Mystery Melange, Christmas Edition

Several bloggers banded together to create a poll for readers to vote on the best reprint nominations of the year. The Kate Jackson, aka Armchair Reviewer over at Cross Examining Crime has posted the poll which includes the 23 nominations, 3 of which were randomly selected from the nominations put forward by blog readers. The list reflects a variety of writing styles from the mysteries, most of which were originally published in the 1930s and 1940s. Three authors managed to get two books into the poll: John Dickson Carr, Erle Stanley Gardner (one under the pen name of A. A. Fair). and Clifford Witting. You can add your vote now for up to 3 titles.

Janet Rudolph has been busy updating her ever-growing list of Christmas mysteries over at her Mystery Fanfare blog. In fact, the list is so long, it's broken down into alphabetical chunks, starting with Authors A-E; followed by Authors F-L; and finally, Authors M-Z. She's even compiled a roster of Christmas mystery novellas and short story anthologies and has a Winter Solstice list, to boot.

This is one holiday tradition we simply must start in the United States. It's time once again for Jolabokaflod, which roughly translates from Icelandic as "Christmas book flood." In this decades-old tradition, friends and loved ones in Iceland give each other a book on the night before Christmas and then spend the rest of the night curled up with that book, ideally with a cup of hot cocoa (or something stronger). But that's to be expected, I suppose from a literary country: the island nation has the most authors per capita in the world and publishes the most books per capita in the world (with five titles published for every 1,000 Icelanders). Some have even called reading a "national sport" in the country, as over half the population finishes eight or more titles a year. Even Katrin Jakobsdottir, the country’s current prime minister, literally published a crime fiction novel while in office.

"Reindeer noir" is the name given for the Finnish crime sub-genre influenced by Santa’s home town. As reported in The Guardian, books, films, and plays set in Lapland often have a "hint of dark humour" where the landscape is a looming presence.

A little bit south of Finland and Iceland, Atlas Obscura zooms in on "How Christmas Murder Mysteries Became a U.K. Holiday Tradition," with tales in which Santa has a very low survival rate.

Writing for The New York Times, Isabella Kwai says to forget Halloween and bring ghost stories back to Christmas, adding that "If your idea of festive joy is being haunted by past memories or driven insane by mysterious specters, have we got the tradition for you."

To further darken your Yuletide spirit, if you happen to be in New York tonight, head on over to Oakland's historic Grand Lake Theatre for NOIR CITY XMAS. The Film Noir Foundation is presenting in 35mm Cover Up, a 1949 noir film recently restored by UCLA Film & Television Archive, starring William Bendix, Dennis O'Keefe, and Barbara Britton. Starting off the evening is a book signing by Eddie Muller with three of his latest works: Kid Noir: Kitty Feral and the Case of the Marshmallow Monkey; Eddie Muller's NOIR BAR: Cocktails Inspired by the World of Film Noir; and Dark City: The Lost World of Film Noir.

Most Christmas movies are more in the family-friendly vein, and a former church in Ohio houses what's believed to be the world's largest privately owned collection of Christmas movie memorabilia.

The murder mystery puzzle book, Murdle, has topped the UK Christmas bestseller chart. GT Karber’s book of challenges beat out Richard Osman’s mystery novel, The Last Devil to Die, as well as Guinness World Records to notch the top spot. Murdle is based on the daily puzzle website Karber developed in 2021, and across the book’s 100 challenges, readers must use codes and maps to decipher who the killers are. It has sold more than 200,000 copies since its publication in June.

The UK's Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ) has released what has become an annual Christmas Codebreaking Challenge. Although it's aimed at young people and designed to test skills such as codebreaking, math, and analysis, adults might have some fun with it, too.

The authors at Mystery Lovers Kitchen are celebrating the season with a host of recipes and reads. You can check out a Gluten-Free Jelly Donuts recipe by Libby Klein; Cleo Coyle's Eggnog Shorbread Cookies; Apricot Pinwheels by Leslie Budewitz; Stained Glass Window Cookies via Peg Cochran; Pumpkin Chiffon Pie from Ellen Byron; and Rack of Lamb by Maya Corrigan.

The Mysteryrat's Maze Podcast has two holiday offerings. The first is the initial chapter of "Peppermint Barked" by Leslie Budewitz, a Christmas mystery read by actor Ariel Linn. The other features the Christmas mystery short story, "Santa's Helper," by John M. Floyd, read by Ren Burley.

In the Q&A roundup, Catriona McPherson, author of Dandy Gilver historical detective stories, the Last Ditch mysteries, set in California, and a strand of contemporary standalone novels, took the Page 69 Test for her novel, Hop Scot; and Lisa Haselton chatted with Tony Brenna about his new thriller, Honey Trap.

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

After a bidding war, 20th Studios has bought the Kevin McMullin short story, "BOMB," an action thriller with franchise potential, and brought Ridley Scott on board to direct. The short story is a template for an action thriller in the vein of Dog Day Afternoon and Speed. Frankie Ippolito is a hostage negotiator called into duty the night before his wedding in London. A man who has parked himself in a construction site in Piccadilly Circus is standing on a newly uncovered, unexploded bomb from WWII. He tells local law enforcement he will only speak with Frankie, and this sets off a chain of events in which Frankie is drawn into an overnight struggle to stop the bomber with whom he has a past.

Netflix has acquired an untitled Ryan Reynolds-led heist dramedy that was the focus of yet another bidding frenzy. The project uses an international setting and is said to have "great parts for an ensemble in the spirit of an Oceans Eleven." Shawn Levy will helm the film, with Dana Fox (Lost City) set to write the script.

Filming has begun in London on the action thriller, Bad Day At The Office, starring John Hannah (The Mummy), Radha Mitchell (Silent Hill), and Tamer Hassan (Layer Cake). The film opens with Karl Davis (Hannah) waking in a wrecked hotel room with no memory of what’s happened, where he is, or even who he is. When he discovers a dead body in the bathtub, and two police officers soon knock at his door, it sets into motion a terrifying and explosive series of events that force Karl and hotel maid Molly on a blind descent into a deceptive world of confusion and conspiracy and at the same time with a price on his head and half the city in murderous pursuit. Karl will need to draw on his forgotten skill sets if he has any hope of survival as he and Molly endeavor to unravel the mystery that took his memories.

Production has also launched in New Jersey on One Stupid Thing, a suspense/drama directed by Linda Yellen, and written by Yellen and Michael Leeds. The film stars Corey Fogelmanis, Jack Wright, Sky Katz, Shelby Simmons, and Alfredo Narciso. Three high school friends (Wright, Fogelmanis, and Simmons) share a deeply bonded friendship, until one winter night on a Nantucket rooftop, a harmless game takes a fatal turn, and the course of their lives changes forever. For nearly a year, they keep what they did a secret until the following winter break when they meet a girl (Katz) with her own dark past who helps them uncover what really happened that night – and who is behind it.

Shelley Hennig (Teen Wolf), Shiloh Fernandez (Evil Dead), and Tyrese Gibson (Fast & the Furious) are leading the thriller, Fluxx, which has recently wrapped filming in the U.S. The psychological thriller charts the story of a Hollywood actress who is intent on finding her famous missing husband, despite the fact that she cannot willingly leave her Malibu home. Co-written by Keyaunte Mayfield and Brendan Gabriel Murphy, the film's cast also includes Henry Ian Cusick (Lost), Charlotte McKinney (Baywatch), Jeff Perkins (Echo Boomers), Lance Paul (Never and Again), Michael A. Milligan (Outer Banks) and Tanner Beard (We Summon the Darkness).

TELEVISION/SMALL SCREEN

Netflix has confirmed it picked up a new adaptation of the Patricia Highsmith classic character, Tom Ripley, from Academy Award–winning screenwriter-filmmaker Steven Zaillian (Schindler’s List, The Irishman). The streaming service also released some first-look imagery, featuring Sherlock actor Andrew Scott in the lead role. The eight-episode series, which is called Ripley, also stars Johnny Flynn and Dakota Fanning. It doesn't currently have a release date but Netflix says it will stream in 2024.

Alexander Skarsgård will star and executive produce a new ten-episode TV adaptation of the sci-fi crime series, Murderbot, for Apple TV+ from creators and directors Chris and Paul Weitz. Based on Martha Wells’s Hugo and Nebula Award-winning book series, "The Murderbot Diaries," the TV series will center on a self-hacking security android who is horrified by human emotion yet drawn to its vulnerable "clients." The official logline is as follows: "Murderbot must hide its free will and complete a dangerous assignment when all it really wants is to be left alone to watch futuristic soap operas and figure out its place in the universe."

