Saluting the Sleuths

This year's winners of the 2024 Shamus Awards were handed out by the Private Eye Writers of America at the Bouchercon Opening Ceremonies in Nashville, Tennessee on Thursday. (Note: PWA apparently decided not to award in the Best Debut Novel category this year.) Congrats to all the winners and finalists!

BEST PI HARDCOVER:  Heart of the Nile by Will Thomas (Minotaur Books)

Also nominated:

Hard Rain by Samantha Jayne Allen (Minotaur Books)
Go Find Daddy by Steve Goble (Oceanview Publishing)
The Mistress of Bhatia House by Sujata Massey (Soho Crime)
The Bell in the Fog by Lev AC Rosen (Forge Books)

BEST ORIGINAL PI PAPERBACK:  Liar’s Dice by Gabriel Valjan (Level Best Books)

Also nominated:

Drums Guns ’N’ Money by Jonathan J. Brown (Down & Out Books)
Gillespie Field Groove by Corey Lynn Fayman (Konstellation Press)
The Truth We Hide by Liz Milliron (Level Best Books)
Bring the Night by J.R. Sanders (Level Best Books) 

BEST PI SHORT STORY: “Errand for a Neighbor” by Bill Bassman (January/February 2023, Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine)

Also nominated:

“Beyond Belief” by Libby Cudmore (May 2023, Tough)
“The Soiled Dove of Shallow Hollow” by Sean McCluskey (January/February 2023, Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine)
“Imperfect Data” by Bob Tippee (January/February 2023, Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine)
“Making the Bad Guys Nervous” by Joseph S. Walker (2023, Black Cat Weekly #102)

Mystery Melange

Gene Christie has been named the winner of the 2024 Munsey Award. The award was presented at PulpFest in Pittsburgh on August 3 and voted on by a committee made up of all the living Lamont, Munsey, and Rusty Award recipients. Named for Frank A. Munsey, publisher of the first pulp magazine, the award recognizes someone who has contributed to the betterment of the pulp community through disseminating knowledge, publishing, or other efforts to preserve and to foster interest pulp magazines. A researcher of fantasy, science fiction, mystery, and adventure fiction for over thirty years, Gene Christie has extensively studied and indexed the magazines of the pulp era.

Some sad news this week, via Janet Rudolph at Mystery Fanfare: Victoria (Vicki) Thompson passed away last week due to complications of Non-Hodgkins lymphoma. Thompson began her writing career as the author of 20 historical romance novels, then turned her hand to writing the bestselling historical Gaslight Mysteries series, which has been nominated for six Agatha Awards, an Edgar Award, and a Bruce Alexander Award. The Gaslight Mysteries follow midwife Sarah Brandt and Detective Sergeant Frank Malloy as they solve murder mysteries in turn-of-the-century New York City. Thompson also wrote the historical Counterfeit Lady series, which was nominated for the Sue Grafton Memorial Award by Mystery Writers of America.

Via Elizabeth Foxwell's Bunburyist blog comes an unusual but interesting event; the Victorian Interdisciplinary Studies Association of the Western United States will hold a Victorian gaslighting roundtable on Zoom on Thursday, September 5, at 11 a.m. Pacific time (2 p.m. Eastern time). Presenters will discuss various examples of gaslighting in Victorian literature and culture. The term "gaslighting" refers to a form of psychological manipulation stemming from Patrick Hamilton's play Angel Street, aka Gaslight, adapted as a 1944 film. Advance registration for the Zoom event is required.

Dean Street Press noted on Twitter that in December, it will be re-printing the mystery novels of British author Lana Hutton Bowen-Judd, better known under her pen name of Sara Woods (1922-1985). During World War II, Woods worked in a bank and as a solicitor's clerk in London, where she gained much of the information later used in her stories. Her main series of some forty-eight novels featured barrister Antony Maitland, but she also penned three other shorter series under various pen name. In 1957, she and her husband emigratedd to Halifax, Nova Scotia, where Woods was also instrumental in forming Crime Writers of Canada, serving on its first executive committee.

During a recent trip to Scotland, Martin Edwards traced some of the locations which crop up in Dorothy L. Sayers' 1931 novel, The Five Red Herrings, which are set in Galloway, a place I've always wanted to visit.

In the Q&A roundup, cozy mystery author Janice Hallett spoke with The Telegraph about how women dominate crime fiction "because we fear for our lives," as well as the life-saving potential of her novels, her love of Richard Osman, and why she won’t cancel Enid Blyton; and Steve Hamilton chatted with Writer's Digest about the process of continuing a series with his new thriller novel, An Honorable Assassin.

Ngaio Marsh Award Winners

The winners of the 2024 Ngaio Marsh Awards were announced last night as part of a special event held in association with the WORD Christchurch Festival in the hometown of Dame Ngaio. The awards were launched in 2010 by lawyer-turned-journalist Craig Sisterson, who wanted a way for excellence in New Zealand crime, mystery, and thriller writing to be celebrated, choosing to name the award after Dame Ngaio Marsh, one of the four Queens of Crime of the Golden Age of Detective Fiction. Congrats to all the winners and finalists!

