Mystery Melange

The winners of the Los Angeles Times Book Awards were announced this past weekend at the LA Festival of Books. The top nod in the Mystery/Thriller category went to Bill Beverly for his novel Dodgers. The other finalists included Graeme Macrae Burnet, His Bloody Project: Documents Relating to the Case of Roderick Macrae; Emma Cline, The Girls; Ian McGuire, The North Water; and Thomas Mullen, Darktown.

In the 2017 Independent Publisher Book Awards, Michelle Cox’s A Girl Like You  won the Gold Medal in the Mystery/Cozy/Noir category, with the Silver going to Delivering the Truth, by Edith Maxwell, and the Bronze to Catriona McPherson’s Quiet Neighbors.

The Crimefest Awards shortlists were announced ahead of the Crimefest Gala Awards Dinner on Saturday, May 21 in the categories of he Audible Sounds of Crime Award for the best unabridged crime audiobook (first published in the UK); the eDunnit Award for best crime fiction ebook first published in both hard copy and in electronic format; the Last Laugh Award for the best humorous crime novel; the H.R.F. Keating Award for best biographical or critical book related to crime fiction; and the Best Novels for Children and YA. (Hat to Spinetingler Magazine)

The finalists for the Arthur Ellis Awards, which honor the best in Canadian crime writing, were announced last Friday. In the category of Best Novel, the nominees are Kelley Armstrong for City of the Lost; Michael Helm for After James; Maureen Jennings for Dead Ground in Between; Janet Kellough for Wishful Seeing; and Donna Morrissey for The Fortunate Brother. For all the finalists, head on over to the Crime Writers of Canada website.

May 19-21, a Noir at the Bar Crawl will spread out across three cities, Washington, DC, Richmond, Virginia, and Baltimore, Maryland. Thirty authors will be taking part, with E.A. Aymar serving as host. Aymar wrote more about the whole Noir at the Bar experience for Lithub, and if you aren't already acquainted with these events, check out a history here.

Goodreads is presenting Mystery Week on their website, May 1 to 7, shining the spotlight on page-turning mysteries, thrillers, and suspense stories. Anthony Horowitz, Charlaine Harris, Dennis Lehane, and many others will be recommending books and sharing original content to kick off the week, but many other mystery authors (including myself) will also be participating.  Look for the hashtag #MysteryWeek across various social media.

Booklist is sponsoring a Mystery Month during May, which will include a small press lineup and a feature called "The Clues to My Crime," where authors explain the influences behind their latest works. Jane Harper will shed some light on the writing of her bestselling book The Dry, and A. J. Hartley, Leah Carroll, David Swinson, Rob Hart, Jay Hosking, Nancy Werlin, Kristen Lepionka, Bill Loehfelm, and other authors will offer up their take on their process.

Sandra Ruttan and Jack Getze, editors of Spinetingler magazine, have been maintaining an online 'zine for some time featuring news and short fiction, even while many other publications have fallen by the wayside. Recently, Sandra announced that Spinetingler will have its first print issue in years this fall and is actively scheduling author interviews, selling limited ad space and pulling things together. Although they've already lined up several stories (including one by yours truly), they are still seeking a few additional pieces. But you'd better hurry if you're interested; they expect slots to fill up soon. You can read all the submission details here.

At the recent LA Festival of Books, author Michael Connelly explained why he's allowing Harry Bosch to age in his novels, adding,"I didn't freeze Harry in time, because it's better storytelling not to. As long as he can keep his health and his knees are good, he can close cases."

Sisters in Crime was founded in 1986 by Charlotte MacLeod, Kate Mattes, Betty Francis, Dorothy Salisbury Davis, Sara Paretsky, Nancy Pickard and Susan Dunlap. The organization was established to promote equality for women in crime fiction (particularly with reviews and awards), but has since branched out to include men and other educational and outreach programs. This past week, it expanded even further with the official founding of the New Orleans chapter of Sisters in Crime, who will also present the Third Annual Mystery Writers Conference in cooperation with the East Bank Regional Library.

This week, the 5-2 continues its "30 Days of the Five-Two" poetry blog tour with  "Her Beheading" by Anne Graue and "Paradise" by Emilie Buchwald.

In the Q&A roundup, the Mystery People welcomed Megan Miranda, best-selling author of All The Missing Girls and The Perfect Stranger; Esquire spoke with Sophie Hannah about the challenges of writing the continuation Hercule Poirot novels originally created by the Queen of Crime, Agatha Christie; Sara Paretsky stopped by the Huffington Post to talk about her latest V.I Warshawski novel, Fallout; mystery writer Lynne Raimondo (the "Dante" series) chatted with the Chicago Tribune about her novels and writing routine; Criminal Element hosted Carolyn Haines (Sticks and Bones); and Lori Rayder-Day explained to the Wicked Cozy Authors why she's chosen to be a standal
one writer.

Author R&R with Randy Wayne White

New York Times best-selling author Randy Wayne White has been a farm hand, a brass and iron foundry worker, a telephone lineman, and, for thirteen years, a full-time fishing guide at Tarpon Bay Marina on Florida's Sanibel Island. His official bio also goes on to state that White has been stabbed, "shot at with intent," and was in a hotel that got blown up by Shining Path Anarchists in Peru. As a columnist for Outside magazine he has covered the America's Cup races in Australia, gone dog sledding in Alaska, searched for wild orangutans on Borneo, brought back refugees from Cuba, been diving in the infamous Bad Blue Hole lake on the desolate Cat Island in the Bahamas, and even participated in a mission to steal back General Manuel Noriega's bar stools.

In 1981, White turned his hand to crime fiction with the first book featuring Ex–Navy SEAL Dusky MacMorgan, Deep Six, written under the pen name of Randy Striker. He went on to pen seven novels under the Striker name and eleven novels as Carl Ramm, writing various series under the various pen names, including the Hannah Smith and Hawker novels, But White's primary focus has been his series featuring marine biologist and former secret operative, Doc Ford, who first appeared in 1990's Sanibel Flats.

