Media Murder for Monday

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

THE BIG SCREEN/MOVIES

Jesse Eisenberg, Adrien Brody and Riley Keough will star in Manodrome, a thriller from South African director, John Trengrove, as he makes his English-language directorial debut. The film is described as a "nihilistic thriller" about an Uber driver and aspiring bodybuilder (Eisenberg) who is inducted into a libertarian masculinity cult and loses his grip on reality when his repressed desires are awakened.

Following her breakout role as Daphne in the hit Netflix series, Bridgerton, Phoebe Dynevor has found her next big film role in Sony Pictures’s I Heart Murder, with Matt Spicer directing. The screenplay is written by Tom O’Donnell and Spicer, and although the plot is being kept under wraps, it’s described as a "female-driven thriller."

David Patrick Kelly (Twin Peaks) has been tapped as a lead in the upcoming Ray Donovan feature-length film for Showtime. Star Liev Schreiber returns in his titular role and co-writes the script along with series showrunner David Hollander, who also directs. The film picks up where Season 7 of the popular series left off following the series’ surprise cancellation last year. Kelly will play Matty Galloway, a long-time friend of Mickey’s (Jon Voight).

Open Road Films has set a release date of September 17 for its Gerard Butler action movie, Copshop, from Joe Carnahan. Written by Carnahan and Kurt McLeod, Copshop follows a wily con artist who is on the run from a lethal assassin. He devises a scheme to hide out inside a small-town police station—but when the hitman turns up at the precinct, an unsuspecting rookie cop finds herself caught in the crosshairs.

TELEVISION/STREAMING SERVICES

Colin Callender’s Playground and Red Arrow Studios International are joining forces to co-develop a series based on Georges Simenon’s classic Inspector Maigret novels and short stories. The character of Jules Maigret is a French cop who solves murders, using his understanding of human motives and emotional makeup, from the back alleys of Paris to the glamorous beaches of the South of France and beyond. His reputation is so highly regarded that officers come to shadow him and observe his uncanny ability to get under the skin of the criminals he is chasing. A previous screen adaptation starred Rowan Atkinson and aired on ITV

Film and TV rights for Faith Martin’s DI Hillary Greene crime series have been optioned by LA-based Southwell Neal Entertainment (SNE). The DI Hillary Greene book series currently has 18 novels and has sold over two million copies. Green is a "flinty, brilliant" detective living in Oxfordshire, and the titles follow Greene as she is partnered with former LAPD detective, John Sullivan.

Coming off her Oscar-nominated role in Hillbilly Elegy, Glenn Close has joined Tehran as a lead in Season 2 of Apple TV+’s international espionage thriller series. Close will play the new series role of Marjan Montazeri, a British woman, living in Tehran. The drama tells the story of Mossad agent, Tamar Rabinyan (Niv Sultan), who goes deep undercover on a dangerous mission in Tehran that places her and everyone around her in dire jeopardy. Close joins an ensemble cast that includes stars Sultan, Shaun Toub and Shervin Alenabi.

Remi Adeleke, the actor, filmmaker, and former Navy SEAL, has joined the cast of Amazon’s thriller series, Terminal List, in a recurring role. The project follows James Reece (Chris Pratt) after his entire platoon of Navy SEALs is ambushed during a high-stakes covert mission. Reece returns home to his family with conflicting memories of the event and questions about his culpability. However, as new evidence comes to light, Reece discovers dark forces working against him. Adeleke will play Terrell "Tee" Daniels, a member of the FBI’s elite Hostage Rescue Team, now operating on U.S. soil.

Big Sky’s Patrick Gallagher is set for a recurring role in Joe Pickett, the Spectrum Originals drama based on C.J Box’s novels. The ten-part series follows a game warden (Michael Dorman) and his family as they navigate the changing political and socio-economic climate in a small rural town in Wyoming. Surrounded by rich history and vast wildlife, the township hides decades of schemes and secrets that are yet to be uncovered. Gallagher, who plays Sherriff Walter Tubb on Big Sky, is playing another Sheriff in Joe Pickett – this time Sheriff Barnum, who clashes with the warden’s involvement in his murder case and doesn’t take kindly to the implication that he isn’t doing his job.

The CBS venerable drama series NCIS is adding two new regular cast members for the upcoming 19th season, Gary Cole and Katrina Law. Cole will play a new character, FBI Special Agent Alden Park. Law plays Special Agent Jessica Knight, who was introduced in the last two episodes of Season 18 as a recurring guest star with an option to become a series regular if the show got renewed. Law’s promotion follows the recent exit of longtime series regular Emily Wickersham, and a reduced on-screen presence for Mark Harmon’s Special Agent Gibbs next season.

Brian Tyree Henry and Kate Mara are set to lead Class of ’09, a limited drama series that will air on FX/Hulu. The eight-part series, which follows a class of FBI agents set in a near future where the U.S. criminal justice system has been transformed by artificial intelligence, comes from Tom Rob Smith, Nina Jacobson, and Brad Simpson. Spanning three decades and told across three interweaving timelines, the series examines the nature of justice, humanity, and the choices we make that ultimately define our lives and our legacy.

PODCASTS/VIDEO/RADIO/AUDIO

Laura McHigh returned to Writer Types to co-host with Eric Beetner as they talked with award-winning writer SA Cosby (Razorblade Tears); Maureen Johnson (The Box In The Woods); and a had a discussion about LGBTQI+ authors with Greg Herren and Dharma Kelleher.

Bestselling author James Patterson stopped by Suspense Radio to talk about his latest book with President Clinton, The President's Daughter.

Queer Writers of Crime welcomed Dean Klinkenberg, a former academic turned author of a mystery series featuring an openly gay travel writer named Frank Dodge.

Over at Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine's podcast, Art Taylor read his Derringer-winning novella, The Boy Detective & The Summer of '74, from the January/February 2020 issue, which has been nominated for the Agatha, Anthony, and Macavity awards.

Meet the Thriller Author spoke with Robyn Gigl, an attorney, speaker, and activist who has been honored by the ACLU-NJ and NJ Pride. Her debut legal thriller is By Way of Sorrow.