Best Novel: Ritual of Fire, by D.V. Bishop (Macmillan)

Also nominated:

Dice, by Claire Baylis (Allen & Unwin)
The Caretaker, by Gabriel Bergmoser (HarperCollins)
Pet, by Catherine Chidgey (Te Herenga Waka University Press)
Devil’s Breath, by Jill Johnson (Black & White)
Going Zero, by Anthony McCarten (Macmillan)
Expectant. by Vanda Symon (Orenda)

Best First Novel:  Dice, by Claire Baylis (Allen & Unwin)

Also nominated:

El Flamingo, by Nick Davies (YBK)
Devil’s Breath, by Jill Johnson (Black & White)
A Better Class of Criminal. by Cristian Kelly (Cristian Kelly)
Mama Suzuki: Private Eye, by Simon Rowe (Penguin)

Best Kids/YA:  Miracle, by Jennifer Lane (Cloud Ink Press)

Also nominated:

Caged, by Susan Brocker (Scholastic)
Katipo Joe: Wolf’s Lair, by Brian Falkner (Scholastic)
Nikolai’s Quest, by Diane Robinson (Rose & Fern)
Nor’east Swell, by Aaron Topp (One Tree House)

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

Blake Lively and Diablo Cody have teamed up for Lady Killer, a feature adaptation of a graphic novel from Dark Horse Comics. Lively will star and produce while Cody will pen the script. The comic was written by Joëlle Jones and Jamie S. Rich, with Jones, who made a splash writing and drawing Catwoman for DC, supplying the art. Jones took inspiration from 1950s advertisements to craft a story set in that period, which focused on a picture-perfect housewife…who just happens to lead a secret life as a deadly killer for hire. The comic first hit shelves in 2015 and even won an Eisner Award for best limited series in 2016.

Universal Pictures has picked up the rights to adapt Reikon’s video game, Ruiner, with Wes Ball attached to direct Michael Arlen Ross’s screenplay. The videogame is an action shooter set in the year 2091 in the cyber metropolis Rengkok. The game follows a wired psychopath who fights against a corrupt system to uncover the truth and retrieve his kidnapped brother. Under the guidance of a mysterious hacker, he battles through a world of brutal violence and cutting-edge technology, inching closer to the dark secrets hidden within the city’s neon-lit streets.

TELEVISION/SMALL SCREEN

Anya Taylor-Joy (Furiosa: A Mad Max Story) is returning to screens on Netflix, playing the lead role of the murderous Grace Bernard in an adaptation of Bella Mackie’s novel, How to Kill Your Family. The novel follows the story of Grace, the illegitimate daughter of a millionaire who abandoned her and her mother, ignoring her mother’s pleas for help as she was close to dying. Grace vows revenge and decides to kill every member of her father’s family, leaving him for last.

In a competitive situation, Hulu has landed the hostage-recovery drama series, The Envoy, from The Rookie creator, Alexi Hawley, and Lionsgate Television. The Envoy is inspired by journalist and producer Adam Ciralsky’s June 2024 Vanity Fair story about Roger Carstens and his team at the State Department who have brought home 70 American hostages during the past four years.

Gina Rodriguez has come aboard Season 3 of ABC’s Will Trent, based on the novels of Karin Slaughter. The Jane the Virgin star will enter the Ramon Rodríguez-led series as assistant district attorney Marion Alba, who is new to Atlanta. She is described as "charismatic" and "confident," though after her first encounter with Will (Rodriguez) falls flat, the pair is surprised to learn that they must work together to investigate a crime in the world of Atlanta gangs.

Keeley Hawes (Bodyguard) and Freddie Highmore (The Good Doctor) are set to star in The Assassin, a thriller series penned by Harry and Jack Williams for Prime Video. Secluded on a remote Greek island, retired assassin Julie (Hawes) has a somewhat thorny reunion with her estranged son, Edward (Highmore), visiting from England. Armed with questions around new information about his paternity, Edward battles to find the right time to speak to his frustratingly distant mother. But when the moment finally presents itself, things take a deadly turn as Julie’s dangerous past catches up with her and they are forced to flee the island and go on the run together in a fight for survival.

Netflix has set Thursday, October 17 for the Season 3 premiere of The Lincoln Lawyer. The new season sees the return of series stars Manuel Garcia-Rulfo, Becki Newton, Jazz Raycole, Angus Sampson, and Yaya DaCosta, all reprising their roles. The 10-episode third season is based on the fifth book in Michael Connelly’s "Lincoln Lawyer" series, The Gods of Guilt, and will include a flashback sequence that gives us some insight into how Mickey Haller became Mickey Haller — not just the brilliant criminal defense lawyer but the husband, the father, and the man that he would come to be.

Peacock has given a straight-to-series order to the South Florida-set, female-led crime thriller, M.I.A., from Ozark co-creator Bill Dubuque. In M.I.A., running drugs is a family affair for Etta Tiger Jonze. But when her family is slaughtered before her eyes, Etta sets out to exact justice on those responsible – avenging her blood family. At the same time, she builds her chosen family, igniting her series journey from powerless orphan to South Florida’s most powerful criminal Queenpin.

