 Lis Wiehl, author of The Newsmakers

 

You can read more about Lis Wiehl and her novels via her website and follow her on Facebook and Twitter.

Mystery Melange

The book awards season has begun with the announcement of the 2016 Edgar Award nominations, handed out annually by the Mystery Writers of America. The Best Novel finalists include The Strangler Vine by M.J. Carter; The Lady From Zagreb by Philip Kerr; Life or Death by Michael Robotham; Let Me Die in His Footsteps by Lori Roy; Canary by Duane Swierczynski; and Night Life by David C. Taylor. For all the various nominees, follow this link to the official Edgar Awards page.

The Left Coast Crime Conference also announced their "Lefty" Award nominations. The 2016 finalists for Best Humorous Mystery Novel include Lord of the Wings by Donna Andrews; Plantation Shudders by Byron Ellen; February Fever by Jess Lourey; Dying for a Donut; and Crushed Velvet by Diane Vallere. For all the nominees, check out the conference blog link.

ITW’s Thriller School, an online seven-week program that begins March 14th, 2016, still has a few open slots available. Each instructor will teach an aspect of craft though a podcast, written materials that include further reading and study suggestions, and an entire week of on-line Q&A with the registered students. Authors scheduled to lead the classes include David Corbett, Meg Gardiner, F. Paul Wilson, Hank P. Ryan, James Scott Bell, Peter James, and Lee Child.

Tami Hoag was named as the 2016 Writers’ Police Academy Guest of Honor. Hoag has eighteen consecutive New York Times bestselling thrillers to her credit, with more than 40 million books in print published in more than thirty languages worldwide.

The Seattle Mystery Bookshop posted a plea online for help in keeping the store going. They have set up a GoFundMe account with a target goal is $50,000 in hopes of getting to a stable financial footing and continue to serve the mystery reading community. They have some nifty rewards as thank you gifts in various funding categories, including art work, signed books and general bookstore swag.

The History Channel online posted "10 Things You May Not Know About Agatha Christie."

Illustrator Brian Joseph Davis decided to see what kind of faces literary descriptions of characters would create by using a law enforcement composite sketch software called FACES ID.

The new crime poem at the 5-2 is "Habitual" by Ruth Danon.

In the Q&A roundup, the Mystery People grilled Terry Shames about her latest Samuel Craddock novel, The Necessary Murder Of Nonie Blake; Sara Paretsky named her "5 Favorite Pieces of “Mysterious” Classical Music" for WFMT; Omnimystery News welcomed Carolyn Mulford to talk about the latest book in her "Show Me" series, Show Me the Ashes, and also Rebecca Marks to discuss her new mystery series opener, On the Rocks; and Ian Hamilton spoke with the CBC about The Princeling of Nanjing, his new novel with globetrotting forensic accountant and martial arts expert, Ava Lee.

Media Murder for Monday

MOVIES

Five of the eight Academy Awards Best Picture nominations just announced were based on or themed around books. The nominations were also heavy on action-adventure movies, including multiple nods for The Revenant (12), Mad Max: Fury Road (10), The Martian (7), and Bridge of Spies (6). As usual, there were plenty of surprises, snubs, and controversy (mainly, the lack of diversity on the list). 

New Line Cinema has acquired rights to Keep Calm, the first novel by filmmaker Mike Binder. Binder (who recently directed Black Or White with Kevin Costner and Octavia Spencer), will write and direct the film, which is an action thriller that mixes current events, politics, conspiracy and terrorism within 10 Downing Street.  

Bruce Willis will appear in more of Die Hard 6 than previously rumored. The sixth installment to the action franchise, Die Hard: Year One, has been pitched a prequel focused on a younger John McClane. But Willis recently said that the film will be more of a prequel/sequel hybrid (combining modern day and the origin story) "that I really haven’t seen before and is incredibly different."

TELEVISION

NBC is eyeing a third "Chicago" spinoff program to add to Chicago Fire, Chicago P.D., and Chicago Med, this time one centered on the legal profession. Discussions are still in the conceptual stage and there is no script or writer attached for the spinoff, but key characters for Chicago Law could be introduced the other programs, as had happened in the past.