It Was a Dark and Stormy Book Club featured Eric Dezenhall's False Light.

Jane Thynne (CJ Carey) spoke with Crime Time FM's Paul Burke about her new thriller, Widowland, and the personal inspiration behind the novel; as well as Philip Kerr; feminism; and editing history.

The Red Hot Chili Writers spoke with Alex Michaelides, author of the global hit, The Silent Patient, about his new book, The Maidens; and also chatted with barrister-writer Imran Mahmood, whose new book, I Know What I Saw, delves into the realities of the court system including judges with a wicked sense of humor.

Mystery Melange

 

Foreword Reviews announced the winners of this year's INDIES Book of the Year Awards. In the Thriller/Suspense Category, The Leonardo Gulag by Kevin Doherty was the Gold Winner, followed by Tokyo Traffic by Michael Pronko, which took the Silver Award, and Dead Air by Michael Bradley, which took the Bronze. The Spiderling by Marcia Preston also received an Honorable Mention. In the Mystery Category, the Gold Winner was A Child Lost by Michelle Cox, followed by Silver Winner, The Burn Patient by Sue Hinkin, and Bronze Winner, Glass Eels, Shattered Sea by Charlene D'Avanzo. An Honorable Mention also went to Red Canavas by Andrew Nance.

The UK's Crime Writers’ Association (CWA) has announced the winner of its Margery Allingham Short Mystery Prize. Camilla Macpherson beat out strong competition with her short story, "Heartbridge Homicides." The competition celebrates the classic mystery story, and entries had to adhere to Allingham’s definition of a mystery.

A 12-title longlist has been released for the 2021 Goldsboro Books Glass Bell Award, which celebrates "a compelling novel with brilliant characterization and a distinct voice that is confidently written and assuredly realized." The shortlist will be announced August 5 and the winner on September 30. This year's longlisted titles include the crime-themed novels The Sin Eater by Megan Campisi; Blacktop Wasteland by S. A. Cosby; The Familiar Dark by Amy Engel; The Court of Miracles by Kester Grant; Three Hours by Rosamund Lupton; The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman; Eight Detectives by Alex Pavesi; The Devil and the Dark Water by Stuart Turton; and People of Abandoned Character by Clare Whitfield.

The New Blood with Val McDermid 2021 panel will return at Theakston Old Peculier Crime Writing Festival, July 22-25 at the Old Swan Hotel in Harrogate. McDermid revealed her top four new authors to watch, all of whom will join her coveted "New Blood" panel at the festival on July 24. The chosen titles/authors include: Sixteen Horses by Greg Buchanan; One Night, New York by Lara Thompson; The Colours of Death by Patricia Marques; and Tall Bones by Anna Bailey. Previous "New Blood" alumni include Clare Mackintosh, SJ Watson, Stuart MacBride, Liam McIlvanney, and Belinda Bauer, as well as two of the authors vying for the title of Theakston Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year 2021: Abir Mukherjee and Trevor Wood.

Sisters in Crime will award research grants of $500 for the purchase of books to support research projects that contribute to our understanding of the role of women or underrepresented groups in the crime fiction genre. This may include but is not limited to research on women mystery writers, on the position of women writers in the crime fiction marketplace, or on gender, race, or ethnicity as an aspect of crime fiction. Grant proposals must be received by July 15, 2021, and the recipient(s) will be notified by August 15, 2021.

One bit of sad news, especially for the younger set, that I missed back in May: Robert Quackenbush, creator of Animal Detective Stories, has died at the age of 91. His many characters included Detective Mole, Sherlock Chick, and Miss Mallard, an inquisitive duck who solves crimes around the world in plots that resemble Agatha Christie capers and also got her own television series. For his work on Detective Mole, who wears a trench coat and houndstooth deerstalker hat, he received an Edgar Allan Poe Award for best juvenile mystery in 1982.

John Murray Press is establishing a "distinctive new crime and thriller imprint" titled Baskerville, and has hired Jade Chandler away from Harvill Secker to head up the new division. Chandler has worked with bestselling author Jo Nesbo, award-winning Abir Mukherjee, Costa Prize-shortlisted Denise Mina and Emily Koch, whose debut If I Die Before I Wake was a Waterstones Thriller of the Month. In 2018, Chandler also set up the Harvill Secker/Bloody Scotland Crime Writing Award to find the most exciting new crime fiction by writers of color.

Mystery Readers Journal editor, Janet Rudolph, issued a call for submissions for an upcoming issued of crime fiction themed around Texas. As always, short reviews and articles focusing on the theme of the issue are welcome, as well as author essays. Reviews of a single book should be 200 words or less, articles around 1000 words, author essays 500-1000 words.
 

Featured at the Page 69 Test - Dream Girl: A Novel by Laura Lippman

UK libraries and museums unite to save an "astonishing" lost library from private buyers.

One of the newsletters that arrive in my inbox reminded me of a study back in 2016 that provided another reason to read books: there is an association between book reading with longevity (with a survival advantage significantly greater than that observed for reading newspapers or magazines). Even just thirty minutes a day can stimulate the two cognitive processes the study found affected by reading, "deep reading" and empathy, social perception, and emotional intelligence.

I found this story rather sweet and amusing: award-winning author William Kent Krueger was recently given the distinct honor of being tapped to be the Grand Marshal for Perham, Minnesota’s annual Turtle Fest Parade.

This week's crime poem at the 5-2 is "A Split Mind is Convenient to Hide the Axe" by Richard Krause.

In the Q&A roundup, Lisa Haselton chatted with novelist Hugh Fritz about his new fantasy thriller, Mystic Rampage Part 2: Public Display of Aggression; and S.A. Cosby joined Angel Luis Colon at Do Some Damage to chat about what he's up to, his thoughts on his recent success, and the challenge of writing cops in crime fiction in the very current (and historical) climate of the American police state.