In the twenty-fourth work in that series, Mangrove Lightning, legendary charter captain and guide Tootsie Barlow has come to Ford, muttering about a curse. The members of his extended family have suffered a bizarre series of attacks, and Barlow is convinced it has something to do with a multiple murder in 1925, in which his family had a shameful part. Ford doesn’t believe in curses, but as he and his friend Tomlinson begin to investigate, following the trail of the attacks from Key Largo to Tallahassee, they, too, suffer a series of near-fatal mishaps. Is it really a curse? Or just a crime spree? The answer lies in solving a near-hundred-year-old murder . . . and probing the mind of a madman.

White stops by In Reference to Murder today to talk about his writing and the inspiration and background behind it:

 

Novel Writing Tip #102: Use What You Know
by Randy Wayne White, Author of Mangrove Lightning: A Doc Ford Novel


Among the great strokes of good fortune -- and there were many junctures where I could have gone awry -- was the decision to write about, via fiction, my small marina family at Tarpon Bay, Sanibel Island, Florida, where I was a fishing guide from 1974 to 1987.  This marina family embraced a wider tribe of watermen from along the Gulf Coast, fascinating characters, and also decent, caring people, who now populate my novels.

When my marina closed, I was out of a job -- a tough period financially, but a powerful motivator to write a good book that would sell.  I did exactly that, but it didn’t happen as easily as it might sound.  During my years as a guide, I’d also worked hard in my spare time at writing.  I sold some stories to Outdoor Life (not about fishing) but my big break came when Rolling Stone founded Outside Magazine. This led to calls from other magazines, and a New York editor who asked me to write a series of thriller novels under pennames; jobs of work that paid $5k each.  I wrote 18 of those tawdry bastards; called them D&F books (Duck and F---).  I didn’t complain.  They helped fund college accounts for my two young sons, and also provided a
bruising trial-by-fire during which I learned the rudiments of how to structure a novel.

I was not unprepared, then, when I set out to write not only a book I would be proud to carry my name, but one that sold.  First, the protagonist: I was an experienced fishing guide, so why not a marine biologist?  Also, thanks to Outside Magazine, I’d traveled countries torn by wars and revolutions, so why not a biologist who was also a clandestine operator – a “spook” with skills and knowledge far beyond my own.

Florida is an American microcosm that lures the best and the worst sort of people from all of the Americas, not just the U.S.  I love the social diversity as much as I adore the varieties of subtropical land and waterscapes.  For much of my life here, I’ve lived in an old Cracker house, tin-roofed, with a fireplace for heat, built atop the remnants of a shell pyramid that was constructed more than three thousand years ago by contemporaries of the Maya.  Florida is an ancient place, but as modern as the latest South Beach fads in fashion and food.  From my acre on the bay I can stand atop a mound, where kings once parlayed with Conquistadors, and watch the Space Shuttle arch toward the moon.

The boating experiences played out by characters in my books mirror my own, for I know no other way to write.  One of the joys of writing is the opportunity to come as close as I can to capturing on paper the intimacies of water, mangroves, bays, backcountry and open sea.  During my thirteen year guiding career, I spent three hundred days a year on the water, in small boats, in every possible type of weather.  I was up at first light to catch bait, and, during the busy spring season, often tagged a third half-day charter onto my schedule, trips that went from seven p.m. until midnight.  In Southwest Florida, where there are bays and many islands, it is often easier and faster to travel by boat, so I travel a lot at night, sometimes using night vision optics, always attuned to the various landmarks and ranges important when running shallow water.

As a writer, I still enjoy advantages gained by growing up in rural areas where isolation and boredom were relentless motivators and keys to the limitless worlds that lie between covers, not coasts.  Better yet, my isolation was split between bipolar geographies: farms in the Midwest and my maternal home of Richmond County, North Carolina, a solid place of cotton mills, tobacco, truck farming (of the vegetable variety) and some of the finest people I’ve known.  The fact that many of these fine people were also my aunts, uncles and cousins only added to the richness of a Midwestern and Deep South childhood that practically guaranteed that, even if I had failed as a writer, I was bound to succeed at something.

© Randy Wayne White, author of Mangrove Lightning: A Doc Ford Novel

 

You can find out more about Randy Wayne White and his books via his website and by following him on Facebook. Mangrove Lightning is available via all major book retailers and just hit the New York Times Bestsellers List.

Media Murder for Monday

Welcome to a new week and a new roundup of crime drama news:

MOVIES

Feature film rights to David Grann's true crime book, The Flower Moon: The Osage Murders And The Birth Of The FBI, were snapped up last year after a bidding war for $5 million by Imperative Entertainment, and now the producers are in talks to bring Martin Scorsese, Leonardo DiCaprio, and Robert De Niro on board. The book follows the aftermath of an oil discovery on Osage Indian tribal lands in Oklahoma, which led to conspiracy, greed, and murder among the tribe that caused the federal government to step in. It also chronicles the rise of J. Edgar Hoover, who led the investigation into the murders and ended up making a name for himself.

Smart House, a new techno-thriller from James Wan, is being developed by Lionsgate, with Alexandre Aja (The Hills Have Eyes) on board to direct from a script by Brad Keene (The Grudge 3). Based on an original idea by Wan, Smart House follows a family in the witness protection program who are placed in the custody of a state-of-the-art, autonomous "smart house." When a group of assassins locates the family, the house goes into lethal defense mode to protect them.

Clint Eastwood is set to direct a drama based on the book The 15:17 To Paris: The True Story Of A Terrorist, A Train, And Three American Heroes. The book was written by Anthony Sadler, Alek Skarlatos, Spencer Stone, and Jeffrey E. Stern and is based on the 2015 real-life incident when an ISIS terrorist boarded a train from Brussels to Paris armed with an AK-47 and enough ammo to kill more than 500 people. The terrorist might have succeeded except for three American friends who refused to give in to fear.

