Media Murder for Monday

Top o'the week means it's time for the latest news from the world of crime dramas, including the 89th Oscars:

AWARDS

The Academy Award nominees included a few crime/thriller/mystery-related dramas such as Elle, Hell or High Water, Nocturnal Animals, and Arrival, although none won in their categories. The big winners were the coming-of-age film Moonlight (Best Picture) and La La Land, which won several awards. For all the nominees and winners, click on over to the official Oscars website.

MOVIES

Charlize Theron will star in and produce Universal's adaptation of the CIA thriller novel Need to Know, by Karen Cleveland. The story centers on a young wife and mother who works as a CIA analyst, who searches through databases in hopes of unmasking a Russian sleeper cell in the U.S. but makes a shocking discovery that threatens her job, her family and her life. 

The domestic thriller novel Behind Closed Doors by B.A. Paris is being adapted into a film with a script by Melissa London Hilfers. The project follows a woman whose dream husband suddenly becomes her worst nightmare immediately following their wedding day.

Captain Fantastic writer-director Matt Ross has been tapped to direct Tomorrow and Tomorrow, a futuristic crime thriller based on Tom Sweterlitsch’s 2014 novel. The story follows John Dominic Blaxton, who lives in Pittsburgh — which actually is the Archive, a virtual reconstruction of the city’s buildings, parks and landmarks as well as the people who once lived there. He investigates mysterious deaths from before Pittsburgh’s destruction and becomes obsessed with a woman who apparently was murdered.

Daniel Kaluuya has signed on to star in Widows, the Steve McQueen-directed film from New Regency, joining Viola Davis, Michelle Rodriguez and Cynthia Erivo in the cast. The plot centers on the aftermath of four armed robbers killed during a failed heist, and their surviving widows join forces and resolve to pull off the raid themselves. McQueen and Gone Girl author Gillian Flynn penned the script which is based on the 1983 British miniseries.

Sienna Miller and Giancarlo Giannini have joined The Catcher Was A Spy, the Ben Lewin-directed drama that stars Paul Rudd, Guy Pearce, Paul Giamatti and Jeff Daniels and is based on Nicholas Dawidoff’s bestselling book that tells the true story of Moe Berg, a major league ballplayer who was an important spy against the Nazis in WWII. Miller will play Estella Huni, the main character's love interest, while Giannini plays Italian physicist Professor Eduardo Amaldi. 

Corbin Bernsen is set to star in suspense thriller The Russian Bride, co-starring with Russian actress Oksana Orlan and 11-year-old model Kristina Pimenova. The indie project follows a reclusive billionaire (Bernsen) who brings a young woman and her daughter to the U.S. from Moscow with the promise of giving them both a better life. They soon discover his motives are extreme, and mother and daughter find themselves fighting for their lives.

Netflix has acquired streaming rights to The Irishman, Martin Scorsese's next project starring Robert De Niro. The Irishman is based on the 2004 novel I Heard You Paint Houses by Charles Brandt and will star De Niro as the title character, Frank "The Irishman" Sheeran, a contract killer who murdered Teamster Jimmy Hoffa in the 1970s. 

Rachel Bloom and Adam Pally are set to star in Most Likely to Murder, a mystery-comedy acquired by Lionsgate. Dan Gregor will direct from a script he co-wrote with Doug Mand that's described as "Rear Window for stoners."

Universal released a promotional poster for Atomic Blonde, the spy thriller starring Charlize Theron as MI6’s most lethal assassin who is sent alone into Berlin to deliver a priceless dossier out of the destabilized city and partners with embedded station chief David Percival (James McAvoy).

The release date for the Liam Neeson starrer The Commuter has been pushed back to January 12, 2018. Also starring Patrick Wilson, Vera Farmiga and Jonathan Banks, the action-thriller sees Neeson playing an insurance salesman in the midst of his daily commute who is forced by a mysterious stranger (Farmiga) to uncover the identity of a passenger before the train’s last stop.

TELEVISION

CBS has yanked its midseason series Doubt from its lineup after only two episodes. The series, which marked Katherine Heigl's second recent attempt to return to primetime and the first major network role for Laverne Cox, was greeted by so-so reviews and a low 0.8 rating among adults ages 18-49. The network will instead schedule the second season of Criminal Minds: Beyond Borders into Doubt's slot going forward.

Marg Helgenberger has been cast in the Fox pilot Behind Enemy Lines. The former CSI actress will star as Bobbie Decker, a Navy Admiral and the most powerful woman in the military. The pilot, loosely based on the 2001 Owen Wilson movie of the same name, is a military soap thriller wherein a group of U.S. soldiers find themselves trapped behind enemy lines.

Matthew Broderi
ck is heading to New Orleans to star in Katrina, the second season of Ryan Murphy's American Crime Story anthology. Broderick will star as Federal Emergency Management Agency director Michael D. Brown, who was in charge of the federal disaster response to Hurricane Katrina, and joins four-time Oscar nominee Annette Bening in the anthology series.

Daniel Ings has booked a key series regular role in Instinct, CBS’ drama pilot based on the upcoming book by James Patterson and Marc Webb. Instinct centers on Dylan, a former CIA operative (Alan Cumming) who has since built a normal life as a gifted professor and writer but is pulled back into his old life when the NYPD needs his help to stop a serial killer on the loose. Ings will play Tracy, Dylan’s "all-American" husband of one year. The network also announced that Lost alum Naveen Andrews has snagged a lead role in the pilot, playing Dylan’s old friend from the CIA who rivals Dylan in brilliance and wit. 

Former Cold Case star Kathryn Morris has been cast opposite Sarah Shahi in NBC’s drama pilot Reverie, from the Extant team of creator Mickey Fisher and Amblin TV. Penned by Fisher and directed by feature director Jaume Collett-Serra, Reverie is a thriller about Mara (Shahi), a former detective specializing in human behavior who is brought in when the launch of an advanced virtual reality program has dangerous and unintended consequences. Morris will play Monica Shaw, a Department of Defense official who has a vested interest in Alexis Barret’s (Jessica Lu) virtual reality project called Reverie. NBC also tapped Dennis Haysbert (The Unit, 24) as the male lead, playing a former police chief who used to be Mara's boss and enlists Mara's help stopping Reverie.

Filming has begun on the BBC's adaptation of Wilkie Collin's classic The Woman in White, long thought to be one of the first-ever psychological thriller novels. Former EastEnders star Ben Hardy takes on the lead role of a Victorian era school teacher who stumbles on a strange mystery as he encounters what appears to be a female spirit dressed completely in white, an obsession that leads him into a dangerous world of forbidden romance and possible insanity. 

Former Haven star Emily Rose has booked a series regular role opposite Reba McEntire in ABC’s untitled Marc Cherry drama pilot. The project stars McEntire as Ruby Adair, the sheriff of colorful small town Oxblood, KY, who finds her red state outlook challenged when a young FBI agent of Middle Eastern descent is sent to help her solve a horrific crime. Rose will play Vonda Jean, County Coroner for the small town and former pageant runner-up.

Lenny Platt (Quantico) will take on a starring role in CBS pilot Perfect Citizen, a legal drama written and executive produced by former Good Wife executive producer Craig Turk. The plot centers on the former general counsel for the NSA who, after his involvement as a whistleblower in an international scandal, embarks on a new career at a storied law firm in Boston. Platt will play Felix, the self-proclaimed "Alpha Associate" at the firm.

USA Network has set three stars for its upcoming drama pilot Unsolved, which will examine the murders of rap legends Biggie Smalls and Tupac Shakur. Josh Duhamel, Bokeem Woodbine, and Jimmi Simpson have all joined the series as the real-life detectives investigating the murder. 

Hope Davis (Allegiance), Vondie Curtis-Hall (Chicago Hope) and Regé-Jean Page (Roots) have joined the series-regular cast of ABC’s untitled pilot.The legal drama is set in the Southern District of New York (SDNY) Federal Court, aka "The Mother Court," and follows brand-new lawyers working for both the defense and the prosecution as they handle the most high-profile and high-stakes cases in the country.