Fox has given a pilot order to a Jack Bauer-less 24: Legacy, a rebooted show that will feature an all new set of characters, while potentially existing in the same universe as its predecessor. The story line will center on a military hero coming home to the U.S. who must ask CTU for assistance in keeping him safe, as well as in thwarting what has the potential to be the biggest terrorist attack this country has ever seen. The network also announced that Legacy won't have a white lead and will be replaced by a non-white actor who will be “as different from Jack Bauer as possible.”

Fox also announced Prison Break will be returning to the air in an "event series," with stars Wentworth Miller and Dominic Purcell both signed on to reprise the roles of brothers Michael Scofield and Lincoln Burrows. The original producing team of creator Paul T. Scheuring, Neal Moritz, Marty Adelstein and Dawn Olmstead are all aboard for the event series, and Scheuring will again write and showrun.

CBS' new Nancy Drew will look very different if the network moves forward with the reboot, according to CBS Entertainment president Glenn Geller.  It's not been decided whether Nancy will be African-American, Asian-American or Latino, but Geller said she will "not [be] Caucasian. I'd be open to any ethnicity."  

Although the future of Bones is still very much up in the air, Fox chairman and CEO Dana Walden said the show will receive a “satisfying ending," and could possibly get one more season.

Emily Watson and Ben Chaplin are to star in BBC One's adaptation of Apple Tree Yard, the "provocative, audacious thriller" by Louise Doughty. Made by Kudos (the producers of Broadchurch), Apple Tree Yard is a thriller that centers on Watson's character, Yvonne Carmichael, a married woman with two grown-up children who lives a contented, conventional suburban life. But that world spirals into chaos when a chance encounter leads to an impulsive and passionate affair with a charismatic stranger, played by Chaplin.

On season 2 of Amazon Prime’s Bosch, tough LAPD detective Harry Bosch will come out his shell, according to Michael Connelly, upon whose novels the show is based. The new season will kick off with Bosch heading to Las Vegas after discovering a body in a car trunk on Mulholland Drive and will borrow from such Bosch books as The Drop and The Last Coyote. Also, “an interesting woman played by Jeri Ryan” becomes a noirish addition to the cast per co-writer Eric Overmyer. Bosch returns to Amazon Prime on March 11.

On Monday, Fox released the first minute of the first episode of the forthcoming X-Files revival. It's a succinct catch-up of Mulder's (David Duchovny) history told through photos and voiceover: how he became obsessed with paranormal science, his work with the X-Files unit of the FBI, the temptation of Scully (Gillian Anderson), and the dissolution of the unit in 2002.

FX’s critically-aclaimed 1980s Russian spy drama The Americans is returning for its fourth season at 10 PM Wednesday, March 16, the network recently announced. FX also unveiled its Season 4 poster featuring series stars Matthew Rhys and Keri Russell.

A trailer was released for the upcoming drama Houdini & Doyle, an early 20th-century-set detective/mystery series featuring the real-life friendship between magician Harry Houdini and Sherlock Holmes creator Arthur Conan Doyle, re-imagined as a crime-solving partnership.

VIDEO/PODCASTS/RADIO

The latest Crime and Science Radio was "Tracking Down the Bad Guys: A Conversation with Retired US Marshal and Novelist Marc Cameron."

Debbi Mack welcomed author of paranormal, horror, thriller, and crime fiction, W. D. Gagliani, to chat about his Nick Lupo paranormal thriller/crime fiction series and other works on Crime Cafe.

The Thrilling Reads podcast snagged author James P. Sumner about his debut thriller, True Conviction.

New York Times bestselling author Laurence Shames stopped by Crime Fiction FM to discuss his new book, the eleventh in his wildly entertaining Key West Capers series, Key West Luck.

This is Criminal hosted journalist Martha Elliot about her book, The Man in the Monster. The work takes a look at Michael Ross, the first person in Connecticut to be sentenced to death since 1960 - who claimed he wanted to die in order to atone for what he had done. Elliot spent twenty years trying to figure out whether his remorse was real.

THEATER

A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder, the 2013 musical by John Rapson and Kevin Massey, has opened at the Kennedy Center with a run through January 30. The show centers on Monty Navarro (played by Kevin Massey), an earnest young bachelor living a quiet life in remote England. Grieving over the recent death of his mother, he discovers that he is a distant relative of, and possible heir to the famous D’Ysquith family. Resolved to avenge his late mother, who was cast out by the D’Ysquiths, Navarro seeks out the six other heirs to the D’Ysquith fortune (all played by Rapson), embarking on a journey of love, murder, and a hint of revenge.