 

Media Murder for Monday

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

THE BIG SCREEN/MOVIES

MGM has landed the rights to the novel, The Husbands, from best-selling author, Chandler Baker, with Kristen Wiig attached to star and produce along with Plan B Entertainment. Baker will adapt for the screen, marking her feature screenwriting debut, and also serve as an executive producer on the film. The Husbands follows an overworked mother who, while house hunting in a nice suburban neighborhood, meets a group of high-powered women with enviably supportive husbands. When she agrees to take on a legal case involving the untimely death of one resident’s husband, she risks exposing not only the secrets at the heart of her own marriage, but the true secret to having-it-all, one worth killing for.

Sam Worthington and Phoebe Tonkin are starring in Matt Nable’s directorial debut, Transfusion. The thriller, which also features Nable, is about a former Special Forces operative thrust into the criminal underworld to keep his only son from being taken from him. Production began in Sydney earlier this week. The film is already scheduled for a theatrical release through Madman Entertainment in Australia and New Zealand but will be shopped for international sales at Cannes.

Matthew Modine, Embeth Davidtz, and Arian Moayed have boarded the Studiocanal Liam Neeson thriller, Retribution, in key roles. The story follows a banking executive whose life is thrown upside down when a bomb is placed inside his car with himself and his family. The banker’s children are forced to go through the harrowing events with him.

Jessica Henwick, who recently landed one of the leads in the new Matrix movie, has rounded out the cast for the next installment of Knives Out, with Daniel Craig returning to star and Rian Johnson to write and direct. Dave Bautista, Janelle Monáe, Kathryn Hahn, Leslie Odom Jr., Kate Hudson, Madelyn Cline, and Edward Norton were also recently added to the cast. Plot details are unknown at this time other than Craig returning to solve another mystery involving a large cast of suspects. It is also unknown who Henwick will be playing. Production is set to start this summer in Greece.

AJ Michalka has joined the cast of the upcoming Ray Donovan feature-length film. Michalka will play the younger version of Abby in the film, which will continue Ray’s journey following the hit drama series’ seven-season run on Showtime. Star Liev Schreiber returns in his titular role and is co-writing the script along with series showrunner David Hollander, who also directs. The new film picks up where season seven left off following the series’ surprise cancellation last year, with Mickey (Jon Voight) in the wind and Ray (Schreiber) determined to find and stop him before he can cause any more carnage. It will also weave together the present-day fallout from the Donovan/Sullivan feud with Ray and Mickey’s origin story from 30 years ago.

TELEVISION/STREAMING SERVICES

Apple has unveiled the ensemble cast for Surface, its upcoming psychological thriller series from High Fidelity co-creator and exec producer, Veronica West. Oliver Jackson-Cohen, Stephan James, Ari Graynor, François Arnaud, Marianne Jean Baptiste, and Millie Brady join the previously announced Gugu Mbatha-Raw in the series from Apple Studios and Reese Witherspoon’s Hello Sunshine. Additionally, Emmy-nominated Sam Miller (I May Destroy You; Luther) will serve as director and executive producer on the eight-episode first season. Starring Mbatha-Raw as Sophie, Surface is described as "an elevated thriller" about a woman’s quest to rebuild her life after a suicide attempt, and her struggle to remember – and understand – everything that led up to the moment when she jumped.

Megan Boone is leaving The Blacklist at the end of the NBC drama’s currently airing eighth season. She has starred on the series as FBI agent, Elizabeth "Liz" Keen, alongside James Spader as criminal mastermind, Raymond "Red" Reddington, since the show premiered in 2013. Apparently, the decision was mutual between the actress and producers and has been in the works since before The Blacklist was renewed for Season 9 in January, giving the writers time to plot out the end of Liz’s storyline in next week’s Season 8 finale. Along with Boone and Spader, the show also stars Diego Klattenhoff, Amir Arison, Hisham Tawfiq, Laura Sohn and Harry Lennix.

HBO will release a documentary offshoot of Ronan Farrow's book, Catch and Kill. The TV project, titled Catch and Kill: The Podcast Tales, will consist of six half-hour episodes recreating Farrow's "interviews with whistleblowers, journalists, private investigators and other sources as he investigated allegations of sexual misconduct around the now-jailed Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein, former Today anchor Matt Lauer, and other key media industry figures." Directed by Emmy winners Fenton Bailey and Randy Barbato, the project will debut on HBO with two back-to-back episodes on July 12 and new episodes on subsequent Mondays.

As The Killing Times reported, Channel 4 in the UK has revealed a slate of new crime dramas, including a first-look at the new version of Dalgliesh – based on PD James’s best-selling novels and starring Bertie Carvel – in a new trailer.

PODCASTS/VIDEO/RADIO/AUDIO

Mysterious Bookshop held a virtual Q&A with author James Ellroy that featured a deep dive into his new novel, Widespread Panic.

Read or Dead celebrated Pride Month by talking about books by authors who identify as LGBTQ+ or have written amazing stories featuring LGBTQ+ characters.

On the Queer Writers of Crime podcast, Shane K Morton was this week's featured guest. Shane has been a playwright and musical theatre actor before turning his hand to LGBTQ+ romance, mystery and YA novels. He also writes darker horror/mystery under the name Sean Azinsalt.

A new Mysteryrat's Maze Podcast is up featuring the first chapter of Iron Goddess by Dharma Kelleher, read by actor Casey Ballard. The episode celebrates Pride month as it features a mystery about an LGBTQ+ character written by an LGBTQ+ author.

Writer Types featured an all-Scandinavian episode, as host, Eric Beetner, was joined by Icelandic authors, Eva Björg Ægisdóttir (Girls Who Lie), Sólveig Pálsdóttir (Silenced), and Quentin Bates, a British author who writes about Iceland (the Officer Gunnhilder series); and from Sweden, Carin Gerhardsen (Black Ice, the Hammarby series) also stopped by.

Speaking of Mysteries spoke with Laurie R. King about her 17th Mary Russell-Sherlock Holmes crime fiction novel, Castle Shade, in which the couple is asked by Queen Marie of Romania to investigate a threat made against her daughter, requiring Russell and Holmes to travel to Castle Bran in Transylvania.