Mad Men star, Jon Hamm, will lead the Apple TV+ drama series, Your Friends and Neighbors. Hamm stars as Coop, a recently divorced hedge fund manager who, after being fired, resorts to stealing from the wealthy residents in his tony upstate New York suburb in order to keep his family’s lifestyle afloat. These petty crimes begin to reinvigorate him until he breaks into the wrong house at the wrong time. Warrior creator Jonathan Tropper developed the series and will serve as showrunner.

CBS is looking to turn another successful drama into a franchise by introducing a new character in an episode from Fire Country's upcoming second season. Casting is currently underway for the role, a female sheriff, which is an episodic guest star with an option to become a series regular. Sources caution that this is not a formal backdoor pilot order, and CBS could go different routes with the new character if the episode is well received, spinning off the character into her own series or adding the actress to the cast of the Fire Country mothership.

Peacock has ordered Fight Night: The Million Dollar Heist starring Kevin Hart as a limited drama series. The story is based on the infamous armed robbery that happened the night of Muhammad Ali’s historic 1970 comeback fight. Set in Atlanta, the series follows the heavyweight fight and criminal underground heist that introduced the world to the city dubbed "the Black Mecca” and the cop and the hustler at the center of it all.

Fox has picked up the psychological crime drama, Murder in a Small Town, starring Rossif Sutherland (The Handmaid’s Tale) and Kristin Kreuk (Smallville), for the 2024-25 season. Based on the Edgar Award-winning, nine-book "Karl Alberg" series by the late Canadian author L.R. Wright, Murder in a Small Town follows the title character (Sutherland), who moves to a quiet coastal town to soothe a psyche that has been battered by big-city police work. But this gentle paradise has more than its share of secrets, and Karl will need to call upon all the skills that made him a world-class detective in solving the murders that, even in this seemingly idyllic setting, continue to wash up on his shore. Kreuk stars as Cassandra, a local librarian who becomes Alberg’s muse, foil, and romantic interest.

PODCASTS/VIDEO/RADIO/AUDIO

The latest episode of the Crime Cafe featured Debbi Mack's interview with crime writer, S.J. Rozan, author of the Bill Smith and Lydia Chin Mysteries and recipient of the Edgar, Anthony, Shamus, Nero, and Macavity Awards as well as the Japanese Maltese Falcon Award and the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Private Eye Writers of America.

The Axe Files podcast host, David Axelrod, spoke with author Sara Paretsky who said it was her summer in Chicago volunteering during the civil rights movement in 1966 that marked the "defining experience" on her life. Sara joined David to talk about her family history, the recent rise in antisemitism, using her writing to give voice to the marginalized, the creation of V.I. Warshawski, and Sara’s work on abortion and women’s rights.

Criminal Mischief with Dr. D.P. Lyle discussed "Humor in Crime Fiction."

Terry Hayes chatted with Paul Burke on Crime Time FM about The Year of the Locust; off-Earth mining; epic adventure tales; the limits in fiction; screenwriting; and whether there'll be a Pilgrim II.

Read or Dead hosts Katie McLain Horner and Kendra Winchester discussed their favorite books of 2023.

The Pick Your Poison podcast discussed a substance called the disease of kings, the toxic plant used to treat it, and the prehistoric animal that also suffered from this disease.

Mystery Melange

I apologize for the slight delay with this week's Mystery Melange, but we're dealing with a bit of family Covid right now. But without further ado:

The Crime Fiction Lover blog announced the winners of the third annual Crime Fiction Lover Awards, culled from shortlists nominated by readers, who also voted for the winners. Within each of the six categories, the team also selected an Editor’s Choice Award and this year added a lifetime achievement award, the "Life of Crime Award," which was bestowed upon James Ellroy. The Book of the Year was The Last Remains by Elly Griffiths. Book of the Year Editor’s Choice: Strange Sally Diamond by Liz Nugent. Best Debut Winner: You’d Look Better as a Ghost by Joanna Wallace. Best Debut Editor’s Choice: City Under One Roof by Iris Yamashita. Best in Translation Winner: Thirty Days of Darkness by Jenny Lund Madsen, translated by Megan E Turney. Best in Translation Editor’s Choice: The Sins of our Fathers by Åsa Larsson, translated by Frank Perry. Best Indie Novel Winner: Scratching the Flint by Vern Smith. Best Indie Novel Editor’s Choice: The Associate by Victoria Goldman. Best Crime Show Winner: Only Murders in the Building S3. Best Crime Show Editor’s Choice: Happy Valley S3. Best Crime Author Winner: Michael Connelly. Best Crime Author Editor’s Choice: Mick Herron.

After two separate rounds of voting, the Goodreads Choice Awards announced the winners for 2023 in various categories. The Mystery & Thriller category winner was The Housemaid’s Secret by Freida McFadden, which collected 86,468 votes. You can see the full list of Mystery & Thriller nominees via the above link and winners in all the other categories here.

If you're an unpublished crime fiction author, you have one day left to submit a manuscript to the 2024 Minotaur Books/Mystery Writers of America First Crime Novel Competition, sponsored by Minotaur Books and Mystery Writers of America (MWA). Entrants should complete an online entry form and upload an electronic file of your manuscript by 11:59pm EST on December 15, 2023. The winner will receive an offer from Minotaur Books for publication and an advance against future royalties of $10,000.

Harrogate International Festivals has announced that international bestselling novelist, Ruth Ware, will serve as Festival Programming Chair in 2024, when the world’s largest and most prestigious celebration of crime fiction, the Theakston Old Peculier Crime Writing Festival, returns with a world class line-up of authors and special guests. The acclaimed crime writer will follow in the footsteps of such stellar predessors as Ian Rankin, Val McDermid, Elly Griffiths, Denise Mina, Lee Child, and Vaseem Khan.

A literary magazine is printing a previously unpublished work by the novelist Raymond Chandler, and it's not a hard-boiled detective story. Strand Magazine announced that its latest issue will include a poem by Chandler written around 1955 that shows the "softer, sensitive side" of the writer known for his pulp fiction hits such as The Big Sleep. Andrew Gulli, managing editor of Strand, explained, "He wrote the poem after his wife had passed away and this poem also serves as a love letter to her," noting it was the first time Chandler wrote a poem as an adult. Chandler's wife, Cissy, died in 1954, after which the author grew depressed and attempted suicide one year later.

Chanukah (aka Hanukah or Hanukkah) began December 7 and continues through December 15. Over at Mystery Fanfare, Janet Rudolph has updated her lists of Chanukah-themed crime fiction titles.

Did you ever wonder where the word "shamus" comes from?

In the Q&A roundup, Jacqueline Seewald spoke with Kathleen Marple Kalb, an award-winning weekend anchor at New York’s 1010 WINS Radio, who also pens novels including The Stuff of Murder and the upcoming Ella Shane mystery, A Fatal Reception; Publishers Weekly spoke with Laurie R. King and how the latest entry in her Mary Russell series mines new corners of Sherlockian lore and offers glimpses into the author’s own life; and Catherine Ryan Hyde took the Page 69 Test for her new novel, A Different Kind of Gone, in which the truth behind a teenage girl’s disappearance becomes something to conceal "in a gripping novel about justice, lies, and impossible choices."

Media Murder for Monday

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

THE BIG SCREEN/MOVIES

Following their work together on the 2013 Best Picture-nominated crime comedy, American Hustle, Bradley Cooper and Christian Bale are in talks to re-team on Best of Enemies, a new film based on the book Best of Enemies: The Last Great Spy Story of the Cold War by Eric Dezenhall and Gus Russo. The story follows CIA agent Jack Platt and KGB agent Gennady Vasilenko, new entrants to the Washington, D.C. intelligence scene back in 1978. The pair were involved with solving some of the most famous spy stories of the 20th century, including the rooting out of Soviet mole Robert Hanssen. While Vasilenko spent some time in a Soviet prison after it came to the government’s attention that he’d been working as a double agent for the U.S., he was ultimately freed with help from the CIA during the Spy Swap of 2010. Among other advocates during his period of incarceration was none other than American Hustle's Robert De Niro. Sources say Cooper will play Platt, with Bale as Vasilenko.

