Media Murder for Monday

It's Monday, and you know what that means—it's the start of a new week and time for a brand-new roundup of crime drama news and podcasts:

THE BIG SCREEN/MOVIES

Sean Penn’s recently launched production company, Projected Picture Works, has signed on to produce the political thriller, Killers & Diplomats, partnering with Mill House Motion Pictures. The film is from writers Michael Nourse and John Tyler McClain and is based on an article by Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist, Raymond Bonner. Based on a true story, it picks up after four American missionary women are raped and murdered in 1980 El Salvador, following a young U.S. diplomat who cracks the case by cultivating an improbable source—risking everything to gather the key evidence.

Oren Uziel, the co-screenwriter of Paramount’s spring hit, The Lost City, is reworking 20th Century Studios’ Clue movie reboot starring Ryan Reynolds. James Bobin is attached to direct the live-action pic, which is based on Hasbro’s popular whodunnit game that was first made into a 1985 cult classic film starring Tim Curry, Eileen Brennan, Christopher Lloyd, Michael McKean, Martin Mull, Madeline Kahn, and Lesley Ann Warren. With the screenplay being rewritten, it will be a while before viewers find out who will join Reynolds amongst the colorful cast of characters in this reboot. Clue, or Cluedo as it's known outside North America, was created in 1943 by British board game designer Anthony E. Pratt, with numerous games and books released as part of the Cluedo franchise, including a series of 18 children's books published in the 1990s.

Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery, the follow-up to Rian Johnson’s Knives Out, will be released globally on Netflix December 23 and in select theaters on a date to be announced. Netflix released two first-look images this past week. In the new film, Detective Benoit Blanc (Daniel Craig, reprising the role) travels to Greece "to peel back the layers of a mystery involving a new cast of colorful suspects," according to the logline. In addition to Craig, Glass Onion stars Edward Norton, Janelle Monáe, Kathryn Hahn, Leslie Odom Jr., Jessica Henwick, Madelyn Cline, Kate Hudson, and Dave Bautista.

TELEVISION/STREAMING SERVICES

Elin Hilderbrand's New York Times bestselling novel, The Perfect Couple, is being developed into a limited series at Netflix by 21 Laps (Stranger Things, Shadow and Bone) as part of their overall deal with the streamer. Jenna Lamia (Good Girls, Resident Alien) will serve as showrunner and executive producer. The murder mystery series follows Celeste Otis who, on the Fourth of July, is about to marry the perfect man, who just so happens to be from the wealthiest family on Nantucket. But when a body is discovered floating in the harbor on the morning of what was to be the wedding of the year, everyone at the party is suddenly a suspect.

Ewan McGregor has been cast as the lead in Paramount+’s upcoming UK drama series, A Gentleman in Moscow, replacing Kenneth Branagh. McGregor will play Count Alexander Rostov who finds that his gilded past places him on the wrong side of history in the aftermath of the Russian Revolution. The project is an adaptation of the international best-selling novel by Amor Towles.

Envision Entertainment has optioned the Inspector Mislan crime thriller series written by Rozlan Mohd Noor. Set in the Malaysian capital of Kuala Lumpur, the books follow the exploits of a tough street cop. Envison Entertainment’s chief content officer, said: "The Inspector Mislan character is perfect for television; he is a gritty, seemingly incorruptible Malay Muslim street cop who brooks no opposition, from the criminal mafia or his superiors. Thanks to the uniquely creative writing of Rozlan Mohd Noor, I am delighted we have the opportunity to bring Inspector Mislan to the television audience."

Britain's Channel 4 has picked up a new six-part drama currently titled The Gathering from the acclaimed writer and director, Helen Walsh. Set on Merseyside, the drama focuses on a group of teens from disparate backgrounds, each of whom could have committed a crime, along with their parents—who give equal cause for suspicion. As a novelist, Helen Walsh won the Betty Trask award for Brass and the Somerset Maugham award for Once Upon a Time In England. In 2016, she picked up the BAFTA Breakthrough Brit award for her directorial debut, The Violators, for which she also wrote the screenplay.

Roslyn Ruff (Lincoln Rhyme: Hunt for the Bone Collector) has been tapped as a lead opposite Neve Campbell in Avalon, ABC’s drama series based on Michael Connelly’s short story, from David E. Kelley, A+E Studios and 20th Television. Avalon, which received a straight-to-series order from ABC, takes place in the city of Avalon on Catalina Island, where L.A. Sheriff’s Department Detective Nicole "Nic" Searcy (Campbell) heads up a small office. Catalina has a local population that serves more than one million tourists a year, and each day when the ferries arrive, hundreds of potential new stories enter the island. Ruff will play Lena, a police administrative dispatcher, "gatekeeper and grand guardian of perspective." In addition to Campbell, she joins fellow regular and the series’ male lead, Steven Pasquale.

PODCASTS/VIDEO/RADIO/AUDIO

Colson Whitehead stopped by NPR's Fresh Air to talk about Harlem, hooligans, and race and class in the '60s. His novel Harlem Shuffle is about a furniture store owner in Harlem whose sideline is fencing stolen goods. 

MPR's Ask a Bookseller podcast featured Sarah Brown of Zenith Bookstore in Duluth recommending that fans of literary fiction, mystery, and noir seek out the work of Dorothy Hughes, whose crime novels were mostly published in the 1940s and early 50s.

A new Mysteryrat's Maze Podcast is up featuring the first chapter of Slightly Murderous Intent by Lida Sideris read by actor Casey Ballard.

Todd Mason pointed me toward a podcast I hadn't had on my radar before, Hollywood AWAC. In this pre-pandemic episode, host Bill Thill sat down with writer Joe R. Lansdale (of Hap and Leonard fame) and his daughter, Kasey Lansdale, to discuss writing their book, Terror Is Our Business, and to chat about the creative process and what it takes to build a life less ordinary while pursuing creative endeavors.

WSAZ News in Huntington, WV, welcomed thriller author, Karin Slaughter, to preview her latest novel, Girl, Forgotten.

On the BBC's Science Focus podcast, Professor David Gibson sat down to explain how forensic botany—the study of plants to help investigate crimes—has helped to solve real cases.

The latest episode of the Crime Cafe podcast featured Debbi Mack's interview with crime writer, Lee Matthew Goldberg

On It Was a Dark and Stormy Book Club, the gang took a breather and talked about a few articles they found that are interesting, such as "What Can Cooking School Teach a Mystery Writer?"