Andy Weir, who took the publishing world by storm with his book, The Martian, stopped by Suspense Radio to talk about his latest novel, Project Hail Mary, which follows an astronaut who has to puzzle out an impossible scientific mystery to prevent an extinction-level threat to our species.

Meet the Thriller Author spoke with Don Bentley, author of the Matt Drake thriller series as well as Target Acquired, a Tom Clancy Jack Ryan, Jr. novel.

Wrong Place, Write Crime host, Frank Zafiro, was joined by debut novelist Sarah Adlahka; got book recommendations from Shawn Reilly Simmons, Scott Kikkawa, and Carmen Jaramillo; and spoke with film director/writer, DJ Holloway.

John Hoda, host of My Favorite Detective Stories, chatted with Tammy Euliano, MD, a practicing anesthesiologist who has also written award-winning short fiction. The medical thriller, Fatal Intent, is her debut novel.

In the latest Writers Detective Bureau podcast, veteran Police Detective, Adam Richardson, walked through how a detective gets a search warrant; how to obtain phone records in a missing person investigation; and whether police officers get involved in arson investigations in California.

Crime Time FM welcomed authors Sarah Pinborough (Behind Her Eyes) and Alex North (The Whisper Man).

THEATRE

Theatrical productions continue to return, with one of the latest being a staging of Agatha Christie’s Spider’s Web at Scottsdale's Desert Stages Theatre Mainstage Friday, June 25 through Sunday, July 11. Directed by Dan Ashlock Jr., the plot sees the Queen of Mystery poking fun at the genre that made her famous. (Note that there will be no show on July 4 due to the Independence Day holiday.)

The Strand Critics Awards Nominations

 

The Strand Magazine announced the nominations for the 2021 Strand Critics Awards. Recognizing excellence in the field of mystery fiction and publishing, the 2021 Strand Critics Awards are judged by a select group of book critics and journalists, which this year included staff from NPR, USA Today, The LA Times, and The Wall Street Journal.  “This year’s panel chose a diverse set of authors,” said Andrew F. Gulli, managing editor of The Strand Magazine. “Many of these authors are new and exciting voices in our genre, and it’s wonderful to see them get the recognition they deserve.” The awards ceremony will be held virtually in early September. Congrats to all!

Best Mystery Novel (2020)

Snow by John Banville (Hanover Square Press)

You Again by Debra Jo Immergut (Ecco)

Trouble Is What I Do by Walter Mosley (Mulholland Books)

The Missing American by Kwei Quartey (Soho Crime)

A Song for the Dark Times by Ian Rankin (Little, Brown and Company)

Survivor Song by Paul Tremblay (William Morrow)

Confessions on the 7:45 by Lisa Unger (Park Row)

Best Debut Novel (2020)

Amnesty by Aravind Adiga (Scribner)

Leave the World Behind by Rumaan Alam (Ecco)

When No One Is Watching by Alyssa Cole (William Morrow)

Empire of Wild by Cherie Dimaline (William Morrow)

A Burning by Megha Majumdar (Knopf)

A Certain Hunger by Chelsea G. Summers (The Unnamed Press)

Catherine House by Elisabeth Thomas (Custom House)

Lifetime Achievement Awards

The Strand Magazine’s Lifetime Achievement Awards go to Stephen King, Joyce Carol Oates, and Alexander McCall Smith.

Aptly dubbed the “King of Horror,” Stephen King is a true renaissance man of storytelling. Over the past 50 years, he has mastered and melded genres, from supernatural and crime to sci-fi and Western. King is also one of the most prolific authors of our time, with over 60 published novels and roughly 200 short stories. Yet with millions of books in print and a readership around the world, his writing remains as fresh and inventive as when Carrie (1974) first put him on the literary map.

“This is a beautiful thing,” King said of the award. “And I’m most appreciative. Looks like I’m in great company!”

When her first novel, With Shuddering Fall, published in 1964, 26-year-old Joyce Carol Oates was lauded as an exciting voice in fiction—and that has not changed. Consistently striking at the heart of the human experience, she has written over 70 novels, scores of short stories and poems, countless critical reviews, a heartbreaking memoir, and has edited several anthologies, plays, and essays. Oates has long been a force to be reckoned with, and an inspiration to aspiring writers everywhere.

“I’m honored to be a recipient of the Strand Lifetime Achievement Award with its distinguished history,” Oates said. “As a writer who spends much time in solitude, and especially during this perilous pandemic year when immersion in a world of fiction has been both a way of remaining sane and a way of trying to comprehend the insanity roiling about us, I am particularly grateful for the thoughtfulness and generosity of the critics who have thought of me in this regard. Thank you enormously! All writers need encouragement—and this is very encouraging.”

The release of The No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency in 2002 catapulted Alexander McCall Smith to the top of the bestseller lists. He’s continued the series of charming mysteries set in Botswana and has started several other highly successful series, including the 44 Scotland Street books, The Sunday Philosophy Club series, and numerous children’s books. A true humanitarian, McCall Smith has lent his support to several charitable causes, including rabies control and safeguards for the environment, as well as contributed to the Christian Book Sale, a charity that raises funds for disaster relief.

“I am immensely honored by this award from The Strand Magazine,” McCall Smith said. “This is a magazine with a great reputation and a great history, and it is such an honor to be associated with it in this way. I look forward to my continuing association with the splendid cultural institution that is The Strand Magazine.”

Past lifetime achievement award winners include Tess Gerritsen, Walter Mosley, Heather Graham, Jonathan Gash, J.A. Jance, Clive Cussler, Jeffery Deaver, and Elmore Leonard.

Publisher of the Year Award

Josh Stanton of Blackstone Publishing will receive the Publisher of the Year Award. Stanton took the helm at Blackstone ten years ago, and during his tenure sales have more than tripled. He has also overseen the evolution of Blackstone not only as one of the largest audiobook publishers in the United States, but also as a publisher of bestselling print and digital books, recently releasing highly successful mystery novels by Meg Gardiner, Brian Freeman, Catherine Ryan Howard, and Sara Foster.

“Josh and the team at Blackstone are simply phenomenal,” said Gulli. “Their recipe for success should serve as a guide to all businesses seeking to expand and forge excellent relationships with authors, vendors, publishers, and customers.”