Russell Crowe, Rami Malek, and Michael Shannon will star in Nuremberg, a historical thriller set in post-World War II Germany. James Vanderbilt, who wrote David Fincher’s Zodiac and the two Murder Mystery movies for Netflix, will write and direct, with production slated to begin in February 2024. It is based on the 2013 book, The Nazi and the Psychiatrist: Hermann Göring, Dr. Douglas M. Kelley, and a Fatal Meeting of Minds at the End of WWII, by Jack El-Hai. Malek plays American psychiatrist Douglas Kelley, who, according to the official synopsis "is tasked with determining whether Nazi prisoners are fit to stand trial for their war crimes, and finds himself in a complex battle of wits with Hermann Göring (Crowe), Hitler’s right-hand man." Shannon has been tapped to play Supreme Court Justice Robert H. Jackson, the chief prosecutor of the Nuremberg trials.

After a fierce bidding war between multiple major studios, Apple Original Films has emerged victorious in acquiring the package Two for the Money, a heist thriller set to star Charlize Theron and Daniel Craig with Justin Lin attached to direct and produce. Dan Mazeau, who previously collaborated with Lin on the Fast X screenplay, has been tapped to write the script. Though the plot is being kept under wraps, the story will center on the relationship between two seasoned professional thieves spanning three high-stakes heists.

Al Pacino, Diego Boneta, Xolo Maridueña, KiKi Layne, Alexander Ludwig, Ron Livingston, Kendrick Sampson, Nicole Beharie, Logan Marshall Green, and Titus Welliver will star in the spy thriller, Killing Castro. Eif Rivera will direct the movie from a script by Leon Hendrix, Thomas DeGrezia, and Colin Bateman. Based on true events, the film is set in 1960 shortly after Fidel Castro won the Cuban revolution and traveled to New York City to deliver his first speech to the United Nations. When faced with hostility at his original hotel, Castro meets Malcolm X who invites him to stay at famed Hotel Theresa in Harlem. With the eyes of the world watching, a rookie undercover FBI agent originally assigned to investigate Malcolm X suddenly becomes the FBI’s most valuable asset, and is tasked with keeping Castro from being eliminated by the CIA and the Italian mafia, by any means necessary.

Paramount Global Content Distribution has acquired worldwide rights to the film, Depravity (previously known as Sic), the directorial debut of screenwriter, Paul Tamasy, who also wrote the script. The thriller stars actress and singer Victoria Justice (The Tutor), model and actress Devon Ross (Irma Vep), Taylor John Smith (Where The Crawdads Sing), Sasha Luss (Anna), and Dermot Mulroney (Ghosts of Beirut). The story follows three residents of an old apartment building who suspect their creepy neighbor is a serial killer, and after acting on their suspicions, stumble upon an art heist worth millions.

Oscar winner J.K. Simmons has joined the cast of Clint Eastwood’s Juror #2 at Warner Bros. In the Jonathan Abrams penned movie, family man Justin Kemp, while serving as a juror in a high-profile murder trial, finds himself struggling with a serious moral dilemma he could use to sway the jury verdict and potentially convict — or free — the wrong killer. Simmons will play a juror and joins the ensemble cast that counts Nicholas Hoult (Justin Kemp, juror), Toni Collette (prosecutor), Gabriel Basso (accused), Zoey Deutch (Kemp’s wife), Leslie Bibb (juror), Chris Messina (public defender) and Kiefer Sutherland (Kemp’s AA sponsor).

Eric Dane (Euphoria), Maia Mitchell (Good Trouble), Tyriq Withers (Atlanta), and Thomas Doherty (Gossip Girl) have been set to star in the thriller, Family Secrets. Currently in production in Montenegro, the film follows a charming young man (Withers) who makes himself part of a destination wedding to exact revenge on the family’s patriarch (Dane) by seducing his affluent goddaughter (Mitchell) and befriending the groom-to-be (Doherty). But as their relationship gets steamier, the truth gets closer to the surface, forcing the question of whether anyone is safe… and who is conning whom?

John Patton Ford is set to direct an untitled film for Netflix which follows a mysterious Union spy named James Andrews. Along with infantry volunteers, Andrews stole a Confederate steam engine and planned to destroy the entire Confederacy’s supply line to end the war by gutting tracks and shutting down communications via cutting telegraph lines. The six surviving raiders became the first to receive the Medal of Honor, awarded by Abraham Lincoln. The caper also would be the historical basis for Buster Keaton’s 1926 silent film, The General. Ford will write and direct the drama, which is based on his idea and is part of a package that includes Russell Bonds’s seminal Civil War book, Stealing the General.

Veteran action icon Jean-Claude Van Damme is set to star in Kill 'Em All 2, which will shoot on the Caribbean island of Antigua beginning in January. Following the events that unfolded in Kill 'Em All (2017), the sequel will see Phillip (Van Damme) and Suzanne retired from the spy game, living peacefully off the grid. That’s until their whereabouts are discovered by Vlad, the vengeful brother of their target from the first film. Bianca Brigitte Van Damme will star in the film alongside her father.

TELEVISION/SMALL SCREEN

Priority Pictures, the production company of Emmy-winning producers Lizzie Friedman, Karen Lauder, and Greg Little, has optioned Douglas Brunt‘s NYT bestseller, The Mysterious Case of Rudolf Diesel, and will develop it for the screen. It’s not clear at this point whether the adaptation will be for film or TV. Also recently named a Best of 2023 Staff Pick by Apple Books, The Mysterious Case tells the true story of Rudolf Diesel, one of history’s greatest inventors, who vanished into thin air on the eve of World War I. His revolutionary invention, the Diesel engine, was highly sought after by global industries and political figures around the world. It had the power to threaten empires and change the fate of nations, turning him and his technology into both a prized asset and a potential threat.

Jason Priestley has boarded the upcoming CBC drama, Wild Cards, playing lead character Max’s father and master conman George in the series launching January 10 in Canada. It will later debut January 17 on The CW in the U.S. followed by Family Law at 9 pm on the network. Set in Vancouver, Wild Cards follows the unlikely duo of Ellis (Grey’s Anatomy's Giacomo Gianniotti), a gruff, sardonic cop and Max (Riverdale's Vanessa Morgan), a spirited, clever con woman.

Prime Video is rounding out the guest stars for Mr. and Mrs. Smith, its re-imagining of New Regency’s 2005 Doug Liman-directed action comedy film that starred Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie. Joining the eight-episode series, which stars Donald Glover and Maya Erskine in the title roles, are Alexander Skarsgård, Eiza Gonzalez, Sarah Paulson, Sharon Horgan, Ron Perlman, Billy Campbell, and Ursula Corbero. The new additions join previously announced guest stars Paul Dano, Michaela Coel, John Turturro, Parker Posey, and Wagner Moura.

ITV dropped the first trailer for Mr, Bates vs the Post Office. It stars Toby Jones, Monica Dolan, Julie Hesmondhalgh, Lia Williams, Alex Jennings, Ian Hart, Katherine Kelly, Shaun Dooley, Will Mellor, Clare Calbraith, Lesley Nicol, Amit Shah, and Adam James, and is written by acclaimed screenwriter Gwyneth Hughes. The drama tells the story of one of the greatest miscarriages of justice in British legal history when hundreds of innocent sub-postmasters and postmistresses were wrongly accused of theft, fraud, and false accounting due to a defective IT system. Many of the wronged workers were prosecuted, some were imprisoned for crimes they never committed, and their lives were irreparably damaged by the scandal.

A trailer was also released for the crime drama, The Brothers Sun. Michelle Yeoh stars as Eileen, head of the Jade Dragons gang in Taipei, living in America, and mother to one notorious killer, Charles (Justin Chien), and one completely in-the-dark teenaged son, Bruce (Sam Song Li). In the trailer, Eileen appears to be interrogated by a man from a rival faction, one wanting to seize the crime ring crown by going after Bruce — who's not quite clued into his family's secret lives. Charles decides it's time for Bruce to get briefed and trained up, despite his younger brother's protests. The Brothers Sun is streaming on Netflix Jan. 4.

PODCASTS/VIDEO/RADIO/AUDIO

On NPR's Fresh Air, critic Maureen Corrigan reviewed new mysteries by Alexis Soloski and Nita Prose.

The latest episode of the Crime Cafe featured Debbi Mack's interview with author and screenwriter, Michael Farris Smith. Two of his previous novels, Desperation Road and Rumble Through the Dark, have been adapted for film, with both released this year.

