Mystery Melange

Victor Pavic Lundberg’s Aftermath was crowned the winner of Gothenburg Book Fair’s Crime Time Award for Best Crime Novel Debut in an award ceremony this week. BookBeat’s award for Swedish Detective Writer of the Year went to Sofie Sarenbrant; Anders Sparring was awarded Children's Novelist of the Year; and Åsa Larsson also received an Honorary Award. For the eighth year in a row, the Crimetime Award was presented at Sweden’s largest detective festival, Crimetime, held as part of the Book Fair in Gothenburg. The Crimetime Awards were established in 2015 and have previously been awarded to authors such as May Sjöwall and Liza Marklundand.

Hachette UK’s Future Bookshelf announced the shortlist for the Mo Siewcharran Prize, including Arranged Murder by Faaiza Munir; Incarnations of an English Subject by Kalbinder Dayal; The Labelled Bones by Felicity Yeoh; The Search for Othella Savage by Foday Mannah; and Their Unseen Truth by Kingsley Pearson. Now in its third year, the Future Bookshelf launched the Mo Siewcharran Prize to help discover unpublished fiction writers from Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic backgrounds. The initiative, named in memory of Nielsen Book’s former director of marketing and communications, aims to nurture talent from under-represented backgrounds writing in English. This year, the prize is hosted by Quercus Books and in a change from previous years, organizers were looking for fiction writing in the crime and thriller genre specifically.

Penguin Michael Joseph, an imprint of Penguin Random House, revealed details of their new writers’ prize, the Penguin Michael Joseph Undiscovered Writers Prize, which aims to find new authors from underrepresented backgrounds who the division can bring to the widest possible readership. The inaugural prize (2022/2023) focuses on the crime and thriller genre, with budding writers being invited to submit tales of mysteries, crimes, jeopardy, action or adventure. The prize is aimed at unpublished writers aged 18 and over who are currently a resident in the UK or ROI, and who are from a background that’s currently underrepresented in publishing, which includes ethnicity, sexuality, gender identity, disability or socio-economic background. Entries will be judged by a panel of judges led by PMJ’s Crime and Thriller publisher, Joel Richardson; bestselling author, Amy McCulloch; award-winning freelance crime fiction critic/commentator, moderator and blogger, Ayo Onatade; Waterstones’ Head of Fiction, Bea Carvalho; award-winning bookseller, owner of Goldsboro Books and agent at D H H Literary Agency, David Headley; and Syima Aslam, the founder and Director of the Bradford Literature Festival. The winner will receive a publishing contract with PMJ, worth at least £10,000, and representation by the DHH Literary Agency. For more information about applications, follow this link. The deadline for submissions is November 30, 2022, and the winner of the Prize will be announced in August 2023. (HT to Shots Magazine)

Noir at the Bar events are cranking up again with the return of autumn beginning tonight in Toronto at Duke of Kent at 7pm with readings by Lisa de Nikolits, John McFetridge, Scott McKinnon, Rob Brunet, Lynne Murphy, Amy Tector, and JJ Dupuis. Then on October 20, it moves to Hillsborough, NC, at Yonder Southern Cocktails & Brew with authors Natania Barron, Jesse Bullington, Rob Hart, Todd Robinson, and Endless Will. Finally, Noir at the Bar L.A. returns on November 6th at the Mandrake Bar with readings from Lawrence Allan, Eric Beetner, Jennifer J Chow, Ashley Erwin, Adam Frost, Rachel Howzell Hall, Katy Munger, August Norman, Eryk Pruitt, Sascha Rothchild, and J August Williams. There's something for everyone at these readings, with hardboiled, cozy, suspense, grit lit, and more. All events are free and open to the public.

Writing for Flatwater Free Press, Carson Vaughan profiled legendary crime writer, Jim Thompson (1906 to 1977), who has largely been neglected in his home state of Nebraska (a University of Nebraska-Lincoln alum who spent much of his childhood in Burwell). Seventy years ago this month, a 25-cent paperback by Thompson called The Killer Inside Me hit newsstands across the country. Featuring a shadowy montage of noir staples – a burning cigarette, a bottle of whiskey, a hint of cleavage and a pool of blood – the cover promised "a novel of murder unlike any you’ve ever read." Thompson’s novel has since become a staple of the genre and cult classic, with famed director, Stanley Kubrick, saying it was "probably the most chilling and believable first-person story of a criminally warped mind I have ever encountered." Horror icon Stephen King, in his foreword to the latest reissue, called it "an American classic, no less, a novel that deserves space on the same shelf with Moby-Dick, Huckleberry Finn, The Sun Also Rises, and As I Lay Dying." The book has now been published in more than twenty languages, and twice adapted for the silver screen.

This week's crime poem at the 5-2 weekly is "Bomb Threat" by Robert Cooperman.

In the Q&A roundup, Lisa Haselton interviewed mystery author, Frank Zafiro, about the newest book in his River City police procedural series, The Worst Kind of Truth; and on the Writers Who Kill blog, E. B. Davis interviewed Korina Moss, author of the cozy mystery, Gone for Gouda.

Media Murder for Monday

It's now officially autumn in the Northern Hemisphere and spring in the Southern Hemisphere. No matter where you live, though, it's the start of a new week, and that means it's time for the latest roundup of crime drama news:

THE BIG SCREEN/MOVIES

Emmy-Award-winning filmmaker, Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy (who also directed Oscar Award-winning documentaries), will make her narrative feature directorial debut on Brilliance, the Paramount Pictures adaptation of the Marcus Sakey novel. The Brilliance novel trilogy is set in a future where non-neurotypical people—demonized by society as "twists" or "abnorms"—are threatening the status quo of the "normal" population with their unique gifts. They are officially labeled as "Brilliants" and are carefully tracked by the government. There was interest from Will Smith to play the lead role of Nick Cooper, a federal agent who works for the Department of Analysis and Response and is tasked with tracking down and terminating criminal abnorms who use their gifts for ill, but he has yet to commit to the project.

Oscar winners Alan Arkin and Kathy Bates, as well as Teyana Taylor, have joined Casey Affleck in indie heist thriller, The Smack. The trio join a growing cast that already includes Marisa Tomei, Isabel May, and Yul Vázquez. David M. Rosenthal, who directed thrillers The Perfect Guy and the remake of Jacob’s Ladder, is helming the feature, which starts shooting in L.A. later this fall. Rosenthal and Keith Kjarval wrote the script, adapting the novel by Richard Lange. Smack centers on a con man (Affleck) who has hit rock bottom when he meets an upstart hustler (Taylor). After a tip from an older, wiser, con artist (Arkin), the two of them head to L.A. to pull off the biggest scam of their lives … but they learn they aren’t the only ones looking for the money, with a list of schemers including the con man's ambitious ex (Tomei). As the con unfolds, the man can’t figure out if he and the woman are actually falling in love or being set up for the ultimate grift. 

Cinema Blend noted how Knives Out paved the way for more murder mysteries In Hollywood. After Daniel Craig’s Benoit Blanc was released to the public, the film scored critical acclaim and made over $311 million worldwide off a $40 million budget, which was more than enough to get a sequel and spawn other projects like the recently released mystery-comedy film, See How They Run. That film's director, Tom George, added that there's "been a bit of a resurgence for Agatha Christie-inspired whodunnits." [And I, for one, say that's a good thing.]

Speaking of Knives Out, there's a new clip from the upcoming sequel, Glass Onion, in which a group of old friends become embroiled in a mystery that begins with a puzzle box and ends in murder. Glass Onion will premiere in select theaters at a yet-to-be-announced date before hitting Netflix on Dec. 23.

