Mystery Melange

The recipients of this year’s Silver Falchion Awards were handed out during the recent Killer Nashville convention in Tennessee. There were some two dozen categories of contestants, but the main crime fiction-related winners included Best Cozy: Murder in Third Position, by Lori Robbins; Best Historical: Murder at the Galliano Club, by Carmen Amato; Best Investigator: Dead Drop, by James L'Etoile; Best Mystery: The Bone Records, by Rich Zahradnik; Best Thriller: One of Us Is Dead, by Jeneva Rose. In addition, the winner of the Claymore Award for best unpublished manuscript was Francois Roberge – The Fixer by Les Edgerton.

The winners were announced for the 2023 Bulwer-Lytton Fiction Contest. Founded in 1982 at San Jose State University in California, the competition challenges entrants to compose opening sentences to the worst of all possible novels. Of interest to crime fiction fans is the Grand Panjandrum's Special Award, which went to Daniel Bradford of Lexington, KY: "It was a sunny day in Los Angeles, hot and bright, and I was in my office, playing Mahjong against myself and losing, when she walked in, 120 pounds of dynamite, a blonde with legs that began at her ankles and ended in trouble." Julian Calvin of Atlanta, Georgia, won the Crime & Detective category for her offering, "The tall, slender seductress had Tom Pauley wrapped around her little finger, and she had James McGee hanging from a necklace, but the police were still waiting for the lab results to determine whose body parts she had used to make her earrings and that stunning tennis bracelet." You can read all the category winners and "dishonorable mentions" here.

Noir at the Bar returns Sept 24 at the Mandrake Bar in Los Angeles. Host Eric Beetner will be joined by authors Halley Sutton, Lawrence Allan, Amulya Malladi, Pamela Samuels Young, Howard Kaplan, Ilyn Welch, and more as they read from their work.

Crime Reads featured Karen Pierce, author of a new cookbook that looks at Agatha Christie's characters and their relationship to food (with recipes!).


This week's crime poem at the 5-2 Weekly is "Queen's Hawker" by Rena J. Worley.

In the Q&A roundup, bestselling author Kathy Reichs spoke with The Globe and Mail about writing while working full time, forensic science and how her Temperance Brennan series might end; and crime writer Steve Cavanagh chatted with the Irish Examiner about his latest novel, Kill For Me, Kill For You, and the nature of revenge.

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

A trailer was released for The Marsh King's Daughter, based on Karen Dionne's 2017 novel of the same name. The film stars Daisy Ridley playing Helena Pelletier, a woman who has long buried her past experience with her father, Jacob Holbrook, the notorious "Marsh King" (Ben Mendelsohn)—who kidnapped and held her mother and herself captive in the woods for twelve years in total isolation. When he reappears in her life decades later, presenting a very real threat, Helena must confront him in order to protect her family.

A trailer also dropped for Cat Person, based on Kristen Roupenian's viral 2017 short story. The adaptation follows a college student named Margot (played by Emilia Jones) as she meets an older man named Robert (Nicholas Braun). The two get together, things go badly, and the seemingly nice Robert quickly reveals he has a much uglier side. The film also stars Geraldine Viswanathan, Hope Davis, Fred Melamed, Liza Koshy, Michael Gandolfini, and Isabella Rossellini. Cat Person debuts in theatres on October 26.

TELEVISION/STREAMING

The BBC announced a new, four-part crime drama, In The Jetty, starring Jenna Coleman. Coleman plays rookie detective Ember Manning who must work out how a fire in a Lancashire holiday home connects to a podcast journalist investigating a missing persons cold case and an illicit "love" triangle between a man in his twenties and two underage girls. But as Ember gets close to the truth, it threatens to destroy her life—forcing her to re-evaluate everything she thought she knew about her past, present and the town she’s always called home.

The BBC also commissioned Virdee, a new detective series based on AA Dhand’s best-selling crime novels and starring Sacha Dhawan (Doctor Who). The series introduces Detective Harry Virdee (Dhawan), a Bradford cop disowned by his Sikh family for marrying Saima, who is Muslim. Harry struggles with the abandonment, constantly attempting to reunite with his family. With his personal life in chaos, he must hunt down a killer targeting the Asian community. When the murderer kidnaps a local MP’s daughter in Bradford and holds the entire city to ransom, Harry realizes that he is going to need the help of his brother-in-law Riaz, a drug kingpin who runs the largest cartel in the county. Pulled together in an alliance that could ruin them both, Harry must make a choice: save himself and his family or save his city.

Disney+ has set the cast for the UK psychological drama, Playdate, adapted from Alex Dahl’s bestselling novel of the same name. The series, directed by Eva Husson, stars Denise Gough, Holliday Grainger, Ambika Mod, Jim Sturgess, Bronagh Waugh, and Michael Workeye. The story centers on Elisa, whose world is turned upside down when her young daughter Lucia is kidnapped at a sleepover. Who is the mystery woman who took Lucia, and what secrets does she know about Elisa?

A new teaser-trailer was released for Bosch: Legacy Season 2, based on the novels by Michael Connelly, which returns to Amazon Freevee on October 20. The drama series’ second season finds Harry Bosch (Titus Welliver) working alongside Honey "Money" Chandler (Mimi Rogers) to track down a masked assailant who kidnapped his daughter, Maddie (Madison Lintz), before time runs out. But as the FBI scrutinizes the murder of businessman Carl Rogers (from Season 1) , Bosch and Chandler are placed under suspicion. Season 2 will see the return of Detective Robert "Crate" Moore (Gregory Scott Cummins), and Detective "Barrel" Johnson (Troy Evans), who join Bosch, Chandler, Maurice "Mo" Bassi (Stephen A. Chang), and Detective Reina Vasquez (Denise Sanchez) in the search to find Maddie.

PODCASTS/VIDEO/RADIO/AUDIO

Karin Slaughter stopped by Good Morning America to discuss her new Will Trent thriller, After That Night.

The Crime Cafe podcast featured Debbi Mack's interview with Verónica Gutiérrez, a former community organizer, civil rights attorney, and corporate executive turned crime writer. Her latest book is As You Look.

On Crime Time FM, Paul Burke reviewed the latest titles in crime fiction and one wild card pick; and authors Amanda Cassidy and Caro Ramsey discussed their new novels.

Mysteryrat's Maze Podcast republished an episode from 2021 that was originally released in two parts but is now all together as one. It features the mystery short story "Harvey and the Redhead" written by Debra H. Goldstein and read by actors Ariel Linn and Sean Hopper.

