Mystery Melange

 

This year's Lindisfarne Prize for Crime Fiction, which celebrates the work of crime and thriller writers who are from or whose work celebrates the North East region of the UK, has been won by writer Robert Scragg for his novel, Helix. The judges took the unprecedented decision to also formally award Newcastle author Barbara Scott Emmett with the award's first ever runners-up prize, for her submission, Dog Leap Stairs.

The Maine Writers & Publishers Alliance has announced the slate of finalists for the 2021 Maine Literary Awards. The nominees for the Book Award for Crime Fiction include Claire Ackroyd for Murder in the Maple Woods; Bruce Robert Coffin for Within Plain Sight; and Barbara Ross for Jane Darrowfield and the Madwoman Next Door.

After a year’s hiatus, the Wilbur Smith Award for Best Published Adventure Novel award has returned with a 12-strong longlist. The Prize is open to writers of any nationality, writing in English, and this year the award covers the best adventure fiction published between May 1, 2020 and April 30, 2021. Six titles will be selected by a panel of librarians and library staff for a shortlist to be announced on May 20, with the winner announced September 8. (HT to Shots Magazine)

Joffe Books, in conjunction with bestselling crime writer Dorothy Koomson and literary agent Susan Yearwood, is launching a new writing prize for unagented crime fiction writers of color to turn their unpublished manuscripts into bestsellers. The winner will receive a two-book publishing contract with Joffe Books. Entrants are invited to submit their full-length manuscript, written in English, along with a synopsis of the book and author biography, to prize@joffebooks.com before the closing date of September 30. (HT to Shots Magazine)

New editions of five hardboiled detective novels by Chester Himes, featuring Coffin Ed and Gravedigger Jones, have been released as a set of Penguin Classics. As Crime Fiction Lover notes, Himes was an American crime fiction genius who is still underappreciated, and it's hard not to conclude that over the years racism has played a part in African-American Himes not being accorded the same status as Chandler and Hammett.

During the Covid-19 era, there has been a lot of sad news in the book world, especially with many bookstores having to close. So it's especially cheering to hear that there's a new indie bookstore that opened in Berlin, Pennsylvania, in the middle of the pandemic:  Poe's New & Used Bookstore, which specializes in fantasy and mystery titles (as you might gather from the name). The building also has space for local artists and crafters to sell their products, and the owners hope to have events such as poetry nights, literary events and fun community events. They also recently announced the Poe's Rainbow Grant for Young Writers. (HT to Shelf Awareness)

Martin Edwards penned a tribute to crime writer, Annabel Donald, who passed away recently at the age of 76. Donald created a female TV researcher and detective called Alex Tanner in her Notting Hill series, beginning with An Uncommon Murder in 1992.

Writing for CrimeReads, Otto Penzler profiled Mary Roberts Rinehart, "America's answer to Agatha Christie." One of the mystery writers from Golden Age (the years between the two World Wars), Rinehart made the list of top ten bestselling books for each year in the 1920s five times, a feat matched only by Sinclair Lewis during that same period.

A real-life crime worthy of a mystery novel: a man in Tennessee allegedly paid a hitman with bitcoin to murder his wife (and even the BBC is involved).

This week's crime poem at the 5-2 is "Finis" by Rena J. Worley.

In the Q&A roundup, Indie Crime Scene interviewed J. Luke Bennecke, whose newly released novel Waterborne is set during a pandemic - but was written two years ago; NPR spoke with Stacey Abrams about how a constitutional quirk inspired ner new thriller, While Justice Sleeps; author Amy Rivers talked about craft and her new thriller, Complicit, with the Dark Phantom blog; and Hank Phillippi Ryan offered up some writing advice in a chat with Keri-Rae Barnum.

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 actor, Gabourey Sidibe (Precious), is making her feature directing debut with the psychological thriller, Pale Horse, scheduled to shoot this fall. Set in the Pacific Northwest, Pale Horse follows Naia, an esteemed, yet reclusive African-American YA book author who is living with MS. When Naia decides to shelter the man who escaped captivity with her long-missing brother, she finds herself caught up in a diabolical mystery.

According to Deadline, Warner Bros won a "wild spec auction" for the Tyler Marceca script, Stay Frosty, with Idris Elba attached to star and Sam Hargrave to direct. The story follows a man who has to figure out who wants him dead and why after miraculously surviving a bullet to the head. He needs to stop the assassin while still making it back home in time to spend Christmas with his son. As Deadline notes, it gives Elba a franchise play in a vehicle that is a bit of a John Wick-type character in a throwback to ’80s high-action Christmas movies that include Die Hard and Lethal Weapon.

Production has begun in Puerto Rico on Emmett/Furla Films's thriller, The Fortress, with Jesse Metcalfe, Bruce Willis, Chad Michael Murray, and Kelly Greyson starring for director Cullen Bressack. The franchise has been constructed as a trilogy, with the second and third installments shooting back-to-back. The story was written by Alan Horsnail and revolves around a top-secret resort for retired U.S. intelligence officers. A group of criminals led by Balzary (Murray) breach the compound, hellbent on revenge on Robert (Willis), forcing the retired officer and his son (Metcalfe) to save the day.

