Media Murder for Monday

Monday greetings to you! Here's your latest roundup of crime drama news:

THE BIG SCREEN

Gary Oldman is joining Amy Adams in Fox 2000’s The Woman in the Window, reuniting the actor with his Darkest Hour director Joe Wright. The film will be an adaption of the A.J. Finn novel of the same name, which follows a child psychologist who suffers from extreme agoraphobia and hasn’t left the house in months. Spying on her neighbors, she witnesses a murder when a new family moves in across the park — but no one will believe her. Oldman is set to play the father of the family.

Naomi Scott, who stars as Jasmine in Disney's upcoming Aladdin remake, and British newcomer Ella Balinska are set to join Kristen Stewart in Sony's new Charlie's Angels reboot. Elizabeth Banks, who is directing the project, will also take a role in front of the camera, playing Bosley, the face of the enigmatic and never-seen owner of the detective agency, Charlie Townsend. The new story takes the detective agency premise of the original 1976-1981 TV series and 2000 and 2003 movies global, with the Townsend Agency now a security and intelligence service that has teams around the world. The movie will focus on one of those teams and the next generation of Angels.

Cara Santana has been tapped to star in The Detective, an indie drama written by John Burd and directed by Michael Feifer. Santana will play Jeanie who, after her best friend is attacked by an intruder, starts to secretly investigate the LAPD officer at the center of the investigation who may know more then he is letting on.

The first trailer has dropped for the film Hunger Killer, based on the 2012 novel Firing Point from Don Keith and George Wallace and starring Gerard Butler and Gary Oldman in the tale of a Russian President kidnapped by a rogue general, and the U.S. Navy SEALs who come to the rescue working alongside the Russians to bring him back.

TELEVISION/STREAMING SERVICES

RLJE Films has acquired the U.S. rights to Melanie Laurent’s Galveston, starring Elle Fanning and Ben Foster, which premiered at this year’s SXSW Film Festival and will screen at the Toronto International Film Festival in September. Galveston is based on the novel of the same name by True Detective author Nic Pizzolatto, and centers on Roy (Foster), a criminal enforcer and mob hitman who becomes involved in a double-cross scheme. He discovers Rocky (Fanning) after the crime and reluctantly takes her with him on his escape, and they try to find sanctuary in Galveston, hiding from his boss and their pasts.

The producers behind two popular Netflix overseas drama series, the UK's The Crown and the Spanish La Casa de Papel (aka Money Heist), have teamed for a new show, White Lines, which has received a series order by the streaming service. The story follows the discovery of the body of a legendary Manchester DJ, who is discovered twenty years after his mysterious disappearance from Ibiza. His sister returns to the beautiful Spanish island to find out what happened, and her investigation will lead her through a thrilling world of dance music, super yachts, lies and cover-ups, forcing her to confront the darker sides of her own character in a place where people live life on the edge.

Shelley Conn (Liar) and James D’Arcy (Homeland) are set for key recurring roles opposite Emma Greenwell, Joely Richardson, and Olivia Munn in Starz’s upcoming spy thriller series The Rook, based on the novel by Daniel O’Malley. The project stars Greenwell as Myfanwy Thomas, a young woman who wakes up in a London park suffering total amnesia and pursued by shadowy paranormal adversaries. Grappling with supernatural abilities of her own, she must fight to uncover her past and resume her position within Britain’s secret service, the Checquy, before the traitors who stole her memory can finish what they started.

Better Call Saul has been picked up for a fifth season. The Breaking Bad prequel spin-off stars Bob Odenkirk, Jonathan Banks, Rhea Seehorn, Patrick Fabian, Michael Mando, and Giancarlo Esposito and has garnered a 2018 Peabody Award, 23 Emmy nominations, three Golden Globe nominations, two Writers Guild Awards, three Critics’ Choice Awards, a Television Critics Association Award and two AFI Awards.

The global organized crime thriller McMafia is set to return to AMC for a second season. In May, BBC One ordered an eight-episode second season of the Russian crime series, but AMC hadn't indicated a desire to carry the additional season until this past week. McMafia was inspired by Misha Glenny’s best-selling book of the same name and charts Alex Godman’s (James Norton) journey as he is drawn deeper and deeper into the world of organized crime. 

Lifetime is renewing its psychological thriller You for a second season, a move that comes ahead of the series premiere set for September 9. Adapted from the novel by Caroline Kepnes by Greg Berlanti and Sera Gamble, You follows the brilliant bookstore manager Joe Goldberg (Badgley) who becomes obsessed with an aspiring writer (Elizabeth Lail) and quietly and strategically removes every obstacle – and person – in his way. Season 2 of the series will be based on Kepnes's follow-up novel, Hidden Bodies. 

AT&T Audience Network has renewed Condor, based on the novel Six Days of the Condor by James Grady and the screenplay Three Days of the Condor by Lorenzo Semple Jr. and David Rayfiel. Season 1 of Condor follows a young CIA analyst (Max Irons) who stumbles onto a terrible but brilliant plan that threatens the lives of millions. The series also stars William Hurt, Leem Lubany, Angel Bonanni, Kristen Hager, with Mira Sorvino and Bob Balaban. Brendan Fraser guest stars. 

HBO’s Perry Mason reboot is looking for a new actor for the lead role. Robert Downey Jr., who was originally planned to take on the iconic role, will remain Executive Producer, but Downey's schedule leaves him no time to act in the project. Perry Mason reimagines Erle Stanley Gardner’s classic character, an unorthodox investigator/defense attorney, who has been featured in more than 80 novels and short stories, a radio series and six feature films in the 1930s, a comic strip in the early 1950s, an Emmy-winning TV series starring Raymond Burr that ran from 1957-66, the short-lived New Perry Mason TV show from 1973-74, and more than 20 made-for-television films that aired during the 1980s and ’90s.

Teen superspy Alex Rider is heading to the small screen after Sony’s international production and distribution divisions teamed up to greenlight an eight-episode series. The television adaptation does not currently have a broadcaster attached, although British commercial broadcaster ITV was previously involved. Based on Foyle’s War creator Anthony Horowitz's YA novels, the project charts the adventures of a reluctant teen superspy on his missions to save the world. The twelfth book in the Alex Rider series, Nightshade, is due to be published in 2019.

Former CSI: NY star Sela Ward is returning to CBS with a co-starring role on the network’s upcoming drama series FBI, from Law & Order and Chicago chief Dick Wolf, which chronicles the inner workings of the New York office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Ward replaces Connie Nielsen who co-starred in the pilot, although this is not a straight recasting as Ward will play a new character that will be introduced in Episode 2. There are no details yet on Ward’s character, Dana Mosier, but she is expected to be in a similar position as Nielsen, who played the team’s boss.