“I would like to express my deepest gratitude to The Strand,” Stanton said. “It’s truly an honor to be chosen, and I’m humbled to receive this award. This recognition is a testament to our entire Blackstone team and all their amazing efforts and creativity. I’d like to thank the entire company because each one of you is as much a part of this accolade as I am.”

Past recipients of the Strand Publisher of the Year Award include Tom Doherty and Bronwen Hruska.

 

 

Mystery Melange

 

Finalists were announced for the Harrogate International Festival's Theakston Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year award. The 2021 nods go to The Lantern Men by Elly Griffiths; Three Hours by Rosamund Lupton; The Last Crossing by Brian McGilloway; Death in the East by Abir Mukherjee; We Begin At The End by Chris Whitaker; and The Man on the Street by Trevor Wood. Fans can now vote on the shortlisted titles, with the winner to be crowned during the Harrogate Festival, this year held in person once again from July 22-25.

Penguin Random House Australia (PRH) has announced that the twisty psychological thriller, Denizen by James McKenzie Watson, has won the 2021 Penguin Literary Prize. Watson receives $20,000 as an advance against royalties, with Denizen to be published by PRH Australia publisher Meredith Curnow in 2022.

London-based independent bookstore, Goldsboro Books, announced the longlist for its fifth annual Glass Bell Award. A shortlist of six titles to be voted upon by booksellers is expected August 5 and a winner’s announcement will arrive on September 30. The listed titles include the crime-related novels The Sin Eater by Megan Campisi; Blacktop Wasteland by S.A Cosby; The Familiar Dark by Amy Engel; The Court of Miracles by Kester Grant; Three Hours by Rosamund Lupton; The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman; Eight Detectives by Alex Pavesi; and The Devil and the Dark Water by Stuart Turton.

The Friends of the Ferguson Library and Mystery Writers of America/NY Chapter are presenting CCX2 - CrimeCONN Express 2, Connecticut's Own (Virtual) Mystery Lovers' Conference, tonight from 7-8 pm ET. This is the third of three events this month, with tonight's titled "We Gotta Get Out of This Place. How Changing Up Settings Can Free Your Imagination," and featuring Scott Adlerberg, Timothy Hallinan, Cara Black, and Johnny Temple. Registration is free.

Noir at the Bar has expanded around the globe since Peter Rozovsky organized the first event in Philadelphia back in 2008. Most of these have gone virtual during the pandemic, and one of the next upcoming events will be from Toronto on June 24th at 7 pm. Hosts Rob Brunet and Hope Thompson will emcee readings from authors Mark Govin, Madeleine Harris-Callway, Terrence McCauley, Hannah Mary McKinnon, C.S. O'Cinneide, David Rotenberg, and Robert Rotenberg.

If you missed a couple of other recent virtual events, you're in luck because they're available online: the NorCal Chapter of Mystery Writers of America and San Francisco Public Library sponsored a Queer Mystery Writers panel with Michael Nava (moderator), and authors Cheryl A. Head, Greg Herren, Dharma Kelleher, and P.J. Vernon. Also, the New York Society Library and the New York Chapter of Mystery Writers of America co-sponsored a panel on "How to Write a Mystery," with authors Jeffery Deaver, Laurie King, and Charles and Caroline Todd.

The Palmetto Chapter of Sisters in Crime (based in Columbia, South Carolina) is once again sponsoring Murder in the Midlands, an annual conference which will be virtual on Saturday, June 26, from 10:00 am to 2:30 pm ET. The special guest is Dr. Kathy Reichs (bestselling author of the Temperance Brennan series, which was the basis for the TV series, BONES). There will also be panels on "Scorching Short Stories"; "Hot for Historicals (British mysteries by American authors)"; and "Searing Suspense." Authors scheduled to appear include Dana Kaye (moderator), Paula Gail Benson, Frankie Bailey, Michael Bracken, Barb Goffman, Laurie R. King, Lori Rader-Day, Caroline Todd, Yasmin Angoe, Robert Dugoni, and Alex Segura.

Hachette UK is launching a series of free virtual events, "Opening the Book," later this month, aiming to demystify publishing. Its event series marks the fifth anniversary of its diversity and inclusion program, Changing the Story, "with a renewed drive to make publishing more transparent and accessible to underrepresented groups." The first events will focus on sharing the realities of working in publishing with people who want to break into the industry, while another will focus on aspiring authors. The series will launch on June 28th at 1 p.m with tickets to the events free via Eventbrite.

On June 8, mystery pioneer, Anna Katharine Green (1846-1935), was inducted into the New York State Writers Hall of Fame in a ceremony that included an appearance by Rebecca Crozier, Green's great-great granddaughter. Green's The Leavenworth Case is one of the first mysteries penned by an American woman, and she is credited with developing the series detective in the form of Ebenezer Gryce of the New York Metropolitan Police Force (although in three novels he is assisted by the nosy society spinster, Amelia Butterworth, the prototype for Miss Marple). (HT to Elizabeth Foxwell)

Kittling Books kicked off a series featuring books with a "a strong sense of place," broken down by regions of the world. First up is a look at Africa and Australasia.

Agatha Christie fans are plotting via the Save Agatha's Home campaign to turn the legendary crime writer's home into an arts and events venue. Time, however, is short:  Christie's house has been listed since April and the Save Agatha's Home campaign is competing with private buyers to secure the historic five-bedroom house - which covers 6,256 square feet and comes with five acres of land, a study, library, adjoining one-bedroom cottage, and stunning landscaped gardens leading down to the River Thames.

If you're a fan of "old school" writing and LEGO and have $199 to spare, this might be for you.

This week's crime poem at the 5-2 Crime Poetry Weekly is "Pins" by David Cranmer.

In the Q&A roundup, Deborah Kalb spoke with Maureen Johnson, author of the new young adult mystery novel, The Box in the Woods; Lisa Haselton chatted with Michael Campeta about his new mystery/suspense, The Late Mr. Cary; and Author Interviews welcomed Martine Bailey to dicsuss The Prophet, a historical crime novel in which a new mother, Tabitha Hart, investigates a cold-blooded murder and a utopian sect in an ancient forest.