Blair Underwood (Quantico) is set to direct, produce, and star in Viral, an indie thriller from York Films. Underwood plays Andrew, who falls into paranoia after his wife goes missing. The only way out of the self-destructive cycle seems to be through his new girlfriend Emilia, but she has her own psychological trauma to deal with. Are they strong enough to get past their own nightmares and mental illnesses to find true happiness together? The film originally was set to shoot last year but was postponed due to the pandemic.

Blake Lively (The Rhythm Section) is set to star in and produce the Netflix original film, Lady Killer, based on the Dark Horse Comic of the same name, with Oscar winner Diablo Cody writing the screenplay adaptation. Lively will play Josie Schuller, who gives every appearance of being the perfect 1950 housewife but who leads a secret live as a trained killer for hire when she’s not catering to her family’s needs.

Ben Mendelsohn is set to star opposite Daisy Ridley in Neil Burger’s upcoming psychological thriller, The Marsh King’s Daughter, based on Karen Dionne’s thriller of the same name. Mendelsohn will play Jacob Holbrook, the infamous "Marsh King," who years ago kept his young daughter, Helena, and her mother captive in the wilderness for years. After a lifetime of trying to escape her past, the now grown Helena (Ridley) is forced to face her demons when her father unexpectedly returns.

TELEVISION/STREAMING SERVICES

MRC Television and Johnson and Bergman’s T-Street banner have optioned Don Winslow’s bestselling debut novel, A Cool Breeze on the Underground, the first in a five-book series that will be developed for the small screen. Bad Education director, Cory Finley, will write, direct and executive produce, and Winslow will also serve as an executive producer. Winslow was a private detective when he wrote that first novel, long before his bestselling The Cartel trilogy (in production at Fox) or The Force (in production at 20th Century Studios). A Cool Breeze on the Underground introduces Neal Carey as he becomes a private investigator working for a covert New England organization called The Bank, which caters to exclusive wealthy clients. He’s assigned to find the rebellious teen daughter of a prominent senator who has gone underground in the violent London punk scene, rife with crime, drugs and danger.

NBC has picked up another Law & Order spinoff, this time going inside a criminal defense firm. Titled Law & Order: For the Defense, the new series will "take an unbiased look inside a criminal defense firm." Carol Mendelsohn (CSI) will serve as showrunner and executive producer alongside franchise boss Dick Wolf. For the Defense joins Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, which has been renewed through Season 24, and the most recent addition to the franchise, Law & Order: Organized Crime, which marked longtime SVU star Christopher Meloni’s return after ten years away from the show.

Dick Wolf is also moving into half-hour drama with his latest series set at Amazon’s IMDb TV. Deadline reported that the free streaming service has ordered On Call, which follows a pair of police officers on patrol in Long Beach, CA. Each episode will track the duo as they respond to a new radio call, arriving on the scene to resolve an incident.

Elizabeth Olsen will play infamous Texas ax murderer, Candy Montgomery, in a limited series on HBO Max. Love and Death, written by David E. Kelley and directed by Lesli Linka Glatter, is the second streaming limited series project to revolve around Montgomery, who killed her church-going friend with an ax in the 1980s. (Elisabeth Moss is playing Candy in a Hulu series from Robin Veith with Nick Antosca). The HBO Max version is based on the book, Evidence of Love: A True Story of Passion and Death in the Suburbs, and a collection of articles from Texas Monthly.

The Crown star, Claire Foy, is set to lead a new thriller from streamer BritBox U.K. The eight-part thriller, Marlow, centers on feuding families the Marlows and the Wyatts, who have existed in the "Edgelands" of the Thames Estuary for centuries. Foy stars as Evie Wyatt, who was born and bred in the Estuary and returns to the Edgelands — the place where she lost her father to a firestorm 15 years ago — in search of answers. However, drawn back into conflict with the Marlow clan, Evie finds herself in a battle with its ageing patriarch, Tom Marlow.

Fox has ordered its immigration/mob-crime drama pilot, The Cleaning Lady, to series for the 2021-22 season. The show stars Elodie Yung as a whip-smart doctor who comes to the U.S. for a medical treatment to save her ailing son. But when the system fails and pushes her into hiding, she becomes a cleaning lady for the mob and starts playing the game by her own rules.

USA Network has firmed up the cast for its upcoming Nash Bridges revival, which will return as a two-hour movie with stars Don Johnson (Nash Bridges), Cheech Marin (Joe Dominguez) and Jeff Perry (Harvey Leek) reprising their roles. Joining them are new cast members Diarra Kilpatrick, Bonnie Somerville, Joe Dinicol, Alexia Garcia, Angela Ko, and Paul James. The movie brings Johnson and Marin back together as elite investigators for the San Francisco Police Department Special Investigations Unit.

The Irregulars has been canceled by Netflix after one season, which is surprising considering it came in at No. 1 on Nielsen’s Top 10 SVOD rankings the week after it premiered. Based on the works of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and set in Victorian London, "The Irregulars" follows a gang of troubled street teens who are manipulated into solving crimes for "the sinister Doctor Watson and his mysterious business partner, the elusive Sherlock Holmes." As the crimes take on a horrifying supernatural edge and a dark power emerges, it’ll be up to the Irregulars to come together to save not only London but the entire world.