Code Black alumna Moon Bloodgood is set as a series regular and Billy Miller (Suits), Brett Cullen (Narcos), and young actor Hunter Doohan (Westworld) will recur opposite Octavia Spencer and Lizzy Caplan in Apple’s thriller drama series Are You Sleeping. Spencer stars as Poppy Parnell, a relentless investigative reporter who looks to uncover the truth behind a decades-old questionable murder verdict through her new podcast.

Amy Hill has signed on for a recurring role with a series regular option in Magnum P.I, CBS’ reboot of the classic 1980s show. The reboot follows Thomas Magnum (Jay Hernandez), a decorated ex-Navy SEAL who, upon returning home from Afghanistan, re-purposes his military skills to become a private investigator. With help from fellow vets Theodore “TC” Calvin and Orville “Rick” Wright, as well as that of disavowed former MI:6 agent Juliet Higgins, Magnum takes on the cases no one else will, helping those who have no one else to turn to. Hill will play the charming and irreverent Kumu, the cultural curator and de facto “house mom” of Robin’s Nest.

The first trailer was unveiled at Comic-Con for season 2 of Get Shorty, the Epix series based on Elmore Leonard's novel and the 1995 film adaptation. Deadline reported that in the new season, Miles Daly (Chris O'Dowd) "struggles to reconcile his ambitions as a filmmaker and a family man with his skill set as a career criminal. His progress in Hollywood is jeopardized when the washed-up producer (Ray Romano) with whom he partnered in Season 1, agrees to wear a federal wire. Miles faces off with criminal financiers and with a Hollywood power-broker who could be the most dangerous of all." 

The first look trailer for Tony Danza’s new series The Good Cop was unveiled at the Television Critics Association, showcasing the actor as a lovable but not exactly honorable former NYPD officer who never follows the rules. He becomes unofficial partners with his roommate and son, Tony Jr. (TJ), played by Josh Groban, a brilliant, straight-laced NYPD detective who makes a point of always following the rules while solving Brooklyn’s toughest cases. 

PODCASTS/VIDEO/RADIO

Crime writer, filmmaker, and podcaster Eryk Pruitt was on the Menu at The Blue Plate Special as host Terri Lynn Coop chatted with him about his short films, which have won several awards at film festivals across the US, and his fiction writing. Pruitt was a finalist for the Derringer Award for his short story "Knockout,"  and his third novel, What We Reckon, has been nominated for an Anthony Award.

The CBC interviewed author Linwood Barclay on how he always loved mysteries and thrillers before he ended up writing them full-time, becoming the bestselling author including his latest book, A Noise Downstairs.

Mystery Melange

Stav Sherez has won the 2018 Theakston Old Peculier award for crime fiction with his novel, The Intrusions. The book, a 2017 Guardian and Sunday Times book of the year, was dubbed "A Silence of the Lambs for the internet age" by Ian Rankin. Now in its fourteenth year, the award is considered one of the most coveted crime writing prizes in the UK. (HT to Ayo Onatade at Shots Magazine)

Also announced during the Theakston conference were the 2018 Dead Good Reader Awards, sponsored annually by the British crime-fiction book site Dead Good. The Holmes and Watson Award for Best Detective Duo went to Ruth Galloway and Harry Nelson, created by Elly Griffiths; The Whodunnit Award for the Book That Keeps You Guessing went to the novel Let Me Lie, by Clare Mackintosh; The Cabot Cove Award for Best Small-Town Mystery: The Chalk Man, by C.J. Tudor; The Wringer Award for the Character Who’s Been Put Through It All: Jack Reacher, created by Lee Child; The House of Horrors Award for Most Dysfunctional Family: Then She Was Gone, by Lisa Jewell; and The Dead Good Recommends Award for Most Recommended Book: The Dark Angel, by Elly Griffiths

Cynthia E. Tobisman has won the 2018 Harper Lee Prize for Legal Fiction for her second published novel, Proof. The Harper Lee Prize is awarded by the ABA Journal and the University of Alabama School of Law each year to a novel-length work of fiction that best that best illuminates the role of lawyers in society and their power to effect change.

The Crime Writers Association (CWA) Dagger shortlists were announced last evening. It was already announced in March that Michael Connelly was to receive the 2018 CWA Diamond Dagger, the highest honor in British crime writing. The Gold Dagger for best crime novel of the year finalists include The Liar, by Steve Cavanagh; London Rules, by Mick Herron; Since We Fell, by Dennis Lehane; Bluebird, Bluebird, by Attica Locke; A Necessary Evil, by Abir Mukherjee; and Resurrection Bay, by Emma Viskic. For all the other categories, head over to the CWA Dagger information page.

The winners of the 2018 RITA Awards included The Fixer by HelenKay Dimon in the Romantic Suspense category. For the list of all of the finalists in that category (as well as the other romance categories), follow this link to the official Romantic Writers Association website.

The Vermont Historical Society will present Claire Meldrum with the Weston A. Cate Fellowship award for her research project Anna Katharine Green: A Biography. Meldrum’s book is a biography about nineteenth century American detective fiction author, Anna Katharine Green, a seminal figure in American crime fiction, whose books helped give shape to the genre during its formative decades. 

The Naoki Prize for popular fiction in Japan has been awarded to writer Rio Shimamoto for First Love, a mystery novel centering on a female university student arrested for allegedly killing her father.

A panel on "Crime Science versus Crime Fiction: exploding the myths" is scheduled for August 30 at the Royal Society in London. The event will explore how closely crime fiction mirrors the realities of police investigation and how far modern science is able to help in the fight to reduce and prevent crime. Jointly organized by one of the world's top crime research departments, UCL Jill Dando Institute, and one of the world's foremost crime writers' organizations, the Crime Writers Association, the panel will include authors Val McDermid, Elly Griffiths, Barry Forshaw, Vaseem Khan (who also works at works at UCL's Department of Security and Crime Science), Imran Mahmood (who is also a barrister), and professors Ruth Morgan and Richard Wortley.

The noir comic book series Lodger is set to debut in October as IDW Publishing’s Black Crown imprint — created and headed by former DC Vertigo executive editor Shelly Bond — is expanding with the brand-new series from the creators of the critically acclaimed crime comic Stray Bullet.

Although I missed National and International Private Investigator Day on July 24, the Writing PIs blog (headed up by Colleen Collins and Shaun Kaufman), offered a brief "History of the Private Eye."

More news from the world of forensics: Could brain scans determine guilt or innocence in court? Lie detection using a functional MRI machine, which measures and creates an image of brain activity, is a topic of controversy among legal and neuroscience experts and has yet to land on the courtroom floor.

In honor of the recent 130th anniversary of Raymond Chandler’s birth, Anthony Dean Rizzuto tells us about "Eight Things You Didn’t Know About Raymond Chandler’s The Big Sleep."