Jason Ensler has been tapped to direct the drama pilot Redliners, about a pair of former spies living in suburbia who are reactivated when a failed hit on one of them leaves the assassin dead. The project is based on Small Kingdoms by Charlaine Harris.

J.R. Bourne has snagged a roleon the upcoming drama Somewhere Between as Tom Price, "Laura's (Paula Patton) powerful yet sensitive husband who is also the state's district attorney."

Rob Huebel has been cast in the drama pilot Unit Zero, about a brilliant, but unassuming CIA engineer and single mom, Jackie Fink (Toni Collette), as she leads a team of CIA underlings who are thrust into the field as first time spies. He'll play Phineas Bog, an off-beat CIA computer genius.

Austin Stowell (Whiplash) is the first to board the drama pilot Controversy, playing the Junior Counsel of a prestigious Illinois university who must deal with an out-of-control scandal when a young co-ed accuses several star football players of sexual assault.

J.D. Pardo has landed the lead role on the Sons of Anarchy spin-off, Mayans MC, playing the gifted son of a proud Latino family, whose American dream was snuffed out by cartel violence and whose need for vengeance drives him toward a life he never intended and can never escape.

The death of Bill Paxton (who died this weekend from a stroke following heart surgery), came just four episodes into the run of what will be his final series, CBS’ Training Day. Production on the midseason drama, a reboot of Antoine Fuqua’s
acclaimed movie, wrapped in December, so all 13 episodes from the show’s first-season order have already been filmed. The TV series begins 15 years after the events in the feature, and centers on an idealistic young police officer (Justin Cornwell) who is appointed to an elite squad of the LAPD where he is partnered with a seasoned, morally ambiguous detective (Paxton). There's been no word on the fate of the remaining episodes, but Training Day executive producer Jerry Bruckheimer said, "I am truly devastated at the passing of my friend Bill Paxton. He was a tremendously talented actor and a wonderful man."

Lethal Weapon was renewed for a second season by Fox, having done well enough to secure a spot as one of the top new TV shows of the year. 

FX announced that April 19 will be the premiere date for Season 3 of its Emmy-winning limited series Fargo. The new installment is set in 2010 and features Ewan McGregor (in dual roles), Carrie Coon, Mary Elizabeth Winstead and David Thewlis. 

TCM (Turner Classic Movies) will launch the noir-themed programming block Noir Alley every Sunday at 10 a.m. Hosted by Film Noir Foundation Founder and President Eddie Muller, the lineup stars off with The Maltese Falcon on March 5. (HT Mystery Fanfare)

PODCASTS/VIDEO/RADIO

The second episode of Writer Types features interviews with authors Joe R. Lansdale, Reed Farrel Coleman, and Jess Lourey, as well as short fiction from Erik Arneson.

Bestseller M.R. Carey joined host Alex Dolan on Thrill Seekers to talk about his book The Girl With All The Gifts (the film version of which comes out in theaters this month) and Fellside, among other titles. He's also a legend in the comic industry, as the creator of the Lucifer and Hellblazer series

Red River Radio's No Limits podcast with host Barbara M. Hodges welcomed Gwen Mayo, Sarah E. Glenn and Eleanor Kuhns. Mayo is the author of the Nessa Donnelly mysteries and co-wrote another series with Glenn; and Eleanor Kuhns is the 2011 winner of the Minotaur Books/Mystery Writers of America First Crime Novel.

Steve Cavanagh and Luca Veste, hosts of Two Crime Writers and a Microphone, discussed Jack the Ripper, Patricia Cornwell, and the forgotten victims; Liz Barnsley of LizLovesBooks, had reviews and recommendations; and the special guest was Keshini Naidoo, Associate Publisher at Bookoutre.

This week's guests on Suspense Radio were authors Andrew Grant (the David Trevellyan series) and and Tracy Weber (the Downward Dog Mysteries).

Noir on the Radio host Greg Barth welcomed Crime Fiction author Dharma Kelleher, whose debut thriller Iron Goddess was published by Alibi in June 2016. Her work has also appeared in Shotgun Honey.

Authors on the Air reported live from Sleuthfest and had interviews with author Jane Cleland and G.P. Putnam's Sons associate publisher and Editor in Chief Neil Nyren.

Climate of Fear & a Giveaway!

Fred Vargas (the pseudonym of Frédérique Audoin-Rouzeau) is one of France's most acclaimed crime writers, although she didn't start out that way. In fact, her day job was an archaeologist specializing in epidemiology, which is why she was so surprised when she became famous for her hobby, writing romans policiers – "rompols," she calls them. Her series, which is set in Paris and features the adventures of Commissaire Jean-Baptiste Adamsberg and his team, has won four International Dagger Awards from the Crime Writers Association for best translated crime novel of the year, along with her translator, Sîan Reynolds.

In his latest outing, Climate of Fear, Commissaire Adamsberg is back with a murder investigation that takes him through French Revolution history and Icelandic folklore. When a woman is found dead in her bathtub, her murder made to look like a suicide with a strange symbol drawn near her body, the Commissaire and his team investigate. Soon, a second victim is discovered and a pattern begins to emerge: both victims had been part of a tragic expedition to Iceland ten years earlier. But how are these deaths, and rumors of an Icelandic demon, linked to the secret society based on the writings of Maximilien Robespierre? And what does the mysterious symbol signify?

Kirkus said of the book, "It delights with its interesting characters, engaging dialogue, and infectious sense of curiosity about the lives of others," while Publishers Weekly added "Captivating … Vargas keeps introducing unexpected, fascinating new plot elements, even as the action totters on the brink of absurdity."

The publisher has offered up one print copy of Climate of Fear for one lucky winner from readers of In Reference to Murder (U.S. addresses only this time). To enter, hop on over to this Rafflecopter page and enter your email address through March 1 midnight ET. (NOTE: You'll need to enter your email address twice, once to "log in" and once to enter.)

For more information about Vargas and the book, check out her author page from Penguin Random House. Climate of Fear is available from all major online and brick-and-mortar bookstores.

Mystery Melange

Author and former CBC Radio Noon host Louise Penny became part of the Order of Canada Friday in a ceremony at Rideau Hall in Ottawa. Penny is a New York Times bestselling author whose work includes the award-winning Armand Gamache series of murder mysteries. The Order of Canada has been celebrating exceptional Canadians for 50 years as the country's highest civilian honor.

Meanwhile, across the Atlantic, crime fiction author Val McDermid was among those named as one of 60 new Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh (RSE).

The latest Literary Salon courtesy of Mystery Readers NorCal will feature author Deborah Crombie on February 23. Crombie is the bestselling author of the Duncan Kincaid/Gemma James series set in England, and her novels have received Edgar, Agatha, and Macavity Award nominations. For information and to RSVP, visit the Mystery Fanfare site.

On February 25-26, the annual Whidbey Island Mystery Weekend in Langley, Washington, returns to offer up a murder mystery. The entire town participates, and they invite visitors to join in to take on the role of sleuth and see if they can find the guilty character. 

The NYC Center for Fiction's "Women in Crime Fiction" panel was so successful, they've scheduled a second installment of the wildly popular event for March 16, 2017. Featured authors who will celebrate contemporary women writers of crime, mystery and thriller genres include Susan Isaacs, Hank Phillippi Ryan, Lisa Lutz and Laura Joh Rowland with moderator SJ Rozan.

The CrimeFest conference in the UK has established two new awards this year, adding Best YA (ages 12-16) and Best Children's (ages 8-12) Crime Novel categories to their regular slate of the Audible Sounds of Crime award, eDunnit award, Last Laugh award, and the H.R.F. Keating Award. The  convention is held annually in Bristol and draws top crime novelists, readers, editors, publishers and reviewers from around the world. (HT to EuroCrime)

BookRiot is giving away a haul of 10 excellent mysteries and thrillers, including a new collection of Arthur Conan Doyle’s gothic tales, Ruth Ware’s The Woman in Cabin 10, and more, as part of a promotion for their new mystery/thriller newsletter, Unusual Suspects. Interested folks can enter through February 26.