On Read or Dead, Katie and Nusrah discussed domestic suspense and its continuing appeal.

Neil Plakcy joined Queer Writers of Crime host, Brad Shreve, to discuss Neil's latest book, Being John Church. He typically writes novels with gay protagonists, but he also has his Golden Retriever Series, and in Being John Church, he brings both together with a gay protagonist and a golden retriever.

Meet the Thriller Author welcomed Catherine Coulter, author of a bestselling FBI Suspense Thriller Series, to chat about Reckoning, the 26th installment in that series that was just released last week.

UK author, Deborah Lucy, stopped by My Favorite Detective Stories to discuss her series featuring DI Temple.

All About Agatha spoke with Lucy Worsley, a historian, TV presenter, and author of Agatha Christie: A Very Elusive Woman.

On Crime Time FM, Victoria Selman chatted with Dominic Nolan about novel endings; the importance of the twist in a crime novel; why first sentences stand out more than last—or do they?; and what makes a satisfying ending.

THEATRE

A revival of the Stephen Sondheim musical, Sweeney Todd, starring Josh Groban and Annaleigh Ashford, is headed to Broadway next spring, with the team behind Hamilton—producer Jeffrey Seller and director Thomas Kail—attached to the project. Groban would play the murderous Sweeney Todd title character, with Ashford as his pie-baking assistant, Mrs. Lovett. The String of Pearls: A Domestic Romance (alternatively titled The Sailor's Gift) was a fictional story first published as a penny dreadful serial from 1846–47. The main antagonist of the story is Sweeney Todd, "the Demon Barber of Fleet Street," and although the serial served as the character's first literary appearance, many other literary and theatrical adaptations soon followed.

Mystery Melange

The Killer Nashville conference handed out its annual awards this past weekend. The Silver Falchion Award for Best Book of 2021 was a tie between Girl Missing by Kate Gable and The Reunion by Kiersten Modglin. The Claymore Award for best unpublished novel went to Shaking by Jeffrey James Higgins. For all the runners-up plus the winners in dozens of individual categories such as Best Mystery and Best Thriller, follow this link.

The National Book Festival, sponsored by the Library of Congress, returns to the Walter E. Washington Convention Center on Saturday, September. Events of interest to crime novel fiction fans include the in-person panels, "Memories, Maladies, Mysteries and Murders" with Rob Hart and Victor Manibo; "Truer Than True Crime: Novels About Swindlers and Murderers" with Kirstin Chen, Katie Gutierrez and Amanda Eyre Ward. Katie Gutierrez will also present an online talk via PBS Books on August 30th. Plus, the The Library of Congress Crime Classics Series will present a performance from The Conjure-Man Dies by Rudolph Fisher, a groundbreaking American mystery, the first ever to feature a Black detective and all Black characters.

ITW's 9th Annual Online Thriller School begins September 13, 2022. The ten-week program covers various aspects of the craft of thriller writing during a live Zoom session, with written materials for further reading along with study suggestions, and an entire week of online Q&A with the registered students. Classes will be held every Tuesday at 2:00pm Eastern. The talented instructors will delve into the following topics: Red Herrings, Reversals, and Twists; Creating Compelling Characters; Setting: How to Create Your Story World; FBI Myths and Misconceptions; The Thriller Writer’s Toolbox; All About Dialogue; How to Nail Structure; Fundamentals of the Action Scene; First Pages: How to Hook Your Reader, and Pacing: How to Keep the Pages Turning! There's also a bonus panel: "Ask Me Anything" with Meg Gardiner, C.J. Box, Alex Segura, and Panel Master, Samuel Octavius. 2022 Instructors include Jeffery Deaver, Alex Finlay, Steven James, Mary Kubica, Tosca Lee, Clare Mackintosh, Isabella Maldonado, Hank Phillippi Ryan, Wendy Walker, and Jerri Williams.

The Desert Sleuths chapter of Sisters in Crime is holding its WriteNow! conference September 16-17. The event is staying virtual this year, after two Covid-related years of an online conference, with one exception, the Networking Social in Tempe, Arizona. In addition to the Keynote Speech by Sandra S.G. Wong, "Tropes Versus the Writer: How to Make Tropes Work for You," there will be craft panels such as "Writing Regional Voices and Settings" with Donis Casey, David Heska Wanbli Weiden, and Betty Webb, and "Creating Compelling Protagonists" by Hallie Ephron. You can register for the event, which is open to the public, via this link.

In celebration of their 100th anniversary, Good Housekeeping is sponsoring a talk with crime authors Paula Hawkins, Clare Mackintosh, and Anthony Horowitz in partnership with Dyson, a two-day event at Carlton House Terrace, London, on Friday October 14 and Saturday October 15. Hawkins is best known as the author of million-copy hit The Girl On The Train, Mackintosh is the author of five bestselling thrillers, including her latest, The Last Party, and Horowitz has created many much-loved TV series such as Midsomer Murders and is the author of six murder mysteries.

Issue #173 of Mystery Scene Magazine marks a milestone for publisher-owners Kate Stine (who is also editor-in-chief) and Brian Skupin. The 2002 Fall Issue was their first and two decades later, they're still bringing readers the latest news and notes from the world of crime, mystery, and suspense. This issue also celebrates the 100th birthday of the hardboiled private eye with gumshoe expert Kevin Burton Smith offering a feature on this iconic figure. Oline Cogdill also has a profile of author Linda Castillo, whose series with police chief Kate Burkholder is set in the Ohio Amish community; Yasmin Angoe talks about winning the Eleanor Taylor Bland Award from Sisters in Crime; Craig Sisterson catches up with Emma Viskic, an Australian musician-turned-novelist who created a sleuth who can’t hear the music she so loves; and another milestone is noted as the publication bids a fond farewell to Jon L. Breen, their nonfiction review columnist, who is retiring after 20 years at Mystery Scene.

Mystery Readers Journal is seeking articles, reviews, and author essays about legal mysteries. Reviews are between 50 and 250 words; author essays, which are first person accounts about yourself, your books, and the "Legal Mystery" connection are 500-1000 words. The deadline is October 1, 2022: Send to: Janet Rudolph, Editor. 

Michael Malone, the novelist, TV writer and Edgar and Emmy winner, died on Friday, August 19, of pancreatic cancer. He was 79 or 80 (his date of birth was unclear). Many of his novels and short stories were set in South, particularly in North Carolina, where he was born and grew up, and his "Red Clay" won the 1997 Edgar for best short story. Malone was working on the fourth book in his Justin & Cuddy series when he died. (HT to Shelf Awareness.)