On the Spybrary podcast, host Adam Brookes was joined by Stuart Reid, executive editor at Foreign Affairs and author of The Lumumba Plot: The Secret History of the CIA and a Cold War Assassination. They delved into the fascinating and shocking story of Patrice Lumumba, the Congo crisis of 1960, and the CIA's role in Lumumba's assassination.

On Crime Time FM, Tom Mead chatted with Paul Burke about his books The Murder Wheel and Death and the Conjuror, featuring sleuthing stage magician Joseph Spector; the Golden Age era; true crime; and theatre, magic and illusion.

The Red Hot Chili Writers spoke with barrister and author, Imran Mahmood, about his latest thriller, Finding Sophie; discussed the height of author winterwear as modeled by your hosts; and dissected the most famous tea party in fiction.

Mystery Melange

Renita D’Silva’s psychological thriller, The Neighbour, has won the Joffe Books Prize for Crime Writers of Colour 2023. The prize was established in response to "the paucity of diverse voices being published in crime fiction," with an aim to seek out writers from communities that are underrepresented in the genre and support them in building sustainable careers. The judges, including author Nadine Matheson, literary agent Nelle Andrew, and Joffe Books editorial director, Emma Grundy Haigh, praised D'Silva's book for its "wide ranging, ambitious cast of characters and stories that interlock but don’t overwhelm."

This past weekend, at the annual Black Orchid Banquet held in New York City, the Wolfe Pack (the official Nero Wolfe literary society), announced that The Day He Left, by Frederick Weisel won the 2023 Nero Award for best crime novel. "Alibi in Ice," by Libby Cudmore, also received the 2023 Black Orchid Novella Award and will be published in the July 2024 issue of Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine. Honorable mentions for the Black Orchid Novella Award include Paul A. Barra's "Death of a Papist," Lawrence Coates's "Jimtown," and Tom Larsen's "El Cazador."(HT to The Rap Sheet)

The end of the year "best" lists just keep coming, with the latest being from several newspaper compilations. Oline H. Cogdill's list for The Sun-Sentinel narrowed down her 120 reads to 18, noting that major trends in the genre continued to be diversity, regional stories, veterans and domestic suspense. Over at The Guardian, Laura Wilson curated her list of the best, which unsurprisingly tilted more toward European crime fiction authors, while Alison Flood picked five of her own. New York Times writer-at-large, Sarah Lyall, chose six titles for her Best Thrillers list, including an espionage caper, the tale of a murderous librarian and a high-stakes adventure that takes place inside the various stomachs of a whale. NYT regular crime columnist, Sarah Weinman, chose a mix of traditional mysteries and thrillers, from the U.S. to Scandinavia, as her picks for "The Best Crime Novels of 2023." And the Washington Post's Karen MacPherson shone the spotlight on her top 10 best mystery novels of 2023.

Kate Jackson, a/k/a the "Armchair Sleuth" also put together a list of her picks for the best Classic Crime Reprints of 2023 by publishers such as American Mystery Classics, British Library Crime Classics, and Galileo Publishing. The recommendations range from titles like The Wheel Spins (1936) by Ethel Lina White to Suddenly at His Residence (1947) by Christianna Brand, to Four Days Wonder (1933) by A. A. Milne (also known as the creator of Winnie the Pooh).

Writing for Mental Floss, April Snellings profiled the iconic UK institution, The Detection Club, from its founding in 1930 through the evolution of the mystery novel. But the article notes some of the lesser-known tidbits such as the club’s headquarters being originally located between an oyster bar and a brothel, and a group of members enlisting the head of Scotland Yard’s Criminal Investigation Department to help them break into the club’s headquarters to retrieve materials for a new member induction after they'd all forgotten their keys. While the club initially formed as a social group for writers of detective fiction, it did have an official purpose: to uphold a rigid set of standards for crime fiction, and weed out any potential members who wouldn’t agree to meet them.

As historian Lucy Worsley notes, Arthur Conan Doyle secretly hated his creation Sherlock Holmes and blamed the cerebral detective character for denying him recognition as the author of highbrow historical fiction, which laid around unread. "Arthur must have hated himself. And he would have hated the fact that today, 93 years after his death, his historical novels lie unread, while his ‘cheap’ – but beloved – detective lives forever on our screens."

In the Q&A roundup, spy novelist Mick Herron spoke with The Daily Mail about his latest book, The Secret Hours, and the TV adaptation of his successful "Slough House" series set in a place where MI5 puts "failed" spies; and SJ Rozan, who has won practically every major award for Best Novel and the Best Short Story (and is also the recipient of the Japanese Maltese Falcon Award and Life Achievement Award from the Private Eye Writers of America), applied the Page 69 Test to her new novel, The Mayors of New York.

Author R&R with Michael J. Cooper

MICHAEL J. COOPER emigrated to Israel in 1966 and lived in Jerusalem during the last year the city was divided between Israel and Jordan. He studied and traveled in the region for eleven years and graduated from medical school in Tel Aviv. Now in retirement after a forty year practice of pediatric cardiology, Cooper lives in Northern California and is able to devote more time to volunteer missions and to writing.

His debut novel, Foxes in the Vineyard, set in 1948 Jerusalem, won the grand prize in the 2011 Indie Publishing Contest. His second novel, The Rabbi’s Knight, set in the Holy Land at the twilight of the Crusades in 1290, was finalist for the Chaucer Award for historical fiction. His just-completed third novel, Wages of Empire, is set in Europe and the Middle East during WWI and won the 2022 CIBA Rossetti Award for YA fiction along with first-place honors for the 2022 CIBA Hemingway award for wartime historical fiction. All three novels stand-alone, though they’re connected by the common threads of Jerusalem’s Temple Mount, the St. Clair/Sinclair bloodline and the subversive notions of coexistence and peace.

Wages of Empire begins in the summer of 1914, when sixteen-year-old Evan Sinclair leaves home to join the Great War for Civilization. Little does he know that, despite the war raging in Europe, the true source of conflict will emerge in Ottoman Palestine, since it's from Jerusalem where the German Kaiser dreams to rule as Holy Roman Emperor. Filled with such historical figures as Gertrude Bell, T.E. Lawrence, Winston Churchill, Faisal bin Hussein and Chaim Weizmann, Wages of Empire follows Evan through the killing fields of the Western Front where he will help turn the tide of a war that is just beginning, and become part of a story that never ends.

Michael Cooper stops by In Reference to Murder to take some Author R&R about researching and writing his books:

 

For writers of historical fiction, research is a paramount. To be sure, writing any type of fiction requires research, but with a historical, and especially one set in a remote time and place, the writer must be positioned to inform the reader about every detail of the setting and time period. To “get things right,” or even close to “right,” a massive amount of research is required. And to make things even more challenging, the research shouldn’t show; the weaving of historical detail into the story should be so subtle as to be invisible. Nothing wakes the reader more rudely from the dream of a good story than a ham-handed display of detail. Or, to put it simply, the writer must be able to show without showing off.   

In referring to requisite research as “massive,” the task appears exhausting and thoroughly unpleasant. Clearly, if one only follows the adage of “write what you know,” only minimal research might be required. However, if we are drawn to write outside of ourselves, outside of the confines of our known world, we have no choice but to do a prodigious amount of research. But the secret of doing this, and actually enjoying it, can be encapsulated in an alternate adage: “Write what you love.”

And that’s been my joy in researching and writing my series—having spent my formative years living in Israel, I actually look forward to returning there in my mind, to a land where history waits for you around every corner— remembering the quality of light in early morning and toward evening, tasting the freshness of mountain air and the sun-heated warmth of the desert, or the joy of floating in the Sea of Galilee at night beneath a sky crowded with stars. 

Likewise, it’s been invigorating to select interesting historical characters and to create compelling fictional characters—for their nobility, humor, and brilliance; for their passions, human failings, and for their interesting, ingenious, and sometimes evil designs. And then, there are those wondrous times when a historical or fictional character takes over, dictating the action and dialogue, and all one has to do is sit back and transcribe. 

The other thing about writing in this genre is the wonderful way that historical events and, indeed the historical characters provide the scaffolding for stories that are, at once, very old, and still being written. Also, as I researched and wrote all my books, I was often astonished by fascinating elements of hidden history, unsolved mysteries, and unbelievably engaging and bizarre characters that insisted on being included in the final draft. In this genre, storylines arise organically from the historical timeline, and from the historical characters themselves—creating a portrait that is enhanced by the fictional characters who allow for additional surprises, plot twists, betrayals, loves and alliances. And, as each book progresses, I love watching the weave tighten as storylines are drawn together.