It Was a Dark and Stormy Book Club featured Nancy Bush and her latest crime novel, The Camp.

On Read or Dead, Katie McLain Horner and Kendra Winchester discussed catching up on 2023 releases on their TBR ("To Be Read") piles.

The Pick Your Poison podcast delved into why people are intentionally poisoning themselves with frog poison.

Mystery Melange

Scottish author Claire Wilson has won the inaugural Penguin Michael Joseph Undiscovered Writers Prize for her debut novel, Five by Five. The prize, launched in 2022, aims to discover new writers from underrepresented backgrounds in publishing and focuses on a different genre each year, with the first year dedicated to crime fiction. Wilson, who works as an intelligence analyst in a Scottish prison, impressed the judges with her thriller which follows a protagonist on the trail of a corrupt prison officer who might be her lover. Wilson will receive a publishing contract with Penguin Michael Joseph, worth at least £10,000, and representation by the DHH Literary Agency. All shortlisted writers will also receive one-to-one editorial feedback and guidance from an editor or agent.

Noir at the Bar heads to Cleveland at the Music Box Supper Club on August 31 with drinks, dinner, and readings by crime fiction authors J.D. Belcher, Angela Crook, Miesha Wilson Headen, Dana McSwain, Susan Petrone, D.M. Pulley, Michael Ruhlman, Thrity Umrigar, and Abby L Vandiver. Following the readings, there will be a large book market so you can meet the authors, purchase their latest books, and get them signed.

In what is good news for the Irish Book Awards, An Post has extended its sponsorship for two more years. Now in its 18th year, the An Post Irish Book Awards celebrate and promote Irish writing to the widest range of readers possible, in various categories including the Irish Independent Crime Fiction Novel of the Year. A shortlist for the 2023 awards will be announced on October 19, with winners revealed on November 22 at The Convention Centre Dublin. The 2022 Crime Fiction Novel winner was Breaking Point by Edel Coffey.

Black Spring Press has announced the Black Spring Crime Series, which will be curated by Luca Veste (author of books including The Game and The Bone Keeper) and will comprise an initial run of 10 novels over the next 10 months. The first book in the series is A Crime in the Land of 7,000 Islands by serving FBI agent Zephaniah Sole, published in June, and the second will be The Scotsman by Rob McClure, out in September. Three more as-yet-unannounced books will be published by the end of 2023. Veste said of the series, which has been endorsed by Lee Child, Mark Billingham, Ian Rankin, and Val McDermid: "This is an incredibly exciting time to be involved with an independent press such as Black Spring. The vision we have is to release excellent novels that cover the wide variety we see in crime fiction. From police procedurals, to thrillers, to historical crimes, it is a privilege to be bringing these novels to a wider audience."

Mystery Readers Journal editor, Janet Rudolph, reported that due to an overwhelming number of articles, author essays, and reviews for the Animals in Mysteries theme, they are dividing the material into two issues (Volume 39: 3 & 4), the first of which will be out in October. This means that anyone who didn't send an article initially still has time to contribute to the second issue by sending in a submission by October 15. Mystery Fanfare has more information.

Harlem World profiled Rudolph John Chauncey Fisher (1897–1934), a physician and radiologist. But he also had a successful writing career, penning journal articles, short stories, and The Conjure Man Dies, dating from 1932, the first novel with a black detective as well as the first detective novel with only black characters (although Pauline Hopkins and John E. Bruce had serialized novels in journals prior).

From the truth is stranger than fiction department, a bizarre case in Australia has enthralled people all across the globe—involving mushroom poisoning, a series of deaths, a tearful interview and now reports of a past mystery illness.

This week's crime poem at the 5-2 Weekly is "The Crowbar" by Tom Barlow.

In the Q&A roundup, Lisa Haselton chatted with author Charlene Bell Dietz about her new historical mystery, The Flapper, the Impostor, and the Stalker; Writers Who Kill's E. B. Davis interviewed Barbara Ross about Hidden Beneath, the eleventh book in the Maine Clambake mystery series; and the Irish Times interviewed Andrea Carter about her legal background, writing advice, and why the Inishowen peninsula is so special.

Author R&R with Heather Dixon

After spending over a decade in the marketing and advertising industry as a copywriter, Heather Dixon began a freelance career writing for businesses, as well as writing content for top parenting sites such as Red Tricycle and Pregnant Chicken. Her writing has appeared in a number of established sites, including Huffington Post, Scary Mommy, Motherly, SavvyMom and others. She has appeared on CBC radio and in print in the Globe and Mail. She lives just outside of Toronto, Ontario with her husband, her three young daughters and her Bouvier, Zoey.

Her debut crime novel, Burlington, asks, "What happens to the mean girls when they grow up?" In Burlington, they become a clique of alpha moms at the gates of their children's posh elementary school that Mae Roberts only stumbles into when they decide to accept the new mom in their fancy suburban neighborhood. And everything seems peachy keen until Mae begins slipping more deeper into a world of odd dinner parties, secrets, and rumors of suicide attempts. It's only when one of the Riverpark moms disappears, and then another, that Mae must decide what's more important—fitting in or uncovering the truth. A fresh take on belonging, obsession, and schoolyard politics, Burlington is a suspenseful debut novel that explores the exclusive world of wealthy mothers and demonstrates how privilege can come at a devastating price.

Heather Dixon stops by In Reference to Murder to talk about writing and researching the novel:

 

My debut novel could probably be best categorized as book club fiction with elements of suspense. It’s called Burlington and it’s about a mother who moves to a new neighborhood in search of a better life. Only, once there, she gets caught up in the drama and the lives of the rich and beautiful school moms. I’ve been told it definitely gives off Big Little Lies vibes, which is great because I love Liane Moriarty.

When it comes to research, my main way to prepare for writing a novel is to read books that I think might be in the same genre or cover similar themes. I know some writers can’t read similar books when drafting, but I find it inspiring. In this case, I read both thriller books and domestic suspense novels to help me get a feel for the plotting and pacing. I wanted to make sure I was writing a page-turning novel, so I went right to the source and read all I could.

Then, after getting through the first draft, I usually go online to find all the little details I might not know about the setting. For Burlington, I searched things like what kind of trees grow in Vermont, what their local newspaper is called, what the homes look like. I also love using Google Earth to get in close and get real pictures of specific things. My book is contemporary fiction, so it was fairly simple for me to find answers to my questions, because I didn’t need to know what trees grew in Vermont 30 or 40 years ago, for example.

