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

Jason Statham and Miramax are partnering for a third time on The Bee Keeper, a spec script by Kurt Wimmer for which the studio shelled out seven figures. A September 2022 production start is being eyed, with filming in London and Atlanta. The Bee Keeper is described as "a lightning-paced thriller deeply steeped in the mythology of Bee Keeping...that explores universal themes with an unconventional story that will have fans sitting on the edge of their seats." Miramax is currently searching for a director.

Tyson Ritter has joined the cast of Prisoner’s Daughter, from director Catherine Hardwicke (Twilight), joining previously announced actors Brian Cox and Kate Beckinsale. The film is written by Mark Bacci and tells the story of Max (Cox), a tough but proud ex-con, who’s struggling to find a way to reconnect with his only daughter Maxine (Beckinsale), as well as his grandson. But as he begins an attempt at reconciliation, his violent past catches up to him once again. Ritter will play Maxine’s ex-husband, Tyler, who fights with her to stay connected to their son Ezra.

Showtime announced that the Ray Donovan feature-length movie will debut in the first quarter of 2022, which would be exactly two years after the TV series’ surprise cancellation that led to an outcry from fans. Showrunner David Hollander admitted at the time that the show’s creative team had been blindsided by the decision, as the seventh season had not been planned as a final chapter. Showtime's President of Entertainment, Gary Levine, is promising viewers a satisfying ending with the movie, in which Liev Schreiber returns as uber fixer Donovan, Jon Voight as Mickey Donovan, and Kerris Dorsey as Ray’s daughter Bridget.

TELEVISION/STREAMING SERVICE

The Wire writer/producer, George Pelecanos, who has had an informal home at HBO for nearly two decades, has made it official with a recently signed two-year overall deal. Under the pact, Pelecanos will develop and produce original content for the network and has set for his first project a drama series based on John D. MacDonald’s novel, The Last One Left. Pelecanos will serve as co-writer along with Megan Abbott (The Deuce; Dare Me) and serve as showrunner. The logline: In 1967 Miami, a pleasure cruiser carrying a wealthy deal-maker and his guests explodes en route to the Bahamas with only the captain found alive. The mysterious Gold Coast resident, Crissy Harkinson, may know far more about the explosion than she’s telling, and when Sam Boylston, the brother of one of the victims, arrives to find answers, he joins forces with Francisca Torcedo, who works for Crissy and has her own suspicions about her ambitious employer.

In a competitive situation, Paramount+ has won rights to develop Yellow Bird, a series based on Sierra Crane Murdoch’s Pulitzer Prize finalist, Yellow Bird: Oil, Murder and a Woman’s Search for Justice in Indian Country. The series will focus on Lissa Yellowbird, newly released from jail and returning to her reservation in North Dakota in the midst of one of the largest oil booms in modern history. Her attempts to reconcile with her estranged family are complicated when she becomes obsessed with a young oil worker’s disappearance. "An amateur sleuth from the wrong side of the law, Yellowbird ultimately exposes a sweeping criminal conspiracy of murder and corruption, healing her own family in the process of helping the oil worker’s mother find closure regarding her son’s fate." The real-life Yellowbird has gone on to investigate cases of missing and murdered Indigenous women nationwide, which will be the focus of subsequent seasons.

Amazon Studios has put into development Infinite Thread, which began as a spec script written by Julius and Alston Ramsay, who will also serve as co-showrunners alongside Byron Balasco. The logline:  "After a pair of twins are abducted, a determined sheriff deputy embarks on a quest into the unknown that will alter the course of human history. Infinite Thread is described as blending true crime and science fiction in its depiction of one man’s epic investigation into a crime that breaks the boundaries of time and space."

CBS Studios is developing Broadmoor, a drama series intended for the UK/International premium and streaming market. Inspired by true events, Broadmoor is based on the famous British high-security psychiatric hospital, originally known as the Broadmoor Criminal Lunatic Asylum. It features overlapping stories about the staff, the visitors and, of course, the patients that included maniacs, stranglers, slashers, and serial killers. Set against the backdrop of a crumbling 1970s-80s Britain on the edge of violent social change, the series follows a young woman who goes to Broadmoor "believing that murderous behavior can be understood, treated, even tamed, only to find she has entered a warehouse for England’s fears, the locked attic where its demons reside in a Gothic hell."

FX has rounded out the ensemble cast to join Andrew Garfield and Daisy Edgar-Jones in the studio’s new limited series, Under the Banner of Heaven, tapping new additions Sam Worthington, Denise Gough, Wyatt Russell, Billy Howle, Gil Birmingham, Adelaide Clemens, Rory Culkin, Seth Numrich, Chloe Pirrie, Sandra Seacat, and Christopher Heyerdahl. Inspired by the New York Times bestseller from Jon Krakauer, the story follows a detective whose faith is tested as he investigates a brutal murder that seems to be connected to an esteemed Utah family’s spiral into Mormon/LDS fundamentalism and their distrust of the government.

Tony winner Norbert Leo Butz is set as a series regular opposite Elle Fanning, Colton Ryan, and Chloë Sevigny in the Hulu drama, The Girl From Plainville. Based on the Esquire article by Jesse Barron, the project stars Fanning as Michelle Carter and is inspired by the true story of her controversial "texting suicide" case.The limited series will explore Carter’s relationship with Conrad "Coco" Roy III (Ryan) and the events that led to his death and, later, her controversial conviction of involuntary manslaughter. Butz will play Conrad "Co" Roy II, Coco’s father. Toughened by life and work at the docks and on the boats in Mattapoisett, MA, Co is forced to face his own mistakes as a father and sets out to come to terms with the death of his son.

During the recent Big Sky panel at a Television Critics Association event, actor John Carroll Lynch announced he will be returning for Season 2 of the crime drama, although the details on his return are being kept under wraps. The character Lynch played in Season 1 was sex trafficking Montana state trooper, Rick Legarski, who was shot in the head in the Season 1 finale. Even if he’s dead though, showrunner and executive producer, Elwood Reid, noted during the panel that Legarski has a twin, as alluded to in the first season. Reid also confirmed that this season’s "new baddie, who is going to bring in more baddies," is Ren, the character played by new series regular Janina Gavankar. Another addition to the cast coming in to shake things up is Logan Marshall-Green’s Travis, a man from Jenny (Katheryn Winnick)’s past, who was friends with her and her late husband Cody (Ryan Phillippe). 

Rob Yang has landed a recurring role on the six-part second season of the BBC spy drama series, The Capture, which is now underway in the UK. Starring Holliday Grainger as Detective Inspector Rachel Carey, the second season of the surveillance thriller will see Carey trying to navigate a Britain under siege from hacked news feeds, manipulated media, and interference in politics. Yang will play the head of an internationally renowned Chinese tech company based in the UK. Grainger is returning alongside Ron Perlman, Ben Miles, Lia Williams, Nigel Lindsay, Cavan Clerkin, and Ginny Holder.

PODCASTS/VIDEO/RADIO/AUDIO

The Read or Dead podcast discussed translated works of crime and mystery written by women authors, in celebration of Women in Translation Month.

This week's guest on Queer Writers of Crime was Garrett Hutson, who writes upmarket mysteries and historical spy fiction.

Patricia Sargeant, author of Murder by Page One, was interviewed by Robert Justice for the Crime Writers of Color podcast.

Speaking of Mysteries co-founder, Les Klinger, talked about the astounding series of vintage mysteries that he edited, wrote introductions for, and annotated for The Library of Congress Crime Classics.

Meet the Thriller Author welcomed John Gaspard, author of the Eli Marks mystery series, as well as the Como Lake Players mystery series under the pen name Bobbie Raymond.

Margaret Murphy stopped by My Favorite Detective Stories to chat about the psychological thrillers she writes under her own name, and forensic thrillers penned as Ashley Dyer and AD Garrett.

Crime Time FM discussed the film version of The Dry; upcoming books by Victoria Selman and Barry Forshaw; Bloody Scotland; Sherlock on film; The Da Vinci Code, and much more.

The latest Cozy Ink podcast focused on Alexis Morgan’s Abby McCree Mystery Series.

It Was a Dark and Stormy Book Club spoke with Sheryl Ickes about Death of a Dispatcher, the first installment in her Becky and Rufus Cross-Country Mystery Series.

Anthony Accolades

The annual Anthony Awards are usually anounced in-person at the Bouchercon crime fiction conference, but due to this year's event in New Orleans being cancelled, the award ceremony was held virtually online tonight. Congratulations to all this year's winners!