The Agatha Christie Theatre Company has been performing plays based on the Queen of Crime's works since 2006 at The Theatre Royal Windsor, but the troupe has formally disbanded. However, this doesn't mean the end of crime dramas at the theater; the owner is branching out into works by other authors and playwrights, starting with Rehearsal for Murder, written by Richard Levinson and William Link, the prolific and award-winning duo behind such TV shows as Columbo and Murder, She Wrote.

Author R&R with Scott Allan Morrison

Scott Allan Morrison was a journalist for almost twenty years, covering politics, business, and technology in Mexico, Canada, and the United States. Morrison arrived in Silicon Valley as a reporter for the Financial Times during the darkest days of the dot-com crash. Over the course of a decade, Morrison covered most of the world’s top tech companies and chronicled many of Silicon Valley’s greatest stories, including the rise of Internet insecurity and the explosion of social media. Morrison's new thriller Terms of Use, which deals with the weighty issues of cyber security and social media, was inspired in part by Scott's background as a journalist.

Terms of Use centers on Circles, the most popular social network in the world: vast, ubiquitous, and constantly evolving. Days before expanding into China, Circles suffers a devastating cyberattack—and a key executive is brutally murdered. As he fights to save the company he helped build, top engineer Sergio Mansour uncovers evidence of a massive conspiracy that turns the power of Circles against its users. But as Sergio investigates, someone is watching his every move, someone ruthless enough to brand him a criminal and set a vicious hit man on his trail. Desperate to clear his name, Sergio turns to Malina Olson, a beautiful and headstrong doctor who has an agenda of her own. Now, he and Malina must survive long enough to expose the truth in a world without hiding places, where a single keystroke can shift the global balance of power.

Morrison stops by In Reference to Murder today to discuss researching the book and how his background played a role in its writing:

 

I spent a decade as a Silicon Valley correspondent for the Financial Times, Red Herring and Dow Jones Newswires, so I guess you could say I started researching Terms of Use more than 10 years ago without even realizing it.

I covered a wide range of companies, topics and trends, and over time it became apparent the companies that dominate the Internet have amassed great deal of power, most of it derived from their ability to collect and analyze our data.

I also met hundreds of contacts in Silicon Valley, some of whom became friends over time. Often, over dinner and drinks, we’d get into discussions about data privacy and the power of social media, and I realized that industry insiders were concerned about the direction in which we are all moving. Sometimes we’d get into “what if?” discussions and I began to wonder what could happen if this tremendous capability – which can most certainly be a force for good – were to fall into the hands of people with the wrong motives.

I had a pretty good foundation already in place when I set out to research and write Terms of Use. But while I understood what was conceptually possible, I needed a lot of technical guidance to bring my hypothetical scenarios to life on the page. And for me, that meant relying a reporter’s most important research tool: the interview.

Over the next many months, I interviewed dozens of Silicon Valley coders, network architects, security experts, IT consultants, entrepreneurs and even a venture capitalist. But before asking a single question, I made sure they understood what I was writing and why.

By and large, there were no set rules for these meetings. Early discussions were conceptual in nature, as I needed to build a credible plot. Once I settled on the overall arc of the story, I peppered my sources with questions about tech company practices, coding techniques and security measures. The next challenge was to simplify all the technobabble so that it remained accurate, yet easy for a mainstream audience to read. I repeatedly went back to my sources to make sure my interpretation of their words reflected their true meaning.

I also interviewed a friend who is an emergency room doctor. She was basis for my Malina character and the gnarly ER stories in the novel were drawn straight from her experiences. This doctor and many other female friends helped me shape Malina’s personality, and they guided me through a key decision this character makes early in the novel. My friends assured me they might well have made the same choice in the right circumstances.

My greatest challenge was nailing down the procedures, tactics, habits and language of law enforcement. While I could call on dozens of talkative techies, I didn’t know a single police officer or FBI agent. So I began putting out feelers, asking everyone I could think of if they had any connections with someone in law enforcement, whether a brother, uncle, or friend.