ABC renewed the freshman drama, Big Sky, for a second season. The series, which is based on The Highway series of books by C.J. Box, stars Katheryn Winnick and Kylie Bunbury. Bunbury plays Cassie Dewell, a private investigator who runs the Dewell & Hoyt agency, while Winnick plays Jenny Hoyt, an ex-cop-turned-private investigator who, despite being separated from her husband (briefly played by Ryan Phillippe), still does freelance work for the agency. The pair have joined forces to search for two sisters who have been kidnapped by a truck driver on a remote highway in Montana.

The CW network renewed Kung Fu for a second season. The series follows a young Chinese American woman, Nicky Shen (played by Olivia Liang), whose quarter-life crisis causes her to drop out of college and go on a life-changing journey to an isolated monastery in China. But when she returns to San Francisco, she finds her hometown is overrun with crime and corruption, and her own parents Jin (Tzi Ma) and Mei-Li (Kheng Hua Tan) are at the mercy of a powerful Triad. Shen relies on friends, her martial arts skills, and Shaolin values to protect her community and bring criminals to justice…all while searching for the ruthless assassin who killed her Shaolin mentor Pei-Ling (Vanessa Kai) and is now targeting her.

ITV crime drama, Grace, starring John Simm, has been renewed for season two following the broadcast of just one episode. The drama debuted earlier this year with a feature-length episode, and the positive response was enough to warrant a commission for season two. The first episode, based on Peter James’s Roy Grace books, debuted back in March this year, featuring Simm (Doctor Who and Life on Mars) leading the cast as the titular Brighton-based Detective Superintendent Roy Grace.

Chad Rook is set for a recurring role in Joe Pickett, Spectrum Originals’s drama series based on C.J. Box’s bestselling novels. Joe Pickett follows a game warden (Michael Dormann) and his family as they navigate the changing political and socio-economic climate in a small rural town in Wyoming. Surrounded by rich history and vast wildlife, the township hides decades of schemes and secrets that are yet to be uncovered. Rook will play Deputy McLanahan.

Jamie McShane is joining CBS’s CSI: Vegas, a sequel to the mothership CSI series, in a recurring role. Additionally, Paul Guilfoyle, who played Jim Brass on the original, will return to reprise his role in the sequel series, appearing in two episodes. The sequel series opens a new chapter in Las Vegas, the city where it all began. Facing an existential threat that could bring down the Crime Lab, a brilliant team of forensic investigators must welcome back old friends and deploy new techniques to preserve and serve justice in Sin City. McShane will play Anson Wix, a civil attorney.

PODCASTS/VIDEO/RADIO/AUDIO

Suspense Radio welcomed back bestselling author J.A. Jance to talk about her latest book, Missing and Endangered.

The latest Mysteryrats Maze podcast features the short story "Not a Penny More" (Strand magazine) written by Jon Land and read by actor Larry Mattox.

Speaking of Mysteries spoke with Mariah Fredericks about Death of a Showman, the fourth installment of her series featuring lady’s maid Jane Prescott.

Meet the Thriller Author chatted with Mia P. Manansala, a writer and book coach from Chicago who loves books, baking, and bad-ass women. Her debut novel, Arsenic and Adobo, was released May 4 and is the first in the Tita Rosie’s Kitchen Mystery series.

In honor of Cinco de Mayo, It Was a Dark and Stormy Book Club highlighted three Hispanic mystery authors.

Literature professor, Tammy Bird, stopped by Queer Writers of Crime to chat about her gritty suspense and thriller stories including her latest novel, The Book of Promises, set in North Carolina’s Outer Banks.

Matt Fitzpatrick stopped by Wrong Place, Write Crime to discuss his Justin McGee series.

Writers Detective Bureau was back from a hiatus with host, Adam Richardson, interviewing Marc Cameron about his career in the US Marshals Service, advice for a successful writing career, and details on his new book, Bone Rattle.

The Read or Dead podcast looked at crime novels that feature dinner parties gone wrong.

Mystery Melange

 

The longlist was released for the annual Theakston Old Peculier Novel of the Year. This year’s longlist transports readers around the world from California to Sweden and Calcutta to a remote Irish island and explores every subgenre from Scandi noir to murderous families. There are several familiar faces on the list, as well as some fresh blood. Run by Harrogate International Festivals, the shortlist will be announced in June and the winner on July 22 at the opening evening of the Theakston Old Peculier Crime Writing Festival, with the public able to vote for the winner on harrogatetheakstoncrimeaward.com.

The Short Mystery Fiction Society announced the winners of this year's Derringer Awards. There was a tie for Best Flash Story, "Memories of Fire," by C.W. Blackwell (Pulp Modern Flash) and "War Words" by Travis Richardson (Punk Noir Magazine). There was also a tie for Best Short Story (1,001 to 4,000 words), "The Great Bedbug Incident and the Invitation of Doom," by Eleanor Cawood Jones (Chesapeake Crimes: Invitation to Murder) and "River" by Stacy Woodson (The Beat of Black Wings: Crime Fiction Inspired by the Songs of Joni Mitchell). Best Long Story (4,001 to 8,000 words) went to Sarah M. Chen's "Hotelin'" (Shotgun Honey), and Best Novelette (8,001 to 20,000 words) to Art Taylor for "The Boy Detective and the Summer of ’74" (Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine). This year's recipient of the Edward D. Hoch Memorial Golden Derringer for Lifetime Achievement, annually awarded to an outstanding living writer of short mysteries and selected by a five-member panel, is Brendan DuBois. The full list of finalists can be found here.

