Media Murder for Monday

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

THE BIG SCREEN/MOVIES

After a bidding war, Amazon has bought the rights to Collision, a short novel in Don Winslow’s upcoming story collection, The Final Score, for Jake Gyllenhaal to star in and produce with his Nine Stories partner, Josh McLaughlin, and The Story Factory’s Shane Salerno. Collision tells the harrowing story of a devoted husband and father with a great life who makes one terrible mistake that sends him to prison, where he must learn how to survive. But that’s only the beginning: When he finally becomes free, he learns why he was protected in prison and is a sent on a mission that will change him forever. Winslow and Amazon are also partnering on Crime 101, based on another Winslow short work, to be released President’s Day weekend 2026, starring Chris Hemsworth, Mark Ruffalo, Halle Berry, Monica Barbaro, Barry Keoghan, Nick Nolte, and Jennifer Jason Leigh.

Amazon MGM Studios’ United Artists and Scott Stuber have optioned Freida McFadden's psychological thriller, The Tenant, for the big screen. The project follows Blake Porter, a marketing executive whose life spirals after losing his job and struggling to make mortgage payments on his brownstone. When he takes in the seemingly perfect tenant, Whitney, he discovers that danger lives closer to home than he ever imagined, as neighbors turn hostile, mysterious odors plague his house, and someone appears to know his darkest secrets. The novel, published by Poisoned Pen Press, explores themes of revenge, privilege, and the deadly consequences when secrets turn sour.

Matt and Ross Duffer (Stranger Things) are developing a series adaptation of the novel, The Savage, Noble Death of Babs Dionne, for Netflix. The book's author, Ron Currie, as well as his writing partner, Joshua Mohr, will serve as both writers and executive producers on the series. The crime thriller follows Babs Dionne, a vicious crime matriarch who rules over her small town of Waterville, Maine, and controls the flow of drugs into Little Canada. But her operation is threatened when her youngest daughter, Sis, goes missing around the same time a drug kingpin realizes that his numbers are down and sends one of his lackeys, known only as The Man, to investigate. After Sis is found dead, Babs goes on the warpath.

Amazon MGM Studios’ United Artists and Scott Stuber are developing The Seventh Man, a new action-thriller written by T.J. Fixman. Plot details are unknown, but the film is described as a throwback action-thriller with a twisty narrative in the vein of Carry On, Speed, Die Hard, and Inside Man. There's no word yet on casting.

The next 007 movie just drew a step closer with Amazon MGM bringing Denis Villeneuve on board to direct. Villeneuve's previous action projects (including Dune, Blade Runner 2049, and Arrival) seem to make him a good fit. There's still no word on casting or a production timeline, although since Villeneuve will be tied up for some time with his third and final Dune film for Warner Bros (shooting this summer and slated for release December 2026), those details are unlikely to be revealed any time soon.

TELEVISION/STREAMING

Paramount+ has handed a Season 2 renewal to the breakout new drama, MobLand, starring Tom Hardy, Pierce Brosnan, and Helen Mirren. The news comes three weeks after the series wrapped its freshman run on the streaming platform. In MobLand, two mob families clash in a war that threatens to topple empires and lives. The cast also includes Paddy Considine, Joanne Froggatt, Lara Pulver, Anson Boon, Mandeep Dhillon, Jasmine Jobson, Geoff Bell, Daniel Betts, Lisa Dwan, and Emily Barber.

Grosse Point Garden Society has been canceled by NBC after one season, with previous plans to move the series to Peacock on hold. In the drama, Aja Naomi King, Melissa Fumero, AnnaSophia Robb, and Ben Rappaport star as friends united by a suburban gardening club who get mixed up in murder when a formal gala goes awry. The Season 1 finale, which aired in May, will be leaving its audience on a cliffhanger.

A trailer for the crime drama Bookish has dropped. The cozy crime show "with an edge" is set in post-WWII London and stars Mark Gatiss (Sherlock) as bookstore owner Gabriel Book who helps the police solve their knottiest cases. He is a gay man at a time when homosexuality was illegal, and in a lavender marriage to childhood friend Trottie, played by Polly Walker (Bridgerton). Bookish will air on UKTV in the UK and on PBS in the U.S.

MASTERPIECE Mystery! on PBS released a trailer for the all-new contemporary adaptation of Georges Simenon's Maigret drama, which premieres Sunday, October 5th at 9/8c. Benjamin Wainwright stars as the title character of Inspector Jules Maigret, a fictional French police detective, a commissaire of the Paris Brigade Criminelle. Stefanie Martini (Emerald City) also stars as Madame Louise Maigret.

A trailer also dropped for the new Acorn TV crime drama, Irish Blood. Divorce lawyer Fiona Sharpe (played by Alicia Silverstone) receives a message from her estranged father, embarking on a journey to Ireland. She uncovers family truths and her father's dark past, realizing her life's abandonment story was a protective lie.

PODCASTS/RADIO/AUDIO

Debbi Mack's latest guest on The Crime Cafe was crime writer and media entrepreneur, Clay Stafford, the brains behind Killer Nashville.

Authors on the Air welcomed bestselling author Sarah Strohmeyer to discus her new psychological suspense novel, A Mother Always Knows.

On Read or Dead, Katie McLain Horner and Kendra Winchester recommended some of their favorite mystery and thriller titles for Audiobook Month.

Crime Time FM host, Paul Burke, reviewed a dozen new crime fiction titles for the latest episode of the podcast.

On Pick Your Poison, Dr. Jen Prosser investigated what eating meat has to do with doping and drug testing in the Olympics and what medicine used to treat asthma in horses is abused by humans for weight loss.

Killer Nashville Finalists Revealed

The 2025 Killer Nashville Silver Falchion Award Finalists were announced, honoring books published in 2024. The winners in each category and the top 3 winners overall will be announced at the Killer Nashville Awards Dinner on August 23, 2025, in Nashville, Tennessee. Congratulations to all!

 

Best Action Adventure

• Jericho Burning by T.G. Brown
• The General’s Gold by Bruce Robert Coffin
• Desperate Measures by Ley Esses
• Where Love Means Nothing by Howard Gimple 
• The North Line by Matt Riordan 

Best Comedy (includes comedic P.I. and crime caper)

• The Princess Shoppe by Kerry Blaisdell
• Swiped by L.M. Chilton
• Get Gribnitz by Howard Gimple 
• Model Ghost by TK Sheffield 
• Sorry, Knot Sorry by Lois Winston 

Best Cozy

• Beeswax Bewitchment by S.E. Babin 
• Elizabeth Sails by Kristin Owens 
• Study Guide For Murder by Lori Robbins 
• Framed For Murder by Marla White 
• Wheeling And Dealing by Becki Willis 

Best Historical

• Empowered By The Dream: A Journey Of Resilience by Gladys A. Barrio 
• The Paris Mistress by Mally Becker 
• A Killing On The Hill by Robert Dugoni 
• Find Your Way To My Grave by Chris Keefer 
• What Once Was Promised by Louis Trubiano 

Best Investigator (includes procedural, serious P.I., detective, and noir)

• The Things That Cannot Be Forgotten by Peter W.J. Hayes
• Last Dog Out by Candace Irving 
• Black & White by Justin M. Kiska 
• Tiger Claw by Michael Allan Mallory 
• Murder Outside The Box by Saralyn Richard 

Best Juvenile / Y.A.