I got my first big break when I met a retired county sheriff and fellow author at a writing workshop. After pointing out that several details in one particular scene didn’t ring true, Dave handed me his phone number and told me to call any time I had policing questions. A short while later I discovered the new goalie on my hockey team was an FBI agent and he too agreed to help as necessary.

I never asked either of them to share confidential information. Instead, I’d summarize scenarios I’d concocted – chain of command conflicts, SWAT raids, taskforce meetings, etc. – and ask them to correct me when strayed outside the bounds of verisimilitude. Occasionally they would figuratively delete entire pages and explain how they’d handle a specific situation, right down to the weapons and gear they’d use.

And finally, I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention all those Google searches (the Lebanese emigration to Mexico, the mines of Bayan Obo, WiFi hacking tools, etc), as well as Google Maps. My novel is set in San Francisco, but it takes readers to southern California, China and the Philippines. I used Google Maps to ensure directions, distances and geographic features were accurate. More importantly, I relied heavily on Street View to help me describe scenes in the novel, particularly those set in Beijing and Baotou.

I may have spent as much time researching Terms of Use as I did writing it. But it was time well-spent, because it was crucial in enabling me to create a well-rounded story that has enough depth, context and atmosphere to draw in readers and hold their attention – hopefully – for hours on end.

 

To find out more about Morrison and Terms of Use, check out his website or follow him on Facebook, and you can order a copy of the book here.

Mystery Melange

On Friday, January 15, from 6 to 8 p.m., The Mysterious Bookshop in New York City will host the new board of the Mystery Writers of America with a multi-author book signing. Authors scheduled to appear include Donna Andrews, Craig Faustus Buck, Laura K. Curtis, Ray Daniel, Hannah Dennison, Brendan DuBois, Laura Durham, Daniel Hale, Rachel Howzell Hall, Ted Hertel, Linda Joffe Hull, Harry Hunsicker, Julie Hyzy, Kay Kendall, Allison Leotta, Larry Light, Nick Mamatas, Tony Perona , Lori Rader-Day, Randy Rawls, Mark Stevens, Jaden Terrell, and Elaine Viets.

If you'll be near Berkeley, California, on January 16, make your reservation for a rare crime fiction opportunity:  Join other mystery and science fiction fans at the home where famed editor and writer William Anthony Parker White (best known by his pen name, Anthony Boucher) lived from 1947 to his death in 1968 and did much of his work. Not only will there be discussions, reminiscences, and potentially some scripted drama, this may be your last chance to tour the home, which will pass from the Boucher family to a new owner soon. Space is limited, so send along your RSVP as soon as possible via the link on the Mystery Fanfare blog, which has additional information on the event.

The Rap Sheet is hosting a giveaway for copies of Ryan Gattis’ gritty thriller, All Involved (enter by January 18), and asked the author to identify five Los Angeles-set works of crime fiction that inspired his writing of this book.

Los Angeles will host a Noir At The Bar event on Sunday February 21 at 8 p.m. at the Mandrake. Authors on hand who will read from their work include Owen Laukkanen, Johnny Shaw, SG Redling, Rob Hart, Patricia Abbott, Tom Pitts, SW Lauden, and Eric Beetner.

If you're in the UK the weekend of April 23 and 24, Erin Kelly, bestselling author of The Poison Tree, will host a workshop on how to write a psychological thriller, a masterclass sponsored by The Guardian at their London headquarters. Other guest speakers will include editor Ruth Tross and crime authors Anya Lipska and Helen Giltrow.

PBS launched The Masterpiece Book Club to serve as the destination for book-loving fans of such programs such as Sherlock and Downton Abbey. Features will include recommended reading related to current Masterpiece shows, insights into what cast and crew are reading, related recipes perfect for a book club meeting, British book news, and much more. Sherlock fans will get reading inspiration from Sherlock co-creator and actor Mark Gatiss, who reveals his favorite Sir Arthur Conan Doyle stories and the mystery authors he reads most. Special collections for other Masterpiece mysteries including Endeavour and Inspector Lewis are due later this summer. 

Writing for The Guardian, Sarah Crown profiled Dorothy L Sayers’ classic mystery novel, Gaudy Night, admitting she's developed a bit of an OCD attachment to the book and how it encompasses large questions of life and love.