Mystery Scene's Winter Issue #148 features an interview with Belinda Bauer, a writer who vaulted onto the UK's crime scene with her first novel, Blacklands; a discussion between Craig Sisterson and E.O. Chirovici whose first English-language thriller created a publishing feeding frenzy; Jon L. Breen has an overview of recent legal thrillers; Andy Martin interviews bestselling Scottish author Ian Rankin, who was originally fated for a career in accounting; Oline Cogdill has a profile of April Smith about how she rode with cowboys, branded a cow, and attended cattle auctions and barbecues at ranches to research her latest novel; Lawrence Block ponders the possibilities of becoming a successful writer - without writing a thing; and Mystery Scene's critics shared their annual "Fave Raves," a roundup of 2016's very best.

The latest edition of Yellow Mama is also out as it celebrates the ezine's 10-year anniversary with five anniversary reprints, as well as new stories and poems.

Devil in a Blue Dress, the 1990 mystery novel by Walter Mosley, will be the "One Book, One Michiana" selection for 2017 for South Bend, Indiana. Community residents will be encouraged to read the book, and participate in a series of related discussions, lectures, film screenings and other events this spring. Devil in a Blue Dress was Mosley’s first published book and focuses on black war veteran Ezekiel "Easy" Rawlins and his transformation from a day laborer into a detective. The story is set in 1948 in the Watts area of Los Angeles.

You probably think you know the legend of the Lone Ranger from radio, television and graphic novels. The real "Lone Ranger," it turns out, was an African American man named Bass Reeves, although many aspects of his life were written out of the story, including his ethnicity. The basics remained the same: a lawman hunting bad guys, accompanied by a Native American, riding on a white horse, and with a silver trademark.

Readers who enjoy learning more about true crime tales might check out Bustle's list of "9 books for true crime nuts who just can't get enough," ranging from the contemporary (Trayvon Martin) to a murder mystery in the Arctic dating from 1941.

The New York Post profiled the history of the "controversial test could cost you your job or your kids," a/k/a the Rorschach test, and how it has influenced culture, including forensic settings, evaluating patients in custody disputes, personal-injury lawsuits and competency to stand trial, even noir movies. Psychiatrists also used them to study Nazi war criminals during the Nuremberg trials.

Would you like to help solve an astronomical mystery? You might be able to soon, with the help of your cellphone.

This week's featured crime poem at the 5-2 is "Mister Bellamy" by Charles Rammelkamp, and the latest pulp story at Beat to a Pulp is "I Love a Sunburnt Country" by Kieran Shea (with Cameron Ashley).

In the Q&A roundup, Debbi Mack interviewed Paul D. Brazill for the Crime Cafe podcast about his writing and latest novel, Too Many Crooks; the Mystery People welcomed Sarah Pinborough to discuss her new genre-bending tale of psychological suspense, Behind Her Eyes; the Hull Daily Mail spoke with Jane Harper about the surprising roots behind her new bestseller The Dry (which was optioned by Reece Witherspoon's production company); and The Book People snagged Joe Lansdale to talk about his latest Hap & Leonard works, including Rusty Puppy, as well as a novella, and an installment that takes the characters back to their early years.

Media Murder for Monday

Monday greetings, and welcome to another wrap-up of the latest crime drama news:

AWARDS

The Writers Guild of America handed out their annual awards this weekend, including Moonlight for Best Original Screenplay and the sci-fi mystery Arrival for Best Adapted Screenplay. The spy program The Americans also was honored as Best Drama Series, and The People v OJ Simpson: American Crime Story won for Best Adapted Long Form.

MOVIES

DreamWorks Pictures is adapting the upcoming murder mystery novel Into the Water from The Girl on the Train author Paula Hawkins. The story is set in a town where a single mother and a teenage girl were found dead in a river within a few months of each other, and follows a 15-year-old girl who has been left parentless while caring for her mother’s sister — a fearful stranger who has been dragged back to the place she deliberately ran from.

Jared Leto will make his feature film directorial debut with Paramount's crime thriller 77, which is based on an original screenplay by author James Ellroy (L.A. Confidential). Set in politically charged 1974 Los Angeles, the story centers around two police officers who team up to recover kidnapped heiress Patty Hearst while simultaneously investigating the brutal murder of a fellow officer. They uncover not only relentless corruption and crime, but a dark and violent conspiracy as well.

Universal Pictures has optioned City Of Saints & Thieves, the bestselling debut novel by Natalie C. Anderson, with Will Packer Productions and Kerry Washington’s Simpson Street production company in negotiations to produce. The protagonist is Tina, a girl who has been living on the streets of Kenya since her mother’s murder. Recruited by a gang of orphans and street kids, Tina gets closer to exacting revenge for her mother’s death, but soon discovers that she may not have all the facts. This is the second book that Scandal star Washington has come involved in following on The Perfect Mother, a thriller novel by Aimee Molloy that will be crafted as a star vehicle for Washington, who'll produce with Amy Pascal.

North American rights to Roman Polanski’s thriller Based on a True Story have been sold to Sony Pictures Classics. The French-language thriller stars Emmanuelle Seigner as a Parisian author with writer’s block who discovers a mysterious woman — played by Eva Green — at a book signing. Olivier Assayas and Polanski adapted the movie from Delphine de Vigan’s novel of the same name.

Screenwriter Andrea Berloff will direct and adapt the female-driven mob drama The Kitchen, marking the directorial debut for the Academy Award-nominated Straight Outta Compton screenwriter. The story is based on the comic book series by Ollie Masters and Ming Doyle and is described as "a classic gangster story told from a fresh POV. When a group of Irish mobsters are sent to prison, their wives take over their jailed spouses’ organized crime operations, subverting gender tropes to become the most ruthless and powerful gangsters in 1970’s Hell’s Kitchen."

TELEVISION

Mystery Productions has teamed up with Truenorth for the new series, The Valhalla Murders, an international detective drama that follows a displaced detective who, against his will, is ordered to leave his life in Denmark to investigate a series of murders in Iceland. Dark parts of his past will be brought back to the fore as he is forced to battle his own demons as well as the island nation’s first serial killer. The two production companies have also recently acquired a number of dark detective stories from Iceland’s enormously popular author Stefan Mani, hoping to develop them into a series beginning with the novel Black Magic.

Finland-U.S.-based Snapper Films has unveiled a new TV series, Sherlock North. It's based on a Conan Doyle short story where Sherlock Holmes travels to Scandinavia after faking his own death and is on the run from nemesis Professor Moriarty. Under a false identity – an explorer named Sigerson – Holmes settles in dark and cold Lapland, in northern Finland, sparking a culture clash between the upper-class, fast-talking and eccentric Brit and the down-to-earth Nordic characters.

The CBS S.W.A.T reboot has just cast Bond girl Stephanie Sigman in a starring role in the pilot, which is based on the movie of the same name. The project follows a locally born and bred S.W.A.T. lieutenant who is torn between loyalty to the streets and duty to his fellow officers when he’s tasked to run a highly-trained unit that’s the last stop for solving crimes in Los Angeles. Sigman will play Jessica, who’s described as ambitious and fastidious, and has earned her high rank at S.W.A.T. headquarters.

Versace: American Crime Story has signed the Bourne Ultimatum's Edgar Ramirez to play fashion designer Gianni Versace and Glee alum Darren Criss to play serial killer Andrew Cunanan in the third installment of Ryan Murphy's FX crime anthology series. The story will explore the July 1997 assassination of legendary designer Gianni Versace, whose killer, Andrew Cunanan, committed suicide eight days later as Miami Dade police were on the verge of capturing the serial killer behind five slayings. 

Britne Oldford (Syfy’s Hunters), Ben Rappaport (The Good Wife), and veteran Anna Deavere Smith (Nurse Jackie) are set to star in an ABC legal drama pilot from Shondaland and ABC Studios. The project is set in the Southern District of New York (SDNY) Federal Court, aka "The Mother Court," and follows brand-new lawyers working for both the defense and the prosecution as they handle the most high-profile and high-stakes cases in the country

BBC America has hired Kevin Smith to write, direct and executive produce a series based on the Sam And Twitch comic book series about big-city homicide detectives who face a series of super grizzly crimes that are connected to the occult.