Thanks to Covid, it's been three years since Elizabeth Banks was honored as Pioneer Of The Year in 2019 by the Will Rogers Motion Picture Pioneers Foundation. The event returned Wednesday night with their Pioneer Of The Year dinner, this time honoring James Bond franchise producers Michael G. Wilson and Barbara Broccoli. The industry charity, awarded since 1947 when Adolph Zukor became the first recipient, raised $1.5M dollars for the cause.

It seems there is a mystery behind a mystery in Hollywood. The upcoming Henry Cavill-led spy thriller, Argylle, is allegedly based on a debut book by author Elly Conway, for which Apple Studios is ponying up $200 million. As The Hollywood Reporter noted, those figures are rare for a first-time author, and Conway's book isn't even for sale yet, with only a German-language version scheduled for publication in January. Attempts to get an advance copy of the book—a common industry practice—were unsuccessful. According to Conway’s two-line bio, she "lives in the United States and is currently working on the next installment in the series." Beyond that, however, there exists virtually no information about Conway, and Internet searches of her name turn up only references to a fictional character on the long-running Australian soap opera, Neighbors. Adding to the mystery, an alternate spelling of her name, Ellie Conway, appears elsewhere on the Penguin Random House website and in news reports on the rights deal.

TELEVISION/STREAMING SERVICES

Good Girls star, Retta, and the series’ creator/executive producer/co-showrunners, Jenna Bans and Bill Krebs, are re-teaming for Murder By the Book, a new NBC hour-long crime drama, which has received a put pilot commitment by NBC. Murder By the Book follows a big-city Instafamous book reviewer (Retta) who takes a page out of the murder mystery books she reviews and becomes an unlikely detective to uncover the shocking truths about an eccentric seaside town. In addition to her film and TV credits, Retta is also the author of a book of essays, So Close to Being the Sh*t Y’all Don’t Even Know, and is the title voice on the Audible Original audiobook Tinaca Jones.

Harlan Coben’s Shelter, the YA action-thriller series, is rounding out its recurring cast. Didi Conn (Grease), Missi Pyle (Y: The Last Man), Hunter Emery (Orange Is The New Black), Antonio Cipriano (National Treasure: Edge of History), Peter Riegert (Local Hero), Adrienne Barbeau (Criminal Minds), Stephanie March (Law & Order: SVU) and Kristoffer Polaha (Jurassic World Dominion) join lead star Jaden Michael in the series adaptation of Coben’s Mickey Bolitar novels. Shelter tells the story of high school junior Mickey Bolitar (Michael), whose search for his missing father and friend thrusts him into a world of conspiracy, lies, and the darkest aspects of humanity.

Female sleuths rule the upcoming MASTERPIECE Mystery! fall lineup on PBS. October 16 will see the premieres of Miss Scarlet and The Duke Season 2 at 8/7c (Season 3 is slated for January 8, 2023), with Magpie Murders, adapted by author Anthony Horowitz from his novel, following at 9/8c, and finally Annika, the new series starring Nicola Walker, which airs at 10/9c. Also coming up is the premiere of the new season of Van Der Velk, on Sunday, September 25, with the second and third full-length installments scheduled for October 2 and 9. PBS released a teaser-trailer of the lineup, which you can watch here.

Millie Bobby Brown is on the run and going under cover in the new trailer for the second Enola Holmes installment on Netflix. Brown returns in the title role, alongside Henry Cavill and Helena Bonham Carter in the film, where a major case will take more than one Holmes sibling to solve. Enola Holmes 2, based on young adult mystery fiction series of the same name by Nancy Springer, will stream exclusively on Netflix starting November 4.

PODCASTS/VIDEO/RADIO/AUDIO

The Spectator Book Club talked about "the best crime writer you’ve (probably) never heard of," Josephine Tey, on the eve of Penguin gearing up to reissue three of her classic Golden Age novels.

The Red Hot Chili Writers podcast reflected on the passing of Queen Elizabeth II; interviewed Carnegie-winning children's writer Anthony McGowan about his new book Dogs of the Deadlands; and chatted with book blogger, Tracy Fenton as she rounded up her favorite crime novels of the past six months.

On Crime Time FM, filmmaker, screenwriter, and novelist, John Brownlow, chatted with Paul Burke about his latest thriller novel, Seventeen: Last Man Standing.

Jeffrey Round joined Queer Writers of Crime to discuss his writing career plus his work as a model, film maker, musician, and poet.

All About Agatha featured a live episode from the International Agatha Christie Festival as they discussed the legendary author's greatest novel.

Meet the Thriller Author spoke with Ryan Steck, a freelance editor, author, and the founder and editor-in-chief of The Real Book Spy. His debut novel, Fields of Fire, was released on September 6, 2022.

My Favorite Detective Stories welcomed Barbarajean Magnani, a professor of anatomic and clinical pathology and medicine who's internationally recognized for her expertise in clinical chemistry and toxicology. Her works of fiction include Lily Robinson and the Art of Secret Poisoning, and the Dr. Lily Robinson mystery series, The Queen of All Poisons, The Power of Poison, and A Message in Poison.

Read or Dead hosts, Katie McClain and Kendra Winchester, discussed books for Banned Books Week.

The latest episode of the Crime Cafe podcast featured Debbi Mack's interview with crime writer Indy Perro, who teaches philosophy, religious studies, writing, and literature. His debut novel is Central City.

Mystery Melange

The Strand Magazine’s 2022 Critics Award winners were announced via a virtual ceremony held on Monday, September 19. Best Mystery Debut went to Bullet Train by Kotaro Isaka (translated by Sam Malissa); Best Mystery Novel was won by Razorblade Tears by S.A. Cosby; Publisher of the Year: Morgan Entrekin, president and publisher of Grove/Atlantic in New York City; Lifetime Achievement Awards: Sandra Brown and Nelson DeMille.

Unfortunately, there is bad news coming from another publication, Mystery Scene Magazine. I was initially unable to get direct verification after rumors started to fly, but according to Jeff Pierce of the Rap Sheet blog who spoke with editor-in-chief, Kate Stine, the 'zine is apparently going to shut down this year. However, Stine did add they are putting the word out to anyone interested that the magazine is for sale, and she would be willing to work closely with any new owners. The publication, started by Ed Gorman and Robert Randisi in 1985, has become a fixture of crime fiction news, reviews, interviews, and features for some twenty years, and it will be sorely missed if new arrangements don't come through to save it.

The Joffe Books Prize was launched last year by independent publisher Joffe Books "as a direct response to the paucity of diverse voices being published in crime fiction" and invited submissions from unagented authors with Black, Asian, indigenous, and minority ethnic backgrounds. The winner of the prize (which was Christie J Newport in 2021), receives a two-book publishing deal with Joffe Books and a £1,000 cash prize. Now, they will also receive a £25,000 audiobook offer after it was announced that Audible has stepped up to fund the additional prize. The second year of the Joffe Books Prize launched on May 1, and in celebration of the new partnership with Audible, the submission period has been extended to midnight on October 31. This year, the judging panel includes Oyinkan Braithwaite, award-winning author of My Sister, the Serial Killer, and Ella Diamond Kahn, co-founder and partner of the Diamond Kahn & Woods Literary Agency.