This week's crime poem at the 5-2 weekly is "Women, Girls, and Spinsters" by Stephen D. Rogers.

In the Q&A roundup, Deborah Kalb spoke with Faye Kellerman about her new novel, The Hunt, the latest in the series featuring her characters Rina Lazarus and Peter Decker; Kalb also chatted with Nadine Matheson, a criminal defense attorney and author of the new novel, The Binding Room, a sequel to her novel, The Jigsaw Man, which also featured her character Detective Anjelica Henley; Lit Reactor interviewed crime fiction author Paul J. Garth about his noir debut novella, The Low White Plain, and editing at Shotgun Honey and Rock and A Hard Place magazines; and Anthony Horowitz spoke with The Independent about cancel culture and the fear of offending.

Media Murder for Monday

 

I'm noticing a ramp up again of production news following the usual summer slow-down, including some reports to pass along about crime novel adaptations (and some tangential projects):

THE BIG SCREEN/MOVIES

Robert De Niro will re-team with his director Barry Levinson for a new crime drama called Wise Guys set at Warner Bros., which would have De Niro playing not one but two of the 20th Century’s biggest crime bosses. Nicholas Pileggi wrote the original crime script that would follow the stories of Vito Genovese and Frank Costello, the heads of two Italian-American mafia families that went to war in the 1950s, leading Genovese to attempt to assassinate Costello. De Niro would be slated to play the roles of both Genovese and Costello in the film. Pileggi is the author of a book called Wiseguys that served as the basis for Martin Scorsese’s Goodfellas from 1990.

Mammoth Pictures has acquired film and TV rights to the bestselling novella, Diary of a Murderer, from award-winning Korean author Young-ha Kim, with Kourosh Ahari set to direct an English-language feature adaptation. Diary of a Murderer tells the story of a former serial killer stricken with Alzheimer’s disease and suffering from escalating memory loss. When his now peaceful life with his daughter is threatened by new killings mimicking his murders of decades past, he sets his sights on one final kill before he loses his memory completely: the new serial killer he suspects is stalking his daughter—all told in a series of notes the narrator writes to himself throughout his psychological descent into dementia. Kim’s novella was previously adapted by Korean director Shin-yeon Won as Memoir of a Murder.

Ryan Gosling is in talks to star opposite Margot Robbie in the new Ocean’s Eleven film, which four-time Emmy winner Jay Roach (Bombshell) will direct for Warner Bros. Deadline reported that the new Ocean’s version, penned by Carrie Solomon, will be set in Europe in the 1960s but further details about the plot are unknown. Both the original Rat Pack version from the 1960s and the 2001 reboot with George Clooney leading an all-star ensemble cast, are loosely based on a story by George Clayton Johnson and Jack Golden Russell.

Britt Lower (Severance), Tom Mercier (We Are Who We Are), Jean Yoon (Kim’s Convenience) and Sook-Yin Lee (Shortbus) are set to star in the drama/thriller/romance, The Incident Report. The film is executive-produced by Academy Award-winning Charlie Kaufman (I’m Thinking of Ending Things), and written/directed by Naomi Jaye (The Pin). The story follows librarian Miriam Gordon (Lower) as she lives in a fog of grief while working amidst marginalized members of the public who populate her downtown public branch. When a burgeoning love-affair with Janko, a younger foreign cab driver (Mercier) coincides with her receiving a series of oddly threatening letters addressed to her, Miriam’s sheltered existence is cracked open. The Incident Report is Jaye’s adaptation of the novel written by Martha Baillie.

The ensemble for Jeff Nichols's next feature film is continuing to grow as Michael Shannon, Boyd Holbrook, and Damon Herriman have joined The Bikeriders at New Regency. As previously announced, Austin Butler, Jodie Comer, and Tom Hardy were already on board. Nichols will direct the fictional story inspired by the photography of Danny Lyon and his 1967 book, The Bikeriders. The film is set in the 1960s following the rise of a fictional Midwestern motorcycle club. Seen through the lives of its members, the club evolves over the course of a decade from a gathering place for local outsiders into a more sinister gang, threatening the original group’s unique way of life.

TELEVISION/STREAMING SERVICES

Steven Pasquale has been tapped as the male lead opposite Neve Campbell in Avalon, ABC’s drama series based on Michael Connelly’s short story, from David E. Kelley, A+E Studios, and 20th Television. Avalon, which received a straight-to-series order from ABC, takes place in the city of Avalon on Catalina Island, where L.A. Sheriff’s Department Detective Nicole "Nic" Searcy (Campbell) heads up a small office. Catalina has a local population that serves more than one million tourists a year, and each day when the ferries arrive, hundreds of potential new stories enter the island. Detective Searcy is pulled into a career-defining mystery that will challenge everything she knows about herself and the island.

Irish writer Joe Murtagh, whose first feature, Calm With Horses (adapted from a short story of the same name by Colin Barrett and nominated for 5 BAFTA Awards), has a new project headed to the BBC and Showtime. The gothic thriller, The Woman in the Wall, is inspired by Ireland’s controversial Magdalene Laundries, which operated in Ireland for more than 200 years. But it wasn’t until 1993, when the unmarked graves of 155 women were uncovered in the convent grounds of one of the laundries, that media uncovered the operations of the secretive institution. Ruth Wilson (The Affair) will play Lorna, one of the former "fallen women" who were incarcerated at the Magdalene Laundries, who is now a suspect in a murder, and Daryl McCormack (Peaky Blinders) will play the ambitious but elusive Detective Colman Akande, who is hot on Lorna's trail while hiding his own dark secrets.

ITV announced the premiere date for The Suspect, based on Michael Robotham’s novel of the same name. The drama, starring Aidan Turner, has the Irish star playing Doctor Joe O’Loughlin who appears to have a perfect life with a devoted wife, a loving daughter, and a successful practice as a criminal psychologist complete with a high media profile and publishing deal. When a young woman is found dead he is only too willing to offer help with his profiling and expertise. But as the investigation into the woman’s death gathers pace, we start to ask, do we know the real Joe, or does he have a secret life?

PODCASTS/VIDEO/RADIO/AUDIO

NPR's Morning Edition tried to untangle the contradictions of crime novelist Patricia Highsmith.