Amazon has renewed Goliath, its legal drama starring Billy Bob Thornton, for a second season. Clyde Phillips, who oversaw Dexter as showrunner through its first four seasons, will take over as boss. Playing disgraced alcoholic lawyer Billy McBride, Thornton won the best actor in a TV drama Golden Globe this year for the role. 

Natalie Dormer (Game
of Thrones, The Hunger Games) is to star as English headmistress Hester Appleyard in Foxtel’s six-part drama Picnic at Hanging Rock. The project is a "re-imagining" of Joan Lindsay’s novel, which was inspired by the mysterious disappearance of three schoolgirls and a teacher on Valentine’s Day in 1900 in Australia. The teachers of Appleyard College for Young Ladies will be played by French actress Lola Bessis, Yael Stone, Anna McGahan, and Sibylla Budd.

Jessica Biel is making her return to television a memorable one, starring in and executive producing the new USA anthology crime thriller The Sinner, which just released its first trailer. Based on a novel by Petra Hammesfahr, the show stars Biel as a young mother named Cora who commits a horrific crime in full view of her family and public bystanders. It's a seemingly inexplicable act for she claims she has no motive, which puzzles the lead investigator (Bill Pullman).

Wondering which of your favorite shows are going to be renewed and which aren't? TV Guide published a list of a 2016-2017 TV Scorecard.

PODCASTS/RADIO/VIDEO

NPR's Scott Simon interviewed Tom Rosenstiel (who is also the executive director of the American Press Institute) about his debut novel Shining City, which focuses on Washington D.C. politics, power brokers, spin doctors, compromise, and the press.

The mystery of Ireland and writing were some of the topics discussed with Lisa Alber, author of the County Clare mystery series, on the Authors on the Air podcast.

Swedish novelist Christoffer Carlsson, who's written five novels, won Sweden's top award for crime fiction, and has a PhD in criminology (all under the age of 30), spoke to Kate Evans on Radio National about his writing career and his novel Master, Liar, Traitor, Friend, the third in a series about a cop named Leo Junker.

Picking apart three of her favorite pieces of crime fiction, Nicola Davis sat down in the studio for the Guardian Books podcast with Dr. Kathryn Harkup, a chemist, science communicator, and author of A Is for Arsenic: The Poisons of Agatha Christie.

Seattle's KUOW radio featured arts and culture reporter Marcie Sillman and librarian Nancy Pearl talking about thrillers, with a few recommendations.

THEATER

A new production adapted (by Simon Brett and Antony Lampard) from one of Ruth Rendell's most celebrated novels is on tour in the UK, visiting 26 venues through December of this year.  The story follows Eunice, a woman struggling to fit in, and when she joins a wealthy family as their housekeeper, the very reason for her awkwardness, long hidden and deeply buried, leads inexorably to a terrible tale of murder in cold blood – on Valentine’s Day.

Houston's Theatre Suburbia will present Sherlock Holmes: John Watson's Body from February 24 to March 25, 2017. The play was penned by C.P. Stancich and starts with Dr. Watson investigating the disappearance of a family's priceless emeralds, but when he finds and then loses a body, it draws Holmes and friend Oscar Dove into a web of murder, larceny and intrigue.  

I caught this piece almost too late, but from Feb. 8 to 26, the Royal Manitoba Theatre Company (RMTC) is honoring Agatha Christie at the 17th annual Master Playwright Festival, an event that takes on a selected number of works from a celebrated artist. The festival provides opportunities for artists from a variety of organizations to produce work under the umbrella of a larger festival, and  also provides patrons with an opportunity to thoroughly immerse themselves in the works of a renowned playwright. Agatha Christie is only the second woman to be honored by the RMTC Festival and the first mystery writer.  

GAMES

Ink Spotters 1: The Art of Detection is a new app written by NY Times best-selling author Sean Stewart that creates a new Sherlock Holmes adventure. Players can follow Sherlock from Victorian London's high society to its rank underbelly as they breeze through the game's comic-like pages. By typing in key words, players unlock more pages that lead to the rest of the story. The more clues you find, the more pages you unlock.

Mystery Melange

The longlist for the Crime Writers Association 2017 Dagger in the Library was officially announced last week. The Dagger in the Library (a prize for a body of work by a crime writer that users of libraries particularly admire) is one of the most prestigious crime writing awards in the UK. This year's finalists include Alison Bruce; Kate Ellis; Chris Ewan; Tana French; Mari Hannah; Brian MacGilloway; James Oswald; C J Samson; Andrew Taylor, and Nicola Upson.

The Audio Publishers Association announced the finalists for the 22nd annual Audie Awards, which recognize distinction in audiobooks and spoken word entertainment, and include Best Mystery and Best Thriller categories.

The Open University/Institute of English Studies Contemporary Culture of Writing Seminars are presenting a Spring Seminar Series On Detective and Crime Fiction, beginning April 21 at the Senate House in Malet Street, London. Speakers at these free events will tackle such topics as how crime novels reflect contemporary politics and culture; have advances in psychology, neuroscience and digital technology changed the fictional landscape; is there a gender divide in the type of crime fiction written by men and women; who are the victims – and who are the perpetrators; and does the crime always have to be solved?

The Golden Age of Crime Weekend at Essex Book Festival will take place on March 11-12 in Southend-on-Sea. This year's line-up includes Sophie Hannah. who will talk about writing the first Poirot novel since Agatha Christie's death; Frances Fyfield, Jill Paton Walsh and former CWA chair and Detection Club president Simon Brett will celebrate the long-lasting legacy of Dorothy L Sayers; debut crime writers join the "Fresh Blood" panel; there's a Golden Age of Crime Quiz Night; Charles Beck will share insights into Dennis Wheatley's life and work; Sheila Mitchell will profile HRF Keating; and CWA member Isabelle Grey will host a crime-writing workshop.

At the other end of the country, also in March on the 25th, the Deal Noir conference on crime fiction at The Landmark Centre in Deal will feature CWA members Susan Moody, Barry Forshaw, Katerina Diamond, Sarah Ward, Susi Holliday, Guy Fraser-Sampson speaking on crime fiction in all its forms from dark psychological thrillers through police procedurals to light-hearted romps and Interactive sessions where you have chance to put your questions to the panel and join in the debate.

The 2017 Edgar Week activities in NYC were recently announced, kicking off with an evening featuring members of Mystery Writers of America, the 2017 Edgar Award nominees, bestselling authors, and publisher representatives at the Mysterious Bookshop. There's also an all-day writers' symposium, and, of course, the annual Edgar Awards banquet.

There is a blog-centered Mystery Thriller "Week" (it's actually 11 days) that runs through February 22, with  220+ authors from over a dozen countries represented. You can follow the links to dozens of book reviews, author Q&As, guest posts, and giveaways via this website calendar.

Academics, authors and fans of the "Queen of Crime" will gather at Cambridge University to discuss Agatha Christie's legacy. Lucy Cavendish College will host Agatha Christie: A Reappraisal in June as "fans and fellow writers coming together to try and unravel the mysteries behind some of the best-loved crime fiction of all time."

One sad bit of news to report: Canadian YA writer Norah McClintock has died at the age of 64 from the effects of ovarian cancer. McClintock published over 60 books, including the popular Robyn Hunter mysteries, Chloe & Levesque mysteries, and the Mike & Riel mysteries. She won five Arthur Ellis Awards for crime fiction for young people, and her books have been translated into 16 languages. In addition to books for young adults, McClintock has published two graphic novels, I, Witness with Mike Deas and Tru Detective with Steven Hughes.

San Diego's Fleet Science Center just opened a new interactive exhibit titled "Sherlock Holmes and the Clocktower Mystery."  You can catch it through early June and try your hand at solving the mystery as you walk through several settings such as a carnival sideshow, a séance room and a caretaker's room, searching clues amid all the red herrings. When you think you know the name of the murderer, you'll enter the study to be questioned about your conclusions, and the mystery will be solved in a dramatic finale.