Author R&R with Melissa Larsen

Melissa Larsen has an M.F.A. from Columbia University and a B.A. from NYU’s Gallatin School of Individualized Study. She has interned and worked extensively in publishing. Melissa stops by In Reference to Murder to talk about her debut novel, Shutter, which Library Journal recommended "for fans of thrillers with unreliable narrators, and psychologically intense plots involving movies and filmmaking."

In the wake of her father's death, Betty Roux pushes away her mother, breaks up with her boyfriend, and leaves everything behind to move to New York City. She doesn't know what she wants, except to run. When she's offered the chance to play the leading role in mysterious indie filmmaker Anthony Marino's new project, she jumps at the opportunity. For a month Betty will live in a cabin on a private island off the coast of Maine, with a five-person cast and crew. Anthony gives her a new identity, "Lola," and Betty tells herself that this is exactly what she's been looking for—the chance to reinvent herself. That is, until they begin filming and she meets Sammy, the island's caretaker, and Betty realizes just how little she knows about the movie and its director.

Melissa takes some "Author R&R" about writing the novel:

At a certain point in the drafting process, once I’d gotten into the rhythm that Shutter demanded, writing became closer to reading. I was working toward a single image—Betty, covered in blood, asking for help—but beyond that image, I was just rushing to find out what would happen next in the story. Deep down, I knew what I wanted to happen, but I was not fully in charge of the narrative, because there was also Betty and Anthony and their agendas dictating where the story would go. The creation of the plot was more of a conversation among Betty’s desires (and Anthony’s plans), this image, and my own fears. To propel the story forward when I was stuck, I would ask myself, What frightens me?

I asked myself this because I had set out to write the book that I was always searching for in a bookstore. I wanted to read a psychological thriller about a young woman who was untethered, as I was. I was not married (still not), I had no children (still don’t), I was in my twenties (still am) and trying to figure out, in basic terms, who I was outside of the regular definitions of daughter, sister, student, employee (working on it!). I didn’t feel equipped to write a domestic thriller about the secrets in a marriage or the stresses of children. I did, however, feel equipped to explore the uncharted territory of the early twenties. The awkward, strange power dynamic of a first date—who pays and what does that imply, are they measuring you against some unspoken standard, are you measuring them, are you projecting a fantasy on them or are you actually engaging with them as they are?—the self-doubts and insecurities of a young woman, the magnetic pull of a cold yet charismatic man, the growing pains and strains of old friends reconnecting.

In short, I wrote close to my own experiences—in an extremely inverted sort of way. Betty’s (and Anthony’s) anxieties can be read as an amplified version of my own. I had also worked on the set of my brother’s thesis film, and had been fascinated by the filming process, by the effort that goes into filmmaking and the transformation that occurs in an actor when the director says “Action!” And the hardware! The glorious hardware! Cameras, microphones, battery packs, headphones, gels, lights! As a writer, I likewise find myself obsessed with setting. I often work my way into a story through its sense of place—the house, the surrounding neighborhood, the geography and corresponding weather patterns—and I, like Betty, am from the west coast and I, like Betty, happen to find the forests of the east coast to be very spooky.

Perhaps the biggest influence on Shutter, and the closest I came to formal research, was a writing residency on a private island off the coast of Maine. I had initially set Shutter on an estate in Upstate New York, with a main house and a small cabin hidden in the trees. This location—a lakeside property—hadn’t felt perfect, but it’d felt eerie enough. After selling Shutter, I searched for residencies in the area to live through some of Betty’s experiences, to breathe that air and feel that forest and also to really work through the revisions my editor had asked for! Instead I found the Norton Island Residency for Writers and Artists, which offered two weeks of living in a tiny cabin hidden in the trees, with a main house for the group to congregate in, on a private island off the coast of Maine. I applied; I was (luckily) accepted. And it was like stepping into my own book. I felt the anticipation and the fear of leaving my comfortable writing nest to live in the woods, dependent upon a group of strangers (very dependent—I did not pack well, it’s by the generosity of the group that I survived!). I got to sleep in Betty’s cabin, got to feel the instant camaraderie with this group of strangers. Everything clicked and I spent my two weeks there changing the story to take place on a private island off the coast of Maine.

Every story has its own demands and rhythms. Shutter initially came out in a breathless rush, followed by a tremendous amount of revision and revisiting the question What frightens me? but then with the twist of Okay, how do I frighten someone else with that? Shutter was born out of fear and excitement and putting myself in Betty’s position as much as I could. It demanded, essentially, a personal interrogation of both Betty and myself—and many phone calls with my brother to discuss cameras! As I explore another story and another set of characters, I feel as though I am learning how to write all over again. The constant between these two entirely different stories is this love of reading. I can’t wait to find out what happens next!

 

You can learn more about Melissa Larsen via her website and follow her on Instagram and Twitter. Shutter is now available via all major booksellers.

Bloody Good

The longlist was announced for the McIlvanney Prize (named after the late William McIlvanney) for the Scottish Crime Book of the Year 2021. Finalists will be revealed at the beginning of September coinciding with publication of The Dark Remains, William McIlvanney's final book, completed by Ian Rankin. The winner will be revealed in Stirling at the Bloody Scotland Festival and online on Friday, September 17.

• The Cut, Chris Brookmyre (Little,Brown)
• The Silent Daughter, Emma Christie (Wellbeck)
• Before the Storm, Alex Gray (Little, Brown)
• Dead Man’s Grave, Neil Lancaster (HarperCollins, HQ)
• The Coffinmaker’s Garden, Stuart MacBride (HarperCollins)
• Still Life, Val McDermid (Little,Brown)
• Bad Debt, William McIntyre (Sandstone)
• The Less Dead, Denise Mina (Vintage)
• How To Survive Everything, Ewan Morrison (Saraband)
• Edge of the Grave, Robbie Morrison (Macmillan)
• The April Dead, Alan Parks (Canongate)
• Hyde, Craig Russell (Constable)
• Waking the Tiger, Mark Wightman (Hobeck Books)

Media Murder for Monday

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

THE BIG SCREEN/MOVIES

Universal Pictures is in pre-production on a drama based on "She Said: Breaking the Sexual Harassment Story That Helped Ignite a Movement," by New York Times reporters, Megan Twohey and Jodi Kantor. The article included details of hush money paid to cover up the sexual crimes by producer, Harvey Weinstein, and first-person accounts by actresses accusing Weinstein of non-consensual sexual indiscretions. The article would not only lead to Weinstein being sentenced to 23 years in prison for rape but also spurred the #MeToo and #TimesUp movements that are still making major impacts across the world while also completely changing the landscape of Hollywood forever.