Actor Jack Quaid is moving into scripted podcast audio dramas, leading the lineup of Echoverse’s Grim Death & Bill The Electrocuted Criminal series, which comes from Hellboy’s Mike Mignola and author Thomas Sniegoski. Quaid will star as Bentley Hawthorne, aka Grim Death, who works in the service of Death, avenging the wrongful deaths of those in need of justice. Helping him are an acerbic raven named Roderick, his wry and long-suffering butler Pym, headstrong and intelligent investigative journalist Gwendolyn, and the subject of the first season’s investigation, Bill, a strong but gentle man who has been wrongfully convicted of the murder of his trapeze-artist girlfriend Tianna.

The Crime Cafe podcast featured Debbi Mack's interview with crime writer, Joel Burcat, who writes a series of environmental thrillers.

On Queer Writers of Crime, Justene and Brad discussed the Christopher & Eric podcast and also profiled Christopher Rice, author of Decimate, in which a desperate family confronts the mysteries that lie between life and death.

It Was a Dark and Stormy Book Club featured Kathy Reichs's latest Temperance Brennan novel, Cold Cold Bones.

Spybrary host Shane Whaley found out more about the traitor Robert Hanssen in an interview with author Lis Wiehl.

My Favorite Detective Stories welcomed Cathi Stoler to discuss her urban thriller, Last Call, the second book in the Murder on the Rocks Mystery series featuring The Corner Lounge bar owner, Jude Dillane.

Crime Time FM's Mark Ellis chatted with Paul Burke about the latest Frank Merlin mystery, Dead in the Water; wartime London; the American army in the UK; what makes good historical writing; and the richest man on the planet during the Second World War, Calouste Gulbenkian.

The Red Hot Chili Writers spoke with criminal defense lawyer turned crime writer Nadine Matheson; discussed the row over film "intimacy coordinators"; paid tribute to a pioneering hamster; and chatted about the iconic musical Grease.

THEATRE

Adrienne Kennedy's Ohio State Murders, starring Tony winner Audra McDonald, has announced its Broadway venue and dates. The previously announced production will be the first show to play the newly renamed and renovated James Earl Jones Theatre, formerly known as the Cort Theatre, when it begins performances on November 11 ahead of opening on December 8. Tony winner Kenny Leon will direct, and additional casting and the creative team will be announced later. Ohio State Murders is described as "an unusual look at the destructiveness of racism in the United States." When Suzanne Alexander, a fictional Black writer, returns to Ohio State University to talk about the violence in her writing, a dark mystery begins to unravel.

A site-specific production of Agatha Christie's Witness for the Prosecution is currently being staged in a unique courtroom setting inside London County Hall, adjacent to the London Eye on the South Bank of the Thames. Christie’s court classic sees Leonard Vole called to the stand after a murder. When his wife agrees to testify, can she be trusted? It’s up to the audience, as the jury, to decide whether Vole will walk free or spend a life in shackles. Developed with the support and involvement of the Christie family, the new production is directed by Lucy Bailey and will place the audience in the center of the action within the courtroom.

Murder on the Orient Express, adapted by Ken Ludwig from the story by Agatha Christie, will play at the Barter Theatre in Abingdon, Virginia from September 3 through October 5. World-famous detective Hercule Poirot is headed to London aboard the luxurious Orient Express, a train packed with the most eccentric passengers ever seen. Trouble begins when a snowdrift stops the Express in its tracks, and the situation quickly spirals from bad to worse when one of the passengers is found murdered in his compartment. Can Poirot solve the crime before it’s too late?

Mystery Melange

 

Hundreds of writers are to gather in New York this week to read from Salman Rushdie’s works, in a recreation of an event first held after the fatwa on the author was issued in 1989. The writers will gather on the steps of the New York Public Library on Friday morning, exactly a week after 75-year-old Rushdie was stabbed during an event at the Chautauqua Institution in upstate New York. The International Thriller Writers Organization also denounced the attack, which, they noted, "goes beyond the ten to fifteen stab wounds Rushdie received. It is also an attack on two of our core values⁠—freedom of speech and freedom of artistic expression."

Author and blogger Martin Edward took note of the recent passing of two crime writers, June Thomson and Michael Pearce. Thomson was best known for her long series of novels featuring Chief Inspector Jack Finch (who was re-named Rudd in the US, to avoid confusion with another series detective called Finch), and who early books drew comparisons with P.D. James. Pearce was the author of the Mamur Zapt series of historical fiction police procedurals as well as a number of "A Dead Man in..." mysteries, set in the period preceding the First World War and featuring Sandor Seymour, an officer of Scotland Yard's Special Branch who is sent by the British Foreign Office to deal with various crimes involving members of the British diplomatic service.

President Biden's nominee for Archivist of the United States, Colleen Shogan, also happens to be a prolific author of a series of murder mystery whodunits (The Washington Whodunnit Series) starring congressional staffer Kit Marshall. Shogan previously worked on Capitol Hill as a legislative staffer in the United States Senate and as a senior executive at the Library of Congress. She is currently a Senior Vice President at the White House Historical Association.

I hope to increase the number of crime fiction reference book features on this blog, but in the meantime, Pietro De Palma takes a look at his favorite major crime criticism texts in English, French and Italian. It was good to see a couple of books represented by fellow bloggers who have regularly participated in the Friday's "Forgotten" Books series of blog posts that I join in on a weekly basis, including Martin Edwards (The Golden Age of Murder) and Curtis Evans (Masters of the Humdrum' Mystery).

I've never needed a reason to read other than the pure enjoyment of it, but many studies have recently discussed the benefits reading has for stress relief, cognition, vocabulary, and even empathy. Or as Reader's Digest recently noted, "Why Reading 2 Books a Month Could Help You Get Ahead."

In the Q&A roundup, Author Interviews spoke with Ed Lin, journalist and author (of the Taipei Night Market series and the Robert Chow crime series set in 1970s Manhattan Chinatown), who is also the first author to win three Asian American Literary Awards; Indie Crime Scene interviewed Jonathan Woods, whose novel Hog Wild has its debut on August 26; and cozy mystery author Ted Mulcahey joined Lisa Haselton to discuss his new novel, Juiced, about secret research and a band of bumbling criminals who will stop at nothing to get what they want.