The other thing I’ve found extremely helpful is to reach out to professionals and ask questions. For another book I was writing, I needed to know if a spouse could legally take all of their joint savings out of a certain account without needing approval from the other spouse. I asked to speak to a financial advisor who was more than willing to answer all my questions. In fact, I think he kind of wanted to be a character in the book! For Burlington, I knew of someone who used to live in Vermont, so I reached out to her to ask specific questions about the area. I sometimes worried about bothering people, but I’ve found that most people don’t mind answering questions at all, especially when it’s for a book.

For a while, I tried to stick with the “write what you know” advice, but I find that quite limiting. With a combination of both internet research, real images to look at, and help from experts or people living in the area, I’ve found you can paint a real and detailed picture, which is so important. Even if you don’t end up going into detail on the page about what kind of tree someone is walking past, I think it’s important for yourself to have the entire picture before you can start crafting the world around your characters.

 

You can learn more about Heather and her writing via her website and also follow her on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. Burlington is now available via 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

Vertical has snapped up North American rights to Miranda’s Victim, a courtroom drama starring Academy Award nominee Abigail Breslin (Little Miss Sunshine), which had its world premiere as the opener for the 2023 Santa Barbara Film Festival and is slated for release on October 6th. Based on true events, the film tells the story of 18-year-old Trish Weir (Breslin), who in 1963 was kidnapped and sexually assaulted. After a voluntary confession, her assailant, Ernesto Miranda (Sebastian Quinn), is convicted. But the verdict is later overturned by the U.S. Supreme Court since his confession was made without an attorney present. In the resulting retrial, a determined prosecutor (Luke Wilson) seeks to hold Miranda fully accountable, notwithstanding a rigorous defense from Miranda’s attorney (Ryan Phillippe). What follows is a legal proceeding that will forever change the nation’s justice system. Weir’s case notably resulted in the establishment of the Miranda rights afforded to criminal suspects taken in police custody, to ensure the admissibility of statements made during interrogation, as part of subsequent criminal proceedings.

Buffalo 8 picked up worldwide rights to Rule of Thirds, an indie thriller written by and starring Will Hirschfeld, which it plans to release this fall. Also starring Ashley Moore (I Know What You Did Last Summer), the film is directed by Patrick Flaherty (Dyad) and centers on a successful high-end fashion photographer (Hirschfeld), scouting a new model (Moore), who watches as their instant connection leads to dangerous consequences. Additional cast includes Jonathan Kowalsky, Darren Pettie, George Carroll, Deneen Tyler, Ron Yuan, and Twan Kuyper.

A trailer was released for Anatomy of a Fall, which won the Palme d’Or (and also the Palme Dog) at the Cannes Film Festival this past summer, and opens in the U.S. on October 13. The story centers on a woman (played by Sandra Hüller) who lives alone with her husband and young son in the French Alps. When her husband dies in the snow, seemingly from a fall, she goes from being a grieving widow to a prime suspect. Who can you trust—especially when the only "eyewitnesses" are the couple’s blind son and the dog?

TELEVISION/STREAMING

Nicola Walker returns for an all-new season of Annika, a police procedural that follows a marine homicide detective in Scotland. The six-episode season premieres Sunday, October 15 at 10/9c on Masterpiece on PBS. Walker stars as DI Annika Strandhed, the head of Glasgow’s Marine Homicide Unit who darts around on a speedboat when she’s not raising an unruly teenage daughter. Walker works alongside DS Michael McAndrews (Jamie Sives) along with DC Blair Ferguson (Katie Leung), who’s an expert in forensics, and DS Tyrone Clark (Ukweli Roach) who is a new cop at the station.

FX has set Tuesday, November 14 for the premiere of A Murder at the End of the World, the seven-episode limited series that stars Emma Corrin, Clive Owen, Harris Dickinson, and Brit Marling. The Disney-owned network earlier had pushed the date from its original August 29 slot to November due to the Hollywood strikes. Created by Marling and Zal Batmanglij, A Murder at the End of the World is set at the remote compound of a reclusive billionaire and stars Corrin as the amateur sleuth Darby Hart, a Gen Z tech-savvy hacker. Darby and eight other guests are invited by a reclusive billionaire (Owen) to participate in a retreat. When one of the other guests is found dead, Darby must use all of her skills to prove it was murder against a tide of competing interests and before the killer takes another life.

FX also announced that the fifth season of multi-award-winning series, Fargo, is returning at 10 p.m. Tuesday, November 21. The network unveiled first-look images from the new season and revealed more details on the plot of the Noah Hawley-created show (spawned from the Best Picture Oscar-nominated 1996 Coen Brothers movie). In the 10-episode drama, an unexpected series of events lands Dorothy "Dot" Lyon (Juno Temple) in hot water with the authorities and plunges this seemingly typical Midwestern housewife back into a life she thought she'd left behind. Jon Hamm also stars as North Dakota Sheriff Roy Tillman, who has been searching for Dot for a long time. A rancher, preacher and a constitutional lawman, Roy believes that he is the law and therefore above the law.

The BBC has announced the return of hit drama Showtrial, with a brand new cast and explosive murder investigation. The fictional drama, written and created by Ben Richards, stars BAFTA award-winner Adeel Akhtar, Nathalie Armin, and Michael Socha, and will once again center around a hotly contested criminal trial that divides the nation and takes place in the full glare of the media spotlight. When the high-profile climate activist, Marcus Calderwood, is left for dead in a violent hit and run, he uses his dying moments to identify his killer—an unnamed serving policeman. From the victim's last breath to the jury’s final verdict, Showtrial takes us into the worlds of the charismatic and cocky officer, Justin Mitchell (Michael Socha); Sam Gill (Adeel Akhtar), an anxious defense solicitor; and Leila Hassoun-Kenny (Nathalie Armin), a rigorous prosecutor leading the case against the accused. As public outrage reaches fever-pitch, Showtrial questions what happens when a trial is dominated by contentious issues and whether the truth is ever clear cut. Is a fair trial possible when tensions are riding so high?

PODCASTS/VIDEO/RADIO/AUDIO

Graham Hurley chatted with Crime Time FM's Paul Burke about his new war novel, The Blood of Others; the Spoils of War series; Operation Jubilee: the raid on Dieppe; re-imagining WWII and Stalin and Mountbatten; writing "ogres"; and coming over from TV documentaries.

In the latest episode of The Red Hot Chili Writers, thriller writer Simon Toyne discussed how to avoid wild animal attacks; the etymology of famous phrases; Hilda's Crime Weekend; and a crime writers rap battle in Bute, Scotland.