Emmy Award winner Matthew Rhys (The Americans, Perry Mason) has joined the cast of Netflix's The Beast in Me, the mystery thriller project, created, written, and executive-produced by Gabe Rotter. He joins previously announced Claire Danes. Following the tragic death of her young son, acclaimed author Aggie Wiggs (Danes) has receded from public life, unable to write, a ghost of her former self. But she finds an unlikely subject for a new book when the house next door is bought by Nile Jarvis (Rhys), a famed and formidable real estate mogul who was once the prime suspect in his wife’s disappearance. At once horrified and fascinated by this man, Aggie finds herself compulsively hunting for the truth – chasing his demons while fleeing her own – in a game of cat and mouse that might turn deadly.

PODCASTS/RADIO

Speaking of Mysteries chatted with Karin Slaughter about This Is Why We Lied, the 12th Will Trent mystery.

Ava Glass spoke with Paul Burke on Crime Time FM about her new thriller, The Trap; Emma Makepeace; meeting her first spy; and the FBI novel to come.

This week’s episode of the Crime Cafe podcast features Debbi Mack's interview with crime writer Anna Willett, author of several thriller novels, including five books in The Cold Case Mystery series.

On the latest Spybrary Spy Podcast, acclaimed spy authors Joseph Kanon and Paul Vidich sat down for an intriguing discussion that delved deep into the world of writing spy fiction.

Mystery Melange

The Joffe Books Prize is looking for a talented new crime fiction writer of color. The prize invites submissions from unagented UK residents and British citizens (including those living abroad) from Black, Asian, Indigenous and minority ethnic backgrounds writing in crime fiction genres such as psychological thrillers, cozy mysteries, police procedurals, twisty chillers, suspense mysteries, and domestic noirs. The winner will be offered a prize package, one of the UK’s largest literary prizes, consisting of a two-book publishing deal with Joffe books, a £1,000 cash prize, and a £25,000 audiobook offer from Audible for the first book. The submission period ends at midnight on September 30, 2024. This year the Joffe Books Prize judging panel includes A.A. Chaudhuri, bestselling author of She’s Mine, and literary agent Gyamfia Osei from Andrew Nurnberg Associates. (HT to Shots Magazine)

Mystery Writers of America University 2024's latest online class via Zoom is coming up on Wednesday, September 4th at 8pm EDT. Daniel Stashower, a three-time Edgar-winner whose books include Teller of Tales: The Life of Arthur Conan Doyle and The Hour of Peril: The Secret Plot to Murder Lincoln Before the Civil War, will talk about setting. Powerful settings have always been essential to the mystery story, from Poe’s "rank sedges, vacant eye-like windows and white trunks of decayed trees" to I.S. Berry’s "noncontiguous streets, noises without origin or purpose, and angles that didn’t quite fit together." MWA-U classes are free to current MWA members and offered to nonmembers for $20 a session. For more information and to register, follow this link.

Thanks to Elizabeth Foxwell, over at her Bunburyist blog, I learned about a series of maps published by Herb Lester Associates, essentially insider's guides to the cities certain crime authors knew (and used in their stories), which can still be visited today. The latest, due out in September, is Maigret's Paris, a map of locations from the Chief Inspector Maigret oeuvre of Georges Simenon. Previous releases include The Raymond Chandler Map of Los Angeles; Agatha Christie's England; John le Carré's London; and The World of Patricia Highsmith.


In the Q&A roundup, Lisa Haselton interviewed Lindy S. Hudis about her new crime thriller, Hollywood Underworld, and spoke with Tracey Lampley about her new mystery, All Money Ain’t Good Money; Luke Deckard talked with CrimeReads about his latest novel, Bad Blood, which is set in 1922 and follows Logan Bishop, an American PI in London, looking for a missing woman who is connected to his father’s murder; and William Kent Krueger spoke with CrimeTime about the twentieth novel in his Cork O’Connor mystery series, Spirit Crossing, and the truths that inspired it.

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 

New Regency and Maximum Effort are teaming on a feature adaptation of Peter Swanson's bestselling novel, Eight Perfect Murders, attaching Harry Bradbeer to direct. Eight Perfect Murders follows Malcolm Kershaw, a bookshop owner who finds himself at the center of an FBI investigation when a clever killer begins to use his list of fiction’s most ingenious murders as inspiration. And the FBI agent isn’t the only one interested in this bookseller who spends almost every night at home reading. The killer is out there, watching his every move—a diabolical threat who knows way too much about Mal’s personal history, especially the secrets he’s never told anyone, even his recently deceased wife.

Matt Smith (House of the Dragon) and Liev Schreiber (Ray Donovan) are the newest additions to the cast of Caught Stealing, Darren Aronofsky’s new crime thriller for Sony Pictures. Details as to the roles they’re playing are currently unknown. Oscar nominee Austin Butler leads the ensemble, with Blink Twice director Zoë Kravitz and Academy Award winner Regina King also on board. Based on the books by Charlie Huston, who adapted the screenplay, Caught Stealing follows Hank Thompson (Butler), a burned-out former baseball player, as he’s unwittingly plunged into a wild fight for survival in the downtown criminal underworld of 1990s New York City.