And historical novels set in wartime offer the writer an even richer buffet—with all the elements for compelling stories; drama, heroism, conflict, tension, intrigue, action, heartbreak, and perhaps romance. And the effect of armed conflict on history is itself dramatic since war is an accelerant to history, and often with dramatic changes in human and natural topography.

Lastly, as writers of history, we also seek out the compelling tension between knowing and unknowing—to engage with our historical characters in the grip of their threatening present, infused with their anxiety at the uncertainty of outcome, the unknowable future. And we, knowing their future, are touched by the poignancy of their ignorance.

But now, it’s our turn to be anxious in our ignorance in a time of great uncertainty—with war in Ukraine, the Middle East, and in a time of civil strife in our own country bordering, it often seems, on civil war. Now it’s our turn to share the anxiety of having no idea as to the outcome of all this conflict.

Clearly, Wages of Empire is a novel about war in a time of war, holding up a mirror to time past that reflects on present uncertainties and current wars. And so we ask the obvious questions—what do present wars have to do with the past? What do our present travails have to do with history? In a word? Everything. 

 

You can read more about Michael Cooper and his writing via his website and follow him on Goodreads. Wages of Empire is now available via Koehler Books and all major booksellers.

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

Sidney Flanigan (Never Rarely Sometimes Always) has signed on to star opposite Sofia Yepes in The Low End Theory, an indie thriller based on Yepes’s script, which she co-wrote with director Francisco Ordoñez. Billed as a film noir set in the Latinx and LGBTQ+ world of Los Angeles, The Low End Theory centers on Raquel (Yepes), an aspiring beats producer in the low-budget hip-hop world moonlighting as a drug money launderer, who ends up stealing from her crime-lord boss to pay off debts owed by the woman with whom she is having an obsessive affair. Flanigan plays Raquel’s troubled lover, Veronica.

Saban Films has acquired the U.S. rights to Knox Goes Away, a film directed by and starring, Michael Keaton. Al Pacino, James Marsden, Marcia Gay Harden, Suzy Nakamura, John Hoogenakker, Joanna Kulig, Ray McKinnon, and Lela Loren also star. Knox Goes Away, written by Gregory Poirier, premiered earlier this year at the Toronto International Film Festival and, according to the official synopsis, "follows John Knox (Keaton), a contract killer with a rapidly evolving form of dementia, who is offered the opportunity to redeem himself by saving the life of the adult son from whom he had been estranged." Saban is targeting a 2024 first quarter release.

Quiver Distribution has picked up North American rights to the action thriller, Wanted Man, co-written, directed by and starring Dolph Lundgren, for release in select theaters and on VOD on January 19, 2024. Also starring Kelsey Grammer (Frasier) and Christina Villa (The Wedding in the Hamptons), the film centers on Johansen (Lundgren), an aging detective whose outdated policing methods have given the department a recent public relations problem. To save his job, he is sent to Mexico to extradite a female witness (Villa) to the murders of two DEA agents. Once there, he finds not only his old opinions challenged, but that bad guys on both sides of the border are now gunning for him and his witness.

TELEVISION/SMALL SCREEN

MarVista Entertainment, the Fox-owned studio, is turning Seraphina Nova Glass's thriller novel, On A Quiet Street, into a television series. Set in an exclusive Oregon coast community, the story follows two female best friends, Paige and Cora. Cora thinks her husband, Finn, is cheating – she just needs to catch him in the act. That’s where Paige comes in. Paige lost her son to a hit-and-run accident last year, and she’s drowning in the kind of grief that makes people do reckless things like spying on the locals, searching for proof her son’s death was no accident…and agreeing to Cora’s plan to reveal what kind of man Finn really is. All the while, their reclusive new neighbor, Georgia, is acting stranger and stranger every day. But what could such a lovely young mother possibly be hiding?

Amazon’s Prime Video has renewed Reacher for a third run ahead of the debut of season 2 on December 15. Alan Ritchson, who plays the title character, revealed the news from the set of season 3 during a panel at CCXP in São Paulo, Brazil. He also debuted an extended trailer for the second season. The series is based on Lee Child’s novels with the second season based on the 11th book in the series, Bad Luck and Trouble.

The BBC ordered a second season of the heist drama, Gold, based on the infamous real-life events of the Brink’s-Mat robbery and the decades-long chain of events that followed. First-season cast members Hugh Bonneville, Charlotte Spencer, Emun Elliott, Tom Cullen, Stefanie Martini, and Sam Spruell are confirmed for season 2. The season 2 plot will follow what happened to the half of the Brinks-Mat gold stolen in the daring 1983 raid, after police realize those they convicted didn’t have all of it.

Kelli Giddish‘s former Detective Amanda Rollins will return for the Season 25 premiere of Law & Order: SVU. Giddish exited the series midway through Season 24 and last appeared in a guest-starring role in the Season 24 finale, which was part of a three-way crossover among Law & Order, SVU and Organized Crime. In that episode, Giddish’s character Rollins married ADA Sonny Carisi Jr (Peter Scanavino) and revealed she was on a new career path and had accepted a teaching job at Fordham University.

Found and The Irrational have been renewed for second seasons at NBC, the network announced this past week. In Found, Shanola Hampton stars as PR specialist Gabi Mosely, whose crisis management team is determined to share the stories of the hundreds of thousands of people of color who go missing each year in the U.S. The Irrational is based on Dan Ariely’s book, Predictably Irrational, and stars Jesse L. Martin as prolific behavioral science professor Alec Mercer, whose unique expertise lends itself to high-stakes cases across governments, law enforcement and corporations.

Andrew Koji (Warrior), Richard Dormer (Game of Thrones), and T’Nia Miller (Fall of the House of Usher) have boarded the upcoming third season of Gangs of London, joining fellow actors, Phil Daniels and Ruth Sheen. Created by Gareth Evans and Matt Flannery, the Sky and AMC+ series follows the struggles between rival gangs and other criminal organizations in present-day London. Koji will play an unnamed assassin at the heart of the unfolding mystery; Dormer will play Cornelius Quinn, a face from the past whose arrival awakens old rivalries; and Miller takes on the role of the formidable new Mayor of London set to wreak havoc for the gangs. Season 3 kicks off with ex-undercover cop Elliot Carter, played by Ṣọpẹ́ Dìrísu, now operating as a top-level criminal alongside the Dumanis, but their business is thrown into chaos when their shipment of cocaine is spiked, resulting in the deaths of hundreds of civilians all over London.

The first trailer for the Apple TV+ series Criminal Record has been released. Criminal Record will premiere the first two episodes on January 10 followed by new episodes dropping weekly, every Wednesday through February 21. The new eight-episode, one-hour crime thriller stars Peter Capaldi (Dr. Who) and Cush Jumbo (The Good Wife) as detectives in a tug-of-war over a historic murder conviction.

PODCASTS/VIDEO/RADIO/AUDIO

Dateline NBC is set to launch its 15th original podcast Mortal Sin, to be reported by Dateline correspondent Josh Mankiewicz. The first two episodes will be available for download and streaming for free across podcast platforms on December 5; the remaining three will drop over the following two weeks. Mortal Sin investigates how the death of a pastor’s wife after a house fire uncovers a web of sex, murder, and deception.

On Read or Dead, Katie McLain Horner and Kendra Winchester discussed mystery books for Native American Heritage Month.

A new Mysteryrat's Maze Podcast is up, the first of three Christmas episodes over the next few weeks, this one featuring the mystery short story "Christmas Cookie Caper" written by Margaret S. Hamilton and read by actor Donna Beavers.

The latest episode of the Crime Cafe featured Debbi Mack's interview with crime writer Liz Alterman about her new thriller novel, The Perfect Neighborhood.

On Crime Time FM, Paul Burke reviewed a selection of November crime fiction releases, including author elevator pitches from CL Pattison, Jane Jesmond, Alexandra Benedict, Paul Durston, and Stephen Ronson.

The latest Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine podcast featured "The Green Man" by James G. Tipton, a mystery story with Sherlock Holmes's friend and confidant Dr. John H. Watson. This time around, Dr. Watson travels to coal-mining country in northern Wales to investigate corrupt railroad barons.

On the most recent Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine podcast, Andrew Welsh-Huggins, nominated for Shamus, Derringer, and ITW Thriller awards, read his story, "Home for the Holidays," a Christmastime thriller from the Jan/Feb 2020 issue.