If you're still searching for a book that's as gripping as Gone Girl, Cosmopolitan tapped Catriona Harvey-Jenner and Dusty Baxter-Wright to choose 26 of the best psychological thriller books to add to your reading list.

An oak tree in Devon that provided shade for the crime writer Agatha Christie when she watched and scored cricket matches has collapsed in the heatwave there. Known locally as the Agatha Christie Oak, the tree had become a site of pilgrimage for the author’s fans and was used by the Barton Cricket Club as its badge logo.

Atlas Obscura solicited readers to send in some of the best marginalia from used books they'd ever found. The results were fun and surprising, such as the note written next to "The Greek Interpreter" from The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle that said simply, "difficult and boring."

The latest poem at the 5-2 crime poetry weekly is "1956 Packard (Nebraska)" by Ken Meisel.

In the Q&A roundup, Crimespree interviewed Linda Castillo about the tenth book in her series featuring Painter Mills police chief Kate Buckholder; Karin Slaughter, whose thriller Pieces of Her will be published in August, took the "By the Book" interview challenge for the New York Times; and the Mystery People chatted with Rob Hart about the latest in his series featuring unlicensed private detective Ash McKenna, Potter's Field.

Media Murder for Monday

Monday greetings to you! Here's your weekly roundup of crime drama news:

THE BIG SCREEN

RLJE Films and UMC have acquired the North American rights to the Jeremy Ungar-directed thriller Ride starring Bella Thorne (Famous in Love), Jessie T. Usher (Shaft), and Will Brill (The OA). Ride is the feature debut for Ungar, who also wrote the script, and follows James rideshare driver James (Usher) and passenger Jessica (Thorne). When they pick up a charismatic but manipulative Bruno (Brill), a night out in L.A. becomes a psychological war for survival.

Actress Cinthya Carmona (Hulu’s East Los High) has been cast in David Ayer’s crime thriller The Tax Collector, joining Shia LaBeouf, Bobby Soto, and Chelsea Rendon. Not much is known about the plot other then it hearkens to Ayer’s earlier gritty crime thrillers Training Day and End of Watch. Production is set to being this summer in LA.

MGM’s Operation Finale, which follows a team of secret agents in their pursuit of Holocaust Nazi architect Adolf Eichmann 15 years after World War II, is moving up from its Sept. 14 opening to August 29, the Wednesday before the four-day Labor Day holiday. Chris Weitz directed the project from Matthew Orton’s script, which stars Oscar Isaac, Ben Kingsley, Nick Kroll, Melanie Laurent, Lior Raz, Joe Alwyn, Haley Lu Richardson, Michael Aronov, Ohad Knoller, Greg Hill, Torben Liebrecht, Mike Hernandez, Greta Scacchi, and Pepe Rapazote.

TELEVISION/STREAMING SERVICES

The team behind the Netflix and ITV hit Marcella snagged TV rights to Elizabeth Macneal's thriller The Doll Factory, which landed a publishing contract for 2019 after a bidding war. The thriller is set in 1850s London and follows Iris, an aspiring artist who works in a doll-making shop, and Silas, a reclusive collector. They meet by chance in London’s Hyde Park during the construction of The Great Exhibition of 1851, which is the start of Silas’ increasingly dark obsession with Iris.

Netflix has given a 10-episode straight-to-series order to Hit and Run, an espionage thriller drama from Lior Raz and Avi Issacharoff, creators of the praised Netflix series Fauda, and Dawn Prestwich and Nicole Yorkin, creators of the Amazon comedy Z: The Beginning of Everything. Created and written by Issacharoff, Raz, Prestwich and Yorkin, Hit and Run centers on a happily married man whose life is turned upside down when his wife is killed in a mysterious hit and run accident.

Charter Communications is in advanced discussions to pick up the Discovery crime drama Manhunt from Lionsgate for two seasons of the series, each planned to feature a different infamous criminal. The second season would be a dramatized account of the hunt for Eric Rudolph, the Olympic Park Bomber who targeted the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta. Manhunt was originally set at Discovery Channel with its first installment, the 2017 Unabomber, marking the cable network’s first limited scripted series and starring Sam Worthington and Paul Bettany. But Discovery opted to get out of the scripted arena and focus on its core unscripted business, therefore not proceeding with a second installment of Manhunt.

The acclaimed Italian crime series Gomorrah, which is currently working on its fourth and fifth seasons, has sold to 190 markets and is Sky Italia’s flagship show at home where it even outperforms Game Of Thrones. The first two seasons were picked up In the U.S. by Sundance TV and then showed on Netflix, although as Deadline reported, the former is not yet on board for the third season so the show could soon have a new home. The series, which was created and produced by Roberto Saviano and based on Saviano's book of the same, tells the story of Ciro di Marzio (Marco D'Amore), a member of the Savastano clan, headed by Pietro Savastano (Fortunato Cerlino), a high-ranking drug lord. Ciro aims to navigate the dangers of the criminal world, while also fighting a brutal civil war.

Global has picked up a 13-episode third season of suspense drama series Ransom for premiere next year on Global in Canada and CBS in the U.S. Created by Frank Spotnitz (The X-Files) and David Vainola, Ransom is inspired by the professional experiences of crisis negotiator Laurent Combalbert, who, along with his partner, Marwan Mery, are among the top negotiators in the world. They travel the globe to help multinational corporations and government agencies with complex negotiations and conflict resolution.The principal cast includes Luke Roberts, Nazneen Contractor, Brandon Jay McLaren and Karen LeBlanc.

Deborah Ayorinde (Girls Trips) is set to recur opposite Mahershala Ali in the third season of Nic Pizzolatto’s HBO crime anthology series True Detective. Series newcomers Carmen Ejogo, Stephen Dorff, Scoot McNairy, Mamie Gummer and Ray Fisher also star in the next installment, which tells the story of a macabre crime in the heart of the Ozarks and a mystery that deepens over decades and plays out in three separate time periods. Ayorinde will play Becca Hayes, the estranged daughter of retired Arkansas State Police detective Wayne Hayes (Ali). She joins previously announced recurring cast Michael Greyeyes, Jon Tenney, Rhys Wakefield, Sarah Gadon, Emily Nelson, Brandon Flynn, Michael Graziadei, Josh Hopkins and Jodi Balfour.

Anne Heche is returning to NBC for a guest arc on the upcoming sixth season of Chicago P.D. She'll play Dep. Superintendent Katherine Brennan, who is "smart, to the point and political, but often self-serving. A cunning and formidable opponent, she always keeps her wits about her."

Diona Reasonover, who guest starred in three episodes on CBS’ veteran crime drama NCIS last season, has been promoted to a series regular for the upcoming 16th season. Reasonover was first introduced as Ducky’s (David McCallum) new graduate assistant, Kasie Hines, in Episode 17 and was then brought in by NCIS boss Gibbs (Mark Harmon) in the aftermath of Abby’s (Pauley Perrette) departure as a forensic scientist to help out on a case.