The first trailer was released for American Assassin, based on the novel by Vince Flynn. The film stars Dylan O’Brien as Mitch Rapp, a man recruited by the CIA after terrorists kill his fiancée, into a black ops mission aimed at stopping World War III in the Middle East. Michael Keaton also stars as a Cold War veteran who would be the most feared training officer in the CIA if more than a handful of people at the agency actually knew of his existence.

A new trailer was released for The Beguiled, Sofia Coppola’s screenplay adaptation of Thomas Cullinan’s novel of the same name, which will screen in competition at the 2017 Cannes Film Festival. The Beguiled stars Nicole Kidman, Elle Fanning, Kirsten Dunst, and Colin Ferrell in the atmospheric thriller set during the Civil War at a Southern girls’ boarding school where its sheltered young women take in an injured enemy soldier. As they provide refuge and tend to his wounds, "the house is taken over with sexual tension and dangerous rivalries, and taboos are broken in an unexpected turn of events."

TELEVISION

Last Monday, I noted that although a new limited X-Files series wasn't in the works yet, a new audiobook release would help pacify fans. Later that week, Fox announced that yes, there is going to be another "event series," this time expanded slightly to ten episodes. Stars David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson have been confirmed to appear in the new season, which will be helmed by series creator and original executive producer, Chris Carter, and air during the 2017-18 television season.

Lifetime has given a straight-to-series 10-episode order to the romantic thriller You, based on Caroline Kepnes’ best-selling 2014 novel. The work is described as a 21st century love story that asks, "What would you do for love?" When a brilliant bookstore manager crosses paths with an aspiring writer, his answer becomes clear: anything. Using the internet and social media as his tools to gather the most intimate of details and get close to her, a charming and awkward crush quickly becomes obsession as he quietly and strategically removes every obstacle, and person, in his way.

TNT’s upcoming straight-to-series drama The Alienist, which has been filming in Europe, is making a casting change midstream with Brian Geraghty (The Hurt Locker) stepping in to co-star as Teddy Roosevelt, replacing Sean Astin who originally was cast in the role. "Unfortunately because of scheduling difficulties, Sean Astin will no longer play the role," TNT said in a statement. The psychological thriller drama is set in 1896, when a series of gruesome murders of boy prostitutes has gripped the city. Newly appointed top cop Roosevelt (Geraghty) calls upon Dr. Laszlo Kreizler (Daniel Brühl), a criminal psychologist — aka alienist — and newspaper illustrator John Moore (Luke Evans) to conduct the investigation in secret.

Producer and Miramax co-founder Harvey Weinstein has optioned TV rights to the new book by Detroit author and Kresge literary fellow Stephen Mack Jones. Weinstein, a fan of crime fiction who named his son after detective story author Dashiell Hammett, came across a blurb describing Jones' book, August Snow, when it was published in February. The book's protagonist is a half-black, half-Latino ex-cop and private detective working in Detroit named August Snow who testified against a crooked mayor and corrupt police officers and is adjusting to a Motor City that’s both gentrifying and decaying. Weinstein isn't alone in his interest, however, as there are other offers to adapt the book on the table.

Niels Arden Oplev, who directed the pilot for USA’s Mr. Robot, has been tapped to direct and executive produce the TNT hourlong pilot The Deep Mad Dark, an atmospheric mystery-thriller about the complexities of friendship. The story centers on Detroit neurosurgeon Polly Lewis who embarks on an unorthodox study in the field of memory and trauma. Her once closest friend – the irreverent,
brilliant Tash Hollander – comes home after living many years in a strange, off-the-grid community in Belize and insinuates herself into Polly’s life in ways that threaten everything Polly has achieved.  

Crackle announced it had greenlighted the techno-thriller movie In The Cloud and is also developing the 10-episode seies The Oath, written and created by former Los Angeles County Sheriff’s deputy Joe Halpin and centering on a gang whose members turn on each other after being picked off by the FBI. Other projects under development include RPM, a "high-octane" drama set in the working-class streets of Boston’s most corrupt neighborhoods where a used-car salesman moonlights as a getaway driver for a Boston crime syndicate.

Jerry Ferrara, Jesse Bradford, and Todd Lowe will join USA Network’s Ryan Phillippe-starrer Shooter as recurring characters. Beverly D’Angelo will also return as Patricia Gregson, steely-eyed National Security Advisor to the President, when the show returns for its second season July 18.

RADIO/PODCASTS/VIDEO

The Writer Types podcast showcased four different crime fiction authors, Sara Paretsky, William Kent Krueger, Lori-Rader Day, Marcus Sakey, and Sean Chercover.

Inside Thrill Radio host Jenny Milchman welcomed Matt Coyle, David McCaleb, Nadine Nettmann, and Lili Wright for a program titled "Win, Lose, or Draw."

Haunted NIghts Live was joined by Ridley Pearson, a New York Times bestselling author of more than 50 novels. Ridley was also awarded The Raymond Chandler Fulbright fellowship in detective fiction from Oxford University in 1990, was an Edgar Award nominee, and was admitted to the Missouri Writer Hall of Fame in 2013.

Two Crime Writers and a Microphone hosts Steve Cavanagh and Luca Veste featured Miranda Dickinson, talking about genre, crossovers between romance and crime, and her publishing journey.

Sasscer Hill stopped by Authors on the Air Radio to chat about her new series featuring Thoroughbred Racing Protective Bureau agent "Fia McKee," and the AAR podcast also welcomed two time Edgar Award & Dagger Award shortlisted crime novelist, Adrian McKinty, Macavity Award finalist Jennifer Kincheloe, and Kate White (The Secrets You Keep).