It Was a Dark and Stormy Book Club spoke with bestselling true crime author, John Glatt, about his book Tangled Vines: Power, Privilege and the Murdaugh Family Murders, a reconstruction of the rise of the prestigious Murdaugh family and the shocking double murder that led to the downfall of its patriarch, Alex Murdaugh.

On the latest episode of the Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine podcast, find out what happens when a photographer gets wrapped up in a murder case involving a very famous guitar and a sports memorabilia collector in "The Beano" by Floyd Sullivan, from the September/October 2021 issue.

Sunday Music Treat

August 25 will mark the birth anniversary of conductor, composer, pianist, music educator, author, and humanitarian, Leonard Bernstein (1918-1990), who is featured in the upcoming film Maestro starring Bradley Cooper. Although best known as a composer for larger works such as Broadway musicals like West Side Story, Bernstein also wrote chamber music and solo pieces primarily (and unsurprisingly) for pianists. One such work is the short Non troppo presto, sometimes alternatively entitled Music for the Dance No. 1, dating from 1937. Although only a little over a minute and a half, the "perpetual motion" aspect of it might make it tricky for Scott Drayco with his injured arm, but here it is played masterfully by Leann Osterkamp: 

Mystery Melange

A "Noir at the 'Voir" event is coming up Tuesday, August 22 at The Boathouse at Sunday Park in Midlothian, Virginia. Host Josh Pachter will be joined by authors Maya Corrigan, Eleanor Cawood Jones, Ken Lawrence, Hugh Lessig, Shawn Reilly Simmons, and Lane Stone in reading from their works. Attendees can also enjoy dinner, cocktails, and the view of the beautiful Swift Creek Reservoir. Come early to make sure you get a seat and a ticket for a free raffle, with bags of books donated by event co-sponsors, including Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine, Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine, Crippen & Landru Publishers, Destination Murders, Genius Book Publishing, Atria Books, the Lifelong Learning Institute in Chesterfield, and more.

Terror Australis Readers and Writers Festival, Tasmania's International Crime and Mystery Festival, returns Thursday, October 26 to Sunday, October 29 at the Kermandie Hotel in Port Huon. This year's theme is Tassie Vice (think 80s detective shows, the rise of the amateur sleuth, and How to Host a Murder dinners). The panels will include featured authors such as Ann Cleeves, Garry Disher, Vanda Symon, David Owen, and a host of others. The event is partnering with the Way Down South Arts production team and is supported by Regional Arts Australia, RANT Arts, the Tasmanian Government, and the Australian Government.

Murder by the Book, a crime fiction-focused independent bookstore in Houston, TX, is partnering with Abby Endler from Crime By The Book to curate a new book subscription service. Crime by the Box will deliver a hand-selected, newly-released signed hardcover mystery, thriller, or suspense novel to readers on a monthly basis plus some little extras like further reading recommendations and exclusive author content. As an added bonus, Murder by the Book will also host in-store events with each of the Crime by the Box featured authors.

Seiichi Morimura was a Japanese author reported to have written about 300 books, nearly all of them mystery novels. But he might be most widely known for his 1981 nonfiction book, Akuma no Hoshoku (The Devil’s Gluttony), a searing exposé of the Japanese Army’s secret biological warfare program during WWII. The New York Times had an obituary of Morimura, who died this month at the age of 90.

The Bookseller reported that Severn House has scooped Playing Dead, a new anthology from members of the Detection Club, including Ann Cleeves, Elly Griffiths, Felix Francis and Lynne Truss, edited by novelist Martin Edwards. The anthology is due to be published in spring 2025 in celebration of the 80th birthday of the Detection Club’s seventh president, Simon Brett. Edwards is the eighth and current president of the Detection Club, the world’s oldest social network of crime writers, formed in 1930. Previous members include Agatha Christie, Dorothy L Sayers, G K Chesterton, and John le Carré.

The blog, Beneath the Stains of Time, compiled an overview of "The Locked Room Mystery & Impossible Crime Story in the 21st Century: A Brief Historic Overview of the First Twenty (Some) Years." Although the crime fiction subgenre dates all the way back to Edgar Allan Poe's "The Murders in the Rue Morgue" (1841), the Covid-era lockdowns prompted a bit of a resurgence.

Writing for The Daily Yonder, Keith Roysdon turned a spotlight on rural crime fiction, while Molly Odintz over at CrimeReads looked outward for "The Best International Crime Fiction of August 2023."

I'm a member of several writer forums, and the hottest topic these days is artificial intelligence (AI) and the potential impact it will have—and is already having—on writing and publishing. It's a very controversial and highly charged issue, with a case in point being Death of an Author, a crime novel "written" almost entirely by three different AI programs (ChatGPT, Sudowrite and Cohere). The Sydney Morning Herald wonders if this is the beginning of the end for human authors.

If you have a New York Times subscription, check out the essay by Amor Towles, "All Hail the Long-Suffering Cadaver." Once at the center of the murder mystery, Towles argues that the cadaver has become increasingly incidental to the action and now figures as little more than a prop.

This week's crime poem at the 5-2 Weekly is "Thoughts and Prayers" by Jennifer Lagier.

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

Oscar-nominated actor Alec Baldwin and Blade actor Stephen Dorff are starring in the indie action-thriller, Cold Deck. The movie, directed by Brian Skiba and produced by Corey Large and Eric Bromberg, completed production before the SAG-AFTRA strike commenced on July 14. The story, from Joe Perruccio, follows a team of loggers who stumble upon a meth cook site deep in the forest and find themselves in a fight for survival as they’re hunted down by a drug cartel. Cold Deck also stars Clive Standen (Vikings), Tom Welling (Smallville), Jesse Metcalfe (Fortress franchise), Lochlyn Munro (Riverdale), and Lucy Martin (Vikings).

TELEVISION/STREAMING

With two Hollywood strikes, it’s unclear when CBS’s FBI: Most Wanted will return for a fifth season, but when it does, it will be without series regular, Alexa Davalos, who plays Special Agent Kristin Gaines, a former Office of Naval Intelligence officer. When she came on board the FBI’s Fugitive Task Force, the team was led by Jess LaCroix, played by Julian McMahon who exited during Season 3 and was succeeded by Dylan McDermott as the squad’s new leader, Remy Scott. In the Season 4 finale, Gaines was part of the all-hands-on-deck team that helped Remy (McDermott) capture his brother’s real killer, Benji, who was trying to escape to Canada by train. It is unclear how Gaines’s exit will be explained in the upcoming fifth season, which has not been written because of the WGA strike, or whether Davalos would be invited back to wrap up her character’s arc.

