B.V. Lawson's Blog

Farewell ... but Not Goodbye

It somehow seems fitting that Typepad is shutting down at the same time the U.S. federal government is likely to shut down. There might be some sort of cosmological truth buried in there, somewhere. At any rate, after 18 years, this blog is moving to Blogspot via the following URL: https://inreferencetomurder.blogspot.com/.

I chose Blogspot (aka Blogger) because it is as close to a one-to-one transfer of style, format, and ease of use that you can find to replace Typepad. I've been adding old Typepad posts to Blogspot off and on, but it may take some time to do so manually, as Google frowns on uploading too many posts per day (I already got placed into temporary Google jail over doing that when creating the new blog).

However, since Google is forever shutting down its popular services without warning, I also created a mirror site on Wordpress for two reasons: (a) because, Google; and (b) unlike Blogspot, I was able to transfer all the Typepad backup files into Wordpress. If Google does shutdown Blogspot, I'll still be over at Wordpress.com, although it will likely have its own distinct URL, inreferencetomurder.com. Wordpress is more powerful, but it's meant primarily for websites, not blogs. Plus, it has a steep learning curve, and because Typepad only gave us one month's notice prior to shutdown, I simply didn't have the time.

So farewell from In Reference to Murder at Typepad and hope to see you over at In Reference to Murder at Blogspot (or Wordpress, eventually).

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Published on September 30, 2025 03:00

Media Murder for Monday

(A reminder: Typepad is shutting down. This blog will switch to a new URL as of October 1st, so please change your bookmarks)

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

Fortitude, the World War II espionage action-adventure from Simon West (Con Air) began principal photography on September 8 in London and has assembled an all-star cast. The ensemble includes Matthew Goode (The Imitation Game), Ed Skrein (Jurassic World: Rebirth), Jordi Mollà (Mobland), Alice Eve (Star Trek Into Darkness), Michael Sheen (Frost/Nixon), Art Malik (True Lies), Lukas Haas (Inception), Adrian Topol (Franz + Polina), Emilio Sakraya (Sixty Minutes), Paul Anderson (Peaky Blinders), Ben Kingsley (Gandhi) and Nicolas Cage (Con Air). The movie is based on the true story of British Intelligence operatives using unprecedented strategic operations to fool Nazi leadership and help change the course of World War II. With historical consultation from Joshua Levine (Dunkirk), the film follows the brilliance of British Army officers Dudley Clarke and Thomas Argyll “Tar” Robertson, who deployed an elaborate web of deception campaigns including fictitious armies, fake military equipment, and a network of double agents to mislead Nazi Intelligence. Among them was Yugoslavian playboy Dusko Popov, a real-life double agent who is said to have inspired Ian Fleming’s James Bond character.

U.S. distributor Row K has taken rights to the Cliffhanger reboot starring Pierce Brosnan and Lily James, in an eight-figure deal. The reimagining of the 1993 classic, directed by Jaume Collet-Serra (Carry-On), is currently in post-production and is being set for a 3,000 screen stateside theatrical release in 2026. The film follows a seasoned mountaineer, Ray Cooper (Brosnan), who operates a luxury chalet in the Dolomites with his daughter, Sydney. During a weekend trip with a billionaire’s son, they are targeted by a gang of kidnappers. Ray’s other daughter Naomi (James), still haunted by a past climbing accident, witnesses the attack and escapes. To save her family, she must confront her fears and fight for survival.

Magnolia Pictures has acquired U.S. rights to the "ultraviolent action film," Normal, which just had its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival. The project, written by Derek Kolstad and directed by British filmmaker Ben Wheatley, follows Sheriff Ulysses (Bob Odenkirk), whose provisional posting to the quaint Midwestern American town of Normal was meant to be a welcome respite from both his marital woes and recent "moral injuries" in the line of duty. But when a botched bank robbery interrupts the municipality’s tranquil pace, a dark secret is inadvertently exposed, and Ulysses soon discovers that the town is anything but its namesake. Henry Winkler and Lena Headey also star.