THEATER

Captain America star Chris Evans will make his Broadway debut at Second Stage in spring 2018 in a revival of Oscar winner Kenneth Lonergan’s 2001 play Lobby Hero opposite Michael Cera. Trip Cullman will direct the project, which is set in the lobby of a Manhattan apartment building where an ambitious young security guard clashes with a stern boss, an intense rookie cop, and her unpredictable partner.

Mystery Melange

Tess Gerritsen is the recipient of the Maine Writers & Publishers Alliance inaugural CrimeMaster Award for Distinguished Achievement, to be presented this Friday, April 21, on the eve of the 2017 Maine Crime Wave in Portland. Gerritsen's books have been published in 40 countries, sold more than 30 million copies, and the hit TV series Rizzoli & Isles is based on her suspense novels.

The longlist for the 2017 Theakston Old Peculier Crime Novel of The Year was released, with 18 authors/books in the running. The shortlist for the award, which celebrates the very best in crime fiction by UK and Irish crime authors, will be announced May 20 and the winner (selected by judges and online voting) anointed July 20 during the Theakston Festival in Harrogate, England.

Also announced recently were the five finalists for the 2017 Bloody Words Light Mystery Award (aka the Bony Blithe Award), an annual Canadian honor that celebrates traditional, feel-good mysteries. The winner will be crowned during the Bony Blithe Mini-Con and Award Gala to be held in Toronto on May 26.

The Del Sol Press 2017 First Novel competition is open for entries, which will be considered by guest judge Hallie Ephron. The contest is open to all authors writing in English regardless of nationality or residence and is available to published and unpublished authors alike. Genres can include literary and upmarket fiction, mainstream or general fiction, mystery/thriller or speculative fiction with a literary edge, serious women's fiction, and unique experimental work. The winner receives a $1,500 honorarium and book publication by Del Sol Press, and finalist manuscripts will also be considered for publication.

On June 30 in South Melbourne, Australia, Sisters in Crime will sponsor a panel on "Nordic Noir: the new cool," including Australia’s Queen of Noir, Leigh Redhead; Swedish translator Hanna Lofgren; author Janice Simpson; and Sue Turnbull, Professor of Media Studies at the University of Wollongong.

Sisters in Crime U.S. has begun accepting submissions for the 2017 Eleanor Taylor Bland Crime Fiction Writers of Color Award. Honoring the memory of pioneering African-American crime fiction author Eleanor Taylor Bland, the award offers a $1,500 grant to an emerging writer of color, male or female, who has not yet published a full-length work. This year’s application and more information can be found via the official SinC contest link.

The Library Journal's spotlight on recent mystery novels featured new books from authors beyond the grave, as well as some career switches, and an increasingly multicultural slate of crime protagonists and themes.

Speaking of all things library, if you haven't heard of the Thomas Fisher Rare Book Library in Toronto or made a pilgrimage, you should definitely put it on your bucket list.

Raymond Chandler allegedly once gave J. Edgar Hoover a snub that may have led the iconic FBI head to investigate the author, but as Ron Capshaw notes for the Daily Beast, although most people would be intimated, the creator of Philip Marlow was made of "tougher stuff."

New York Times columnist Radhika Jones sings the praises of Agatha Christie's detectives - not Hercule Poirot nor Miss Marple but rather Dame Agatha's "accidental sleuths."

The Guardian spoke with author Donna Leon on the 25th anniversary of her first Commissario Brunetti crime novel about how she is responding to dark times and why she became an eco-detective writer.

The Guardian also put the spotlight on the humble fly, often the first visitors to a murder scene, and how studying their grisly dining habits can reveal vital clues to help catch the killer. The article notes that the practice of forensic entomology dates all the way back to China in 1235.

This week, the 5-2 continues its "30 Days of the Five-Two" poetry blog tour with "Judgment Day" by Nancy Scott, by "No Title (On Purpose)," by Matt Kolbet, and "The Intruder," by David R. Slavitt.

In the Q&A roundup, Terri Bischoff, with the blog Hey, There's a Dead Guy in My Living Room, posed five questions to author Catriona McPherson; Slate pinned down Baltimore-based writer Laura Lippman to discuss her writing process and her relationship to the city; the Seattle Times spoke with Ann Cleeves on her literary career and the birth of the BBC mystery series Vera; the blog Chat About Books snagged Paul Harrison, a former police officer turned true crime author who has just released his first crime novel; Margaret Fenton was the guest at The Writers Life, discussing her latest book, Little Girl Gone; Alex Segura spoke with the Huffington Post about his latest Pete Fernandez novel, Dangerous Ends; and the Sleuthsayers welcomed Gerald So, author, editor, publisher, and a proponent of short crime writing
forms, both stories and poetry.

Media Murder for Monday

Monday means it's time once again for the latest crime drama news roundup:

MOVIES

Benedict Cumberbatch is in early negotiations with Fox Searchlight to star in The Man in the Rockefeller Suit, with David Bar Katz adapting the book by Mark Seal. The project is based on the true story of Christian Karl Gerhartsreiter, an imposter who conned his way into various jobs on Wall Street — as well as a marriage — posing as a member of the Rockefeller family. After achieving a life in rarefied social circles, his past finally catches up with him, and he fears losing custody of his only daughter.

Alex Pettyfer (Magic Mike, Elvis & Nixon) will make his directorial debut with Back Roads, a murder mystery in which he will also star opposite Jennifer Morrison, Juliette Lewis, and Nicola Peltz. Based on the 1999 debut novel of the same name by author Tawni O’Dell, the project tells the story of a man caring for his three younger sisters after the death of their abusive father and imprisonment of their mother for his murder, whose life takes a dangerous turn when he finds himself the leading suspect in another local murder.

Oscar winner Robert Duvall is the latest to join New Regency’s Steve McQueen-helmed heist thriller Widows. The acting legend’s addition bolsters an already-strong cast that includes Viola Davis, Colin Farrell, Liam Neeson, Michelle Rodriguez, Cynthia Erivo, Elizabeth Debicki, and Daniel Kaluuya.