 

Best Hardcover Novel:  Blacktop Wasteland - S.A. Cosby - Flatiron Books

Also nominated:

• What You Don’t See– Tracy Clark – Kensington
• Little Secrets – Jennifer Hillier – Minotaur Books
• And Now She’s Gone – Rachel Howzell Hall -Forge Books
• The First to Lie – Hank Phillippi Ryan – Forge Books
  

Best First Novel:  Winter Counts - David Heska Wanbli Weiden - Ecco Press

Also nominated:

• Derailed – Mary Keliikoa – Camel Press
• Murder in Old Bombay – Nev March – Minotaur Books
• Murder at the Mena House – Erica Ruth Neubauer – Kensington
• The Thursday Murder Club – Richard Osman – Pamela Dorman Books
  

Best Paperback Original Novel: Unspeakable Things - Jess Lourey - Thomas & Mercer

Also nominated:

• The Fate of a Flapper – Susanna Calkins – Griffin
• When No One is Watching – Alyssa Cole – William Morrow
• The Lucky One – Lori Rader-Day – William Morrow
• Dirty Old Town – Gabriel Valjan – Level Best Books
  

Best Short Story:  "90 Miles" - Alex Segura - Both Sides: Stories From the Border - Agora Books

Also nominated:

• “Dear Emily Etiquette” – Barb Goffman – EQMM – Dell Magazines
• “The Boy Detective & The Summer of ’74” – Art Taylor – AHMM (Jan-Feb) – Dell Magazines
• “Elysian Fields” – Gabriel Valjan – California Schemin’ – Wildside Press
• “The Twenty-Five Year Engagement” – James W. Ziskin – In League with Sherlock Holmes – Pegasus Crime
  

Best Juvenile/Young Adult:  Holly Hernandez and the Death of Disco - Richie Narvaez - Piñata Books

Also nominated:

• Midnight at the Barclay Hotel – Fleur Bradley – Viking Books for Young Readers
• Premeditated Myrtle – Elizabeth C. Bunce – Algonquin Young Readers
• From the Desk of Zoe Washington – Janae Marks – Katherine Tegen Books
• Star Wars Poe Dameron: Free Fall – Alex Segura – Disney Lucasfilm Press
  

Best Critical or Nonfiction Work: Unspeakable Acts: True Tales of Crime, Murder, Deceit, and Obsession - Sarah Weinman, ed. - Ecco Press

Also nominated:

• Sometimes You Have to Lie: The Life and times of Louise Fitzhugh, Renegade Author of Harriet the Spy – Leslie Brody – Seal Press
• American Sherlock: Murder, Forensics and the Birth of American CSI – Kate Winkler Dawson – G.P. Putnam’s Sons
• Howdunit: A Masterclass in Crime Writing by Members of the Detection Club – Martin Edwards, ed. – Collins Crime Club
• The Third Rainbow Girl: The Long Life of a Double Murder in Appalachia – Emma Copley Eisenberg – Hachette Books
• Phantom Lady: Hollywood Producer Joan Harrison, the Forgotten Woman Behind Hitchcock – Christina Lane – Chicago Review Press
  

Best Anthology or Collection: Shattering Glass: A Nasty Woman Press Anthology - Heather Graham, ed. - Nasty Woman Press

Also nominated:

• Both Sides: Stories from the Border – Gabino Iglesias, ed. – Agora Books
  Noiryorican – Richie Narvaez – Down & Out Books
• The Beat of Black Wings: Crime Fiction Inspired by the Songs of Joni Mitchell – Josh Pachter, ed. – Untreed Reads Publishing
• California Schemin‘ – Art Taylor, ed. – Wildside Press
• Lockdown: Stories of Crime, Terror, and Hope During a Pandemic – Nick Kolakowski and Steve Weddle, eds. – Polis Books
  

David Thompson Award Special Service Award:  Janet Rudolph

Free Mini-Bouchercon This Weekend

Although the in-person Boucheron Crime Conference originally scheduled for August 25 to 29 in New Orleans has been cancelled, the organizers pulled together a free two-day online event that anyone can attend. Check out those live video links here. They include James Lee Burke and Alafair Burke in conversation tonight; and the Anthony Awards presentation tomorrow evening, with presenters to include Michael Connelly, Tess Gerritsen, Dennis Lehane, Caroline Todd, Charles Todd, Jonathan Maberry, and a special welcome from Craig Johnson.

Mystery Melange

 

Yesterday brought the announcement of the 2021 Macavity Awards, which are nominated and voted on by members of Mystery Readers International, subscribers to Mystery Readers Journal, and friends of MRI. Best Novel went to Blacktop Wasteland by S.A. Cosby; Best First Novel: Winter Counts by David Heska Wanbli Weiden; Best Critical/Biographical: H R.F. Keating: A Life of Crime by Sheila Mitchell; Best Short Story: "Elysian Fields" by Gabriel Valjan (California Schemin’: The 2020 Bouchercon Anthology, edited by Art Taylor; and the Sue Feder Memorial Award for Best Historical Mystery: Turn to Stone by James W. Ziskin.

Also this week in a virtual ceremony on Facebook, the Australian Crime Writers' Association announced the winners of the 2021 Ned Kelly Awards. They include: Best Debut Crime Fiction - The Second Son by Loraine Peck; Best True Crime - Stalking Claremont by Bret Christian; Best International Crime Fiction - We Begin at the End by Chris Whitaker; and Best Crime Fiction - Consolation by Garry Disher.

Author Martin Walker, whose novels feature police chief Bruno Courrèges and are set in the Perigord region of France, has been named this year's winner of the Prix Charbonnier, awarded by the Federation of Alliances Françaises in the USA to those making a special contribution to French culture. He follows in the footsteps of Leonard Slatkin, Francois Truffaut, Pierre Cardin, Julia Child, Andre Cointreau, and many more.

D. Ann Williams has won the 2021 Eleanor Taylor Bland Crime Fiction Writers of Color Award, sponsored by Sisters in Crime. Williams's novel in progress, titled Murder at the Freeman Hotel, is set in 1920s California and features Minnie Freeman, a woman on a mission to move to a new city, open a hotel, and stay independently wealthy. Her plan is hindered by the dead body found at the bottom of the new automatic elevator shaft and a sigil linking it to other deaths. SinC also announced the honorable mention winners: Hiawatha Bray, Lily Meade, Robin Page, Catherine Tucker, and Zoe B. Wallbrook.

Unpublished crime writers in Wales have a little over a week left to enter the Crime Cymru First Novel Prize sponsored by the Crime Cymru crime writing collective. Send along the first 5,000 words of your crime novel plus a one-page synopsis by September 3. The two winners (one each of an English-language manuscript and another in Welsh) will receive a four-night stay in Nant and a writing retreat generously donated by Lit Wales, as well as a year's mentoring from a Crime Cymru member.

Writers who can boil down a mystery into a half-dozen words are encouraged to enter the fifth annual Six-Word Mystery Contest sponsored by the Rocky Mountain Chapter of Mystery Writers of America (RMMWA). The contest opens September 1, 2021, and entries must be received by midnight, Oct. 8, 2021, MST. Six-word "whodunits" can be entered in one or all five of the following categories: Hard Boiled or Noir; Cozy Mystery; Thriller Mystery; Police Procedural Mystery; and/or a mystery with Romance or Lust. The Six-Word Mystery Contest is open to all adults 18 and over, with no residency requirements.

Registration is open for ITW's 8th annual Online Thriller School. Ten weeks of intensive craft lessons will begin on September 14, with a bonus "Ask Me Anything" panel. Authors scheduled to instruct include Liv Constantine, Jeffery Deaver, Lisa Gardner, Alexia Gordon, Adam Hamdy, Cate Holahan, Anthony Horowitz, Steven James, Tosca Lee, Jaime Levine, David Morrell, Samuel Octavius, Alex Segura, and Jerri Williams. Topics include Pacing; World Building; Building Suspense; Villains – Beyond the Cardboard Cutout; How to Edit Like a Pro; Creating Depth of Character; The G-Woman: An Insider’s Look at the FBI; How to Write a Killer Twist; Creating Realistic Dialogue; and Developing and Honing Your Voice.

Many people have the mistaken notion that forensic science provides an iron-clad form of evidence for criminal convictions. However, as recent cases such as the Washington, DC Crime Lab show, it's definitely not without its pitfalls. Then, there's the controversy surrounding ScatterShot, an AI-based tech that is problematic at best and has already landed a man in jail for nearly a year despite scant evidence. As artificial intelligence slowly creeps into every aspect of culture, it's good to be reminded that it's often as fallible as its creators.

For years, a mysterious figure has been stealing books before their release. Is it espionage? Revenge? Or a complete waste of time?

This week's crime poem at the 5-2 is "My Eyes Are Blue, His Are Brown, But They're The Same" by Terry Dawley.