The mystery of how Sherlock Holmes knew so much about poisons has been cracked in the archives of the Royal Botanic Garden in Edinburgh, thanks to class rolls dating back to 1877 that prove a connection with Arthur Conan Doyle.

Author Michael Connelly chose The Long Goodbye for the Wall Street Journal Book Club, noting that when he was studying construction engineering in college, Raymond Chandler’s classic title inspired Connelly to start writing.

Book Riot profiled Chick Noir, the literary niche that article author Kelly Anderson dubbed an "awful name, awesome genre."

The Guardian's Tom Gauld posted a tongue-in-cheek look at "the perilous endings that await modern-day murder mystery victims."

The new crime poem at the 5-2 is "Cain & Abel" by Paul Hostovsky.

In the Q&A roundup, Scottish crime writer Val McDermid spoke with the Miami Herald about her new novel Splinter the Silence, featuring psychologist Tony Hill and police detective Carol Jordan tracking down a possible cyberbullying serial killer; Donna Huston Murray stopped by Omnimystery News to discuss her second mystery to feature ex-cop Lauren Beck, Guilt Trip; and The Courier sat down with Scottish crime author Stuart MacBride, who talks about his series featuring detective sergeant Logan McRae and how the author had a dissecting room named after him.

Media Murder for Monday

Here's the latest crime drama news from stage, screen, and on the air:

AWARDS

The Golden Globe winners last evening included several book-to-screen adaptations, with The Revenant (Best Picture), Steve Jobs and The Martian garnering multiple awards. Mr. Robot won for Best TV Drama and the show's Christian Slater also won Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Series.

The British Academy of Film and Television Arts announced their BAFTA Award nominees, with Best Film nods to The Big Short, Bridge of Spies, The Revenant, Carol, and Spotlight.

The Producers Guild of America announced their nominees for the best movies and television of 2015. Bridge of Spies was among the film honorees, while on the TV side, American Crime, Fargo, and True Detective were among the finalists.

The Art Directors' Guild also announced the 20th annual Excellence in Production Design Awards, which will be presented Jan. 31 at the Beverly Hilton Hotel in Los Angeles.

MOVIES

Orange is the New Black actress Laura Prepon is joining Emily Blunt in the adaptation of Paula Hawkins' novel, The Girl on The Train. Prepon will play Cathy, the landlord, roommate, and college friend of Blunt’s Rachel Wilson character.

TELEVISION

BBC America has officially ordered a new series based on Douglas Adams' humorous private eye Dirk Gently novels. Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency will be helmed by Max Landis (Chronicle) and follows unconventional detective Dirk and his reluctant assistant Todd as their work takes them on a wild ride and into dangerous situations. The show's first season, which be set in the U.S. instead of the U.K., will consist of eight one-hour episodes.

Fox is developing the hour-long scripted drama Boost Unit (working title) from Dwayne Johnson and Dany Garcia’s Seven Bucks Productions and Imperative Entertainment. Written by Jonny Umansky and Zach Hyatt, Boost Unit is described as a "high-octane action-packed drama that follows the newest recruit of the LAPD’s Auto Theft Task Force, a notorious getaway driver with a hidden past."

ABC has handed out a pilot order to the scripted drama anthology The Jury, a project described as 12 Angry Men meets podcast Serial. The show follows a single murder trial as seen through the eyes of the individual jurors, "exploring the biases and experiences that influence the jurors’ judgment and how their preconceptions change along the way."

Alexander Skarsgard has signed on to join Nicole Kidman in the HBO limited series Big Little Lies. The project is based on the best-selling book by Liane Moriarty and is being adapted by David E. Kelly. The story follows three mothers of kindergarteners whose pristine lives begin to unravel to the point of murder. Skarsgard will play Perry, husband to Nicole Kidman’s Celeste, with Wild's Jean-Marc Vallee directing and a roster of actors including including Reese Witherspoon, Shailene Woodley, Adam Scott, Laura Dern, Zoe Kravitz, Kathryn Newton, Hong Chau and Santiago Cabrera.

