Media Murder for Monday

I apologize for the delay, but Typepad just moved to new servers, and service has been down and/or spotty for the past few days. Anyway, 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

Guy Ritchie and Jerry Bruckheimer have tapped Superman's Henry Cavill and Baby Driver star, Eiza González, to lead their World War II action spy movie, The Ministry Of Ungentlemanly Warfare. The movie is based on war correspondent and military historian Damien Lewis’s popular book of the same name and is inspired by real events, charting a secret WWII combat organization created by UK Prime Minister Winston Churchill and James Bond author, Ian Fleming. The clandestine squad’s unconventional and entirely "ungentlemanly" fighting techniques against the Nazis helped change the course of the war and in part gave birth to the modern Black Ops unit. Deadline reported that Ritchie and Bruckheimer are conceiving the project as a franchise.

Aaron Taylor-Johnson is the latest to join Ryan Gosling and Emily Blunt in the cast of Universal’s The Fall Guy, which has a March 1, 2024 release date. Production for the movie is set to begin in Australia this fall. The feature film is inspired by the 1980s series of the same name that starred Lee Majors, Douglas Barr, and Heather Thomas as Hollywood stunt performers who moonlight as bounty hunters.

The first trailer dropped for the gothic murder-mystery film, The Pale Blue Eye, based on Louis Bayard’s 2006 historical fiction novel of the same name. The Pale Blue Eye takes place in 1830 at the United States’ famed Military Academy, West Point. An unknown killer is stalking the campus, slaying several members of the school, which leads to the arrival of a detective (Christian Bale) in hopes of solving the case. But, all is not as it seems at the well-disciplined academy as the detective begins to unravel a tangled web of secrets. In the middle of it all, penning the horrific happenings into prose form, is a young cadet named Edgar Allen Poe (Harry Melling). The film also stars Robert Duvall, Gillian Anderson, and Lucy Boynton.

TELEVISION/STREAMING SERVICES

FX has given a green light to The Bends, a drama pilot from Homicide creator, Paul Attanasio, and Fargo executive producer, Warren Littlefield. Written by Attanasio and based on the novel Killing Ground by Gerald Seymour, the thriller series follows a seemingly perfect American family in Berlin whose secrets come to light when they hire a new nanny, unaware that she is trying to expose the parents’ corrupt financial and familial ties. Mike Barker (Hit & Run) will direct the pilot.

Amazon Studios has ordered a new Alex Cross series, with Aldis Hodge (Black Adam, One Night In Miami) set to portray the titular character. The project is based on the best-selling book series by James Patterson featuring Alex Cross, a detective and forensic psychologist uniquely capable of digging into the psyches of killers and their victims, in order to identify—and ultimately capture—the murderers. A doting father and family man, Cross is single-minded to the point of obsession when he hunts killers. The Alex Cross book series has previously been adapted for film with Morgan Freeman serving as the first actor to bring the character to life in 1997’s Kiss The Girls and again in 2001’s Along Came a Spider. Tyler Perry followed with the 2012 reboot film, Alex Cross.

The reason Aldis Hodge is available to star in the Alex Cross series is that his most recent project, City on a Hill, was just cancelled by Showtime after 3 Seasons. The '90s-set crime drama starred Hodge along with Kevin Bacon and was based on an idea by Ben Affleck and creator, Charlie MacLean. The drama launched in 2019 and featured Bacon as a retired FBI agent working with a city prosecutor (Hodge) solving crimes in Boston. Ben Affleck, Matt Damon, and Barry Levinson executive produced alongside showrunner Tom Fontana, Bacon, and Hodge.

Mike Caron's new production company has set a small-screen adaptation of the mystery series Monster Kid Detective Squad as one of his first projects. Monster Kid Detective Squad is set in Frightsville and follows characters such as Elsie Frankenstein, a super-strong young monster, Sherry Dracula, a young, headstrong vampire, and Rico Gillman, a young sea monster. The book series is written by Jason Henderson and In Churl Yo and published by Castle Bridge Media.

Betsy Brandt and Michael Park have joined the cast of Hulu’s psychological drama series, Saint X, adapted from Alexis Schaitkin’s novel. The eight-part drama is told via multiple timelines and perspectives and explores and upends the girl-gone-missing genre as it explains how a young woman’s mysterious death during an idyllic Caribbean vacation creates a traumatic ripple effect that eventually pulls her surviving sister into a dangerous pursuit of the truth. Brandt and Park will play Mia Thomas and Bill Thomas, upper middle class parents of two, enjoying a family vacation in a Caribbean resort until one of their daughters goes missing.

Lana Parrilla (Why Women Kill) and Yaya DaCosta (Chicago Med) have joined the cast of Netflix’s The Lincoln Lawyer for Season 2 in recurring roles. Parrilla will play Lisa Trammell, a beloved chef and community advocate struggling to keep her restaurant afloat as a predatory real estate developer threatens the neighborhood around her. DaCosta will portray Andrea Freemann, a cut-throat prosecutor and Mickey Haller’s (Manuel Garcia-Rulfo) undefeated courtroom rival, who is also a friend of his ex-wife Maggie (Neve Campbell). Based on the series of bestselling novels by Michael Connelly, The Lincoln Lawyer follows the redemption of Haller, a Los Angeles attorney who regains much of what he lost due to addiction with hard work and hustle. His success is also thanks to his devoted supporters: his ex-wives Maggie (Neve Campbell) and Lorna (Becki Newton), his driver and unofficial sponsor Izzy (Jazz Raycole), and the best investigator in town—and Lorna’s newly minted fiancé—Cisco (Angus Sampson).

Peacock debuted the first teaser for Poker Face, the murder mystery drama created by Rian Johnson, and announced the series will premiere on Jan. 26 with four episodes followed by weekly drops on Thursdays. A 10-episode mystery-of-the-week series, Poker Face follows Charlie Cale (Natasha Lyonne), who has an extraordinary ability to determine when someone is lying. She hits the road with her Plymouth Barracuda and with every stop encounters a new cast of characters and strange crimes she can’t help but solve. The cast of guest stars includes Adrien Brody, Benjamin Bratt, Chloë Sevigny, Nick Nolte, Rhea Perlman, Ron Perlman, and many more.

Last week, I reported that The Hardy Boys series on Hulu had been cancelled after three seasons, and now it appears that the Nancy Drew series on The CW Network is also ending after season 4. The decision to end Nancy Drew is not unexpected, and the Season 4 finale has been crafted as a "satisfying series finale." Nancy Drew follows the legendary teen detective (Kennedy McMann) as she solves mysteries – both earthbound and supernatural – in her haunted hometown of Horseshoe Bay, Maine. Also starring were Scott Wolf, Leah Lewis, Maddison Jaizani, Tunji Kasim, Alex Saxon, and Riley Smith.