Pick Your Poison featured a poison that causes blindness, which is also why some prison commissaries don’t stock fruit, and how toxins were intentionally used to adulterate alcohol during Prohibition.

Mystery Melange

The 2023 Ngaio Marsh Awards winners were announced this past weekend following a special presentation in Christ Church, New Zealand, which included a pub quiz hosted by Kiwi crime author, Vanda Symon. This year's winners are Best Novel: Remember Me by Charity Norman; Best Non-Fiction: Missing Persons by Steve Braunias; and Best First Novel: Better the Blood by Michael Bennett. For all the finalists, check out this link.

In an unprecedented and unanimous decision, Nicole Prewitt of Milwaukee, Wisconsin has won the 2023 Sisters in Crime-sponsored PRIDE Award for emerging LGBTQIA+ writers. Prewitt’s win duplicated her win of the SinC-sponsored Eleanor Taylor Bland Award celebrating emerging writers of color earlier in 2023. Prewitt’s winning submission, Harts Divided, follows Neema Hart, a black, bisexual thief-turned-P.I., who owns a detective agency and therapy office with her estranged wife, Genie Hart. Prewitt will receive a $2,000 grant intended for a beginning crime writer to support activities related to career development, including workshops, seminars, conferences, retreats, online courses, and research activities required for completion of their work. Five runners-up were also chosen: Chloë Belle, Chicago, Illinois; Melissa Berry, Canton, Ohio; Kim Hunt, Wellington, New Zealand; Linda Krug, Duluth, Minnesota; and Emmy McCarthy, Dartmouth, Nova Scotia

Publishers Weekly released the finalists for its 2023 Booklife Prize for fiction in various categories. In the Mystery/Thriller, the finalists were Deep Fake Double Down by Debbie Burke; Death in the City of Bridges: A Miles Jordan Mystery Thriller by J.C. Ceron; Funeral Daze by Dorian Box; A Measure of Rhyme by Lloyd Jeffries; and The One by Audrey J. Cole. Burke was the top vote-getter in the category and will be pitted against finalists from the other categories for a chance to be named overall winner on December 11, 2023.

Washington, D.C.'s next Noir at the Bar is going virtual and will take place on Sunday, December 10, at 7 pm ET. The lineup of writers includes Amina Akhtar (author of #Fashionvictim and the upcoming Almost Surely Dead); Sara Divello (author of The Broadway Butterfly); Tara Laskowski (author of One Night Gone and The Mother Next Door); James Grady (author of Six Days of the Condor); Jennifer Anne Gordon (multiple award-winning author and co-host of the popular podcast, Vox Vomitus); and Sandra SG Wong (Anthony award-finalist of In the Dark We Forget, and former national president of Sisters in Crime). The event will also feature a custom cocktail demonstration from mixologist Chantal Tseng.

The British Crime Writing Archives are held at Gladstone's Library, in Hawarden, North Wales, a collection that includes the archives of both the Crime Writers' Association and the Detection Club. As honorary archivist Martin Edwards notes, new loan agreements will help ensure the library can continue on sound footing for years to come. Recent donations include works from the family of E.R. Punshon (a former Secretary of the Detection Club), Peter Lovesey, the estates of Robert and Louise Barnard, and Edwards himself. Tickets are set to go on sale shortly for the annual Alibis in the Archive to be held (both virtually and in person) at the library on June 9, 2024. Although the lineup has yet to be announced, Edwards hinted that "some wonderful speakers lined up for Alibis, including an international bestseller and the creator of a very famous TV crime series." Proceeds from ticket sales will help support the library and the archives project.

It’s well known that Quentin Tarantino has been heavily influenced by other acclaimed filmmakers when it comes to his creative vision. But in a feature with The Telegraph, the director highlighted his passion for the writer Elmore Leonard. The iconic crime novelist was known for such novels and short stories as those featuring Raylan Givens, which were adapted as the Justified TV series, and Get Shorty, adapted for both film and the small screen. "He was probably the biggest influence on my life: I have been reading Leonard since I was 14 and got caught stealing his novel The Switch from K-Mart." Tarantino said. Tarantino would later make the film Jackie Brown, based on Leonard's Rum Punch.

A bit of sad news this week: Florida author Tim Dorsey has died at 62. Dorsey was author of twenty-six satirical crime capers about a unique Florida Man and serial killer named Serge Storms and his heavily self-medicated sidekick, Coleman. The most recent title, The Maltese Iguana, was published in February. Fellow Florida author Carl Hiaasen, said that "Tim wrote about Florida as if it was a rollicking, free-range paradise for lunatics, which of course it is. The unforgettable characters he created fit in perfectly. He rose to the challenge of satirizing a place where true life is routinely weirder than fiction."

In the Q&A roundup, Lisa Haselton interviewed thriller author JP McLean about her new supernatural thriller, Scorch Mark, Dark Dreams Novel #3; bestselling novelist Patricia Cornwell chatted with The Telegraph about how to avoid being a crime victim, adding that she can point out "things that can kill you everywhere" and she always has her radar going; and Nita Prose spoke with the American Booksellers Association about The Mystery Guest, chosen as the top pick for the ABA's December Indie Next List, which has Molly the maid returning to solve another mysterious death in the Regency Grand Hotel.

Media Murder for Monday

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

THE BIG SCREEN/MOVIES

Following his Oscar for Best Foreign Film (All Quiet On The Western Front), director Edward Berger may have found his follow-up project with one of the biggest action heroes of the past few decades. Deadline reported that Universal Pictures is in early development stages of a new installment in the Jason Bourne franchise, and Berger is in negotiations to direct. The report also noted that Matt Damon, who starred as Bourne in four of the five films, would be first approached to return in the iconic role once a script is finished.

New Regency's Jeff Nichols-directed crime drama, The Bikeriders, which was at 20th Century Studios, is getting acquired by Focus Features. Focus is taking global rights to the pic, re-teaming them with New Regency (with whom they partnered on 2022’s The Northman), and is planning a 2024 theatrical release. The movie, which made its world premiere at Telluride, was also written by Nichols and stars Austin Butler, Jodie Comer, and Tom Hardy, and follows the rise of a Midwestern motorcycle club, the Vandals. Seen through the lives of its members, the club evolves over the course of a decade from a gathering place for local outsiders into a more sinister gang, threatening the original group’s unique way of life.

After the settlement of the recent Hollywood strikes, the cast has now been set for the erotic thriller, Babygirl. Nicole Kidman (The Undoing), Antonio Banderas (Pain and Glory), and Harris Dickinson (The Iron Claw) lead an ensemble that also includes Sophie Wilde and Jean Reno. The film, written and directed by Halina Reijn, follows a successful CEO who begins an illicit affair with her much younger intern.

Netflix has shared a first-look photo of Eddie Murphy's return to the Beverly Hills Cop franchise as Axel Foley. Murphy returns to reprise the Axel role nearly 30 years after the premiere of Beverly Hills Cop 3. Mark Molloy directs the sequel, which also stars Kevin Bacon, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, and Taylour Paige, along with Judge Reinhold, John Ashton, Paul Reiser, and Bronson Pinchot reprising their characters from previous installments. Beverly Hills Cop: Axel Foley is set to be released in 2024.

TELEVISION/SMALL SCREEN

Peaky Blinders producer, Caryn Mandabach Productions (CMP), has optioned P.D. James's Cordelia Gray novels, An Unsuitable Job for a Woman and The Skull Beneath the Skin, which were penned in 1972 and 1982 respectively by the celebrated British author. Gray’s character at the time was hailed for being a pioneering protagonist in the rise of feminism. The first novel sees her hired to investigate the death of a young university student who is found hanged under mysterious circumstances, while the second book is set in a Victorian castle and centers around actress Clarissa Lisle, who has been receiving death threats. James, who died a decade ago, only wrote two Gray novels and was best known for her Adam Dalgliesh mysteries, which have recently been adapted by Channel 5, starring Bertie Carvel.