From September 18-24, crime fiction authors and other donors are hosting a Mystery Loves Democracy online auction in support of voting-rights organization Fair Fight Action, founded in 2014 by then-Georgia state representative Stacey Abrams. The organization advances voter education; coordinates de-escalation trainings that teach "rapid response strategic support for political violence-related threats"; pursues litigation (Fair Fight Action v. Raffensperger); and establishes task forces to combat electoral injustice in Arizona, Michigan, Nevada, New Hampshire, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Texas, and Wisconsin, as well as in its home state of Georgia. Writers have donated signed books and ARCs, consultations, and manuscript critiques for consideration by auction bidders who can also check the event’s Twitter feed for midweek additions to the roster. Mystery Loves Democracy’s fundraising goal is $100,000, and as the auction concludes, Catriona McPherson will host a Zoom-a-thon with surprise author appearances. (HT to Publishers Weekly)

Following in the footsteps of other former politicians (e.g. Bill Clinton partnering with James Patterson; Hillary Clinton with Louise Penny; Norwegian minister of justice, Anne Holt, et al.), former FBI Director James Comey has secured a deal to write two novels for The Mysterious Press, an imprint of Penzler Publishers. The first is called Central Park West, and it features an assistant U.S. Attorney looking into ties between the Mafia and the murder of a local politician. The book is scheduled for next spring.

The Terror Australis Readers and Writers Festival is planning the exhibition "Tasmania: A Century of Mystery" in honor of the centenary of Agatha Christie's visit to Tasmania. The exhibition, which will be on view from October 2–30, 2022, will focus on mysteries written by Tasmanians or set in Tasmania. In addition, it was announced that there will be a new branch of Sisters in Crime in Tasmania. (HT to The Bunburyist)

The Hower House Victorian Mansion was built in Akron, Ohio in 1871 and was the long-time home of one of Akron’s leading industrial families. The mansion was deeded to UA and turned into a museum in the 1970s. The Hower House is currently presenting a new exhibit: "Poe & Doyle Victorian Crime Fiction," with each room featuring information and displays dedicated to Edgar Allan Poe and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and their contribution to crime writing.

In a case of literal life imitates art, a woman who copied the plot of Gone Girl and staged her disappearance has been sentenced to 18 months in prison.

This week's crime poem at the 5-2 weekly is "The Intellectual Stripper" by Charles Rammelkamp.

In the Q&A roundup, Writers Who Kill spoke with Lori Roberts Herbst about Photo Finished, the fourth book in her Callie Cassidy mystery series, and also with Marie Sutro about her series with SFPD Detective Kate Barnes; Indie Crime Scene chatted with Daniella Bernett, author of A Mind to Murder, part of the Emmeline Kirby/Gregory Longdon Mysteries, and also with S.K. Waters about The Dead Won’t Tell, which features freelance historical researcher, Abbie Adams; and Crime Reads interviewed S. A. Cosby, who has won practically every award this year for Razorblade Tears, about his upcoming novel, All the Sinners Bleed.

Media Murder for Monday

It's the start of a new week in this middle of September and that means it's time for a brand-new, late summer roundup of crime drama news:

THE BIG SCREEN/MOVIES

Paul Greengrass (of the Jason Bourne series of films) will adapt, direct and produce a feature adaptation of Fairy Tale, the bestselling novel by Stephen King published earlier this month. King is a fan of Greengrass’s films and has granted him the option for the story that follows a 17-year-old boy who inherits the keys to a terrifying world where good and evil are at war. The stakes could not be higher, for that world and ours, as he journeys into the mythic roots of human storytelling. Greengrass noted, "Fairy Tale is a work of genius. A classic adventure story and also a disturbing contemporary allegory."

Fresh off starring in the Toronto Film Festival drama, North Of Normal, Sarah Gadon is set to make her directorial debut on Lullabies For Little Criminals, based on Heather O’Neill’s 2007 novel which won the Canada Reads competition. Gadon will also adapt the screenplay. The story follows thirteen-year-old Baby who vacillates between childhood comforts and adult temptation. Her father, Jules, takes better care of his drug habit than he does of his daughter, but when her blossoming beauty captures the attention of a charismatic and dangerous local criminal, it creates a volatile situation which threatens to crush Baby’s spirit.

TELEVISION/STREAMING SERVICES

The recent Emmy Awards celebration was nearly a shut-out as far as book-related major category winners were concerned. The exception was Dopesick, Hulu's limited series drama about the opioid crisis based on Beth Macy's book Dopesick: Dealers, Doctors, and the Drug Company that Addicted America. The Emmy for lead actor in a limited or anthology series or movie category went to series star, Michael Keaton. It was Keaton's first television show and a personal one for the actor, whose nephew died from a drug overdose. Dopesick's "Breakthrough Pain" episode earlier won a Creative Arts Emmy for outstanding cinematography for a limited or anthology series or movie. (HT to Shelf Awareness)

Regé-Jean Page and Glen Powell are set to star in a series inspired by Butch Cassidy and The Sundance Kid for Amazon, after the streamer handed the untitled project a straight-to-series order. Bridgerton star Page, who also starred in The Gray Man, is expected to play Butch Cassidy, with Top Gun: Maverick star Powell set to play the Sundance Kid in the series, which is reportedly set in an alternate America. The original Butch Cassidy and The Sundance Kid movie from 1969 was about a pair of Wild West outlaws (Paul Newman and Robert Redford) and was directed by George Roy Hill and written by William Goldman.

Dennis Quaid is set as a lead opposite Zazie Beetz, Claire Danes, and Timothy Olyphant in the HBO Max limited series, Full Circle, from director Steven Soderbergh and writer Ed Solomon. Soderbergh will direct all six episodes of the series and serve as executive producer. The story follows an investigation into a botched kidnapping that uncovers long-held secrets connecting multiple characters and cultures in present-day New York City. Quaid is believed to be playing a famous TV chef whose grandson was the target of the kidnapping.

Disney Television Studios’ ABC Signature is remaking the French detective series HIP (High Intellectual Potential). Work has already begun to adapt the scripts of the series, with showrunner, writing team, and cast still to be announced. HIP follows Morgane Alvaro, an intellectually-gifted housekeeper who becomes a consultant for the police serious crimes division in Lille. The original series was created by Alice Chegaray-Breugnot, Stéphane Carrié, and Nicolas Jean, and starred Audrey Fleurot and Mehdi Nebbou.

Shaun Sipos has been tapped as a major lead opposite Alan Ritchson in the upcoming second season of Reacher. From writer and showrunner Nick Santora and based on the novels by Lee Child, the series follows Jack Reacher (Ritchson), a veteran military police investigator who has just recently entered civilian life. In a one-year deal, Sipos will play David O’Donnell, who served with Reacher in the Army’s unit of special investigators and is like a brother to Reacher. While Season 1 was based on the first book in Child’s Jack Reacher series, Ritchson revealed in May on Instagram that Season 2 will follow the eleventh book in Child's series, Bad Luck and Trouble. David O’Donnell is a prominent character in that book, the only novel in the series he is featured in, which explains Sipos’ one-season deal.

Game of Thrones star John Bradley is set as the lead of North Shore, a Paramount+ crime thriller series from Cold Feet creator, Mike Bullen. Downton Abbey‘s Joanne Froggatt has also closed a one-year deal to star in the six-episode first season. North Shore follows the clash of cultures when British and Australian detectives team up to solve a complex murder mystery and uncover a conspiracy with international political consequences.