• Beyond The Cemetery Gate: The Secret Keeper’s Daughter by Valerie Biel 
• Dead Girl by Kerrie Faye 
• Stealing Time by Tilia Klebenov Jacobs 
• Snowed by Twist Phelan 
• Star Brother by Maxine Rose Schur 

Best Literary

• She Ruined Our Lives by Chris Chan 
• An American Tragedy by Dan Flanigan 

Best Mainstream / Commercial

• Those That Did Not Die by Penny Fletcher 
• On The Mad River by Lucrecia Guerrero 
• People Will Talk by Kieran Scott 
• Between Lies And Revenge by Hannah Sharpe 
• Blindspot by Maggie Smith 

Best Mystery

• Drop Dead Sisters by Amelia Diane Coombs 
• Obey All Laws by Cindy Goyette 
• At First I Was Afraid by Marty Ludlum 
• A World Of Hurt by Mindy Mejia 
• Scorched: Burn Me Once… by Cam Torrens 

Best Nonfiction

• There Is No Ethan by Anna Akbari 
• Lovers In Auschwitz: A True Story by Keren Blankfeld 
• Ask Not: The Kennedys And The Women They Destroyed by Maureen Callahan 
• Tilghman: The Legendary Lawman And The Woman Who Inspired Him by Chris Enss
• Seeds Of Leadership by Wilson Lukang 

Best Sci-Fi / Fantasy

• Ocean’s Godori by Elaine Cho 
• The Canopy Keepers by Veronica G. Henry 
• Master Version 1.1 by Antanas Marcelionis 
• House Of Fire & Magic by Sherrilyn McQueen 
• The Building That Wasn’t by Abigail Miles 

Best Short Story Collection / Anthology

• Never Tell Collection by Kjersti Egerdahl
• Day by Patrick Kitson 
• Deeds Of Darkness by William Burton McCormick
• 6-Lane Highway by Sean Mitchell
• Larceny & Last Chances: 22 Stories Of Mystery & Suspense by Judy Penz Sheluk 

Best Southern Gothic

• Pocket Full Of Teeth by Lisa Kastner
• Kentucky Blood (Book I Of The Kentucky Blood Series) by Ashley Thomas Sheikh

Best Supernatural

• Not Born Of Woman by Teel Glenn
• A Place For Good And Evil by Stacey Horan
• City Of Innocent Monsters by Stacey Horan
• Dervla Alarms The Nanas by DR Ransdell
• Cold Snap by Lindy Ryan

Best Suspense

• A Friend In The Dark by Samantha M. Bailey
• If You Tell A Lie by Lucinda Berry
• The Next Mrs. Parrish by Liv Constantine
• Lost To Dune Road by Kara Thomas
• The Last Party by AR Torre

Best Thriller

• Rich Justice by Robert Bailey
• The Dredge by Brendan Flaherty
• The Mechanics Of Memory by Audrey Lee
• A Forgotten Kill by Isabella Maldonado
• The Ascent by Adam Plantinga

Best Western

• Knife River by Baron Birtcher
• Sarita by Natalie Musgrave Dossett
• The Broken Blood by Dwight Holing

Friday's "Forgotten" Books: The Moving Toyshop

Robert Bruce Montgomery (1921-1978) set out to be a professional musician and had a successful career writing vocal and choral music. He composed music for the cinema, too, close to 50 films including the scores for many British comedies of the 1950s. That comedy link isn't surprising considering Montgomery also wrote comic mystery novels under the pen name of Edmund Crispin, the first of which, The Case of the Gilded Fly, was published in 1944. Crispin didn't write many novels, but those he did featured the eccentric, absent-minded Oxford don and professor of English and Literature, Gervase Fen.

The third of these books is perhaps his best. Titled The Moving Toyshop, P.D. James named it as one of the best five mysteries of all time and critic and mystery writer H.R.F. Keating included it among the 100 best crime and mystery books ever published. Keating added, "The word to describe The Moving Toyshop is 'rococo'. It possesses in splendid abundance the ebullient charm of the works of art thus labelled. It is alive with flourishes. Its mainspring the actual disappearance of a toyshop visited in midnight Oxford, has all the right fancifulness, and at the end it is explained with perfect plausibility."

The plot centers on poet Richard Cadogan, who stumbles on the dead body of an old lady in an Oxford toyshop late one night right before a blow from an unseen assailant knocks him unconscious. But when he recovers, not only has the woman disappeared, the entire toyshop has vanished, replaced by a grocery store. When the police not surprisingly refuse to believe Cadogan's story, he turns to the only person he thinks can help, his former colleague Gervase Fen. Fen's response is a typical Crisin ploy, a breaking of the fourth-wall illusion, "It's somewhat unusual business, isn't it." And, "So unusual," replies the poet, "that no one in his sense would invent it." (At another point, Fen dreams up book titles "for Crispin.") Fen sets about solving the impossible crime via his intuition, wits and wit, tossing in various literary references and quotations along the way, including clues based on Edward Lear limericks.

Crispin unfortunately suffered from a problem with alcoholism, and it was his drinking that eventually made into an invalid and semi-recluse, too weak to write. It's a shame, for it would have been interesting to see where his imagination and whimsical take on the genre would have led him, had he had full use of his faculties. The Fen books are witty, clever and entertaining, and filled with wonderfully eccentric characters.

Open Read Media has recently reprinted several titles in the Fen series. Collins Crime Club also produced a new edition of The Moving Toyshop in 2015, and Bloomsbury Reader in 2018. As a side note, Crispin was inducted into the prestigious Detection Club in 1947.

Mystery Melange

Goldsboro Books announced the longlist for the 2025 Glass Bell Award, celebrating the very best storytelling across all genres of contemporary fiction. Now in its ninth year, the Glass Bell Award "continues to champion compelling narratives, vivid settings, and unforgettable characters, regardless of where they sit on the shelf." The longlist contains a few crime fiction-related titles such as Hunted by Abir Mukherjee, The Kellerby Code by Jonny Sweet, All the Colours of the Dark by Chris Whitaker, and The List of Suspicious Things, by Jennie Godfrey. A shortlist is expected later this summer, with the winner to be announced in September. (HT to The Rap Sheet)

The MOTIVE Crime & Mystery Festival returns to the University of Toronto this Friday, June 27, through Sunday, June 29. Special guests include Gregg Hurwitz (the Orphan X series, Lisa Unger (Close Your Eyes and Count to Ten), Uzma Jalaluddin (Detective Aunty), Jonathan Whitelaw (The Garden Club Murders), and Linwood Barclay (Whistle). There will also be other talks and panels, including some on the craft of writing crime fiction and also forensic science; Toronto Crime Tours; and an immersive murder mystery featuring live music and a full bar.

The Toledo, Ohio Public Library, which hosts the Jennifer Fisher Nancy Drew Collection, posted videos from the April 2025 Nancy Drew 95th Anniversary Convention, including such presentations as "Collecting Nancy Drew" and a talk by Stacia Deutsch, who has written under the Nancy Drew pseudonym Carolyn Keene. (HT to The Bunburyist)

It seems that almost week, there's a news story making the headlines of a woman who's gone missing and the huge manhunt to find her. What those headlines don't reveal is that those individuals are almost always white. Yet, according to the FBI, in 2020, 40% of all women and girls reported missing were people of color (Black, Hispanic, and Indigenous), despite making up just 19% of the population. This week, Via Bantam profiled six novels for CrimeReads that draw attention to the ongoing epidemic of missing women of color.

If you're a fan of MC Beaton, Hachette is offering a summer sweepstakes where you can enter for a chance to win a bundle of the first three Hamish Macbeth books plus a tote bag. There will be three prize winners in all.

On the Mystery Fanfare blog, Janet Rudolph posted a list of summer crime fiction that exudes the heat and accompanying crime of summertime (omitting most Fourth of July and Labor Day Mysteries from this list because she'll update those specific lists later thiis summer).

This week's crime poem up at the 5-2 is "Trump Rehires Fired Federal Workers: The Voice of Truth" by Robert Cooperman.

In the Q&A roundup, Karin Slaughter (of the Will Trent series) spoke with The Express about the real life murders that helped inspire her thrilling new crime novel, We Are All Guilty Here; also in The Express, Mark Billingham revealed the George Floyd moment that forced him to reassess his approach to the cops in his new book... and the twist that will astonish readers; in an interview with People Magazine, Laura Lippman and Megan Abbott discussed their documentary obsessions, writing about money in crime fiction, and how much of their characters come from real life; and Writers Who Kill chatted with Molly MacRae about There’ll Be Shell To Pay, the second book in MacRae’s Haunted Shell Shop mystery series.