Netflix released a first look at Michael Pena and Diego Luna in Narcos: Mexico, as the streaming services' drug trafficking drama heads to Mexico for its fourth season. Luna is set to play Miguel Ángel Félix Gallardo but he goes by only one name: Felix. He is the leader of the Guadalajara cartel, one of the biggest narcos in the history of Mexico and the founder of the modern Mexican drug trade. Pena will play Kiki Camarena, a family man and an undercover DEA agent who garnered valuable intel through a series of informants around Félix and his newly minted Guadalajara cartel.

PODCASTS/VIDEO/RADIO

In a special bonus episode of the New York Times' Book Review podcast, best-selling thriller writers Lee Child, Megan Abbott, Meg Gardiner, Lisa Gardner, and Lisa Scottoline discussed the tricks of their best-selling trade.

Wallace Stroby, an award-winning journalist and the author of eight novels, four of which feature professional thief Crissa Stone, discussed his writing and crime fiction on Authors on the Air.

Crime Cafe host Debbi Mack interviewed crime fiction author Phillip Thompson, a self-described writer of "redneck noir."

THEATER

Australia’s favorite comedy psychic detective will make his Scottish premiere at the Edinburgh Fringe from August 2-26. The performance of 2 Ruby Knockers, 1 Jaded Dick – A Dirk Darrow Investigation is part stand-up comedy, part mentalism, part magic, part story-telling, and all gritty retro film-noir described as "Sam Spade meets Naked Gun meets Penn & Teller."

Mystery Melange

The International Thriller Writers announced the winners of the 2018 Thriller Awards this past weekend during the annual ThrillerFest in New York City. Best Hardcover Novel went to Final Girls, by Riley Sager; Best First Novel: The Freedom Broker, by K.J. Howe; Best Paperback Original Novel: Grievance, by Christine Bell; Best Short Story: “Charcoal and Cherry,” by Zoë Z. Dean (Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine, May/June 2017); Best Young Adult Novel: The Rains, by Gregg Hurwitz; Best E-Book Original Novel: Second Chance, by Sean Black. (HT to Mystery Fanfare)

The International Association of Crime Writers announced the winner of this year's Hammett Prize for literary excellence in the field of crime-writing, as reflected in a book published in the English language in the US and/or Canada. August Snow, by Stephen Mack Jones, edged out the other finalists which included The Marsh King’s Daughter by Karen Dionne, The Tragedy of Brady Sims by Ernest J. Gaines, and Two Days Gone by Randall Silvis.
 

Strand Magazine announced the winners of its annual awards for the best in the previous year's crime fiction. Best Novel went to Wonder Valley, by Ivy Pochoda; Best First Novel, The Lost Ones, by Sheena Kamal; Lifetime Achievement Awards: Jonathan Gash (aka John Grant), British creator of the antiques-focused Lovejoy mysteries, and J.A. Jance, best known for her J.P. Beaumont series and her Joanna Brady series; and Publisher of the Year Award goes to Tom Doherty of Tor/Forge books. (HT to the Rap Sheet)

Ellen Hart and Marcie Rendon are the recipients of the 2018 Pinckley Prizes for Crime Fiction, named to honor the memory of Diana Pinckley. Hart won the Pinckley Prize for Distinguished Body of Work for her thirty-two novels in two series, one featuring Jane Lawless, a lesbian restaurateur and her best friend, Cordelia Thorne, the other being the Sophie Greenway series. Marcie Rendon, a member of the White Earth Nation, and a playwright, poet, and freelance writer, won the Pinckley Prize for Debut Novel for her book Murder on the Red River.

Via Martin Edwards comes the sad news of the death of Jessica Mann, the distinguished crime writer, broadcaster and reviewer. She penned a series featuring archaeologist Tamara Hoyland among several other novels as well as nonfiction such as Deadlier than the Male, an excellent study of female crime writing. She also served on committees for the Crime Writers Association and the Detection Club.

Here's something to put on your bucket list, especially if you find yourself in Europe his summer: high atop the Austrian Alps sits the new James Bond Museum, 007 Elements, an immersive installation celebrating Bond's cinematic outings past and present. The museum neighbors the glacial ice Q restaurant featured in "Spectre" - both buildings are on Gaislachkogl mountain in Sölden. The museum, which opened July 12, can be reached via the Gaislachkoglbahn cable car.

Stephen Knight, the author of Australian Crime Fiction: A 200-Year History, took a look at the history of Aussie crime writing for The Conversation magazine, from brilliant exotics to the richness of the tradition as a whole.

Ahead of ThrillerFest in New York City, CrimeReads assembled a panel of authors for a roundtable conversation on the state of the thriller. Joining in the discussion were Don Chaon, Layton Green, Jeff Gunhus, K.J. Howe, Gregg Hurwitz, Alan McDermott, Caroline Mitchell, Gin Phillips, Lori Rader-Day, Riley Sager, Rysa Walker, and Diana Rodriguez Wallach, all of whom were nominated in various categories for this year's Thriller Awards.

The latest issue of the Film Noir Foundation’s magazine includes a no-holds-barred conversation between FNF master of ceremonies Eddie Muller and novelist James Ellroy that took place after the FNF handed out its second Modern Master Award to Ellroy (the first last year was director Stephen Frears). Ray Banks also has an essay on Britain’s first neo-noir Nowhere to Go (starring Maggie Smith); Eddie Muller talks about the silent Japanese proto-noir Policeman (1933); Sara Smith has an appraisal of forgotten Swedish master Hasse Ekman; and much more. (HT to Vince Keenan)

Here's a fun fact for fans of both books and the films upon which they're based: movies based on books take 44% more at the box office in the UK and 53% more worldwide than original screenplays, according to research from the Publishers Association.

Be careful what you take to the Antiques Roadshow: on a recent installment of the popular program (the UK version), Jude Hooke showed the resident specialist a printed score of the "Enigma Variations" with annotations and pasted-in corrected passages of music in Elgar’s own hand. Imagine the surprise of the Elgar Foundation: that very score had gone missing in 1994 – at which time, it turns out, Ms. Hooke’s late husband was an attorney at the same firm as the Foundation’s former vice-chairman.

The latest poem at the 5-2 crime poetry weekly is "Tiger Watching at Yorkshire Animal Park" by Alyson Faye.

In the Q&A roundup author Ruth Ware (The Woman in Cabin 10) stopped by the Keep It Kassual blog; Tonya Kappes (a/k/a Maymee Bell) was a guest at Lesa's Book Critiques to talk about the first book in her new Campers & Criminals mystery series, Beaches, Bungalows & Burglaries; Writers Who Kill snagged V.M. Burns to discuss her book The Plot is Murder, nominated for a Best Debut Novel in the Malice Domestic Awards; the Mystery People sat down with Megan Abbott to talk about falling in love with your mysteries; the MPs also chatted with Ace Atkins, whose novel The Sinners continues his southern crime fiction series with Afghan war vet and Mississippi sheriff Quinn Colson.