House star Hugh Laurie is returning to primetime as the lead the drama series Chance, based on the titular novel by author Kem Nunn. Hulu has given a two-season, 20-episode order for the Fox 21 TV Studios show and is eyeing a 2016 premiere. Chance is described as a provocative psychological thriller centered on Eldon Chance (Laurie), a San Francisco-based forensic neuropsychiatrist who reluctantly gets sucked into a violent and dangerous world of mistaken identity, police corruption and mental illness.

Former Burn Notice star Jeffrey Donovan is also set to headline a new series, taking on the male lead in Hulu’s original drama Shut Eye. The show takes a darkly comedic look at the underground world of Los Angeles storefront psychics and the organized crime syndicate that runs them.

Although fans of Castle may be nervous about the up-in-the-air status of the show's return for a ninth season, ABC president Paul Lee stated that the network wants Castle to continue for more seasons and would like to see the show’s original stars back. However, Lee also noted that if stars Nathan Fillion and Stana Katic decide not to return, the network is exploring other options for a Castle spin-off.

Michael Weatherly, who has played Special Agent Anthony DiNozzo since NCIS launched in 2003, confirmed via Twitter that he is leaving the show at season’s end. Weatherly landed an overall producing deal with NCIS studio CBS TV Studios and has been increasingly active on the producing side of the business.

Laura Dern is joining the cast of Showtime’s Twin Peaks revival in a mystery role. Additional cast members previously reported include former Twin Peaks stars Kyle MacLachlan, Sheryl Lee and Sherilyn Fenn, plus Jennifer Jason Leigh, Robert Knepper, Balthazar Getty, Amanda Seyfried, Miguel Ferrer and Bailey Chase.

TNT’s long-running drama Rizzoli & Isles, starring Angie Harmon as police detective Jane Rizzoli and Sasha Alexander as medical examiner Dr. Maura Isles, will end after the seventh season airs in summer 2016, with 13 episodes.

Person of Interest's executive producer, J.J. Abrams, has said that it is quite likely that the upcoming fifth season of the CBS crime drama will likely be its last. The news doesn't come as a complete surprise, after the network gave the show a reduced, 13-episode order for Season 5 that has yet to be put on the schedule.

The Office alum Jenna Fischer has booked a recurring role on NBC’s comedy-drama series The Mysteries Of Laura. The show stars Debra Messing as a brilliant and messy detective and single mother of twins, while Fischer will play an attorney and single mom who makes waves for Laura when sparks fly between her character and Laura’s ex-husband Jake (Josh Lucas).

The BBC has announced a slate of more than 35 hours of new drama, including The Replacement, a three-part psychological thriller made by Left Bank Pictures; the six-part thriller Requiem; and Woman in White, an adaption of Wilkie Collins’s mystery novel produced by Origin Pictures with BBC Northern Ireland.

TNT has opted not to proceed with the thriller pilot Home, from writer Aron Eli Coleite, Jerry Bruckheimer TV and Warner Horizon, about a seemingly idyllic suburban family. The network also shelved its Robbers pilot, a project described as being in the literary-noir tradition of Cormac McCarthy’s No Country For Old Men.

CBS has set March 31 as the premiere date for Rush Hour, its new series based on the series of buddy cop films starring Jackie Chan and Chris Tucker (roles taken over by actors  Justin Hires and Jon Foo in the TV show). The network also moved the premiere date of the spin-off series Criminal Minds: Beyond Borders (starring Gary Sinise, Alana De La Garza, Daniel Henney, Tyler James Williams, and Annie Funk) to March 16 instead of the previously-announced March 2. The Sherlock Holmes series Elementary will shift to CSI: Cyber’s timeslot on Sundays, and CSI: Cyber will move to the temporary time slot of Wednesdays.

TNT released a promo trailer that includes looks at two of its upcoming summer series: Good Behavior, based on the Letty Dobesh books by Wayward Pines author Blake Crouch, stars Michelle Dockery as a thief and con artist whose life is always one wrong turn, one bad decision from implosion. Animal Kingdom, inspired by the 2010 Australian feature, stars Barkin as the matriarch of a Southern California family whose excessive lifestyle is fueled by their criminal activities.

Hulu released a trailer for J.J. Abrams' adaptation of the time-traveling Stephen King novel, 11/22/63.

PODCASTS/VIDEO/RADIO

In a Q&A with the Guardian’s Mark Lawson, Scottish author Ian Rankin revealed why, after the death of two close friends including fellow novelist Iain Banks, he took a year-long sabbatical from writing before penning another installment of the best-selling Rebus series.