In the Q&A roundup, William Kent Krueger spoke with the New York Times about his love of stories, handed out some great book recommendations, and described his writing process (subscription required); and Megan Abbott was interviewed by Lithub's Maris Review podcast to discuss her new novel, The Turnout, and the dark underworld of ballet.

 

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

Morgan Freeman and Yellowstone’s Cole Hauser are set to star in the action thriller, Muti, from director George Gallo. The feature film follows a detective (Hauser) who is unable to process the death of his daughter and embarks on a hunt for a serial killer whose crimes are based on a brutal tribal ritual known as MUTI. The detective recruits the help of a professor and African anthropologist (Freeman) who hides an unspeakable secret but allows the detective to go deeper into the killer’s world, revealing one man’s insanity is another man’s religion. 

Mena Suvari and Danielle Harris have joined the cast and production team of the psychological thriller, Anne, With Love, starring Blaine Morris. George Henry Horton (Dreadspace) will direct the film from a script he co-wrote with Morris. Among the supporting cast are Jaime Gallagher, Luke Barnett, Rocky Perez, Anwar Wolf, Leonard Amoia, Lucy Werner, Hunter Brown, and Robert H. Lambert. The story follows Anne (Morris), a painter who struggles with inner demons after being forced into a life of solitude when her husband leaves mysteriously. Suvari will play her closest confidant, Maya, who has a dark secret of her own. Harris will play Anne’s neighbor, who has several striking similarities in both her appearance and life.

Olivia Scott Welch has signed on to star opposite George Baron in The Blue Rose, a surreal genre-bender that Baron wrote and is directing in his feature debut. The noir pic is set in the 1950s, following the one-night journey of two rookie detectives as they set out to solve a homicide, only to find themselves in an alternate reality made up of their worst nightmares. Welch will play Detective Lilly, with Baron portraying Detective Dalton.

TELEVISION/STREAMING SERVICE

Aaron Magnani has acquired rights to Capital Crimes, the 32-part crime thriller book series originated by President Harry S. Truman’s daughter, Margaret Truman, with plans to adapt them into a TV series. The potential adaptation will center on the books’ hero, Robert Brixton, a rugged former cop and special operator who served with SITQUAL, a private security arm of the State Department. Brixton’s skills, as one of the few internationally licensed private investigators, are put to use against an assortment of villains and plots seeking to do the country great harm.

Peacock has handed a straight-to-series order for a ten-part crime drama set in Australia, hailing from Matchbox Pictures, the production company behind Cate Blanchett’s Stateless. Irreverant was created by Paddy Macrae (Wanted) and follows a criminal from Chicago who bungles a heist and is forced to hide out in a small Australian reef town in Far North Queensland posing as the new church Reverend.

All Rise may have a new life on a new network. OWN: The Oprah Winfrey Network is in talks for a new season of the legal drama starring Simone Missick, three months after the series was cancelled by CBS. All Rise is set in Los Angeles and centers on Judge Lola Carmichael (Missick), a highly regarded and impressive deputy district attorney "who doesn’t intend to sit back on the bench in her new role, but instead leans in, immediately pushing the boundaries and challenging the expectations of what a judge can be."

Josh Duhamel has been tapped to star opposite Renée Zellweger in NBC’s limited series, The Thing About Pam. Based on a stranger-than-fiction story featured on Dateline NBC, The Thing About Pam centers around the murder of Betsy Faria that resulted in the conviction of her husband, Russ, though he insisted he didn’t kill her. His conviction was later overturned. The brutal crime set off a chain of events that would expose a diabolical scheme deeply involving another woman, Pam Hupp (Zellweger). Duhamel will play Joel Schwartz, the defense attorney for Russ Faria.

Oscar nominee, Chloë Sevigny, is set as a lead opposite Elle Fanning and Colton Ryan in the Hulu drama, The Girl From Plainville. Based off the Esquire article by Jesse Barron, the limited series will explore Michelle Carter’s (Fanning) relationship with Conrad "Coco" Roy III (Ryan) and the events that led to his death and her controversial conviction of involuntary manslaughter. Sevigny will play Lynn Roy, Coco’s mother. 

The Americans alum, Noah Emmerich, has been tapped for a major role opposite Zahn McClarnon and Kiowa Gordon in Dark Winds, AMC’s Western noir thriller series based on Tony Hillerman’s popular Leaphorn & Chee book series. With a six-episode order, the psychological thriller follows two Navajo police officers, Joe Leaphorn (McClarnon) and Jim Chee (Gordon), in the 1970s Southwest as the search for clues in a grisly double-murder case forces them to challenge their own spiritual beliefs and come to terms with the trauma of their pasts. Emmerich will play Whitover, a burned-out FBI agent whose once-promising career is dying on the vine. A brazen robbery puts him back in the big time, but first he must enlist the help of the Navajo Tribal Police led by Lieutenant Leaphorn.

ABC is rounding out the recurring cast for the second season of its popular drama series, Big Sky, with the addition of Jamie-Lynn Sigler, Madelyn Kientz, Troy Johnson, Lola Reid, Jeremy Ray Taylor, TV Carpio, and Arturo Del Puerto. In Season 2 of the David E. Kelley series, based on the books by C.J. Box, when private detectives Cassie Dewell (Kylie Bunbury) and Jenny Hoyt (Katheryn Winnick) reunite to investigate a car wreck outside of Helena, Montana, they soon discover the case might not be as straightforward as it seems. As they unravel the mystery of the accident, their worlds will collide with a band of unsuspecting teens, a flirtatious face from Jenny’s past, and a vicious outsider hellbent on finding answers.

If you want to know when your favorite TV show is returning (and when new ones are set to debut), check out this calendar of premiere dates, courtesy of Deadline.

PODCASTS/VIDEO/RADIO/AUDIO

The latest Mysteryrat's Maze Podcast features an excerpt from One of Us by Lorie Lewis Ham (who is also the executive producer and director of the podcast), as read by actor Casey Ballard.

NPR book critic, Maureen Corrigan, spoke about the recent spate of author-manuscript-theft plots in crime fiction, with a look at Laura Lippman's Dream Girl.

NPR's Fresh Air looked at how David E. Kelley and actor Nicole Kidman have joined forces again to adapt another Liane Moriarty novel for Hulu, Nine Perfect Strangers, a miniseries that is "unorthodox and impeccably cast."

Queer Writers of Crime spoke with Lucy Sussex about her prize-winning Blockbuster! nonfiction book which profiles Fergus Hume’s 1886 book, The Mystery of a Hansom Cab, set in Melbourne and the biggest selling detective novel of the 1800s.

Debbi Mack interviewed crime writer Saralyn Richard, author of the Detective Oliver Parrott mysteries, for the Crime Cafe podcast.

Meet the Thriller Author welcomed Terry Roberts to chat about his historical thrillers.

Crime Time FM chatted with Daniel Cole about his new thriller, Mimic, and the coming TV series of his debut novel, Ragdoll.

In the latest episode of The Red Hot Chili Writers, S.A. Cosby, the award-winning author of Razorblade Tears, discussed a new "Writing Crime Fiction" course, and reviewed the Tokyo Olympics, including taking certain Olympic events to task.

Killer Nashville Silver Falchion Winners

The annual Killer Nashville conference announced the winners of the Silver Falchion Award, which seeks to discover and honor the best books of 2021 that incorporate the elements of mystery, thriller, and suspense. Here are the honorees and congrats to all! 

BEST ACTION ADVENTURE

The Crow’s Nest by Richard Meredith

BEST COMEDY

Con Me Once by J. L. Delozier

BEST COZY

Rose by Any Other Name by Becki Willis

BEST HISTORICAL

The Lost Wisdom of the Magic by Susie Helme

BEST INVESTIGATOR

Within Plain Sight by Bruce Robert Coffin

BEST JUVENILE

Y.A. Irish Town by Matthew John Meagher

BEST MYSTERY

Code Gray by Benny Sims

BEST NON-FICTION

Words Whispered in Water by Andy Rosenthal

BEST SCI-FI / FANTASY

Odyssey Tale by Cody Schlegel

BEST SHORT STORY COLLECTION

Couch Detective Book 2 by James Glass

BEST SUPERNATURAL

Borrowed Memories by Christine Mager Wevik

BEST SUSPENSE

Ring of Conspiracy by J. Robert Kinney

BEST THRILLER

The Divine Devils by R. Weir

CLAYMORE AWARD FOR BEST UNPUBLISHED

Winner: Crooked / Suspense / by Mary Bush
First Runner-Up: Choosing Guilt / Mystery / Frances Aylor
 
READERS' CHOICE AWARD
 
A Palette for Love and Murder / Saralyn Richard

Mystery Melange

 

Although the Crime Cologne festival won't be held this year, its "Crime Cologne Award 2021" will still be awarded, and the festival recently announced the six finalists whittled down from the original fifteen-book longlist. They include: Orkun Ertener - Was bisher gescha (What Happened So Far); Marcel Huwyler - Frau Morgenstern und der Verrat (Ms. Morgenstern and the Betrayal); Merle Kröger - Die Experten (The Experts); Ben Riffko - Grünes Öl (Green Oil); Joachim B. Schmidt - Kalmann; and Matthias Wittekindt - Vor Gericht (In Court). As Literary Saloon noted, we'll likely see some of these in English translation, certainly Joachim B. Schmidt's Kalmann, which is forthcoming from Bitter Lemon Press.