TELEVISION/SMALL SCREEN

In a recent interview, Titus Welliver, star and executive producer of Bosch: Legacy, updated the release date for season 3 as being sometime in 2025. A direct sequel to the police procedural, Bosch, Welliver reprises the role of Harry Bosch, who starts the show retired from the LAPD and working as a private detective. In the recent Bosch: Legacy season 2 finale, the relationship between Harry and his daughter gets complicated by a potential revelation.  

Lost alum Matthew Fox has signed on to star in The Assassin, a new drama series from writer-producer John Glenn (SEAL Team) in development at Max. Written by Glenn and based on the book series by British novelist Tom Wood, the project centers on a merciless assassin known only as Victor (Fox), who after being betrayed by an anonymous client, finds himself hunted across the globe by multiple enemies, including relentless CIA operatives and a contract killer equally as deadly. To stay alive, Victor must uncover the identity of his betrayer while grappling with a buried spark of humanity that begins to resurface within him and might just be the greatest threat to his survival.

John Slattery (Mad Men) has joined the cast of USA Network's drama series, The Rainmaker, based on the bestselling John Grisham novel and its film adaptation of the same name. In a series regular role, Slattery will portray one of Grisham’s most iconic characters, Leo F. Drummond, a legendary lion of the courtroom and senior partner at Tinley Britt, the powerful firm that Rudy Baylor is up against. Jon Voight played Leo in the Francis Ford Coppola film released in 1997. From writer and executive producer Michael Seitzman, the new series follows Baylor who, fresh out of law school, goes head-to-head with courtroom lion Drummond and his law school girlfriend. Baylor, along with his boss and her disheveled paralegal, uncover two connected conspiracies surrounding the mysterious death of their client’s son.

PODCASTS/RADIO

Wrong Place, Write Crime podcast with host, Frank Zafiro, featured micro-interviews with different authors attending the Public Safety Writers Association conference.

On Crime Time FM, Michael Robotham chatted with Craig Sisterson about his new thriller, Storm Child; Evie Cormac; writing away from home; the secret award; and German TV adaptations.

The latest episode of The Red Hot Chili Writers featured an interview with Rachel Abbott about her latest novel, The Last Time I Saw Him; restoring Italian monasteries; and poodle-clipping at the Olympics.

The Big Ideas podcast looked at why forensic science is nothing like CSI, as three forensic pathologists spilled the beans on what it's really like to work in the science of death.

The Pick Your Poison podcast looked at a toxicology problem the WHO calls a neglected tropical disease killing more than 100,000 people per year.

Mystery Melange

The Australian Crime Writers Association revealed the final shortlist of contenders for Australia’s distinguished Ned Kelly Awards, with winners from all categories to be unveiled in September. After announcing the contenders for Best Debut Crime Fiction, Best True Crime, and Best International Crime Fiction, it's finally time for Best Crime Fiction:

• Killer Traitor Spy, by Tim Ayliffe (Simon & Schuster Australia)
• Dark Corners, by Megan Goldin (Canelo)
• Dark Mode, by Ashley Kalagian Blunt (Ultimo Press)
• Darling Girls, by Sally Hepworth (Pan Australia)
• The Seven, by Chris Hammer (Allen & Unwin)
• Ripper, by Shelley Burr (Hachette Australia)
• The Tea Ladies, by Amanda Hampson (Penguin)
• Everyone on This Train Is a Suspect, by Benjamin Stevenson (Michael Joseph)
  
  

The winner of this year's Österreichischer Krimipreis, or Austrian Crime Fiction Prize, was revealed as attorney, journalist, and author, Eva Rossmann. Crime fiction specialists – booksellers, bloggers, journalists, readers – were called upon to name three authors who write in German whose crime novels are particularly convincing in terms of content and literature and underline the cultural and social relevance of the genre as well as initiate trend-setting new developments within the genre. This is the seventh iteration of the Prize, which comes by way of the Carinthia Crime Festival. The award ceremony will take place on October 13, where Rossman will receive a prize of 4,000 euros.

Contenders for the 2024 Petrona Award for the Best Scandinavian Crime Novel of the Year are shaping up, with Karen Meet noting on her Euro Crime blog that 31 of the 32 titles that were eligible have been entered by the publishers. The winner will be announced online later this year. The Petrona Award honors books in translation that are published in English in the UK during the preceding calendar year by authors/books who born/set in Scandinavia (Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden). The winner of the 2023 Award was Femicide by Pascal Engman, translated from the Swedish by Michael Gallagher and published by Legend Press.

Authors and fans of private eye fiction take note: A panel co-sponsored by Private Eye Writers of America and Mystery Writers of America/SoCal will feature three working Private Investigators discussing what they do and how writers can get it "write." The panel of Joe Koenig, Sheila Wysocki and John A. Hoda, will be moderated by Gay Toltl Kinman, President of the Private Eye Writers of America. Register now for this event on Sunday, September 15, 1-2:30 PST.