Fox has unveiled the first promo for its upcoming anthology drama, Accused, a project which hails from 24 executive producers, Howard Gordon and Alex Gansa, and House creator, David Shore. The series is based on the BBC’s crime anthology where each episode opens in a courtroom on the accused without knowing their crime or how they ended up on trial. In the Fox version, which is keeping the original’s anthology format, viewers discover how an ordinary person got caught up in an extraordinary situation, ultimately revealing how one wrong turn leads to another until it’s too late to turn back. The stellar cast includes Rachel Bilson, Whitney Cummings, Abigail Breslin, Michael Chiklis, Margo Martindale, Molly Parker, Rhea Perlman, Malcolm-Jamal Warner and more.

PODCASTS/VIDEO/RADIO/AUDIO

On the latest episode of the Crime Cafe podcast, Debbi Mack interviewed travel memoir and crime writer, Sherry Knowlton, author of the Alexa Williams suspense novels.

It Was a Dark and Stormy Book Club featured "Rapid Reviews October 2022."

On Read or Dead, Katie and Kendra discussed novels with villain POV characters.

Intelligence historian and author, Nigel West, joined Spybrary podcast host, Shane Whaley, to share more about his latest book, Spies Who Changed History; plus, he answered questions on the Wilson Coup, the Steele Dossier, meeting Anthony Blunt, and many more topics.

My Favorite Detective Stories welcomed Catriona McPherson, author of the Dandy Gilver historical detective stories, the Last Ditch mysteries set in California, and several contemporary standalone novels including the Edgar-finalist, The Day She Died, and the Mary Higgins Clark finalist, Strangers at the Gate.

Writers Detective Bureau host, Detective Adam Richardson, interviewed Matthew Gentile about writing and directing his new feature film, American Murderer. This true-crime inspired movie stars Tom Pelphrey, Ryan Phillippe, Idina Menzel, and Jackie Weaver.

On Crime Time FM, Paul Burke looked at the latest crime fiction titles for September and October, which includes a tour of the world of crime fiction from America to Asia via Europe and Australia and across two millennia.

The latest episode of Red Hot Chili Writers featured a chat with auhors Claire McGowan and David Beckler; a discussion of the Sri Lankan winner of this year's Booker Prize; and a reflection on Ireland's infamous "vanishing triangle" disappearances of women in the 1990s.

Mystery Melange - Halloween Edition

Sri Lankan writer Shehan Karunatilaka's acclaimed novel, The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida, has won the 2022 Booker Prize, one of the most prestigious literary awards in the English language. The book is a whodunit and a satire set against the backdrop of Sri Lanka's long-running civil war in the 1980s and '90s. The main character, Maali Almeida, war photographer, gambler and closet gay, has woken up dead in what seems to be a celestial visa office. His dismembered body is sinking in the Beira Lake and he has no idea who killed him. At a time when scores are settled by death squads, suicide bombers and hired goons, the list of suspects is depressingly long. But even in the afterlife, time is running out for Maali. He has "seven moons" to try and contact the man and woman he loves most and lead them to a hidden cache of photos that will rock Sri Lanka.

Time is running out to apply for the William F. Deeck-Malice Domestic Grants Program for Unpublished Writers, sponsored by the Malice Domestic Conference. The Grant program is designed to foster quality Malice Domestic literature (think "Agatha Christie") and to assist mystery authors on the road to publication. The Grant may be used to offset registration, travel, or other expenses related to attendance at a writers’ conference or workshop within a year of the date of the award. In the case of nonfiction, the grant may be used to offset research expenses. The grant includes a $2,500 award plus a comprehensive registration for the upcoming convention and two nights’ lodging at the convention hotel, but does not include travel to the convention or meals. For more information and submission guidelines, follow this link, but hurry because the deadline is November 1.

BBC Maestro announced its latest course, Writing Popular Fiction, from multi-million bestselling author Lee Child. The course will cover a rare look into how Lee created his iconic Jack Reacher series, his unique creative process, and how he put as much thought into planning his career as an author as he did into his prose. Spanning over 6 hours and presented in Lee’s inimitable style, the 35 bespoke course lessons include: Ditch the Airs and Graces, Research is a Dish Best Served Cold, Don’t Fall in Love with Your Hero, How Not to Make Your Reader Seasick, If You Want to be a Writer, You Have to be a Reader First, and The Back End of a Big Machine.

Noir at the Bar LA is headed back to the Mandrake Bar November 6th at 7pm. Authors currently scheduled to read from their work include Rachel Howzell Hall, Sascha Rothchild, Adam Frost, August Norman, Jennifer J. Chow, Ashley Erwin, J. August Williams, Lawrence Allan, and Eric Beetner. There's something for everyone this time around, from hardboiled to cozy to suspense to grit lit.

Writing for The World of Chinese, writer Jesse Young investigated China’s long quest to produce a great crime novel.

We have to say good-bye to another mystery bookshop, it seems. The independent store, Number 10, in East Lancashire in the UK, closed its doors this past weekend. Owner, Zoë Channing, said it was a difficult decision to make. "Having survived the pandemic, illness, bereavement and Covid, this latest blow to indie retail is impossible to overcome." The book shop, which specializes in crime fiction, opened in 2019.

Author Ian Rankin (the Inspector Rebus series) has been honored as Beath High School has named its English faculty after the writer. Rankin attended Beath High as a youngster and following his knighthood this summer, the school decided to mark the achievement of its former pupil. Steve Ross, Rector, noted, "We already have the 'Sir James Black Science Faculty' in the school - it was a cause for real celebration when Sir Ian agreed to the naming of English after him." Rankin recently delivered a speech at Beath High's Senior Awards ceremony, where a plaque marking the Sir Ian Rankin English Faculty was unveiled.

Janet Rudolph updated her annual list of Halloween crime fiction for her Mystery Fanfare blog. The list includes mysteries that take place on or around Halloween. She also has a separate Day of the Dead list.

Kings River Life has some free online Halloween mystery stories to chill and thrill you, including "When a Prank Goes Bad" by John R. Clark; "Forever Yours" by James Patrick Focarile; and "Just Desserts" by S. Phillip Lenski.

Authors at the Mystery Lovers Kitchen blog offered up some Halloween recipes to spice up your holiday, including Butternut Squash Cinnamon Crumb Coffee Cake from Lucy Burdette; Red Lentil Soup with North African Spices courtesy of Molly MacRae; and Mini Pumpkin Pies by way of Terry Ambrose.