Another new exhibit coming up in April in Philadelphia will tackle "Clever Criminals and Daring Detectives," taking a historical look at criminals and detectives in fiction. Materials on display will include the earliest account of an American multiple murderer, the original manuscript of Arthur Conan Doyle's "The Adventure of the Empty House" and reflections on mystery collecting of Ellery Queen. Visitors willl also have a chance to test out their own sleuthing skills.  (HT to Elizabeth Foxwell)

As filming gets underway for another series of ITV dramas featuring Rowan Atkinson playing Inspector Maigret, Penguin continues to publish its new translations of Georges Simenon’s Maigret novels at a rate of one a month. Of the 76 novels in the series, 63 take place in Paris, and because of that close relationship to setting, Crime Fiction Lover took a closer look "at the man and his city, with photography to depict the locations and the mood that the author established throughout the novels."

EuroCrime's Karen Meeks noted the publication of three new Agatha Christie-related crime fiction titles including a couple where the author herself stars as the sleuthing protagonist.

While much has been made about Agatha Christie's contribution to mysteries especially during her recent 125th anniversary celebrations, Criminal Element and Kristen Lepionka reminded us of other groundbreaking women in crime fiction.

A statistical analysis by Peking University Library showed that when its student body isn't reading course-assigned books about economics and politics, they are showing a preference for Japan's top thriller and mystery writer, Keigo Higashino. According to the report, Higashino's thriller Mysterious Night is the library's third-most borrowed book for 2016, and Higashino is also credited as having written the two most reserved books in Peking University Library, The Miracle in the Grocery Store as well as Journey Under the Midnight Sun.

Ever wonder how Sherlock Holmes got his name? Writing for LitHub, Michael Sims looks into the early history of the iconic detective's creator, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.

Sarah PInborough, author of new book Behind Her Eyes, compiled a list of the "Top 10 unreliable narrators From Edgar Allan Poe to Gillian Flynn" for The Guardian.

Fans of young adult crime fiction (or those of you who have family members who are) should check out this list of "5 YA Crime Families You’ll (Almost) Wish You Could Join" on the Barnes & Noble blog.

I'll bet this is one event commemorating Agatha Christie you haven't heard of - pancake day races in Wallingford featuring an Agatha Christie-themed challenge on Tuesday, February 28, with competitors dressed as villains and investigators. Even RAF Benson has agreed to send a team along to take part in the adult race.

Cracked profiled "20 Mysteries That Absolutely No One Can Solve" (although "no one" seems to be a bit of an exaggeration), fascinating real-life puzzles culled from historical events. (HT to Bill Crider)

This week's featured crime poem at the 5-2 is "Inquest: A Missing Person" by Daniel D'Arezzo.
 
In the Q&A roundup, Omnivoracious snagged author Louise Penny to interview author Deborah Crombie about the the latest in her very popular Duncan Kincaid/Gemma James series; the Mystery People spoke with author Robert Knott, who took over Robert B. Parker’s Old West law duo Hitch and Cole; Chris Bell took Paul D. Brazill's "Short, Sharp Interview" challenge about his latest story collection; the Mystery People also chatted with KJ Howe, Director of ThrillerFest, who is making her fiction debut with Freedom Broker; and author/reporter Betty Webb was the Q&A subject for Huffington Post, talking about her Lena Jones mysteries.

Media Murder for Monday

Welcome to another new week and another wrap-up of the latest crime drama news:

MOVIES

The production company The Firm picked up rights to the untitled Big Pharma/Whistleblower corporate thriller from screenwriters Hayley Schore and Roshan Sethi. The ensemble piece tells intersecting stories surrounding a new controversial behavioral drug being peddled to inner city families while a scrappy, driven district attorney clashes with a young, ambitious pharmaceutical rep forced to participate in a wide-ranging conspiracy. The Firm has several other projects in development, including the Angela Davis biopic about the first woman placed on the FBI’s 10 Most Wanted list as well as a film based on the famous 1981 Signal Hill police brutality case.

TriStar has preemptively acquired rights to The Perfect Mother, a thriller novel by Aimee Molloy that just sold in a seven-figure HarperCollins publishing deal. Kerry Washington is attached to star in the film, which revolves around a Brooklyn group called May Mothers, a group of moms who meet up to socialize and relish a couple hours away from their babies. But when one mother learns her 6-week-old son has been abducted from his crib, three new moms go to increasingly desperate lengths to find him alive in a hunt that ends up revealing damaging secrets and testing marriages and friendships.

WWE Studios acquired exclusive English-language remake rights to the Norwegian thriller franchise Cold Prey, which follows a group of friends who decide to ski out of bounds and are forced to take shelter when a storm hits, finding themselves imprisoned in an abandoned ski lodge along with a maniacal killer. Cold Prey was hailed as one of the best modern Norwegian horror movies and the most successful franchise of its kind.

Film Movement picked up North American rights to Frédéric Mermoud’s French psychological thriller Moka starring Emmanuelle Devos. Moka is based on a 2006 novel by Tatiana de Rosnay and centers on a grieving woman who pursues a couple whom she suspects killed her son in a hit-and-run accident.

Jake Gyllenhaal is joining Joaquin Phoenix and John C. Reilly in the cast of The Sisters Brothers, based on Patrick deWitt’s novel of the same name. The story is set in 1951 Oregon and follows two brothers and notorious assassins, Eli and Charlie Sisters, who are hired to kill a gold prospector named Hermann Kermit Warm, who has stolen from their boss.  

Joel Edgerton has signed on to star opposite Jon Bernthal (Daredevil) in the dark crime thriller Stingray. Edgerton will play a powerful small town racketeer whose brother is accidentally killed by a petty criminal played by Bernthal. As a result, Bernthal’s character must kill one of his own family members in the next two days to pay off his debt.

Jeremy Saulnier has set the cast for his next film, the thriller Hold the Dark, which is based on the book by William Giraldi and is being produced for Netflix. Starring Alexander Skarsgard, Jeffrey Wright, James Badge Dale, Riley Keough, and James Bloor, the story set in the Alaskan wilderness, where wolves are killing children. A biologist arrives on the scene to investigate and tangles with a dead boy’s dysfunctional parents. Wright will play the biologist, Badge Dale plays a detective. Skarsgard plays the father and Keough will play the mother, while Bloor’s character is described as a creepy drifter.

Oscar Issac has signed on to star in the spy thriller The Garbo Project. Set during World War II, the project is based on the true story of Juan Pujol Garcia, an eccentric double-agent who, with no military or covert training, somehow persuaded both the Germans and the British to hire him as a spy. As it turned out, his real allegiance was to England, and working closely with MI5, he created a fictional network of 27 spies said to be spread out over England, Scotland, and Ireland. His ruse enabled the English to deceive the Germans about the invasion of Normandy.

Oscar-winning screenwriters Joel and Ethan Coen have come on board to polish the script for Universal’s Scarface remake, which stars Diego Luna (Rogue One) in the title role. All that's left is to hire on a director (after Antoine Fuqua had to drop out), with Hell Or High Water's David Mackenzie and Patriots Day's Peter Berg said to be in the running. Universal plans to release the film in August 2018.

Production has wrapped on Nicolas Pesce’s psychological thriller Piercing, which is based on Ryu Murakami’s 1994 novel of the same name. The film stars Christopher Abbott as a man who kisses his wife and baby goodbye, seemingly headed away on business, with a plan to check into a hotel, call an escort service and kill an unsuspecting prostitute - until his plans are thwarted by an alluring and mysterious call girl (Mia Wasikowska), who arrives at his room, leading to a pulsating game of cat-and-mouse.

Sarah Paulson has landed the starring role in Amazon Studios' serial-killer drama Lost Girls. Documentary filmmaker Liz Garbus is making her narrative-film debut with the film, which is based on investigative reporter Robert Kolker's 2013 nonfiction book of the same name. Michael Werwie wrote the adaptation, which centers on a mother searching for her missing daughter in Long Island who makes a horrifying discovery in the woods, where the murdered bodies of four girls have been dumped.