Happy Valley and Grantchester actor James Norton has been set to lead an ITV adaptation of JP Delaney’s bestselling novel, Playing Nice. Norton will star in the four-part limited series alongside Niamh Algar (Mary and George), James McArdle (Mare of Easttown), and Jessica Brown Findlay (Downton Abbey). Norton, a BAFTA nominee who has been on the list of actors in the running to play James Bond, also serves as executive producer. The series follows two couples who discover their toddlers were switched at birth in a hospital mix-up. Set against the sweeping backdrop of Cornwall, they face an agonizing dilemma: do they keep the son they have raised and loved, or reclaim their biological child? Pete (Norton) and Maddie (Algar) are jettisoned into the world of the other couple: Miles (McArdle) and Lucy (Brown Findlay). All four agree to a solution, but it becomes clear that hidden motives are at play.

The upcoming 14th season of CBS's venerable cop family drama, Blue Bloods, will be its last. The popular series starring Tom Selleck is getting an extended farewell with a two-part final season which will consist of 18 episodes. The first 10 will air this coming midseason, premiering on CBS Feb. 16 and streaming live on Paramount+; the remaining 8 will run in fall 2024. Blue Bloods follows multiple generations of the Reagan family working in New York law enforcement. The cast also includes Donnie Wahlberg, Bridget Moynahan, Will Estes, Len Cariou, Marisa Ramirez, and Vanessa Ray.

NBC has announced its midseason premiere dates, which include mid-January returns for Wolf Entertainment’s three "Chicago" dramas (Chicago Med, Fire, and PD) and the three "Law & Order" dramas (Law & Order, Law & Order: SVU, and Law & Order: Organized Crime). The "Chicago" trio will premiere on Wednesday, January 17, and the "Law & Order" set will debut on Thursday, January 18. That is a month before dramas on the other major broadcast networks are set to return with new episodes and a couple of weeks before any scripted series elsewhere come back. Previously announced shows that have yet to be dated include the remaining episodes of this season’s Quantum Leap and Magnum P.I.

The cancellations continued ahead of the holiday weekend. Amazon axed a trio of scripted series from its Prime Video service, including The Horror of Dolores Roach and Harlan Coben’s Shelter. The Horror of Dolores Roach starred Justina Machado as a woman released from prison after 16 years and returns to a severely gentrified Washington Heights with $200 and the clothes on her back. Harlan Coben’s Shelter, which premiered in August, is a mystery drama based on Coben’s 2011 YA novel. The series starred Jaden Michael, Constance Zimmer, Abby Corrigan, and Adrian Greensmith.

Fox is looking to the beginning of March for the return of its scripted slate, unveiling its midseason schedule that includes the return of The Cleaning Lady (Tuesday, March 5 at 8pm), Alert: Missing Persons Unit (Tuesday, March 5 at 9pm), and Animal Control (March 6 at 9pm). Fox had already pushed 9-1-1: Lone Star to the 2023/24 fall schedule alongside new series, Doc and Rescue Hi-Surf, which had previously been eyed for a 2022/23 launch. There are no signs of the second season of Accused, however.

Reid Scott has joined the upcoming season as a new series regular on the NBC police procedural, Law & Order, portraying an as-yet unnamed NYPD detective. Scott will fill the void left by former series regular Jeffrey Donovan, who recently exited the show over creative differences. The Law & Order cast also includes Sam Waterston as DA Jack McCoy, Hugh Dancy (Hannibal, The Path) as senior prosecutorial assistant Nathan Price, and Camryn Manheim (The Practice) as Lt. Kate Dixon. Law & Order premieres its 23rd season on January 18, 2024.

PODCASTS/VIDEO/RADIO/AUDIO

CBS News spoke with James Ellroy, the author of L.A. Confidential and over a dozen other novels, about his new book, The Enchanters, which focuses on a private investigator looking into the death of Marilyn Monroe.

The latest episode of The Crime Cafe featured Debbi Mack's interview with David Swinson, a former D.C. Police Department detective and author of the Frank Marr Trilogy and two stand-alone crime novels, including his latest, Sweet Thing.

On Crime Time FM, Tom Benjamin chatted with Paul Burke about Last Testament in Bologna; British private eye Daniel Leicester; the porticos of the ancient city, Giallo; AirBnB and tourism in a university town.

The Red Hot Chili Writers talked with crime writer Susi Holliday and discussed female serial killers, before Susi took a stab at explaining the meaning of Diwali.

Mystery Melange - Thanksgiving Edition

The Irish Book Awards today announced the winners of the various categories including Irish Independent Crime Fiction Book of the Year, awarded to Strange Sally Diamond by Liz Nugent. The other finalists included The Lock-Up by John Banville; The Close by Jane Casey; Kill for Me, Kill for You by Steve Cavanagh; No One Saw a Thing by Andrea Mara; and The Trap by Catherine Ryan Howard.

NPR compiled a listing of "Books We Love" for 2023, including mystery and thriller titles. You can check out the forty-plus novels on that list via this link.

Janet Rudolph has updated her growing list of Thanksgiving crime novel and short stories, which includes a wide-ranging mixture of cozy, noir, and traditional whodunits.

That list can only help with Jenn over at Jenn's Book Shelves, where she is hosting her annual Thankfully Reading day, or innstead of braving the crowds and shopping this weekend, spend time curled up with a book. Anyone wanting to participate can tag her on Instagram, Facebook, or Twitter using the #thankfullyreading hashtag.

The Black Friday sales in the U.S. will be hitting the stores on Friday, and book lovers should have their pick of items to choose from. You can add volumes in the McFarland Companions to Mystery Fiction series to that list. Editor Elizabeth Foxwell notes that there's a 40-percent off sale on all McFarland books running through November 27, 2023 (use coupon code HOLIDAY23).

This weekend also sees the annual Small Business Saturday celebration in the U.S., a day to celebrate and support small businesses and all they do for their communities. When you're doing your holiday shopping this weekend, be sure and stop by your local indie bookstore. To help, Indie Bound has a handy store locator for your zip code.

Kings River Life posted a free Thanksgiving mystery short story, "It’s Only Fair," by Jane Limprecht.

The authors over at Mystery Lovers Kitchen have some Thanksgiving recipes and reads for you, including Perfect Pumpkin Pancakes with Butter Pecan Syrup from Cleo Coyle; Butternut Squash and Fried Sage Casserole from Lucy Burdette; Green Beans with Toasted Almonds and Oranges by way of Leslie Budewitz; Roasted Brussels Sprouts with Maple Syrup-Brown Butter Glaze by Leslie Karst; Pumpkin Streusel Muffins via Peg Cochran (aka Margaret Loudon); Gluten-Free Cannoli, courtesy of Libby Klein; and the notorious Turducken by Maya Corrigan.

Have you ever wondered about the mystery of how the astronauts on board the space station make Thanksgiving dinner? NASA sent up cosmic culinary delights on an uncrewed SpaceX Dragon spacecraft, including oranges, apples, cherry tomatoes, and carrots. Dana Weigel, NASA's deputy manager for the space station, added, "Because we're in the holiday season, we've got some fun holiday treats for the crew like chocolate, pumpkin spice cappuccinos, rice cakes, turkey, duck, quail, seafood, cranberry sauce, and mochi." Starbucks? Yep, and the crew even has a special sci-fi space cup for drinking them.

It's hard to believe, but A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving turns 50 this year.

In the Q&A roundup, Lisa Haselton chatted with cozy mystery novelist, Catherine Dilts, about her new amateur sleuth title, The Body in the Cornfield; Writers Who Kill's E.B. Davis interviewed Annette Dashofy about her new mystery, Keep Your Family Close; and The New York Times spoke with spy thriller author, Mick Herron (the Slow Horses series), about why he relates more with failures, but after millions of his books sold and the third season of the series airing next month, how he may have to wrap his head around success.

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

As expected, the end of the actors' and writers' strikes is creating a flood of announcements about new projects and the resumption of ones that were stalled. Amateur, the 20th Century terrorism thriller starring Rami Malek, will be among the first studio shoots to resume filming in London next month. Amateur, which also stars Rachel Brosnahan and Laurence Fishburne, was halfway through production when the feature’s hundreds of cast, crew, and contractors were put on hiatus in July. Amateur is directed by James Hawes (whose debut feature was the critically acclaimed Anthony Hopkins vehicle One Life) and follows a CIA cryptographer who, after his wife is tragically killed in a London terrorist attack, demands his bosses go after them. When it becomes clear they won’t act due to conflicting internal priorities, he blackmails the agency into training him and letting him go after them himself. Based on the 1981 novel of the same name by Robert Littell, it was adapted by Ken Nolan.