Bloody Scotland announced the full program for this year's hybrid festival that will give festival goers in Stirling the full-on festival experience while allowing authors and readers who can’t be there in person the opportunity to join in the fun. Running from September 17-19, highlights include Q&As with Kathy Reichs, Karin Slaughter, Lee Child and Stephen King; panels with Val McDermid, Ian Rankin, Denise Mina, Chris Brookmyre, Alan Parks, Mark Billingham, Kia Abdullah and Louise Candlish; Pitch Perfect and Crime in the Spotlight events; a performance by the Fun Lovin’ Crime Writers and a cabaret twist on the normal Quiz which will see each quizzer (Val McDermid, Chris Brookmyre, Doug Johnston, Mark Billingham, Luca Veste and Stuart Neville) performing a musical number; a live version of the Red Hot Chili Writers popular crime podcast; an A-Z of Crime starting with Megan Abbott and concluding with Anne Zouroudi; and Around the World in 80 Deaths featuring authors from Argentina, the Sicangu Lakota Nation, Russia, and Nigeria, chaired by Craig Sisterson.

As part of their Sizzling Summer Series, three chapters of Sisters in Crime are presenting a free virtual panel on August 22 that gives you a taste of three authors' different takes on the mystery genre. With moderator Maddie Margarita, the authors will talk about how they write and the differences in their approaches in their latest books. Currently scheduled to appear on the panel are Anthony Award-nominated E.A. Aymar, whose most recent thriller, They're Gone, was published in 2020 under his pseudonym E.A. Barres; Alma Katsu, whose debut spy thriller, Red Widow, is the logical marriage of her love of storytelling with her 30+ year career in intelligence; and Tara Laskowski, whose debut suspense novel, One Night Gone, won the Agatha Award, Macavity Award, and the Anthony Award. For more information and to order books, you can visit co-sponsor Book Carnival's website.

Meanwhile, the national Sisters in Crime organization is also offering a free series of talks for members and the general public on writing crime short stories. In the first of four sessions on the craft of writing short mystery fiction (Wednesday, September 22), Art Taylor walks you through the basics of writing short stories: what is a short story, what is its history, and what you can expect when you read one. He’ll be joined by Steph Cha, editor of The Best American Mystery and Suspense 2021, who will talk to Art about what’s going on in the world of short mystery fiction right now. Also coming up in later months, Plot and Structure with Barb Goffman (January 2022); Prose with E.A. Aymar/E.A. Barres (April 2022); and Endings with Toni L.P. Kelner (July 2022).

The new Arthur Conan Doyle Society (spearheaded by George Mason University's Ross Davies) is devoted to the study and enjoyment of the works of Conan Doyle. It is accepting nominations until November 1, 2021, for the best scholarly writing on Conan Doyle's works or life that was published in 2020–21. (HT to The Bunburyist.) Doylean Honorees receive:  An invitation to an event in their honor to be held at The Mysterious Bookshop in NYC during the week of January 10, 2022 (exact date TBD); a $250 Bookshop credit and a lovely certificate; and "a justifiable sense of pleasure and pride for impressing Doyleans of good taste and high integrity."

The next issue of Mystery Readers Journal will focus on Cold Case Mysteries. Editor Janet Rudolph is seeking reviews (50-250 words), articles (250-1,000 words), and Author! Author! essays (500-1,000 words). Author Author! Essays are first person, about yourself, your books, and your unique take on "Cold Case Mysteries." Submissions are due September 15.

One more nasty side effect of COVID: since the start of the pandemic, there’s been a rise in instances of government censorship of books around the world. In October 2020, the International Publishers Association released a 106-page report, "Freedom to Publish: Challenges, Violations and Countries of Concern," that outlined 847 instances of censorship in a host of countries, including France, Iran, Serbia, and the United Kingdom, as well as the United States. According to the report, in 55% of those instances, the censorship was undertaken by government authorities. 

Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine is celebrating their eightieth anniversary with an EQMM anniversary tradition, a trivia contest. The first reader to e-mail them with the correct answers by October 15 will win a choice of five free EQMM anthologies from the archives. Five runners-up will each receive one anthology.

It's Bulwer-Lytton time again! The contest that celebrates deliberately bad writing is back with this year's winners. There are various categories such as the Crime & Detective division (including the winner, Paul Scheeler, Buffalo, NY), that are definitely worth checking out for a good chuckle.

This latest featured poem at the 5-2 Crime Poem Weekly is "An Open Letter from a Funeral Director to the Anxi-Vaxxers" by Robert Cooperman. And 5-2 editor, Gerald So, is seeking more submissions for the online crime poetry 'zine by August 31st. If you have something you've tucked away in a drawer, dust it off and send it along.

In the Q&A roundup, Criminal Element chatted with Megan Collins, author of The Family Plot, about a family obsessed with true crime who becomes the center of a true crime themselves; and CrimeReads spoke with Aya de Leon, Lauren Wilkinson, and Rosalie Knecht, three authors driving the evolution of feminist espionage fiction.

 

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

Following a highly competitive auction, Amazon Studios has acquired a star vehicle that will have Emily Blunt playing Kate Warne, the first woman to become a detective at the Pinkerton Agency. Based on a script by Gustin Nash, the movie is a propulsive action adventure built around Warne, a real-life female Sherlock Holmes in a male-dominated industry whose singular sleuthing skills paved the way for future women in law enforcement and forever changed how detective work was done.

John Lithgow has joined the cast of Martin Scorsese’s Killers of the Flower Moon for Apple Studios. Lithgow will play the role of Prosecutor Leaward and joins the previously announced ensemble cast that includes Leonardo DiCaprio, Robert De Niro, Lily Gladstone, Jesse Plemons, Jason Isbell, Sturgill Simpson, Louis Cancelmi, William Belleu, Tatanka Means, Michael Abbott Jr., Pat Healy, and Scott Shepherd. Killers of the Flower Moon is based on David Grann’s novel and is set in 1920s Oklahoma depicting the serial murder of members of the oil-wealthy Osage Nation, a string of brutal crimes that came to be known as the Reign of Terror.

Jalyn Hall has signed on to play Emmett Till in Chinonye Chukwu’s Till. The 14-year-old actor will appear in the film alongside previously announced cast members Danielle Deadwyler and Whoopi Goldberg. Till tells the story of Mamie Till-Mobley (Deadwyler), whose pursuit of justice for her 14-year-old son Emmett Louis Till became a galvanizing moment that helped lead to the creation of the civil rights movement. 

Yahya Abdul-Mateen II (Aquaman) has signed on to star in the dystopian crime thriller, By All, with Steve Caple Jr. attached to direct. Being positioned as a potential franchise starter, the story kicks off in the aftermath of a tragic event and follows Donte, a man struggling to make ends meet, who is forced to go on the run in a world without police where justice is crowd-sourced.

Amazon Studios has acquired Coyote Blue from John Wick writer, Derek Kolstad. Sterling K. Brown is attached to star with Hanelle M. Culpepper making her feature directorial debut. The action film stars Brown as an everyman who’s hunted by a ruthless criminal syndicate for his mysterious cargo and now must navigate the treacherous terrain of Route 66 while unleashing his lethal set of skills in a fight for survival.

Lionsgate has closed a deal for Clancy Brown to star opposite Keanu Reeves, Donnie Yen, Hiroyuki Sanada, Rina Sawayama, Shamier Anderson, Lance Reddick, and Ian McShane in John Wick: Chapter 4. The latest "John Wick" installment is written by Shay Hatten and Michael Finch, with production already underway in France, Germany, and Japan.

Jake T. Austin, Paulo Costanzo, Iman Karram, and Ka’ramuu Kush have joined the cast of Daft State, the psychological thriller from Chad Bishoff. The four actors will appear alongside previously announced leads Christopher Backus and Skye P. Marshall. The film charts the mysterious psychological destruction of Easton (Backus), who is driven to the edge of sanity, and possible self-harm, by those that love him most—his wife (Marshall) and daughter. Will Easton succumb to their increasingly traumatizing pressure, or will he conquer the dark forces at play in his addled psyche?