Open Road Integrated Media (ORIM) has created the Free Voices initiative, a new marketing service to fight book bans and enable challenged works to be discovered and purchased by readers everywhere. David Steinberger, CEO of Open Road, added, "With Free Voices, we are going to fight book bans with the same proven ORIM marketing technology that already drives discovery and sales increases for more than 40,000 titles from over 100 publishers." A portion of all proceeds from Free Voices will be donated to The Freedom to Read Foundation, a non-profit organization which protects and defends the First Amendment to the Constitution and supports the right of libraries to collect—and individuals to access—information. Free Voices is open to all publishers with books targeted by banning efforts at schools, libraries or bookstores.

From June 25-27 in 2025, Monash University in Melbourne will host the hybrid (online and in-person) conference, Crime Fiction and the Global Challenges of the Twenty-First Century. Organizers are seeking papers to be presented at the event that will examine the global socio-political engagement of crime fiction from a broad range of perspectives, drawing on examples from across the world. Interested participants should submit a 250-word abstract for a 20-minute presentation and proposal for panels and a short bio-note (about 100 words) via this form. Submissions are due by December 15, 2024. (HT to Shots Magazine)

In the Q&A roundup, Kate Atkinson spoke with The Guardian about her latest Jackson Brodie thriller, cozy crime, sniffy critics, and how she investigated her own family’s secrets; and Lisa Haselton interviewed mystery author Michael Ross about his new romantic thriller, Quiet the Waves.

Marsh Magic

 

This year’s finalists for the Ngaio Marsh Awards were announced in the categories of Best First Novel, Best Novel, and Best Kids/YA. Now in their 15th season, the Ngaio Marsh Awards celebrate excellence in mystery, thriller, crime, and suspense writing from New Zealand storytellers.

Awards founder Craig Sisterson noted: "While crime and thriller fiction is often talked about in terms of its page-turning plotlines, or puzzling twists and surprising reveals, nowadays it’s also a fantastic vehicle for exploring character and society...our 2024 Ngaios finalists beautifully showcase that, with a kaleidoscopic range of tales full of engaging and memorable characters, exploring a wide variety of social issues in many different places."

Winners will be revealed at a special event held at the WORD Christchurch Festival on Wednesday, August 28. Congrats to all!

Best Novel:

Dice, by Claire Baylis (Allen & Unwin)
The Caretaker, by Gabriel Bergmoser (HarperCollins)
Ritual of Fire, by D.V. Bishop (Macmillan)
Pet, by Catherine Chidgey (Te Herenga Waka University Press)
Devil’s Breath, by Jill Johnson (Black & White)
Going Zero, by Anthony McCarten (Macmillan)
Expectant. by Vanda Symon (Orenda)

Best First Novel:

Dice, by Claire Baylis (Allen & Unwin)
El Flamingo, by Nick Davies (YBK)
Devil’s Breath, by Jill Johnson (Black & White)
A Better Class of Criminal. by Cristian Kelly (Cristian Kelly)
Mama Suzuki: Private Eye, by Simon Rowe (Penguin)

Best Kids/YA:

Caged, by Susan Brocker (Scholastic)
Katipo Joe: Wolf’s Lair, by Brian Falkner (Scholastic)
Miracle, by Jennifer Lane (Cloud Ink Press)
Nikolai’s Quest, by Diane Robinson (Rose & Fern)
Nor’east Swell, by Aaron Topp (One Tree House)

 

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

Josh Duhamel (Shotgun Wedding) and Lukas Gage (Road House) have signed on to star in Full Throttle Mindset, a darkly comedic crime thriller from director Patrick Brice (Creep) and XYZ Films. Based on an article in the St. Louis Riverfront Times by journalist Doyle Murphy, the film tells the wild true story of young burnout, Blake Laubinger (Gage), who’s taken under the wing of a Midwestern tanning salon mogul named Todd Beckman (Duhamel). He soon learns his new mentor’s businesses are a front for a drug empire — one he’s now expected to partake in. Written by Jake Disch, whose scripts The Adults in the Room and Gunfight made the Black List, the film is billed as "a gonzo cautionary tale about deluded American dreams and dark mentors."

Tracy Letts and Moses Ingram have joined the ensemble cast of Kathryn Bigelow's untitled thriller at Netflix, joining the already cast Idris Elba, Rebecca Ferguson, Jared Harris, Greta Lee, and Gabriel Basso. The film’s title and plot remain under wraps, although Deadline reported that it will be set at the White House as a national crisis unfolds. The project marks Bigelow’s first feature since the 2017 thriller, Detroit, an awards contender produced and distributed by Annapurna Pictures.

Netflix has released the first trailer for Rebel Ridge, the upcoming action movie about a resourceful hero who will do everything in his power to eliminate corruption from his town. Aaron Pierre stars as Terry Richmond, a former Marine who is trying to lead a quiet life until his cousin is imprisoned. Richmond attempts to post bail, but the corrupt local chief of police (Don Johnson) wrongfully seizes Richmond's savings. The former soldier soon uncovers a conspiracy and wages a one-man war on injustice. The cast also includes AnnaSophia Robb, playing a court clerk who will quickly become Terry's ally during his quest to get to the truth.