Media Murder for Monday

Summer is a bit of a slow season when it comes to movie and TV news, and it has given me a chance to review all of the various crime drama news items over the past year or two. In so doing, I realized that the sheer volume of such projects is pretty darn huge these days. That's partly due to the popularity of crime fiction, but also due to the proliferation of streaming services and new cable networks. And since my blog is more about promoting crime fiction books and authors (and writing and research), I'm going to focus a little more on book adaptations in the news recap.

So, without further ado, here's a roundup of crime book-related media and adaptation news:

THE BIG SCREEN/MOVIES

Bohemia Group has optioned film rights to Stephen King’s bestseller, The Regulators, tapping George Cowan to adapt the horror-thriller for the big screen. First published in 1996, The Regulators is the story of the peaceful suburban life on Poplar Street in Wentworth, Ohio that is shattered one day when four vans containing shotgun-wielding "regulators" terrorize the street’s residents, cold-bloodedly killing anyone foolish enough to venture outdoors. Houses mysteriously transform into log cabins and the street now ends in what looks like a child’s hand-drawn western landscape. Masterminding this sudden onslaught is an evil creature who has taken over the body of an autistic boy whose parents were killed in a drive-by shooting several months earlier.

Ryan Phillippe (The Locksmith) has signed on for a key role opposite Bella Thorne in Mitzi Peirone’s thriller, Saint Clare, based on Don Roff’s hit novel, Clare at 16. Rebecca De Mornay (Lucifer), Frank Whaley (Pulp Fiction), Bart Johnson (High School Musical) and Dylan Flashner (The Card Counter) will co-star in the film, slated for release in North American theaters in 2023. Saint Clare follows Clare Bleecker (Thorne), a quiet catholic college student with a divine vocation for killing. Phillippe will play the role of Timmons, a police officer investigating the latest murder in the small town, with Clare as his prime suspect. Whaley will portray Mailman Bob, a ghost from Clare’s past, with Johnson pulling double duty as twin brothers Joe and Randall, and Flashner set for the supporting role of Wade. Peirone adapted the film project with American Psycho's Guinevere Turner.

Emily Blunt is set to star opposite Ryan Gosling in The Fall Guy film adaptation for Universal, with Hobbs & Shaw filmmaker, David Leitch, attached to direct. Production for the film is set to begin in Australia this fall with a theatrical release date set for Friday, March 1, 2024. The feature film is inspired by the classic 1980s TV series of the same name that starred Lee Majors as a stuntman who did bounty hunter work on the side, utilizing his Hollywood skills. Drew Pearce, who co-wrote Hobbs & Shaw, will write the screenplay for The Fall Guy, though no other plot details were immediately available. The original series was created by Glen A. Larson, who was also responsible for many other crime dramas from the 1960s through the early 2000's, as well as being a co-writer on several tie-in novelizations.

TELEVISION/STREAMING SERVICES

ABC has picked up the drama pilot, Will Trent (working title), to series for a mid-season launch. Based on Karin Slaughter’s bestselling "Will Trent" book series, the project stars Ramón Rodriguez as Special Agent Will Trent of the Georgia Bureau of Investigations (GBI), who was abandoned at birth and endured a harsh coming-of-age in Atlanta’s overwhelmed foster care system. But now, determined to use his unique point of view to make sure no one is abandoned like he was, Trent has the highest clearance rate in the GBI. Deadline also reported that the creators wanted to go for a more serialized storytelling, featuring plots that play out over multi-episode arcs, but ABC pushed for stand-alone episodes.

Apple TV+ is nearing a series order for Sinking Spring starring Brian Tyree Henry. The series is being written by Peter Craig (Top Gun: Maverick), marking his first move into television, and will be directed by Ridley Scott. Based on Dennis Tafoya’s book, Dope Thief, the series follows long-time Philadelphia friends and delinquents who pose as DEA agents to rob a house in the countryside, only to have their small-time grift become a life-and-death enterprise after they unwittingly reveal the biggest hidden narcotics corridor on the Eastern seaboard.

PBS Masterpiece and ITV have renewed Grantchester for an eighth season. Set in a small English village, the show stars Robson Green as DI Geordie Keating and Tom Brittney as Reverend Will Davenport. In season eight of the popular long-running series, Will starts off the happiest he’s ever been but his world is rocked by a terrible accident while Geordie’s happiness will be threatened by shocking accidents at work. Grantchester is based on The Grantchester Mysteries, a series of crime fiction short story collections by the British author James Runcie, set during the 1950s in Grantchester, a village near Cambridge.

Max Martini is set for a key recurring role opposite Titus Welliver on the upcoming second season of Bosch: Legacy, the spinoff of the long-running Amazon series based on Michael Connelly's novels. Legacy follows Welliver as retired homicide detective turned private investigator Harry Bosch, as he embarks on the next chapter of his career. He's aided by attorney Honey "Money" Chandler (Mimi Rogers), who struggles to maintain her faith in the justice system after surviving an attempted murder, and Harry's daughter, Maddie Bosch (Madison Lintz) who discovers the possibilities and challenges of being a rookie patrol cop on the streets of Los Angeles. Martini will play Detective Don Ellis, a hardened vice cop in the LAPD, who's not above getting down and dirty with the criminals he polices to get the job done.

PODCASTS/VIDEO/RADIO/AUDIO

A new Mysteryrat's Maze Podcast is up featuring the mystery short story, "Bubbles Baubles," written by Elaine Faber and read by actor Thomas Nance.

Regular Read or Dead host Nusrah and guest host, Kendra, discussed mystery and suspense works in translation in honor of Women in Translation Month.

Meet the Thriller Author interviewed Julie Clark, author of the bestselling The Last Flight. Her latest novel, The Lies I Tell, follows a brilliant con-artist with a long list of victims under her belt who returns home to Los Angeles to carry out her biggest job of all:  getting revenge on the man who ruined her childhood. 

Spybrary host, Shane Whaley, spoke with award-winning spy author, Dan Fesperman, who revealed more about the real-life espionage events that inspired his latest novel, Winter Work, set in Berlin in 1990.

On Queer Writers of Crime, Laury profiled a series that doesn't give her the blues, the Blue McCarron Mystery Series by Agatha Award-winning author, Abigal Padget, with the third installment due out this month.

My Favorite Detective Stories welcomed Wendall Thomas, who teaches in the Graduate Film School at UCLA and has worked as an entertainment reporter, development executive, script consultant, and film and television writer. Her first Cyd Redondo novel, Lost Luggage, was nominated for the Lefty and Macavity Awards for Best Debut Mystery of 2017. Her second, Drowned Under, was nominated for a Lefty for Best Humorous Mystery of 2019 and an Anthony Award for Best Paperback Original. 