Harry Melling, best known as Dudley from the Harry Potter franchise, is set to play a young Edgar Allan Poe in the Netflix/Scott Cooper-directed murder mystery, The Pale Blue Eye. The film is a passion project of Cooper, who has tried making it for more then a decade, and also stars Christian Bale as a veteran detective tasked with solving a series of murders that took place in 1830 at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point. Bale’s detective partners with a detail-oriented young cadet (Melling), who will later become the world famous author we all know today.

Madelyn Cline is set to join Daniel Craig in the next installment of Knives Out, along with Dave Bautista, Janelle Monae, Kathryn Hahn, Leslie Odom Jr., Kate Hudson, and Edward Norton, who were also recently added to the cast. Deadline first reported in March that Netflix was closing a deal north of $400 million for the next two installments, an historic deal for streamers. Rian Johnson is back to write and direct the project and Craig will reprise the role of super sleuth, Benoit Blanc.

Eiza González will star in Wolf Country, a thriller that Jennifer Fox will direct from a script by Pete Begler. González plays a young deputy who is shunned by her entire community when she uncovers a large drug haul that leads straight to a ranch belonging to the town’s lauded and beloved sheriff, her father. When he escapes custody and flees into the rugged Colorado wilderness, his daughter must track down the very man who taught her everything about right and wrong to bring him to justice.

Rapper Chris "Ludacris" Bridges and Emmy winner, Beau Bridges, have signed on to star opposite Queen Latifah in the Netflix movie, End of the Road. Latifah stars as Brenda, who, after losing her job and being recently widowed, embarks on a cross-country trip with her family to start a new life. But in the New Mexico desert, cut off from help, they must learn to fight back when they become the targets of a mysterious killer.

Emile Hirsch and Liana Liberato have joined Thomas Jane and his daughter Harlow in the cast for the thriller, Dig. The film follows a widowed father and his daughter, who suffers from major hearing loss, as their house is set for demolition. After arriving at the construction site, they are soon taken hostage by a dangerous couple (Hirsch and Liberato), who will stop at nothing to retrieve what lies beneath the property. The father and daughter must work together to outsmart their captors and survive the grueling night.

Hayley Law and Keith Powers have joined Avan Jogia in the neo-noir thriller, Door Mouse. Also starring Famke Janssen and Donal Logue, the story centers on a woman named Mouse (Law) who is stuck in a dead-end job, doing nothing with her life and going nowhere. Mouse works at Mama’s Burlesque Club all night, where her boss Mama (Janssen) encourages her to pursue her real passion of making comics. When a friend from work goes missing and the cops do nothing about it, Mouse and her sidekick, Ugly (Powers), take it upon themselves to find out what happened to her. What they discover is that corruption runs deep, monsters are real, and that sometimes, justice is meant to be taken into your own hands.

A trailer was released for No Sudden Move, a heist thriller set in 1950s Detroit. Steven Soderbergh directs and has assembled a strong cast that includes Don Cheadle, Benicio Del Toro, David Harbour, Jon Hamm, Amy Seimetz, Brendan Fraser, Kieran Culkin, Noah Jupe, Julia Fox, Frankie Shaw, Ray Liotta, Bill Duke, and the late Craig "muMs" Grant. No Sudden Move will make its debut at the Tribeca Film Festival as the fest’s centerpiece movie on June 18, and it will be released as an HBO Max exclusive starting on July 1.

TELEVISION/STREAMING SERVICES

Chris Addison is adapting Caimh McDonnell’s The Dublin Trilogy series of novels for television. The books are set in Dublin and follow the adventures of an unlikely crime-solving trio. The first installment, A Man with One of Those Faces, tells the story of what happens to Paul Mulchrone when a simple case of mistaken identity leads him into a complicated web of intrigue in which people keep trying to kill him. The only people willing to help are Brigit Conroy, the crime-obsessed nurse who got him into the mess in the first place, and Bunny McGarry, an unconventional old-school copper with whom he has a complicated personal history.

The BAFTA-winning and Oscar-nominated team behind Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy are set to adapt spy author Dave Hutchinson’s Fractured Europe Sequence novels into a major television series titled Europa. The series is set in a near-future Europe, which has splintered into countless tiny nation-states after being ravaged by a pandemic and economic decay. In the first book, Europe In Autumn, Rudi, a chef based out of a small restaurant in Krakow, Poland, is drawn into a new career with Les Coureurs des Bois, a shadowy organization that will move anything across any state line for a price. Soon, Rudi is in a world of "high-risk smuggling operations, where kidnappings and double-crossings are as natural as a map that constantly redraws itself."

Patrick Schwarzenegger has joined the formidable cast of The Staircase, HBO Max’s limited-series drama adaptation based on the true-crime docuseries. He joins previously announced Colin Firth, Toni Collette, Rosemarie DeWitt, Juliette Binoche, Parker Posey, Sophie Turner, and Odessa Young. The eight-episode series, from Christine director, Antonio Campos, and American Crime Story writer, Maggie Cohn, explores the life of Michael Peterson (Firth), his sprawling North Carolina family, and the suspicious death of his wife, Kathleen (Collette). Schwarzenegger will play Todd Peterson, Michael Peterson’s son.

