Friday's "Forgotten" Books: Victorian Tales of Mystery and Deception

Historical crime fiction has been popular since the likes of The Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco and the Cadfael mysteries by Ellis Peters. And of course Victorian fiction is right in the thick of it all, thanks to the popularity of Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes. This particular 1992 volume of Victorian Tales of Mystery & Detection, edited by Michael Cox, is an Oxford anthology that includes writers who actually lived and created stories during the reign of Queen Victoria, as opposed to present-day writers looking back on the era. The roster starts off with an Edgar Allan Poe tale from 1845 and works its way up chronologically through writers Sax Rohmer and Robert Barr (1904).

Editor Cox, who selected all the included stories, opens his Introduction with a G.K. Chesterton quotation about crime writers being divided into two types, "poisoners," who prolong the agony of anticipation or bewilderment in novel form, leaving the reader writhing on a sick-bed of baffled curiosity, or "cut-throats," writers who realize that the murder story cuts lives short and therefore chooses to startle readers via the quick stabs of the short story.

Cox goes on to add that, although the short-story form has inherent limitations, in capable hands these are turned into triumphant effect with pleasures for the reader that the detective novel can't provide. And the tools of those capable hands? An engaging narrative voice; a flamboyance of invention and an economy of style, compression and well-paced plot; and characters sketched swifly, but decisively, and tied back to the simple and surprising main idea. That's really not so much to ask, it is?

The 31 stories included more than meet the task, penned by masters, all. In addition to Poe, Rohmer and Barr, there are also offerings by J.S. Le Fanu, Charles Dickens, Mary Elizabeth Braddon, Mrs. Henry Wood, Wilkie Collins, Barones Orczy and Arthur Conan Doyle. The protagonists include police detectives, gentleman amateurs, lady detectives, one psychic detective and even an "anti-detective," in the form of Guy Boothby's Klimo, who devises a crime for himself to solve.

Stories range from M. McDonnell Bodkin's "Murder By Proxy," in which a gentleman is shot in the head at close range—by a murderer who wasn't in the same room, to J. S. Le Fanu's double-locked-room mystery "The Murdered Cousin," where gambling habits prove to be fatal. Conan Doyle's contribution is "The Lost Special," in which cunning Herbert de Lernac commits the "inexplicable crime of the century" by making a train and its passengers vanish into thin air.

If you're a fan of the Victorian era and the more genteel crime writing of the day, this anthology is certainly one you'll enjoy and want to add to your collection.

Author R&R with Richard A. Danzig

Richard A Danzig is an attorney, artist, entrepreneur, and author. He practiced law in New York for over forty years and has represented many prominent clients, in addition to being the founder of the American Paralegal Institute, We The People, a legal document preparation company, and The Law Stores. Richard is also a juried member of of the Spanish Village Artist collective in San Diego, CA., and his artwork has been shown in galleries in the Northeast and California. He recently turned his hand to writing crime fiction with Facts are Stubborn Things (2023) and Punch Line (2024) in a series featuring Chance Cormac, a litigator, boxer, and lapsed Catholic.

The Collectors is the third book in the Cormac legal thriller series and finds Chance being retained by a client who believes he's been the victim of fraud when he purchased a valuable abstract painting that may be a forgery. Chance soon learns both the painting and his client might not be what they seem. Chance is then summoned to Costa Rica to assist his friends Damian and JR who are caught up in the black market of selling human organs—and facing police corruption and danger. But will he be too late to help to save his friends?

Richard Danzig stops by In Reference to Murder to talk about writing and researching the book:

 

Good authors seem to have lived many lives  before they start writing. Those different lives are portrayed in the characters they create. Who they are, how they speak, where they live and what they do.

I probably have  lived more lives than  most. I was an English teacher in an inner city school in New York City. I practiced law for over forty years. I started a paralegal school and walk-in legal document company. My artwork has been displayed in galleries on the East and West Coasts. I also play the drums. And then I decided to become an author and have published three courtroom drama books in the Chance Cormac legal thriller series.

My books are dialogue driven and rely on humor to portray the best side of a character. My father was a solo practitioner in Jamaica, Queens. He was a very ethical and compassionate attorney. He also loved to tell jokes. I saw how he used humor to help people deal with life’s challenges.

Attorneys need a good sense of humor to do what  we do. We often deal with people at their worst. My characters show their affection and respect for each other through humor. They joke constantly and laughter is their therapy.

Music is also an important part of my writing. I find that certain songs and lyrics can capture the essence of a character or scene better than I can. It is also a way that I can pay tribute to the musicians who have had such a positive influence on my life. I never write without playing music.

Religion and corruption are also constant themes in my books. Like Chance,  I am  a lapsed Catholic but am intrigued by the religious tenets of different religions. Chance often quotes Acquinas, using his  practical advice on how to live a good and spiritual life.

In practicing law I have experienced unethical attorneys and corrupt judges. Rarely are they held accountable when they break the rules or act unprofessionally. In my books, I try to portray the challenges attorneys face when they are confronted with such conduct.

When I write or paint, I like to say, “God passes through the room.” There is no outline or predetermined plot for my books, which are braided novels. My characters speak for themselves and my job is to write it down before they move on to the next chapter. When I am finished, I always hope that I have written a book that I would like to read.

 

You can learn more about Richard A. Danzig via his website and follow him on Facebook, LinkedIn, and Goodreads. The Collectors is now available via Amazon.

Mystery Melange

 

Book Art via Paper Anthology

Sisters in Crime (SinC) announced the winner of the 2025 PRIDE Award for emerging LGBTQIA+ writers is Lizabeth Engelmeier of Southern Illinois for her novel-in-progress, Soft Little Monsters. Engelmeier will receive a $2,000 grant to support activities related to career development, including workshops, seminars, conferences, retreats, online courses, and research activities required for completion of her work. Congratulations also to the runners-up: Shelley Kinsman of Toronto, Ontario; Derek Puddester of Vancouver, British Columbia; Bryn and Rebecca Michelson-Ziegler of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; A. Mitchell of Detroit, Michigan; and Taryn Stickrath-Hutt of Chicago, Illinois.


The deadline for the William F. Deeck-Malice Domestic Grants Program for Unpublished Writers is fast approaching. To apply, writers must not have published a book, short story, or dramatic work in the mystery field, either in print, electronic, or audio form and should submit three chapters of a work in progress in the style of Agatha Christie, or a "traditional" mystery. Each grant may be used to offset registration, travel, or other expenses related to attendance at a writers' conference or workshop within a year of the date of the award. In the case of nonfiction, the grant may be used to offset research expenses. Each grant currently includes a $1,500 award plus a comprehensive registration for the following year's convention and two nights' lodging at the convention hotel, but does not include travel to the convention or meals. Application materials must be received by November 1, 2025. For more information, follow this link.


You have a bit longer to apply for the 2025 Minotaur Books/Malice Domestic Best First Traditional Mystery Novel Competition. The contest is also open to writers who have never been the author of any published mystery novel. Applicants should submit a crime fiction manuscript of at least 65,000 words in which murder or another serious crime or crimes is at the heart of the story. The top prize is a publishing contract and $10,000 advance against royalties. The deadline is November 30, 2025.


It seems a bit early for the "best of" lists, but that isn't stopping Publishers Weekly, which already released its choices for best books of the year. You can check out the twelve chosen titles in the Mystery/Thriller category here.


Janet Rudolph revealed that the Left Coast Crime 2027 location has been chosen. The Big Chile Returns, the 37th Left Coast Crime convention, will be held April 1–4, 2027, at the Eldorado Hotel in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Left Coast Crime is an annual mystery convention sponsored by mystery fans, both readers and authors. LCC is held during the first third of the year in rotating locations in Western North America, with conventions held from Anchorage to El Paso, from Boulder to Hawaii, and various locations in between. In addition to panels and workshops, the event also celebrates the Lefty Awards for excellence in crime fiction in several categories.


Mystery Fanfare posted an updated list of Halloween Mysteries (mysteries that take place on or around Halloween) and also some Halloween-related nonfiction to help you celebrate.


The latest episode of Mysteryrats Maze podcast featured the spooky short story "Forever Yours" by James Patrick Focarile, read by actor Kevin Broden. 