RLJE Films has unveiled the first trailer for Prisoners of the Ghostland, which it will release in theaters, on digital, and VOD September 17. The crime thriller from director Sion Sono is set in the treacherous frontier city of Samurai Town where a ruthless bank robber (Nicholas Cage) is sprung from jail by wealthy warlord The Governor (Bill Moseley), whose adopted granddaughter, Bernice, has gone missing. The Governor offers the prisoner his freedom in exchange for retrieving the runaway. Strapped into a leather suit that will self-destruct within three days, the bandit sets off on a journey to find the young woman and his own path to redemption.

TELEVISION/STREAMING SERVICE

Apple has handed out a ten-episode order to the crime drama, Bad Monkey, adapted from the 2013 novel by Carl Hiaasen. Vince Vaughn will play Andrew Yancy, a one-time detective demoted to restaurant inspector in Southern Florida. A severed arm found by a tourist pulls Yancy into the world of greed and corruption that devastates the land and environment in both Florida and the Bahamas.

ITV has set the cast for its upcoming adaptation of Sara Collins’s period drama, The Confessions of Frannie Langton. Karla-Simone Spence, who starred in the Paramount Pictures feature, Blue Story, as well as BBC series Wannabe and Gold Digger, leads the cast as Langton. The story follows a servant and former slave accused of murdering her employer and his wife in a thriller that moves from a Jamaican sugar plantation to the fetid streets of Georgian London.

In a competitive situation, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Carol Leonnig’s bestselling book, Zero Fail: The Rise and Fall of the Secret Service, will be adapted as a television series. Zero Fail portrays the steely resolve and sacrifices of many Secret Service agents who have committed their lives to protecting the nation’s security, while also revealing other senior agents’ arrogant misconduct and salacious scandals that the service sought to cover up—from the drunken outing the night before the Kennedy assassination to the agents’ own tortured roles in the insurrection at the Capitol on January 6th.

FX made it official that Studio 54: American Crime Story, the fourth installment of the series, has been put into development. The project will tell the story of Steve Rubell and Ian Schrager, who in 1977 turned their Midtown Manhattan disco into an international mecca of nightlife for the rich and famous and commoners alike—renowned for its lavish parties, music, sex, and open drug use. With Rubell and Schrager’s rapid rise came their epic fall less than three years later when the impresarios were convicted of tax fraud.

Tony winner, Ali Stroker (Oklahoma!), Karen Robinson, and Rosanny Zayas are set as series regulars opposite Michelle Monaghan, Matt Bomer, and Daniel Sunjata in Echoes, Netflix’s psychological thriller limited series from 13 Reasons Why showrunner Brian Yorkey. Created and written by Vanessa Gazy, Echoes is a mystery thriller about identical twins Leni and Gina, both portrayed by Monaghan, who share a dangerous secret. Since they were children, Leni and Gina have swapped lives, culminating in a double life as adults: They share two homes, two husbands and a child, but everything in their perfectly choreographed world is thrown into disarray when one of the sisters goes missing.

Paapa Essiedu, Indira Varma, and Andy Nyman are joining the cast for the second season of the BBC One crime drama, The Capture. Holliday Grainger will return as the lead alongside Ron Perlman, Ben Miles, Lia Williams, Nigel Lindsay, Cavan Clerkin, and Ginny Holder. The second season will reveal "a Britain under siege: hacked news feeds, manipulated media, and interference in politics. Entrenched in the UK’s own ‘Correction’ unit, DCI Rachel Carey (Grainger) finds herself in the middle of a new conspiracy – with a new target. But how can she solve this case when she can’t even trust her closest colleagues?"

A trailer was released for the Swedish Agatha Christie series, Hjerson. Based on a fictional character penned by the fictional character, Ariadne Oliver, a mystery crime writer who appears in a number of Agatha Christie novels, the series is set to start in Sweden on August 16. Johan Rheborg will play Sven Hjerson and Hanna Alström will play his sidekick, Klara Sandberg, a former trash TV producer who successfully pitches a true-life crime show starring Hjerson, who will solve a real crime each week.

Hallmark unveiled the film lineup for its autumn Movie & Mysteries events. From Sunday, September 12 through Sunday, October 17, Hallmark will debut thrilling mysteries each week, including One Summer starring Sam Page, Amanda Schull, and Grey’s Anatomy alum Sarah Drew. 

PODCASTS/VIDEO/RADIO/AUDIO

Eric Beetner was joined by co-host, Naomi Hirahara (Clark and Division), and authors Andrea Bartz (We Were Never Here), SF Kosa (The Night We Burned), and Claire Douglas (Then She Vanishes) on Writer Types.

The Queer Writers of Crime podcast chatted with John Copenhaver, whose historical crime novel, Dodging and Burning, won the 2019 Macavity Award for Best First Mystery Novel and garnered Anthony, Strand Critics, Barry, and Lambda Literary Award nominations. His second novel, The Savage Kind, will be released in October of 2021.

Meet the Thriller Author welcomed Isabella Maldonado, the first Latina to attain the rank of captain in her police department, who retired as the Commander of Special Investigations and Forensics after two decades on the force. The Cipher, the first book in her new series featuring FBI Special Agent Nina Guerrera, was published in November 2020 and the sequel, A Different Dawn, will be published later this month.

Crimetime FM held a roundtable with publishing gurus Katherine Armstrong (Simon & Schuster), Miranda Jewess (Viper), and literary agent, David Headley (Goldsboro/Capital Crime), to discuss the latest trends and where the future lies.

Debbi Mack interviewed crime writer, Saralyn Richard, author of the Detective Oliver Parrott mysteries and other books, for the Crime Cafe podcast.

My Favorite Detective Stories spoke with J.C. Fields, author of award-winning suspense novels in the Sean Kruger Series.

On the Cozy Ink Podcast, Tara Lush (author of the Coffee Lover’s cozy mystery series) discussed how to draft your first cozy mystery.

It Was a Dark and Stormy Book Club featured a paranormal mystery roundup.

Read or Dead discussed mysteries based on real-life happenings.

GAMES

Twelve Minutes, a new thriller video game from Annapurna Interactive, comes out Aug. 19 and has a star voice cast including Willem Dafoe, James McAvoy, and Daisy Ridley. Twelve Minutes is about a man (McAvoy) who’s sitting down for a nice dinner at home with his wife (Ridley) when an intruder (Dafoe) bursts in, accuses the wife of murdering someone, then beats the man to death. Taking a page from Harold Ramis’s Groundhog Day movie, the game’s director, Luis Antonio, structured Twelve Minutes around a time loop that repeats in 12-minute intervals. The player’s job is to run through the scenario enough times to break out of the loop and solve the crime.

Mystery Melange

 

Deadly Pleasures Magazine announced The Barry Award Winners recently. George Easter, Editor of Deadly Pleasures, noted that "in an ordinary year the winners of the Barry Awards would be announced during the Opening Ceremonies of Bouchercon...But this year is no ordinary one." So the decision was made to go ahead with the official announcement of this year's winners. Best Novel went to Blacktop Wasteland by S.A. Cosby; Best First Novel to Winter Counts by David Heska Wanbli Weiden; Best Paperback Original to James W. Ziskin; and Best Thriller to Eddie's Boy by Thomas Perry.

Author Anthony Horowitz has won the Best Mystery of the Decade (2010–2019) award by Honkaku Mystery Writers Club for his first Daniel Hawthorne novel, The Word is Murder, making him the most decorated foreign crime author in Japanese history. According to his publisher, Horowitz is the first author in Japanese history to win 16 literary awards in total. All three of Horowitz’s books are published in Japan by Tokyo Sogensha in deals brokered by Curtis Brown and have been honored with crime awards, with Magpie Murders garnering seven, The Word is Murder five, and The Sentence is Death four.

There's quite a bit of conference news to report. First off, thanks to generous funding from Creative Scotland, the 2021 Bloody Scotland Festival will be going ahead in hybrid form from Friday September 17th to Sunday September 19th. As usual, the opening night will be marked with the presentation of the McIlvanney Prize and the Bloody Scotland Debut Prize. Bloody Scotland "is delighted" to welcome back a live audience and all events will take place with the safety of authors and readers in mind, but for those who don't feel ready to venture out or can't get to Stirling, all events will be available on-line. The full program will be revealed on Wednesday August 18th, and tickets will go on sale at 12 noon that day. Full details of all events, and how to book tickets for both watching on-line and in-person, will be available via the official website.

Killer Nashville is still going full steam ahead with an in-person event this year. However, if for some reason you're signed up but decide you can't attend, all sessions will be recorded so you’ll have access to every single session on the Killer Nashville roster. Killer Nashville organizers have been finalizing all the panels for the even August 19-22, and have now posted the majority of those details online.