In the season two finale of Crime Time FM, Polly Phillips (The Reunion), Harriet Tyce (It Ends at Midnight), and TM Logan (The Curfew) discussed bringing out the worst in each other, long held resentments, trigger events, gaslighting, crabs in a bucket, and the "white sock incident."

Mystery Melange

The Private Eye Writers of America announced the Shamus Award Winners 2022. The Shamus Awards are for private eye fiction (i.e., a person paid to investigate crimes who is not employed by a government agency), both novels and short stories, first published in the United States. The winner of Best P.I. Hardcover was Family Business, by S.J. Rozan; Best Original P.I. Paperback: Every City Is Every Other City, by John McFetridge; Best First P.I. Novel: Lost Little Girl, by Gregory Stout; Best P.I. Short Story: "Sweeps Week," by Richard Helms (EQMM, July/August).

The International Agatha Christie Festival returns to Torqay September 10 to 17, and this year, it will celebrate the centenary of the world travels that inspired some of Agatha Christie’s greatest stories. As part of that celebration, Elly Griffiths, Dreda Say Mitchell, and Kate Mosse will speak about reinventing Miss Jane Marple as part of the new short story compilation Marple: 12 New Stories; renowned historian and biographer Lucy Worsley will also speak about her new authoritative biography, Agatha Christie: A Very Elusive Woman, produced with exclusive access to many of Christie’s papers. Other festival highlights include Christie expert Dr. John Curran speaking on how Agatha Christie came to write her first crime novel, The Mysterious Affair at Styles, and how it influenced her writing career. Plus, there will be walks on Dartmoor, cocktail-making workshops and even roller-skating on Torquay's Princess Pier, just as Dame Agatha once did.

As part of Shoreham Wordfest Festival (taking place between 3rd and 16th October 2022), a one-day crime writing event is being curated and hosted by William Shaw and Elly Griffiths on Saturday, October 15. There will be panels on various topics and a performance of Simon Brett’s one-man play, Lines of Enquiry.  (HT to Shots Magazine)

Mystery Readers International editor, Janet Rudolph, has a call for articles for an upcoming issue on Africa (for mysteries set in/themed around Africa). She's seeking articles, reviews, and Author! Author! essays, which are first person, about yourself, your books, and the "African Mystery" connection. Reviews are roughly 50-250 words and articles, 500-1000 words. The deadline is October 1, 2022. Send to: Janet Rudolph, Editor. 

The Daily Beast profiled Luci Zahray, a/k/a "The Poison Lady," who has been giving advice for over three decades to mystery novelists about the best way to poison fictional victims.

The Travel website had a profile of the Mysterious Bookshop In NYC with a reminder that if you're planning a visit to the Big Apple, you should add the iconic bookstore to your list of sights to see.

This week's crime poem at the 5-2 weekly is "The Conspiracy Buff (in the aftermath of roe v. Wade being overturned)" by David Cranmer.

In the Q&A roundup, J.B. Stevens interviewed author Bobby Matthews for Criminal Element about crime writing and his new book, Living the Gimmick, available now from Shotgun Honey; Lisa Holstine chatted with Zac Bissonnette, whose debut cozy mystery, A Killing in Costumes, is the first in his new Hollywood Treasures series; and the Belfast Telegraph spoke with police officer turned crime writer, Clare Mackintosh, about why reading is not a passive hobby and really interactive.

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

TomKat MeDiA has secured rights to Duff Wilson’s eco-thriller, Fateful Harvest, and Aaron Bobrow-Strain’s award-winning work of narrative nonfiction, The Death and Life of Aida Hernandez, with plans to develop both as feature films. Based on a Seattle Times investigative series reported by Wilson that was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize, Fateful Harvest tells the story of Patty Martin, the mayor of a small town in Washington who blows the whistle on industrial toxic waste dumping and is nearly run out of town. The Death and Life of Aida Hernandez is the story of a young woman whose life spans both sides of the U.S.-Mexican border and whose resilience pushes her to survive her own attempted murder, family abuse, incarceration, deportation, separation from her son, and the U.S. immigration system.

Netflix and Dark Horse Entertainment have inked a multi-year, first-look film and TV partnership and announced they are developing two new projects including a film titled Bang! The spy thriller is based on the comic series by Matt Kindt and Wilfredo Torres, and follows a terrorist cult that sets out to start the apocalypse with a series of novels meant to brainwash their readers. The world’s most celebrated spy is then sent to track down and kill the author responsible. Idris Elba (Luther) will star in the film, adapted by Kindt who penned the screenplay along with Zak Olkewicz.

Director Jeff Nichols’s film, The Bikers, which is inspired by the photography of Danny Lyon and his 1967 book, The Bikeriders, is rounding up an all-star cast that includes Jodie Comer, Austin Butler, and Tom Hardy in leading roles. The film is an original story set in the 1960s following the rise of a fictional Midwestern motorcycle club. Seen through the lives of its members, the club evolves over the course of a decade from a gathering place for local outsiders into a more sinister gang, threatening the original group’s unique way of life.

TELEVISION/STREAMING SERVICES

Hulu has given a series order to the thriller The Other Black Girl, an adaptation of Zakiya Dalila Harris’s novel of the same name, which is described as "a whip-smart and dynamic thriller and sly social commentary." The series follows Nella, an editorial assistant, who is tired of being the only black woman at her company, so she’s excited when Hazel is hired. But as Hazel’s star begins to rise, Nella's fortunes spiral downward, and she discovers something sinister is going on at the company. The book is based on Harris’s time working at the Penguin Random House-owned publisher, Atria/Simon & Schuster.

Keanu Reeves will star in the "long-gestating adaptation" of Erik Larson's 2003 bestselling book, The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic, and Madness at the Fair That Changed America. It tells the story of Daniel H. Burnham (Reeves), a demanding but visionary architect who races to make his mark on history with the 1893 Chicago World’s Fair, and Dr. H. H. Holmes, America’s first modern serial killer and the man behind the notorious "Murder Castle" built in the Fair’s shadow. The project will mark Reeves’s first major U.S. TV role. The eight-episode series is currently targeted for a 2024 launch on Hulu.

