Media Murder for Monday

It's the start of a new week and that means it's time for a new roundup of crime drama news:

THE BIG SCREEN

Shout! Studios and Unique Features have teamed up for a multi-platform distribution of Ambition, the suspense thriller directed by Bob Shaye that will now hit select U.S. theaters in the fall. Ambition stars Katherine Hughes as Jude Hunter, an intensely driven musician preparing for the biggest audition of her life. As a series of deaths surround her, she recognizes the pattern that seems to connect her with the deaths and her ambition. One night, her suspicions are confirmed: she becomes the target of a murderer fueled by the jealousy of her success.

The inspiration for Denzel Washington’s drug-dealing mogul in the 2007 film, American Gangster, has died. Frank Lucas and his wife, Julianna Farrait-Rodriguez (played by Lymari Nadal in the film), were once referred to as the "black Bonnie and Clyde" for their close alliance. During the 1960s and 1970s, Lucas was the chief purveyor in New York City of a type of heroin called Blue Magic, a concoction which was 10 percent pure compared to the standard 5 percent of the day. His clientele allegedly included celebrities, top business people, and politicians.

Noir City Boston runs this weekend, Friday, June 7 – Sunday, June 9. Sponsored by the Film Noir Foundation, with host Eddie Muller on hand for introduction, the theme is "Film noir of the 1950s," with that decade’s preoccupations – from racial tension to nuclear terror to the price of defying conformity – on full display across the five double features, starting off with Trapped (1949) and The Turning Point (1952).

TELEVISION/STREAMING SERVICES

Keeley Hawes (Bodyguard), Ann Dowd (The Handmaid’s Tale), Sam Riley (Control) and Ben Crompton (Game of Thrones) are to join Ben Wheatley’s adaptation of Daphne Du Maurier’s classic novel, Rebecca. The actors join Kristin Scott Thomas, Lily James, and Armie Hammer in the film, which is produced by Working Title for Netflix. Rebecca tells the story of a newly-married young woman who, on arriving at her husband’s imposing family estate on a bleak English coast, finds herself battling the shadow of his dead first wife, the mysterious Rebecca, whose legacy continues to haunt the house.

Acorn TV has partnered with Irish broadcaster RTÉ on its latest drama co-production, the period mystery Dead Still. The U.S. SVOD service will launch the six-part series in 2020. Set in 1880s Ireland in the Victorian era heyday of postmortem photography, the period drama follows a renowned memorial photographer as he investigates the murders of his recently deceased subjects

Burden of Truth's second season doesn’t premiere until Sunday on the CW, but the network has already greenlighted a Season 3 of the investigative drama. No plot details for the third session were announced, but production on the eight new episodes for 2020 will begin this summer in Winnipeg, Manitoba. In Season 2, corporate attorney Joanna Chang (Kristin Kreuk) gets drawn into the shadowy world of hackers, activists and a political movement that won’t take any prisoners.

NBC announced three additional cancellations, including the psychological thriller, The Enemy Within. The program tells the story of Erica Shepherd (Jennifer Carpenter), "a brilliant former CIA operative, now known as one of the most notorious traitors in recent American history serving life in a Supermax prison" and FBI Agent Will Keaton (Morris Chestnut), who must enlist Shepherd to help track down a dangerous and elusive criminal she knows all too well.

Brendan Fraser will co-star with Tom Welling in The Professionals, a loose remake of the Christian Slater-fronted action movie Soldiers of Fortune, for the Scandinavian SVOD service Viaplay. The ten-part English-language series is set against a backdrop of international espionage and corporate sabotage in the 21st century’s privately-funded space race.

A casting change has landed Jake Johnson a prime role in the upcoming ABC drama Stumptown, stepping in for Mark Webber, who starred opposite Cobie Smulders in the private-eye drama’s original pilot, as Grey McConnell, Smulders’ character’s best friend. Based on the “Stumptown” graphic novel series, the drama follows Dex Parios (Smulders) as a strong, assertive, and sharp-witted army veteran with a complicated love life, gambling debt, and a brother to take care of in Portland, Oregon. Her military intelligence skills make her a great P.I., but her unapologetic style puts her in the firing line of hardcore criminals and not quite in alliance with the police.

Rita Volk has been set for a recurring role on the upcoming second season of AT&T Audience Network’s spy drama, Condor. She joins fellow newcomers Constance Zimmer, Toby Leonard Moore, Rose Rollins, Isidora Goreshter, Eric Johnson, Alexei Bondar, and Jonathan Kells Phillip. In Season 2, in the wake of the death of his Uncle Bob (William Hurt), Joe Turner (Max Irons) is forced to return to the CIA’s tight-knit Virginia community to find the Russian traitor who’s responsible, and face the demons of his past.

CBS will air the entire first season of The Good Fight starting at June 16. The Good Wife spinoff, starring Christine Baranski from creators Robert and Michelle King, had been previously only been available only on the CBS All Access SVOD service. It will mark the time a CBS All Access show has aired on the broadcast network since the Star Trek: Discovery premiere in September 2017.

PODCASTS/VIDEO/RADIO

Authors on the Air host Pam Stack welcomed DP Lyle M.D., author of many non-fiction books and the Samantha Cody, Dub Walker, Jake Longly and upcoming Cain/Harper thriller series, as well as the Royal Pains media tie-in novels.

Writer's Routine chatted with Mel Sherratt, author of the DS Grace Allendale' series, about moving through genres, letting characters dictate plot, and the Kindle revolution that helped her success. 

Two Crime Writers And A Microphone hosts Steve Cavanagh & Luca Veste discussed finishing books, the new work from Jacob Rees-Mogg, the furor over inaccuracies in Naomi Wolf's new book, and they also chatted with special guest Jeffery Deaver about his latest book, The Never Game.

The latest Mysteryrats Maze podcast episode featured the first chapter of What We Found by Kris Bock, read by actors Ariel Linn and Sean Hopper.

Writer Types spoke with Susanna Calkins, author of Murder Knocks Twice; Harry Hunsicker about his new Arlo Baines thriller, Texas Sicario; and cozy author Sherry Harris schooled them on why cozies are worthy of respect.

The Spybrary Spy Book podcast featured the fourth in the series of commentaries on spy novels read by the students of Fiction and Espionage at the University of Edinburgh, this week discussing Liar's Candle written by August Thomas.

Criminal Mischief: The Art & Science of Crime Fiction took a look at the "Elements Of A Thriller."

Wrong Place, Write Crime host Frank Zafiro chatted with Jim Wilsky about his novella, Losing Streak (the sixth installment of A Grifter's Song).

The latest episode of Writer's Detective Bureau, hosted by veteran Police Detective Adam Richardson, focused on "Vehicle Searches, Case Law, and Org Charts."