Kings River Life (the sponsor of Mysteryrats Maze) also posted some Halloween stories free to read, including "Pennies for Poe and El Cuervo!" by Pamela Ebel and "A Dead Man in the Mortuary."

The authors at Mystery Lovers Kitchen have whipped up some Halloween eats and reads, including Halloween Chex Mix via Leslie Budewitz; Mummy Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Blondies from Molly MacRae; Spiced Pumpkin Cake, courtesy of Maddie Day, and more.


On Art Taylor's "The First Two Pages" blog feature, Richie Narvaez returned with an essay on his story, “The Skies Are Red,” for On Fire and Under Water: A Climate Change Crime Fiction Anthology, edited by Curtis Ippolito.


This week's crime poem up at the 5-2 Crime Poetry Weekly is "The Vamp" by Allison Whittenberg.


In the Q&A roundup, Jill Amadio stopped by Promoting Crime Fiction to discuss writing and researching her private eye Kelly Pruett series; and Writers Who Kill's E. B. Davis chatted with Marilyn Levinson aka Allison Brook about Death On Dickens Island, the first novel in her Books on the Beach mystery series.

Conference Confab

The crime fiction conference season isn't over yet! Coming up in November are three terrific events, two in the U.S. and one in Iceland.

Sponsored by the New England chapters of Mystery Writers of America and Sisters in Crime, the New England Clambake is deliberately kept small so you can meet lots of people informally in the hall, around a table for a meal, or in the bar. Registration is limited to 250 participants and approximately 75 additional instructors, presenters, agents, editors, panelists, and committee members. The Special Guest for this year's event, to be held November 7-9 in Dedham, Massachusett, is Lori Rader-Day.

The Men of Mystery one-day event is held in Long Beach, California, and is scheduled for November 8. This is the 25th anniversary of the festival—awarded the prestigious Raven Award from Mystery Writers of America—which will feature Headliners Craig Johnson, author of the Longmire mysteries, and Walter Mosley, author of the Easy Rawlins series, in conversation with Leslie Klinger.

A little farther north, Iceland Noir heads to Reykjavik from November 12-15. Founded by internationally bestselling crime writers Yrsa Sigurðardóttir and Ragnar Jónasson, Iceland Noir is a destination literary festival "celebrating darkness in all its forms, held in Reykjavik at the darkest time of year." Along with founders Sigurðardóttir and Jónasson, this year's event features Guest of Honor Hwang Dong-Hyuk, along with George R.R. Martin, Nicola Sturgeon, and many more.

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

Tom Hopper (The Terminal List: Dark Wolf) is set to star opposite Jessica Alba in The Mark, the action thriller from director Justin Chadwick (Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom). The Mark centers on Eden (Alba), an enigmatic spy on a covert and dangerous mission, who pulls single father Ben Dawson (Hopper) into her world of high-stakes espionage. Mistaken for the world’s deadliest assassin, Ben becomes the perfect decoy for Eden, as she uses the mix-up to expose a powerful network of corrupt politicians, placing Ben in the crosshairs of the CIA, Interpol, and ruthless crime syndicates. With enemies closing in from all sides, Eden must keep Ben alive long enough to complete her mission — while Ben must summon his inner action hero to stay alive and return to the person who matters most: his daughter.


Austin Butler is in early talks to star as iconic TV detective James “Sonny” Crockett, the character made famous by Don Johnson in Michael Mann’s 1980s TV series, Miami Vice. Michael B. Jordan is allegedly also in line to take on the role of Ricardo Tubbs, originally played by Philip Michael Thomas in the TV drama. The film adaptation is slated for release on August 6, 2027, and the Joseph Kosinksi-directed incarnation will "explore the glamour and corruption of mid-1980s Miami, inspired by the pilot episode and first season of the NBC series that would influence the pop culture from fashion to filmmaking."


Sam Rockwell (Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri) and Maisy Stella (My Old Ass) have signed on to star in Tumor, a psychological thriller from filmmaker Will Bridges (All of You), based on the graphic novel written by Joshua Hale Fialkov and Noel Tuazon. Tumor delves into the story of a low-level Los Angeles private investigator who embarks on a mission into the world of L.A.’s young, privileged elite to track down the missing daughter of a wealthy politico. Battling the debilitating symptoms of a late-stage brain tumor, his grasp on reality becomes increasingly fragile, and, as the unlikely duo sets out on the run, old memories blur with the present, dredging up dark secrets from his past.


Magnolia Pictures has acquired North American rights to Carolina Caroline, the Adam Carter Rehmeier-directed romantic crime thriller that premiered at the Toronto Film Festival last month. Samara Weaving stars as Caroline Daniels, whose desire to leave her small Texas town brings her into the orbit of a charismatic con man (Kyle Gallner) as together, they weave a path of crime and passion across the American Southeast. Scripted by Tom Dean, the film also stars Kyra Sedgwick and is slated for a theatrical release next year.


Amazon MGM Studios has dropped the first trailer for the Los Angeles-set crime thriller, Crime 101, the film adaptation of the Don Winslow novella starring Chris Hemsworth as an elusive thief with a penchant for high-stakes heists along the iconic 101 freeway. When he eyes the score of a lifetime with hopes of this being his final job, his path collides with a disillusioned insurance broker (Halle Berry) who is facing her own crossroads, forcing the two to collaborate.  Determined to crack the case, a relentless detective (Mark Ruffalo) closes in on the operation, raising the stakes even higher. The film is written and directed by Bart Layton (American Animals, The Imposter) and also stars Barry Keoghan, Monica Barbaro, Corey Hawkins, Jennifer Jason Leigh, and Nick Nolte. The movie releases theatrically on February 13, 2026.

TELEVISION/STREAMING

A decade after the end of The Good Wife, CBS will be launching a new legal drama from its creators Robert and Michelle King. Cupertino, starring The Good Wife alum Mike Colter, is set to premiere during the 2026-27 season. Cupertino is a David vs. Goliath legal drama set in the heart of Silicon Valley that follows a lawyer (Colter) who is being cheated out of his stock-options by his former employer, a tech start-up. Refusing to back down, he joins forces with another recently fired attorney to represent those taken advantage of by the tech elite, and help them fight back in a high-stakes battle against the Goliaths controlling Silicon Valley.


Hulu is resurrecting Prison Break, which will expand on the universe of the original Fox series starring Wentworth Miller and Dominic Purcell. Based on a pilot written by Mayans M.C. creator Elgin James, the new series centers around an ex-soldier turned corrections officer when she takes a job at one of the deadliest prisons in America to prove how far she’ll go for someone she loves. The cast includes Emily Browning as Cassidy, Drake Rodger as Tommy, Lukas Gage as Jackson, Clayton Cardenas as Michael “Ghost,” JR Bourne as Junior, Georgie Flores as Andrea, and Myles Bullock as Darius “Red.”


Michael Hsu Rosen (Pretty Smart, Tiny Pretty Things) is set for a major recurring role in the upcoming second season of Apple TV‘s legal thriller, Presumed Innocent. Hsu Rosen’s character info, as well as plot details for Season 2, are being kept under wraps, but he joins star and executive producer Rachel Brosnahan, along with series regulars Matthew Rhys, Courtney B. Vance, Fiona Shaw, Jack Reynor, and John Magaro. From David E. Kelley and J.J. Abrams, the anthology series’ second installment is inspired by Dissection of a Murder, the debut legal thriller novel by Jo Murray. It centers on Leila (Brosnahan), an ambitious defense attorney who takes on a high-profile case. Vance plays Leila’s boss at the law firm; Shaw plays a partner at the firm and Leila’s second chair; Rhys plays Leila’s husband, the prosecutor on the case; and Reynor plays her client, the defendant. Season 1 was inspired by Scott Turow’s courtroom thriller of the same name and starred Jake Gyllenhaal. 


Fox has released the first footage from its upcoming psychological thriller series, Memory of a Killer, starring Patrick Dempsey and Michael Imperioli. Dempsey stars as Angelo Ledda, a hitman who is leading a dangerous double life while hiding an even deadlier personal secret: he has developed early-onset Alzheimer’s.