Additional cast members have been named for A Man in Full, Netflix's six-episode limited series from David E. Kelley and Regina King based on Tom Wolfe's 1998 novel. Joining previously announced stars Jeff Daniels and Diane Lane are William Jackson Harper (Love Life), Tom Pelphrey (Ozark), Aml Ameen (Boxing Day), Sarah Jones (For All Mankind), Jon Michael Hill (Widows) and Chanté Adams (A League of Their Own). Kelley serves as writer, executive producer, and showrunner, with King directing three episodes. The story centers on Atlanta real estate mogul Charlie Croker (Daniels), who faces sudden bankruptcy when political and business interests collide as he defends his empire from those attempting to capitalize on his fall from grace. But the story also displays Wolfe's usual social commentary as it tackles racial tensions via a star Georgia Tech running back who is accused of date-raping the daughter of a pillar of the white establishment; networks of illegal Asian immigrants crisscrossing the continent; daily life behind bars; and a shady real estate syndicate.

Rosanna Arquette has joined the third season of Big Sky, the series based on the novels of crime author C.J. Box, in a key recurring role. Arquette will play Virginia "Gigi" Cessna, the charismatic, fast-talking mother of undersheriff Jenny Hoyt (Katheryn Winnick). She’s a world-class scam artist who used a young Jenny in her grifts years ago and has an uncanny ability to charm her way into people’s lives and then disappear without a trace. When she returns to Montana to pull her latest con, Jenny catches onto her and mother-daughter must work through their difficult relationship. In Season 3, titled "Deadly Trails," Hoyt, private detective Cassie Dewell (Kylie Bunbury), and newly appointed sheriff Beau Arlen (Jensen Ackles) maintain order in Helena, Montana with their unparalleled investigative skills. But when a local backcountry trip led by charismatic outfitter, Sunny Barnes (Reba McEntire), goes awry, the trio faces their most formidable mystery yet – in which no camper can be trusted and where danger lurks around every jagged rock and gnarled tree. Season 3 premieres September 21 on ABC.

PODCASTS/VIDEO/RADIO/AUDIO

It Was a Dark and Stormy Book Club featured Molly MacRae and her novel Argyles and Arsenic, the fifth book in the Highland Bookshop Mystery Series.

The latest episode of the Crime Cafe podcast featured Debbi Mack's interview with crime writer David Rohlfing chatting about his Detective Sasha Frank mysteries.

On Queer Writers of Crime, Philip switched from reviewing his usual mysteries to tackle a suspense and thriller novel that involves spies, Nazis, a male brothel, and southern prejudice.

The Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine podcast featured a classic story by author William Brittain, who wrote for EQMM from 1964 to 1983. It’s read by EQMM author and translator, Josh Pachter, who has edited three collections of William Brittain’s stories. The short is titled "The Man Who Read John Dickson Carr," from the December 1965 issue of EQMM and was the first in a series of stories whose titles begin "The Man Who."

On Crime Time FM, Beverley Jones, aka B.E. Jones, spoke with host Paul Burke about Jones's novels, The Beach House and The Wilderness (the latter of which is being adapted by Firebird Pictures/Amazon Prime and stars Jenna Coleman and Oliver Jackson Cohen).

Red Hot Chili Writers welcomed historical crime writer Mark Wightman, who offered up a brief history of Singapore and revealed the origins of the Singapore Sling. Also discussed was Agatha Christie's vanishing act in 1926, which inspired the world's largest crime fiction festival.

THEATRE

A new version of the celebrated murder mystery, Dial M for Murder is being staged this month at the Old Globe Theatre in San Diego, CA. The original stage play was written by English playwright, Frederick Knott, and has been newly adapted by Jeffrey Hatcher in a world-premiere version for the Old Globe. The plot centers around Tony, who is convinced his wife Margot has been cheating on him. Now it seems the affair is over, but in his jealousy, Tony spins a web of suspicion and deception that will tighten around them and ensnare them both in danger, recrimination, and murder.

Mystery Melange

During the recent Theakston Old Peculier Crime Writing Festival held in Harrogate, England, the crime fiction website, Dead Good, announced the recipients of its 2022 Dead Good Reader Awards. The Something in the Air Award for Most Atmospheric Novel went to I Know What You’ve Done by Dorothy Koomson; The Love is Blind Award for Most Twisted Couple was won by The Couple at No 9 by Claire Douglas; The Cold as Ice Award for Most Chilling Read is The Sanatorium by Sarah Pearse; The Race-Against-Time Award for Best Action Thriller went to Hostage by Clare Mackintosh; The New Kid on the Block Award for Best New Series was presented to Richard Osman’s Thursday Murder Club series; and The Dead Good Recommends Awards for Most Recommended Book was The Locked Room by Elly Griffiths.

Goldboro Books have announced the shortlist for the Goldsboro Glass Bell Award. Administered by independent bookshop Goldsboro Books, the Glass Bell Award rewards storytelling in all genres, and is awarded annually to "a compelling novel with brilliant characterisation and a distinct voice that is confidently written and assuredly realised." The shortlisted novels include: We Are All Birds of Uganda by Hafsa Zayyan; Sistersong by Lucy Holland; Ariadne by Jennifer Saint; Mrs March by Virginia Feito; The Wolf Den by Elodie Harper; and Daughters of Night by Laura Shepherd-Robinson. The winner, who will receive both £2,000, and a beautiful, handmade glass bell, will be announced on Thursday, September 8.

The shortlist for the Lindisfarne Prize for Crime Fiction, which celebrates outstanding crime and thriller storytelling of those who are from or whose work celebrates the North East of England, was announced this week. The honored titles include Can't Hide by Clare Sewell; Sharp Focus by Duncan Robb; Salted Earth by Katherine Graham; The Children of Gaia by Jacqueline Auld; and The Taste of Iron by Ramona Slusarczyk. The winner will be announced on August 31 and will receive a cash prize to support the completion of their work, along with membership of the Society of Authors and the Alliance of Independent Authors.

Muslim women have long been sidelined in publishing – but now a new wave of writers from Saima Mir to Ambreen and Uzma Hameed are breaking through.

Some twenty-plus authors, from Megan Abbott and Lee Child to Karin Slaughter, were approached by The Guardian to reveal what makes a great crime novel and to name some of their favorites.

Writing for Book Riot, Katie Moench compiled "An Introduction to Irish Crime Fiction."

This week's crime poem at the 5-2 weekly is "Maze" by Matthew Sorento.