 

Media Murder for Monday

Monday greetings to all and a big welcome to the roundup of the latest crime drama news:

THE BIG SCREEN

Constantin Film is adapting German author Ferdinand von Schirach’s international legal thriller bestseller The Collini Case. German actor Elyas M’Barek stars as an attorney who takes on a defendant accused of the vicious murder of a respected elderly businessman. In researching the case, the young lawyer comes across one of the biggest judicial scandals in German history and a truth that nobody wants to face. The project is being directed by Marco Kreuzpaintner from a screenplay by Christian Zuebert, Robert Gold and Jens-Frederik Otto, and was inspired by the author’s own family history.

Julianne Moore is in negotiations to join Amy Adams in The Woman in the Window, Fox 2000’s adaptation of the book by A.J. Finn. Joe Wright (The Darkest Hour) is directing the thriller, which sees Adams portraying a child psychologist with severe agoraphobia and a penchant for mixing alcohol with her medication who hasn’t left her house in months. The woman believes she witnessed a horrible crime involving a new neighboring family but no one, including the police, will believe her. Moore will play the mother of a mysterious young boy who moves in across the street. It was also announced last week that Wyatt Russell has been cast as David, the tenant who lives in Anna’s basement.

Gary Oldman and Jessica Alba have joined the cast of the thriller Killers Anonymous, from producer Goldfinch Studios. The cast also includes Tommy Flanagan (Sons of Anarchy), Sam Hazeldine (Mechanic: Resurrection), Rhyon Nicole Brown (Empire) MyAnna Buring (Ripper Street), Tim McInnerny (Game of Thrones), Michael Socha (Svengali), Elizabeth Morris (Let’s Be Evil), Elliot James Langridge (Northern Soul), and Isabelle Allen (Les Misérables). Martin Owen (Let’s Be Evil) is directing from a script co-written by Owen, Elizabeth Morris and Seth Johnson. The story revolves around an unusual support group for killers -  but the failed assassination of a senator and the brutal and professional demise of his attempted assassin causes the very fabric of the group to unravel as one layer of betrayal leads to another.

Fresh off his turn as King T’Challa aka Black Panther in Disney/Marvel’s Avengers: Infinity War, Chadwick Boseman is reteaming with Joe and Anthony Russos to produce and star in the action thriller 17 Bridges from STXfilms. Brian Kirk (Luther, Game of Thrones) has signed on to direct from a script by Adam Mervis that follows a disgraced NYPD detective (Boseman) who, after being thrust into a citywide manhunt for a cop killer, is given a shot at redemption.

District 9 director Neill Blomkamp has signed on to direct a new installment of the RoboCop series for MGM called RoboCop Returns. The project is a long-dormant sequel that had been planned by the original 1987 film’s screenwriters Ed Neumeier and Michael Miner, but was cancelled when director Paul Verhoeven declined to direct the project and a WGA strike in 1988 followed. Justin Rhodes, who is also attached to write the upcoming Terminator reboot and the DC film Green Lantern Corps, will rewrite Neumeier and Miner’s script.

Geneva Robertson-Dworet is set to adapt Artemis, an adaptation of the novel by The Martian author Andy Weir that Phil Lord and Chris Miller will direct. Artemis is described as an adrenaline-charged crime caper that features smart, detailed world-building based on real science. It centers on Jasmine Bashara, aka Jazz, a twentysomething living in a small town named Artemis — and it’s the first and only city on the moon. Her budding career as a smuggler isn’t exactly setting her up as a kingpin, so when the chance at a life-changing score drops in her lap, she finds herself in the middle of a conspiracy for control of Artemis itself.

Quentin Tarantino has rounded out the large cast for his upcoming crime drama Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, bringing Spencer Garrett, Martin Kove, James Remar, Brenda Vaccaro, Nichole Galicia, Mike Moh, Craig Stark, Marco Rodriguez, Ramon Franco and Raul Cardona on board. They join the already cast stars Leonardo DiCaprio, Brad Pitt, Margot Robbie, Burt Reynolds, Kurt Russell, Timothy Olyphant, Damian Lewis, Dakota Fanning, Scoot McNairy and Al Pacino. Once Upon a Time takes place in Los Angeles in 1969, at the height of hippie Hollywood era ... and the Charles Manson murders.

Jeremy Renner has been set to star alongside Jamie Foxx in Spawn, the Blumhouse film that marks the directorial debut of Todd McFarlane from his scripted adaptation of his comic book creation. It was announced back in May that Foxx would play the title character, Al Simmons, a member of a CIA black ops team who is twice betrayed: after being set up by his cohorts to be murdered with his corpse set aflame, Simmons is then double crossed in Hell.  Spawn turns his rage on street scum and revenge and enlists the aid of Detective "Twitch" Williams (Renner), an unconventional detective whose intelligence and intuition compliments Spawn’s power and will help Spawn win his war.

Steve McQueen's crime drama Widows is set to open the 2018 London Film Festival. The thriller is co-written by the Oscar-winning director with Gone Girl author Gillian Flynn and unites a group of four women with nothing in common except a debt left behind by their dead husbands’ criminal activities. Viola Davis, Michelle Rodriguez, Elizabeth Debicki and Cynthia Erivo star.

On the 30th anniversary of the iconic film Die Hard starring Bruce Willis and the late Alan Rickman, The Telegraph profiled the genesis of the movie, which was actually based on Roderick Thorp’s 1979 thriller novel Nothing Lasts Forever.

TELEVISION/STREAMING SERVICES

The Television Academy announced the nominees for this year's Emmy Awards. The spy series The Americans was among the nods for Best Drama Series, and Best Limited Drama Series included the outlaw project Godless, the psychological thriller The Alienist, and The Assassination Of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story. The Americans also snagged Best Actor and Best Actress nods for Matthew Rhys and Keri Russell, and Sandra Oh was nominated for her role in the thriller Killing Eve. For all of the various categories and finalists, head on over to the official Emmys website.

Karin Slaughter’s upcoming thriller novel Pieces of Her is being developed for television by Bruna Papandrea’s Made Up Stories and Endeavor Content, with Lesli Linka Glatter (Homeland, Mad Men) attached to direct and Charlotte Stoudt (Homeland, House of Cards) to pen the adaptation. Pieces of Her asks: What if everything you thought you knew about your quiet, middle-age mother was wrong? What if she has spent the past 30 years hiding in plain sight? What if, when violence erupts at your local mall and a shooter goes on a rampage, the person who stops him, dead, is your mother? Pieces of Her follows Andrea, a woman who thought she knew everything about her mother, Laura, until the moment she realized she didn’t, and their world unravels.