PODCASTS/RADIO/AUDIO

On Murder Junction, Vaseem Khan and Abir Mukherjee  discussed the publication of Quantum of Menace, the first book in a new mystery series featuring Q from the Bond franchise; they also recalled the true crime case of the poison-tipped umbrella, a Cold War assassination from the 1970s.


Meet the Thriller Author spoke with Eric Rickstad, known for his dark, atmospheric stories often set in small Vermont towns, about his latest book, Remote, which blends high-stakes suspense with real-life intrigue inspired by declassified CIA remote-viewing programs.


On the Poisoned Pen podcast, Mary Robinette Kowal and Sam J. Miller discussed Kowal's novella, Apprehension, and Miller's novella, Red Star Hustle, both mysteries with strong sci-fi elements.

Quote of the Week

 

Friday's "Forgotten" Books: The Cape Cod Mystery

Phoebe Atwood Taylor (1909-1976) was born in Boston, the child of Cape Cod natives who were also descendants of Mayflower Pilgrims. After Taylor married a Boston surgeon, they had a summer home on the Cape, which explains why the author would choose that setting for her first novel, published in 1931 when she was all of 22. She puts that inside knowledge to good use in recreating the local culture there in the 1930s and 1940s.

Taylor has my undying respect for her work ethic of writing her novels between midnight and three a.m. after her "housekeeping day" had ended, although her habit of waiting to start a book until three weeks before the publisher's deadline would give me a heart attack.

The Cape Cod Mystery was fairly successful in its day, selling 5,000 copies, and introduced the "Codfish Sherlock," Asey Mayo, who went on to star in 24 of Taylor's novels. Mayo retired in Cape Cod, following his world travels as a sailor, to serve as a general assistant to the heir of Porter Motors. He uses his wits and wit to solve murders with the help of a very fast car.

In the novel, the muckraking author, philanderer, and occasional blackmailer, Dale Sanborn, is murdered one hot August weekend, leaving behind a long list of enemies including an old girl friend, his fiancee, an outraged husband, a long-lost brother, and a few more. Asey Mayo gets involved when his friend and mentor Bill Porter is accused of the crime, even though Mayo only has one clue to go on:  a sardine can.

There are a few oddities, such as the narrator being not Mayo but rather Prudence Whitsby, who has a cottage on Cape Cod she shares with her niece and a cook (and also serves as the sight where the victim was murdered). Taylor wrote Mayo with a very heavy Coddish (Codlian?) accent that sometime a bit difficult to wade through, particularly when he's offering up his homespun sayings like "They ain't many whys without becauses."

The earlier Mayo titles are a little darker (it's been suggested this was due to the Depression at the time), but as the series went on, the tone apparently lightened enough that critic Dilys Winn called Taylor "the mystery equivalent to Buster Keaton," and one reviewer added that Asey Mayo does for Cape Cod what Travis McGee does for Southern Florida. Apparently Margaret Mitchell (Gone With the Wind) was even a fan of Taylor's Mayo character, encouraging Taylor to "pack the books with Cape Cod details."

Otto Penzler's American Mystery Classics re-issued The Cape Cod Mystery in 2022 and two others in Taylor's Cape Cod series.

Mystery Melange

The winner of the Petrona Award 2025 for the Best Scandinavian Crime Novel of the Year was revealed to be The Clues in the Fjord by Satu Rämö, translated from the Finnish by Kristian London and published by Zaffre. The other finalists include: Samuel Bjørk – Dead Island tr. Charlotte Barslund (Norway, Bantam); Pascal Engman – The Widows tr. Neil Smith (Sweden, Legend Press); Malin Persson Giolito – Deliver Me tr. Rachel Willson-Broyles (Sweden, Simon & Schuster); Óskar Guðmundsson – The Dancer tr. Quentin Bates (Iceland, Corylus Books); Aslak Nore – The Sea Cemetery tr. Deborah Dawkin (Norway, MacLehose Press); and Gunnar Staalesen – Pursued by Death tr. Don Bartlett (Norway, Orenda Books).

The Historical Writers of America announced the shortlists for their 2025 HWA Crown Awards. Of interest to readers of crime fiction are a some titles in the Debut Crown Award category:  The Wicked of the Earth by AD Bergin; Winter of Shadows by Clare Grant; A Poisoner’s Tale by Cathryn Kemp; and Spitting Gold by Carmella Lowkis. The winners in the various categories will be revealed on November 19th.


Noir at the Bar heads to the Shade Bar in New York City in time for an early Halloween treat, on October 26 from 6-9 pm. Authors scheduled to appear and read from their works include Lee Goldberg, Nick Kolakowski, Will Medearis, Richie Narvaez, SJ Rozan, Dennis Tafoya, Radha Vatsal, Scott Adlerberg, and Jen Conley.


As The Guardian reported, the latest adaptation of Agatha Christie’s works features an unlikely new suspect: Mr Tickle, of Mr Men and Little Miss fame. Joining the likes of Mr Nosey and Little Miss Chatterbox are Mr Poirot and Little Miss Marple, who star in new re-tellings of some of Christie’s most famous stories, including Little Miss Marple: Muddle at the Vicarage and Mr Poirot: Mischief on the Nile, which were published this week. They mark the first time the queen of crime’s works have been re-imagined for preschool and primary school-aged children in illustrated book format. Two further titles will follow in February.


The Guardian also offered up a tribute by Leo Cookman in an obituary for his mother, crime author Lesley Cookman. Lesley Cookman published 26 novels and three short stories in a series with amateur detective Libby Sarjeant, the last of which, Murder Under the Cliff, was released earlier this year. Cookman aged 80, passed away following a bout with cancer.


The Rosenbach Museum in Philadelphia offers Sherlock Monthly, a free series of programs delving into the Sherlock Holmes canon. Each month, the videocast focuses on one Sherlock Holmes adventure in the order they were first published. The live shows air on the third or fourth Saturday of each month and are archived afterward. (HT to The Bunbuyist)


On Art Taylor's "The First Two Pages" blog feature, he continues a series hosting contributors to the new anthology, On Fire and Under Water: A Climate Change Crime Fiction Anthology from editor Curtis Ippolito, with Michael Downing discussing his story, Burn."


This week's crime poem up at the 5-2 Crime Poetry Weekly is "The Deuce - 1978" by Peter M. Gordon.


In the Q&A roundup this week, Vicki Delany, who is a past president of the Crime Writers of Canada and currently writing four different mystery series, applied the Page 69 Test to her new novel, O, Deadly Night: A Year-Round Christmas Mystery; and Crime Fiction Lover welcomed Shane Peacock to discuss his new novel, A Place of Secrets, the author’s second Northern Gothic Mystery set in a small Ontario town.

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

Oscar-nominated Andy Garcia (The Godfather Part III) is returning behind the camera for Diamond, a contemporary film noir story he’s been working on for close to 15 years. The story follows Joe Diamond, a man out of time with a traumatic past and an uncanny ability to solve crimes, using wit and observation to peel back hidden truths. Garcia will also star in the ensemble cast that includes Vicky Krieps (Phantom Thread), Brendan Fraser (The Whale), Rosemarie DeWitt (La La Land), Dustin Hoffman (Rain Man), Demián Bichir (The Hateful Eight), Danny Huston (Succession), LaTanya Richardson Jackson (The Last Days of Ptolemy Grey), Yul Vazquez (Severance), Robert Patrick (Terminator 2), and Rachel Ticotin (Man on Fire).


Filmmaker Richie Adams (The Road Dance) has set the cast for Pedro Pan, a historical thriller based on true events that he will direct. Slated to begin production in Mexico in early November, the film will star Emmy winner Néstor Carbonell (Shogun), Allen Leech (Downton Abbey), Danny Pino (Mayans M.C.), Paz Vega (Spanglish), and Oscar nominee Andy García (Father of the Bride). Set in the aftermath of Fidel Castro’s Cuban revolution, Pedro Pan follows a Cuban socialite, an English schoolteacher, and an Irish Catholic priest in Miami who spearhead a daring operation to help more than 14,000 children escape communist indoctrination and begin new lives in America — evading Castro’s secret police at every turn. It remains the largest recorded child refugee exodus in the Western Hemisphere.