Paranormal, horror, thriller, and crime author W. D. Gagliani chatted with mystery author Debbi Mack on the Crime Cafe podcast about his Nick Lupo paranormal thriller/crime fiction series and other work.

GAMES

Kalypso Media announced a partnership with French publisher Microïds to bring the boxed retail versions of the adventure title Agatha Christie - The ABC Murders to PC, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One in the United Kingdom, North America and Brazil. Adapted from the classic Agatha Christie novel of the same name, the game offers players an opportunity to step in the shoes of Christie's famous fictional detective Hercule Poirot, interviewing characters, gathering evidence, and solving challenging puzzles in order to collect clues and piece together the mystery to bring the "A.B.C." murderer to justice, all rendered stylishly in cel-shaded 3D.

Mystery Melange

If you are a Sherlockian or know someone who is, head to New York City for the Baker Street Irregulars week, January 13-17, an annual event that celebrates the birth of the world's greatest fictional detective. This year's Distinguished Speaker is Jeffrey Hatcher, who wrote the screenplay for the film Mr. Holmes as well as the plays Sherlock Holmes and the Adventure of the Suicide Club and Sherlock Holmes and the Ice Palace Murders.

Speaking of Sherlock, Merriam-Webster online noted that the language in Sherlock Holmes is as intriguing as the stories and chose a list of "10 Sherlock Holmes Words Worth Investigating."

If you've already seen the BBC Sherlock Christmas special, check out the network's behind the scenes video on "Taking Sherlock Back To Victorian Times."

For more Sherlock goodness, Trinity professor Clare Clarke looks at writers and characters in Sherlock’s shadow and selects 12 of the best, including "the Irish Sherlock," to satisfy your cravings.

In not-so-happy Sherlock news, a UK high court challenge against a plan to redevelop the Victorian house where Sir Arthur Conan Doyle wrote The Hound of the Baskervilles has failed. Plans are now for Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s former home Undershaw, in Surrey, to be used as a school; it had formerly served as a hotel until 2005. John Gibson, a Conan Doyle scholar, had won an initial legal challenge nearly two years ago to prevent the building being turned into eight apartments, and was joined in his opposition by Ian Rankin, Stephen Fry, Benedict Cumberbatch and Mark Gatiss, co-creator of the BBC's Sherlock.

Megan Abbott penned an essay for The Guardian about the blockbuster successes of Girl On a Train and Gone Girl and how they underline a desire among female readers for stories that speak to their experiences.

Montreal's Pointe-a-Calliere museum is paying homage to the Agatha Christie, the "Queen of Crime" with an exhibit on her writing, life, and the many years Christie spent on archaeological dig sites in the Middle East with her second husband, Max Mallowan.

Although the Christmas season has come and gone, some Christmas mysteries linger on: for seventy years, the true identity of the author behind the popular book Murder for Christmas was a real whodunnit. But now the name of the man who wrote the 1949 novel - which was a hit again when it was reissued last year - has been revealed by his daughter. Writing under the pen name Francis Duncan, lecturer William Underhill wrote about 30 books but kept his identity secret.

Authors including Jon Ronson and Ian Rankin have joined efforts to help a bookshop badly hit by the floods that have swept the north of England. The Book Case in the West Yorkshire town of Hebden Bridge was one of the businesses in the town wrecked when the town was hit by the severe rain battering the region.

Keeping track of the end of the year "best novel lists"? Here's another one to add to your collection: journalist and critic Oline Cogdill chose her top mystery novels of 2015.

The December issue of Suspense magazine includes the editor's "best" of the year awards, including the winner of the "Crimson Scribe" award given to one author. There are also interviews with Patricia Cornwell, Ron Ripley, Tasha Alexander, Linda Fairstein, Sue Grafton, and over 20 pages of book reviews, short stories, and other articles.  

And for a wrap-up of all (or almost all) of the various "Best Crime Fiction" lists, the Rap Sheet has a handy reference guide.

For a different kind of "best of" list, GalleyCat compiled links to the best "2015 TED Presentations From Writers."

The new issue of Yellow Mama has some holiday-themed crime short stories, as well as other original full-length fiction, flash fiction, and poetry.