Lionsgate released a trailer for The Hitman’s Bodyguard, starring Ryan Reynolds and Samuel L. Jackson as an unlikely duo who must work together to testify at the International Court of Justice to bring down an evil man.

TELEVISION

The British Bafta Award finalists for excellence in television programming included nods for crime dramas The Secret and The Witness for the Prosecution in the Mini-Series category. The International Category included nominations for The Night Of (HBO/Sky Atlantic) and American Crime Story – The People Vs OJ Simpson (FX/BBC).

CBS Television Studios has pre-emptively bought the rights to Edgar-winning author Meg Gardiner’s forthcoming novel UNSUB to adapt for television. The thriller follows a female detective on the trail of an infamous serial killer – inspired by the still-unsolved Zodiac case – when he breaks his silence and begins killing again. The detective, who grew up watching her father destroy himself and his family chasing the killer, now finds herself facing the same monster.

ABC Is developing the crime series Harrow, described as "darkly funny" and "irreverent." The show centers on a forensic pathologist named Dr. James Harrow who is TV-level brilliant and unorthodox ... and also a murderer.

Donald Sutherland is set to play billionaire oil man J. Paul Getty in the first installment of the FX anthology series Trust, executive produced by the Slumdog Millionaire trio Danny Boyle, Simon Beaufoy, and Christian Colson. Season 1 takes place in 1973, when the young heir John Paul Getty III was kidnapped in Rome and his mafia captors attempted to extract a multimillion-dollar ransom from his wealthy family.

David Morrissey will headline The City and the City for BBC Two, joining an international cast that features German actress Maria Schrader, U.S. actor Christian Camargo, rising British actress Mandeep Dhillon, and veteran British actors Ron Cook and Danny Webb. Described by the BBC as a "genre-busting thriller" based on the 2009 novel by China Mieville, The City and the City follows the investigation of Inspector Tyador Borlu (Morrissey), a detective in the Extreme Crime Squad of the fictional rundown European city of Beszel, into the death of a foreign student. He soon discovers that the dead girl came from Beszel’s sister city, Ul Qoma, and was involved in the political and cultural strife that exists between the two. To do his job, Borlu must work alongside the Ul Qoman police.

Hulu acquired the Canadian crime drama Pure, which stars Ryan Robbins (Arrow, The Killing), Alex Paxton-Beesley (Copper), AJ Buckley (CSI: NY, Narcos), Peter Outerbridge (Orphan Black) and Oscar and Golden Globe nominee Rosie Perez. Inspired by true events, it follows a Mennonite pastor trying to protect his family and preserve his faith while battling drug trafficking within his community.

Keanu Reeves Is heading to TV for the first time to star in the Pop Network series Swedish Dicks, Private Investigators. The project centers on former stuntman Ingmar Andersson (Peter Stormare) trying to carve out an existence as a private detective in Los Angeles. He runs into a struggling DJ (Johan Glans) who decides to leave that life behind to join Ingmar in solving cases and trying to top L.A.'s most successful P.I. company. Keanu Reeves will have a recurring role as Tex Johnson, an old stunt-performing friend of Ingmar's with "an interesting history."

USA Network announced its spring/summer schedule, including the new thriller The Sinner, based on Petra Hammesfahr’s book and starring Jessica Biel as a young mother who commits a startling act of violence and to her horror, has no idea why. Detective Harry Ambrose (Bill Pullman) finds himself obsessed with uncovering the woman’s buried motive. Returning USA shows include the narcotics thriller Queen of the South, inspired by the global best-selling novel La Reina Del Sur by Arturo Pérez-Reverte, and The Shooter, based on the best-selling novels by Stephen Hunter and the 2007 Paramount film starring Mark Wahlberg,

While fans of The X-Files wait impatiently to see if there will be another limited series of the show, they can take solace in a new audiobook, X-Files: Cold Cases, with David Duchovny, Gillian Anderson, Mitch Pileggi (Walte
r Skinner), William B. Davis (the Cigarette Smoking Man) and the Lone Gunmen (Tom Braidwood, Dean Haglund, and Bruce Harwood) all reprising their roles from the original TV show.

The venerable true crime series Dateline has been sold in 80% of the country for a September premiere in national syndication on Fox and other television affiliates. Double runs of Dateline will also be offered to stations to air as a two-hour true crime block.

HBO released a trailer for its upcoming miniseries The Wizard of Lies, starring Robert DeNiro as the disgraced and imprisoned financier Bernie Madoff. Michelle Pfeiffer co-stars as Bernie’s wife, while Alessandro Nivola, Nathan Darrow, and Kristen Connolly play his children.  

PODCASTS/VIDEO/RADIO

Author Paul Levine visited Libby Hellmann on the 2nd Sunday Crime podcast to talk about his new book, Bum Luck.

Author Harry Hunsicker made an appearance on WFAA-TV to talk about his new crime thriller, The Devil's Country.

Steve Cavanagh and Luca Veste, the hosts of the Two Crime Writers and a Microphone podcast, chatted with their special guest Steve Mosby, who talked about his brand new book You Can Run, his career so far, and the dark side of crime fiction.

Suspense Radio this week welcomed guests Daniel Pyne (screenwriter and author of Catalina Eddy), former Navy Seal Thom Shea, and bestselling author Kate White (The Secrets you Keep).

THEATER

Tony nominee Max von Essen stars as Captain Alfred Dreyfus in a limited engagement of The Dreyfus Affair at the BAM Fisher theater Off-Broadway. Written by Eve Wolf and directed by Donald T. Sanders, the multi-media production shines a light on the controversial conviction and false arrest of a highly decorated French Jewish officer in 1894 - the consequences of which were felt for decades in the political landscape in France and the rest of the world. The Ensemble for the Romantic Century production starts April 27 and continues through May 7.