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

In a competitive situation, Amazon MGM Studios has secured film rights to Code Black, a new short story by Harrison Query, a deal believed to be one of the biggest of all time for a short story. Jake Gyllenhaal's Nine Stories will develop the political thriller as a starring vehicle for the Oscar nominee, under its first-look deal with the studio. In Code Black, the country’s top heart surgeon is flown to D.C. to perform a high-stakes operation, finding himself led into a trap where his guile and genius become the only way to stop a plot that threatens both his family and the nation. Query will adapt the screenplay.

Carla Gugino is the latest to come aboard as a co-star opposite Brad Pitt in Netflix's The Adventures of Cliff Booth, directed by David Fincher. Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, Elizabeth Debicki, and Scott Caan have also boarded the project, from a script by Quentin Tarantino. Plot details are vague, but sources say the film will follow one of Tarantino’s most iconic characters as he serves as a Hollywood fixer in a follow-up to Pitt’s Oscar-winning turn in Once Upon a Time in Hollywood. It is unknown who Gugino will be playing in the new film, which is expected to begin production later this year.

Theo Rossi, Billy Campbell, and Rosaline Elbay have joined the feature thriller, A Better Place, from Virgo Films. Written and directed by Anton Sigurdsson (Women), the pic follows a disgraced deputy, his anxious partner, and a sharp-tongued female prisoner who cover up a hit-and-run, only to spiral into paranoia, greed, and buried secrets that tear them apart.

TELEVISION/STREAMING

Tommy and Tuppence, Agatha Christie's crime-fighting couple, are returning to the screen. BritBox has greenlit a six-part series that will reimagine Tommy and Tuppence Beresford in the modern world, more than a century after they first appeared together in Christie’s The Secret Adversary. Casting is underway with filming expected to begin later this year, set in Hampstead, a leafy and affluent corner of north London. Tommy and Tuppence have appeared in numerous adaptations over the years, most recently being played by David Walliams and Jessica Raine in Partners in Crime, the 2015 BBC series. A 1983 series, titled Agatha Christie’s Partners in Crime, aired on ITV, starring James Warwick and Francesca Annis in the title roles.

Paramount+ UK & Ireland has commissioned a UK thriller series, The Revenge Club (w/t), with Slow Horses and Peaky Blinders star Aimée-Ffion Edwards and Line Of Duty's Martin Compston in the lead roles of Emily and Calum. Based on the upcoming debut novel, The Othello Club, by J.D. Pennington, the series follows six strangers brought together by a divorce support group who quickly transform from therapy-seeking victims into architects of retribution. With little in common beyond their pain, they form an unlikely bond, and what began as a cathartic outlet quickly spirals into something far more dangerous. Joining Edwards and Compston as the other members of the club are BAFTA and Emmy winner Meera Syal (Goodness Gracious Me) as Rita, Sharon Rooney (Barbie) as Rachel, Douglas Henshall (Shetland) as Steve, Chaneil Kular (Sex Education) as Tej, and Amit Shah (Mr Bates vs. The Post Office) as Malcolm.

Michael Weatherly and Cote de Pablo's return to television and a spinoff of the NCIS franchise, Tony & Ziva, now has a premiere date of September 4, with three episodes exclusively on Paramount+ in the U.S. and a number of territories. Following the premiere, new episodes will drop weekly on Thursdays, with the season finale October 23. In the offshoot, former NCIS agents Tony (Weatherly) and Ziva (de Pablo) had been raising their daughter in Paris when an attack on Tony’s security company sends them on the run across Europe, trying to figure out who is after them and maybe even learn to trust each other again so they can finally have their unconventional happily ever after. Tony & Ziva is the first series in the NCIS franchise not to air on CBS, and it's unclear yet whether the show will get a special airing on the network.

PODCASTS/RADIO/AUDIO

Mark Billingham chatted with Paul Burke on Crime Time FM about his new thriller, What the Night Brings, donuts, longevity, opening scenes, and "please don't do spoilers."

On Wrong Place, Write Crime, Frank Zafiro spoke with author Colleen Coble about her Tupelo Grove mysteries series and much more.

Murder Junction featured a Capital Crime special featuring authors Jón Atli Jónasson, Ruth Mancini, and Anna Bailey, and festival organizers David Headley and Lizzie Curle.

A Thrill a Minute

The International Thriller Writers unveiled the winners for the 2025 Thriller Awards at a ceremony last evening at the New York Hilton Midtown, New York City. Congratulations to all the winners and finalists!

BEST STANDALONE THRILLER NOVEL:  Jason Rekulak — THE LAST ONE AT THE WEDDING (Flatiron Books)

Other finalists:

• Kimberly Belle — THE PARIS WIDOW (Harlequin – Park Row)
• Will Dean — THE CHAMBER (Emily Bestler Books)
• T.J. Newman — WORST CASE SCENARIO (Little, Brown & Co.)
• Lisa Scottoline — THE TRUTH ABOUT THE DEVLINS (Penguin/Putnam)

BEST STANDALONE MYSTERY NOVEL:  Kellye Garrett — MISSING WHITE WOMAN (Mulholland Books)

Other finalists:

• Libby Cudmore — NEGATIVE GIRL (Datura Books)
• Laura Dave — THE NIGHT WE LOST HIM (Simon & Schuster)
• Harry Hunsicker — THE LIFE AND DEATH OF ROSE DOUCETTE (Oceanview Publishing)
• Dervla McTiernan — WHAT HAPPENED TO NINA? (William Morrow)
• Lori Roy — LAKE COUNTY (Thomas & Mercer)

BEST SERIES NOVEL:   David Baldacci — TO DIE FOR (Grand Central Publishing)

Other finalists:

• Eric Beetner — THE LAST FEW MILES OF ROAD (Level Best Books)
• Ann Cleeves — THE DARK WIVES (Minotaur)
• Meg Gardiner — SHADOWHEART (Blackstone Publishing)
• Iris Johansen, Roy Johansen — FLASHBACK (Grand Central Publishing)
• Isabella Maldonado — A FORGOTTEN KILL (Thomas & Mercer)

BEST FIRST NOVEL:   Marie Tierney — DEADLY ANIMALS (Henry Holt & Co.)

Other finalists:

• Kate Brody — RABBIT HOLE (Soho Crime)
• Jaime deBlanc — AFTER IMAGE (Thomas & Mercer)
• Carinn Jade — THE ASTROLOGY HOUSE (Atria)
• Alejandro Nodarse —BLOOD IN THE CUT (Flatiron Books)

BEST AUDIOBOOK:  Kate Alice Marshall — NO ONE CAN KNOW (Macmillan Audio),  Narrated by Karissa Vacker

Other finalists:

• Sally Hepworth — DARLING GIRLS (Macmillan), Narrated by Jessica Clarke
• Jon Lindstrom — HOLLYWOOD HUSTLE (Dreamscape Media), Narrated by Jon Lindstrom
• Hilton Reed — BEYOND ALL DOUBT (Dreamscape Media), Narrated by George Newbern
• Amy Tintera — LISTEN FOR THE LIE (Macmillan),      Narrated by January LaVoy and Will Damron
  

BEST YOUNG ADULT NOVEL:   Marisha Pessl — DARKLY (Delacorte)

Other finalists:

• Adam Cesare — INFLUENCER (Union Square & Co., LLC)
• Ripley Jones — THE OTHER LOLA (Wednesday Books)
• Natalie Richards — 49 MILES ALONE (Sourcebooks Fire)
• Melanie Sumrow — GIRLS LIKE HER (Balzer + Bray)

BEST SHORT STORY:   Ivy Pochoda — Jackrabbit Skin (Amazon Original Stories)

Other finalists:

• Stefanie Leder — "Not a Dinner Party Person" (Soho Crime)
• Twist Phelan — "Double Parked" (Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine)
• Lisa Unger — The Doll's House (Amazon Original Stories)
• Joseph S. Walker — "And Now, an Inspiring Story of Tragedy Overcome" (Wildside Press)

Friday's "Forgotten" Books: The Singing Spider

Angus MacVicar (1908-2001) was a Scottish author of crime thrillers, juvenile science fiction and nonfiction. His first novel, The Purple Rock, was a bestseller, but his career was interrupted by an illness and then service in World War II with the Royal Scots Fusiliers. He also later turned his hand to screenwriting, and his young-adult sci-fi novel series The Lost Planet was made into television and radio versions. (A side note: MacVicar's father was a Presbyterian minister in the Church of Scotland and the author's books often had snippets of Christianity in them, so it's interesting that The Lost Planet was the first science fiction series ever translated to Hebrew, and allegedly had considerable impact on the development of that genre in Israel.)