TELEVISION/STREAMING

Aidan Gillen (Game of Thrones, Mayor of Kingstown) has been cast as a key guest star in the FX Untitled Witness Protection pilot, with the possibility for the role to expand if the project is picked up to series. He joins the previously announced lead cast of Alison Brie, Pablo Schreiber, Zoë Chao, Jamie Neumann, and Antonella Rose. In the project, a violent confrontation drives a high-end D.C. madam, Remy (Brie), to turn on her partner and enter witness protection in seaside Maine with her adolescent daughter. Gillen will play Carl Milliken III, "a business executive who identifies more with his workface than the military contractors he interacts with."

Philip Winchester (Ransom Canyon) is set for a key recurring role opposite Kyle Schmid in the upcoming second season of the NCIS prequel, NCIS: Origins. He'll play Mason Franks, the older brother of Mike Franks (Schmid), a Texas-tough cowboy who has recently hit rock bottom. Mason is an honorable man who has fallen on hard times and is desperately trying to keep from losing the family ranch. His desperation leads him to seek help from his estranged little brother. NCIS: Origins follows a young Leroy Jethro Gibbs in 1991, years prior to the events of NCIS. In the series, Gibbs starts his career as a newly minted special agent at the fledgling NCIS Camp Pendleton office, where he forges his place on a gritty, ragtag team led by NCIS legend Mike Franks.

Emmy nominee Yvonne Strahovski (The Handmaid’s Tale) is closing a deal for a series-regular role opposite Vince Vaughn in the second season of the Apple TV+ comedy, Bad Monkey. Strahovski will play the role of County State Attorney Delaney. As previously announced, others appearing in major roles this season will include John Malkovich and John Ortiz, who has been upped from special guest star to series regular. Based on Carl Hiaasen’s bestselling novel, Bad Monkey‘s first season introduced viewers to Vaughn’s Andrew Yancy, who has taken up a job as a health inspector in the Keys after being bounced from the Miami Police Department. After stumbling upon a case that begins with a human arm fished up by tourists, Yancy realizes that if he can prove murder, he’ll be back in. He just needs to get past a trove of Floridian oddballs and one bad monkey

Lucy Liu (Elementary) will star in and executive produce the new Peacock series, Superfakes, from creator, writer, showrunner, and executive producer Alice Ju (Poker Face, Beef). The crime drama follows a small-time Chinatown luxury counterfeit dealer who enters a dangerous black-market underworld in order to fund a life of suburban respectability for her family.

Prime Video released an official trailer for Harlan Coben’s Lazarus, its new thriller series starring Sam Claflin and Bill Nighy, ahead of its October 22 premiere. Based on an original story idea and written by bestselling author Coben and BAFTA-winner Danny Brocklehurst, Harlan Coben’s Lazarus follows Joel Lazarus (Claflin) who returns home after his father, Dr. Jonathan Lazarus (Nighy), dies by suicide, and begins to have disturbing experiences that can’t be explained. He quickly becomes entangled in a series of cold-case murders as he grapples with the mystery of his father’s death and his sister’s murder 25 years ago.

The release of Apple TV+‘s The Savant has been put on hold. The decision comes three days before the thriller starring Jessica Chastain was slated to premiere on the streamer Sept. 26. No new date has been set. The streamer would not elaborate on the reasons for the last-minute change, but The Savant’s subject matter is believed to be behind it, with the storyline about preventing extremist attacks and some of the imagery considered possibly triggering following the Sept. 10 assassination of right-wing political activist Charlie Kirk. The series includes a sniper in action and the bombing of a government building among other acts of violence.

Frauds, ITV's "addictive" heist drama starring Suranne Jones and Jodie Whittaker, has finally confirmed its premiere date for Sunday October 5th at 9pm. The upcoming series follows Bert (Jones) and Sam (Whittaker), two conwomen who reconnect after a decade apart, with their latest meeting being facilitated after Bert is released from prison on compassionate grounds. Owing to their complex shared history, Bert attempts to lure Sam out of her low-key life and back into the game of crime—with a multi-million-pound heist an enticing opportunity for both parties.