TELEVISION/SMALL SCREEN

Lionsgate is expanding its John Wick universe with John Wick: Under The High Table, an action series executive produced by the billion-dollar film franchise’s star, Keanu Reeves, and director, Chad Stahelski. Written by The Old Man co-creator Robert Levine, the story picks up directly after the end of John Wick: Chapter 4. John Wick has left the world of the High Table in a tenuous position, and a collection of new characters will look to make a name for themselves while some of the franchise stalwart characters remain committed to the old-world order.

NBC and Universal TV are developing Keats (working title), a new crime drama series from Bassett Vance Productions, Angela Bassett and Courtney B. Vance‘s production banner. Keats follows Alex Keats, a fourth-generation police officer who walked away from the badge and her family, and returns to Philadelphia to bury her mother, a decorated officer who supposedly died by suicide. The closer Alex gets to discovering the truth about her mother’s death, the closer she gets to joining her family back on the force … where she belongs.

CBS ordered another pilot targeting the 2025-26 broadcast season, picking up the drama Einstein (working title), from the Monk team of Andy Breckman and Randy Zisk. The drama follows a brilliant but directionless young man, the great-grandson of Albert Einstein, who spends his days as a comfortably tenured professor until his bad-boy antics land him in trouble with the law and he is pressed into service helping a local police detective solve her most puzzling cases.

Peter Sarsgaard says that he won’t be returning as high-strung prosecutor Tommy Molto for the second season of Presumed Innocent on Apple TV+. Sarsgaard’s much-maligned Molto went after Jake Gyllenhaal’s Rusty Sabich in David E. Kelley’s adaptation of the Scott Turow novel. Earlier this month, Apple announced it has ordered a second season of the legal thriller, with Kelley, J.J. Abrams, and Gyllenhaal returning as executive producers and Turow as co-executive producer. There are no details about Season 2 beyond the fact that it "will unfold around a suspenseful, brand new case." Gyllenhaal’s Rusty is not a recurring character in Turow’s books, so it is unclear whether the Road House star would return as an actor.

Apple TV+ released a trailer for its upcoming seven-part psychological thriller, Disclaimer, based on the bestselling novel of the same name by Renée Knight. Cate Blanchett plays Catherine Ravenscroft, a famed documentary journalist who discovers she is a prominent character in a novel that reveals a secret she has tried to keep hidden. As Catherine races to uncover the writer’s true identity, she is forced to confront her past before it destroys her life and her relationships with her husband Robert (Sacha Baron Cohen) and their son Nicholas (Kodi Smit-McPhee). Kevin Kline also stars as Stephen Brigstocke, a retired professor who harbors a grudge against Catherine.

PODCASTS/RADIO

On Crime Time FM, authors Marnie Riches (The Silent Dead) and Chris Carter (The Death Watcher) joined host Victoria Selman to discuss criminal/forensic psychology, criminologists, killer profiles, and reasons to kill (or none).

Meet the Thriller Author chatted with Vannessa Cronin, a senior editor at Amazon Books, to uncover the intricate process behind curating their top picks. Vannessa, with her extensive background in the book industry and a lifelong passion for literature, shared insights about her journey and the exciting trends shaping the mystery and thriller genres today.

On Read or Dead, Katie McLain Horner and Kendra Winchester discussed crime books for Women in Translation Month.

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

Mystery Melange

Last week, the Australian Crime Writers Association announced the shortlist for the 2024 Ned Kelly Awards Best Debut Crime Fiction, and this week they continue the slow roll-out of award news with a revealing of the contenders for Best True Crime and Best International Crime Fiction. The True Crime finalists include: Crossing the Line: The explosive inside story behind the Ben Roberts-Smith headlines by Nick McKenzie; Killing for Country: A Family Story by David Marr; The Murder Squad: How Australia's toughest cops hunted the monsters of the Great Depression by Michael Adams; Reckless by Marele Day; and The Teacher’s Pet by Hedley Thomas. The Best International Crime Fiction finalists are Birnam Wood by Eleanor Catton; Dice by Claire Baylis; Resurrection Walk by Michael Connelly; The Only Suspect by Louise Candlish; The Search Party by Hannah Richell; and Zero Days by Ruth Ware.

I somehow missed this one, but the Glass Key award, given annually to a crime novel by an author from the Nordic countries, named its 2024 winner back in June. Christoffer Carlsson won for his novel, Levende og døde (Living and Dead), which was also named Best Swedish Crime Novel of the Year in 2023.

The recently announced 2024 longlist for the Booker Prize, one of the world’s most prestigious prizes for a single work of fiction, contains two crime-related titles: Colin Barrett’s Wild Houses, which has been described as a "deftly told caper" by The Guardian, and Rachel Kushner’s Creation Lake, which "fuses a spy thriller with philosophical meditation" according to The Bookseller. They join other crime-themed books and authors from previous years such as Snap by Belinda Bauer, Child 44 by Tom Rob Smith, Eileen by Ottessa Moshfegh, and and His Bloody Project by Graeme MaCrae Burnet, among others.