TELEVISION/STREAMING

Amazon announced plans for a Bosch prequel series, Bosch: Start of Watch, starring Cameron Monaghan (Shameless) and Omari Hardwick (Power). The drama will explore the origin story of Michael Connelly’s detective Harry Bosch, portrayed by Titus Welliver on the original Bosch series and its sequel Bosch: Legacy. Monaghan will take over the role, playing rookie cop Harry Bosch in 1991 Los Angeles, with Hardwick portraying his training officer, police veteran Eli Bridges, a new character not in the book mythology. There is no direct source material for Start of Watch since Connelly’s novels do not include a Bosch prequel, though bits and pieces from Harry’s early years are planted in various books in the universe. Connelly called the prequel "uncharted character territory." From the description, the series "will explore a city on the edge, teeming with racial tension, gang violence and a fractured LAPD. Amid routine calls and growing unrest, Bosch finds himself drawn into a high-profile heist and a web of criminal corruption that will test his loyalty to the badge and shape his future as the detective who lives by the code, 'Everybody counts or nobody counts.'"


Bruna Papandrea and Made Up Stories are developing author J.P. Pomare’s crime-thriller novel 17 Years Later into a TV series. The adaptation will be directed and executive-produced by John Polson (Elementary), with Pam Veasey (CSI: NY) serving as writer, showrunner and executive producer. The novel follows the shocking murder of the wealthy Primrose family as it haunts the small New Zealand town of Cambridge, with evidence leading to the conviction of their young chef, Bill Kareama. Seventeen years later, prison psychologist TK Phillips believes Bill deserves an appeal due to an unfair trial, and is joined by true-crime podcaster Sloane Abbott to uncover new evidence. As the duo navigate a complex web of deceit, they must decide whether to risk everything to reveal what really happened or let the past remain buried.


ITV revealed that the detective show Midsomer Murders will be extended beyond seasons 24 and 25, which are yet to air in the UK, with a 26th series to include four brand new cases. Starring Neil Dudgeon as DCI Barnaby and Nick Hendrix as his trusted sidekick DS Winter, the series will also see the return of Annette Badland as pathologist Dr Fleur Perkins and Fiona Dolman as Barnaby’s wife Sarah. First airing in 1997, Midsomer Murders starred John Nettles and Daniel Casey as DCI Tom Barnaby and DS Gavin Troy, respectively. Taking over the lead role from Nettles in 2011, Neil Dudgeon has played Tom's cousin John Barnaby ever since and will return as the lead detective for season 26.


BAFTA nominee John Hannah (The Last of Us) is set to lead Death in Benidorm, a new detective drama series launching on the Paramount Skydance-owned U.K. network Channel 5. The centers around Dennis (Hannah), a former detective trying to escape his past who swaps the chaos of the U.K. for a quieter life running a bar in Benidorm. But when tourists start turning up dead, he’s reluctantly drawn back into detective work — egged on by his barmaid Rosa (Carolina Bécquer), a crime drama superfan. As per the synopsis, with Dennis’ real-world experience and Rosa’s encyclopedic TV knowledge, "each episode sees the duo tackling a new murder in paradise, whilst trying to remain on the right side of the local Spanish cops." Additional cast includes Ariadna Cabrol as Maria and Damian Schedler Cruz as Jesùs.


The sixth season of Miss Scarlet will be streaming early on PBS Passport, the PBS app, and PBS Masterpiece on Prime Video beginning December 7 and will make its broadcast premiere on January 11 on PBS. Kate Phillips (Wolf Hall) returns as Eliza Scarlet, Victorian London’s trailblazing female private detective. She’s joined by a returning ensemble: Tom Durant-Pritchard (The Forsytes) as DI Alexander Blake, Cathy Belton as Ivy, Paul Bazely as Clarence, Simon Ludders as Mr. Potts, Tim Chipping as Detective Phelps, and Ansu Kabia as the the ever-mysterious man of the streets, Moses Valentine. New to Scotland Yard this season are Sam Buchanan as George Willows, a young detective who’s risen through police ranks, and Grace Hogg-Robinson as Isabel Summers, an ambitious newcomer to the clerical office working alongside Ivy.


PODCASTS/RADIO/AUDIO

On CrimeTime FM, Lilja Sigurdardóttir chatted with Craig Sisterson about her book, Black as Death, translated by Lorenza Garcia; the Arora mysteries; Il Postino, Pablo Neruda and exile; AI and sci-fi; and Christmas books in Iceland.


Murder Junction hosts Vaseem Khan and Abir Mukherjee spoke with crime writing legend Peter James about his latest novel The Hawk is Dead, with Peter revealing the "worst film ever made" - possibly one of his.


NPR's Mary Louise Kelly interviewed Reese Witherspoon and Harlan Coben on All Things Considered about their new thriller, Gone Before Goodbye.


The Poisoned Pen podcast featured Jamie Lee Curtis in conversation with Patricia Cornwell.


Debbi Mack's latest guest on the Crime Cafe podcast was legal thriller author Amanda DuBois, founder and managing partner of DuBois Levias Law Group, one of Washington State’s longest standing woman-owned law firms, who also writes the Camille Delaney Mystery series.


Cops and Writers host, Patrick J. O'Donnell, chatted with Duane Michaels, an Army Veteran, former Wichita police officer, stuntman, actor, DJ, standup comic, and author, about his book, Cop Ink: Donuts, Decapitation & Dumpster Sex. Real Calls That Will Make You Laugh, Cry & Gasp!  


On Wrong Place, Write Crime, Frank Zafiro explored the mind of Philip Thompson, rural southern noir author.


On Read or Dead, Katie McLain Horner and Kendra Winchester discussed mysteries and thrillers with a side of the fantastic.


On the Pick Your Poison podcast, Dr. Jen Prosser answered the question of which drug of abuse is called rhino tranq? What adulterant found in fentanyl is also used as a medicine in the ED and ICU? And can cause life-threatening withdrawal?

Quote of the Week

 

Friday's "Forgotten" Books: Fool's Gold

Edward John "Ted" Wood (1931-2019) was born in Sussex, England, and served in the RAF following the Second World War. In 1954 he emigrated to Canada and was a Toronto police officer for three years before switching to advertising and copyrighting. The dual law enforcement/writing experience prompted him to pen several published crime fiction (and non-genre) short stories and a teleplay.

His first novel was Dead in the Water in 1984, a police procedural that won the Scribner's Crime Novel Award and was a finalist for the Arthur Ellis Award for Best Crime Novel. It was the first of what became a series featuring policeman Reid Bennett, an ex-marine and Vietnam vet, who relocated to the small fictional Canadian resort town of Murphy's Harbour after he took a bad rap for murdering two guys to prevent a rape. He's aided by his trusty German Shepherd, Sam, who serves as companion and protector.

In Fool's Gold, the fourth novel in the series (also nominated for an Arthur Ellis Award), gold found in the mountains of Canada prompts a sudden influx of prospectors, chopper pilots, construction workers and drifters, all hoping to get rich quick. It also brings the dead body of geologist Jim Prudhomme, who's found mauled beyond recognition presumably by a bear, even though bear attacks in that area are rare. But the mystery increases when a witness claims to have seen Prudhomme days after the murder, and then Prudhomme turns up dead for real. As Bennett digs deeper, he doesn't discover gold but rather a plot to defraud the gold mine. With the help of the local police chief out for one last big case and a beautiful motel keeper with secrets of her own, Bennett races to get to the bottom of the scheme, dodging blackmailers, vengeful miners, and a mounting body count.
 
A tendency to skirt the rules makes Bennett take chances that aren't always credible, but Woods' plots are known for their many twists and turns, and also witty dialogue and elements of suspense. Fans of the series are particularly fond of Sam, who Publisher's Weekly described as "…a multi-talented utility infielder who can 'keep,' 'track,' 'seek,' 'fight,' 'guard,' sniff out cocaine and corpses, save lives and generally pinch-hit for a dozen patrolmen."

Woods went on to write 10 Bennett novels in all (from 1984 to 1995) and three novels featuring private eye John Locke from 1986 to 1991 (written under the pen name Jack Barnao). Woods also also served as president of the Crime Writers of  Canada from 1987 to 1988.