Mystery Melange

The International Thriller Writers announced the 2017 Thriller Award Nominations in the categories of Best Hardcover Novel, Best First Novel, Best Paperback Novel, Best Short Story, Best Young Adult, and Best E-Book Original. For all the lists and nominees, head on over to the official Thriller Awards website - and congratulations to all.

The Gold Medal winners from the 29th Annual Independent Book Publishers Association Ben Franklin Awards were also announced, including The Devil's Flood: Emory Crawford Mysteries, Book Three, which won in the Mystery & Suspense Category. The Silver winners were James Waltzer's Of Sound Mind and Jeffrey Alan Lockwood's Poisoned Justice: A Riley the Exterminator Mystery.

The winners of this year's Minnesota Book Awards sponsored by the Friends of the St. Paul Library included Allen Eskens' detective novel The Heavens May Fall in the Genre Fiction category. For all the winners and finalists lists, click on over to the awards site.

The world’s biggest celebration of the crime genre, Harrogate, unveiled its full program, including a new exhibition celebration Agatha Christie and the connections between her writing, life, and publishing career using rare photographs and documents from both the Agatha Christie and Collins archives in a visually led outdoor display. The exhibition, part of HarperCollins’ 200th anniversary, will be displayed at the Festival venue, the Old Swan Hotel, where Christie was found after her famous disappearance in 1926. (HT to Shots Magazine). The conference also announced that the  91-year-old artist behind Agatha Christie’s iconic book jackets in the 1960s and 70s, Tom Adams, will make an appearance.

The St Hilda’s College Mystery and Crime Conference, to be held August 18-20, also announced its lineup this year, which includes Yrsa Sigurðardóttir as Conference Guest of Honour and Natasha Cooper as Conference Chair.  

Now through May 7, the Free Library in Philadelphia is presenting an immersive theater experience, in partnership with New Paradise Laboratories, titled Gumshoe. Visitors can participate in the "investigation" that blends disguise, subterfuge, infiltration, half-truths, and bald-faced lies, to get to the bottom of a crime that hasn’t yet happened. While you're at the library, you'll also want to check out  the companion exhibition, "Clever Criminals and Daring Detectives."  Meanwhile, over at the Rare Book Department at Parkway Central Library, the exhibition "Becoming the Detective: The Making of a Genre" continues through September 1.

The National Post took a look at how the infamous Black Dahlia murder sparked a pop culture fascination, including novels and films, and affected public perception.

More sad publishing news: Simon & Schuster shut down its Tyrus Books imprint last week, according to its publisher Ben LeRoy, who originally founded Tyrus Books in 2009, after selling his previous company, Bleak House, to Big Earth Publishing. At that time, Tyrus focused on hardboiled crime fiction, but when F&W acquired Tyrus in 2013 and its focus expanded, it began publishing literary fiction, including novels with ecological themes.

This week, the 5-2 continues its "30 Days of the Five-Two" poetry blog tour with "Harley Caress" by Joe Balaz, from Cindy Rosmus's quarterly fiction and poetry site Yellow Mama, named for the Alabama electric chair. As 5-2 editor Gerald So notes, "The poem's voyeuristic quality piqued my interest, as did the way it's written, in Hawaiian Islands pidgin. Usually, I don't know I've seen celebrities outside TV and movies until well after the fact."

In the Q&A roundup, Lesa's Book Critiques welcomed Rebecca Cantrell to talk about her Hannah Vogel mysteries, Joe Tesla thrillers, and more; the Mystery People spoke with Robin Yocum about his new novel, Welcome Murder; Gerald So interviewed several of the many and talented Derringer Award finalists on his website; and Karin Slaughter and Sara Paretsky shared a Q&A session ahead of Paretsky's new V.I. Warshawski novel Fallout and the mass market edition of Karin Slaughter's The Kept Woman.

Media Murder for Monday

Here's the latest roundup of crime drama news:

MOVIES

Spider-Man's Tobey Maguire is moving behind the camera to direct an adaptation of Jo Nesbo's best-selling thriller Blood on Snow. Maguire’s Material and Lawrence Grey’s Grey Matter Productions acquired the screen rights to the 2015 Norwegian novel and hired on Nesbo to pen the script. Blood on Snow centers on Olav, a contract killer in Oslo who, when instructed to kill his adulterous wife, falls into a meditation on death and love, and opts instead to pursue his boss' rival.  

Jo Nesbo is apparently a hot property right now, as it was also announced that another project based on one of the hot Norwegian author’s works is in the pipeline. Bond screenwriters Neal Purvis and Robert Wade are adapting Nesbo’s upcoming novel I Am Victor for Baltasar Kormakur to direct and produce. The story is a thriller about a skilled but morally corrupt and narcissistic divorce attorney who's framed for a series of brutal murders and embarks on his own investigation to find the real killer.

Olivier Assayas (Personal Shopper and Clouds of Sils Maria) has come on board to direct the Cuban spy thriller Wasp Network from his own script. Wasp Network is based on Fernando Morais’ book The Last Soldiers of the Cold War, and enters on Cuban spies in American territory during the 1990s when anti-Castro groups based in Florida carried out military attacks on Cuba, and the Cuban government struck back with the Wasp Network to infiltrate those organizations.

Colin Farrell is in negotiations to star in Steve McQueen and New Regency’s heist thriller Widows, joining Viola Davis, Liam Neeson, Elizabeth Debicki, Cynthia Erivo, Michelle Rodriguez, Daniel Kaluuya, and Andre Holland in the cast. Gone Girl screenwriter and novelist Gillian Flynn will write the script with McQueen, which is based on the 1983 British miniseries about a caper gone wrong.

Supergirl actor Frederick Schmidt has joined the cast of Paramount’s Mission:Impossible 6, the sequel to the Tom Cruise-starring franchise. Christopher McQuarrie returns as director in the film, with the plot still held under wraps.