The first trailer was released for Oren Moverman’s psychological thriller The Dinner (based on the international best-selling novel by Herman Koch) starring Richard Gere, Steve Coogan, Rebecca Hall, and Laura Linney in the tale of two couples and the dark secrets that bind them together over one intense dinner.

The first trailer was dropped for Unlocked, the fast-paced thriller about a CIA operative played by Noomi Rapace (from the original Swedish The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo), who, after the interrogation of a captured terrorist underling, comes upon crucial information about a biological attack on London that suddenly makes her a target from ersatz agents working for the terrorists. Forced to go on the run, the only person she can trust is a brash MI5 agent played by Orlando Bloom.

TELEVISION

Amazon is teaming up with Drive director Nicolas Winding Refn on the new crime thriller Too Old To Die Young, which was greenlit with a straight-to-series order with 10 episodes. The show explores the criminal underbelly of Los Angeles and is described as being in a similar vein to Refn’s Pusher trilogy, which looked at Danish criminals caught up in the drug trade.  

NBC is giving a pilot order to a drama inspired by the the literary works of best-selling author Charlaine Harris, Redliners, based on short stories by Harris, whose books also inspired HBO’s hit vampire drama True Blood. In the tone of Mr. and Mrs. Smith, Redliners mixes humor, romance and espionage. It follows a pair of former operatives who get reactivated and drawn into a larger conspiracy while attempting to maintain their undercover lives.

Fans of Grey's Anatomy, Scandal, and How to Get Away with Murder can breathe easier after ABC announced they were renewing the series for their fourteenth, seventh, and fourth seasons, respectively.

BBC Four acquired the new Canadian procedural drama Cardinal, adapted from the novel Forty Words for Sorrow, the first of six mystery novels featuring the character John Cardinal, written by Giles Blunt. The story sees Cardinal, who has been demoted for following a hunch on a case of a missing teenager that he wouldn’t let go, brought back to the homicide unit when the teen’s body is found, proving his instincts correct. His hunt for the murderer becomes an all-consuming race to stay one step ahead of a serial killer.

Annette Bening set to make a rare TV appearance after she was added to the cast of Katrina: American Crime Story, the second season of the FX series, which will focus on the events that led up to and followed Hurricane Katrina. Bening will be playing former Louisiana Governor Kathleen Blanco who served as Governor during and following the devastation of Hurricane Katrina and was responsible for the mass evacuation of the New Orleans area and the rescue of residents left behind in the aftermath of the storm.

ABC’s magician FBI drama pilot Deception has found its lead in Jack Cutmore-Scott, who takes on the role of superstar magician Cameron Black. When his career is ruined by scandal, Black has only one place to turn to practice his art of deception, illusion, and influence — the FBI.  

Jennifer Finnigan is set as the female lead in Salvation, CBS' straight-to-series summer suspense thriller drama based on the story by Matt Wheeler about MIT grad student Liam and tech superstar Darius, who bring low-level Pentagon official Grace (Finnigan) a staggering discovery – that an asteroid is just six months away from colliding with Earth. Brought into the government’s secret task force to save humanity, Grace struggles to keep the secret from the ones she loves and finds herself tested in ways she never imagined.

Heroes alum Jack Coleman is set to co-star opposite Reba McEntire in ABC’s Marc Cherry drama pilot, from ABC Studios. The untitled project stars McEntire as Ruby Adair, the sheriff of colorful small town Oxblood, KY, who finds her red state outlook challenged when a young FBI agent of Middle Eastern descent is sent to help her solve a horrific crime. Coleman will play Deke Adair, Ruby’s ruggedly handsome ex-husband who is now married to Ruby’s former best friend, Randa (Amanda Detmer).

Bradley Whitford, still widely known as The West Wing's Josh Lyman, has signed on to guest star in the crossover episode arc between Chicago Fire, Chicago P.D. and Chicago Justice, taking on the role of Albert Forest, a very powerful defense lawyer who basically wrote the book on the best way to cross examine witnesses on the stand.

NYPD Blue alum Esai Morales is also heading to the Windy City. Morales, who played Lt. Tony Rodriguez on NYPD Blue, is joining Chicago P.D. in a recurring role to be introduced in the upcoming three-show crossover that will launch Chicago Justice.

BBC America has set Saturday, June 10, as the premiere of the fifth and final season of its critically praised series Orphan Black. Star Tatiana Maslany returns to her Emmy-winning role as multiple clones in the Peabody Award-winning series, which will likely pick up where Season 4 left off, with Daya Diaz (Dascha Polanco) pointing a loaded gun at two of the prison guards during a riot following the death of Poussey (Samira Wiley).

The 2016 production of Four Seasons in Havana has made its way to Netflix. It's based on novelist Leonardo Padura's fictional detective Mario Conde who's been described as "Cuba's Philip Marlowe." WLRN had a preview of the TV program, and the Mystery People's Molly Odintz profiled the novel series. Meanwhile, an American, English-language version, titled Havana Quartet, is in production for the U.S. cable network Starz, with Antonio Banderas playing Conde.

A trailer was released for ITV's Broadchurch, which will return in 2017 for its 3rd and final season, bringing back almost all of its familiar faces in the process. The story will follow detectives Ellie Miller (Olivia Colman) and Alec Hardy (David Tennant) as they investigate a serious sexual assault in the area.

BBC One dropped a trailer for the upcoming SS-GB, the alternative history thriller series based on the novel by Len Deighton, in which the Nazis were successful in occupying London during WWII.

POCASTS/VIDEO/RADIO

MPR chatted with Ellen Hart, recently named a Grand Master by Mystery Writers of America, one of the highest distinctions in the genre, for her thirty years of crime fiction work. Hart talked about her career and how writing about a gay detective made her feel like she "was writing science fiction."

Steve Cavanagh and Luca Veste, hosts of the Two Crime Writers and a Microphone podcast, discussed the success of Waterstones, books vs. ebooks, writing vs. editing, and optical illusions, and also chatted with award-winning author Stav Sherez.

2nd Sunday Crime welcomed author David Taylor, whose Night Life was nominated for an Edgar for Best First Novel.

The latest Suspense Radio podcast included guest authors Alexandrea Weis, Elizabeth Heiter, Kimberly Howe and Lisa Gardner.

Mystery Melange - Valentine's Edition

Just in time for Valentine's Day, the Mystery People posted "(Extremely) Unauthorized Relationship Advice Inspired by Crime Fiction: Part 1."

In the mood for some romantic crime fiction? Check out Mystery Fanfare's list of Valentine's Day Mysteries.

Book Riot also posted a gallery of "23 Valentine's Day Cards for Book Lovers," including this fun one featuring Edgar Allan Poe.

Congrats go to investigator and author John Straley, who was honored with an Alaskan Legislative Citation for his more than three decades of public service to the state of Alaska in the fields of poetry, law, and literature.

Congratulations are also in order for the nominees for the Hammett Prize for a work of literary excellence in the field of crime writing by a U.S. or Canadian author, handed out annually by the North American Branch of the International Association of Crime Writers.

The short list for the UK's inaugural Jhalak prize honoring writers of color includes two crime titles, Abir Mukherjee’s debut thriller A Rising Man and Jacob Ross’s The Bone Readers, as well as Gary Younge's Another Day in the Death of America, a nonfiction title that follows the stories of ten young people murdered on November 23, 2013, in a book about the impact of lax US gun laws.

San Antonio's Gemini Ink is presenting Nights of Noir that begins tonight with a discussion of The Big Sleep by Raymond Chandler and a noir-tinged happy hour. Future events will include The Galton Case by Ross Macdonald on March 8; The Talented Mr. Ripley by Patricia Highsmith on April 12; and Shoot the Piano Player by David Goodis on May 10.