This week's crime poem at the 5-2 weekly is "Aldebaran: Killer" by S.B. Watson.

In the Q&A roundup, this year's Noirwich 2022 featured Yelena Moskovich, an award-winning Soviet-Ukrainian American and French novelist of The Natashas, Virtuoso, and A Door Behind A Door, reflecting on the volatility and mutability of the written word and the world, and the question of what if crime wasn’t a story being told, but a language being spoken?; Author Interviews spoke with novelist, screenwriter, and TV creator, Jason Mosberg, about his new novel, Dirty California, in which a young man descends into the Los Angeles underworld to find his family’s killer—aided by a group of strangers with their own shadowy pasts; and E.B. Davis interviewed Carol J. Perry over at the Writers Who Kill blog about High Spirits, the second book in her Haunted Haven series.

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

Picture Perfect Federation and Zurich Avenue have teamed to acquire Jeneva Rose’s bestselling psychological thriller debut novel, The Perfect Marriage. The film will be directed by Sigal Avin (Losing Alice), and the script is being penned by Oscar-nominated scribe William Broyles (Apollo 13 and Cast Away). The story follows Sarah Morgan, a successful defense attorney whose life gets flipped upside down when her husband is accused of murdering his mistress. She decides to take her husband’s case and at trial, the couple is pulled into a twisted game of cat and mouse as they re-examine their relationship while dealing with life-changing consequences.

George Gallo is teaming with Green Book Oscar winner Nick Vallelonga to produce The Accidental Gangster, a new thriller based on reformed gangster Orlando "Ori" Spado’s bestselling autobiography of the same name. The former will also direct from a script by the author’s son, Anthony Spado, and David Steenhoek. Prior to leaving the mob, Ori Spado was an associate of NYC Colombo Crime Family underboss Sonny Franzese, as well as Los Angeles Family underboss Jimmy Caci, and Joey Pyle, who led the London-based criminal organization known as The Firm. He worked as a fixer in both Hollywood and New York and went on to pull off numerous jobs and heists during his time with the mafia, after working for a time as an insurance salesman. In 1997, one particular FBI Agent told Spado, “I will see the day you are chained, shackled and put on Con Air and brought to Brooklyn” — and 11 years later, in 2008, he made it happen.

Ron Perlman (Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio), Yolonda Ross (The Chi), and Daniel Diemer (The Midnight Club) have signed on to star opposite Liam Neeson in the mob thriller, Thug. The film revolves around an aging Boston gangster (Neeson) who attempts to reconnect with his children and rectify the mistakes in his past, though the criminal underworld won’t loosen its grip willingly. Tony Gayton (Hell on Wheels) wrote the screenplay.

TELEVISION/STREAMING SERVICES

Showtime is developing All Her Little Secrets, a drama based on Wanda M. Morris’s bestselling novel, starring and executive produced by Emmy winner Uzo Aduba. The project hails from writer Aurin Squire (Evil) who penned the pilot. The limited series centers on Ellice Littlejohn (Aduba), a Black female lawyer rising to the top of the corporate ladder. When she gets caught up in an affair and a mysterious conspiracy that puts her at risk of being the primary suspect and the next target, Ellice’s perfect façade starts to crumble as she scrambles to hold onto all she has earned, protect her family, and stay alive. Timely themes of race, class, gender, and power are explored in this fast-paced, mystery thriller.

Jessica Fellowes’s Mitford Murders series, published by Sphere, has been optioned for television by Endor Productions. While following the fortunes of the real Mitford family over three decades, each installment in the novel series also focused on one of the six Mitford sisters, fusing their lives with crime fiction stories inspired by real events. The project will see Sherry Marsh (Vikings and Pose) serving as executive producer, with Bafta-nominated screenwriter Helen Black adapting the books for the screen.

CBS announced they were giving full-season orders to three shows including East New York, the No. 2 new series on any network, and Sunday’s No. 1 new program with 7.37 million viewers. Regina Haywood stars as the new boss of the 74th Precinct in East New York who uses creative methods to serve and protect during a time of social upheaval.

Hulu unveiled a trailer for Welcome To Chippendales, created by Robert Siegel and inspired by the book, Deadly Dance: The Chippendales Murders by K. Scot Macdonald and Patrick MontesDeOca. It stars Kumail Nanjiani as Somen "Steve" Banerjee, the founder of Chippendales, who rose to fame with his revolutionary adult business venture only to tank it all with shady practices behind the scenes involving not just money, but murder.

HBO took to Twitter to inform fans that the Perry Mason series – starring Matthew Rhys as the titular private eye – has begun filming and that it will return in February 2023. According to Collider, cast member Shea Wigham added that the series will move into 1933 and the end of prohibition. The Perry Mason series is based on the novels written by Erle Stanley Gardner and featured in another TV series (1957-1966) starring Raymond Burr in the title role.

PODCASTS/VIDEO/RADIO/AUDIO

This past week, CBS Saturday featured Lee Child and Andrew Child, authors of No Plan B: A Jack Reacher Novel.

A new Mysteryrat's Maze Podcast is up featuring a mystery short story perfect for your Halloween listening, "The Artists of Chartres Street" by Ellen Byron, as read by actor Amelia Ryan.

Connecticut Public Radio's Colin McEnroe Show featured a panel, including Martin Edwards, Gene Seymour, Alexandra Petri, and Nick Quah, discussing why we're drawn to crime fiction and crime television shows and podcasts.

On It Was a Dark and Stormy Book Club, Bruce Robert Coffin stopped by to discuss his opinion of the accuracy of Police Procedurals. Coffin is a retired police detective sergeant and bestselling author of the Detective Byron Mysteries.

Writers Detective Bureau host, detective Adam Richardson, talked about the differences between UK and US Crime Scene Investigation; the ramifications of a detective lying about immunity to a witness; and how police might obtain Ring doorbell footage.

On the latest Read or Dead, Katie and Kendra discussed novels with villain POV characters.

Zoe Sharp stopped by Crime Time FM to discuss the why and how of self-publishing, the benefits and pitfalls, how to go about marketing your books, what works and what doesn't, snobbery in the publishing industry, Amazon, Ian Rankin, and advertising in a public toilet.

My Favorite Detective Stories chatted with Lori Duffy Foster, a former crime reporter who writes nonfiction and fiction, including her debut novel, A Dead Man’s Eyes, the first in the Lisa Jamison mystery/suspense series.