Will Poulter and Lucy Boynton will lead the cast of Hugh Laurie’s three-part adaptation of Agatha Christie’s murder-mystery, Why Didn’t They Ask Evans? The story follows the local Vicar’s son, Bobby Jones (Poulter), and his whip-smart friend, socialite Lady Frances "Frankie" Derwent (Boynton) on their crime-solving adventure after they discover the crumpled body of a dying man who gasps the cryptic question of the title with his last breath. Armed only with a photograph of a beautiful young woman found in the dead man’s pocket, these amateur detectives pursue, and are pursued by, the answer to the mystery.

Giovanni Ribisi, Colin Hanks, and Dan Fogler will join Miles Teller and Matthew Goode in Paramount+’s upcoming limited series, The Offer. The project is based on two-time Oscar-winning producer Al Ruddy’s experience of making 1972's iconic The Godfather that Francis Ford Coppola directed and adapted with Mario Puzo from Puzo’s bestselling novel. The movie starred Marlon Brando, Al Pacino, James Caan, John Cazale, Robert Duvall, Diane Keaton and Talia Shire. It was nominated for eleven Oscars and won three — including one to Ruddy for Best Picture. 

Leighton Meester is set to star in Netflix’s twisty thriller, The Weekend Away, an adaptation of the novel by Sarah Alderson. The psychological thriller takes place amid a weekend getaway to Croatia that goes awry when a woman is accused of killing her best friend. As she attempts to clear her name and uncover the truth, her efforts unearth a painful secret. Alderson is adapting the screenplay, with Kim Farrant set to direct.

UK-based production company, Hillbilly Films and Television, has optioned the rights to adapt Jules Grant’s 2016 crime thriller novel, We Go Around In The Night And Are Consumed By Fire, as a limited drama series. Georgi Banks-Davies is attached to direct, while Clare McQuillan will serve as lead writer on the adaptation. The story follows Donna, a gangster, street poet, and boss of the all-female Bronte Close Gang, whose illicit profits are made by selling drugs from perfume atomizers in club toilets. Alongside single parent Carla – her best friend, trusted second-in-command and subject of her unrequited love – they carve out an empire on the toughest streets of Manchester. While the gang avoids violent turf warfare, a tragedy soon sees Donna set out to exact a violent retaliation.

Netflix and Jennifer Lopez have signed a massive deal to produce "a slate of films, television series, scripted and unscripted content, with an emphasis on projects that support diverse female actors, writers and filmmakers." The first project announced by the streamer will be Lopez’s action thriller, The Mother, which will be directed by the live-action Mulan helmer, Niki Caro. The film will have Lopez pulling a John Wick, playing a deadly assassin "who comes out of hiding to teach her daughter how to survive." Shooting gets underway this fall, with a late 2022 release on Netflix. The second project will be The Cipher, based on the thriller novel by Isabel Ojeda Maldonado. That adaptation, part of Maldonado’s series centering on her FBI agent character, Nina Guerrera, has the agent tangling with a serial killer from whom she escaped as a teen.

A month ago, Clarice was poised to move from CBS to Paramount+ with the promise of a long run for a premium version of the Silence of the Lambs sequel. Now, prospects for the series appear bleak as negotiations between the ViacomCBS streamer and co-producer MGM have reached a stalemate. Additionally, there is no viable path for Clarice to continue on CBS since the broadcast network already committed to a full slate of series for next season. It would mean the end of the road for the high-profile drama, which had already snagged a Season 2 order.

PODCASTS/VIDEO/RADIO/AUDIO

James Patterson and Bill Clinton, authors of The President is Missing, appeared on Good Morning America and Live with Kelly and Ryan to chat up their latest co-written thriller, The President's Daughter.

The Reading and Writing podcast welcomed Les Edgerton to talk about his latest novel, Hard Times.

Speaking of Mysteries spoke with Jean Hanff Korelitz about her psychological thriller, The Plot.

Meet the Thriller Author chatted with Alma Katsu about her first spy novel, Red Widow, the logical marriage of her love of storytelling with her 30+ year career in intelligence (as a senior intelligence analyst for several U.S. agencies, including the CIA and NSA).

Mia P. Manansala stopped by the Queer Writers of Crime podcast to talk about how she uses humor (and murder) to explore aspects of the Filipino diaspora, queerness, and her millennial love for pop culture in her debut novel, Arsenic and Adobo.

Wrong Place, Write Crime welcomed Cynthia Kuhn to discuss her Lila MacLean academic mysteries and her upcoming bookstore mystery series.

Robert B. McCaw was the latest guest on My Favorite Detective Stories, talking about his Koa Kane Series where the islands of Hawaii are central to the themes and concepts.

It Was a Dark and Stormy Book Club featured Sarah Graves's Death by Chocolate Snickerdoodle, the fourth in the Death by Chocolate series.

James Wolff joined Crime Time FM to talk about growing up in the Middle East, spy fiction, the meaning of treachery, and his new novel, How to Betray Your Country.

The Red Hot Chili Writers interviewed crime authors Laura Shepherd-Robinson and Will Shaw, and also discussed the Vauxhall Pleasure Gardens, disappearances from trawlers, and why Truman Capote was jealous of Harper Lee.

THEATRE

Following an award winning run at Adelaide Fringe Festival 2021, Australia's favorite comedy magic psychic detective is back in 2 Ruby Knockers, 1 Jaded Dick: A Dirk Darrow Investigation. Based on an obscure 90-year-old short story by Dashiell Hammett, this genre-smashing play is one of the only stage shows in the world that incorporates magic effects into a story about a bank heist, and is described as "Sam Spade meets Naked Gun meets Penn & Teller." Performances run through Saturday, June 26.

As rehearsals begin this week, Peter James and producer Joshua Andrews have announced full casting for the world premiere stage production of James's best-selling novel, Looking Good Dead, based on the author's series featuring Brighton-based detective, Roy Grace. Harry Long will star as Detective Grace, joined by award-winning EastEnders star, Adam Woodyatt, and actors Gaynor Faye, Kellie Bryce, Ian Houghton, Leon Stewart, Gemma Stroyan, Luke Ward-Wilkinson, Mylo McDonald, and Natalie Boakye. The production is now set to open at the Leicester Curve on July 1, ahead of a major UK tour.