Also, the annual Desert Sleuths WriteNow! Conference is holding their event in September in a 100% virtual capacity. The Guest of Honor is Ann Cleeves (Shetland Series, Vera Stanhope Series), with other appearances by special guests Isabella Maldonado, Peng Shepherd, Gary Phillips, Eric Beetner, Kelli Stanley, Jenna Jankowski (Sourcebooks), Bronwen Hruska (Soho Press), Brett Battles, and Connie B. Dowell. Plus, there will be consultations on September 10 with Madelyn Burt (Stonesong Literary), Christina Hogrebe (Jane Rotrosen Agency), Jenna Jankowski (Sourcebooks), Hailey Dezort (Kaye Publicity), and Connie B. Dowell (Book Echoes Media). The conference itself starts Saturday, September 11 at 8am PT/11am ET, and all conference sessions will be recorded if you cannot attend live.

The deadline is fast approaching for submissions to the Joffe Books Prize for Crime Fiction Writers of Colour. The competition aims to champion authors from Black, Asian and minority ethnic backgrounds writing in one of the various crime fiction genres, whether you're writing your crime fiction debut, are previously published or are self-published. Entrants are invited to submit their full-length manuscript, written in English, along with a synopsis of the book and author biography by September 30.

Singer Dolly Parton is teaming up with James Patterson to co-write a novel titled Run, Rose, Run through Little, Brown & Co. The novel will follow a young woman who heads to Nashville with dreams of becoming a star, but her music is fueled by a brutal secret she has worked hard to keep. The project will also include Parton's next album, with twelve songs written specifically to accompany her new literary adventure.

A recent study found that in Russia, crime fiction is king. The demand for imported crime fiction in the Russian market is related, publishers say, to the impact of the coronavirus COVID-19 pandemic. Statistics from the Russian Book Union indicate that the most successful books in the genre are a mix of police procedurals with elements of psychological thrillers, film noir, and private investigation. According to a report in Izvestia, by next year the number of international crime fiction could grow by 150 percent and create competition for domestic authors working in the genre.

This week's crime poem at the 5-2 is "How to Make a Whale Out of an Envelope."

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

Warner Bros. International Television Production Germany has acquired the exclusive international rights to bestselling Icelandic author Ragnar Jónasson’s “Dark Iceland” series of crime novels and will co-produce with Herbert L. Kloiber’s Night Train Media. The “Dark Iceland” series comprises six novels — Snowblind, Blackout, Rupture, Whiteout, Nightblind and Winterkill — published between 2010 and 2020. Set in a remote Icelandic fishing village, they follow protagonist Ari Thór Arason, a rookie detective on his first posting, troubled by a complex past he's unable to leave behind.

Apple is closing worldwide rights on Argylle, the next film to be directed by Matthew Vaughn, in the hope it will launch a franchise. Argylle comes with a killer cast led by Henry Cavill, Sam Rockwell, Bryce Dallas Howard, Bryan Cranston, Catherine O’Hara, John Cena, and Samuel L. Jackson. Making her screen-starring debut will be Grammy winner Dua Lipa, who will also provide music for the title track and score. The film, based on the soon-to-be-launched spy novel of the same name from author Ellie Conway, follows the world’s greatest spy as he is caught up in a globe-trotting adventure.

Kelly Gale and Mike Colter have signed on to star in The Plane alongside Gerard Butler. Lionsgate’s action thriller centers on Ray Torrance (Butler), an airline pilot who heroically lands a storm-damaged aircraft in hostile territory, only to be threatened by militant pirates planning on taking the plane and its passengers hostage. As the world’s authorities and media search for the disappeared aircraft, Torrance must rise to the occasion and keep his passengers safe long enough for help to arrive. Colter will play Louis Gaspare, a cool-headed, ex-military man being extradited to Canada on charges of homicide when the plane crash lands. However, there was no word on what role newcomer Gale (in her first acting role) will play in the film.

Brendan Fraser has joined the cast of Martin Scorsese’s Killers of the Flower Moon, a crime drama based on the bestselling book by David Grann. Set in 1920s Oklahoma, the story examines the serial murders of members of the oil-wealthy Osage Nation—a string of brutal crimes that came to be known as the Reign of Terror. Fraser joins Oscar winners Robert De Niro and Leonardo DiCaprio, Emmy nominated Jesse Plemons, and more in the cast.

A trailer was released for Copshop, which stars Gerard Butler as one of many assassins targeting Teddy Muretto (Frank Grillo), a man so desperate for protection he’ll willingly get arrested to be brought to safety. In a desperate bid for survival, Teddy teams up with officer Valerie Young (Alexis Louder), but assassin Bob Viddick (Butler) is determined not to let anything stand in his way of bringing Teddy down.

TELEVISION/STREAMING SERVICE

IMDb TV has picked up the first season of Australian drama series, Troppo, based on Candice Fox’s bestselling novel, Crimson Lake. Starring and executive produced by Thomas Jane (The Expanse; The Vanished), Troppo tells the story of Ted Conkaffey (Jane), an ex-cop falsely accused of committing a disturbing crime, who has escaped to hide away in the tropics of Far North Queensland. As he tries to avoid discovery, he’s drawn into investigating a wild murder and a missing person, alongside a complicated woman with dark secrets of her own.

Ellen Burstyn is joining NBC’s Law & Order: Organized Crime during its second season when she’ll reprise the role of Bernadette Stabler, mother of Elliot Stabler (Chris Meloni). She returns to the franchise as a guest star nearly 13 years after she won the Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Drama Series for her contribution to the episode of Law & Order: SVU titled “Swing.” In Law & Order: Organized Crime, created by Dick Wolf, Meloni’s Elliot Stabler returns to the NYPD to battle organized crime after a devastating personal loss. However, the city and police department have changed dramatically in the decade he’s been away and he must adapt to a criminal justice system in the midst of its own moment of reckoning.

In other Law & Order: Organized Crime news, Emmy winner, Ron Cephas Jones, and British actor, Vinnie Jones, are set for key recurring roles in season 2. Cephas Jones will play Congressman Leon Kilbride, a born politician who fosters connections and always plays his cards right. Vinnie Jones will portray Albi Briscu, an Eastern European gangster who is the last remaining member of the organization from the old country.

A&E is reviving two fan-favorite true crime series, Cold Case Files and American Justice, which will return to the cable network on Friday, Aug. 20. Original host and producer, Bill Kurtis, returns for Cold Case while Dennis Haysbert takes over narration for the "reimagined" version of Justice. Cold Case Files, which revisits unsolved cases through interviews with family members and investigators, first debuted on A&E in 1999 with Kurtis as host. (The network teamed with Blumhouse Television for a 10-episode revival in 2017, with Danny Glover providing narration.) American Justice aired on A&E between 1992 and 2005, examining cases like the Jeffrey Dahmer serial killings, the Wells Fargo Heist, and the murder of Selena.

PODCASTS/VIDEO/RADIO/AUDIO

Debbi Mack interviewed crime fiction writer, Thomas O'Callaghan, for the Crime Cafe podcast to talk about his series of thrillers featuring New York City detective, Lt. John Driscoll.

Writer Types host, Eric Beenter, spoke with authors Bracken MacLeod (Closing Costs); Shari Lapena (Not A Happy Family); and Chris Offut (The Killing Hills).

Speaking of Mysteries welcomed Taylor Moore to talk about his debut thriller, Down Range, in which undercover DEA Agent Garrett Kohl tries to protect a young Afghani boy who survived a massacre.

On the latest Crime Writers of Color podcast, Tracy Clark was interviewed by Robert Justice about her Cass Raines Chicago Mysteries.

Queer Writers of Crime featured a chat with Marko Realmonte, who works in the film and television industry as a writer, publicist, photographer, and script reader. His first queer novel, Murder at White Oak, was published in 2019, and since then he's published two additional novels in his Jake Weston Mystery series.

The latest guest on Meet the Thriller Author was Gregg Olsen, a New York Times, USA Today, and Wall Street Journal bestselling author of nonfiction books and novels.

On the Criminal Mischief podcast, host DP Lyle talked about the critical opening scene of a novel.

As part of EQMM’s 80th anniversary celebration, the magazine is offering a podcast featuring some of the characters from the Ellery Queen novels and stories written by Frederic Danny and Manfred B. Lee (EQMM’s founders). Dale C. Andrews, a longtime, devoted Ellery Queen fan who's written several Ellery Queen pastiches for EQMM, reads from the most recent of them, “Four Words."

The Red Hot Chili Writers talked to crime writing superstars Mark Billingham and Steve Cavanagh; discussed the return of the Theakston Old Peculiar Crime Writing Festival; and pondered the meaning of altruism and simple acts of kindness (including swimming with sharks).

The Cozy Ink Podcast featured an interview with author Jay Forman discussing her Lee Smith cozy mystery series.