Mystery Melange

After receiving tens of thousands of entries to the annual writing contest, five self-published books, including two crime fiction titles, have made it onto the Kindle Storyteller Award shortlist. Entrants must be published in the Amazon UK store in both print and digital, with the ebook form exclusive to Amazon's KDP Select program. This year's finalists include the crime novels When Death Calls by J M Dalgliesh, the sixteenth novel in his Hidden Norfolk series, and The Gathering Of Clan McFee by Karen Baugh Menuhin, the fourteenth book in the Heathcliff Lennox murder mystery series. The winner of the 2025 Kindle Storyteller Award will be announced at a ceremony in London later this month and will receive £20,000.


Some more sad publishing news to report:  on the heels of Down & Out Press shutting its doors, two other publications have announced they're closing down. These primarily fall under the umbrella of speculative fiction, although many have taken hybrid stories that are also crime fiction-related, usually in a supernatural vein. The Canadian quarterly, On Spec, founded in 1989, is closing its doors as its managing editor is retiring; and Unnerving Books and Unnerving Magazine also announced their respective closures after almost ten years, with Cottage Crimes, featuring eight new mystery and crime stories, possibly their last issue.


The Black List, which was established in 2005, is a platform that allows screenwriters to upload their scripts for review by industry professionals for a fee, which has led to the production of several projects by studios, some that even went on to win Academy Awards. In 2024, the website expanded to include novels as a way to offer a unique entryway to potential industry exposure and connections with agents and publishers for fiction writers with unpublished novel-length manuscripts. The very first book snapped up for a project has been revealed as the crime thriller, Then He Was Gone, from Isabel Booth, which is set to be published in February of next year by Crooked Lane Books. The Black List for Fiction has also established the Unpublished Novel Award to celebrate excellent manuscripts in seven genres including Crime & Mystery and Thriller & Suspense, with a winner in each genre to receive a $10,000 grant to support it on the journey to publication.


There's a new crime fiction festival, Krimi Fest, to be held in Ljubljana, Slovenia, from October 29 - November 9, in partnership with the Institute of Criminology at the Faculty of Law in Ljubljana. In addition to top Slovenian crime fiction authors, there will be panels lectures from experts in the fields of criminology and forensics, as well as podcasts, film showings, and a crime mystery night of fun. The festival is also sponsoring two awards:  a short story contest, with the winner announced as Kamilo Lorenci, whose story will be published in the Saturday Supplement of the Delo newspaper on November 8, 2025; and the Pila Award, given for the best original Slovenian crime novel first published in 2023 and 2024. The winner will be announced during the conference from the finalists, August Demšar: Estonia (Pivec Publishing, 2024); Tadej Golob: Oh, Triglav, My Home (Goga Publishing, 2023); Maria Jakopin: Crystal Death (Hirondelle, 2024); Irena Svetek: The Black Prince (Fiction, 2023); and Mojca Širok: Emptiness (Mladinska knjiga, 2023).



From the life is stranger than fiction department: a "very significant" Jack Kerouac story was recently discovered in a highly unlikely place. Last year, a two-page 1957 unpublished manuscript signed by the author and linked to his classic of beat literature On the Road, was unearthed during the disposal of items owned by Paul Castellano, who ran the feared Gambino crime family in New York from 1976 until he was murdered in a hail of gunfire on December 16, 1985. The assassination was orchestrated by John Gotti, a Gambino boss who was dissatisfied with Castellano’s leadership and took over the organization after the hit. He was convicted of the murder of the 70-year-old Castellano in 1992 and died in prison 10 years later. It is not known how or when Castellano acquired the Kerouac story.


Via Mental Floss comes the story of Edgar Wallace, given the nickname "The King of Thrillers" who published over 170 novels and co-write the screenplay for 1933’s King Kong, led almost to financial ruin early in his career from a marketing scheme gone bad. For his first novel, The Four Just Men (1905), he had the victim meet his end in a locked room, a crime left unresolved, with the reader invited to write in with their own guess to the solution of the mystery. He offered, from his own pocket, £500 worth of prizes (the equivalent of £53,023.35, or more than $72,000, now). But due to a poorly worded entry form and an unexpectedly large number of entries, he ended up losing almost $300K by today's money, and had to sell the rights to future novels about the Four Just Men to pay back his debts.


It seems a mystery of the art world may have been solved. In an article with the Times of London, ahead of the release of his new book, Vermeer: A Life Lost and Found, art expert Andrew Graham-Dixon claims to know the inspiration for Vermeer's famous painting, "The Girl with the Pearl Earring." He notes that Johannes Vermeer received patronage from a Dutch husband and wife in Delft who were part of a radical Christian sect called the Remonstrants. They modeled their own lives on those of Christ’s apostles or his female followers such as Mary Magdalene, and the pensive-looking girl in the painting is most likely the patrons’ 10-year-old daughter, Magdalena, dressed as Jesus's follower.


On Art Taylor's "The First Two Pages" blog feature, Kendall Brunson discussed writing her story "Bad Eggs" included in the new anthology, On Fire and Under Water: A Climate Change Crime Fiction Anthology, edited by Curtis Ippolito.


This week's crime poem up at the 5-2 Crime Poetry Weekly is "Karma" by Jennifer Lagier.


In the Q&A roundup, Sophie Hannah spoke with CrimeReads on how she goes about writing a Hercule Poirot continuation novel; Megan Abbott also stopped by CrimeReads to chat about her fascination with the forbidden, her love of "weirdos," and how she got her start; Margaret Mizushima, who writes the award-winning Timber Creek K-9 Mysteries, applied the Page 69 Test to her new book, Dying Cry; and Irish novelist Jane Casey was interviewed by the Irish Examiner about the latest book in her Maeve Kerrigan detective 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

After years of developing a sequel to his iconic crime drama, Heat, director Michael Mann looks to be closer to getting the project made. Deadline reported that Amazon MGM Studios division, United Artists, is in talks to pick up the project with financing and distribution. Heat 2 had been set up at Warner Bros, but when the two sides couldn’t come to terms on a budget, the studio allowed Mann to take the proposed package out to other studios. The plan is to shoot the film some time next year, with Leonardo DiCaprio in early talks to star in the role of Chris Shiherlis, the character played by Val Kilmer in the 1995 original.  


George Clooney shared an update on Ocean’s 14, revealing that the sequel film is expected to start shooting sometime in 2026 after Warner Bros. approved the budget for the next follow-up to the heist film trilogy. The Ocean’s franchise began in 2001 with Ocean’s Eleven, a remake of the 1960 heist film starring Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, and Sammy Davis Jr., followed by Ocean's Twelve in 2004 and Ocean's Thirteen in 2007. The 2001 remake, directed by Steven Soderbergh, featured Brad Pitt, Matt Damon, Julia Roberts, and Don Cheadle and followed Danny Ocean (George Clooney), a recently paroled con artist who orchestrates a complex scheme to simultaneously rob the vaults of three major Las Vegas casinos.


Meanwhile, the Ocean's Eleven prequel project at Warner Bros has landed both Twisters director Lee Isaac Chung and actor Bradley Cooper, who is in negotiations to star alongside Margot Robbie. No plot details have been disclosed, other than it takes place prior to the events of Ocean's Eleven and will begin shooting next year. Sources say Cooper has been close with Robbie over the years and always wanted to work together, and this seemed the perfect opportunity.


British actor Solly McLeod, best known for starring in the ITVX and PBS Masterpiece miniseries, Tom Jones, has joined the feature film, Anxious People, which is in production in London. McLeod joins previously announced Angelina Jolie, Aimee Lou Wood, Jason Segel, Joanna Scanlan, Lennie James, Stephanie Allynne, Jessica Gunning, and Carol Kane in the cast. The story takes place the day before Christmas Eve, when investment banker Zara begrudgingly finds herself mingling with a group of strangers at an open house. After a reluctant bank robber, Grace, inadvertently takes the group hostage, chaos and oversharing ensues, secrets are revealed, and literally nothing goes according to plan.


TELEVISION/STREAMING

Paramount Television Studios is set to adapt the spy thriller The Ambler Warning, based on Robert Ludlum’s bestselling novel, with Jason Horwitch (Echo 3, Fight Night) attached to write the adaptation and serve as showrunner. The project reimagines the book’s male protagonist, Hal Ambler, as Erica Ambler, played by Jessica Biel. While on assignment, CIA Case Officer Ambler (Biel) suffers a devastating injury, waking up without her memories, in custody at a supermax prison for the world’s deadliest spies. Erica must figure out who she is and who she can trust, while piecing together the clues that will prevent a lethal attack on American soil.