MacVicar's suspense novel The Singing Spider from 1938 was set against the backdrop of Mussolini and impending war with Italy. It follows young Archie Campbell, an intelligent, scrupulously honest and brave young man who is offered a job as a secret agent by Sir Robert Vanburgh, who is the Secretary for Diplomatic Affairs and also a friend of Archie's dead father. Archie's job is to visit the quiet little fishing port of Bennachie in order to uncover the secret that was discovered by another murdered agent, known as D7—who was also Sir Robert's son.

Archie takes the job hoping to find redemption following a scandalous love affair that left him a broken man and a drunkard, and soon finds himself immersed in the picturesque village of Bennachie playing the not-too-far-off role of a recovering invalid. Archie tries to uncover the identity of the Singing Spider—an Italian spy and master of disguise thought to be behind D7's murder—with the help of an American Professor, a local rogue who's also seeking redemption, and a lovely young minister's daughter. But first Archie has to find out how the Singing Spider is tied to a puzzling phrase that translates as "The Pit of Baal" and the mysterious red lights at the Bennachie stone, an artifact the Professor believes dates back to the ancient Phoenicians.

It's definitely a novel of its time, thematically and stylistically, but there's a good rendering of the Scottish setting that was so similar to areas MacVicar knew well, and to its characters. There's also a bit of naive sweetness to it that you don't often find in spy-themed suspense novels, no doubt a nod to the author's Presbyterian roots and his young-adult writings. It's definitely a G- or PG+ type of plot. The Singing Spider was made into a radio program for BBC Scotland in 1950, although I doubt any traces of it exist.

Several of Angus MacVicar's books have been recently re-released by Lume Books (formerly Endeavour Media). The titles include his crime fiction books featuring Rev. P J. MacFarlane; MacVicar's two-book private investigator Bruce McLintock series; and several standalone suspense novels.

Mystery Melange

The shortlist was announced (in a membership newsletter from J. Madison Davis) for the 2024 Dashiell Hammett Award for Literary Excellence in Crime Writing. Canadian and United States residents are eligible for this eminent award sponsored by International Association of Crime Writers, North American Branch, given in recognition of exceptional writing. The "Hammett" has been awarded annually since 1991. Congratulations to the finalists, which include: The Long-Shot Trial by William Deverell (ECW Press); The God of the Woods by Liz Moore (Riverhead); Crooked by Dietrich Kalteis (ECW Press); Rough Trade by Katrina Carrasco (MCD Books) and Broiler by Eli Cranor (Soho).

Congratulations to The Mysterious Bookshop in New York City, which was named the Best Independent Bookstore in America by USA Today's 10 Best Readers' Choice Awards. As USA Today noted, not only does the store sell a variety of crime fiction books, but it also produces its own Bibliomystery series of novellas by some of the biggest authors in the genre.

Entries are now open for the 2025 Sisters in Crime Award for Emerging LGBTQIA+ Crime Writers. The award offers $2,000 grant for unpublished crime fiction, 2,500-5,000 words, by an emerging writer in the LGBTQIA+ community who has not published more than ten pieces of short fiction or two books, with preference is given to previously unpublished authors. Entries may be aimed at readers of all ages, from children's chapter books through adults. The winner may be asked to share thoughts on their win and the impact the award has made as well as serve as a member of next year's award selection committee. Applicants should send a short story or first chapter(s) of a manuscript-in-progress, a resume, and a cover letter describing how the applicant is emerging in the genre and how the grant money would be used. The deadline is July 31.

Lee Child, the author behind the global phenomenon, Jack Reacher, will headline the inaugural Whitby Lit Fest in the UK, in conversation with the TV personality, Rob Rinder. Lee will be discussing the new Reacher book, Exit Strategy, co-written with his brother, Andrew Child, and will also discuss his first ever autobiographical collection, The Stories Behind the Stories. Over 40 authors are expected to descend on the coastal town for the inaugural festival, which runs from Thursday November 6 to Sunday November 9. A major theme of the first festival will celebrate Whitby’s dramatic coastline and landscapes, while other themes include crime fiction, gothic horror, and working-class writing.

Simon & Schuster Books UK has entered into an official collaboration with the Conan Doyle Estate on a program of new and backlist titles following on from their recent collaboration, Holmes & Moriarty by Gareth Rubin, The upcoming projects will include a short story collection and new biography of the Sherlock Holmes creator ahead of the centenary of his death in 2030.
 

A month after the 35th-anniversary British Book Awards, the "Nibbies," another contest has been announced for audiobooks recorded in the English language and available in the United Kingdom. The British Audio Awards will release a shortlist in September, with winners are expected to be presented for a first time on November 24. They mirror the "Audies" awarded in the U.S., produced by the Audio Publishers Association. The British Audio Awards are nicknaming themselves the "Speakies," and will encompass various categories including Fiction and Crime & Thriller.


This week's crime poem up at the 5-2 is "Silent Judgment" by Amy Grech.

In the Q&A roundup, Laura Lippman, author of the Tess Monaghan series and many standalone crime novels, applied the Page 69 Test to her latest work, Murder Takes a Vacation; and Charlie Kondek took "The First Two Pages" test for Art Taylor's blog about his contribution to the forthcoming anthology, Midnight Schemers & Daydream Believers.

Macavity Magic

 The finalists for the 2025 Macavity Awards have been announced. The honor, named after "Macavity: The Mystery Cat," in T.S. Eliot's Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats, are nominated and voted on by members of Mystery Readers International, subscribers to Mystery Readers Journal, and friends of MRI. Winners will be voted on by the membership and revealed in September. Congratulations to all!

 

Best Mystery Novel

• Hall of Mirrors by John Copenhaver (Pegasus Crime)
• Served Cold by James L’Etoile (Level Best Books)
• The God of the Woods by Liz Moore (Riverhead)
• California Bear by Duane Swierczynski (Mulholland)
• The In Crowd by Charlotte Vassell (Doubleday)
• All the Colors of the Dark by Chris Whitaker (Crown)

Best First Mystery

• Outraged by Brian Copeland (Dutton)
• A Reluctant Spy by David Goodman (Headline)
• Ghosts of Waikiki by Jennifer K. Morita (Crooked Lane)
• You Know What You Did by K.T. Nguyen (Dutton)
• The Expatby Hansen Shi (Pegasus Crime)
• Holy City by Henry Wise (Atlantic Monthly Press)

Best Mystery Short Story

• “Home Game” by Craig Faustus Buck (in Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine, July/August 2024)
• “The Postman Always Flirts Twice” by Barb Goffman (in Agatha and Derringer Get Cozy)
• “Curse of the Super Taster” by Leslie Karst (in Black Cat Weekly, Feb 23, 2024)
• “Two for One” by Art Taylor (in Murder, Neat)
• “Satan’s Spit” by Gabriel Valjan (in Tales of Music, Murder, and Mayhem)
• “Reynisfjara” by Kristopher Zgorski (in Mystery Most International)

Best Historical Mystery

• The Wharton Plot by Mariah Fredericks (Minotaur)
• An Art Lover’s Guide to Paris and Murder by Dianne Freeman (Kensington)
• Fog City by Claire Johnson (Level Best Books)
• The Murder of Mr. Ma by John Shen Yen Nee and S.J. Rozan (Soho Crime)
• The Bootlegger’s Daughter by Nadine Nettmann (Lake Union)
• A Grave Robbery by Deanna Raybourn (Berkley)