Happy Bouchercon News

 

This, from the Bouchercon committee, which was posted online today:

SAVE THE DATE! SAVE THE TIME!

 

Get Ready! Get Set! A two-night blockbuster Bouchercon New Orleans 2021 extravaganza is coming to a screen near you.

 

We couldn’t let Blood on the Bayou: Postmortem vanish into thin air. So we found a way to offer something everyone will remember forever. We are creating two extraordinary online/virtual events, free and open to everyone.

 

On Friday, August 27

7 pm ET / 6 pm CT / 5 pm MT / 4 pm PT / Midnight GMT Bouchercon 2021 presents Alafair Burke in conversation with James Lee Burke, hosted by Heather Graham and Introductions from Rachel Howzell Hall.

 

On Saturday, August 28

7 pm ET / 6 pm CT / 5 pm MT / 4 pm PT / Midnight GMT we are excited to bring you the 52nd 2021 Anthony Awards Ceremony! Only previously registered attendees will receive an Anthony ballot.

 

On August 28, join us online for a spectacular evening (black tie optional…or watch in your PJs!) featuring the Anthony nominees and our Award Presenters, Michael Connelly, Tess Gerritsen, Dennis Lehane, Caroline (Charles) Todd, Charles Todd, Jonathan Maberry, and a special welcome from Craig Johnson.

 

Having to cancel the in-person New Orleans Bouchercon was one of the hardest decisions we have ever had to make, but, as the saying goes, the show must go on!

 

These events will be free and open to everyone (so please tell your friends!). Please watch for details on how to watch online in upcoming emails from bloodonthebayou@bouchercon2021.com.

 

From our hearts to yours, turn on your computer (or whichever device you prefer) and enjoy two nights of Blood on the Bayou: Postmortem New Orleans Bouchercon 2021. We hope to see you there!

 

Sincerely,

Mike Bursaw, Heather Graham and Connie Perry

Blood on the Bayou: Postmortem New Orleans Bouchercon 2021 Co-Chairs

Mystery Melange

 

After I began to notice hordes of people talking on social media about deciding to cancel their registrations to the upcoming Bouchercon conference in New Orleans later this month - due to the skyrocketing number of COVID cases there - I figured the handwriting was on the wall. The Bouchercon organizing committee (chaired by Mike Bursaw, Connie Perry, and Heather Graham) made it official yesterday by announcing they were making the difficult decision to cancel the entire event when a virtual Bouchercon at this late date was deemed untenable. This is truly heartbreaking for all those involved since it takes an incredible amount of time and effort to put one of these events together. The silver lining is that Bouchercon will be held in New Orleans in 2025, and this year's Guests of Honor will remain the same, including Michael Connelly, Steph Cha, Craig Johnson, Charles and Caroline Todd, Alafair Burke, Ali Karim, and Jonathan Maberry. The Anthony Awards ceremony will also now take place at a future date.

The Killer Nashville Conference announced the longlists for its Silver Falchion Awards in twelve different categories. For all the various lists and honorees, click on over to this link.

The Killer Nashville conference also announced the longlist for its Claymore Award, designed to assist new and rebranding English-language fiction authors to get published, including possible agent representation, book advances, editor deals, and movie and television sales. Any manuscripts considered of exceptional merit above the Top 20 will also be forwarded to agents and/or editors. The Top 3 Killer Nashville Claymore Award Winners will be announced at the annual Killer Nashville Awards Dinner during the Killer Nashville Conference being held this year in person from August 19-22.

The eight-day Agatha Christie Festival is being held in person from September 11 to 18 at venues all over Torbay in the UK (barring any COVID related changes). Events include a performance of The Stranger at the Palace Theatre in Paignton on September 17. The play, a psychological drama rather than a crime story, is based on an Agatha Christie short story and has never been performed before.

Looking ahead to conferences of the farther future, Left Coast Crime, to be held in Tucscon in March of 2023, has announced its lineup of special guests. They include a Lifetime Achievement Award to J.A. Jance; Guest of Honor Glen Erik Hamilton and Sujata Massey; Fan Guest of Honor, Dru Ann Love; and Toastmaster Ellen Byron.

Goldsboro Books's Glass Bell shortlist was announced after whittling the list down from the 12 finalists. Now in its fifth year, the award recognizes the best storytelling across contemporary fiction, regardless of genre, featuring a prize of £2,000 and a handmade, engraved glass bell. Among this year's shortlist honorees are the crime fiction titles Eight Detectives by Alex Pavesi; People of Abandoned Character by Clare Whitfield; and The Devil and the Dark Water by Stuart Turton.

At 2 pm ET today, Houston's Murder by the Book will feature Mark Billingham in a virtual conversation with Laura Lippman as they discuss Billingham's latest crime title, Rabbit Hole and Lippman's new thriller, Dream Girl.

Denver's Tattered Cover Bookstore is sponsoring a virtual conversation with thriller author, Sandra Brown, today at 5 pm MT (7 ET). Brown is the author of seventy-one New York Times bestsellers and will be discussing her latest, Blind Tiger. Brown will also be in conversation with fellow bestselling thriller author, Kate White, on Tuesday, August 10 at 7:00 P.M. PT via Book Carnival. For more information and to register, follow this link.

The Poisoned Pen bookstore also has some virtual events coming up this weekend. On Saturday, August 7, there'll be a Kensington Coffee and Cozies panel with Vicki Delany, Daryl Wood Gerber, Emmeline Duncan, and Karen Rose Smith in conversation with John Charles; and also a Historicon Group Event with Dianne Freeman, Clara McKenna, and Stephanie Graves, hosted by Barbara Peters.

Recently, we heard the sad news that bestselling crime fiction author, Mo Hayder (the pen name of Clare Dunkel), had died from motor neurone disease. Her husband, Bob Randall, has announced that the funeral will take place on August 12 and be streamed live and made available for 28 days after the funeral. He asked that no flowers be sent but anyone wishing to give a donation can contribute to the Motor Neurone Disease Association.

Kensington Publishing is launching Kensington Cozies, an imprint dedicated to the cozy mystery genre, which usually have "little-to-no violence, profanity, or sex; likeable amateur sleuths; tight-knit communities; and series arcs that allow the protagonists to grow in their professions and relationships." The first titles go on sale December 28. Over time, backlist titles that fit the cozy criteria will be folded into the imprint. Historical mysteries will remain under the Kensington Books imprint. All Kensington editors will acquire for the imprint, which includes hardcover, trade paperback, and mass market max releases from established authors like Joanne Fluke, Carlene O'Connor, Ellery Adams, Leslie Meier, and Lee Hollis, as well as new voices such as Emmeline Duncan, Frank Anthony Polito, Gabby Allan and Christin Brecher. Digital first cozies will remain in Kensington's e-original imprint, Lyrical Underground. (HT to Shelf Awareness)

The latest issue of The Strand Magazine features a lost work by Raymond Chandler and fiction by Alexander McCall Smith, John Floyd, and Thomas Burns. There's also an exclusive interview with Michael Koryta, plus all the latest book reviews.

Suspense Magazine's Summer 2021 issue is out, featuring interviews with authors James Patterson, Meg Tilly, Riley Sager, Lisa Regan, and a special panel of writing pros: Christine Feehan, Sheila English and C.L Wilson. There's also an exclusive short story written by Kris Polaha, where he brings to life his character Orson Holt. Ken Brosky is back with his latest Rules of Fiction: "We people love celebrity crime." Plus, Joseph Badal talks to Robert Dugoni, in an "inspired by actual events article."

Malice Domestic is looking for a few people to join the Board for the next three-year term which would end on June 30, 2024. As a general rule, they are seeking individuals who are local to the Washington, D.C. Metropolitan area who are available to attend live or Zoom meetings at least once a month, usually on a Sunday afternoon. They haven't yet put together a live meeting schedule due to the COVID upsurge and the Delta variant. They're seeking a secretary, hotel liaison, dealer liaison, programming chair, and publications/ads chair.

NPR's Science Friday program had a fascinating look at "How Edgar Allan Poe Exposed Scientific Hoaxes—And Perpetrated Them."

This is more of a Media Murder for Monday item, but I'd missed it earlier: Turner Classic Movies is having a "murder" night tonight with four Miss Marple movies from the 1960s featuring Margaret Rutherford - from 8 pm ET into the wee hours of Friday morning. The four include "Murder She Said," "Murder at the Gallop," "Murder Most Foul," and "Murder Ahoy."

This week's crime poem at the 5-2 is "The Uninvited" by Bruce Robinson.