Capital Crime announced the Amazon Publishing New Voices Award, a competition including a potential Thomas & Mercer publishing deal. Writers of unpublished mystery, thriller, and crime fiction manuscripts in English from around the world are eligible to compete for a cash prize and the potential publishing contract. Additionally, ten finalists will be considered for a potential offer of Thomas & Mercer publication, while also receiving day passes to the next Capital Crime Festival. The closing date for entries will be 3rd August 2021. (HT to Shots Magazine)

Maxim Jakubowski has been appointed the new chair of the UK's Crime Writers’ Association (CWA). He will succeed outgoing chair Linda Stratmann, after she served the maximum two-year term in the role at the organization, which aims to support and promote the literary genre and its authors. He was voted in unanimously at the CWA’s annual general meeting. Jakubowski has worked as an editor (compiling more than 120 anthologies), translator, publisher, author, and critic. Following an editorial career in both France and the UK, during which time he launched several crime imprints, including Black Box Thrillers and Blue Murder, he opened the Murder One bookstore in London.

A passing of note to report via the New York Times: Jason Matthews, who became a best-selling author of three spy thrillers after 33 years as a C.I.A. officer in Istanbul, Athens, Belgrade, Rome, Budapest and Hong Kong, died last week at his home in Rancho Mirage, Calif. He was 69. His wife, Suzanne Matthews, who was also a C.I.A. officer, said the cause was corticobasal degeneration, a rare degenerative disease. In his choice of a second career, Mr. Matthews followed other intelligence officers, like John le Carré, Ian Fleming, and Charles McCarry, "who became novelists — and who brought to their writing a knowledge of recruiting and handling foreign agents, of dead drops, brush passes, honey traps, debriefings, surveillance and countersurveillance."

There is a call for submissions for the third issue of Mean Streets: A Journal of American Crime and Detective Fiction on the topic of "American Golden Age Mystery and Detective Fiction (1920-1945)." Proposals are due by July 15 with final essays due December 1. The Shots Magazine blog has more details for interested authors, including suggested topics.

Mike Ripley's latest "Getting Away With Murder" column is out, although he notes that it's "not in its usual place. This is due to the main website having been hi-jacked by interweb pirates (probably Russian) and sailed into the Bermuda Triangle, or whatever it is happens in these cases. As you may have gathered, I am no expert when it comes to modern technology, but those who claim to be assure me that normal service will soon be resumed." The latest editions features feautures and reviews of oldies but goodies by William Le Quex, Michael Hamilton, Len Deighton, and more, as well as some new blood.

The Guardian profiled successful art theft detective, Christopher Marinello, who has spent three decades finding missing masterpieces, recovering half a billion dollars’ worth of art. He talked about threats from mobsters, tricky negotiations – and bungling thieves.

As the Rap Sheet blog noted, Kevin Burton Smith's iconic The Thrilling Detective website has moved to a new server. Although this means some of the links around the Web may no longer be operable, all the content will be available again soon. Meanwhile, Smith has also instituted a new Dick of the Day feature, where he highlights a different private eye each day on Twitter and Facebook.

McLean & Eakin Booksellers commissioned June Apothecary to make a fragrance for the store and "Pages" is the result. "We think it speaks to the feeling you have when you put your nose between the pages of a book," the bookshop posted on Facebook. The description of the scent read, "Crisp juniper fir mixes with luscious fig and bright lemon to create this truly unique and refreshing scent. Perfect to burn all year when you are missing your favorite book store up north!"

This week's crime poem at the 5-2 is "The Last Windmill" by Pamela Ebel.

In the Q&A roundup, Lisa Haselton interviewed mystery author, R.G. Belsky, about his latest mystery, Beyond the Headlines; Mark Billingham, author of a series featuring the country-music-loving detective, Tom Thorne, chatted about his background as a stand-up comic, scriptwriter, and rock musician; Author Interviews spoke with Anne Hillerman, who continues the Navajo detective stories featuring Joe Leaphorn and Jim Chee that her father Tony Hillerman made popular, including the latest, Stargazer; and Robert Dugoni was interviewed by Publishers Weekly about book eight of the Tracy Crosswhite series, in which the eponymous detective is reassigned to the Seattle police department’s cold case unit.

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

Lionsgate has acquired North American rights to Collin Schiffli’s thriller, Die in a Gunfight, with plans to release it as a multi-platform title this summer. The film is described as a modern-day take on "Romeo and Juliet" and centers on two rival families, the Rathcarts and Gibbons. Ben (Diego Boneta), a rebellious young man, falls in love with Mary (Alexandra Daddario), the daughter of his father's enemy, starting a battle full of love, lust, revenge, and betrayal.

Bruce Willis is set to star in the revenge thriller, Soul Assassin. The story begins with a woman’s husband being killed in action as part of an experimental new military program. A former black-ops soldier (Willis) then takes his place to find his killer. Jesse Atlas will direct the script, co-written with Aaron Wolfe based on their short, Let Them Die Like Lovers, which was nominated for Best Narrative Short at the Tribeca Film Festival.