International Thriller Writers announced the 2025 honorees for ThrillerFest XX. The Thriller Masters are Janet Evanovich and John Grisham; the 2025 Silver Bullet Award honoree is James Patterson; the Spotlight Guests are Oyinkan Braithwaite and Jennifer Hillier; the 2025 Thriller Legend is Neil Nyren; and McKenna Jordan is the 2025 Thriller Fan. Registration is also now open for the event, which will take place June 17-21, 2025 at the New York Hilton Midtown Hotel in New York City.

Flatiron Books will launch a new imprint, Pine & Cedar Books, in summer 2025. Flatiron executive editor Christine Kopprasch has been named VP and publisher of the imprint, which will publish "compulsively readable, story-driven novels." Pine & Cedar’s inaugural list includes King of Ashes, the next novel from bestselling author S.A. Cosby, which Pine & Cedar bills as "a Black, Southern, Godfather-inspired crime epic," and is the first in a three-book deal. Also forthcoming from the imprint are We Live Here Now by Sarah Pinborough, marking the author's return to Flatiron, which published her 2017 bestseller Behind Her Eyes, and This Story Might Save Your Life by Tiffany Crum, billed as "the rare novel that successfully combines a gripping, pace-driven thriller with the soul of an epic love story." The publisher said there is no set number of titles that it plans to publish annually.

In the Q&A roundup, Lisa Haselton chatted with novelist Manda Scott about her new mytho-political thriller, Any Human Power; Reed Farrel Coleman, whose new Nick Ryan novel is Blind to Midnight, stopped by Writers Read to talk about what he's currently reading; and Liz Alterman applied the Page 69 Test to her new domestic thriller, The House on Cold Creek Lane.

The Kiss of Death's Delights

The Kiss of Death Chapter of Romantic Writers of America announced the winners of the 2024 Daphne du Maurier Award for Excellence in Mystery/Suspense. The award is named for Daphne du Maurier, the author of Rebecca, a suspense novel with romantic and gothic overtones and a precursor to today’s romantic suspense. The writing contest is for published and unpublished authors of mystery, suspense, and thrillers with or without romantic subplots. Congrats to all!

Published Division Finalists

 

Overall Winner – Now and Always — CJ Burright

Cozy Mystery Suspense

• 1st – Murder Among The Roses — Liz Fielding
• 2nd – Murder in Fourth Position  — Lori Robbins
• 3rd – The Portraits of Pemberley — Elizabeth Gilliland

Historical Romantic Mystery Suspense

• 1st – Conflagration! — donalee Moulton
• 2nd – Confessions to a Stranger — Danielle Grandinetti
• 3rd – Glory and the Master of Shadows — Grace Callaway

Long Romantic Mystery Suspense

• 1st – Above ‘N’ Beyond —Tee O’Fallon
• 2nd – Cliffhaven — A. M. Grimm
• 3rd – Dead Keen (Things Unseen, Book 2) — Anise Eden

Mainstream Mystery Suspense

• 1st – Against All Enemies — Vannetta Chapman
• 2nd – The Buried Hours  — Rachel Grant/R. S. Grant
• 3rd – These Still Black Waters —Christina McDonald

 Short Romantic Mystery Suspense

• 1st – Don’t Close Your Eyes — Mary Alford
• 2nd – Killer Christmas Evidence — Sami A. Abrams
• 3rd – Eliminating the Witness — Jordyn Redwood

Romantic Suspense Category

• 1st – Now and Always — CJ Burright
• 2nd – Healing Kiss — Amanda Uhl
• 3rd – The Offer — DL Wood

 

Unpublished Division Finalists

 

Overall Winner – Monkshood — Lorna Peplow

Long Romantic Mystery Suspense

• 1st – Golden Bluff Ghost Town — Breana Johnson
• 2nd – The Night Hunter  — Mari Clark
• 3rd – What Remains Behind  — Rodney Walther

Mainstream Mystery Suspense

• 1st – Monkshood — Lorna Peplow
• 2nd – Gray Matter — Brandon Reed Sherman
• 3rd – About the Dress — Judy Hock

Romantic Suspense Category

• 1st – Death in Miniature — Pamela Ruth Meyer
• 2nd – Courtship of Lies — LaVerne St. George
• 3rd – Fate is a Cursed Word  — Anne Belen

 

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

Lío Mehiel, Thaddea Graham, Will Price, Christine Dye, and Burgess Byrd have joined previously announced cast members Julia Roberts, Andrew Garfield, Ayo Edebiri, Michael Stuhlbarg, and Chloë Sevigny in Amazon MGM Studios’s upcoming feature, After the Hunt. Luca Guadagnino is directing the film from a script penned by Nora Garrett. The film follows a college professor who finds herself at a personal and professional crossroads when a star pupil levels an accusation against one of her colleagues, and a dark secret from her own past threatens to come to light.