In the Q&A roundup, Sherry Harris chatted with E.B. Davis over at Writers Who Kill about A Time to Swill, the second book in the Chloe Jackson Sea Glass Saloon mystery series; Lisa Haselton spoke with Elizabeth Price about her new paranormal mystery, Haunted Ends 3 – Disco Inferno; Jenny Milchman spoke with CrimeReads about first thriller and the "world's longest book tour"; The Real Book Spy blog snagged Landon Beach for "Five Questions" about his latest thriller, The Hike; and Author Interviews welcomed Richard Lange, whose novel, Angel Baby, won the Hammett Prize from the International Association of Crime Writers.

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

Bridgerton's Regé-Jean Page looks to have found his first major starring role since his breakout part in the Netflix series. He's been tapped to executive produce and star in a "new, reimagined version" of The Saint for Paramount Pictures. Based in part on Leslie Charteris’s 1920s book series and subsequent 1960s UK TV series starring Roger Moore, The Saint follows Simon Templar, better known as "The Saint," a Robin Hood-esque criminal and thief-for-hire who goes on a globetrotting adventure. While plot details for this pic are being kept under wraps, insiders say this will be a completely new take that reimagines the character and world around him.

Searchlight Pictures has titled its previously untitled murder mystery as See How They Run, and released its first image from the project with stars Saoirse Ronan and Sam Rockwell. Besides Ronan and Rockwell, the all-star ensemble includes David Oyelowo, Adrien Brody, and Ruth Wilson, with Tom George directing. The film is set in the West End of 1950s London, where plans for a movie version of a smash-hit play come to an abrupt halt after a pivotal member of the crew is murdered. When world-weary Inspector Stoppard (Sam Rockwell) and eager rookie Constable Stalker (Saoirse Ronan) take on the case, the two find themselves thrown into a puzzling whodunit within the glamorously sordid theater underground, investigating the mysterious homicide at their own peril.

Alexis Ostrander, who has directed episodes of the M. Night Shyamalan series, Servant, is set to direct Screen Gems’s Delilah, from the writing team of Harrison Query and Tommy Wallach. The psychological thriller is said to be in the spirit of Gone Girl, with Movie Insider adding the tagline, "To escape her violent past, a young woman takes on the identity of a family's long-lost daughter, only to discover the dangerous truth behind the girl's disappearance."

 

MGM has unveiled the first official trailer for House of Gucci, an anticipated crime pic from director Ridley Scott, which United Artists will release in the U.S. on November 24. The film stars Lady Gaga and Adam Driver and tells the story of how Patrizia Reggiani (Gaga), the ex-wife of Maurizio Gucci (Driver), plotted to kill her husband, the grandson of renowned fashion designer Guccio Gucci. The script is based on the book, The House Of Gucci: A Sensational Story of Murder, Madness, Glamour, and Greed by Sara Gay Forden. The all-star cast also includes Al Pacino, Jeremy Irons, Salma Hayek, Jack Huston, and "an unrecognizable" Jared Leto. (On a side note, Leto has long been associated with the Guccis, having featured in a number of their ad campaigns, starting in 2016.)

Focus Features released the trailer for The Card Counter, the latest from writer-director Paul Schrader. Oscar Issac, Tiffany Haddish, Tye Sheridan, and Willem Dafoe star in the revenge thriller, which hits theaters September 10. The story follows William Tell (Isaac), a military interrogator-turned-card player haunted by his past. His spartan existence on the casino trail is shattered when he is approached by Cirk (Sheridan), a vulnerable and angry young man seeking help to execute his plan for revenge on a military colonel (Dafoe) from both of their pasts.

TELEVISION/STREAMING SERVICE

Producers Heather Mitchell and Jenna Bans have boarded a one-hour drama in the works at Fox based on Joshilyn Jackson’s bestselling suspense novel, Never Have I Ever. The project, from Leonardo DiCaprio and Jennifer Davisson’s Appian Way and Universal Television, centers on Amy Whey, who is living the life of an average-if-unfulfilled housewife in suburban Florida when a female grifter named Roux drifts into town…and wastes no time infiltrating the network of local women. As Deadline notes, "When Roux learns that Amy’s the Big Fish she needs for her last big score, the hustler and her mark become locked in a deadly battle: How far is Amy willing to go, to keep her secrets hidden in the past? How dangerous is Roux when she zeroes in on her prey? And how could either of these women ever have known that this swindler picked the wrong suburban housewife to mess with."

Disney+ has greenlit the genre-busting marriage murder series, Wedding Season. The project is penned by Oliver Lyttelton, the breakout writer behind BBC Studios’ upcoming short-form scripted series Cheaters, and centers on Katie, a beautiful bride whom we meet on her wedding day surrounded by the dead bodies of her new husband and every member of his family. The police think Katie’s lover Stefan did it. Stefan thinks Katie did it. Katie thinks her ex-husband did it. No one knows what the truth is.

Anonymous Content is partnering with Robert Baer to develop a Cold War series based on research by the author, himself a former CIA case officer. Baer is known for penning See No Evil, the 2002 book which was later adapted into Syriana. That geopolitical thriller from director Stephen Gaghan starred George Clooney, Matt Damon and more, winning the Oscar for Best Supporting Actor (Clooney), among other accolades.

Jai Courtney is set for a key recurring role opposite Chris Pratt on Amazon’s conspiracy-thriller series, The Terminal List, based on Jack Carr’s bestselling novel. Riley Keough, Constance Wu, Taylor Kitsch, and Jeanne Tripplehorn also star in the series. The Terminal List follows James Reece (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, endangering not only his life but the lives of those he loves.

Matt Bomer is set as a male lead opposite Michelle Monaghan in Echoes, Netflix’s limited series from 13 Reasons Why showrunner, Brian Yorkey. Echoes is a mystery thriller about identical twins Leni and Gina, both portrayed by Monaghan, who share a dangerous secret. Since they were children, Leni and Gina have swapped lives, culminating in a double life as adults: They share two homes, two husbands and a child, but everything in their perfectly choreographed world is thrown into disarray when one of the sisters goes missing. Bomer will play Jack Beck, Leni’s husband. When his wife disappears mysteriously, it’s Jack who has the most to lose as her secret life comes to the surface.

Bodyguard and Line Of Duty star Keeley Hawes has been set to headline and executive produce Crossfire, a major BBC One miniseries about a hotel shooting from the producer behind The Salisbury Poisonings. The three-part series is set in a luxurious resort in the Canary Islands and centers on Jo (Hawes), who is enjoying a dream vacation with her family and friends. Sunbathing on her balcony, the tranquility is thrown into turmoil when shots ring out across the complex from gunmen wreaking revenge. With the unsuspecting and vulnerable holidaymakers and hotel staff forced to make split-second life or death decisions, regrets will linger long after the final shots are fired.

Dylan McDermott has closed a deal to reprise his role in a major recurring arc in the upcoming second season of Dick Wolf’s crime drama, Law & Order: Organized Crime, which is headlined by Law & Order: SVU alum Chris Meloni. McDermott originally signed on as a series regular with a one-year deal to play Stabler’s (Meloni) Season 1 nemesis. McDermott’s Richard Wheatley is a businessman with close ties to the Mafia. In the Season 1 finale, Wheatley is last seen being taken into custody to await trial for the murder of Stabler’s wife, Kathy.

Joe Cobden is set for a recurring role opposite Bill Pullman and Jessica Hecht on the fourth season of USA Network’s crime anthology series, The Sinner. In Season 4, still reeling from the trauma of a previous case a year ago, the now-retired Harry Ambrose (Pullman) travels to Hanover Island in Northern Maine for a recuperative getaway with his partner, Sonya (Hecht). When an unexpected tragedy occurs involving the daughter of a prominent island family, Ambrose is recruited to help the investigation, only to be thrown into a mystery of mounting paranoia that will turn this sleepy tourist island, and Ambrose’s life, upside down. Cobden will play Lou Raskin, the beloved Chief of Police on Hanover Island who enjoys the simple life and knows most residents by name.

PODCASTS/VIDEO/RADIO/AUDIO

The new Mysteryrat's Maze Podcast features the mystery short story, "Killer Clue," written by Guy Belleranti and read by actor Paddy Myers

Read or Dead looked at mystery reads for Disability Pride Month.

Meet the Thriller Author chatted with Eva Lesko Natiello, the award-winning author of The Memory Box.

Queer Writers of Crime welcomed Garrick Jones, a former opera singer turned author of a crime series featuring private eye, Clyde Smith.

My Favorite Detective Stories spoke with Mark Edward Langley, whose novel, When Silence Screams, the third installment in the Arthur Nakai Mystery Series, will be released in August of 2021

On CrimeTime FM, Chris Whitaker (We Begin at the End) & Dominic Nolan (After Dark) discussed creating strong characters, getting dialogue right, and the importance of place.

The CozyInk podcast featured an interview with mystery author Martha Geaney, discussing her Star O’Brien cozy mystery series.