Another novel by Big Little Lies author Liane Moriarty is headed to Netflix. EveryWhere Studios has optioned the rights to Moriarty’s Three Wishes for a series adaptation written by playwright/TV writer Lila Feinberg (Younger). Three Wishes follows three wildly different sisters as their lives intertwine and unfold around their glamorous Manhattan wedding weekend that ends in a shocking tragedy. When a scandalous secret emerges, the tight-knit bond among the sisters is tested as they unravel a mystery that ripples throughout each of their lives.

Netflix has set Michael C. Hall, Cleopatra Coleman and Bokeem Woodbine to join Boyd Holbrook in the cast of the crime drama In The Shadow of the Moon. The Hap and Leonard helmer Jim Mickle is directing the movie from a script by Gregory Weidman and Geoff Tock. Holbrook plays a Philly police officer who struggles with a lifelong obsession to track a mysterious serial killer whose crimes defy explanation.

Former Sex&Drugs&Rock&Roll alums Elaine Hendrix and Denis Leary are reuniting for USA Network’s thriller Erase pilot. Created by the Rescue Me veteran and Alex Cary, Erase focuses on a once rotten to the core character (Leary), a ill cop who changes his stripes after a life altering revelation and decides to bring down his corrupt superiors in the department. Leary’s O’Neal also has to strive against time to fix the family he almost destroyed in his old ways and keep everyone alive too. Hendrix will portray Bella Tanner, a fun, loving and true problem solver.

Ben Affleck will join Anne Hathaway in Dee Rees' Mudbound follow-up, The Last Thing He Wanted. Based on Joan Didion's 1996 novel, the movie will center on a hardscrabble journalist, Elena McMahon (Hathaway), who inherits her father's position as a dealmaker — an arms dealmaker. She soon finds herself on dangerous ground as the Iran-Contra Affair's arms-for-drugs plot reaches its tipping point. Toby Jones, Rosie Perez and Edi Gathegi are also joining the cast of the Netflix feature, which is currently filming in Puerto Rico.

Nashville star Charles Esten has booked a new series gig in the form of a season-long recurring role on TNT’s upcoming thriller drama Tell Me Your Secrets. Created and written by Harriet Warner, Tell Me Your Secrets is a thriller that revolves around a trio of characters, each with a mysterious and troubling past: Emma (Lily Rabe), a young woman who once looked into the eyes of a dangerous killer, John (Hamish Linklater), a former serial predator desperate to find redemption, and Mary (Amy Brenneman), a mother obsessed with finding her missing daughter. Esten will play Mary's husband, Saul Barlow, a grieving father who has coped with the disappearance of his daughter by walking away from materialism and trying to move on from the loss. This has severely strained his relationship with his wife who refuses to give up the search.

Nic Bishop (Covert Affairs), The Sopranos star Annabella Sciorra, Molly Hagan (iZombie) and Tami Roman (When Love Kills: The Falicia Blakely Story) have been cast as recurring opposite Octavia Spencer and Lizzy Caplan in Apple’s thriller drama series Are You Sleeping. Created and written by Nichelle Tramble Spellman and based on the true-crime novel by Kathleen Barber, the provides a unique glimpse into America’s obsession with true-crime podcasts and challenges its viewers to consider the consequences when the pursuit of justice is placed on a public stage.

Fresh on the heels of news that Netflix has picked up a Bollywood crime drama from India comes the report that the streaming service has also signed two international crime dramas from Argentina and Brazil. The Argentine drama is titled Puerta 7 and follows one woman’s attempt to cut through the male-dominated world of football hooliganism to cleanse one club of its corruption and criminal element; the Brazilian thriller, The Faction, is set in the 90s and centers on Cristina, an honest, dedicated lawyer who finds out her missing brother has been jailed for years and is a leader of an ascendant criminal faction and is forced to become an informant and work against her brother.

Netflix will explore the true crime genre again in 2019 with a show based on the controversial case of the Central Park Five, boys who were accused of and then convicted of a rape they did not commit. The four-part series, which is created, directed, and written by Ava Duvernay, just announced the signing of Michael K. Williams, best known for his iconic role as Omar on The Wire, to play Bobby McCray, the devoted father of one of the teenage boys who lost valuable years of his life while incarcerated. Also joining the cast are John Leguizamo, who will play the father of one of the other accused teens, and Vera Farmiga of Bates Motel fame who plays Manhattan Assistant District Attorney Elizabeth Lederer, the lead prosecutor for the case.

Rosario Dawson is set as the lead of USA Network’s crime drama pilot Briarpatch, from Mr. Robot creator Sam Esmail. Written by Andy Greenwald and based on the Ross Thomas novel, Briarpatch centers on Allegra "Pick" Dill (Dawson), a tenacious and highly-skilled investigator working in Washington, DC for a young, ambitious Senator. When her ten-years-younger sister, a homicide detective, is killed by a car bomb, Allegra returns to her corrupt Texas hometown. What begins as a search for the murderer becomes a fraught and dangerous excavation of the past Allegra has long sought to bury.

George Newbern has booked his first post-Scandal TV series role, taking on a recurring character in Law & Order: SVU. Newbern will play Dr. Al Pollack, a charming, handsome and very wealthy doctor who is a past and future love interest to Detective Rollins (Kelli Giddish). They’ve had a tumultuous relationship in past and he has a bit of a wandering eye, but when they reconnect, things might be different this time — or not.

CBS released its fall schedule lineup, including returning series Bull, the NCIS franchises, SWAT, MacGuyer, Hawaii Five-O, Seal Team and Criminal Minds, as well as new shows Magnum PI and FBI.

Acorn TV, North America’s largest streaming service for British and international TV, announced its August slate featuring exclusive U.S./Canada Premieres. The roster includes the new drama series Mystery Road, called "Australia’s answer to True Detective" and starring multiple Emmy and Golden Globe winner Judy Davis and AFCA winner Aaron Pedersen (Jack Irish) as detectives in this outback noir; and also the return of the female-driven British police procedural No Offence.

A trailer was released for the fourth season of Better Call Saul, which sees Bob Odenkirk as unemployed, casing joints, and sporting a purple tracksuit as he begins to transform into Saul Goodman.

The new trailer for Season six of Orange is the New Black shakes things up at Litchfield Penitentiary.

PODCASTS/VIDEO/RADIO

Radio New Zealand spoke with Robin Burcell about her life as a cop, a forensic artist and how she pours all that experience into her writing, including her latest novel, The Grey Ghost.

Writer Types welcomed authors Caroline Kepnes and Rob Hart for a chat about their various writing projects. The show also brought back the "5 Questions With..." segment featuring Ronald Colby, author of Night Driver. Plus an Unpanel of current and former law enforcement members and authors told us what writers get wrong about writing the police, with J. Todd Scott, Patricia Smiley and Paul Bishop

Spybrary featured a round table discussion on the life and books of spy writer Frederick Forsyth.