Filming has begun in Edinburgh, Scotland for the new crowdfunded psychic thriller First and Only. Based on the best-selling novel of the same name by author Peter Flannery, and directed by award-winning director Magnus Wake, James Robinson stars as the ominous figure of serial killer Mal whose religious killing spree can only be stopped by Simon, a mysteriously gifted young man who has been haunted by Mal since witnessing his first murder as a boy.

The Egyptian film The Nile Hilton Incident (a/k/a Cairo Confidential) won the Grand Prix at the 9th Beaune International Thriller Film Festival in France. The film, which also won the Grand Jury Prize in the World Cinema Dramatic section of Sundance in January, is Inspired by the true story of Lebanese Singer Suzanne Tamim’s murder in 2008.

TELEVISION

The Peabody Awards, which honor the most powerful, enlightening and invigorating stories in TV, radio and digital media, have named the 2017 finalists, including Oscar-winning O.J.: Made in America, American Crime, and a long list of documentaries and podcasts. The winners will be honored May 20, and Rashida Jones will host the ceremony to air on June 2 on PBS and Fusion — marking the first time it will be telecast on both national broadcast and cable television.

Brendan Fraser (The Affair, The Mummy franchise) has been cast opposite Max Irons and Mira Sorvino in Condor, AT&T Audience Network’s 10-episode straight-to-series drama inspired by Sydney Pollack’s 1975 political thriller Three Days of the Condor. The story follows Joe Turner (Irons), a young CIA analyst whose idealism is tested when he stumbles onto a terrible but brilliant plan that threatens the lives of millions.

Anya Taylor-Joy, Romola Garai and Alex Hassell have been set to star in BBC One and Masterpiece’s period thriller The Miniaturist, based on the best-selling novel by Jessie Burton. The story is set in 1686, when 18-year-old Nella Oortman (Taylor-Joy) moves from the country to begin a new life as the wife of wealthy merchant Johannes Brandt (Hassell). But she soon realizes nothing is at it seems when her new husband gives her a miniature replica of their home to be furnished by an elusive Miniaturist, whose tiny creations mirror what is happening within the house in unexpected ways amid escalating dangers.

Grammy-winning singer Ricky Martin has signed on to co-star opposite Édgar Rarmirez, Penélope Cruz, and Darren Criss in Versace: American Crime Story. The 10-episode Versace examines the July 1997 assassination of Gianni Versace (Ramirez) on the steps of his Miami Beach mansion by sociopath and serial killer Andrew Cunanan (Criss). Martin will play Versace’s longtime partner Antonio D’Amico, while Cruz plays Versace’s sister Donatella.

Osric Chau, who recurred during the first season of BBC America’s Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency (based on the cult novels by Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy author Douglas Adams), has been promoted to series regular for Season 2. Chau plays the manic Vogel, a member of the Rowdy 3.

Netflix has come on board BBC Two’s contemporary thriller Collateral as co-producer and will release the show globally outside the UK. Carey Mulligan stars as Detective Inspector Kip Glaspie in the drama set over the course of four days that explores the spiraling repercussions surrounding the fatal s
hooting of a pizza delivery man.

Law & Order: SVU is lining up its own take on the topic of newsroom sexual harassment, with Christopher McDonald (Thelma and Louise), Bonnie Somerville (Friends) and Mark Moses (Mad Men) set to headline an April episode of the NBC procedural seemingly inspired by the Roger Ailes scandal at Fox that led to the longtime chief's departure. 

Fans of CBS' Criminal Minds, which was on the bubble for renewal, can breathe a sigh of relief now that the network has officially given the go-ahead to another season of the series, which will be its thirteenth.

Studiocanal has sold German rights to drama The Five, the 10-part show created for television by bestselling author Harlan Coben. The series, which debuted on the U.K. broadcaster Sky 1 in April 2016, follows a group of friends whose lives are thrown into turmoil when the DNA of one of the friends’ brothers, who disappeared 20 years ago, is detected at a fresh crime scene.  

PODCASTS/VIDEO/RADIO

Authors on the Air host Pam Stack presented dark crime fiction writer Jen Conley, to chat about her writing and new book Cannibals.

Jan Burke and D.P. Lyle, hosts of the Crime and Science Radio podcast, announced the sad news that they are ending the project after three and half years. However, they will keep all the sixty-seven shows produced thus far in an online archives.

Media Murder for Monday

MOVIES

Liam Neeson has signed on to play the lead role in Marlowe, which is based on the iconic Raymond Chandler character Philip Marlowe. The film is being adapted from The Black-Eyed Blonde follow-on novel by Benjamin Black, which centers on the private eye during the early 1950s where Marlowe is as restless and lonely as ever, and business is a little slow. That is, until a beautiful blonde client comes in and asks Marlowe to find her ex-lover, which soon has Marlowe wrapped up with one of the more powerful families in Bay City who are willing to go to any lengths to protect their fortune.

Fox Searchlight has acquired the rights to The Spy With No Name, a Jeff Maysh eBook published under the Amazon Kindle Single label. The book tells the true story of Erwin van Haarlem, a Cold War secret agent whose stolen identity broke the heart of an innocent woman who thought she’d found her long-lost son.

Doctor Strange actor Scott Adkins has been tapped as the lead in the sci-fi action thriller Incoming, about an International Space Station that now serves as a prison. When the imprisoned terrorists take over the Station and turn it into a missile aimed at Moscow, only a shuttle pilot and a rookie doctor can stop them.

Ron Howard’s production outfit Imagine Entertainment has optioned the novel The Last Days Of Jack Sparks, with British author Jason Arnopp to adapt the screenplay of his own 2016 debut. The plot follows titular pop culture journalist Jack Sparks who is researching a book on the occult, but after sparking a Twitter storm by mocking an exorcism, Sparks is found dead in mysterious circumstances.