Subscription streaming outlet MHz Choice, which brings international television to North American viewers, has acquired rights to Camilla Läckberg’s Erica, the first French-language adaptation of her best-selling Swedish mysteries. The six-episode series encompasses stories from three of Läckberg’s novels – The Ice Princess, The Preacher, and The Stonecutter. Led by Julie De Bona (The Count of Monte Cristo) as Erica and Grégory Fitoussi (Nine Perfect Strangers) as Captain Patrick Saab, the drama is set to premiere on MHz Choice in early 2026. In the series, successful writer Erica Faure returns to her hometown to find her friend Alexandra dead. Convinced it wasn’t suicide, she launches an investigation, but her past and present are soon entangled and her life is upended by meeting the handsome police captain Saab.


StudioCanal and Strong Film & Television have locked up the rights to Robin Stevens’s Murder Most Unladylike books and are developing a children’s TV series. The two companies have enlisted Emmy-winner Anna McCleery (Free Rein) to write the adaptation. The series is pitched as Enola Holmes meets Agatha Christie, following two rebellious 1930s teen female detectives, Hazel and Daisy, as they unravel murder mysteries. McCleery has penned a six-part series, with each story playing out over two 45-minute episodes. With twelve books to draw material from, the hope is that Murder Most Unladylike can be "a returnable series."

Anna Kendrick (Woman of the Hour, Pitch Perfect) and J.K. Simmons (Whiplash, Westies) will star in a geo-political thriller drama, Embassy. The six-part series finds Layla (Kendrick), a sharp and resourceful American diplomat, facing an impossible choice when armed mercenaries storm the U.S. Embassy in London:  protect the U.S. Ambassador (Simmons) or follow his orders to exfiltrate a high value asset being held at the embassy. As a larger conspiracy unfolds, Layla must rely on her instincts—and the reluctant help of her ex-fiancé, a British SAS soldier—in the tense hours before extraction.”


Michael C. Hall will continue his killing spree as everyone’s favorite fictional serial killer, Dexter Morgan, for a second season of Showtime‘s Dexter: Resurrection, after the show's renewal. The series takes place weeks after Dexter Morgan (Michael C. Hall) takes a bullet to the chest from his own son and awakens from a coma to find Harrison (Jack Alcott) gone without a trace. Realizing the weight of what he put his son through, Dexter sets out for New York City, determined to find him and make things right. But closure won’t come easily. When Miami Metro’s Angel Batista (David Zayas) arrives with questions, Dexter realizes his past is catching up to him. As father and son navigate their darkness in the city that never sleeps, they soon find themselves mired deeper than they ever imagined — and that the only way out is together.


Nearly a year since Prime Video‘s Cross premiered, it seems fans will have to wait four more months to watch Season 2. The crime drama starring Aldis Hodge will return on Wednesday, February 11, with the first three episodes and new episodes to follow weekly, leading to the season finale on March 18. The project was created and is showrun and written by Ben Watkins, based on the characters from James Patterson’s best-selling Alex Cross book series. Hodge leads the cast in the titular role of Alex Cross, a brilliant homicide detective and forensic psychologist, uniquely capable of digging into the minds of murderers to identify and catch them. In Season 2, Cross is in pursuit of a ruthless vigilante who is hunting down corrupt billionaire magnates.


Sony Pictures Television and Hasbro Entertainment are creating a scripted adaptation of the classic murder mystery board game, Clue, from writer/executive producer Dana Fox (Wicked) and director/executive producer Nicholas Stoller (You’re Cordially Invited). The news follows on the heels of Netflix greenlighting an unscripted Clue series, also from Sony TV and Hasbro Entertainment. Clue brings a modern twist to the colorful cast of iconic characters and follows a group of strangers invited to an eccentric billionaire’s murder mystery night to solve the famous questions — who, where and with what — but they quickly discover that nothing is what it seems to be, and the stakes are even higher than life or death.

Prime Video has opted not to proceed with second seasons of Countdown, starring Jensen Ackles, and Butterfly, headlined by Daniel Dae Kim. Both shows broke into Nielsen Top 10 for Streaming Originals, but apparently the decision came down to total global viewership. Countdown followed LAPD detective Mark Meachum (Ackles), recruited to a secret task force, alongside undercover agents from all branches of law enforcement, to investigate after an officer with the Department of Homeland Security is murdered in broad daylight. Butterfly is a character-driven spy thriller that explores complex family dynamics within the treacherous world of global espionage.


PODCASTS/RADIO/AUDIO

Jake Arnott chatted with Crime Time FM host, Paul Burke, about his new novel Blood Rival; Sophocles; noir; Blue Lights; James Ellroy, and more.


On the latest Murder Junction, Vaseem Khan and Abir Mukherjee spoke with thriller writing legend Patricia Cornwell about her career and her most famous character, Kay Scarpetta, featured in her latest novel, Sharp Force, as well as a soon-to-be-aired TV series starring Nicole Kidman and Jamie Lee Curtis.

On NPR's Weekend Edition Saturday, host Scott Simon chatted with Anna North about her novel, Bog Queen, in which a modern investigator is called to examine an ancient body found in a British bog.


Host Alan Peterson of Meet the Thriller Author interviewed Traci Hunter Abramson, a former CIA officer, longtime high school swimming coach, and the award-winning author of more than forty-five bestselling novels. Her latest release, Victim #8, follows military aide Luke Steele and FBI Special Agent Amberlyn Reiner as they go undercover to stop a conspiracy that could lead to a nuclear strike on the United States.

On the Poisoned Pen podcast, host Barbara Peters chatted with British author Martin Edwards, President of the Detection Club, recipient of the Crime Writers' Association's Diamond Dagger for lifetime achievement, and author of several standalone novels and series including the Harry Devlin novels and Lake District series.

On the Get to Know podcast, Kathleen Antrim and DP Lyle spoke with author Carter Wilson, the author of twisty psychological thrillers.

On Criminal Mischief, forensic psychologist Dr. Katherine Ramsland discussed how she includes a unique forensic method in each novel of her crime series, "The Nut Cracker Investigations."

Quote of the Week

 

Friday's "Forgotten" Books: PIcture Miss Seeton

Author Heron Carvic was a study in contrasts. Born Geoffrey Richard William Harris in 1917, his public persona took him into very visible roles as an actor, and yet he was such a private person that very little is known about him. He did reveal that he was a great-grandson of Sir Richard Mayne, one of the two original Commissioners of Police; an old Etonian; and happily married to Phyllis Neilson-Terry of the famous British theatrical family (including her parents and her cousin, John Gielgud).

Carvic's acting roles were mostly dramatic and often included crime or science fiction. One of his early parts was in The Bat, a stage adaptation of Mary Roberts Rinehart's The Circular Staircase, and later roles included Gandalf in a radio version of The Hobbit, Jonathan Brewster in Arsenic and Old Lace, and guest roles in the TV shows Police Surgeon, The Avengers, and Dr. Who.

Thus, it's curious that he chose to write a comedic mystery series featuring the slightly barmy English spinster, Miss Seeton. But it was a success from the start with the first book, Picture Miss Seeton, a finalist for the Edgar Award in 1969.

Cavic had first used Miss Emily Seeton in a short story, and fifteen years later said that "Miss Seeton upped and demanded a book," with Carvic deciding that if "she wanted to satirize detective novels in general and elderly lady detectives in particular, he would let her have her lead." Later, Carvic contributed a chapter to the book Murder Ink, edited by Dilys Winn, titled "Little Old Ladies."

Carver said at one point that the character of Miss Seeton was inspired by his friendship with an artist who turned in a commission for a mother-child portrait and then destroyed her canvas of the mother's face rather than use it again. Years later, the now-adult son from the painting was sent to the Broadmoor psychiatric hospital after cutting his mother to ribbons with a kitchen knife. The author had no logical explanation for her destruction of the canvas, but "clearly she must have somehow have seen rather more than she knew."