Best Nonfiction/Critical

• Writing the Cozy Mystery: Authors’ Perspectives on Their Craft edited by Phyllis M. Betz (McFarland)
• Some of My Best Friends Are Murderers: Critiquing the Columbo Killers by Chris Chan (Level Best Books)
• Witch of New York: The Trials of Polly Bodine and the Cursed Birth of Tabloid Justice by Alex Hortis (Pegasus Crime)
• The Infernal Machine: A True Story of Dynamite, Terror, and the Rise of the Modern Detective by Steven Johnson  (Crown)
• On Edge: Gender and Genre in the Work of Shirley Jackson, Patricia Highsmith, and Leigh Brackett by Ashley Lawson  (Ohio State University Press)
• Abingdon’s Boardinghouse Murder by Greg Lilly (History Press)

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

Matthew McConaughey is in talks to star in Skydance’s feature film based on the iconic private eye, Mike Hammer, from a script by Nic Pizzolatto, who collaborated with the actor in True Detective. Hammer is the protagonist of a series of hardboiled detective novels by Mickey Spillane (later continued by Max Allan Collins), starting with 1947’s I, the Jury, becoming one of the most popular figures of the genre. Collins will executive produce, with Jane Spillane serving as co-producer.

Filipino-American actor KC Montero has joined the cast of the upcoming neo-noir thriller, Shadow Transit. The cast already stars UK-based singer-songwriter, Qymira, and US-based, Indonesian-born actor, Yoshi Sudarso. Shadow Transit is the first English-language film from Pedring Lopez, who previously helmed the Netflix original action film, Maria, which also starred Montero. Shadow Transit follows a grief-stricken photojournalist and a haunted DJ who are forced to navigate the underbelly of Manila and Hong Kong, while evading a powerful crime syndicate.

Succession alum and Tony nominee, Juliana Canfield, has landed the female lead opposite Brandon Sklenar in F.A.S.T., the action thriller from Warner Bros. Character details for Canfield's role have not been disclosed. In the film, marking the feature directorial debut of veteran DP Ben Richardson, a former special forces commando is tapped by the DEA to lead a black op strike team against CIA-protected drug dealers.

TELEVISION/STREAMING

Former Bosch star Titus Welliver is back on the cop beat as a lead opposite J.K. Simmons in The Westies, MGM+'s upcoming period crime drama series from co-creator, executive producer, and showrunner, Chris Brancato. Co-created by Brancato and Michael Panes, The Westies is set in the early 1980s when the construction of the Jacob Javitz Convention Center on the Westies’ home turf in Hell’s Kitchen promises a financial windfall for the Irish-American organized crime gang. Despite being outnumbered 50-to-1 by the Five Families of the Italian mafia, the Westies’ legendary brutality and cunning have given them the leverage necessary to share the spoils through a fragile détente. Welliver will play Glenn Keenan, a troubled NYPD officer who grew up with the Westies crew, torn between loyalty to the law and love for his wayward son. 

CBS's Boston Blue has cast another key member. ER alumna Gloria Reuben has been tapped as a series regular on the upcoming Blue Bloods universe series, joining previously cast Donnie Wahlberg, Sonequa Martin-Green, Ernie Hudson, and Maggie Lawson. In Boston Blue, Wahlberg will reprise his Blue Bloods role as NYPD Officer Danny Reagan as he takes a position with Boston PD. Once in Boston, he is paired with Detective Lena Silver (Martin-Green), the eldest daughter of a prominent law enforcement family. Reuben will play Mae Silver, Boston’s District Attorney and the matriarch of a blended family of law enforcement professionals. The widow of a judge who was murdered on the courthouse steps, Mae endeavors to put family ahead of work whenever possible.

Rachel Brosnahan (The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel) will lead Apple’s legal drama Presumed Innocent for Season 2. The series hails from multi-Emmy Award winners David E. Kelley and J.J. Abrams, and executive producers Jake Gyllenhaal, Rachel Rusch Rich, Erica Lipez, and Matthew Tinker. Led by Gyllenhaal, Season 1 was inspired by Scott Turow’s courtroom thriller of the same name and tells the story of a horrific murder that upends the Chicago Prosecuting Attorney's office when one of its own is suspected of the crime. The book was published in 1987 and was turned into a 1990 feature starring Harrison Ford as Rusty Sabich, the same role Gyllenhaal took on. As reimagined by Kelley, Presumed Innocent will explore obsession, sex, politics, and the power and limits of love, as the accused fights to hold his family and marriage together.

Starz has ordered Fightland, a new eight-episode crime drama series from Curtis "50 Cent" Jackson. The series, which is set in the high stakes world of British boxing, follows a disgraced, formerly incarcerated boxing champion who returns to London to seek vengeance against the crime family he thinks betrayed him.

PODCASTS/RADIO/AUDIO

On Read or Dead, Katie McLain Horner and Kendra Winchester recommended mysteries and thrillers for Pride Month.

Fiona Cummins chatted with Paul Burke on Crime Time FM about Some of Us Are Liars, Saul Anguish, Essex inspiration, sisters, celebrity, and being the best writer you can be.

Authors on the Air welcomed award-winning authors Jeff Ayers and Jon Land, who teamed up to co-author the National Park Thriller series, the latest of which is Cold Burn.

The Mysteryrat's Maze Podcast featured the first chapter of The Language of Bodies by Suzanne DeWitt Hall, read by actor Cady Mejias. In honor of Pride month this one features an LGBTQ+ main character.

On the Pick Your Poison podcast, Dr. Jen Prosser investigated what hitchhikers have to do with toxicology; exposure to what animal has been mistaken for a drug of abuse; and what substance costs $40 million dollars per gallon.

Friday's "Forgotten" Books: The Experiences of Loveday Brooke, Lady Detective

British author Catherine Louisa Pirkis (1841-1910) wrote many short stories and some 14 novels between 1877 and 1894, before she essentially gave up writing in favor of marriage and animal charity work (she and her husband helped found the National Canine Defence League). She is best known for her stories featuring female detective Loveday Brooke, with the first such tale published in Ludgate Monthly magazine in 1893. The Loveday Brooke stories were compiled into the volume The Experiences of Loveday Brooke, Lady Detective in 1894, which was to be the author's last published book.

Loveday Brooke was one of the more popular female detectives among the explosion of mystery stories that followed the success of Sherlock Holmes, and the character is said to be the first female detective penned by a female author. Unlike other female detectives of the day (mostly those created by men), Loveday is a professional business woman, around thirty years of age, who is "not tall, she was not short, she was not dark, she was not fair; she was neither handsome nor ugly. Her features were altogether nondescript." Her main weapon is her intellect and capacity for using logic and observation a la Holmes, which helps her solve cases that have stumped the male police forces. She works for Ebenezer Dyer, head of a detective agency in Lynch Court, off London's Fleet Street, but he isn't involved in her cases and simply dispatches her to do her own thing.

Loveday's cases are mostly robberies and burglaries, which might sound on the surface like the author was avoiding more violent crimes that would be too much for a woman's "delicate constitution." However, Pirkus imbued her detective with a feminist (for the day) viewpoint, with the female characters often struggling to escape patriarchal tyranny. There is a religious underpinning to the stories, although it is minimized in favor of the puzzles, which, as Mike Grost of MysteryFile notes, often have three stages: stage one, the establishment of the mystery; stage three, the resolution; and the middle stage, an often elaborate and complex scheme whereby Loveday meddles in the lives of the culprits to trick them into their ultimate capture.

Loveday is notable for her role in blazing a trail for the modern female fictional detective, but Pirkis's writing isn't as pathbreaking. There is a dependence on dialogue, a wealth of coincidences, a lack of clues, and many instances of the lack of "fair play." Some Loveday stories were later dramatized as BBC radio plays, including "The Redhill Sisterhood," where Loveday Brooke takes on the role of an undercover agent as she investigates nuns who appear to have forsaken their vows and taken to burglary.