In the new episode of the Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine podcast, Yorkshire-based author and journalist, Pat Black, read the thrilling murder mystery set in Glasgow, "The Man in the Long Dark Coat," from the May/June 2022 issue.

Some Irish Eyes are Smiling

The shortlists were announced for this year’s An Post Irish Book Awards, which celebrates Irish writing in eighteen categories.The public are now being asked to cast their votes online for the best books of the year on the An Post Irish Book Awards website. Voters may cast their votes until voting closes on November 10. The winners will be announced at a live in-person ceremony, hosted by RTÉ’s Miriam O’Callaghan, on November 23 in the Convention Centre in Dublin. Here are this year's nods for the Irish independent Crime Fiction Book of the Year:

Shortlists for Irish Independent Crime Fiction Book of the Year

• Remember my Name – Sam Blake (Corvus)
  
• Run Time – Catherine Ryan Howard (Corvus)
  
• Breaking Point – Edel Coffey (Sphere)
• The Accomplice – Steve Cavanagh (Orion)
• The Interview – Gill Perdue (Sandycove)
• Hide and Seek – Andrea Mara (Transworld)

Mystery Melange

 

The 2022 NoirCon returns this weekend, Friday, Oct. 21 through Sunday, Oct. 23, marking the first time the event has held a virtual conference. The three-day symposium celebrates noir in all its artistic incarnations with live and pre-recorded events, including panel discussions, award ceremonies, author talks, art exhibitions, movie screenings, and more. Registration includes access to the Accelevents platform for 30 days after the event, so attendees can re-watch events or catch up on panels they missed. The award winners this year include Megan Abbott, Marcia Muller, Bill Pronzini, and Sarah Weinman, and conference organizers will also be celebrating the 2018 award winners, Walter Mosley, Geoffrey O'Brien, Dana Polan, and Max Rudin after the biannual event was cancelled due to Covid.

Author and academic Preti Taneja has won the 2022 Gordon Burn prize for Aftermath, her "unflinching work of narrative non-fiction." The winning title is about the London Bridge stabbing in 2019, when 28-year-old terrorist, Usman Khan, attacked five people, two fatally. Taneja realized shortly afterwards that she had known Khan when he was a student in a creative writing class she had taught two years earlier in HMP Whitemoor, where he was incarcerated at the time. Guardian reviewer, Helen Pidd, praised Aftermath and the way the author "blends journalism, memoir, poetry and literary criticism in an attempt to process an event she will never truly understand." The genre-blurring book topped a six-strong shortlist that was judged by a jury chaired by crime writer, Denise Mina.

The ECPA announced the finalists for the Christy Awards for 2022. The award has been honoring and promoting excellence in Christian fiction since 1999. This year's finalists in the Mystery/Suspense/Thriller category include Aftermath by Terri Blackstock; The Barrister and the Letter of Marque by Todd M. Johnson; and On the Cliffs of Foxglove Manor by Jaime Jo Wright.

All About Agatha is a podcast I sometimes featured on my Media Murder for Monday blog posts. I had wondered why the podcast seemed to have stopped publishing new episodes in September, and I recently learned that one of the original co-host Catherine Brobeck, had passed away from a previously undetected genetic disorder just days after her 37th birthday. She and Kemper Donovan established the long-running podcast and set out to read and rank all of Christie's 66 mystery novels and discuss them in exhaustive detail. During their six-year odyssey, thousands of Agatha Christie enthuasists from around the world enjoyed what one listener described as a "joyfully geeky" take on the Queen of Crime's expansive canon. Donovan and Brobeck also lectured at the University of Cambridge on the collective catharsis of the denouement (when the detective gathers everyone in the drawing room to reveal the killer), gave media interviews on the steady stream of new Christie adaptations, and became beloved pillars of the close-knit community of devout Christie fans and scholars. At the time of Brobeck's death, she and Donovan had explored 60 novels. With just six left to review, Donovan decided to keep the podcast going. The final novel episode of "All About Agatha," released in September, was dedicated to Curtain, the last book published in Christie's lifetime.

The British Antique Museum in Kamakura City, Japan, includes a Sherlock Holmes Room that pays tribute to the Great Detective and features Victorian/Edwardian furnishings. It is modeled after the Sherlock Holmes Museum in London, situated at 221B Baker Street, which, according to the stories of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, was where Holmes resided from 1881 to 1904. The rooms have been faithfully maintained to give visitors from all round the globe an insight into the life and stories of the world’s first consulting detective, and a memorable, authentic experience of Victorian London. The four-storey Georgian townhouse dates back to 1815 and once served for many decades as a lodging house, but is now listed to protect its architectural and cultural heritage, boasting a blue plaque to commemorate the period of Holmes’ residency. The Sherlock Holmes Museum opened its iconic front door in 1990, and now attracts thousands of visitors from all over the world making a pilgrimage to the home of their literary hero. (HT to Elizabeth Foxwell at the Bunburyist blog)

Here's a news item from the truth-is-stranger-than-fiction department:  apparently, Oakland Cops hope to arm robots with lethal shotguns. What could possibly go wrong?

This week's crime poem at the 5-2 weekly is "Heave Ho" by Rena J. Worley.

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

Emmy and SAG winning actress, Debra Messing, is in advance talks to join the Warner Bros mob drama, Wise Guys, taking on the role of Bobbie, the faithful wife of Robert De Niro kingpin, Frank Costello. Wise Guys is a period piece that follows the story of Vito Genovese and Frank Costello, a pair of Italian Americans running two separate crime families during the mid-20th century. Genovese tried and failed to assassinate Costello in 1957, though the latter wound up taking his leave from the mob after being injured during the attempt on his life. De Niro is reportedly playing both roles.

20th Century Studios has announced the ensemble cast of A Haunting in Venice, director Kenneth Branagh’s third installment in his series of Hercule Poirot films based on Agatha Christie novels. Branagh will reprise his role as Poirot, with Tina Fey, Jamie Dornan, Michelle Yeoh, Kyle Allen, Camille Cottin, Jude Hill, Ali Khan, Emma Laird, Kelly Reilly, and Riccardo Scamarico rounding out the cast. Inspired by Christie’s Hallowe’en Party, the story is set in post-WWII Venice on All Hallows’ Eve, where the now-retired Poirot, living in self-imposed exile, reluctantly attends a séance at a haunted palazzo—where one of the guests is murdered

Following a competitive bidding war, Universal Pictures has landed the rights to Marcus Kliewer’s short story, "The Caretaker," with Sydney Sweeney attached to star and produce and Karl Gajdusek adapting the script. Like Kliewer's previous short story, "We Used to Live Here," the new story was published on Reddit where it was snapped up in a huge deal. "The Caretaker" tells the story of a young woman who accepts a caretaking job from Craigslist and quickly discovers her responsibilities have stakes far greater—and more dangerous—than she ever could have imagined.