Destination Mystery spoke with attorney, author, and anti-trafficking advocate Pamela Samuels Young, often called "John Grisham with a female twist," about her legal thrillers, sex trafficking, and what she's working on next.

THEATER

Spokane, Washington's Stage Left is bringing the Agatha Christie mystery And Then There Were None to the stage through July 29th. Bryan Durbin directs the classic tale of eight strangers on a deserted island who are being picked off one by one.

Mystery Melange

 

Elly Griffiths, author behind the Ruth Galloway series, has topped this year's Dead Good Reader Awards shortlists by securing a total three nominations, while crime writers Ruth Ware, Clare Mackintosh, Tony Kent and Teresa Driscoll have two nods apiece. Voted on by the Dead Good crime community, the awards include 24 authors who have been shortlisted across six categories such as detective duos, small town mysteries, and Dead Good's most recommended read. Voting closes Wednesday, July 18, with winners to be announced on July 20 during the Theakston Old Peculier Crime Writing Festival in Harrogate, England. (HT to The Bookseller)

The Houston Museum of Natural Science is presenting the interactive International Exhibition of Sherlock Holmes through September 30th. The exhibition contains original manuscripts, period artifacts, and investigative tools from Arthur Conan Doyle’s era, including the writings of Edgar Allan Poe and Doyle’s medical studies with Dr. Joseph Bell. Galleries are organized around a new Holmes mystery, written by award-winning Doyle biographer Daniel Stashower, and each visitor receives a casebook in which they can jot down notes and clues in helping Holmes solve this latest mysterious case.

The latest issue of Pulp Modern is out with new short crime stories by Michael Bracken, Thomas Dade, John Kojak, Doug Lane, Chris McGinley, J.A. Prentice, Stephen D. Rogers, Scotch Rutherford, and Cynthia Ward. Likewise, the latest Flash Bang Mysteries features short stories by John M Floyd, Michael Bracken, Herschel Cozine, Stephen D. Rogers, Erin Lanter, and Tracy Falenwolfe.

Mike Ripley’s newest "Getting Away with Murder" column for Shots included a sneak peak at Ripley’s interview with MI5’s former director general, Stella Rimington; a look at newly released novels from Ace Atkins, Ann Granger, Caro Ramsay, and Zoë Sharp; a note about newly reissued works in Christopher Bush’s Ludovic Travers crime series; and a short review of Jim Kelly’s The Great Darkness, set during Britain’s World War II blackouts and featuring the authors light-averse detective inspector, Eden Brooke. (HT to The Rap Sheet)

Congrats to crime writer Val McDermid who was awarded an honorary doctorate from Bath Spa University. McDermid, who received the honor in recognition of her significant contribution to literature and crime fiction, has also been the recipient of the Crime Writers’ Association Gold Dagger, the Diamond Dagger for Lifetime Achievement, the Theakston’s Old Peculier Award for Outstanding Contribution to the genre, and is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature and of the Royal Society of Edinburgh.

Just like Amazon did recently, The Telegraph has compiled a listing of its favorite crime novels of 2018 (so far), from the latest Bernie Gunther novel to an international bestseller by South Korea's most popular crime writer. (requires subscription)

Bookpage is celebrating is annual Private Eye July with a list of mysteries and thrillers to read in honor of the theme. (A little BSP: I might add that the Scott Drayco series fits in rather nicely, too.)

Although the Fourth of July is technically over, you may still find this, from Crime Reads, of "Revolutionary Crime Ficton: 21 Crime Novels Set During Revolutions and Rebellions" a fun list.

The case last week of a shooter at The Capital Gazette’s newsroom in Annapolis led authorities to use an increasingly effective method to identify the suspect: facial recognition technology. But as the New York Times notes, although the technique is becoming increasingly pervasive in law enforcement and part of the standard law enforcement toolkit, questions about privacy and concerns about potential misuse of facial recognition are also likely to increase.

In honor of the HBO adaptation of Gillian Flynn's Sharp Objects that premieres July 8, PopSugar has eight thrillers to check out that are in the same vein as Flynn's novel.

Think you might enjoy running a bookshop but aren't sure? Here's your answer: A bookstore in the village of Wigtown, Scotland, allows people to run the shop while renting an apartment upstairs.

If you're more in the market for a permanent literary home, the west London house which was once home to Britain’s top crime writer PD James is available for £4.95 million. The acclaimed author wrote 10 of her 22 published books while living in the house, many featuring her iconic policeman-poet Inspector Adam Dalgliesh.

Straight out of the plot of a mystery novel (and in fact, it sort of is), comes a report that three rare books on various historical topics in the University of Southern Denmark's library collection contain large concentrations of arsenic on their covers.

The latest poem at the 5-2 crime poetry weekly is "Those Loud Neighbors" by Rosanne Limoncelli.

In the Q&A roundup, Ellen Byerrum chatted with The Mysteristas about the latest installment of her Crime of Fashion mysteries, Masque of the Red Dress; and over at the Read and Drink Tea blog, Scottish crime writer Douglas Skelton popped by to chat aobut his Davie McCall series and the Dominic Queste books and more.

 

Media Murder for Monday

Monday greetings to all and hope you enjoy the latest roundup of crime drama news:

THE BIG SCREEN

The upcoming thriller novel The Whisper Man has been optioned for film as part of a major Hollywood deal. The novel from an anonymous author, who writes under a pseudonym "Alex North," has been snapped up by the production company AGBO, founded by Emmy award-winning directors Anthony and Joe Russo, of various Marvel superhero films and Arrested Development. The plot centers around a grieving father and his seven-year-old son, who move to the quiet town of Featherbank for a fresh start. But 15 years ago Featherbank was stalked by a serial killer, known as the "Whisper Man." The killer was finally caught and imprisoned, but there were always rumors he had an accomplice while the one link between victims is that in the days leading up to their disappearances, each claimed to have heard a whispering at their window.

20th Century Fox announced the premiere dates for two crime dramas, The Woman In The Window (October 4, 2019) and Bad Times At The El Royale (October 12, 2018). Amy Adams stars in The Woman in the Window, an adaptation of A.J. Finn’s hit Hitchcockian-style novel about an agorophobic child psychologist with a drinking problem who one day witnesses a crime take place in the house across the park; and Jon Hamm, Jeff Bridges, Chris Hemsworth, Cynthia Erivo, and Dakota Johnson star in the mystery-thriller Bad Times, where seven strangers, each with a secret to bury, meet at Lake Tahoe’s El Royale, a rundown hotel with a dark past.