Mystery Melange

 The 2025 Bloody Scotland Debut Prize shortlist was announced this week. Making the list are Natalie Jayne Clark, The Malt Whisky Murders; David Goodman, A Reluctant Spy (Headline); Foday Mannah, The Search for Othella Savage (Quercus); Richard Strachan, The Unrecovered (Raven/Bloomsbury); and Claire Wilson, Five by Five (Michael Joseph). On the opening day of the festival, Friday, September 12, the shortlisted debut authors will appear on panel interviewed by festival co-founder Alex Gray, followed by the presentation of the prize that afternoon and a procession, led by Ian Rankin, to the first evening event of the festival at The Albert Halls.

Foreword Reviews revealed the winners of the 2024 INDIES Book of the Year Awards, which celebrate the outstanding books published in 2024 by small, independent, and university presses. The Gold winner in the Mystery category was A Cold Cold World by Elena Taylor (Severn House); Silver went to The Last Hanging of Angel Martinez by Kate Niles (University of New Mexico Press); Bronze to Gathering Mist by Margaret Mizushima (Crooked Lane); and Honorable Mention to Death Holds the Key by Alexander Thorpe (Fremantle Press). The Gold winner in Thrillers was The Vixen Amber Halloway by Carol LaHines (Regal House Publishing); the Silver winner was The Death of Clara Willenheim by Charlotte M. Lesemann (The Gothic Literary Society); Bronze went to Releasing the Reins by Catherine Matthews (Pacific Peaks Publishing); and Honorable Mention was Bone Pendant Girls by Terry S. Friedman (CamCat Books).

The Maine Publishers and Writers Alliance announced the winners for the 2025 Maine Literary Awards, including Best Crime Fiction, won by Maureen Milliken for Dying for News. The other finalists include: Paul Doiron, Pitch Dark; Kathryn Lasky, Mortal Radiance; and Thomas Ricks, Everyone Knows But You.

I missed these awards back in March, but at the annual Krimimessen (Crime Fair) in Denmark, four crime honors were revealed, including the Palle Rosenkrantz prize (best foreign crime/thriller novel), won by Christoffer Carlsson for his Levende og døde. Also announced were the Harald Mogensen award (best Danish crime/thriller novel), won by Søren Sveistrup's Tælle til en tælle til to; the Debut Prize, which Mikkel Blaabjerg snagged for Den 6. magt; and the The Lasse Holm diploma (historical crime novel of the year), which went to Pernille Schou for Mord i delegationen.

The Colorado Humanities' 2025 Colorado Book Awards unveiled the finalists in various categories, including Best Mystery and Best Thriller. The shortlisted mystery titles include Death Valley Duel by Scott Graham (Torrey House Press); A Dream in the Dark by Robert Justice (Crooked Lane Books); and Play of Shadows by Barbara Nickless (Thomas & Mercer). The thriller nods include Anyone But Her by Cynthia Swanson (Columbine York); The Father She Went to Find by Carter Wilson (Sourcebooks); and If You Lie by Caleb Stephens (Thrillserscape Press). All winners will be announced at the Finalists Celebration and Winners Announcement in July 2025.

Frederick Forsyth, called by the New York Times as the "'Master of the Geopolitical Thriller," has died at the age of 86 after a short illness. He wrote best-sellers including The Day of the Jackal, The Dogs of War, and The Odessa File, often using material from his earlier life as a reporter for Reuters and the BBC and as a spy for British intelligence. Six films were adapted from his novels, as well as various television productions. In 2012, the Crime Writers' Association announced that Forsyth had won its Cartier Diamond Dagger award in recognition of his body of work. In November of this year, Penguin Random House will publish a sequel to The Odessa File, called Revenge of Odessa, which Mr. Forsyth wrote with Tony Kent. Lee Child, the author of the Jack Reacher novels, penned a remembrance of Forsyth for The Guardian.

James Reasoner had some additional sad news on his Rough Edges blog, alerting us to the passing of Wayne Dundee, author of the P.I. Joe Hannibal novels and editor and publisher of the small press magazine, Hardboiled. He was also a Shamus Award finalist for Best First PI Novel in 1989 (and a finalist in other categories five times), as well as being a finalist for the Edgar and Anthony awards. Reasoner also wrote in the horror, fantasy, and erotica genres, and several "house name" books under bylines other than his own. Dundee, who was 78, had suffered from ill health for some time.

Even as fans of the James Bond film franchise impatiently await the next installment, along with the naming of the new titular actor, the literary Bond universe is expanding. MW Craven has just been signed to write a new series of Bond books aimed at 8 to 12-year-olds. The first, James Bond and the Secret Agent Academy, will be published next June. It will feature a retired Bond, his licence to kill revoked, training a new generation of teenage spies. Adult readers are also getting new Bond-adjacent books, with Raymond Benson penning The Hook and the Eye, the first to make Bond’s CIA buddy, Felix Leiter, the hero. The book will be out in October, but the first of ten installments has already been published as an ebook. Quantum of Menace by Vaseem Khan will also be published in the autumn—the first novel centered on Bond’s gadget-wielding armorer, Major Boothroyd, aka Q.

A tool to identify poisonous books has been developed by the University of St Andrews. Historically, publishers used arsenic mixed with copper to achieve a vivid emerald green color for book covers. While the risk to the public is "low," handling arsenic-containing books regularly can lead to health issues including irritation of the eyes, nose and throat, along with more serious side-effects. The toxic pigment in the book bindings can even flake off, meaning small pieces can easily be inhaled. In recent years, many libraries have prevented access to suspect books as a precaution, as testing has until now been costly and time-consuming.

This week's crime poem up at the 5-2 is "All the Accused" by Matthew Sorrento.

In the Q&A roundup, Lucas Schaefer, author of the new novel, The Slip, spoke with Crime Reads about Texas, boxing, and how to use crime fiction to explore identity; S.A. Cosby chatted with the New York Times about his latest crime novel, King of Ashes, and the appeal of small-town crime stories; Mark Stevens applied the Page 69 Test to his new novel, No Lie Lasts Forever, about a reformed serial killer and the disgraced journalist he coaxes into finding the imposter trading on his name; Crime Fiction Lover chatted with award-winning crime fiction author, Linwood Barclay, about his new horror-thriller, Whistle; and Deborah Kalb spoke with Kendra Elliot, author of the new novel, Her First Mistake, and the Columbia River series.

Author R&R wth Wendy Gee

After a successful career in the U.S. Navy, Wendy Gee now channels her boundless energy into community volunteering, leaving no stone unturned—or unpainted—at the Charleston Fire Department, Friends of the Lewes Public Library Board of Directors, and Sussex County Habitat for Humanity. A proud graduate of the University of Michigan, University of Arizona, Naval War College, and Old Dominion University, Wendy combines her academic prowess and life experiences into her writing. Residing in Lewes, DE, she is an avid golfer, a diehard Detroit Tigers and Lions fan (even when they’re not winning, but so excited when they are), and a pickleball enthusiast who’s always ready to serve up some fun. Her work has been shortlisted with Killer Nashville and the Writer’s League of Texas. And as a lifetime member of Sisters in Crime, Wendy’s passion for the mystery genre is no secret—though she might leave a few clues lying around just for fun.

In Gee’s novel, Fleet Landing, ATF Special Agent Cooper “Coop” Bellamy's rigid adherence to rules has left his relationship with his 11-year-old daughter in ashes. When Charleston's fire chief calls him to investigate a series of mysterious nuisance fires ravaging the city, Coop sees a chance to redeem himself as a father and catch a dangerous arsonist. But as the fires turn deadly, he finds himself torn between family and duty.

Enter tenacious TV reporter Sydney Quinn, whose pursuit of justice for a man wrongly convicted of arson puts her on a collision course with a sinister figure known only as the Falcon. As Sydney uncovers a decades-old conspiracy, she receives chilling warnings to back off.

Forced to work together, Coop and Sydney must navigate a labyrinth of lies and corruption. Their investigation ignites a powder keg of danger, testing Coop's ironclad principles and Sydney's journalistic integrity. But when danger strikes too close to home, the stakes become personal. With time running out and lives on the line, Coop and Sydney must fight to extinguish the threat before everything they love goes up in smoke.