Gaia Scodellaro is set to join Denzel Washington and Dakota Fanning in Antoine Fuqua’s The Equalizer 3 for Sony Pictures. Written by Richard Wenk, the film will be released in theaters on Sept. 1, 2023, and delves more into the mysterious past of Denzel Washington’s enigmatic avenging angel, all while taking him on a global adventure.

TELEVISION/STREAMING SERVICES

A high-profile TV series project based on Herbert Asbury’s 1927 non-fiction book, The Gangs of New York, is headed for streaming on Miramax Television. Oscar winner, Martin Scorsese, who directed the 2002 feature adaptation of the book, is attached to executive produce the potential series and direct the first two episodes. Details about the drama, from playwright/TV writer Brett Leonard, are sketchy but Deadline reported this is a new take on the story with characters who weren't featured in the movie (that starred Leonardo DiCaprio, Daniel Day-Lewis, and Cameron Diaz). Asbury’s book details the confrontations between rival gangs in New York in the mid- to late-1800s, prior to the domination of the Italian-American Mafia during Prohibition in the 1920s. Scorsese was previously attached to a different TV series adaptation of The Gangs Of New York, whose development was also announced by rights holder Miramax in 2013. It was to follow organized gangs not only in New York but in other cities such as Chicago and New Orleans and chronicle the birth of organized crime in America.

Channel 4 has cast Harry Potter's Natalia Tena and BAFTA winner, Chanel Cresswell, as Rebekah Vardy and Coleen Rooney in its upcoming "Wagatha Christie" courtroom drama, with Michael Sheen set to play high-profile barrister David Sherborne. Vardy v Rooney: A Courtroom Drama will recreate the high-stakes UK High Court defamation case between the two earlier this year, in which Rooney famously tried to call out Vardy for selling news stories about her to the tabloids using sleuth tactics, thus dubbed Wagatha Christie. The pair’s husbands, the England footballers Wayne Rooney and Jamie Vardy, will be played by Dion Lloyd and Marci Nagyszokolyai, while Simon Coury will play Rooney’s barrister, Hugh Tomlinson. There has been huge media interest in the case since it wrapped in July, with Vardy losing and having to pay hundreds of thousands of pounds. Both Discovery+ and Disney+ have greenlit documentaries about the case.

Michael Beach (Dahmer: Monster), Joshua Colley (Senior Year), and Lindsey Gort (All Rise) have joined the cast of Dead Boy Detectives, HBO Max’s upcoming drama series based on the DC Comics characters created by Neil Gaiman, in key recurring roles. The trio will join series stars George Rexstrew, Jayden Revri, and Kassius Nelson in the eight-part series that explores loss, grief, and death through the lens of Edwin Payne (Rexstrew) and Charles Rowland (Revri), two dead British teenagers, and their very alive friend, Crystal Palace (Nelson). As Deadline describes it, it’s "a lot like a vintage detective series—only darker and on acid."

Hulu’s The Hardy Boys is coming to an end and will conclude with its third season on the streamer, set to air next year. The story will pick up after the cliffhanger of the Season 2 finale, as the Hardys continue piecing together their great-grandfather’s map to find a powerful relic and keep it away from evil. The third and final season will also welcome a guest star in Bailee Madison (Pretty Little Liars: Original Sin). She’ll play Drew Darrow, a "fun but often frustrating new ally with a brilliant mind and appetite for magic and mysteries." Madison joins returning cast members Rohan Campbell, Alexander Elliot, Keana Lyn, Adam Swain, Cristian Perry, Riley O’Donnell, and Krista Nazaire.

Hulu has ordered ten episodes of Interior Chinatown, a drama series from 20th Television and creator/exec producer Charles Yu, who wrote the 2020 bestseller of the same name. Jimmy O. Yang (Crazy Rich Asians) will star, and Taika Waititi (Jojo Rabbit) will direct the pilot and executive produce. Yang will play Willis Wu, a background actor in a procedural cop show called Black & White. Relegated to the background, Willis goes through the motions of his on-screen job, waiting tables and dreaming about a whole world beyond Chinatown. When he inadvertently becomes a witness to a crime, Willis begins to unravel a criminal web in Chinatown, and in the process discovers what it feels like to be in the spotlight.

PODCASTS/VIDEO/RADIO/AUDIO

Speaking of Mysteries chatted with Susan Elia MacNeal about her just-published stand-alone thriller, Mother, Daughter, Traitor, Spy. Inspired by the true story of mother and daughter Grace and Sylvia Comfort—who risked their lives to infiltrate Nazi strongholds in Los Angeles during World War II—MacNeal spins their tale into a story of treason and sedition that is as chilling as it is prescient.

The Red Hot Chili Writers paid tribute to the late Booker-winning novelist Hilary Mantel, author of Wolf Hall; discussed medieval medical cures involving baked owls; and examined the Declaration of Arbroath.

My Favorite Detective Stories welcomed Ausma Zehanat Khan to the podcast. In addition to holding a Ph.D. in international human rights law, Khan practiced immigration law in Toronto and has taught at Northwestern University and York University. Her novel, The Unquiet Dead won the Barry, Arthur Ellis, and RT Reviewers Choice Awards for Best First Novel. In A Deadly Divide, the fifth and latest book in the series, Detectives Khattak and Getty investigate a mosque shooting in Quebec, and explore the after-effects of a rising tide of Islamophobia in both the province and the nation. Khan also has a new crime series forthcoming with Minotaur Books which features American-Muslim detective, Inaya Rahman.

Mystery Melange

Along with many other fans, I was saddened to hear that Angela Lansbury had taken her final curtain call, passing away just weeks shy of her 97th birthday. As The New Yorker observed, Lansbury's career, like the reign of Queen Elizabeth II, spanned so many decades and cultural upheavals "that she seemed as constant and as comforting as the blue sky above." She wowed fans beginning with her breakout role as the saucy Cockney maid in 1944's Gaslight—she was seventeen at the time and nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress—to her role as a witch-in-training in Bedknobs and Broomsticks, to creating the role of Mrs. Lovett, the rolling-pin-wielding serial killer’s accomplice in Stephen Sondheim and Hugh Wheeler’s Broadway musical, Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street. She received three Oscar nominations total, including her chilling role in The Manchurian Candidate, and won six Tony Awards, including one for Lifetime Achievement. I suspect that most people in the crime fiction community will always remember her best for her iconic role as amateur sleuth, Jessica Fletcher, on Murder She Wrote. There have been countless tributes, including this one from The Guardian that called her "a national treasure," and many more touting her warmth, kindness, and generosity. She was also a devoted mother and once managed to save her daughter from being under the spell of notorious cult leader and killer, Charles Manson. She will be sorely missed by family, friends, and fans, but her legacy will certainly live on for many years to come.