Jurnee Smollett (Lovecraft Country), is boarding the Netflix movie, Lou, as star and executive producer. Smollett joins Oscar winner, Allison Janney, who is also starring (and executive producing) the Anna Foerster-directed film. Written by Maggie Cohn, the story is set in motion when a young girl is kidnapped. Her mother, with no other option, teams up with the mysterious older woman next door to pursue the kidnapper – a journey into the wilderness that will test their limits and expose dark and shocking secrets from their pasts.

This Is Us star, Justin Hartley, is joining Y’lan Noel, Cleopatra Coleman, Lex Scott Davis, and Shamier Anderson in A Lot Of Nothing. The project is described as a "dark comedy-thriller" where things spiral out of control when a married couple is compelled to take dangerous actions after discovering their next-door neighbor (Hartley) is the police officer who just murdered an unarmed motorist.

TELEVISION/STREAMING SERVICES

Noah Centineo has signed on to star in and executive produce a new unnamed spy thriller series for the streaming giant Netflix. Centineo will play a fledgling lawyer at the CIA who becomes enmeshed in dangerous international power politics when a former asset threatens to expose the nature of her long-term relationship with the agency—unless they exonerate her of a serious crime.

Nordic Entertainment Group has ordered the psychological crime drama, Sisterhood. The six-episode series looks into who was really responsible for a young girl’s disappearance in Iceland 25 years ago. Ambitious police detective Vera (Halldóra Geirharðsdóttir), dissatisfied with the original investigation, zeroes in on an unlikely trio of successful and respectable women.

Danish actress, Clara Rugaard, is to lead the cast for Sky’s The Rising, a supernatural crime thriller that was originally inspired by Belgian drama, Hotel Beau Séjour. The eight-part series has Rugaard starring as Neve Kelly, a woman who discovers she is dead. She’s scared and confused by this new existence at first, but when she realizes she has been murdered, she’s furious. She’s determined to find her killer and get justice, believing that it was someone she knew.

Josh Hartnett is to lead Sky’s four-part adaptation of the Robert Harris financial thriller, The Fear Index, directed by David Caffrey (The Alienist). Hartnett will play Dr. Alex Hoffmann, an American ex-pat physicist, who creates an AI-driven system that exploits fear in the financial markets and operates at lightning speed to make big returns. But on the day of launch, Alex’s sanity is shaken after he is viciously attacked at his home by a man who knows all of his security codes. After more unexplained occurrences, Alex becomes convinced he’s being framed. Other cast includes Leila Farzad, Arsher Ali, and Grégory Montel.

Domhnall Gleeson (Star Wars, Harry Potter) will portray John Dean in HBO's upcoming five-part series about the Watergate scandal, The White House Plumbers. At the time of Richard Nixon's reign, Dean was a young and zealous member of the White House Counsel who worked to orchestrate the illegal cover-up that ultimately ended Nixon's presidency. Gleeson joins previously announced cast members Justin Theroux (who will play G. Gordon Liddy) and Woody Harrelson (playing E. Howard Hunt). The project chronicles former President Nixon's downfall, highlighting how the so-called masterminds responsible for protecting Nixon's presidency — Giddy and Hunt — unwittingly sabotaged it. The show is based on public records and Integrity, a novel by Egil "Bud" Krogh and Matthew Krogh.

PODCASTS/VIDEO/RADIO/AUDIO

In a jam-packed episode of Writer Types, host Eric Beetner spoke with authors Chris Whitaker (We Begin At The End), Amy Suiter Clarke (Girl, 11), and Nicci French (The Other Side Of The Door). 

Queer Writers of Crime spoke with Robyn Gigl, an attorney, author, and activist who has been honored by the ACLU-NJ and the NJ Pride Network for her work on behalf of the LGBTQ+ community. Her debut legal thriller is By Way of Sorrow.

Alyssa Cole, author of the new thriller, When No One Is Watching, was interviewed by Robert Justice for the Crime Writers of Color podcast.

A new Mysteryrat's Maze Podcast is up featuring the mystery short story, "Not a Penny More," written by Jon Land and read by actor Larry Mattox.

The Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine podcast showcased novelist and short-story author, Jeff Soloway, reading his EQMM debut story from the January/February 2021 issue, "The Interpreter and the Killer," which features a central character in a job we don't see often in mystery fiction.

Two Crime Writers and a Microphone featured "In Conversation: Don Winslow and Anthony Horowitz with Phil Williams" from last summer's Locked-Up Festival.

Christine Feehan was the featured guest on Suspense Radio, discussing her latest book, Lightning Game, and much more.

My Favorite Detective Stories host, John Hoda, welcomed Sheldon Siegel, best-selling author of the critically acclaimed legal thriller series featuring San Francisco criminal defense attorneys Mike Daley and Rosie Fernandez.

Meet the Thriller Author chatted with UK author, Clare Whitfield, who's been a dancer, copywriter, amateur fire breather, buyer, and mediocre weightlifter. Her debut crime thriller is People of Abandoned Character.

Carmen Jaramillo stopped by Wrong Place, Write Crime to discuss "Open Up Your Heart," her novella in A Grifter's Song series, and more.

It Was a Dark and Stormy Book Club sat down with award-winning investigative journalist, Caitlin Rother, to discuss her new true-crime book, Death on Ocean Boulevard.