Tony Award-nominee, Tovah Feldshuh, has joined the cast of Amazon's Harlan Coben’s Shelter to play the character of Bat Lady, who is described as a wraith-like recluse who gives Mickey (Jaden Michael) an ominously disturbing piece of news. The series, an adaptation of Harlan Coben’s Mickey Bolitar novels, tells the story of high school junior Mickey Bolitar (Michael) as he navigates his new life with a mom in rehab, a dead father, an annoying aunt, and a new school in New Jersey with a camel as its mascot. When a creepy old lady who may or may not be a ghost tells Mickey that his father isn’t dead, Mickey is sure he’s losing his mind on top of everything else. Mickey finds a grounding force in Ashley Kent, another new student who’s lived through her own tragedy. But then Ashley goes missing, and as Mickey searches for her, he learns that everything she told him was a lie—and that he is in serious danger unless he gets to the bottom of what happened to her and his father.

PODCASTS/VIDEO/RADIO/AUDIO

The latest episode of the Crime Cafe podcast features Debbi Mack's interview with crime writer Indy Perro, whose debut novel is Central City.

Sunday Times chief political commentator and spy book fan, Tim Shipman, spoke with Spybrary's Ben Macintyre about his latest work, Prisoners of the Castle. During World War II, the German army used the towering Colditz Castle to hold the most defiant Allied prisoners. For four years, these prisoners of the castle tested its walls and its guards with ingenious escape attempts that would become legend.

Hailey Piper and Lilja Sigurdardóttir returned to the Queer Writers of Crime podcast to recommend books by Samantha Kolesnik, Paula Ashe, David Demchuk, and Sarah Stovell.

The new Mysteryrat's Maze Podcast featured the first chapter of Bait and Witch by Angela M. Sanders, read by actor Ariel Linn.

Adam Hamdy chatted with Crime Time FM's Paul Burke about the Other Side of Night; writing an original novel and the emotional journey you take the reader on; how characters convey meaning in a story; speculative thrillers; film and TV adaptations; page-turning excitement; and poetry.

My Favorite Detective Stories welcomed Mariah Fredericks, whose novel, Crunch Time, was nominated for an Edgar in 2007. Her Jane Prescott series, set in 1910s New York, has twice been nominated for the Mary Higgins Clark Award. Her next novel, The Lindbergh Nanny, will be published in November 2022.

Mystery Melange

The winners of the McIlvanney Prize 2022 and the Bloody Scotland Debut Prize were announced at the annual conference following a torchlit procession of all the finalists from Stirling Castle to the Albert Halls. The Bloody Scotland Debut Prize was won by Tariq Ashkanani for Welcome to Cooper, and the McIlvanney Prize went to Alan Parks for May God Forgive. Both awards recognize excellence in Scottish crime writing and are judged first by booksellers, bloggers, librarians and festival-goers and then a panel of esteemed judges.

At a special WORD Christchurch ceremony, Jacqueline Bublitz’s first novel, Before You Knew My Name, was revealed as the winner of both the Best First Novel and Best Novel categories of the 2022 Ngaio Marsh Awards, which celebrate excellence by New Zealand crime writers. Ngaio Marsh Awards founder Craig Sisterson noted that while a few excellent debuts have been shortlisted for both categories over the past several years, Before You Knew My Name is the first book to ever win two Ngaio Marsh Awards. Bublitz also joins Christchurch author and international bestseller Paul Cleave, a three-time Best Novel winner, as the only Kiwi storytellers with multiple Ngaios.

Dragon Con, a North American multi-genre convention that takes place annually over the Labor Day weekend, handed out its 2022 Dragon Awards in various categories of science fiction, fantasy, horror novels, movies, television, and games. Crime-related crossovers include a Best Fantasy Novel nod to Book of Night by Holly Black, set in a world where shadows can be altered to increase power and influence, and follows a low-level con artist who it thrown into a maelstrom of secrets and murder from people desperate to control the shadows. Another finalist in that category was Age of Ash by Daniel Abraham, set in the ancient city of Kithamar, in which a petty thief sets out to discover who killed her brother and why.

American Christian Fiction Writers also recently handed out the annual Carol Awards. The winner of the Mystery/Suspense/Thriller category was Dark Intercept by Andrews & Wilson, which follows a soon-to-be-retired Navy SEAL who receives a frantic call from his estranged childhood best friend when the man's daughter has been kidnapped off the streets of Nashville in broad daylight. Other finalists include Right Cross by Andrew Huff and Manna Reign by Neena Roth.

Today, September 15, is the anniversary of Agatha Christie's birth (1890), which makes it appropriate that a new anthology of stories featuring Miss Marple was just published by William Morrow. Marking the first time anyone other than Christie has written "official" (as recognized by the Christie estate) Miss Marple stories, Marple includes twelve different contemporary female authors with their own take on the beloved Christie character. Those participating are Naomi Alderman, Leigh Bardugo, Alyssa Cole, Lucy Foley, Elly Griffiths, Natalie Haynes, Jean Kwok, Val McDermid, Karen M. McManus, Dreda Say Mitchell, Kate Mosse, and Ruth Ware.

Indiana University Bloomington's Lilly Library is the latest host of the "Sherlock Holmes in 221 Objects" exhibition (originally hosted by the Grolier Club in New York City earlier this year). The exhibit features memorabilia, manuscripts, books and some first editions, artwork, and other items related to the Great Detective. The exhibition will be on view in its new location until December 16, 2022. (HT to The Bunburyist.)

The Texas Book Festival unveiled the full literary lineup for the 2022 event, its first fully in-person return post-Covid. Taking place November 5-6 in Austin, the 27th annual Texas Book Festival will feature nearly 300 national and Texas authors. The crime/mystery/thriller lineup includes thirty authors this year, including Jeff Abbott, Janet Evanovich, Sandra Brown, Gary Phillips, Nelson DeMille, and more.

Writing for The New Yorker, Adam Gopnik profiled Georges Simenon and "The Mysterious Case of Inspector Maigret." He concluded that the Maigret books, seventy-five in all, seem more likely to be remembered than the romans durs, the "hard books" often set outside Paris and meant "as works of more self-conscious art."

Now here's a fun idea: SacRT teamed up with the Sacramento Public Library to launch Sacramento’s first Rolling Library Train, with a brightly decorated train car that promotes riding and reading. When you step onboard, you will feel like you have been transported into a library as the walls and seatbacks resemble books on shelves. Riders can find hidden gems on those bookshelves featuring QR codes to free downloadable materials from the Sacramento Public Library.

Glass Onion, the sequel to 2019's Knives Out, may not be out yet, but on September 9, Netflix released a link to a website where you can play puzzles to unlock clips from Rian Johnson's upcoming whodunnit. Once you go to the website, you're greeted by a wooden box that unfolds to reveal four panels, each containing a separate puzzle. It's the same kind of box that Glass Onion's ensemble cast receives in the first teaser for the film. The next game in the box will unlock on September 24.

An idea for something in a comedic mystery novel, perhaps? An Uber Eats delivery robot recently crashed a crime scene.

This week's crime poem at the 5-2 weekly is "Diese Zeit" by Suzanne Ondrus.

Cynthia Harrod-Eagles, author of the popular Morland Dynasty novels and the contemporary Bill Slider mystery series, applied the Page 69 Test to her new novel, The Secrets of Ashmore Castle.

In the Q&A roundup, Author Interviews spoke with Annelise Ryan, a pseudonym for the author of the new Monster Hunter Mystery series, with the first installment, A Death in Door County, out this month; Let's Talk Books had a Q&A with Canadian author Judy Penz Sheluk; and Lisa Haselton spoke with mystery author Gillespie Lamb about The Junkyard Dick.