We also lost author Peter Robinson this past week when he died at the age of 72 after a brief illness. The British-born novelist whose work included poetry and short stories as well as his bestselling thrillers, will be remembered as a master of plot and character. Robinson was best known for his novels featuring Inspector Banks, the first of which was published 35 years ago. The books were adapted into the TV drama series, DCI Banks, which ran between 2010 and 2016 and starred Stephen Tompkinson in the titular role. A total of 8.75 million copies of Robinson's books have been sold by his U.K. publishers Hodder & Stoughton and Pan Macmillan, and his books have been translated into 19 languages.

Amazon’s Kindle Storyteller Award 2022 shortlist was announced and includes a couple of crime fiction titles, Ann Girdharry's psychological thriller, The Woman in Room 19, and JD Kirk's City of Scars, the 14th book in his DCI Logan Scottish crime fiction series. The award was established in 2016 to celebrate exceptional writing, giving both bestselling and emerging authors the chance to win a literary prize of £20,000. This year's winner will be revealed at a ceremony in London on October 24 by guest judge and bestselling author, Adam Kay.

Ian Fleming Publications Ltd. announced it will begin publishing James Bond books under its own imprint in spring 2023, touting the move as one that "marks an exciting future for 007." Fleming’s original Bond novels and short story collections will be available starting April 13, exactly 70 years to the day after Ian Fleming first introduced special agent 007 to the world with the publication of Casino Royale. The family company that owns the literary copyright to his literary works had partnered with Random House and Penguin for many years, but the new enterprise's managing director, Corinne Turner, explained that they felt it was time for a change of direction and "we hope our new editions will reach as wide an audience as possible, attracting long-time readers as well those who have yet to discover the Bond novels.” (HT to The Rap Sheet)

CrimeReads explored the literary blood feud between Raymond Chandler and Ross Macdonald. As the article's author, Curtis Evans, explained, "Ironically, Chandler and Macdonald may have been in more aesthetic agreement than they deigned to realize. (Certainly they both hated the novels of Mickey Spillane.)." Both Raymond Chandler and Ross Macdonald hoped to make the hard-boiled crime novel a vehicle for serious exploration of the human condition, yet neither author was able in this respect to see himself mirrored in the other.

Recently featured at the Page 69 Test was Secrets of the Nile: A Lady Emily Mystery by Tasha Alexander. In this homage to Agatha Christie, author Tasha Alexander sends Lady Emily to Egypt during British colonial rule to investigate a crime that leads back to the era of the Pharaohs.

This week's crime poem at the 5-2 weekly is "Dead to Rights" by Tony Dawson.

In the Q&A roundup, E.B. Davis interviewed Alicia Beckman about her new novel, Blind Faith, over at the Writers Who Kill blog; and the Irish Times asked, "What compels Irish female crime writers to tackle such nightmarish topics?" with insights from crime authors such as Arlene Hunt, Andrea Mara, Claire Allan, Vanessa Fox O’Loughlin (who writes as Sam Blake), Patricia Gibney, Sinead Crowley, Louise Phillips, and more. As Phillips noted, “If crime fiction acts as a mirror on society and its cultural norms, then, I guess, there are many reasons why my writing tends to explore darker issues, and why female voices are currently being heard loud and clear.”

 

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

In what marks a return to filmmaking for John Waters, Village Roadshow Pictures has optioned his new novel, Liarmouth: A Feel-Bad Romance. Waters will also write the script and direct. The novel follows Marsha Sprinkle, a suitcase thief, scammer, and master of disguise. As the book description adds, "Dogs and children hate her. Her own family wants her dead. She’s smart, she’s desperate, she’s disturbed, and she’s on the run with a big chip on her shoulder. They call her Liarmouth―until one insane man makes her tell the truth."

Production is underway on filmmaker Richard Linklater’s next film, Hitman, in New Orleans, with Retta, Molly Bernard, and Austin Amelio added to the ensemble opposite Glen Powell and Adria Arjona. Based on an article in Texas Monthly, the screenplay hails from Linklater and Top Gun: Maverick co-star Powell and tells the true story of "the most sought-after hitman in New Orleans, but if you pay him to rub out a cheating spouse or a sadistic boss, you’d better watch out: he works for the cops." When the hitman breaks protocol to help a desperate woman (Arjona) trying to get away from an abusive boyfriend, he finds himself living the life of one of his false personas, falling for the woman, and flirting with becoming a criminal himself.

For the first time, all three big exhibitors—AMC, Regal, and Cinemark—are on board with releasing a major Netflix title, the Rian Johnson-directed sequel, Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery. The movie will hit 600 theaters in the U.S. and Canada, plus additional markets overseas on Wednesday, November 23, the day before Thanksgiving. Knives Out 2 will play for one week, from Nov. 23-29, and then there will be a blackout period for the film in the remaining weeks before it hits Netflix on Dec. 23.

TELEVISION/STREAMING SERVICES

Jennifer Hillier’s novel, Little Secrets, is being adapted for the small screen on the Peacock streaming platform. Little Secrets is a female-driven mystery thriller that pays homage to the erotic thriller genre of the late 80s-early 90s and follows a desperate mother’s mission for revenge against her husband’s mistress after her child goes missing. Told in alternating perspectives between the mother and the mistress, the story dissects themes of lust, obsession, grief, and loss.

CBS is moving ahead with a "fresh take" on Arthur Conan Doyle’s classic Sherlock Holmes mystery franchise with Watson, from Aaron Kaplan’s Kapital Entertainment and CBS Studios. The medical drama with detective elements is written by Craig Sweeny, who spent five years on CBS’s Sherlock Holmes/Dr. Watson procedural, Elementary. Watson is set a year after the death of Dr. John Watson's friend and partner, Sherlock Holmes, at the hands of Moriarty. Dr. Watson resumes his medical career as the head of a clinic dedicated to treating rare disorders, addressing the greatest mystery of all: illness, and the ways it disrupts lives. As the logline adds, "Watson’s old life isn’t done with him, though—Moriarty and Watson are set to write their own chapter of a story that has fascinated audiences for more than a century."