Throttle, the novella by Stephen King and his son, novelist Joe Hill, is getting the big-screen treatment. Throttle tells of a motorcycle gang riding across a stark Nevada desert after a deal gone bad, who become pursued by a faceless trucker hell-bent on revenge.  

Logan Lerman and Olivia Cooke are in final negotiations to star in The Tracking Of A Russian Spy, the thriller based on real events and based on Mitch Swenson’s memoir. The plot centers on a secret romance between journalist Swenson (Lerman) and a mysterious Russian woman named Katya (Cooke) he met in a New York nightclub who disappears suddenly after the arrest of 10 Russian-Americans charged with spying for the Kremlin.  

Amber Heard is attached to topline the crime thriller The Kind Worth Killing based on Peter Swanson’s 2015 novel, with Christopher Kyle adapting the screenplay. The book follows Lily, a mysterious and stunning killer who meets Ted Severson on a late-night flight from London to Boston. When Ted confesses he’s had thoughts about murdering his unfaithful wife, Lily offers to help, and the two form a strange, twisted bond while plotting his wife’s demise.

Eric Roberts (The Dark Knight) has boarded the indie Never Saw It Coming, playing Wendell Garfield, the husband of a missing woman (Diane D'Aquila) whose disappearance is investigated by a psychic (Emily Hampshire). The book is based on the 2013 novel by Linwood Barclay, who also wrote the screenplay.

Mission: Impossible 6 has announced its cast with several returning members including Tom Cruise, Rebecca Ferguson as Ilsa Faust, Ving Rhames as Luther Stickell, Simon Pegg as Benji Dunn, Alec Baldwin as Alan Hunley, and Sean Harris as Solomon Lane. One notable absentee from the group is Jeremy Renner, who played William Brandt in Ghost Protocol and Rogue Nation, who is reportedly committed to other projects.

TELEVISION

HBO is in talks with veteran David Milch to join True Detective creator Nic Pizzolatto for a potential third season of the crime drama franchise. Pizzolatto, who created the show and has written every episode so far (sharing co-writing credit with Scott Lasser for two episodes in Season 2), has reportedly finished the first two scripts for a prospective third season.

Homeland director Lesli Linka Glatter is set to direct the first two episodes of Dick Wolf’s limited series Law & Order: True Crime — The Menendez Murders for NBC, which is scheduled to begin production this spring in Los Angeles. The series will center on Lyle and Erik Menendez, who were convicted of murdering their parents and sentenced in 1996 to life in prison without parole.  

Film actor Miles Teller is headed to the small screen for Amazon's upcoming original drama series Too Old to Die Young, a crime-thriller project from Drive filmmaker Nicolas Winding Refn that explores a hidden world of assassins. Teller will play the lead role of Martin, a police officer entangled in the criminal underbelly of Los Angeles.

Investigation Discovery has given a greenlight to The Von Bulow Affair, the network’s first scripted limited series, and has set premiere dates for its first two scripted movies, The Dating Game Killer and Fatal Vision. The network is also planning a new three-part documentary event series based on the serial killer known as Son of Sam.

Mark Strong is set to star in the Fox Networks' espionage thrille
r Deep State. The eight-episode hourlong original series follows Strong's character who is brought back into the game to avenge the death of his son, only to find himself at the heart of a covert intelligence war and a conspiracy to profit from the spread of chaos throughout the Middle East.

Hidden Figures star Aldis Hodge is heading to The Blacklist to guest-star as a high-end thief who's on the FBI’s Most Wanted list for stealing luxury items, but "with his powerful physique and violent tendencies, he’s not afraid to get his hands dirty."

Chris Pine will guest-star on the police/procedural parody Angie Tribeca as Dr. Thomas Hornbein, a serial killer nicknamed "The Zookeeeper" that Tribeca (Rashida Jones) brought to justice many years ago.  

ABC has pulled freshman drama series Time After Time from its schedule after five low-rated episodes, effectively canceling the new series. Based on the novel by Karl Alexander and the movie, Time After Time followed science fiction writer H.G. Wells as he was transported to modern day Manhattan in pursuit of Jack the Ripper.  

The animated spy-parody Archer, which has been the focus of a series on FX, is switching gears to re-imagine the Sterling Archer character navigating post-war L.A. as a hard-boiled, hard-drinking gumshoe straight out of classic noir a la Raymond Chandler.

CBS announced the season finale dates for its primetime dramas, comedies and unscripted series. Follow this link to find out when your favorites are ending their seasons and what's coming back next season.

PODCASTS/VIDEO/RADIO

The latest Crime and Science Radio included a discussion of facial recognition and other biometrics with FBI Senior Photographic Technologist, Richard W. Vorder Bruegge.

This week's Two Crime Writers and a Microphone podcast featured special guest Angela Marsons, author of the bestselling Kim Stone series.

Host Debbi Mack welcomed thriller author Michael Parker on the Crime Cafe podcast.

KQED radio spoke with Jerry Miller, who spent more than 25 years behind bars for kidnapping, rape and robbery — crimes he didn't commit. Miller's story is now part of a new book called Anatomy of Innocence, which fleshes out personal accounts of wrongful convictions, with a twist: in each chapter, a mystery or thriller writer (Lee Child, Sara Paretsky, Laurie R. King, and more) tells the story of a real-life exoneree.

The Center for Fiction in NYC has been inviting bestselling authors to participate in its Crime Fiction Academy for the past several years. You may not have known, however, that you can access all those archived video talks via the Center for Fiction's website.

THEATER

Sherlock Holmes returns to the Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park with a comedic twist in Ken Ludwig's Baskerville: A Sherlock Holmes Mystery, with a run from April 22 to May 20 in the Marx Theatre. The play features five actors, with two playing Sherlock Holmes and Doctor Watson, and three others playing more than 40 different roles.