Although there isn't a lot of news about new programming in the pipeline, thanks to the ongoing dual SAG-AFTRA and WGA strikes in Hollywood, programs that were already produced prior to the strikes are releasing teasers for their upcoming premieres. Case in point are the production photos from the adaptation of Edgar Allan Poe's Fall of the House of Usher, which Netflix has slated for Thursday, October 12. Starring Bruce Greenwood (who replaced Frank Langella as the lead back in April 2022 after Langella was fired following a misconduct investigation), the story centers on ruthless siblings Roderick (Greenwood) and Madeline Usher (Mary McDonnell) who have built Fortunato Pharmaceuticals into an empire of wealth, privilege and power. But past secrets come to light when the heirs to the Usher dynasty start dying at the hands of a mysterious woman from their youth. The cast also includes Carl Lumbly as Detective C. Auguste Dupin (with Malcom Goodwin playing the detective as a young man), as well as Carla Cugino, Mark Hamill, and more.

Netflix also revealed an official trailer for Dear Child, a new crime series from Germany, based on Romy Hausmann's bestselling novel of the same name, which follows a woman being held captive who finally escapes―but can she ever really get away?

Paramount+ released the first teaser trailer for Taylor Sheridan’s Lawmen: Bass Reeves, which stars David Oyelowo as the titular character. Reeves (Oyelowo), a former slave, was known as the greatest frontier hero in American history, working in the post-Reconstruction era as a federal peace officer in the Indian Territory and capturing over 3,000 of the most dangerous criminals without ever being wounded. Future iterations will follow other iconic lawmen and outlaws who have had an impact on history.

Peacock dropped a trailer for the John Wick prequel series, The Continental, which is set to hit the streamer next month as a three-part event debuting September 22. The project follows Colin Woodell as a young Winston Scott in his path to becoming the proprietor of The Continental, a chain of hotels that are safe havens for legal assassins.

PODCASTS/VIDEO/RADIO/AUDIO

On Crime Time FM, Nicola Monoghan chatted with Paul Burke about her new thriller, Wish You Were Here, and its protagonist, DNA analyst Doctor Sian Love; the city of Nottingham, where Monoghan is studying for a Ph.D. at the University of Nottingham; fellow Nottingham author, Alan Sillitoe; and DNA.

Spybrary interviewed debut novelist and ex-CIA officer, I.S. Berry, whose new book is titled The Peacock and the Sparrow, "the best spy novel published in 2023."

On the Read or Dead podcast, Katie McLain Horner and Kendra Winchester talked about books by women in translation.

On Criminal Mischief, Dr. D.P. Lyle discussed "Victimology," i.e., how evaluating the victim can add to the offender profile and might offer valuable information to narrow the search for the killer.

The Pick Your Poison podcast discussed the nerve agent Novichok; how a man dropped dead in minutes of a potent toxin applied by people wearing no PPE—without the poisoners suffering any symptoms; and what the antidote might to these poisons.

Ngaio Marsh Awards 2023 Shortlists Announced

Craig Sisterson, founder of the Ngaio Marsh Awards for New Zealand crime, mystery, or thriller writing, announced the 2023 finalists, which celebrate "outstanding Kiwi storytellers whose tales, fictional and factual, explore the investigation of crime or the impact or effects of crime on people and society." The winners will be revealed during the Christchurch WORD writers festival, which runs from 23–27 August. Best wishes to all!

 

Best Nonfiction

• The Devil You Know: Encounters in forensic psychiatry (Gwen Adshead & Eileen Horne, S&S)
• The Fix: The story of one of New Zealand’s biggest swindles (Scott Bainbridge, David Bateman)
• Missing Persons (Steve Braunias, HarperCollins)
• Downfall: The destruction of Charles Mackay (Paul Diamond, Massey University)
• A New Dawn (Emeli Sione, Mila’s Books)

Best Debut Novel

• Paper Cage (Tom Baragwanath, Text)
• Better the Blood (Michael Bennett, S&S)
• Surveillance (Riley Chance, CP Books)
• The Slow Roll (Simon Lendrum, Upstart)
• One Heart One Spade (Alistair Luke, self-published)
• Too Far From Antibes (Bede Scott, PRH SEA)

Best Crime Novel

• Better the Blood (Michael Bennett, S&S)
• The Slow Roll (Simon Lendrum, Upstart)
• Remember Me (Charity Norman, A&U)
• Blood Matters (Renée, The Cuba Press)
• Exit .45 (Ben Sanders, A&U)
• The Doctor’s Wife (Fiona Sussman, Bateman)
• Blue Hotel (Chad Taylor, Brio).

 

Mystery Melange

A M Heath literary agency, the Orion Publishing Group and Crime Monthly have teamed up to launch Criminal Lines 2023, a new £3,500 crime writing prize open to unagented debut (i.e. no traditionally published crime novel) authors, born or resident in the UK and Ireland who are 18 and over. From psychological thrillers, to cozy crime, to serial killer thrillers, entrants are invited to submit the opening 5,000 words of a novel with "criminal intent" plus a synopsis of no more than 1,000 words. Entries close on December 7, 2023. The winner will be selected by a panel of judges including A M Heath agents Euan Thorneycroft and Oli Munson, Crime Monthly assistant editor Lisa Howells, Orion Fiction editors Leodora Darlington and Sam Eades, and authors Vaseem Khan and Mari Hannah. (HT to Shots Magazine)

Five writers have been shortlisted for the Lindisfarne Prize for Crime Fiction, currently in its fifth year after being established by LJ Ross, writer of the North East-based DCI Ryan series. The prize aims to celebrate outstanding crime and thriller storytelling of those who are from, or whose work celebrates, the North East of England. This year's finalists include Robert Meddes, Those Men, Those Faces; Sarah Jeffery, The Perfect Alibi; Alan Sendall, Double Infidelity; Karys Frank, Stone Cold Truth; and Sarah Williams, Vacancy for Murder. The winner will be announced on September 6 and will receive a cash prize to support the completion of their work, alongside funding for membership of the Society of Authors (SoA) and the Alliance of Independent Authors (ALLI).

Twelve crime novels from Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, Sweden, and Switzerland have made the longlist for the 2023 Petrona Award for the Best Scandinavian Crime Novel of the Year. The longlist contains a mix of new and established authors including previous Petrona Award winner, Gunnar Staalesen. The shortlist will be announced on September 7, 2023. The Petrona Award was established to celebrate the work of Maxine Clarke, one of the first online crime fiction reviewers and bloggers, who died in December 2012. Maxine, whose online persona and blog was called Petrona, was passionate about translated crime fiction but in particular that from the Scandinavian countries. The award is open to crime fiction in translation, either written by a Scandinavian author or set in Scandinavia and published in the UK in the previous calendar year.