Join Mystery Readers NorCal for an afternoon Literary Salon with Ian Rankin in celebration of the 30th anniversary of Ian Rankin's Detective Inspector John Rebus, on Monday, February 20, at 1 p.m. This is a free event, but you must RSVP for venue address. Rankin is the recipient of four Crime Writers' Association Dagger Awards, the Edgar Award, and has won Denmark's Palle Rosenkrantz Prize, the French Grand Prix du Roman Noir, and the Deutscher Krimipreis.

Registration for the 2017 Writers’ Police Academy will open at noon on February 19, 2017. Craig Johnson, Mr. Longmire himself, is Guest of Honor, joining fellow featured guests, Paul Bishop, author and a thirty-five year veteran of the Los Angeles Police Department, Dr. Katherine Ramsland, director of the Master of Arts in Criminal Justice Program at DeSales University' and Les Edgerton, ex-con-turned award-winning author and teacher. This year's academy will also include giveaways worth over $1,500, with anyone who registers the first day is automatically entered.

There's still time to register for Sleuthfest coming up later this month February 23 through 26.  SleuthFest is an intensive four day conference featuring writing workshops, social events, and pitch session with top literary agents and editors, as well as a chance to meet Keynote Speaker David Baldacci, Forensic Guest of Honor Dr. Vincent Di Maio, legendary publisher Neil Nyren, and authors Jeff Lindsay, Reed Farrel Coleman, SJ Rozan, Jane Cleland, and Jess Lourey.

The Bath Festival in the UK in May will include a Killer Women panel featuring authors Sarah Hilary, Erin Kelly and Mel McGrath talking with Guardian crime reviewer Laura Wilson about the female appetite for crime fiction.

The New York Times had a nice profile of Mysterious Bookshop in the TriBeCa neighborhood of New York City. Otto Penzler explained why the shop has managed to thrive for so long, "Detective stories are essentially fairy tales. They’re the battle between good and evil."

Another recent NYT profile investigated the works of Hideo Yokoyama, one of Japan’s most popular crime novelists, who says that he's particularly interested "in the psychology and social dynamics of characters who happen to be affected by crime." Yokoyama's novel Six Four was adapted into a movie nominated for the Japan Academy Prize, that country’s equivalent of the Academy Awards.

Proving that crime fiction is not only a reflection of its time and culture, the Palestianian Authority has banned the crime thriller A Crime in Ramallah on the grounds it contains "violations of  ethics and morals," although it is believed by some to have been censored because it made the Palestinian Authority look bad.

The BBC profiled Guy Hamilton, the James Bond director who went undercover in WWII. Although it's well known that Bond creator Ian Fleming drew literary inspiration from his wartime work in espionage, the heroic war exploits of the director of Bond films including Goldfinger and Live and Let Die are less well documented.

Meanwhile, Listverse compiled "10 Shocking Crimes Of The Real James Bond." Ian Fleming once told a friend he'd had been inspired to create James Bond after reading about the life of Sidney Reilly, known as the "Ace of Spies," who was also a ruthless and dangerous man, loyal to no one but himself, and ready to betray or murder anyone who got in his way.

Via Lithub, we have a profile of "The Asian Detective Novel: from Racist Caricature to Authentic Representation A Short Introduction to 9 Contemporary Asian Mystery Writers."

Mike Ripley's latest "Getting Away with Murder" column for Shots Ezine previewed the long-awaited television adaptation of Len Deighton’s alternative history thriller SS-GB, profiled the Golden Age mysteries of Anthony Berkeley, and compiled the usual entertaining slew of reviews of new and upcoming crime fiction titles.

In this day and age of smart technology being ubiquitous and attached to just about every appliance imaginable, the Time Lives wondered what happens with the "Fridge foils the perfect crime: how tech could murder detective novels."

A mystery benefactor is buying up revolutionary books like George Orwell's 1984 to give away at indie bookstores. Meanwhile, 1984 is also headed for Broadway.

Got the flu? Feeling depressed? Jane Sullivan of The Age takes a look at "The authors you read when you need a bit of comfort," including Raymond Chandler and Georgette Heyer.

Raymond Chandler is also featured in this list from the New York Public Library of "5 Films Noir Inspired by Novels."

This week's featured crime poem at the 5-2 is "Mother McMuffin" by Kent Peterson.
 
In the Q&A roundup, the Book Club Mom interviewed Debbi Mack about her mystery, thriller, and YA novels and about being an independent author (Debbi also hosts the Crime Cafe podcast); Criminal Element welcomed Chris Ewan, the critically acclaimed and bestselling author of The Good Thief's Guide to... series and several successful thrillers; and Lisa Haselton spoke with mystery author Deborah Coonts about her new thriller After Me.

Media Murder for Monday

Monday means it's time for the latest wrap-up of crime drama news:

AWARDS

The Directors Guild of America handed out its annual awards on Saturday evening. Several crime dramas were among the nominees, but only one ended up winning its category, Steven Zaillian for HBO's The Night Of, which is based on the BBC series Criminal Justice and stars John Turturro and Riz Ahmen in a story about a complex NYC murder case.

MOVIES

Paramount Pictures has acquired the Stephan Talty book The Black Hand as a starring vehicle for Leonardo DiCaprio. The book is based on the real-life story of Joe Petrosino, a courageous NYPD cop who unflinchingly went after a ruthless gang that came out of Italy and into America (whose calling card was a black hand) which kidnapped people and then extorted money from their families. The Black Hand existed in the U.S. in the late 1890s and early 1900s and were considered the precursor of the American mafia.

Lionsgate has picked up international rights for the action thriller Hotel Artemis, starring Jodie Foster. Drew Pearce is making his directorial debut on the future-set project that sees Foster play a nurse who runs an underground hospital for Los Angeles' most sinister criminals and finds that one of her patients is actually there to assassinate another. Pearce, whose previous writing credits include Mission: Impossible, Rogue Nation, and Iron Man 3, is also writing the script for the project.

Colin Farrell is in talks to join Denzel Washington in Dan Gilroy’s legal drama Inner City.  Washington plays a liberal lawyer named Roman J. Israel who suddenly takes on the role of the law firm’s frontman when his partner has a heart attack and soon discovers secrets of the law firm. Farrell would play another attorney in the firm.

Viola Davis and Julia Roberts are set to star in a new drama about white supremacists, an adaptation of the book Small Great Things from author Jodi Picoult. Davis, who is also favorite to win the best supporting actress Oscar for her role in Fences, will play a nurse who is told not to touch the newborn baby of a white supremacist couple. But when the baby dies, she is taken to court and accused of murder. It's not known yet which role Roberts will play, but it’s likely to be the public defender who takes on the case.

Zoe Saldana is set to star in the action-thriller Hummingbird as a female black-ops assassin. Described as in the vein of Lucy, the story follows an assassin whose latest mark forces her to confront her true identity. 

Gerard Butler has mounted the action film Snow Ponies, the directorial debut from Darrin Prescott. The story follows a crew of men who travel across difficult terrain to deliver a mysterious package, but are forced to choose between survival and honor when they face brutal obstacles and bandits along the way.

Liam Neeson has signed on to star in the revenge thriller Hard Powder. Set in the Rocky Mountains, Neeson will play Nel, an upright snowplow driver who is awarded a Citizen of the Year prize by his glitzy Colorado ski town. His life takes a drastic turn when his son is murdered by a powerful local drug kingpin. Nel’s vengeance causes a relentless battle between Native American mafia boss and the deadly gangster known as a Viking.

Academy Award-nominated Hacksaw Ridge director Mel Gibson is re-teaming with the film’s co-star Vince Vaughn for the upcoming gritty thriller Dragged Across Conrete, written and directed by S. Craig Zahler. This time, Gibson will be in front of the camera playing an old guard policeman to Vaughn's volatile younger partner, Anthony. The duo find themselves suspended when a video of their strong-arming tactics makes its way to mainstream media and soon descend into the criminal underworld to gain their just due.

Antoine Fuqua has decided not to take on director duties for Universal’s Scarface remake, stepping aside to focus on a sequel to 2014’s The Equalizer (Fuqua directed the first Equalizer movie which starred Denzel Washington and spent considerable time developing a follow-up). Universal is still planning on a spring start for Scarface which stars Diego Luna (Rogue One: A Star Wars Story), in the tale of the rise and fall of a Latino gangster in Los Angeles. Previous versions of the crime drama include the 1932 original starring Paul Muni and a 1983 remake starring Al Pacino.