Media Murder for Monday

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

THE BIG SCREEN/MOVIES

The first teaser trailer was released for Rian Johnson's Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery, introducing a new cast of potential murder victims (or murderers) played by Edward Norton, Janelle Monáe, Kathryn Hahn, Leslie Odom Jr., Jessica Henwick, Madelyn Cline, Kate Hudson, and Dave Bautista. The one holdover from the Knives Out cast is Daniel Craig as Detective Benoit Blanc, who has joined the ensemble on a Greek island in order to solve a mystery. Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery had its world premiere at the 47th Toronto International Film Festival on September 10, and is scheduled to be released in select cinemas in November before its streaming release on December 23 by Netflix.

Patricia Highsmith, the celebrated mid-20th century American author known for novels like Strangers on a Train and The Talented Mr. Ripley, lived a troubled life and held controversial views while struggling with her own identity. A new documentary, Loving Highsmith, is screening at Film Forum this month and is based on Highsmith's journal entries and accounts by friends, lovers and family. Director Eva Vitija was interviewed by WNYC about the film.

Oscar nominee Catherine Keener has landed a major role opposite Joaquin Phoenix and Lady Gaga in Todd Phillips’s Joker sequel, Joker: Folie à Deux, for Warner Bros. and DC Films. Deadline recently reported that Brendan Gleeson would be joining the ensemble as well as Zazie Beetz. Phillips is returning to direct and also co-wrote the script with Scott Silver, who penned the original pic. Not much is known about the sequel, though insiders believe it will have musical elements and will be set in Arkham Asylum, which is where the first film leaves off after Arthur Fleck (Phoenix) has been sent there. It is also unknown who Keener will be playing. The Batman series from which "The Joker" character evolved was created by artist Bob Kane and writer Bill Finger, and debuted in the 27th issue of the comic book, Detective Comics, on March 30, 1939.

TELEVISION/STREAMING SERVICES

In a competitive situation, Peacock has landed The Show Must Go On, an hour-long murder mystery anthology, which would mark the first time Andrew Lloyd Webber’s The Phantom of the Opera musical is used as part of a TV series. Written by Austin Winsberg, The Show Must Go On is a darkly comedic murder mystery anthology series, with each season taking place in the days leading up to a big, live, televised event and tackling a new murder with a refreshed cast. Season 1 is set behind the scenes during the making of a fictitious version of Lloyd Webber’s worldwide mega-hit, The Phantom of The Opera Live!, with endless production problems, warring stars, mounting network pressures—and the gruesome and untimely death of one of the leads. The original The Phantom of the Opera (French: Le Fantôme de l'Opéra) was a novel by French author, Gaston Leroux, first published as a serial in 1909-1910.

BBC Three is to adapt Holly Jackson’s New York Times bestselling teen crime thriller, A Good Girl’s Guide To Murder. Poppy Cogan, who has also written the BBC Three horror project, Red Rose, will pen the adaptation. A Good Girl’s Guide To Murder follows the murder of schoolgirl, Andie Bell, a crime that everyone in the quintessentially English town decided was carried out by Sal Singh five years ago. But Pippa Fitz-Amobi—the smart, slightly square heroine—isn’t so sure, and she’s determined to prove it, with many trying to prevent her from finding the truth.

Paramount+’s upcoming Criminal Minds revival now has an official title, Criminal Minds: Evolution, and is set to premiere this fall exclusively on the streamer. Zach Gilford also has been tapped to recur in a season-long arc. CBS’s original Criminal Minds series, which ran from 2005-2020, followed the FBI’s Behavioral Analysis Unit, the best of the best who profiled the worst of the worst. In Criminal Minds: Evolution, the FBI’s elite team of criminal profilers come up against their greatest threat yet, an UnSub who has used the pandemic to build a network of other serial killers. Original cast members reprising their roles include Joe Mantegna, A.J. Cook, Kirsten Vangsness, Aisha Tyler, Adam Rodriguez, and Paget Brewster.

Margo Martindale (The Americans), Molly Parker (House of Cards), Rachel Bilson (The O.C.), and Jack Davenport (The Morning Show) are among the new cast members that have been added to Fox’s upcoming anthology drama series, Accused, from Howard Gordon, the co-creator of 24 and Homeland. Accused is described by the network as a "fast-paced provocative thriller, exploring a different crime, in a different city, with an entirely original cast" in each episode. Based on the BBC’s BAFTA-winning crime anthology, Accused opens in a courtroom on the defendant, with viewers knowing nothing about their crime or how they ended up on trial.

PODCASTS/VIDEO/RADIO/AUDIO

The latest episode of the Crime Cafe podcast featured Debbi Mack's interview with screenwriter and documentarian, Eva Vitija, whose latest film is a documentary of the life of crime writer Patricia Highsmith.

Speaking of Mysteries featured Deanna Raybourn and her new thriller, Killers of a Certain Age. Four women, who happen to be sixty-something professional assassins, are celebrating their recent retirement—except when they board a luxury ship for a celebratory cruise, they realize that someone wants to "retire" them...permanently.

My Favorite Detective Stories chatted with Boston-based author, Dave Zeltserman, whose novel, Small Crimes, was made into a Netflix film starring Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, Molly Parker, Gary Cole, Robert Forster, and Jacki Weaver. His Julius Katz mystery stories have won a Shamus, Derringer, and two Ellery Queen Readers Choice awards.

Freelance writer, editor, author, and all around storyteller, Troy Lambert, stopped by Meet the Thriller Author, to talk about writing mysteries, history, and dogs of all kinds. His latest novel, Teaching Moments, is the second book in the Max Boucher Mystery Series.

On Queer Writers of Crime, Philip discussed Greg Herren's latest, Murder in the Rue Chartres.

On Book Riot's Read or Dead podcast, Katie McClain and new co-host, Kendra Winchester, discussed some of their recent favorites.

David Lagercrantz spoke with Craig Sisterson for Crime Time FM about Dark Music (translated by Ian Giles); the influence of Zlatan Ibrahimovic; a contemporary Holmes and Watson; the social novel; what is genius; and not having the luxury to be weak (class and privilege).

On the latest Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine podcast, we enter the world of crime, Oklahoma-style, as author Bret Jones reads his story "Not My First Rodeo," from the March/April 2022 issue.

It Was a Dark and Stormy Book Club featured On A Quiet Street by Seraphina Nova Glass.

Anthony Accolades

At this weekend's Bouchercon 2022 Conference in Minneapolis, the annual Anthony Awards were handed out at the gala banquet Saturday night. The honors are named for Anthony Boucher (1911–1968), one of the founders of the Mystery Writers of America, and have been given since 1986. They're voted on by members attending the conference. Congrats to all of the winners and finalists!