Wendy Gee stops by In Reference to Murder to take some Author R&R about researching and writing her debut novel:

Confessions of a New Mystery Writer

Mystery novels have captivated readers for centuries. From Sherlock Holmes, Nancy Drew, to Stephanie Plum, these stories offer more than just entertainment; they challenge our minds and keep us guessing until the very end. As a new writer in this genre, I seized the opportunity to create a world filled with intrigue and characters that I hope will linger long after the last page is turned.

My journey started as an avid reader rather than an aspiring author who dreamed of crafting the great American novel. That role was true until the day an Indie bookseller turned me on to the local writer’s guild. I initially felt like an interloper among the published elite, but there I learned a most valuable lesson: The writing community is charitable and encouraging.

As a freshly minted writer, I find myself both exhilarated and slightly terrified. It’s been like stepping into an Agatha Christie novel without knowing whether I’m Poirot, Marple, or just another red herring. And the thrill of crafting clues that lead readers on an adventurous chase is unparalleled. I find I have notebooks filled with scribbles about secret codes, hidden passages, and suspicious alibis which I hope will lead to unexpected twists.

My debut novel, FLEET LANDING, is actually the second story I developed. The original manuscript was so convoluted it just didn’t work. When I tossed that one into the dumpster, it proved to many of my friends and critique partners that my instincts were solid and I could move forward. Even so, this mediocre effort afforded insight into creating technical bones: character development, scene structure, narrative description, internal monologue, dialog, and so forth. And I discovered what I thought were my strengths at the onset proved to be my greatest weaknesses. I was amused that what I considered shortcomings actually came quite naturally to me.

I readily admit my writing style is not organic per se, or what the community labels a pantser. I’m not a rigid plotter either. I’d categorize myself as a tweener who road maps the big story points like a plotter (so I know where to maneuver each scene), yet I leave sufficient latitude for making adjustments (like those fearless and creative pantsers).

The inspiration for FLEET LANDING was the easiest component. My big idea came from melding two divergent storylines that were loosely ripped from the news. For research, I accepted an invitation to be a volunteer in the Fire Marshal Division. I was assigned clerical duties to assist the team, but that gave me invaluable access to real firefighters and fire investigators who had many stories to tell. I did plenty of research to ensure accuracy and realism. I am truly indebted to them for welcoming me into the fold. I hope I did them proud, and will continue to do so in future manuscripts.

The hardest part was the countless rewrites. Yet, that’s also where the fun captivated me as a new writer. I wanted to incorporate what I’d learned in craft classes and workshops, while actually putting words on the page. Lots of words, lots of pages. Lots of deleting extraneous words.

I’ve since learned writers have a love/hate relationship with rewrites and editing. I’m driving my stake firmly in the LOVE it camp. Perhaps because I’m still developing my skills and instincts, the second draft (and third, fourth, and fifth) is another chance to hone the story.

In FLEET LANDING, I also wanted to try my hand at a little social commentary. I believe the world is a marvelous place, even as we navigate the turbulence of injustice, inequality, and whatever personal baggage we carry on the trip. The challenge in my story was to tell things honestly, without melodrama or cliché.

Through this endeavor, diving deeper into mystery writing has taught me much about patience, perseverance, and creativity. Each element must be crafted to ensure a seamless flow, with enough tension and suspense. Every clue needs a purpose. Every character requires motivation. Readers deserve nothing less than an immersive experience where they can lose themselves unraveling the complex enigma presented to them. I hope I have successfully bridged the delicate balance between revealing and concealing information and it keeps the pages turning. I truly hope you enjoy FLEET LANDING.

 

You can learn more about Wendy Gee via her website and follow her on Goodreads. Fleet Landing 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

Emmy and Golden Globe nominee Andrew Scott has come aboard Chloe Domont’s legal thriller, A Place in Hell, alongside Michelle Williams and Daisy Edgar Jones. Written and directed by Domont, the film follows two women at a high profile criminal law firm. Scott will next be seen in Wake Up Dead Man, the third installment of Netflix’s Knives Out films, and starred in the title role in the streamer’s acclaimed series, Ripley.

Shout! Studios has acquired North American rights to the crime thriller Just Breathe, starring Kyle Gallner (Strange Darling), from Motion Picture Exchange and Rockwood Champ. Marking the feature debut of writer-director Paul P. Pompa III, Just Breathe follows Nick Bianco (Gallner), who plans to rebuild his life and win back the love of his life after a year spent in prison for assault. Upon his release, Nick learns that the target of his affections has another admirer, Chester (Shawn Ashmore), his no-nonsense parole officer. Nick soon finds himself caught in a tense rivalry that threatens not only his second chance at love but also his chance to stay out of prison.

Saban Films has acquired U.S. rights to In Cold Light, a crime thriller starring Maika Monroe (Longlegs), as well as Academy Award winners Troy Kotsur (CODA) and Helen Hunt (As Good As It Gets), which had its world premiere in the Spotlight section of the Tribeca Festival on June 7. Marking the first English-language feature from Canadian filmmaker Maxime Giroux (The Great Darkened Days), the film will be released in theaters nationwide later this year. In Cold Light is set in a fractured city where loyalty is currency and violence speaks loudest, following Ava (Monroe), who’s newly released from prison and ready to reclaim her territory—until she witnesses a brutal crime that forces her to run. Hunted by enemies and haunted by her past, Ava is pulled into a desperate fight for survival. 

Amazon MGM Studios is developing Ally Clark, a new thriller starring Oscar winner Viola Davis. Ally Clark takes us from the marble halls of Washington, D.C. to the sweltering bayous of Louisiana and the icy peaks of Alaska, following investigator Ally Clark (Davis) as she embarks on a perilous inquiry into an international conglomerate following the suspicious death of a close friend. Phillip Noyce (Clear and Present Danger; Salt) will direct from a script by Jose Ruisanchez and Irwin Winkler.

TELEVISION/STREAMING

Sophia Stallone has launched development on Mindf*ck for Amazon MGM Studios, a series adaptation of the popular psychological thriller book series by the late S.T. Abby. A five-book series, Mindf*ck began as a self-published effort for Abby before growing into a phenomenon, landing a slot on numerous "most addictive reads" lists. At the heart of the story is Lana Myers, a seductive, calculating serial killer with a morally-charged mission: avenging her traumatic past by systematically eliminating the men who assaulted her, destroyed her family, and walked away free. Lana’s carefully constructed world begins to unravel when she falls for Logan Bennett, an FBI profiler investigating the very murders she’s committing. Their connection is immediate, intense, and impossibly dangerous—a love story shaped by vengeance, secrets, and emotional reckoning.

Dougray Scott (Crime and Vigil) is leading the BBC’s adaptation of J.J. Arcanjo’s Crookhaven: The School for Thieves. Scott will play Caspian Lockett, the headmaster and leader of the secretive Crookhaven, a school for crooks where students learn how to hone their skills in order to do good. Based on the hit book series, the students, or Crooklings, are trained to perfect their unusual skills to bring balance, justice and order to the outside world. Scott is joined by Claire Forlani (Industry), who plays his wife Carmen, along with Keith Allen (Shallow Grave) and Naomi Wirthner (Slow Horses).

Psych alumna Maggie Lawson is returning to the TV police ranks as a series regular on CBS's upcoming Blue Bloods universe series, Boston Blue. She joins previously cast Donnie Wahlberg, Sonequa Martin-Green, and Ernie Hudson. In Boston Blue, Wahlberg will reprise his Blue Bloods role as NYPD Officer Danny Reagan as he takes a position with Boston PD. Once in Boston, he is paired with Detective Lena Silver (Martin-Green), the eldest daughter of a prominent law enforcement family. Lawson will play Sarah Silver, the strong-willed and decisive Superintendent in the Boston Police Department who is Lena’s stepsister. 