The end of the strikes has also shifted the movie and TV release schedule quite a bit. Universal Pictures is pushing back the release of The Fall Guy starring Ryan Gosling and Emily Blunt, originally set to premiere on March 1, 2024, which will now move to May 3, 2024. The Fall Guy revolves around Gosling’s Colt Seavers, a battle-scarred stuntman who, having left the business a year earlier to focus on both his physical and mental health, is drafted back into service when the star of a mega-budget studio movie—being directed by his ex, Jody Moreno (Blunt), goes missing. Also starring in the film are Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Winston Duke, and Stephanie Tsu. The film is inspired by the 1980s ABC series created by Glen A. Larson that starred Lee Majors as Colt Seavers.

Rosamund Pike (Saltburn) and Matthew Rhys (Perry Mason) have entered production overseas on Hallow Road, a new psychological thriller, which Babak Anvari (Under the Shadows) is directing from a script by William Gillies. Commissioned and developed by London Film & TV, the film follows two parents who enter a race against time when they receive a distressing late-night phone call from their daughter after she caused a tragic car accident.

The first trailer has been released for Fast Charlie, which features Pierce Brosnan as a violent fixer attempting to identify a headless victim in order to prove he completed a hit job. The action thriller also stars Morena Baccarin, and, in his final performance, the late James Caan.

A trailer was released for Role Play, a comedic action spy thriller starring Kaley Cuoco and David Oyelowo, which will premiere on Amazon Prime Video on January 12, 2024. Cuoco plays the role of Emma, a woman who is seemingly living the perfect life alongside her loving husband and two kids in the suburbs of New Jersey. When the couple decides to spice up their love life by doing a little role-playing, things go haywire when her husband David finds out his wife leads a secret life as an assassin for hire. Thomas Vincent directed the film written by Seth Owen. Bill Nighy and Connie Nielsen also star in the film which was mainly shot in Berlin, Germany.

TELEVISION/SMALL SCREEN

The Bosch universe is expanding, with Prime Video giving a 10-episode series order to an untitled Renée Ballard project, a Bosch spinoff about the LAPD’s Cold Case Division. The newly greenlighted series is one of two projects in the works at Amazon MGM Studios inspired by the novels of bestselling author Michael Connelly. The other, the Untitled J. Edgar project, remains in development, and follows Harry Bosch’s former partner, Detective Jerry Edgar, who is tapped for an undercover FBI mission in Little Haiti, Miami. The Renée Ballard project is centered on Detective Ballard, who is tasked with running the LAPD’s new cold case division—a poorly funded, all-volunteer unit with the largest case load in the city. When she uncovers a larger conspiracy during her investigations, she’ll lean on the assistance of her retired ally, Harry Bosch, to navigate the dangers that threaten both her unit and her life.

Gato Grande, an Amazon MGM Studios company, has optioned the rights to Ana Reyes’ bestselling novel, The House in the Pines, for television development. The psychological thriller revolves around a woman, armed with only hazy memories from witnessing her friend’s sudden death years ago, who sets out to track down answers even though she's spent her lifetime trying to forget. The House in the Pines was on the New York Times Bestseller list for over two months, and was a pick for Reese’s Book Club when it was published in January 2023.

Mad Men alum Jon Hamm and producer Shawn Ryan (S.W.A.T., The Night Agent) are teaming on a live-action television series adaptation of the podcast American Hostage, with Hamm set to reprise his role from the audio series. American Hostage is described as a "psychological thriller that tells the harrowing true story of Fred Heckman, a beloved Indianapolis radio reporter who is thrust into the middle of a life-or-death crisis when hostage-taker, Tony Kiritsis, demands to be interviewed on his popular radio news program." Ryan envisions the series as an anthology, which will focus on a different hostage case each season.

Julianne Nicholson (Mare of Easttown) and Eliza Scanlen (Sharp Objects) have landed the lead roles in the BBC's upcoming crime drama, Dope Girls. Umi Myers, Eilidh Fisher, and Geraldine James have also landed major parts in the series. Dope Girls has been described as "a spiritual successor to Peaky Blinders," and is set in London’s Soho in the early 20th century when female gangs ran the clubs, drugs, and moonshine. Nicholson will play Kate Galloway, a single mother who establishes a nightclub amidst the hedonistic uproar of post-World War I London, embracing a life of criminal activities with the dedicated aim of providing for her daughter. Scanlen will play Violet Davies, one of the first wave of female officers for the Metropolitan Police, who is assigned to go undercover and investigate the illicit world of underground Soho nightclubs.

CBS has announced its winter schedule for the end of 2023 and start of 2024 with some variations from its previously announced lineup. Premiere week will start right after the Super Bowl, with new episodes of NCIS; NCIS: Hawai’i; FBI; FBI: International; FBI: Most Wanted; S.W.A.T.; Blue Bloods; The Equalizer; and CSI: Vegas. The new action-adventure drama, Tracker, starring Justin Hartley, will still air following the Super Bowl on February 11. CBS will air another new program, Elsbeth (a spinoff of The Good Fight) starring Carrie Preston, on February 29. However, another new CBS show, Matlock, originally scheduled to premiere during the 2023-2024 fall season, has been pushed back to the 2024-2025 season

ABC also revealed its midseason lineup, with crime dramas Will Trent and The Rookie returning with new seasons on Feb. 20 at 8-10 p.m. ET, while 9-1-1 and Station 19 premiere March 14 beginning at 8 p.m. The previously announced new series, High Potential, will debut during the 2024-2025 broadcast season.
 

Law & Order star Jeffrey Donovan, who starred as Det. Frank Cosgrove, will not be returning to the NBC procedural for its 23rd season. According to TVLine, who first reported the news, the former Burn Notice star exited the show due to creative reasons. The main cast, including Sam Waterston as DA Jack McCoy, Hugh Dancy as senior prosecutorial assistant Nathan Price, and Camryn Manheim as Lt. Kate Dixon are expected to return.

Prime Video has set a revised winter release date for Mr. and Mrs. Smith, its re-imagining of the 2005 action comedy film that starred Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie. All eight episodes will drop on February 2, 2024, exclusively on Prime Video. In this version, two lonely strangers (Donald Glover and Maya Erskine) land jobs working for a mysterious spy agency that offers them a glorious life of espionage, wealth, world travels, and a dream brownstone in Manhattan. The catch? New identities in an arranged marriage as Mr. and Mrs. John and Jane Smith. Now hitched, John and Jane navigate a high-risk mission every week while also facing a new relationship milestone. Their complex cover story becomes even more complicated when they catch real feelings for each other. What’s riskier: espionage or marriage?

Joe Dempsie (Game of Thrones) and BAFTA winner Francesca Annis (Flesh & Blood) are among the stars boarding season 2 of Ben Richards’s BBC legal drama, Showtrial. The pair are joining the previously announced Adeel Akhtar, Nathalie Armin, and Michael Socha in the five-part season from Line of Duty maker World Productions. Dempsie will play DI Miles Southgate, while Annis will play a character called Dame Harriet Kenny. Other high profile cast members include Nina Toussaint-White (Bodyguard) and Fisayo Akinade (Heartstopper).

A new trailer dropped for the six-part television series, Monsieur Spade, set in the South of France in 1963 in which Dashiell Hammett’s dashing private investigator, Sam Spade (played by Clive Owen), is forced out of a quiet retirement and is back on the case to solve murders. Monsieur Spade will premiere on AMC and AMC+ on January 14.

PODCASTS/VIDEO/RADIO/AUDIO

Tim Shipman, the chief political commentator at the Sunday Times, interviewed author David McCloskey on the Spybrary podcast. The interview delves into the complexities of modern espionage, as well as themes of betrayal, love, loyalty, and vengeance in the clandestine war between the West and Moscow.

The new episode of the Crime Cafe features Debbi Mack's interview with crime writer Kathleen Kaska and how she got the inspiration to write the Sydney Lockhart mysteries, a series set in the 1950s featuring a young woman trying to make it as a private detective in a man's world

It Was a Dark and Stormy Book Club chatted with Lee Goldberg about his book, Malibu Burning, the first in his new series featuring arson investigators Walter Sharpe and Andrew Walker.

The Crime Time FM podcast featured the Christmas Debate in which eight top critics and writers picked their best reads of the year.

Read or Dead's Katie McLain Horner and Kendra Winchester discussed books perfect for holiday gifting.

The Pick Your Poison podcast delved into such topics as a risky behavior that often targets pregnant women and children; a type of drug that requires surgical intervention after an overdose; and what exactly is a drug loo and where can you find one?