Lifetime Achievement Award: Ellen Hart

International Lifetime Achievement Award: Alexander McCall Smith

Best Novel: Razorblade Tears, by S.A. Cosby (Flatiron)

Also nominated:

Runner, by Tracy Clark (Kensington); The Collective, by Alison Gaylin (Morrow); Clark and Division, by Naomi Hirahara (Soho Crime); and These Toxic Things, by Rachel Howzell Hall (Thomas & Mercer)

Best First Novel: Arsenic and Adobo, by Mia P. Manansala (Berkley Prime Crime)

Also nominated:

Her Name Is Knight, by Yasmin Angoe (Thomas & Mercer); The Other Black Girl, by Zakiya Dalila Harris (Atria); Walking Through Needles, by Heather Levy (Polis); and All Her Little Secrets, by Wanda M. Morris (Morrow)

Best Short Story: “Not My Cross to Bear,” by S.A. Cosby (from Trouble No More: Crime Fiction Inspired by Southern Rock and the Blues, edited by Mark Westmoreland; Down & Out)

Also nominated:

“The Search for Eric Garcia,” by E.A. Aymar (from Midnight Hour: A Chilling Anthology of Crime Fiction from 20 Authors of Color, edited by Abby L. Vandiver; Crooked Lane); “The Vermeer Conspiracy,” by V.M. Burns (from Midnight Hour); “Lucky Thirteen,” by Tracy Clark (from Midnight Hour); “Doc’s at Midnight,” by Richie Narvaez (from Midnight Hour); “The Locked Room Library,” by Gigi Pandian (Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine, July/August 2021); and “Burnt Ends,” by Gabriel Valjan (from This Time for Sure: Bouchercon Anthology 2021, edited by Hank Phillippi Ryan; Down & Out)

Best Children’s/YA: I Play One on TV, by Alan Orloff (Down & Out)

Also nominated:

Cold-Blooded Myrtle, by Elizabeth C. Bunce (Algonquin Young Readers); Bury Me in Shadows, by Greg Herren (Bold Strokes); The Forest of Stolen Girls, by June Hur (Feiwel & Friends); and Enola Holmes and the Black Barouche, by Nancy Springer (Wednesday)

Best Anthology: This Time for Sure: Bouchercon Anthology 2021, edited by Hank Phillippi Ryan (Down & Out)

Also nominated:

Under the Thumb: Stories of Police Oppression, edited by S.A. Cosby (Rock & A Hard Place Press); Midnight Hour: A Chilling Anthology of Crime Fiction from 20 Authors of Color, edited by Abby L. Vandiver (Crooked Lane); Trouble No More: Crime Fiction Inspired by Southern Rock and the Blues, edited by Mark Westmoreland (Down & Out); and When a Stranger Comes to Town, edited by Michael Koryta (Hanover Square Press)

Best Paperback/EBook/AudioBook: Bloodline, by Jess Lourey (Thomas & Mercer)

Also nominated:

The Ninja Betrayed, by Tori Eldridge (Agora); Warn Me When It’s Time, by Cheryl A. Head (Bywater); Bury Me in Shadows, by Greg Herren (Bold Strokes); and The Mother Next Door, by Tara Laskowski (Graydon House)

Best Critical/Non-fiction: How to Write a Mystery: A Handbook from Mystery Writers of America, edited by Lee Child and Laurie R. King (Simon & Schuster)

Also nominated:

The Combat Zone: Murder, Race, and Boston’s Struggle for Justice, by Jan Brogan (Bright Leaf Press); Murder Book: A Graphic Memoir of a True Crime Obsession, by Hilary Fitzgerald Campbell (Andrews McMeel); Last Call: A True Story of Love, Lust, and Murder in Queer New York, by Elon Green (Celadon); and The Haunting of Alma Fielding: A True Ghost Story, by Kate Summerscale (Penguin Press)

 

Barry Award Honorees

Deadly Pleasures magazine announced winners of the annual Barry Awards at the Opening Ceremonies at the Minneapolis Bouchercon on last evening.  Congrats to all the finalists and winners!

Best Mystery/Crime Novel:  RAZORBLADE TEARS, S. A. Cosby (Flatiron Books)

Other finalists:

THE DARK HOURS, Michael Connelly (Little, Brown)
LAST REDEMPTION, Matt Coyle (Oceanview)
CLARK AND DIVISION, Naomi Hirahara (Soho Crime)
BILLY SUMMERS, Stephen King (Scribner)
WE BEGIN AT THE END, Chris Whitaker (Henry Holt)

Best First Mystery/Crime Novel: SLEEPING BEAR, Connor Sullivan (Emily Bestler/Atria)

Other finalists:

WHO IS MAUDE DIXON?, Alexandra Andrews (Little, Brown)
GIRL A, Abigail Dean (Viking)
DOWN RANGE, Taylor Moore (William Morrow)
FALLING, T. J. Newman (Simon & Schuster)
STEEL FEAR, Brandon Webb & John David Mann (Bantam)

Best Paperback Original:  THE GOOD TURN, Dervla McTiernan (Blackstone)

Other finalists:

THE HUNTED, Gabriel Bergmoser (HarperCollins)
ARSENIC AND ADOBO, Mia P. Manansala (Berkley)
BLACK CORAL, Andrew Mayne (Thomas & Mercer)
SEARCH FOR HER, Rick Mofina (MIRA)
BOUND, Vanda Symon (Orenda Books)

Best Thriller:  FIVE DECEMBERS, James Kestrel (HardCase Crime)

Other finalists:

THE DEVIL’S HAND, Jack Carr (Emily Bestler/Atria)
THE NAMELESS ONES, John Connolly (Emily Bestler/Atria)
DEAD BY DAWN, Paul Doiron (Minotaur)
RELENTLESS, Mark Greaney (Berkley)
SLOUGH HOUSE, Mick Herron (Soho Crime)

Macavity Magic

The winners of this year's Macavity Awards were handed out yesterday during the opening festivities of the annual Bouchercon Mystery Convention. The award is voted on by members of Mystery Readers International and subscribers to Mystery Readers Journal. Congratulations to all the winners and finalists!

Best Mystery Novel:  Razorblade Tears, by S. A. Cosby (Flatiron)

Other finalists:

• The Dark Hours, by Michael Connelly (Little, Brown)
• 1979, by Val McDermid (Atlantic Monthly Press)
• Bobby March Will Live Forever, by Alan Parks (World Noir)
• We Begin at the End, by Chris Whitaker (Henry Holt)
• Harlem Shuffle, by Colson Whitehead (Doubleday)

Best First Mystery Novel:  Arsenic and Adobo, by Mia P. Manansala (Berkley)

Other finalists:

• Who is Maude Dixon? by Alexandra Andrews (Little, Brown)
• Girl A, by Abigail Dean (Viking)
• Deer Season, by Erin Flanagan (University of Nebraska Press)
• All Her Little Secrets, by Wanda M. Morris (Morrow)

Best Mystery Short Story:  “Sweeps Week,” by Richard Helms (Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine [EQMM], July/August 2021)

Other finalists:

• “Lucky Thirteen,” by Tracy Clark (from Midnight Hour, edited by Abby L. Vandiver; Crooked Lane)
• “Curious Incidents,” by Steve Hockensmith (EQMM, January/February 2021)
• “The Road to Hana,” by R.T. Lawton (Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine, May/June 2021)
• “The White Star,” by G.M. Malliet (EQMM, July/August 2021)
• “The Locked Room Library,” by Gigi Pandian (EQMM,
July/August 2021)
• “Julius Katz and the Two Cousins,” by Dave Zeltserman (EQMM, July/August 2021)

Best Non-fiction/Critical:  How to Write a Mystery: A Handbook from Mystery Writers of America, edited by Lee Child with Laurie R. King (Scribner)

Other finalists:

• Agatha Christie’s Poirot: The Greatest Detective in the World, by Mark Aldridge (HarperCollins)
• The Confidence Men: How Two Prisoners of War Engineered the Most Remarkable Escape in History, by Margalit Fox (Random House)
• The Unquiet Englishman: A Life of Graham Greene,
by Richard Greene (Norton)
• Tony Hillerman: A Life, by James McGrath Morris
(University of Oklahoma)
• The Reason for the Darkness of the Night: Edgar Allan Poe and the Forging of American Science, by John Tresch (Farrar, Straus
and Giroux)
• The Twelve Lives of Alfred Hitchcock: An Anatomy of the Master of Suspense, by Edward White (Norton)