In the Q&A roundup, Amina Akhtar, the author of Fan Club, and Erin Mayer, the author of Kismet, interviewed each other on Crime Reads to talk about their experiences, and why, exactly, fashion inspires so much rage; The Guardian snagged Frankie Boyle and Denise Mina to talk about writing crime fiction, what makes a great crime novel, celebrity authors getting in on the act, and their shared affection for comics; and GM Today chatted with Sara Paretsky, the pioneering Chicago crime author, who has recently turned 75 but has no plans to stop writing.

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

Leonardo DiCaprio is attached to star in an adaptation of David Grann’s book, The Wager: A Tale of Shipwreck, Mutiny, and Murder, from director Martin Scorsese. The project follows the pair’s collaboration on Apple’s Killers of the Flower Moon, which is likewise based on a non-fiction book by Grann. Grann’s The Wager tells the true story of a British naval ship called the Wager that wrecked in 1742 and washed up on a desolate island off the coast of Patagonia, marooning 30 survivors for months before they managed to make it back to safety. But the story takes a darker turn a few months later, when a different set of just three survivors arrive in Chile and tell an alternate story that the men were not hero survivors but mutineers, and the crew descended into anarchy while stranded on the island.

Judy Greer, Paul Sparks, Alison Pill, Tracy Letts, Annie Parisse, Kate Arrington, and Alexander Skarsgård are set to star in the adaptation of Eric Larue, with Michael Shannon making his directorial debut on the film. Written by Brett Neveu, the film is based on Neveu’s play of the same name and follows the mother of a 17-year-old boy, who shot and killed three of his classmates. As the mother braces for a meeting with the mothers of the other boys and a long-delayed visit to her son in prison, the story evolves into less of a tale about violence and more about the lengths people go to survive (or to ignore) trauma. Playwright and screenwriter Neveu has also been Shannon’s frequent collaborator on productions staged by A Red Orchid Theatre where the play premiered in 2002. In 2005, the play was selected for the Royal Shakespeare Company’s "Postcards from America" series.

The first teaser for Christopher Nolan’s next film, Oppenheimer, shows Cillian Murphy as the father of the atomic bomb, or as the trailer puts it, "the man who moved the Earth." The film aims to go beyond the standard biopic of a scientist, even one as explosive as Oppenheimer, to cast itself as an "epic thriller." The film is based on the Pulitzer Prize-winning book, American Prometheus: The Triumph and Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer, by Kai Bird and the late Martin J. Sherwin.

TELEVISION/STREAMING SERVICES

An adaptation of Kirk Wallace Johnson’s bestselling book, The Feather Thief: Beauty, Obsession, and the Natural History Heist of the Century, is in the works for the small screen, via Jenna Bush Hager and Universal International Studios. The Feather Thief is a gripping story of a bizarre and shocking crime and one man’s relentless pursuit of justice. One summer evening in 2009, twenty-year-old musical prodigy, Edwin Rist, broke into the British Natural History Museum, home to one of the largest ornithological collections in the world. Once inside, he stole as many rare bird specimens as he was able to carry before escaping into the darkness. In search of answers about the crime, Johnson embarked upon a worldwide investigation that led him into the fiercely secretive underground community obsessed with the Victorian art of salmon fly-tying. The Feather Thief was an Amazon Best Book of 2018 and short-listed for The Gold Dagger Award, Edgar Award, Carnegie Medal, and was translated into a dozen languages.

HBO is developing My Dentist’s Murder Trial, a limited series starring and executive produced by David Harbour (Stranger Things) and Pedro Pascal (The Mandalorian). Written by Steve Conrad (Patriot), who is set to direct the pilot episode, My Dentist’s Murder Trial is inspired by James Lasdun’s 2017 New Yorker article, "My Dentist’s Murder Trial: Adultery, false identities, and a lethal sedation." The true crime story chronicled in the article centers on Dr. Gilberto Nunez, who was indicted for killing his friend, Thomas Kolman, in 2015 by getting him to ingest a substance that caused his death. There were also two forgery counts, including Nunez posing as a C.I.A. agent. Nunez, who had had an affair with Kolman’s wife Linda, stood trial in 2018 where he was found not guilty of murder but guilty on fraud charges, which led to a prison sentence. Pascal will play Dr. Nunez. HBO would not say whether Harbour will play the victim, Thomas Kolman, or the article’s author.

PODCASTS/VIDEO/RADIO/AUDIO

The Sunday Sessions podcast from New Zealand Crime spoke with writer Karin Slaughter about her latest thriller, Girl, Forgotten. Karin is a best-selling author of 22 books, whose 2018 hit, Pieces of Her, was made into a series for Netflix. 

NPR's Weekend Edition chatted with thriller author, Megan Miranda, about her latest novel, The Last To Vanish, and her obsession with the duality of nature—beautiful and serene, and also, with just a slight change of perspective, terrifying.

It Was a Dark and Stormy Book Club interviewed Anthony Horowitz, who has penned over 40 books including the bestselling teen spy series Alex Rider, as well as two new Sherlock Holmes novels, a James Bond novel, and episodes of the popular TV series, Midsomer Murders and Foyle’s War.

Crime Time FM welcomed Barry Forshaw to talk about Simenon: The Man, the Books, the Films, a 21st Century re-examination of Simenon's iconic literary detective, Inspector Maigret, and Simenon's place in French literature.

My Favorite Detective Stories chatted with Sherry Harris, the Agatha Award-nominated author of the Sarah Winston Garage Sale mystery series and the Chloe Jackson Sea Glass Saloon mysteries.

On the latest Queer Writers of Crime, Ann Aptaker, David Domine, and Brad Shreve offered up novel suggestions they believe are must reads.

Read or Dead hosts Katie and Nusrah talked about books you should take on your vacation and ones you should skip.

THEATRE

To Kill A Mockingbird, Aaron Sorkin’s hit stage adaptation of the Harper Lee novel currently on a lengthy Covid-prompted hiatus, will not return to Broadway after all, and both Sorkin and director Bartlett Sher are blaming the original lead producer, Scott Rudin. Although Rudin—who has dodged allegations of bullying and physical abuse of his staff—was believed to have discontinued taking an active role in the play’s production, he continues to control rights to the stage adaptation. Mockingbird opened on Broadway in 2018 and quickly became one of theater’s hottest tickets, starring in turn Jeff Daniels, Richard Thomas, and Greg Kinnear as Atticus Finch.