Antony Johnston’s cozy crime murder mystery, The Dog Sitter Detective, has won the Barker Book Award for fiction. Antony’s previous work includes the film Atomic Blonde and the Brigitte Sharp spy thrillers, which are being developed for TV. The Dog Sitter Detective is the first in a series of mysteries starring semi-retired actress Guinevere "Gwinny" Tuffel and a varied cast of dogs, with a different breed planned to feature in each book. Now in their second year, the Barker Book Awards are billed as "The bark of excellence for dogs in literature." This year’s head judge is the actor and animal advocate Peter Egan, famous for his roles in Downton Abbey and Ever Decreasing Circles. The fiction award includes prize money of £2,000 and encompasses all genres, not only crime.

HitchCon '23 is an international Alfred Hitchcock conference to be held October 7-8, both online and in person at Mercy College, Dobbs Ferry, NY. The organizers are planning a weekend of all-new insights from leading Hitchcock experts "that will change the way you look at film and provide inspiration to improve your own creative skills." There will be talks and panels, Q&A sessions, breakout groups, social events and networking both in person and online, and film screenings including an 80th anniversary screening of Shadow of a Doubt. Special guests include authors William Rothman, Murray Pomerance, Thomas Leitch, Richard Allen, and Paula Marantz Cohen. (HT to Mystery Fanfare)

The inaugural Chiltern Kills festival heads to Gerrards Cross in the UK on Saturday, October 7, featuring 70 of the industry’s best crime fiction authors delivering 20 panels and talks. Special guests include Frederick Forsyth, Ruth Ware, Mark Billingham, and Sarah Pinborough, who will be joined by celebrity names from TV moderating panels, as well as real-life professionals from the world of law and order, and many more. Visitors to the festival can also enjoy a specially written play written by and starring the authors themselves; karaoke led by writer Mark Edwards; one-to-one interviews; signed books; a one-off festival short story anthology; a beer tent; and a huge array of food and drink stalls. All ticket sales in aid of Centrepoint, a youth homeless charity.

An imprint of Disney Publishing Worldwide, Hyperion Avenue, is debuting new fiction under Marvel Crime. The new endeavor will feature three original novels by bestselling authors S.A. Cosby, Lisa Jewell, and Alex Segura. The stories will be gritty crime novels geared towards adults and will use familiar Marvel characters. The first, due out in 2024, will be written by Jewell and is inspired by Jessica Jones. Cosby’s Luke Cage book and Segura’s Daredevil will both be released out in 2025. Sven Larsen, Vice President of licensed publishing at Marvel, said, "We are always looking for new ways to tell stories about Marvel’s beloved superheroes, and working with Hyperion Avenue on the Marvel Crime novels will showcase these characters in an exciting new light. We know that lifelong Marvel fans and crime fiction enthusiasts alike will enjoy this inventive new series."

This week's crime poem at the 5-2 Weekly is "L.A. Nocturne" by Libby Cudmore.

In the Q&A roundup, Deborah Kalb spoke with Rhys Bowen, author of the the Molly Murphy historical mystery series, about her new historical novel, The Paris Assignment; and Lisa Haselton welcomed Thriller Award-nominated author Allen Wyler to chat about his new medical thriller, Dead End Deal.

Author R&R with Lynn Slaughter

Lynn Slaughter is addicted to the arts, chocolate, and her husband’s cooking. Following a long career as a professional dancer and dance educator, she earned her MFA in Writing Popular Fiction from Seton Hill University. She’s the author of four young adult novels including Leisha's Song, an Agatha Nominee for Best Mystery Novel in the MG/YA category, and It Should Have Been You, a Silver Falchion finalist, and also the short story, "Missed Cue," which appears in Malice Domestic’s 2020 anthology, Murder Most Theatrical

Her latest novel, published today, is an adult crime fiction title, Missed Cue (an expansion of the short story). When ballerina Lydia Miseau dies onstage in the final dress rehearsal of Romeo and Juliet, homicide detective Caitlin O’Connor is faced with the most complicated case of her career. She strongly suspects that someone murdered the ballerina, and her investigation uncovers several people close to the star who had reasons to kill her. But the autopsy reveals no apparent cause of death. If Lydia Miseau was murdered, who did it, and how? Meantime, there’s Caitlin’s hot mess of a personal life. She has a bad habit of getting involved with married men. She knows it’s wrong, so why does she keep entangling herself in unhealthy relationships? She’s finally decided to go into therapy to find out.

Lynn Slaughter stops by In Reference to Murder to take some Author R&R about writing and researching the book:

Research Matters for Mystery Writers

Writers are often advised to “write what you know.” This is good advice. For example, while the ballet company in my novel, MISSED CUE, is fictional, there’s no question that my experience as a former professional dancer lends the characters and the setting authenticity. I’m familiar with artistic directors obsessed with their work, ambitious young dancers eager for their opportunity to perform major roles, and aging dancers facing the autumn of their professional careers.

On the other hand, I would never want to limit myself to only what I know. I also love writing about things I’m eager to learn more about. For example, in my novel, DEADLY SETUP, the protagonist ends up going on trial for the murder of her mother’s fiancé. Courtroom dramas have always intrigued me, and I was eager to try my hand at writing one. But I’m not an attorney. So, I did a lot of research on criminal and courtroom procedure, read countless opening and closing trial statements, as well as articles for criminal prosecutors and defense attorneys on strategies for effective witness questioning. I also solicited help from two attorneys who reviewed my work and helped ensure its accuracy.

For MISSED CUE, I had a different problem that required expertise I didn’t possess. I had this idea that a revered and seemingly healthy ballerina would die onstage, but the autopsy would reveal no apparent cause of death. The homicide detective in charge of the investigation of the suspicious death had to figure out not only who killed the ballerina, but how they’d done it.

So, I turned to help from my author friends from the Guppies chapter of Sisters in Crime. They advised me to contact Luci Hansson Zahray, aka “the Poison Lady.” Luci generously lent her expertise on just how you could cause a healthy heart to simply stop beating that wouldn’t be detected in an autopsy.

Sense of place is also essential for mystery writers. MISSED CUE is set in New Haven, Connecticut. Having grown up in New England, I’ve visited New Haven many times.

