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

Ketchup Entertainment has acquired North American rights to the thriller, Misdirection, starring Frank Grillo (Superman), Olga Kurylenko (Oblivion), and Oliver Trevena (Plane), slating it for release later this year. Directed by Kevin Lewis, the filmmaker best known for his Nicolas Cage-led genre-bender, Willy’s Wonderland, the thriller Misdirection follows a couple driven to carry out a series of high-end heists to pay off a dangerous mob debt. When their latest break-in — targeting a prominent defense attorney — spirals out of control, the pair find themselves caught in a web of secrets, deception, and deadly consequences.

Chazz Palminteri (A Bronx Tale) and Robert Davi (License to Kill) have signed on to star in the upcoming mafia crime thriller, Bad News on the Doorstep, and their sons, Dante Palminteri (Rocky’s) and Nick Davi (Paper Empire) will take on lead roles. Directed by Tom DeNucci (Vault), Bad News at the Doorstep is described as a poignant coming-of-age narrative chronicling the lives of Frank and Gino, two Italian-American high-school football prodigies amidst the gritty backdrop of late 1950s New Jersey. Beyond the gridiron, they confront a myriad of trials, from the complexities of post-football existence to the allure of delving into the underworld of organized crime.

TELEVISION/STREAMING

Netflix has landed an adaptation of The Secret of Secrets, from author Dan Brown and showrunner Carlton Cuse (Lost; Jack Ryan; Locke and Key), with a series order. The currently untitled drama is set in the world of Brown’s mystery thriller, The Secret of Secrets, the sixth book in his series about Harvard professor of symbology Robert Langdon, set for a September 9 release by Doubleday. In the book, symbologist Robert Langdon races against ancient forces and time to rescue a missing scientist and her groundbreaking manuscript whose discoveries have the power to forever change humanity’s understanding of the mind. Casting for the series is underway.

Executive producer Ryan Murphy is in early development on The Shards for FX, based on a novel by Bret Easton Ellis, with Max Winkler (American Horror Story) on board to direct and Kaia Gerber set to star. The semi-autobiographical book follows a 17-year-old version of Ellis in his senior year at Buckley prep school in 1981. When a mysterious new student, Robert Mallory, comes to campus, Ellis believes that he may have something to do with the activities of a serial killer nearby, known as The Trawler.

A drama project from The Loudest Voice co-creator, Alex Metcalf, has landed at HBO for development after a bidding war. Titled Baby Queen, it's based on the upcoming debut novel of the same name by southern crime fiction writer Ty Landers. Baby Queen centers on Natalie Link who returns home to take over her family’s honey business — but when a body is discovered on the property, three generations of women are forced to confront the secrets, betrayals, and buried crimes that haunt their Southern legacy. The novel is set in Landers’s home state of Alabama.

Prime Video has set Wednesday, July 9 for the premiere of the Bosch spinoff, Ballard, starring Maggie Q. All 10 episodes will be released at once, exclusively on Prime Video in more than 240 countries and territories worldwide. Inspired by the work of bestselling author Michael Connelly, Ballard follows Detective Renée Ballard (Q) as she leads the LAPD’s new and underfunded cold case division, tackling the city’s most challenging long-forgotten crimes with empathy and relentless determination. As she peels back layers of crimes spanning decades, including a serial killer’s string of murders and a murdered John Doe, she soon uncovers a dangerous conspiracy within the LAPD. With the help of her volunteer team and retired detective Harry Bosch (Titus Welliver), Detective Ballard navigates personal trauma, professional challenges, and life-threatening dangers to expose the truth. In addition to Q, the series cast includes Courtney Taylor, John Carroll Lynch, Michael Mosley, Rebecca Field, Victoria Moroles, Amy Hill, Ricardo Chavira, Noah Bean, Alain Uy, and Hector Hugo.

The Marlow Murder Club, based on Robert Thorogood's novel, has officially been renewed for a third season in the UK and on PBS. The Marlow Murder Club is a lighthearted cozy mystery set in the small but affluent British town of Marlow, where three unlikely amateur sleuths come together to tackle some puzzling mysteries with wit and humor. In the third season, now an established part of newly promoted DI Tanika Malik’s (Natalie Dew) crime-solving team, the trio of retired archaeologist Judith Potts (Samantha Bond), dog walker Suzie Harris (Jo Martin), and vicar’s wife Becks Starling (Cara Horgan) are back and bringing their unconventional methods to a string of high-profile murders. Season 2 will premiere August 24, 2025 on PBS's MASTERPIECE.

PODCASTS/RADIO/AUDIO

Graphic Audio will release a new full-cast dramatization in June of Elizabeth Peters's Crocodile on the Sandbank, the first in her series with 19th-century Egyptologist Amelia Peabody (later Emerson). The intrepid Amelia, armed with her trusty parasol, faces skullduggery on an archaeological dig, including a rampaging mummy. (HT to The Bunburyist)

On Crime Time FM, host Victoria Selman spoke with Clare Leslie Hall about her novel, Broken Country, and Guy Morpuss about his new title, A Trial in Three Acts.

The latest episode of Murder Junction featured an interview with thriller writing legend Jeffery Deaver about his new book, South of Nowhere, featuring Colter Shaw, a "rewardist."

THEATRE

A new stage adaptation of Josephine Tey's classic detective novel The Daughter of Time is coming to London’s Charing Cross Theatre this summer. The Daughter of Time will run for a limited season from July 18 to September 13, 2025. The thriller mixes history, myth, and romance, and is adapted from Tey’s novel by M. Kilburg Reedy and directed by Jenny Eastop. Set in London in 1950, the story follows Inspector Alan Grant, who is laid up in hospital and decides to investigate the alleged crimes of Richard III and the murder of the Princes in the Tower as a "cold case file."