Barry Forshaw hosted a new feature on the Crime Time FM podcast, where he gives insights into the world of crime drama based on the commentaries and sleeve notes he writes for new releases and reissues of books and movies.

Mystery Melange

The Crime Writers Association announced the longlist for this year's Debut Dagger, a competition for the opening of a crime novel by an uncontracted writer. Entries from shortlisted writers are sent to UK literary agents and publishers, many of whom have found representation. This year the Debut Dagger is being sponsored by ProWritingAid. (HT to Shots Magazine.)

Somehow, I missed this one earlier. The Lindisfarne Prize for Crime Fiction is a literary prize which recognizes outstanding writing in the genre of crime or thriller fiction, sponsored by the author L J Ross through her publishing imprint, Dark Skies Publishing, in association with the Newcastle Noir Crime Writing Festival and Newcastle Libraries. It is open to all writers who are from, or whose work celebrates the North East of England, and who have not previously had their submission published in any form (though they might have had other stories published before). The award organizers announced on social media in March that this year's shortlisted authors include Robert Scragg, Ellie Davies, Ed Walsh, Barbara Scott Emmett, and David Cooper.

Congrats also to Toronto crime author Howard Shrier, whose story, "Done With Him," about two brothers with conflicting motives, won the Toronto Star’s annual short story contest out of 1,000+ entries.

The deadline is fast approaching for applications for the Eleanor Taylor Bland Crime Fiction Writers of Color Award, sponsored by Sisters in Crime. The award is open to writers of color with an unpublished manuscript (short story or first chapters of a manuscript in-progress, 2,500 to 5,000 words). The last day for submissions for the annual grant of $2,000 is May 15.

Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine editor, Janet Hutchings, noted that this is the second year in which they've had to hold their annual Readers Award party virtually, so instead of the usual photos, she posted the 2021 awards video online.

In what’s become a tradition at CrimeReads, the editors partnered with Mystery Writers of America to organize a giant roundtable discussion between the Edgar nominees. They received responses from over 30 authors, each with their own fascinating take on crime fiction. The Edgar Awards Ceremony itself begins at 1 PM EST tomorrow, the 29th, via Zoom.

If you're a fan of women detectives, Publishers Weekly posted a list of "ten unstoppable women detectives," while Book Riot made note of crime novels where "women fight back."

Writing for The Bookseller, Ian Rankin noted that he would like a new generation of readers to come to the works of fellow Scottish author, William McIlvanney, known for his Jack Laidlaw books, a hard-boiled crime trilogy commonly cited as the foundation of Tartan Noir.

Writing for The Guardian, Caroline Crampton celebrated a century of honkaku, fiendishly clever Japanese whodunnit mystery novels that have spawned pop culture icons, anime, and a museum.

Robert Dugoni, author of the bestselling Tracy Crosswhite police series set in Seattle, applied the Page 69 Test to his new Crosswhite novel, In Her Tracks.

There are more than 9,000 public libraries in the U.S., and one man has been trying to win summer reading prizes from as many as he can. Not all librarians are happy about it.

This week's crime poem at the 5-2 is "Another World" by Tom Barlow.

In the Q&A roundup, Harlan Coben discussed why "we live in the golden age of crime novels"; humorist-turned-crime novelist, Jonathan Ames, spoke with Inside Hook about his new book, A Man Named Doll, a fast-paced neo-noir "that traffics in grit and laughs in equal measure"; Wallace Stroby spoke with CrimeReads about "Life, Death, and Noir on the Jersey Shore"; and Author Interviews chatted with Nev March, the recent winner of the Minotaur Books/Mystery Writers of America Award for Best First Crime Fiction.

Edgar Excellence

Mystery Writers of America announced winners of the 2021 Edgar Awards today via Zoom. Here are this year's honorees:

BEST NOVEL

Djinn Patrol on the Purple Line by Deepa Anappara

Also nominated:

Before She Was Helen by Caroline B. Cooney 
Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman
These Women by Ivy Pochoda 
The Missing American by Kwei Quartey
The Distant Dead by Heather Young 

BEST FIRST NOVEL

Please See Us by Caitlin Mullen 

Also nominated:

Murder in Old Bombay by Nev March 
Catherine House by Elisabeth Thomas 
Winter Counts by David Heska Wanbli Weiden 
Darling Rose Gold by Stephanie Wrobel 

BEST PAPERBACK ORIGINAL

When No One is Watching by Alyssa Cole

Also nominated:

The Deep, Deep Snow by Brian Freeman 
Unspeakable Things by Jess Lourey 
The Keeper by Jessica Moor 
East of Hounslow by Khurrum Rahman 

BEST FACT CRIME

Death in Mud Lick: A Coal Country Fight Against the Drug Companies that Delivered the Opioid Epidemic by Eric Eyre 

Also nominated:

Blood Runs Coal: The Yablonski Murders and the Battle for the United Mine Workers of America by Mark A. Bradley 
The Third Rainbow Girl: The Long Life of a Double Murder in Appalachia by Emma Copley Eisenberg 
Yellow Bird: Oil, Murder, and a Woman's Search for Justice in Indian Country by Sierra Crane Murdoch 
Veritas: A Harvard Professor, a Con Man, and the Gospel of Jesus's Wife by Ariel Sabar