Sue Feder Memorial Award for Best Historical Mystery:  Clark and Division, by Naomi Hirahara (Soho Crime)

Other finalists:

• The Venice Sketchbook, by Rhys Bowen (Lake Union)
• The Hollywood Spy, by Susan Elia MacNeal (Bantam)
• The Bombay Prince, by Sujata Massey (Soho Crime)
• Velvet Was the Night, by Silvia Moreno-Garcia (Del Rey)
• Death at Greenway, by Lori Rader-Day (Morrow)

Mystery Melange

 

As Bloody Scotland continues to celebrate its 10th Anniversary year, the judges revealed the finalists for The McIlvanney Prize 2022: Liam McIlvanney's The Heretic; Alan Parks's May God Forgive; Ambrose Parry's A Corruption of Blood; and Louise Welsh's The Second Cut. The McIlvanney Prize recognizes excellence in Scottish crime writing and includes a prize of £1000 and nationwide promotion in Waterstones. The winner will be revealed in Stirling on Thursday, September 15.

The 2022 Hugo Awards were handed out this past weekend. The awards, first presented in 1953 and presented annually since 1955, are science fiction’s most prestigious award and are voted on by members of the World Science Fiction Convention. There are always some crossover titles of interest to crime fiction fans that are among the finalists, including this year's A Master of Djinn by P. Djèlí Clark, nominated for Best Novel, in which Agent Fatma investigates the murder of a member of a secret brotherhood.

Jacqueline Auld won the £2,500 Lindisfarne Prize for Crime Fiction, which "celebrates the outstanding crime and thriller storytelling of those who are from, or whose work celebrates, north-east England," for her story "The Children of Gaia." In addition to cash, the prize is designed to support the completion of her work, and funding towards a year's membership of the Society of Authors and the Alliance of Independent Authors. Now in its fourth year, the prize was founded by author L.J. Ross and is sponsored by her publishing imprint Dark Skies Publishing, in association with the Newcastle Noir Crime Writing Festival and Newcastle Libraries.

HarperCollins Australia has announced the shortlist for the 2022 Banjo Prize for an unpublished work of commercial fiction. The shortlisted manuscripts include a couple of crime fiction titles, namely Pine River Falls, an "atmospheric, twisty crime novel" by Christine Gregory; Next of Kin by Inessa Jackson, a thriller about a young doctor trying to prove her brother innocent of murder; and Ocean Drive by Mitch Jennings, a mystery with an unlikely partnership and a "wonderfully original voice." Last year’s winner was Veronica Lando for her mystery, The Whispering, published in July 2022.

There's still time to register for the online WriteNOW! conference, to be held September 16 and 17th. Every year, Desert Sleuths, the Phoenix chapter of Sisters in Crime, hosts a fun line-up of bestselling authors, experienced editors, qualified agents, and publishing experts. Some highlights include the PitchNOW! sessions, where authors can pitch their completed manuscript to a literary agent or professional editor; EditNOW! to get a critique of your work in progress; and MarketNOW! for assistance analyzing your online presence from a marketing and publicity expert.

Over at The Rap Sheet blog, Jeff Pierce reported on the news that Angry Robot is launching Datura Books, a new crime fiction imprint, noting that this is the publisher's second attempt in the genre after its Exhibit A line folded. It is said to be "a new crime fiction imprint focused on titles with a strong sense of voice and place that push the boundaries of the genre while still playing with readers' favorite tropes." Bryon Quertermous, who had worked previously with Exhibit A, will join the brand-new Datura team with a "new approach that is smaller and more focused on voice, while also gaining a larger reach with the [distribution] support of Penguin Random House." Half a dozen new titles are already expected from Datura over the next year.

Uncle Hugo's has reopened in Minneapolis, Minnesota after it burned down following the unrest after the murder of George Floyd. Store owner, Don Blyly, almost decided to quit the business altogether, but the fans of the bookstore encouraged him to rebuild. The new location is across the street from Minneapolis indie Moon Palace Books and roughly two miles from the building that burned in May 2020. Blyly lost 200,000 books in the fire and has slowly worked to restock half that amount. Uncle Hugo's opened as a science fiction bookstore in 1974, and then in 1980 started a "store within a store," Uncle Edgar's, which focuses on mystery books. (HT to Shelf Awareness)

Author Nora Roberts, a/k/a J.D. Robb (pen name for the In Death crime series), donated $50,000 to the Patmos Library in Jamestown, Michigan, which has been at risk of shutting down after residents defunded it over librarians’ refusal to remove LGBTQ books.

Psychology Today wrote about the role of Forensic Psychology in crime fiction, noting that despite the many things psychologists can do, they mostly wind up as profilers.

This week's crime poem at the 5-2 weekly is "Unpunished" by Roberta Gibson. Editor Gerald So also posted a poll for readers to help him pick poems for Best of the Net 2023 consideration.

In the Q&A roundup, Indie Crime Scene interviewed Jon Armour, whose debut novel, Branded, was published on August 15; Crime Fiction Lover spoke with novelist David E. Feldman about his mystery series featuring private investigator Dora Ellison; and Writer Who Kill's E.B. Davis chatted with Allison Brook about the sixth installment of her Agatha Award nominee Haunted Library mysteries.

Media Murder for Monday

It's the start of a new week and that means it's time for a brand-new, late summer/Labor Day roundup of crime drama news:

THE BIG SCREEN/MOVIES

Russell Crowe will play a former homicide detective tasked with re-examining a brutal murder case from his past in Sleeping Dogs. The film marks the directorial debut of Adam Cooper, who wrote the script with Bill Collage based on E.O. Chirovici’s acclaimed novel, The Book of Mirrors. The story centers on Roy Freeman (Crowe), who is undergoing a cutting-edge Alzheimer’s treatment. He is forced to grapple with the impact of an investigation from his former life, after a death-row inmate Freeman arrested ten years ago starts to proclaim his innocence. Intrigued and fighting to regain his memory, Freeman enlists his former partner to help him revive the case and discover the truth. Together, they set off to unravel a tangled web of secrets, forcing Freeman to make some horrific discoveries.

William Friedkin (The French Connection, The Exorcist) will direct, and Kiefer Sutherland will star (as Lt. Commander Queeg), in The Caine Mutiny Court-Martial using a 50-year-old play script written by Herman Wouk from his Pulitzer Prize-winning novel. Friedkin noted that the original novel, the 1954 film with Humphrey Bogart, and the Robert Altman-directed 1988 TV adaptation of the play, were all set during World War II, but he decided it "could be a very timely and important piece, as well as being great drama." He added therefore, "I've made it contemporary, involving the Gulf of Hormuz and the Straits of Hormuz, leading to Iran." Production is scheduled to get underway in January.

Following a competitive auction, Sony Pictures has landed rights to an adaptation of the novel, The Registration, by Madison Lawson, with Sydney Sweeney and Brad Fuller producing and Sweeney attached to star. In the book, it's legal to commit one murder in your lifetime if you Register the victim and accomplish the kill within fourteen days. So when Lynell Mize stands in line to Register the man who abused her as a child, she’s shocked to hear a stranger as he Registers her to be killed. Why would anyone who doesn't know her squander his one legal murder on her? Desperate to survive the next two weeks, Lynell soon discovers that multiple strangers have used their Registration on her. Along the way, she reunites with her estranged husband who is determined to dig up a past Lynell prefers to keep buried. With only days left to live, Lynell is determined to uncover the truth and survive a destiny not of her choosing.