But the internet was also hugely helpful to me. For example, my protagonist, Lieutenant Caitlin O’Connor, is a jazz fan. In researching New Haven, I discovered it was the home of Firehouse 24, the only club in the state devoted exclusively to live jazz, which turned into the setting for one of Caitlin’s dates with a new man in her life, as did several other area restaurants.

One of the great things about restaurant websites is that most not only include menus but photos of their dining spaces. This enabled me to immerse readers in scenes with specifics about what the characters were ordering and and what the ambiance of each setting was like.

And, since Caitlin’s new romantic interest is a science geek, it was natural to research what places he’d want to visit with her, such as the Yale Peabody Museum of Natural History and Mystic Seaport Aquarium.

Realtors’ websites and descriptions of neighborhoods online were also extremely useful in locating where my characters might live and what their homes would be like, such as the medical examiner’s sprawling colonial in one of Hamden’s prosperous subdivisions and the rehabbed Victorian in downtown New Haven that housed the office of Caitlin’s therapist.

The interest in doing both online and in-person research is a handy quality to have as a mystery writer. I feel fortunate to love research. It’s fun, and you never know what you’ll discover!

 

You can learn more about Lynn Slaughter and her writing via her website and follow her on Facebook, Twitter, and Goodreads.  Missed Cue is now available via Melange 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

Skydance has acquired the rights to Mickey Spillane’s and Max Allan Collins’s Mike Hammer franchise with plans to develop and produce the bestselling book series into a feature film. Hammer is the protagonist of a series of hardboiled detective novels, starting with the 1947 novel, I, the Jury, and is credited with inspiring numerous other iconic characters including Dirty Harry, Jack Reacher, and James Bond (whom Ian Fleming famously referred to as "the British answer to Mike Hammer"). The producers have the rights to the Hammer catalogue which includes dozens of Hammer stories, books, and graphic novels – authored by Mickey Spillane as well as those co-authored by Spillane and his friend, best-selling author Max Allan Collins. The Mike Hammer novel, Kiss Me Deadly, was adapted as the classic film directed by Robert Aldrich from 1955, but the Hammer character has not had a chance for any feature film treatment since then due to a rights dispute. (Two of the producers on the Mike Hammer project, Guymon Casady and Benjamin Forkner, are also teaming to produce another adaptation that features an iconic literary character, Tom Ripley, in Netflix’s upcoming series based on Patricia Highsmith’s The Talented Mr. Ripley.)

Maigret, featuring Gérard Depardieu in the lead role, is coming to selected UK cinemas starting September 1st. Depardieu, renowned for his roles in Cyrano de Bergerac and Welcome to New York, brings to life one of the most cherished characters from twentieth-century crime fiction, from the pen of Georges Simenon. Set in Paris in 1953, the story begins when the lifeless body of a stunning young woman is found at Place Ventimille, elegantly clad in an evening gown. With no means of identification and no witnesses in sight, Inspector Jules Maigret, a contemplative and world-weary detective, embarks on a mission to reconstruct her tale. As he delves into the mystery, he uncovers intricate details about her past and character that paint a vivid picture of her life.

TELEVISION/STREAMING

Apple TV+ has quietly axed its thriller series, Suspicion, after one season. Suspicion was a remake of the Israeli drama series, False Flag, and followed 21-year-old Leo’s abduction from a large, upmarket hotel in central New York, which is captured on video and goes viral. Four British citizens staying at the hotel swiftly become prime suspects and have their lives turned upside down as they fight to absolve themselves of suspicion. Starring as Katherine Newman, Oscar-nominee Uma Thurman appeared in six of the eight episodes and was joined in Season 1 by Kunal Nayyar (The Big Bang Theory), Noah Emmerich (The Americans), Georgina Campbell (Black Mirror), Elyes Gabel (Scorpion), Elizabeth Henstridge (Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.), and Angel Coulby (Dancing on the Edge).

Apple TV+ also opted not to pick up a second season of the crime drama series, City on Fire, based on the novel of the same name by Garth Risk Hallberg. While City on Fire was ordered and marketed as a drama series, not a limited series, and there were seeds for a second season planted in the finale, viewers will not be left hanging as Season 1 covered the arc in the book. The story centered on a suburban teenager, Charlie (Wyatt Oleff), who attempts to unravel the mystery of the shooting in Central Park on the Fourth of July of his friend Samantha (Chase Sui Wonders). As the crime against Samantha is investigated, she’s revealed to be the crucial connection between a series of mysterious citywide fires, the downtown music scene, and a wealthy uptown real estate family fraying under the strain of the many secrets they keep. The series also starred Jemima Kirke, Nico Tortorella, Ashley Zukerman, Xavier Clyde, Max Milner, Alexandra Doke, Omid Abtahi, Kathleen Munroe, and John Cameron Mitchell.

CBS unveiled its strike-impacted fall schedule, which unsurprisingly looks a lot different due to the twin SAG-AFTRA and WGA strikes, especially for crime drama fans who are accustomed to seeing the various NCIS, FBI, and CSI franchises. Among all the sports programs and unscripted ("reality") TV shows on the roster are repeats of NCIS, Blue Bloods, and FBI, with some original series (but also repeats) pulled from Paramount+, including Yellowstone, FBI True, and SEAL Team.

MASTERPIECE Mystery! on PBS released a 2-minute trailer for Unforgotten Season 5. This award-winning cold case crime drama follows veteran London detectives who uncover the truth behind tangled, complicated murders from the past. The new season sees DI Sunny Khan's (Sanjeev Bhaskar) loyal and hard-working investigations team back at work and attempting to get along with a new and all too business-like DCI Jessica James (Sinéad Keenan). Jess's first case is the discovery of human remains in a newly renovated period property in Hammersmith, London. But how long have they been there and is this a murder dating back to the 1930's or has the body been disposed of in more recent times? Fans can catch up with full episodes of Seasons 1 through 4 streaming now on PBS Passport.

PODCASTS/VIDEO/RADIO/AUDIO

WNYC's All Of It podcast chatted with Laura Lippman who drew inspiration from the infamous "Prom Mom" case for her latest novel, which tells the story of a woman who becomes re-entangled with her high school boyfriend years after she gave birth to his child in a bathroom during prom and left the baby to die.

Speaking of Mysteries spoke with Lynn Hightower about her new novel, The Beautiful Risk, which centers on Junie Lagarde and her hearing-ear dog Leo—who survived the plane crash in the French Alps that killed Junie's husband. Nothing will stop Junie from finding Leo and looking into the plane crash … but not everyone wants Junie to succeed. In fact, not everyone wants Junie to survive

On Crime Time FM, Paul Burke chatted with Sam Lloyd about his new thriller, The People Watcher; hinterlands; The Hobbit; surviving rejection; fulfilling a dream; character; and boiling a frog.

