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.