Cobie Smulders (How I Met Your Mother) is set to appear in the Netflix and A+E Studios hit series, The Lincoln Lawyer, in the Season 4 finale. She'll play Allison, an important character connected to Mickey Haller (Manuel Garcia-Rulfo), whose storyline could continue into Season 5. The storyline was teed up at the end of the Season 3 finale when Haller was pulled over and arrested after the body of a client was found in the trunk of his Lincoln. Next season will see Mickey defending himself as he goes on trial for murder. He will face off with the prosecutor on the case, Dana Berg (Constance Zimmer), who has ties to his first ex-wife, Maggie (Neve Campbell). The season is based on The Law of Innocence, the sixth book in Michael Connelly’s The Lincoln Lawyer series.

USA Network has set August 15 for the premiere of The Rainmaker, USA’s upcoming legal drama series based on the John Grisham novel. The network also released the first trailer and some first-look photos. The series follows Rudy Baylor (played by Milo Callaghan) who, fresh out of law school, goes head-to-head with courtroom lion Leo Drummond (John Slattery) and his law school girlfriend, Sarah Plankmore (Madison Iseman). Rudy, along with his boss (Lana Parrilla) and her disheveled paralegal, uncover two connected conspiracies surrounding the mysterious death of their client’s son.

Fox has determined the fate of two bubble shows, canceling crime dramas Alert: Missing Persons Unit after three seasons and The Cleaning Lady after four. The network had delayed final decisions on its remaining bubble series until after their current seasons had aired. Alert wrapped its Season 3 run on May 27, and The Cleaning Lady's fourth season ended on June 3.

PODCASTS/RADIO/AUDIO

Crime Time FM focused on writing for adults and children with Janice Hallett (The Examiner; The Appeal) and Maz Evans (That'll Teach Her).

On the latest episode of Murder Junction, Vaseem Khan and Abir Mukherjee spoke to crime writer Mark Billingham about his nineteenth Tom Thorne novel, What the Night Brings, and also about his "wobbly dog."

Debbi Mack's guest on the latest Crime Cafe podcast was crime writer J.D. Barker, whose work has been broadly described as suspense thrillers, often incorporating elements of horror, crime mystery, science fiction, and the supernatural.

On Read or Dead, Katie McLain Horner and Kendra Winchester recommended summer mystery reads.

Friday's "Forgotten" Books - An Amiable Charlatan

British author Edward Phillips Oppenheim (1866-1946) worked in his father's leather business before serving in the Ministry of Information following World War I. He eventually turned his hand to writing crime novels after his father helped him get his first book published. It was a good investment on his father's part, because Oppenheim was apparently successful enough to buy a French villa and a yacht and appeared on the cover of Time magazine in September 1927, referring to himself as the "prince of storytellers." That may appear to be a bit of boasting, but he published some 150 novels in all, with 45 movies made from his books between 1914 and 1942.

Many of Oppenheim's works were early precursors of the spy genre, with An Amiable Charlatan (1916) filled with its own smattering of intrigue. The story revolves around the protagonist, Paul Walmsley, a sophisticated British gentleman (a frequent type of Oppenheim character), with most of the action taking place inside Stephano's Restaurant in London. The "amiable charlatan" of the title is American "adventurer" Joseph H. Parker who interrupts Walmsley's dinner by sitting down with him uninvited and eating his food. When a detective bursts into the room and searches Parker for suspected stolen goods, he finds nothing—unbeknownst to Walmsley, Parker has temporarily stowed the goods on him and then palmed them off to an accomplice maître d'hôtel.

Thus begins an unusual friendship, as Parker sticks to Walmsley like glue, interrupting more of his life than just dinner and pickpocketing one item after another, even getting Walmsley involved with ex-cons, theft after theft, and a counterfeit ring. Even worse, Parker has a partner-in-crime, his lovely daughter, who Walmsley happens to fall for. But as the book proceeds, it becomes apparent that the charming and master-manipulator Parker isn't exactly what he appeared to be at first. It's a fun caper, with some adventure and romance mixed in. Parker is a winsome character and a little reminiscent of Donald Westlake's comic thief, John Dortmunder—except he has a success rate with his con jobs that would make Dortmunder proud.

Mystery Melange

 Harrogate International Festivals announced the shortlists for the Theakston Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year 2025, as well as the McDermid Debut Award for new writers. Fans will have a chance to vote for their favorites through July 10th, and winners of both awards will be unveiled on the opening night of the Theakston Old Peculier Crime Writing Festival on Thursday July 17.

The finalists for Crime Novel of the Year include:

• The Cracked Mirror by Chris Brookmyre (Little, Brown Book Group, Abacus)
• The Mercy Chair by M.W. Craven (Little, Brown Book Group, Constable)
• The Last Word by Elly Griffiths (Quercus Books, Quercus Fiction)
• Hunted by Abir Mukherjee (Vintage; Harvill Secker)
• Deadly Animals by Marie Tierney (Bonnier Books, Zaffre)
• All the Colours. of the Dark by Chris Whitaker (Orion, Orion Fiction)

The finalists for the McDermid Debut Award include: 

• Sick to Death by Chris Bridges (Avon, Harper Collins)
• I Died at Fallow Hall by Bonnie Burke-Patel (No Exit Press, Bedford Square)
• Her Two Lives by Nilesha Chauvet (Faber & Faber)
• A Reluctant Spy by David Goodman (Headline)
• Isolation Island by Louise Minchin (Headline, Headline Fiction)
• Black Water Rising by Sean Watkin (Canelo)  
  
  

Sisters in Crime Australia released the longlists for their Davitt Awards, which honor the best crime and mystery books by Australian women. A total of 150 books were entered, and the judges selected 29 for the longlisted titles in the categories of Adult Fiction, Nonfiction, Young Adult Fiction, and Children's Fiction. The shortlist for the awards will be announced in mid-July, with winners revealed at an awards ceremony later this year (TBD).

On Wednesday, June 25, 2025, from 7:00pm to 8:00pm, One More Page bookstore in Arlington, Virginia, will celebrate Pride Month with "Gay, Solve Crime: A Queer Mystery Panel," featuring Cheryl A. Head (Bury Me When I'm Dead: A Charlie Mack Motown Mystery); Katharine Schellman (Last Dance Before Dawn: Nightingale Mystery #4); Stephen Spotswood (Dead In The Frame: A Pentecost And Parker Mystery); and Alex Travis (The Payback Girls).

A conference on British Noir (literature, film, TV series) will be held at Sorbonne Nouvelle University in Paris, France, from November 6th to November 8th, 2025. Organizers have released a call for papers, and those interested should submit proposals of up to 250 words, together with a bio of approximately 100 words, by May 31, 2025. Notifications of acceptance will be sent out by June 16, 2025.

An Agatha Christie exhibition is currently on display at the at the UK's Hastings Museum and Art Gallery in East Sussex. Titled, "Agatha Christie – The Queen of Crime," the exhibit includes displays such as Poirot's dinner setting on the Orient Express, Christie's 1926 disappearance, Egyptian artefacts linking to Death on the Nile, and original items, books, and objects. It runs through August 10 and includes a "Crime Writers Day" on August 9 with area authors.

Art Taylor hosted Derringer Award-winner, C.W. Blackwell, on the "First Two Pages," to talk about his new story, "Making Up for Lost Time," for the anthology Midnight Schemers & Daydream Believers. Taylor has been hosting the "Two Pages" feature—with craft essays by short story writers and novelists analyzing the openings of their own work—following the death of its creator, B.K. Stevens.

This week's crime poem up at the 5-2 is "The Great Divide" by Victor Henry.

In the Q&A roundup, James Lee Burke and David Masciotra continued their years-long conversation on literature and American history for Crime Reads, discussing Burke's latest novel, Forget Me, Little Bessie, and the highs and lows of American history; Crime Fiction Lover welcomed A Molotkov, a Russian emigré to the U.S. and author of the novel, A Bag Full of Stones; Crime Fiction Lover also interviewed Icelandic author, Jón Atli Jónasson, who wrote the screenplay for The Deep and has turned his hand to crime fiction, penning Broken, a hardboiled thriller set in Reykjavik.