In another Holmes-related project, Imagine Kids+Family has landed rights to Ali Standish’s upcoming multi-book series, The Improbable Tales of Baskerville Hall. The project follows a young Arthur Conan Doyle as he leaves his family to attend Baskerville Hall, a school for the extraordinarily-gifted, where he will seek to solve many mysteries with the help of his new schoolmates and teachers. Here he’ll meet the characters that will become the inspiration for his many famous novels—including Professor Sherlock Holmes, Dr. Watson, and friends like James Moriarty.

The Russo brothers have developed an international spy show called Citadel, with the series described as "a first-of-its-kind, world-building endeavor." Backed by Amazon Studios, the seven-episode saga stars Danish actor Roland Møller (as the head of a spy agency called Manticore), alongside Priyanka Chopra Jonas, Richard Madden, and Stanley Tucci. Citadel has been in the works for several years, and although the plot is being kept under close guard, Citadel intends serve as the flagship show that generates spinoffs featuring the agents carrying out missions on their home terrain.

PODCASTS/VIDEO/RADIO/AUDIO

The latest Mysteryrat's Maze podcast featured the first chapter of Trouble Down Mexico Way by Nancy Nau Sullivan, as read by actor Ariel Linn. The novel features a supernatural side, a perfect fit for Halloween month listening.

On the Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine podcast, Elizabeth Elwood, the 2022 winner of the Crime Writers of Canada Award of Excellence in the short story category, read her EQMM story, "The Light on the Lagoon," which appears in the current issue of EQMM, September/October 2022.

Crime Writers of Color featured Robert Justice's interview with Gary Phillips, author of almost twenty novels, including Matthew Henson and The Ice Temple of Harlem and One-Shot Harry.

My Favorite Detective Stories host, John Hoda, welcomed Paula Munier, a literary agent and the USA Today bestselling author of the Mercy Carr mysteries.

All About Agatha spoke with Collins UK publisher, David Brawn, who has been keeping Agatha Christie in print for over 25 years now. More recently, he’s helmed the Christie continuation projects, starting first with Charles Osborne’s novelizations, then Sophie Hannah’s Poirot books, and just last month, Marple: Twelve New Mysteries, a new collection of Miss Marple short stories by twelve different writers.

Crime Time FM chatted with Charlotte Philby, author of Edith and Kim, a historical spy novel based on the true story of the woman behind the Cambridge spies in Cold War espionage, and Luke Jennings, author of the Killing Eve trilogy, the basis for the hit TV series.

On Read or Dead this week, Katie and Kendra discussed "witchy books" that are perfect for a spooky season.

Mystery Melange

 he Capital Crime Festival handed out its Fingerprint Awards this past weekend. Winner of Crime Book of the Year was Sarah Pearse for The Sanatorium; winner of Thriller Book of the Year was S.A. Cosby’s Razorblade Tears; Laura Purcell took home the prize for Historical Crime Book of the Year for Shape of Darkness; and Abigail Dean’s Girl A won Debut Book of the Year. The Industry Award of the Year was won by HarperCollins for Girl A by Abigail Dean, and the Lifetime Achievement Award was posthumously awarded to editor, Thalia Proctor, who passed away earlier this year. For all the finalists in the various categories, follow this link.

In recognition of the legacy of Shirley Jackson’s writing, the Shirley Jackson Awards were established for outstanding achievement in the literature of psychological suspense, horror, and the dark fantastic. The Shirley Jackson Awards are voted upon by a jury of professional writers, editors, critics, and academics in the categories of Novel, Novella, Novelette, Short Fiction, Single-Author Collection, and Edited Anthology. The 2022 finalists for Outstanding Novel include All the Murmuring Bones by A.G. Slatter; Hummingbird Salamander by Jeff VanderMeer; My Heart Is a Chainsaw by Stephen Graham Jones; No Gods, No Monsters by Cadwell Turnbull; and Nothing But Blackened Teeth by Cassandra Khaw. For all the finalists in the various categories, click on over here.

The next issue of Mystery Readers Journal will focus on Legal/Law Mysteries, and editor Janet Rudolph has put out a call for reviews, articles, and Author! Author! essays. Reviews should be 50-250 words; articles, 250-1000 words; and Author! Author! Essays, which are first person pieces about yourself, your books, and your unique take on legal/law mysteries, should be 500-1000 words. Check out the full details here.

Did you know that Sherlock Holmes's creator opened a psychic bookstore? Despite Holmes's devotion to logic and reason in his detection, Sir Arthur Conan Boyle had a personal lifelong fascination with spiritualism and psychic phenomena.

Think you're an expert on all things James Bond? Try your hand at this quiz.

This week's crime poem at the 5-2 weekly is "Insanity" by Teel James Glenn.

In the Q&A roundup, Lisa Haselton welcomed authors Charles Breakfield and Rox Burkey to chat about their new techno-thriller, The Enigma Threat (book 12 of their Enigma Series), and also spoke with mystery author, Leah Cupps, about her new thriller, Never Play Fair.

 

Media Murder for Monday

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

THE BIG SCREEN/MOVIES

Netflix has preemptively landed feature rights to WIRED journalist Joseph Cox’s upcoming book, Dark Wire, which uncovers the true story of how the FBI launched a fake telecom company and became a phone service provider to some of the world’s most notorious gangs, culminating in the arrest of more than a thousand international criminals. Ozark star and director, Jason Bateman, will direct the Netflix thriller.

The next installment in the Beverly Hills Cop franchise is continuing to add to its all-star cast as Kevin Bacon is set to join Eddie Murphy in Beverly Hills Cop: Axel Foley. Production on the sequel is underway with Mark Molloy directing the Will Beall-penned script. Franchise newcomers Jospeh Gordon-Levitt and Taylour Paige are also on board, along with Judge Reinhold, John Ashton, Paul Reiser, and Bronson Pinchot who will reprise their various characters from previous installments. The franchise moved from Paramount to Netflix in the winter of 2019 and follows the adventures of Detroit cop Foley, who first appeared in the 1984 smash hit that followed him to Beverly Hills to solve the murder of a friend. It was followed by two sequels, in 1987 and 1994.

Magic Mike's Alex Pettyfer is joining the Alec Baldwin-Olga Kurylenko action spy thriller, Chief of Station, which starts production in November. Pettyfer will play John Branca, a CIA agent overseeing a European intelligence division who’s been a steady hand for more than ten years and trusted ally to Ben Malloy (played by Baldwin), a legendary CIA Chief of Station. When Ben’s wife is killed in what appears to be a terrible accident, Branca takes over Ben’s old position as head of all Eastern European clandestine operations. But where do his loyalties lie? The pic is directed by Jesse V. Johnson off a script by George Mahaffey. Chris Petrovski has also boarded the feature project and will take on the role of Ben’s son, Nick.