DeskPop Entertainment has acquired the thriller, Murder Motel, starring Oscar-nominee Mickey Rourke (The Wrestler), Alexandra Grey, Jeremy Luke, James Russo, Noel Gugliemi, Nicholas Turturro, Glenn Plummer, Naomi Grossman, Jaime Zevallos, Alexander James Rodriguez, and Leila Almas Rose. The film, which is written and directed by Paul Tully, follows ruthless drug dealers, Mickey, a Neo-Nazi meth dealer, and Tonya, a beautiful trans woman, who find themselves falling in love while seeking redemption in a 72-hour race against the clock. The film is scheduled for an August 6th release via DeskPop on DVD and VOD.

Vertical has acquired North American rights to Bad Genius, an English-language remake of the Thai thriller of the same-name, from Picturestart, Picture Perfect Federation, and Little Ray Media. Marking the directorial debut of J.C. Lee, a veteran producer whose credits include How to Get Away with Murder, the film is slated to hit select theaters in the U.S and Canada on October 11. Bad Genius is a high-stakes, high-octane thriller about a diverse group of students who team up to fight a system of injustice and inequity and take down the rigged academic institutions around them. Lee scripted the remake with Julius Onah, with whom he previously collaborated on the Sundance Grand Jury Prize nominee, Luce.

TELEVISION/SMALL SCREEN

The MHz Choice streamer has picked up Miss Merkel, which reimagines former German chancellor Angela Merkel moving to a small town with her husband and her pug, Helmut, as she discovers a new calling as an amateur detective. Starring veteran German actress Katharina Thalbach (The Tin Drum), the series is based on the books by writer, humorist, and actor David Safier (Berlin, Berlin). The deal includes two 90-minute tongue-in-cheek mysteries, with a third planned.

John Carroll Lynch has been cast as a series regular opposite Maggie Q in Prime Video's Untitled Renée Ballard Series, a Bosch spinoff. The new series follows Detective Renée Ballard (Maggie Q), 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 Ballard 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. Lynch will play Thomas Laffont, a retired former police partner who comes back to help Ballard run the department.

John Magaro (The Bride) has joined the cast of the espionage political thriller, The Agency, for Paramount+ with Showtime as a series regular. Currently in production in London, The Agency is based on the hit French drama series, Le Bureau des Légendes. The show follows Martian, played by Michael Fassbender, a covert CIA agent ordered to abandon his undercover life and return to London Station. When the love he left behind reappears, romance reignites. His career, his real identity and his mission are pitted against his heart; hurling them both into a deadly game of international intrigue and espionage. Magaro will play Owen, an Operations Officer and agent handler. He joins previously announced series regulars Jeffrey Wright, Jodie Turner-Smith, Katherine Waterston, and Richard Gere.

A first look was revealed for the Sky/Starz series, Sweetpea, starring Fallout’s Ella Purnell. Based on the cult novel by C.J. Skuse and adapted by Kirstie Swain, Sweetpea follows seemingly ordinary Rhiannon Lewis. Although her childhood was haunted by a famous crime, Rhinannon’s life is normal now that her celebrity has dwindled. By day her job as an editorial assistant is demeaning and unsatisfying. By evening she dutifully listens to her friend’s plans for marriage and babies while secretly making a list. A kill list.

PODCASTS/RADIO

The Red Hot Chili Writers spoke with crime fiction newcomer Ram Murali about his debut, Death in the Air, and discussed this year's Theakston's Old Peculier Crime Writing Festival.

The Pick Your Poison podcast investigated how your organs can turn green, the controversial start to forensic toxicology evidence, and more.

2024 Eleanor Taylor Bland Award for Crime Writers of Color

Sisters in Crime announced that P.M. Raymond is the winner of the 2024 Eleanor Taylor Bland Award for Crime Writers of Color.

Raymond's winning submission, "A Nasty Business," is set on a Louisiana farm where a family tradition forces the heirs to compete in a series of grueling tasks. Pops, the patriarch, oversees the competition between his sons, Galen and Jeff, as they vie for control of the estate, and discover the farm's dark history — and the heavy burden of their inheritance.

As a New Orleans native, mystical undertones are, says Raymond, the "roux in her crime noir and horror writing." She was named to the 160 Black Women in Horror and is a 2024 Finalist in the Killer Shorts Screenplay Competition. Her work has appeared in publications such as Flash Fiction Magazine, Kings River Life Magazine, Dark Fire Fiction, Pyre Magazine and The Furious Gazelle and Dark Yonder. 

Raymond's story was selected by the 2024 judges of the Eleanor Taylor Bland Award, Alex Segura, Carolyn Wilkins and Nicole Prewitt

Runners up include:

• Aftermath by Carleasa A. Coates of Catlett, Virginia
• And Then It Clicked by Renee P. Stone of Las Vegas, Nevada
• The Code by Grace Wynter of Decatur, Georgia
• Gifted Grifter by Fritz Mason of Columbia, South Carolina
• Man Eater by Elena Scialtiel of Gibraltar

Established in 2014, the Eleanor Taylor Bland Award supports the advancement, recognition and professional development of emerging crime writers of color. It is aligned with Sisters in Crime’s mission to promote diversity in crime fiction. The grantee may use the $2,000 award to attend workshops, seminars, conferences, retreats, online courses and research activities that help them complete their work.