TELEVISION/STREAMING SERVICES

Spectrum/Charter Communications has chosen its first scripted series to launch a new lineup of original programming, and it's a project NBC turned down: Gabrielle Union and Jessica Alba's cop drama, L.A's Finest. The Bad Boys spin-off series will follow Burnett (Union) as she move to Los Angeles and joins the LAPD, where she's partnered with a Nancy McKenna (Alba), a single mother who envies Burnett's freedom. L.A's Finest is set to premiere in 2019 exclusively on Spectrum.

Netflix has made a deal with Mark Wahlberg, Peter Berg, and the Robert B. Parker estate to bring back for a potential series of feature films Spenser, the poetry-spouting, wisecracking former boxer-turned Boston P.I. made famous in 40 novels by Parker (as well as a TV series starring Robert Urich). The first film will be an adaptation of Robert B. Parker’s Wonderland, one of the eight Spenser mystery novels written by Ace Atkins, who took over the series after Parker died in 2010. The movie will differ from the novel, in that it begins with Spenser emerging from a prison stretch and stripped of his private investigator license, where he gets pulled back into the underbelly of the Boston crime world when he uncovers the truth about a sensational murder and the twisted conspiracy behind it.

Bryncoed Productions has optioned TV rights to Ian Sansom’s The County Guides series of novels. So far four such novels have been published, but the series is expected to span forty-four books by the time it is finished. The adaptation, which will be known as The County Guides To Murder, will be a multi-part television series, with Steve Thompson (Sherlock, Doctor Who) on-board to to adapt the books. The series follows the idiosyncratic Swanton Morley, a/k/a the People’s Professor, who is compiling a series of guides of the counties of England. Unfortunately, mysterious murders keep getting in the way of his academic endeavors.

Recently, it was announced that James Norton would be leaving the ITV period mystery Grantchester. Norton has played Vicar Sidney Chambers for the first three seasons of the show and will reprise that role in the upcoming fourth season, his last. Now, the network has hired Norton's replacement, Tom Brittney, who will play Will Davenport, Grantchester's new, young parish priest who "channels his boundless energy into a quest for social justice" and whose "own troubled past is unearthed." He will star alongside Detective Inspector Geordie Keating, once again played by Robson Green.

Newcomer Stella Baker has been set as a series regular opposite Lily Rabe, Amy Brenneman and Hamish Linklater in TNT’s thriller drama series Tell Me Your Secrets. Created and written by Harriet Warner (Call the Midwife), the project is described as an intense, morally complex thriller revolving around a trio of characters, each with a mysterious and troubling past: Emma (Rabe) is a young woman who once looked into the eyes of a dangerous killer; John (Linklater) is a former serial predator desperate to find redemption; and Mary (Brenneman) is a grieving mother obsessed with finding her missing daughter, Theresa (Baker). As each of them is pushed to the edge, the truth about their pasts and motives grows ever murkier, blurring the lines between victim and perpetrator. Xavier Samuel, Enrique Murciano, Chiara Aurelia, Ashley Madekwe and Bryant Tardy co-star.

The FX drama Trust is heading to the BBC after Sky dropped the Donald Sutherland-starring U.S. acquisition ahead of its debut in the UK. The series tells the story of the true-life kidnapping of the heir to billionaire John Paul Getty and was created by Simon Beaufoy and executive produced by Danny Boyle, Beaufoy and Christian Colson, with Boyle directing the first three episodes.

Entertainment Weekly profiled author Megan Abbott and wondered if she's Hollywood's next big novelist. The award-winning author has three projects currently in development: a pilot based on her popular novel Dare Me, in production at USA where it's being helmed by director Steph Green (The Americans); You Will Know Me, her 2016 murder mystery set at a gymnastics tournament (optioned directly by AMC); and Give Me Your Hand, which explores the brutal science-academic community, is being developed by Skydance Media and TV-megaproducer Marti Noxon (Dietland, HBO’s star-studded Sharp Objects).

Hugo Speer (The Musketeers, Father Brown) and Sharon Small (Inspector Lynley Mysteries, Trust Me) are set to star in the streaming service Acorn’s first straight-to-series commission. The pair are joined by EastEnders actor Bailey Patrick and newcomer Tori Allen-Martin in the five-part drama, which will tell the story of a team of top murder detectives and be shot like a documentary. Each episode will feature a different murder in addition to a serialized story involving the lead detective’s missing wife. Speer stars as Detective Inspector David Bradford, who comes back to work after his wife goes missing and there are still no significant leads on her case. Small will play ambitious Detective Sergeant Vivienne Cole, who has been running the murder team in David’s absence and is frustrated by David’s approach to their investigations.

Fox announced the fall premiere dates for is new and returning programs, including 9-1-1 on September 23 and Lethal Weapon on September 25.

If you want to know which of your favorite shows from last season have been renewed or canceled, here's a handy list that includes not only the broadcast and cable networks but also several live-streaming services, as well.

PODCASTS/VIDEO/RADIO

Star Chamber co-hosts Michael West, Daniel Dark, and Stephen Zimmer welcomed dark fantasy/post-apocalyptic/military thriller author Peter Welmerink and award-winning crime fiction author Linda Sands for a discussion on writing, the life of writers, their own works, various genres, and a whole lot more.

On The Men Who Explain Miracles podcast, Detection Club President Martin Edwards talks about locked-room mysteries such as Murder of a Lady (1931) by Anthony Wynne and other titles in the British Library Crime Classics series for which he serves as a consultant. (HT to Elizabeth Foxwell at the Bunburyist)

Author Michael Robotham stopped by ABC News Australia for a chat about his writing and latest projects, as well as one profound personal regret: that he never received his father’s praise.

Authors on the Air host Tina Susedik welcomed Simas to Your Book Garden to talk about her up-coming release, Quilted to Die, the fourth book in her Grace Gabbiano Mystery series.

Two Crime Writers and a Microphone hosts Steve Cavanagh and Luca Vest featured a special extended interview with Mark Billingham to talk about his new novel The Killing Habit, Bill Oddie, King Kitten, Theakstons Crime Festival, and much more. 

Writer Types spoke with authors Joe Clifford (the Jay Porter series), Lisa Brackmann (the Ellie McEnroe series) and had an exclusive sneak peek at the new true crime podcast, The Long Dance, from Eryk Pruitt.

Spybrary was joined by Jeremy Duns to discuss the myths surrounding one of the Cold War's greatest spy operations and potentially it's greatest spy, Oleg Penkovsky.

THEATER

The Milton Keynes Theatre in Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire in the UK is staging Love From A Stranger July 3 to 7, a play written by Agatha Christie (with Frank Vosper) and one of Dame Agatha's less well known pieces. Directed by Lucy Bailey, the play tells the story of Cecily Harrington who is swept off her feet by a handsome and charming stranger. She recklessly abandons her old life to settle in the remote and blissful surroundings of a country cottage. However, her newfound love is not all that he seems. Justin Avoth will play the role of Nigel Lawrence and Cecily Harrington is played by Helen Bradbury.