BEST CRITICAL/BIOGRAPHICAL

Phantom Lady: Hollywood Producer Joan Harrison, the Forgotten Woman Behind Hitchcock by Christina Lane 

Also nominated:

Howdunit: A Masterclass in Crime Writing by Members of the Detection Club by Martin Edwards 
Ian Rankin: A Companion to the Mystery & Fiction by Erin E. MacDonald (McFarland)
Guilt Rules All:  Irish Mystery, Detective, and Crime Fiction by Elizabeth Mannion & Brian Cliff 
This Time Next Year We'll be Laughing by Jacqueline Winspear 

BEST SHORT STORY

"Dust, Ash, Flight," Addis Ababa Noir by Maaza Mengiste 

Also nominated:

"The Summer Uncle Cat Came to Stay," Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine by Leslie Elman 
"Fearless," California Schemin' by Walter Mosley
"Etta at the End of the World," Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine by Joseph S. Walker 
“The Twenty-Five Year Engagement,” In League with Sherlock Holmes by James W. Ziskin 

BEST JUVENILE

Premeditated Myrtle by Elizabeth C. Bunce 

Also nominated:

Me and Banksy by Tanya Lloyd Kyi
From the Desk of Zoe Washington by Janae Marks 
Ikenga by Nnedi Okorafor 
Nessie Quest by Melissa Savage 
Coop Knows the Scoop by Taryn Souders

BEST YOUNG ADULT

The Companion by Katie Alender 

Also nominated:

The Inheritance Games by Jennifer Lynn Barnes 
They Went Left by Monica Hesse 
Silence of Bones by June Hur
The Cousins by Karen M. McManus

TV EPISODE/TELEPLAY

“Episode 1, Photochemistry” – Dead Still, Written by John Morton (Acorn TV)

Also nominated:

“Episode 1, The Stranger” – Harlan Coben’s The Stranger, Written by Danny Brocklehurst (Netflix)
“Episode 1, Open Water” – The Sounds, Written by Sarah-Kate Lynch (Acorn TV)
“Episode 1” – Des, Written by Luke Neal (Sundance Now)
“What I Know” – The Boys, Written by Rebecca Sonnenshine, based on the comic by Garth Ennis and Darick Robertson (Amazon)

SIMON & SCHUSTER MARY HIGGINS CLARK AWARD

The Cabinets of Barnaby Mayne by Elsa Hart 

Also nominated:

Death of an American Beauty by Mariah Fredericks 
The Lucky One by Lori Rader-Day 
The First to Lie by Hank Phillippi Ryan 
Cold Wind by Paige Shelton 

G.P. PUTNAM'S SONS SUE GRAFTON MEMORIAL AWARD

Vera Kelly is Not a Mystery by Rosalie Knecht

Also nominated:

The Burn by Kathleen Kent 
Riviera Gold by Laurie R. King
Dead Land by Sara Paretsky
The Sleeping Nymph by Ilaria Tuti 
Turn to Stone by James W. Ziskin

ROBERT L. FISH MEMORIAL

"The Bite,” Tampa Bay Noir by Colette Bancroft 

GRAND MASTERS

Jeffery Deaver
Charlaine Harris

RAVEN AWARD

Malice Domestic

ELLERY QUEEN AWARD

Reagan Arthur, Publisher – Alfred A. Knopf

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:

AWARDS

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences announced the winners of this year's Oscar Awards last night in a trimmed-down ceremony. Crime drama winners include a Best Supporting Actor nod to Daniel Kaluuya for his role in Judas and the Black Messiah and Best Original Screenplay to Promising Young Woman, written by Emerald Fennel. If you'd like to learn more about some of the lesser-known nominated films with a crime connection including those in the international, documentary, and animated categories, check out this article from Olivia Rutigliano at CrimeReads.

THE BIG SCREEN/MOVIES

Universal Pictures bought the rights to the Brian Freeman novel, Infinite, with Thomas Dean Donnelly and Joshua Oppenheimer set to adapt the screenplay. The story follows Dylan Moran, consumed by grief after losing his wife, who begins hallucinating sinister versions of himself lurking in the shadows. When he ends up accused of murder, Moran undergoes a hypnotherapy treatment built on the idea that with every choice he makes, he creates an infinite number of parallel universes. It’s then he discovers he’s not insane at all—there’s another version of himself, from another reality. A psychopath that not only ruined his life, but countless other Dylans. Can Dylan stop this doppelgänger before he strikes again? Or will he lose himself…to himself?

Jason Isaacs, Barkhad Abdi, and Adan Canto have signed on for Agent Game, the indie spy thriller being directed by Grant S. Johnson. The new additions join previously announced cast members, Dermot Mulroney, Katie Cassidy, Rhys Coiro, Annie Ilonzeh, and Mel Gibson. The story centers on CIA officer Harris (Mulroney), who is involved in missions to detain and relocate foreign nationals for interrogation. When Harris’s superior (Isaacs) is murdered, he finds himself the scapegoat for the killing of a detainee (Abdi) and must run from a team of operatives sent to bring him in (Canto, Cassidy, Coiro), led by a ruthless double agent (Ilonzeh). Gibson plays a rogue intelligence official running the off-the-books operation to hunt down and kill Harris.