The Red Hot Chili Writers interviewed crime writer, Sarah Hilary, and discussed neurodiversity in fiction.

It Was a Dark and Stormy Book Club focused on four books that appropriately involve heat.

On the Writers' Detective Bureau, Detective Adam Richardson answered questions about investigating international crime rings; FBI Legal Attachés; INTERPOL; the difference between reactive and proactive investigations; and where prosecutions might happen for transnational RICO cases.

The August episode of Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine's podcast featured "The Knight Wizard," a new story in the July/August 2023 issue from frequent EQMM contributor, Janice Law.

Sunday Music Treat

Cécile Chaminade (August 8, 1857 - April 13, 1944) was a French composer and pianist who came from a musical family. It was still rare at the time for a woman to be a performer, let alone a composer, even though family friend Georges Bizet called her "My Little Mozart." She was generally successful during her lifetime, and in 1913, she was awarded the Légion d'Honneur, a first for a female composer. But her compositions became largely forgotten in the second half of the twentieth century, despite publishing more than four hundred pieces over her eighty-six years. Here's one of her many works for the piano, the Theme and Variations from Opus 89, as played by Marc-André Hamelin in Amsterdam, 1998: 

Ned Kelly Award Shortlists

The Ned Kelly Awards are Australia’s oldest and most prestigious recognition honoring published crime fiction and true crime writing in the categories of Best Crime Fiction, Best Debut Crime Fiction, Best True Crime, and Best International Crime Fiction. Entries are accepted for books published in the 12 months prior to 1 March each year. Best of luck to all the 2023 finalists!

Best Crime Fiction

 

Soulmate by Sally Hepworth 

When The Carnival is Over by Greg Woodland 

Exiles by Jane Harper 

When We Fall by Aoife Clifford 

The Tilt by Chris Hammer 

Those Who Perish Emma Viskic 

Seven Sisters by Katherine Kovacic

Lying Beside You by Michael Robotham

Best International Crime Fiction

The Lemon Man by Keith Bruton 

Paper Cage by Tom Baragwanath 

The Favour by Nicci French 

The Hitchhiker by Gerwin van der Werf 

Best Debut Crime Fiction

Wake by Shelley Burr 

No Country for Girls by Emma Styles 

Dirt Town by Hayley Scrivenor 

Black River by Matthew Spencer 

How to Kill a Client by Joanna Jenkins 

The House of Now and Then by Jo Dixon 

Lenny Marks Gets Away with Murder by Kerryn Mayne 

Denizen by James McKenzie Watson 

Best True Crime

Tiger! Tiger! Tiger! by Officer A

A Death Row at Truro by Geoff Plunkett 

Rattled by Ellis Gunn 

Betrayed by Sandi Logan 

Out of the Ashes by Megan Norris 

 

Mystery Melange

The Gotham Writers Genre Fiction Conference will take place mostly on Zoom, August 12-13, 2023. There will be at least one pitching roundtable in NYC. On Day 1, there are four panels and presentations, each designed to give you a peek behind the genre fiction book publishing curtain. You’ll hear from agents, editors, and writers, all offering their insight into the process of getting your genre fiction book out to the world. On Day 2, there are Pitching Roundtables where pre-selected writers spend the day at a table with two agents who specialize in the field that matches the writers’ book projects (fantasy, science fiction, mystery, thriller, horror). 

Otto Penzler announced that he has formed Crime Ink, a new imprint at his publishing company, Penzler Publishers, which will focus on publishing literary true crime. Tom Wickersham, formerly the manager of The Mysterious Bookshop, will head the imprint as its editor. Charles Perry will be the Publisher, a position he currently holds with The Mysterious Press, American Mystery Classics, Scarlet, and MysteriousPress.com, an electronic book publisher—the other imprints of Penzler Publishers. Luisa Smith will oversee as Editor-in-Chief of Penzler Publishers. The Crime Ink imprint plans to publish four to six books in its first year, starting in the Winter of 2024. Crime Ink will be distributed by W. W. Norton and Company, which also distributes The Mysterious Press, Scarlet, and American Mystery Classics.

In 1970, a gay detective debuted in the novel Fadeout by author Joseph Hansen, who took a risk creating Dave Brandstetter. But fifty years later, there's a Netflix series in development and new book editions offering new opportunities to shine a light on Hansen’s work. Hansen was a serious writer, a poet published in The New Yorker, a journalist, and an author of novels and stories beyond crime fiction. But he is most celebrated for the elegant, literary mystery novels featuring the 40ish investigator Brandstetter, who was smart, observant, compassionate and gay. Although not as famous as perhaps he should be, the Private Eye Writers of America awarded Brandstetter The Eye, the group’s lifetime achievement award, and he received the Lambda Literary Award for Gay Men’s Mystery for the last Brandstetter novel, A Country of Old Men. 

Raymond Chandler’s Philip Marlowe is getting a trigger warning from publisher house Vintage. The 1939 novel The Big Sleep, considered among the greatest works of crime fiction, has been reprinted with a cautionary note by publishing house Vintage. Would-be readers of Chandler’s most famous work are now warned that the book may contain "outdated language and cultural representations." The note addressed to the "dear reader" cautions that while the story centered on Los Angeles detective Philip Marlowe is an outstanding example of crime fiction, it is nevertheless "firmly of its time and place."

Sometimes, truth really is stranger than fiction: When an early draft of Emma Rosenblum’s debut murder mystery was leaked to the inhabitants of Fire Island where it’s set, events there began to take a weirder turn.

This week's crime poem at the 5-2 Weekly is "Ballad of Menstruation & Crime" by Sylvia Wenmackers.

In the Q&A roundup, Ken Jaworowski, an editor at the New York Times, chatted with Author Interviews about his debut thriller, Small Town Sins; Lisa Haselton welcomed mystery author Dale T. Phillips to talk about his new mystery and crime anthology, Crime Time; the blog Indie Crime Scene interviewed Lynn Slaughter about her debut crime novel, Missed Cue; Deborah Kalb spoke with Rachel Howzell Hall, author of the new novel What Never Happened, and also Gillian McAllister, whose new novel Just Another Missing Person was recently released; and Laura Lippman stopped by The Guardian to discuss her latest novel, Prom Mom, which delivers her most political novel to date about a teen with an unwanted pregnancy.