The Ocean’s 8 cast is ready to roll in the first official image from the upcoming heist film.

A first look was also released for the adaptation of The Snowman, based on the crime novel by Norweigian author Jo Nesbø. The film stars Michael Fassbender as brilliant but unorthodox Detective Harry Hole, with  Rebecca Ferguson also playing his smart rookie partner Katrine Bratt.

TELEVISION

Black-ish creator Kenya Barris has been given the greenlight by ABC for the pilot Unit Zero, an action dramedy starring Toni Collette as a brilliant but unassuming CIA engineer and single mom as she leads a team of desk jockeys into the field as secret agents. Overlooked in the workplace, their invisibility makes them perfect for the CIA’s most covert missions. ABC also announced at the same time that the network was picking up the thriller drama Salamander, based on a Belgian format, from writer-producers Josh Appelbaum, Andre Nemec, Jeff Pinkner and Scott Rosenberg (CBS’ Zoo).  

ABC is also moving forward with Las Reinas from executive producer Mark Gordon (Quantico) and writer Dean Georgaris. Las Reinas, originally developed at ABC in October 2014, revolves around Detective Sonya De La Reina, who is forced to confront her past when a case compels her to reconnect with her estranged family, the most powerful criminal outfit in Miami.  

CBS has given a pilot order to an untitled drama from House executive producer and Bull co-creator Paul Attanasio and Blue Bloods executive producer Leonard Goldberg, which follows the multi-generational members of a Mexican-American family with deep roots in San Diego that intertwine personally and professionally due to their powerful careers in law enforcement.  

CBS also ordered an untitled drama pilot about a team of investigators who specialize in hate crimes, described as "The Good Wife meets Homicide." The project will follow an elite team of investigators for the Northeast Regional U.S. Hate Crimes Unit, who solve a myriad of crimes against humanity as they confront their own biases. Noted journalist Katie Couric, who recently produced the gun control documentary Under the Gun, will serve as an executive producer on the pilot.

Busy CBS has given another pilot order to S.W.A.T., a drama series inspired by the 2003 Sony movie that was in turn based on the 1975 TV series. Written by Sleepy Hollow alum Thomas with Fast & Furious helmer Lin set to direct, S.W.A.T. is described as "an intense, action-packed procedural following a locally born and bred S.W.A.T. lieutenant torn between loyalty to the streets and duty to his fellow officers when he’s tasked to run a highly-trained unit that is the last stop for solving crimes in Los Angeles."

A comedic procedural CBS show is also in the pipeline. Titled Brothered Up, the multi-camera buddy cop comedy centers on an emotionally guarded African-American cop who is partnered with an emotionally available Pakistani cop and they are forced to find a way to connect as they patrol a Detroit neighborhood.

It looks like the reboot of LA Law is becoming a reality. The project, from L.A. Law co-creator Steven Bochco and one of the series’ original writers, Billy Finkelstein, was developed in-house at 20th Century Fox TV and was recently taken out as a spec. The project will target broadcast, cable, and streaming networks. Fox also ordered Sheldon Turner’s Controversy, which follows the junior counsel of a prestigious Illinois university which must deal with an out-of-control scandal when a young co-ed accuses several star football players of sexual assault.

A&E has extended its reality police docuseries Live PD with an order for 13 more episodes, bringing the Season 1 total to 21 episodes. The show also quickly established itself as an awards contender, landing a Directors Guild Award nomination in the Reality Programs category.  

A&E also announced the renewal of another reality program, its groundbreaking docuseries 60 Days In, for another two seasons. The upcoming season the show will head to Atlanta where nine average individuals will go undercover as felons in the Fulton County jail, which is regarded as one of America's most dangerous prisons.

The series based on Stephen King's novel Mr. Mercedes has rounded out its list of cast members for the the AT & T Audience Network show that will run for 10 episodes in the fall. Brendan Gleeson (Harry Potter) leads as Detective Bill Hodges, along with Harry Treadaway (Penny Dreadful) as Brady Hartsfield. The show follows a demented killer who taunts retired police detective Hodges with a series of lurid letters and emails, forcing the ex-cop to undertake a private, and potentially felonious, crusade to bring the killer to justice before he is able to strike again.

The Sopranos star Edie Falco has been tapped to play famed defense attorney Leslie Abramson on NBC’s upcoming Law & Order: True Crime — The Menendez Murders. The eight-episode anthology series will focus on Lyle and Erik Menendez, brothers who were convicted in 1996 of murdering their parents. Abramson represented Erik Menendez in both trials and claimed the brothers had suffered a lifetime of abuse from their parents.

A digital adaptation is being developed of the YA drama The Dead Girls Detective Agency based on the HarperCollins book written by Suzy Cox. The project is a who done it, coming-of-age love story about a young Manhattanite who wakes up in a glamorous hotel to discover that she’s dead, apparently in purgatory. Her only hope of passing to the other side may be in solving the mystery of her own murder with the help of others like herself.

It's now official: the female-skewing cable network Oxygen will change its focus and branding next summer as a crime-focused network. In addition to adding a pair of new unscripted shows, the network has picked up a revival of Law & Order mastermind Dick Wolf's Cold Justice, which was quietly dropped at TNT

Hawaii Five-0 is set for a crossover with another CBS drama, the freshman hit MacGyver, on March 10. The crossover will follow MacGyver and his team to Hawaii where they end up partnering with the Five-0 crew to save a group of government scientists who've gotten stuck in a building that's very close to collapsing following an earthquake.

A&E has released the first teaser for the final season of Bates Motel including two images of Rihanna as Marion Crane, the role originally played by Janet Leigh in the 1960 Alfred Hitchcock film Psycho. She joins Freddie Highmore and Vera Farmiga, who star as Norman Bates and his twisted mother.

The
first official picture from BBC One's upcoming thriller McMafia was released. The show stars James Norton as the English-raised son of Russian exiles with a mafia history who's 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 (Juliet Rylance).

PODCASTS/VIDEO/RADIO

The crew behind the popular Serial podcast is launching another new true crime show titled S-Town, which debuts in March. This time, the focus is on an Alabama man asking for a reporter to investigate the son of a wealthy family who had allegedly been bragging that he got away with murder.

The New Hampshire Public Radio Booklist podcast welcomed author Lisa Gardner to talk about her writing and new novel Right Behind You, which features FBI profiler Pierce Quincy

The latest Crime and Science Radio's featured guest was Douglas White, who leads the National Software Reference Library project for the National Institute of Standards and Technology and is an expert on digital forensics.

Debbi Mack's Crime Cafe welcomed Wisconsin crime fiction author Allan Ansorge to talk about his series featuring Chief of Detectives Victor Verie.

Crime fiction author and substance abuse counselor Daniel Vlasaty visited on Noir on the Radio talking about his books Amphetamine Psychosis, Only Bones, and A New and a Different Kind of Pain.  

Steve Cavanagh and Luca Veste, hosts of Two Crime Writers and a Microphone, chatted with SJI Holliday about the third novel in her Banktoun trilogy, The Damsel Fly, and Ali Karim also recommended a host of new books.

THEATER

Calgary's Vertigo Theater continues its Mystery Series with a stage adaptation of Wait Until Dark, based on Frederick Knott’s classic thriller about a blind woman living in New York City’s iconic Greenwich Village who finds herself terrorized by con men until she discovers her blindness might just prove to be her secret weapon. The show runs through February 19.

Chicagoland's Hammond Community Theatre will present Act of the Imagination, the play by Tony-nominated playwright Bernard Slade. The story follows mystery writer Arthur Putnam, who's just penned a new novel about a married man having an affair who's afraid someone is trying to kill him. Putnam has based the character on himself, but denies to his suspicious wife and editor that he's having an affair like his protagonist. But when a woman who claims to be the lover in the story shows up and threatens Putnam with blackmail, the mystery deepens.