The latest issue of ThugLit features eight new original tales of love, losers, larceny, lacerations, and lunatics.

The January/February issue of The Big Click is themed around Country Noir, guest edited by Court Merrigan.  (Hat tip to Sandra Seamans).

The January issue of Flash Bang Mysteries, edited by B.J. Bourg, has new mystery/suspense fiction from Neil De Noux, Ruth M. McCarty, Kaye George, and more.

New to Scandinavian crime fiction and don't know where to start? Petey Menz compiled "The Scandinavian Crime Fiction Starter Kit" for the Deadspin Book Club.

The Guardian asked several authors, including Ian Rankin, Anthony Horowitz and many more, to send along questions for the Literary Quiz of the Year. Test your knowledge of books and literature, old and new, with part one and part two of the quiz.

The new crime poem at the 5-2 is "Gunsels Need Not Apply" by Richard Manly Heiman.

In the Q&A roundup, Sophie Hannah spoke with The Guardian about snobbery towards genre fiction, bringing Hercule Poirot back from the dead, and how Mother Goose got her hooked on rhyme; former prosecutor turned professor and author Alafair Burke c
hatted with The Mysterious People about her two series featuring NYPD Detective Ellie Hatcher and Portland Deputy District Attorney Samantha Kincaid; and the Mystery People also welcome Jeff Abbott to discuss The First Order, the fifth book in his thriller series featuring Sam Capra.

Media Murder for Monday

MOVIES

The National Society of Film Critics Awards announced the 2015 finalists, with nods going to the Cold War drama Bridge of Spies and also Spotlight, a film based on the Boston Globe investigative team that pursued the pedophile priest scandal.

Christoph Waltz appears to be interested in returning to the James Bond franchise to reprise his character of Ernst Stavro Blofeld, on one condition: if Daniel Craig returns as James Bond. However, after the recent Spectre film, there has been a great deal of conflicting cues as to whether or not Craig is planning on continuing the Bond role.

Matt Damon is returning to the Jason Bourne series, set 12 years after Jason Bourne disappeared in 2007’s The Bourne Ultimatum. According to the actor, his character won’t be in a good state upon his return, with the events in those intervening years serving as the basis for the story.

TELEVISION

Entertainment Weekly released photos of the new miniseries adaptation of John le Carré's The Night Manager. The series centers on MI-6 Field Agent Jonathan Pine (played by Tom Hiddleston) and the morally ambiguous weapons dealer (Hugh Laurie) Pine is tasked with bringing down. The project is being produced by the author's son, Simon Cornwell, and the author himself will make a brief cameo.

Chicago P.D. and Chicago Med are about to get another crossover event. In an upcoming episode, the intelligence team from Chicago P.D. is going to investigate a case to see if a doctor is intentionally killing his patients. The doctor under investigation, Dr. Dean Reybold, just happens to be the doctor who treated Hank Voight’s wife before her death, which might not have been of natural causes.

Ratings for Castle haven’t been stellar since the show returned to the schedule this September, and many believe the ABC procedural may be reaching the end of its shelf life. While showrunners Terence Paul Winter and Alexi Hawley aren’t ready to throw in the towel at the end of the current eighth season, they have crafted a finale that should work for a series finale, should Castle fail to get renewed.  

Better Call Saul co-creator Vince Gilligan has teased at least one familiar face that will pop up in Season 2, adding that "We revisit a character we met early in Season 1 of Breaking Bad and haven’t seen since. It’s going to be a fun tip of the hat."

Fox released a new 20-minute mega-teaser for the X-Files, complete with behind-the-scenes interviews with creator Cris Carter and stars David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson. Among the major plot points and characters revealed in the new teaser is a look at Mulder (Duchovny) and Scully’s (Anderson) teenage son William.

PODCASTS/RADIO/VIDEO

The BBC posted excerpts from the Agatha Christie's personal tapes she dictated her autobiography onto, with an introduction by her grandson Mathew Prichard.

Denise Mina is the latest guest on the Speaking of Mysteries podcast, talking about Blood Salt Water, the latest in her series featuring Police Scotland’s DCI Alex Morrow.

Crime Fiction FM welcomed author Alan Osi to discuss his new thriller, Movement #1: A Hunter's Moon.