Emily Seeton is a recently-retired art teacher in the process of moving to the country town of Plummergen, population five hundred and one, but her plans get waylaid when, after a night at the opera, she sees what she thinks is a man insulting a young woman. In fact, what she actually witnessed was a notorious drug dealer knifing a prostitute. (Which brings up a typical Seeton-esque line when she learns from the police about the young woman's "profession":  "Oh, dear. A very hard life; such late hours—and then, of course, the weather. And so unrewarding one would imagine."). Aghast at the drug dealer's "bad manners," she pokes him in the back with her brolly (umbrella, to Yanks), which later makes her a darling of  the newspapers, which dub her "The Battling Brolly."

When she's questioned by Superintendent Delphick and Detective-Sergeant Ranger of Scotland Yard, they ask her to sketch her impressions of the crime. Even though it was dark, she's able to draw enough details, particularly an element that she only sees in her subconscious, that it helps the police track down the killer. Miss Seeton, as it turns out, is an "anti-psychic." She has a knack for innocently drawing clues (sometimes foretelling events, sometimes revealing important character traits) into her sketches that she's is totally unaware of, a talent that becomes invaluable to the police. Her innocence becomes one of the series' central devices, as she continues to attract crime and criminals even as she accidentally helps to foil them.

If your taste in mysteries runs toward the whimsical, then you'll be entertained by Miss Seeton, her brolly, her attempts at yoga, and snippets such as this one, about two denizens of Plummergen:

They were dedicated vegetarians, known collectively as The Nuts. Miss Nuttel, tall, angular, with the face of a dark horse, was generally referred to as Nutcracker. Mrs. Blaine, whose dumpy geniality was belied by the little blackcurrant eyes, was called by everyone Hot Cross Bun; this derived largely from Miss Nuttel's pet name for her of Bunny, but it may have been also a tacit acceptance of the shrewish temper which flared through the placid surface when she was thwarted. Their house, Lilikot, a modern innovation with large plate-glass windows screened by nylon net, was inevitably The Nut House.

Sadly, Carvic only completed five novels in the series before being killed in a car accident in 1980. The Miss Seeton series didn't die, however, continued under two other pseudonyms, Hampton Charles, the pen name of Roy Peter Martin, who wrote three novels all released in 1990, and Sarah J. Mason, writing under the name of Hamilton Crane, who took up the series after that point, writing 16 installments, the latest in February of 2019.

Mystery Melange

The winners of the 2025 Lambda Literary Awards (fondly known as the Lammys), established in 1989 to garner national visibility for LGBTQ books, were announced this past weekend. The winner of the Best LBGTQ+ Mystery was Rough Trade by Katrina Carrasco (MCD). The other finalists include: Charlotte Illes is Not a Teacher by Katie Siegel (Kensington); One of Us Knows by Alyssa Cole (William Morrow); Rough Pages by Lev AC Rosen (Tor Publishing Group); and The Night of Baba Yaga by Akira Otani, Translated by Sam Bett (Soho Crime).


Down & Out Books, founded by Eric Campbell, announced this week they're shutting down operations after 15 years. The small publisher has released over 1,000 books, collaborating with over 500 authors, and racked up 50 awards in the process, including Anthony, Shamus, Macavity, and Thriller Awards. In a statement on social media, they added that "a sharp decline in sales since 2020 has made continued financial investment unsustainable. As a result, no further payments will be issued. In the coming weeks, all titles will be withdrawn from distribution channels, and rights will revert to their respective authors and editors in accordance with their contracts." The majority of those books were crime fiction titles, including novels and short story anthologies. Jay Hartman, with Misti Media and its various imprints, has offered to republish the orphaned titles as the schedule allows. Hopefully, all the book and authors will be able to find new homes for their works via other means.


Blackstone Publishing announced the launch of AWE, a new imprint formed with military thriller author duo Brian Andrews and Jeffrey Wilson's Andrews & Wilson Entertainment operation. AWE plans to "showcase both established authors in the military thriller genre and emerging voices committed to telling stories focused on service and sacrifice, grit and perseverance, heroism, faith, and moral courage," per the publisher. The inaugural AWE title, Andrews and Wilson’s The Adversary, which is the next novel in their Tier One series, will publish on November 4. The imprint plans to publish 12 books over the course of 2026 and 2027, ramping up to 20 titles annually after that. The current slate includes work from Don Bentley, Joshua Hood, and Jack Stewart. New titles in Andrews and Wilson’s Sons of Valor and Shepherds series, as well as standalone titles from the pair, will also be published under the AWE banner.


There's a new website, magazine, and podcast in the UK called Aspects of Crime, with plans to feature interviews, articles, reviews and short stories related to the crime field. It's the brainchild of Paul Burke, whose been an interviewer, reviewer, writer, and podcaster in his own right for many years. The inaugural issue has an interview with Richard Foreman, a look at women police officers in the UK, an appreciation of John le Carré’s George Smiley, and more.


Mystery Fanfare's editor, Janet Rudolph, announced that they've had so many articles, reviews and author essays for their Northern California issue, they decided to have two issues. If you missed the deadline for NorCal Mysteries, you still have time to contribute. They're looking for Author! Author! essays: 500–1500 words, first person, up-close and personal about yourself, your books, and the NorCal connection, as well as reviews and articles. The deadline for submissions is November 1.


The new anthology On Fire and Under Water set out to showcase the devastating the effects of climate change on everyday people, discuss the growing urgency of the climate emergency, and focus on the ongoing dismantling of environmental protection efforts. CrimeReads hosted some of the authors for "A Roundtable Discussion on Climate Change and Crime Fiction’s Role in Meeting the Moment."

 
Art Taylor's "The First Two Pages" blog, M.E. Proctor discussed her story "Garbo's Ghost," included in the new Celluloid Crime anthology edited by Deborah Well from Level Best Books.


This week's crime poem up at the 5-2 Crime Poetry Weekly is "The Making of a Soldier" by A.C. Perri.


In the Q&A roundup, Deborah Kalb spoke with J.A. Jance, author of the J.P. Beaumont series and the new novel The Girl from Devil's Lake, the latest in her Joanna Brady series; and thriller author Ronald Chapman chatted with Lisa Haselton about his new psychological thriller, The Reckoning of Grace, Book 3 of the Sage of Grace series.

Macavity Mastery

Winners were unveiled for the 2025 Macavity Awards. The honors, 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. Congratulations to all!

Best Mystery Novel:  California Bear by Duane Swierczynski (Mulholland)

Other finalists:

• 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)
• The In Crowd by Charlotte Vassell (Doubleday)
• All the Colors of the Dark by Chris Whitaker (Crown)

Best First Mystery:  Ghosts of Waikiki by Jennifer K. Morita (Crooked Lane)

Other finalists:

• Outraged by Brian Copeland (Dutton)
• A Reluctant Spy by David Goodman (Headline)
• 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)

Other finalists:

• “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:  Fog City by Claire Johnson (Level Best Books)

Other finalists:

• The Wharton Plot by Mariah Fredericks (Minotaur)
• An Art Lover’s Guide to Paris and Murder by Dianne Freeman (Kensington)
• 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:  Abingdon’s Boardinghouse Murder by Greg Lilly (History Press)

Other finalists:

• 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)

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

Lou Diamond Phillips (Young Guns) is set to direct and appear in the legal thriller, The Ambulance Chaser, based on the novel by Brian Cuban, brother of Mark Cuban. The story follows Atlanta attorney Jason Fredricks, a successful but morally conflicted lawyer whose life unravels when human skeletal remains tied to his past resurface. Quickly identified as a "person of interest" tied to a decades-old murder, Fredricks must navigate among the detectives determined to nail him, his District Attorney ex-wife, and his law practice that feeds off of "injured" clients, all while desperately trying to clear his name, protect his son, and expose a web of corruption and betrayal. The project is envisioned as the first installment in a trilogy.


Emmy winner Jason Bateman (Ozark) will be making his third feature as a director with Universal‘s adaptation of John Grisham‘s The Partner. The film stars Tom Holland as Patrick Lanigan, a young partner in a Biloxi law firm who fakes his own death in a burning car. He leaves behind a wife, newborn daughter, and a secret. What he’s actually done is create a template for a new life by stealing $90 million from a client of his crooked law firm and find happiness and love in South America. When the client who worked so hard to defraud the government finds the money is missing from his offshore accounts, he becomes determined to hunt down the lawyer he doesn’t believe is dead. That leads the attorney to have to turn himself in to the FBI and face up to the wife, child, and life he left behind.  