TELEVISION/STREAMING SERVICES

Kevin Costner’s Territory Pictures will team with Morgan Freeman and Lori McCreary's Revelations Entertainment to produce the Civil War spy drama, The Gray House, a six-hour limited series for Paramount Global. The project tells the story of the three women General Ulysses S. Grant credited as helping the North win the Civil War: a Richmond Socialite; her daughter, a formerly enslaved African-American; and a courtesan, as all three built the first successful female spy ring operating right under the noses of the Confederate High Command. The Gray House is based on an original script by Greif and Darrell Fetty (The Offer, Texas Rising) and Oscar-nominated John Sayles (Lonestar, 8 Men Out).

Robin Weigert, Abby McEnany, and Eric Graise are set as leads opposite Justin Hartley in the CBS drama pilot, The Never Game. Written by crime writer, Ben Winters, and based on a novel by fellow author, Jeffery Deaver, The Never Game follows the adventures of Colter Shaw (Hartley), who was raised by his paranoid survivalist father to be an expert tracker and now makes his living as a "rewardist," traveling America in his Airstream trailer, helping families recover their lost loved ones and their other most precious things — all while staying one step ahead of the memories that haunt him, and the unanswered questions from his past.

Alice Braga and Jimmi Simpson are set as leads opposite Joel Edgerton and Jennifer Connelly in Dark Matter, an adaptation of Blake Crouch’s acclaimed sci-fi suspense novel, at Apple TV+. Written and showrun by Crouch, the nine-episode series will follow Jason Dessen, (Edgerton) a physicist, professor, and family man who — one night while walking home on the streets of Chicago — is abducted into an alternate version of his life. Wonder quickly turns to nightmare when he tries to return to his reality amid the multiverse of lives he could have lived. In this labyrinth of mind-bending realities, he embarks on a harrowing journey to get back to his true family and save them from the most terrifying, unbeatable foe imaginable: himself.

Jim Gaffigan has joined the cast of the HBO Max limited series, Full Circle, from director Steven Soderbergh and writer Ed Solomon. He joins previously announced cast Zazie Beetz, Claire Danes, Timothy Olyphant, Dennis Quaid, Jharrel Jerome, Sheyi Cole, and CCH Pounder. The project centers on an investigation into a botched kidnapping that uncovers long-held secrets connecting multiple characters and cultures in present-day New York City. Gaffigan is believed to be playing Manny Broward, an agent at USPIS battling his own demons who is Harmony’s (Beetz) immediate supervisor.

According to The Killing Times, viewers of BBC Four’s current Saturday-night German series, KaDaWe, were treated to a trailer for season two of the Norwegian crime drama, Wisting, confirming the channel’s acquisition of the show’s second series. Sven Nordin returns as Larvik detective William Wisting, taking on two of the most challenging cases of his career— a race against time to hunt down an escaped killer before the latter can strike again, and solving the macabre mystery behind an unknown woman’s head placed on a spike in the centre of Larvik. The series is based on the best-selling books by Jørn Lier Horst, a Norwegian author of crime fiction and a former Senior Investigating Officer at Vestfold police district.

Also from The Killing Times comes word that UKTV channel, Alibi, has announced its first ever Nordic Noir acquisition, the Icelandic Black Sands (Svörtu sandar). The eight-episode series stars Aldís Amah Hamilton as Anita, a DI in her thirties, who is forced to return to the hometown she fled 14 years ago. A reckoning with her mother is inescapable, but when the body of a young woman is found, everything is upended. Anita is dragged down into the dark abyss of her past, looking for a possible serial killer and the reckoning turns into a nightmare. Black Sands was created by Aldís Amah Hamilton, Andri Óttarsson, and Ragnar Jónsson, author of the Dark Iceland series and the Hulda series as well as translator of fourteen of Agatha Christie novels.

Prime Video has set a December premiere date for Season 3 of Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan. All eight episodes of the series, starring and executive produced by John Krasinski, will launch on Wednesday, December 21, exclusively on Prime Video in more than 240 countries and territories worldwide. Season 3 of the action-thriller series finds Jack Ryan (Krasinski) on the run and in a race against time. In addition to Krasinski, also returning for the third season are Wendell Pierce as James Greer and Michael Kelly as Mike November. Joining as new series regulars are Nina Hoss as Alena Kovac and Betty Gabriel as Elizabeth Wright. Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan was previously renewed for a fourth season with Michael Peña joining the cast, although as previously reported, that season will be the series' last.

Echo 3, the action thriller series starring Luke Evans, Michiel Huisman, and Jessica Ann Collins, will premiere on Apple TV+ on Wednesday, Nov. 23, with new episodes dropping every Friday through Jan. 13. Set in South America, the series follows Amber Chesborough (Collins), a brilliant young scientist who is the emotional heart of a small American family. When Amber goes missing along the Colombia-Venezuela border, her brother, Bambi (Evans), and her husband, Prince (Huisman) — two men with deep military experience and complicated pasts — struggle to find her in a layered personal drama, set against the explosive backdrop of a secret war. Echo 3 is based on the Israeli television series When Heroes Fly and inspired by the eponymous novel by Amir Gutfreund.

PODCASTS/VIDEO/RADIO/AUDIO

The Queer Writers of Crime podcast is apparently shutting down. On the final episode, Justene recommends a book by two authors, Austin Thomas Burton, and Ripley Hayes. In addition, the entire show's team comes together to say goodbye to the authors and fans who've supported the show.

My Favorite Detective Stories welcomed New York Times bestselling author Marc Cameron, author of the Jericho Quinn thriller series, the Arliss Cutter novels, and five Tom Clancy/Jack Ryan novels for the Tom Clancy estate.

On CrimeTime FM, Trevor Wood chatted with Paul Burke about his latest novel just out in paperback, Dead End Street; characters Jimmy, Deano and Gadge; PTSD and homelessness; The People's Kitchen; writing a new stand alone novel; the writer's journey; and the editor who wanted Dog to have a girlfriend.

On the latest episode of the Red Hot Chili Writers, crime writer Erin Kelly stopped by to discuss her new novel, The Skeleton Key; chat about the phenomenon that was the queue for the Queen's coffin-viewing; and take a look at the world of professional mourners.

It Was a Dark and Stormy Book Club featured a Fright Reads Book Festival 2022 author roundup.