TELEVISION/STREAMING SERVICES

Apple TV Plus has ordered to series the bilingual drama, Now and Then. The project, to be shot in both Spanish and English and set in Miami with an all-Hispanic cast, is executive produced by Gideon Raff (Homeland; The Spy), who is set to direct the first two episodes. Now and Then is described as a "multi-layered thriller that explores the differences between youthful aspirations and the reality of adulthood," when the lives of a group of college best friends are forever changed after a celebratory weekend ends up with one of them dead. Now, 20 years later, the remaining five are reluctantly reunited by a threat that puts their seemingly perfect worlds at risk.

Amazon Studios announced it will co-produce the six-part BBC psychological thriller, Chloe, with a cast that features The Crown star, Erin Doherty. The project centers on the character of Becky, who becomes obsessed with the death of her estranged friend, Chloe. Becky assumes a new identity to infiltrate the enviable lives of Chloe’s closest friends as she attempts to establish what happened.

CBS has renewed NCIS: Los Angeles, starring LL Cool J and Chris O’Donnell, for Season 13 and ordered a new spinoff, NCIS: Hawaii, to series. The news comes after the recent announcements that the original NCIS had been renewed for a 19th season (with series star Mark Harmon returning), but NCIS: New Orleans, will end its seven-season run.

John Cameron Mitchell has been tapped to play the title character opposite Kate McKinnon in Joe Exotic (working title), based on the Wondery podcast, which is set to air across NBCU’s Television and Streaming Entertainment portfolio (NBC, USA Network, and Peacock). The limited series centers on Carole Baskin (McKinnon), a big cat enthusiast, who learns that fellow exotic animal lover Joe "Exotic" Schreibvogel (Mitchell) is breeding and using his big cats for profit. She sets out to shut down his venture, inciting a quickly escalating rivalry. But Carole has a checkered past of her own and when the claws come out, Joe will stop at nothing to expose what he sees as her hypocrisy. The results prove dangerous.

Gemma Whelan (Game Of Thrones, Killing Eve) has been cast as the lead in ITV’s drama series, The Tower, the three-part adaptation of Kate London’s Metropolitan Police novel, Post Mortem, from Homeland writer Patrick Harbinson. Whelan will play Detective Sergeant Sarah Collins, who investigates after a veteran beat cop and teenage girl fall to their deaths from a tower block in south-east London. Collins works to uncover the truth behind the grisly tower-block deaths and the related disappearances of a rookie police officer and a child. 

LisaGay Hamilton has been tapped for a key recurring role opposite Manuel Garcia-Rulfo in The Lincoln Lawyer, Netflix’s upcoming drama series based on Michael Connelly’s bestselling novels. The project revolves around Mickey Haller (Garcia-Rulfo), an iconoclastic idealist who runs his law practice out of the back seat of his Lincoln Town Car as he takes on cases big and small across the expansive city of Los Angeles. Hamilton will play Judge Mary Holder, presiding judge of the Los Angeles County Superior Court — the most powerful trial judge in the city and a no-nonsense jurist who doesn’t suffer fools. It was also announced last week that Jamie McShane (playing Detective Lee Lankford) and Reggie Lee (playing Angelo Soto, an intimidating, wealthy businessman) will be recurring characters on the series.

AMC and UK’s Alibi has added new leads to the crime drama series, Ragdoll, with Henry Lloyd-Hughes (Killing Eve) and Thalissa Teixeira (Too Close) joining previously announced Lucy Hale. Adapted for television by Freddy Syborn from the novel by Daniel Cole, the six-part Ragdoll is described as "a modern-day Faustian thriller" that centers on the murder of six people whose bodies have been dismembered and sewn into the shape of one grotesque body — nicknamed "The Ragdoll." Assigned to the shocking case are DS Nathan Rose (Lloyd-Hughes), recently reinstated to the London Met; his best friend and boss, DI Emily Baxter (Teixeira); and the unit’s new recruit, DC Lake Edmunds (Hale). The killer taunts the police by sending them a list of his next victims, with detective Rose’s name at the very end

PODCASTS/VIDEO/RADIO/AUDIO

Author Kris Calvin joined Eric Beetner as guest co-host of this week's Writer Types podcast. Featured interviews include Alma Katsu (Red Widow) Peter Swanson (Every Vow You Break), and Wallace Stroby (Heaven's A Lie).

Read or Dead hosts, Katie McClean Horner and Nusrah Javed, celebrated the 100th episode of the podcast and talked about books that shaped them as mystery readers.

Meet the Thriller Author welcomed William Swanson, a Minneapolis journalist and true crime expert who has authored three true-crime books. Under his pen name of W.A. Winter, he writes crime fiction thrillers including his latest, The Secret Lives of Dentists, inspired by the 1955 case of a Minneapolis dentist tried for the murder of one of his young female patients.

Queer Writers of Crime spoke with Derek Farrell, author of five Danny Bird Mysteries all published by Fahrenheit Press, about "redefining the cozy noir mystery." 

Wrong Place, Write Crime host, Frank Zafiro, chatted with Shawn Reilly Simmons about cool jobs she's had, short stories, and her Red Carpet Catering mystery series.

It Was a Dark and Stormy Book Club profiled three Scottish mystery writers you might want to check out.

At Crime Time FM, Ace Atkins spoke with Barry Forshaw about his new Spenser novel, Someone to Watch Over Me.