Netflix has unveiled a first-look image and announced the release date for director Scott Cooper’s new film, The Pale Blue Eye, starring Christian Bale. The Pale Blue Eye, adapted from the novel by Louis Bayard, is a Gothic thriller set in 1830, where veteran detective Augustus Landor (Bale) investigates a series of murders at the United States Military Academy in West Point, New York. He is aided by Edgar Allan Poe (Harry Melling), a young cadet at the academy. The film’s all-star ensemble cast also includes Gillian Anderson, Lucy Boynton, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Toby Jones, Harry Lawtey, Simon McBurney, Timothy Spall, Hadley Robinson, Joey Brooks, Brennan Cook, Gideon Glick, Fred Hechinger, and Matt Helm.

TELEVISION/STREAMING SERVICES

Bill Camp will reunite with his American Rust and The Looming Tower co-star Jeff Daniels in A Man in Full, Netflix's limited series from David E. Kelley and Regina King that's based on Tom Wolfe's 1998 novel. The story centers around Atlanta real estate mogul Charlie Croker (Daniels), who faces sudden bankruptcy as his political and business interests collide and he has to defend his empire from those attempting to capitalize on his fall from grace. Camp will play Harry Zale, known in business circles as "The Workout Artiste," a term to describe the "bootcamps" he puts debtors through. Zale stands between any hope Charlie (Daniels) has of saving his business empire. The cast also includes Diane Lane, William Jackson Harper, Tom Pelphrey, Aml Ameen, Sarah Jones, Jon Michael Hill, and Chanté Adams.

Netflix has revealed the cast and released a first-look image of its upcoming Australian original drama series, Boy Swallows Universe, based on Trent Dalton’s bestselling book. An all-Aussie production, the eight-part limited series stars Travis Fimmel (Vikings), Simon Baker (The Mentalist), and Phoebe Tonkin (H₂O: Just Add Water). The publisher’s synopsis reads: "A lost father, a mute brother, a junkie mum, a heroin dealer for a stepfather and a notorious crime [sic] for a babysitter. It’s not as if Eli Bell’s life isn’t complicated enough already. He’s just trying to follow his heart and understand what it means to be a good man, but fate keeps throwing obstacles in his way — not the least of which is Tytus Broz, a legendary Brisbane drug dealer." The cast also includes Felix Cameron, Lee Tiger Halley, Bryan Brown, Anthony LaPaglia, and Sophie Wilde.

French private broadcaster TF1 has picked up the crime thriller series, Syndrome E, the first TV series adapted from the work of international best-selling thriller writer, Franck Thilliez. Distributor Newen Connect also has plans to showcase the series at Unifrance Rendez-Vous, the international sales event for French programs. The series is an edgy dark thriller centered on 45-year-old Franck Sharko, a surly, loner cop haunted by the death of his daughter Eugenie, who appears to him in taunting visions. It’s gotten even worse with his latest investigation, a mysterious case of missing children and a disturbing 1960s movie that spurs people who watch it to commit bizarre and dangerous acts. Detective Lucie Hennebelle is a 35-year-old single mom who joins forces with Sharko after realizing events in her own past could be tied to the case. The two beleaguered inspectors form an electrifying duo as they conduct an investigation that leads them from Morocco to Canada, shedding light on dark and troubling scientific experiments.

LevelK has boarded the Icelandic crime drama, Cold, directed by Erlingur Óttar Thoroddsen and based on the bestselling book, The Undesired (Kuldi) by Yrsa Sigurdardóttir. The story centers on Óðinn, living alone with his daughter Rún. As he investigates decades-old deaths at a juvenile treatment center, he begins to suspect that the sinister secrets are connected to his ex-wife’s mysterious suicide as well as his daughter’s strange behavior.

PODCASTS/VIDEO/RADIO/AUDIO

The latest episode of the Crime Cafe podcast featured Debbi Mack's interview with crime writer, Kimberly McCreight, discussing her latest novel, Friends Like These, as well her other books, some of which are being adapted for the screen.

It Was a Dark and Stormy Book Club welcomed Bill and Teresa Peschel. Bill is the Pulitzer-prize winning editor behind annotations of the novels of Agatha Christie and Dorothy L. Sayers, the revivals of three books about Victorian poisoner William Palmer, and eight books of annotated fan fiction about Sherlock Holmes, including short stories about Mark Twain’s encounters with Holmes, Watson, Mycroft, and Irene Adler. He's also co-owner of Peschel Press with his wife, Teresa (who also writes science fiction under the pen name, Odessa Moon).

My Favorite Detective Stories chatted with Matt Cost, a former owner of a mystery bookstore, a video store, and a gym, as well as serving as a junior high school teacher. In 2014 he turned his hand to writing mysteries, including the Mainely Mystery series and Port Essex series, and his latest novel, Love in a Time of Hate.

The latest Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine podcast featured author collaborators Michael Bracken and Sandra Murphy and their story, "Sit. Stay. Die."

On Queer Writers of Crime, authors Rob Osler, Brad Shreve, Dea Poirier, and Neil Plakcy recommended novels they think you will love.

Crime Time FM hosts, Victoria Selman and Paul Burke, chatted with Bloody Scotland Festival Director Bob McDevitt and Scottish crime writers, Sarah Smith (Hear No Evil) and Abir Mukherjee (the Wyndham and Banerjee series), about what makes Bloody Scotland so special; the McIlvanney Prize and Scottish Debut Novel Awards; and what it takes to put on a successful hybrid festival.

The latest episode of The Red Hot Chili Writers featured Rev. Richard Coles, former rock star and vicar turned crime author, who discussed his novel, Murder at Evensong; St. Guinefort the greyhound; and the meaning of modern faith.

NPR's Weekend Edition Sunday "Books We Love" feature asked staff members to choose some of their favorite mysteries and thrillers.

THEATRE

Ken Ludwig's adaptation of Agatha Christie's novel, Murder on the Orient Express, arrives at the Drury Lane Theatre in Oakbrook Terrace, IL, from now through October 23. Just after midnight, a snowdrift stopped the Orient Express in its tracks. The next morning, an American tycoon lies dead in his compartment, stabbed, his door locked from the inside. Isolated with a killer in their midst, the passengers rely on famed detective Hercule Poirot to identify the murderer before they strike again.

Chicago's Idle Muse Theatre Company will perform The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, based on the novel by Robert Louis Stevenson, from September 22 through October 23. The new adaptation by Michael Dalberg uses a gender twist: Dr. Henri Jekyll (Brandi Jiminez Lee) struggles to endure in Victorian England, but finds the cards heavily stacked against her: with her father gone and professional prospects sabotaged, she finds herself isolated and trapped. Forced to look inward for reprieve, she manifests her own savior in Mr. Edward Hyde (Jack Sharkey) but finds the road to salvation is paved with ruin.

Miss Holmes Returns is being staged at the Lifeline Theatre in Chicago through October 16. In another gender-bending take, Miss Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Dorothy Watson are back on the case. After a string of successes in assisting Scotland Yard, a seemingly clear-cut murder case finds itself at the detective’s feet. The powers that be know for certain the murderer was a young woman of immigrant heritage, but Holmes and Watson aren’t as sure. Can they find the truth before the authorities catch and convict their suspect?