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

Amazon MGM Studios has landed film rights to James Patterson and Duane Swierczynski’s forthcoming book, Billion-Dollar Ransom, with Oscar winning scribe Stephen Gaghan (Traffic) adapting. The action thriller, which will be published by Little, Brown and Company in September, follows five members of a billionaire’s family, kidnapped at the same moment, from different locations—for the unthinkable ransom of a billion dollars.

Oscar winner Robert Zemeckis (Forest Gump) has come on board to direct an adaptation of The Last Mrs. Parrish, with Jennifer Lopez attached to star and Oscar nominees Andrea Berloff (Straight Outta Compton) and John Gatins (Flight) penning the script. Based on the Liv Constant novel, the story follows a con artist (Lopez) who targets a wealthy couple—the Parrishes—as her next victims. She infiltrates the pair by befriending the wife and seducing the husband, with the master plan of becoming the next Mrs. Parrish, only to discover that the wife’s life is far more complicated than she could have imagined.

Rising screenwriter Jenna Mattison (Fish Without a Bicycle) is scripting an adaptation of the psychological thriller, Decorum at the Deathbed, the 2021 novella from Josh Malerman. Released exclusively as an Audible Original, Decorum at the Deathbed—billed as "Body Heat meets Poe’s The Tell-Tale Heart"—follows a grieving widow who starts a twisted affair with the detective investigating the mutilated deer that keep appearing in the forest behind her house. But as the relationship deepens, he begins to wonder if she’s truly a victim or a sociopathic killer. 

Mena Suvari (American Beauty), Jeffrey Donovan (Sicario), and Cam Gigandet (Twilight) are set to star opposite James C. Clayton (Bullet Proof) in Briefcase, 8, a new neo-noir action film which Clayton is directing. Set in a city where the rain never stops and the truth is buried in alleyways, Briefcase, 8 follows "8" (Clayton), a weary hitman who takes one last job from his ruthless boss (Donovan) to escape with the woman he loves (Suvari). But as a mysterious briefcase causes blood to be spilled, he must outwit his enemies (Gigandet) and uncover the truth to survive.

TELEVISION/STREAMING

Wallander, the globally acclaimed Swedish detective drama, is getting a "a modernized and reimagined reboot" with Gustaf Skarsgård (Oppenheimer; Vikings) playing the iconic role. The first season of the new Swedish-language adaptation will comprise three 90-minute films and will see Kurt Wallander, now 42, who’s recently separated, after two decades of marriage, and estranged from his daughter. On the edge as his life seemingly unravels, Wallander drinks too much, sleeps too little, and carries the weight of every unsolved case. Penned by bestselling author Henning Mankell, the Wallander novels have sold over 40 million copies and been translated into more than 40 languages. The original Swedish series and film adaptations, which aired between 1994 and 2013, garnered wide international success and were followed by a British mini-series adaptation starring Kenneth Branagh that earned him a BAFTA for his portrayal of the detective.

CBS has opted not to proceed with the proposed Equalizer spinoff starring Titus Welliver and co-lead Juani Feliz. It also leaves The Equalizer, starring and executive produced by Queen Latifah, as the only remaining CBS scripted title yet to learn its fate for next season. A reimagining of the classic series, The Equalizer features Queen Latifah as Robyn McCall, an enigmatic woman with a mysterious background who uses her extensive skills as a former CIA operative to help those with nowhere else to turn. Welliver played Hudson Reed, a former top CIA operative with a dark secret who is connected to Robyn by an old mentor. Feliz played Samantha Reed, who has been trained by her father to be a weapons expert, skilled martial artist, and true chameleon all while hiding a mysterious past.

The FBI offshoot with a CIA twist is moving forward with a straight-to-series order at CBS and Tom Ellis (Lucifer) as star. The project (fka FBI: CIA) will now join the mothership FBI drama on CBS’s 2025-26 schedule. CIA (working title) centers on two unlikely partners—a fast-talking, rule-breaking loose cannon CIA case officer (Ellis), and a by-the-book, seasoned, and smart FBI agent who believes in the rule of law. When this odd couple are assigned to work out of the CIA’s New York Station, they must learn to work together to investigate cases and criminals posing threats on U.S. soil, finding that their differences may actually be their strength.

CBS has made a decision on its standalone pilots, including handing a series order to the detective drama Einstein, headlined by Criminal Minds alum Matthew Gray Gubler, from the Monk duo of Andy Breckman and Randy Zisk. The project is an adaptation of a German series by Breckman, and follows the brilliant but directionless 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.

Masterpiece on PBS has released the first trailer for the 10th season of Grantchester, one of the platform’s longest-running series, with the new season premiering on June 15 at 9/8c. The season will also be available to stream via the PBS app, PBS.org and PBS Masterpiece on Prime Video. The drama stars Robson Green and Rishi Nair who are set to return as DI Geordie Keating and Reverend Alphy Kottaram, respectively. In the new episodes, Alphy has found a home in Grantchester and a best friend and intellectual equal in Geordie. Love proves more elusive, until a case throws him in the path of a romance. But before he can let anyone else in, he must confront truths about himself. Geordie, meanwhile, wrestles with his expectations for his own son and Cathy takes steps to better her career with the help of Mrs. Chapman.

Netflix released first-look images from Dept. Q, an adaptation of the popular ten-book series of Nordic noir crime fiction by Jussi Adler-Olsen. With a locale switch from Denmark to Edinburgh, Scotland, the story follows DCI Carl Morck, a brilliant cop but a terrible colleague. After a shooting that leaves his partner paralyzed and a young PC dead, he finds himself exiled to the basement and the sole member of Department Q—a newly formed cold case unit. Carl starts to build a gang of waifs and strays who have everything to prove. So, when the stone-cold trail of a prominent civil servant who disappeared several years ago starts to heat up, Carl is back doing what he does best—rattling cages and refusing to take no for an answer.

PODCASTS/RADIO

NPR's Weekend Edition Sunday host, Ayesha Rascoe, spoke with Louise Hegarty about her debut novel, Fair Play, which honors the golden age of crime novels, just as it turns the genre on its head.

Debbi Mack's latest guest for the Crime Cafe podcast was crime writer Deven Greene, whose medical thrillers reflect her background of a PhD in biochemistry and as an MD, practicing pathology for more than 20 years.

On Crime Time FM, Jeremy Vine chatted with Paul Burke about his new murder mystery, Murder on Line One; regional radio; celebrity; Agatha Christie; and washing our clothes.

Murder Junction hosts Vaseem Khan and Abir Mukherjee interviewed Hollywood producer turned crime writer Kelly Mullen about her debut, This is Not a Game, and her Iowa roots, including a famous serial killer with a connection to the state.

On Meet the Thriller Author, host Alan Petersen spoke with Marcie R. Rendon, an award-winning author, poet, and playwright, known for her Cash Blackbear mystery series.