Filmmaker Duane Edwards’s independent thriller, Laura Louise, has lined up its cast including Corbin Bernsen (LA Law), Denise Sanchez (Bosch: Legacy), Gilbert Owuor (Emancipation), Patrick Mulvey (The Girlfriend Experience), Kristen Bush (Paterno) and Campbell Krausen (Ghostlight). The project follows Edward Brannock (Bernsen), a retired postal worker thrust into the center of a reopened missing person’s case. As new evidence surfaces decades after a teenage girl’s disappearance, Brannock faces mounting scrutiny and must confront long-buried family secrets he’s desperate to keep hidden. The film is based on an original screenplay by Frederick Mensch (HBO’s Nightingale), who previously collaborated with Edwards on the 2024 feature drama, Wrong Numbers, starring Emily Hall and David Kelsey.


Black Bear has acquired the U.S. rights to Tuner and will release the film theatrically in 2026. Tuner is the feature directing film debut of Oscar-winning writer Daniel Roher (Nalvany) that stars Leo Woodall, Dustin Hoffman, Havana Rose Liu, and Lior Raz. Woodall plays a former piano prodigy turned piano tuner apprentice who is down on his luck. Using his excellent auditory skills to help out his found family (Hoffman) in a time of dire need, while finding love and inspiration in unexpected places with a composer (Liu), he’s forced to make tough decisions as he gets involved in the unsavory business of cracking safes. The romantic thriller premiered at the Telluride and Toronto Film Festivals and will mark the company’s second theatrical release.


Filming has wrapped in Wales, UK, on Gareth Evans's new feature, A Colt Is My Passport, the Amazon MGM Studios/Orion Pictures reimagining of Nikkatsu’s 1960s Yakuza hitman thriller. Sope Dirisu (Gangs of London). will take on the lead role, with supporting casting including Oscar nominee Tim Roth (Pulp Fiction), Jack Reynor (Midsommar), Lucy Boynton (Bohemian Rhapsody), Victor Alli, (Bridgerton) Ewan Mitchell (The Last Kingdom), Burn Gorman (Beetlejuice Beetlejuice), and Noah Taylor (Edge Of Tomorrow). The update of the hardboileded noir original will be set in 1978 Detroit and tell the story of Colt, a Vietnam veteran turned contract killer, who goes on the run after assassinating a gangland boss.


Academy Award winner Mel Gibson and Renata Notni (Zorro) have inked deals to join Esai Morales in Coyote, the border thriller from filmmaker Per Prinz. The project follows Hernán Barroca (Morales), a weathered ex-smuggler pulled back into the dangerous world he thought he had left behind. When Hernán helps Julia and her young daughter, Maribel, navigate treacherous borderlands, their desperate journey triggers the wrath of a ruthless trafficking syndicate. As the past and present collide—with U.S. Border Patrol agent Bradley joining the pursuit—Hernán must rely on his cunning and grit to survive and find redemption. Gibson plays Jack Bradley, a weathered U.S. Army Sergeant and father of Border Patrol agent Liz Bradley. Notni portrays Julia, a mother fighting to get her daughter to safety, as she ventures through the borderlands between the U.S. and Mexico.


TELEVISION/STREAMING

Amazon Prime has ordered a four-part series based upon Murder in the Dark, the first of influential Danish literary icon Dan Turèll’s "Murder Series" of crime novels. Murder in the Dark follows a retired and hard-bitten "nameless journalist" and his daughter Sophie, who is an ambitious police detective. The pair are forced work together to solve a series of mysterious murders. Specifically, their alliance begins after a prominent lawyer is brutally killed, shortly after agreeing to reveal secrets from his criminal past in a tell-all book the journalist was going to write. Turèll’s books inspired 1986 movie Murder In The Dark with musician and actor Michael Falch playing the lead, a role he will reprise in the new series. The cast also includes Alex Høgh Andersen (Vikings), Katinka Lærke Petersen (Elsker dig for tiden), Sofie Torp (Carmen Curlers), Lisbeth Wulff (Borgen), Kristian Halken (Rom), Alexandre Willaume (Tomb Raider), Clint Ruben (Graverne), and Benedikte Hansen (Badehotellet).


Patrick Macmanus, the man behind series including Peacock’s Devil in Disguise: John Wayne Gacy and Dr. Death, has another true-crime story in the works. Macmanus is adapting the Vigilante podcast as a scripted series for the NBCUniversal streamer. The series follows Tim Miller, a famous search-and-rescuer in Dickinson, Texas, who’s helped track down hundreds of missing persons. After 38 years of searching, he’s now convinced that he’s finally solved his own daughter’s murder. The story explores a father’s obsessive pursuit of justice for his missing daughter, highlighting the devastating impact of loss and raising questions about the boundaries between justice and vigilantism.


Iceland’s production powerhouse Glassriver has inked a major international distribution deal with Mediawan Rights for the crime thriller series, Elma, based on Eva Björg Ægisdóttir’s best-selling books. When a body of a woman is discovered at a lighthouse in the Icelandic town of Akranes, it soon becomes clear that she's no stranger to the area. Chief Investigating Officer Elma, who has returned to Akranes following a personal trauma, and her colleagues Sævar and Hörður, commence an uneasy investigation, which uncovers a shocking secret in the dead woman's past that continues to reverberate in the present day. But as Elma and her team make a series of discoveries, they bring to light a host of long-hidden crimes that shake the entire community. Sifting through the rubble of the townspeople's shattered memories, they have to dodge increasingly serious threats, and find justice … before it's too late.


Netflix and the BBC announced a two-season Peaky Blinders sequel series. The 12-episode spinoff will stay in 1950s Birmingham, picking up after the original show’s six-season run and the events of the upcoming follow-up film. After being heavily bombed in World War II, Birmingham is building a better future out of concrete and steel. The race in on to own Birmingham’s massive reconstruction project, which becomes a brutal contest of mythical dimensions. Original star and Oscar-winner Cillian Murphy (Oppenheimer) will serve as one of the executive producers.


PODCASTS/RADIO/AUDIO

On NPR's Weekend Edition Saturday, host Scott Simon spoke with Janice Hallett about her new novel, The Killer Question, a tale of a trivia night that turns deadly.

The New York Times chatted with British mystery writer Richard Osman, author of the Thursday Murder Club series about why seniors make ideal fictional detectives and how a "cozy" murder mystery is the perfect frame to explore growing old.


David Jarvis chatted with Paul Burke on Crime Time FM about his new spy thriller, The Green Feathers; Five Eyes; Mike Kingdom; the zeitgeist; and the lighter touch.


The latest episode of Meet the Thriller Author featured author Nicole Trope, whose novels have gripped readers around the world with their mix of raw emotion and edge-of-your-seat suspense, to discuss her latest book, My Daughter’s Secret.


Debbi Mack's latest guest on the Crime Cafe podcast was author Desmond P. Ryan. a former police detective with the Toronto Police who draws on his experiences to write two very distinctive series, the Mike O’Shea series of gritty police stories, reminiscent of Joseph Wambaugh, and a series called "A Pint of Trouble," which is closer in tone to the Thursday Murder Club books by Richard Osman.


On the Tipping My Fedora podcast (which just celebrated its one-year-anniversary), host Sergio Angelini welcomed Professor Stacey Abbott, co-author of TV Horror: Investigating the Dark Side of the Small Screen, to discuss the John Wick series starring Keanu Reeves.


The latest episode of the Cops and Writers Podcast welcomed Brian Brady, a retired Chief of Police and corporate security executive, who has published three crime novels, including his latest, Greed.


Read or Dead hosts Katie McLain Horner and Kendra Winchester discussed books on the cozier end of the mystery spectrum that also feature cute animals.


Want to know what cocaine has to do with residency hours? What genetic disease can kill you in the operating room? How a missed diagnosis resulted in changes to the training of every American intern and resident afterward? The Pick Your Poison podcast investigated.