PODCASTS/RADIO/AUDIO

Meet the Thriller Author interviewed J.A. Jance, author of nearly 70 novels featuring J.P. Beaumont, Joanna Brady, Ali Reynolds, and the Walker family.

Murder Junction hosts Vaseem Khan and Abir Mukherjee chatted with crime writer Beth Lewis about her latest novel, The Rush; intrepid women in the wilderness; and the madness of the Yukon Gold Rush.

My Bookcase Slays welcomed Martha Waters, known for writing regency romcoms, but her latest title, And Then There Was The One, mashes up cozy mystery and romance tropes in a witty and rollicking nod to both genres. She discussed how she pulls off her homage to Agatha Christie and Dorothy Sayers.

On Crime Time FM's latest episode, host Paul Burke reviewed books by Yasuhiko Nishizawa, Rory Clements, Noelle W. Ihli, Kate Rhodes, Simon Dinsdale, and Guy Hale.

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Published on September 29, 2025 08:30

Mystery Melange

Book art by Daniel Lai

(A reminder: Typepad is shutting down. This blog will switch to a new URL as of October 1st, so please change your bookmarks)

Husband-and-wife mystery novelists Rosemary and Larry Mild have been named recipients of the 2024 Elliot Cades Awards for Literature, Hawai'i’s most prestigious literary honor. An annual award presented by the Hawai'i Literary Arts Council, the Elliot Cades Award celebrates established writers who live in the state. The Milds, who have made Honolulu their home since 2013, have penned more than 20 books together, including mystery novels, suspense thrillers, short story collections, and memoirs. Their latest work, The Morning Lisa, will be released in October.

Winners were revealed for the 2025 Alberta Book Publishing Awards across 16 categories, celebrating Alberta Canada’s best books of the year. A.J. Devlin's novel Bronco Buster won in the Mystery and Thriller Book of the Year category. Bronco Buster is the latest in Devlin's award-winning Hammerhead mystery series, which follows former pro wrestler-turned-P.I. "Hammerhead" Jed Ounstead. His debut novel in that series won the Arthur Ellis Award for best first novel in 2019.

An unpublished short story from Raymond Chandler is appearing for the first time in The Strand Magazine this week. "Nightmare" is an intriguing vignette that portrays Chandler, creator of the gritty fictional private detective Philip Marlowe, on the wrong side of the law, in a cell on death row awaiting execution for murder. The magazine’s managing editor, Andrew Gulli, described the tale as a “sleep-induced sojourn” that he discovered among a cache of papers belonging to Chandler’s secretary and later-life companion Jean Vounder-Davis. Although Chandler loved to mythologize his own life, boasting "I sold the very first story I sent out," Chandler biographer Tom Williams notes that "Nightmare" casts doubt about Chandler's more optimistic origin story. Williams added, "For all his efforts to make himself seem self-invented, Chandler remained, even to himself, his greatest mystery.”

As The Real Book Spy and Publishers Marketplace reported, there's been a shakeup in the continuation novels of the late Tom Clancy's Jack Ryan series. In 2024, Brian Andrews and Jeffrey Wilson, collectively known as Andrews and Wilson, released their first Jack Ryan thriller, Tom Clancy Act of Defiance, a direct sequel to Clancy’s iconic debut, The Hunt For Red October (forty years after its initial release). But now they're leaving the Ryanverse. Ward Larsen will be taking over the reins for an additional stopgap novel, Tom Clancy Rules of Engagement, due out May 19, 2026, and then M.P. Woodward will resume the series. Woodward had already been writing a Jack Junior (prequel) series, so after his promotion to Jack Senior, Jack Stewart will step in to continue the Jack Ryan Junior novels. Stewart, a former Top Gun Pilot best known for his Battle Born series and his work with Chad Robichaux (including Silent Horizons), has long been a fan of Clancy’s books, and he’s made no secret that entering the Ryanverse has long been his dream job.

The Rap Sheet recommended more than 425 books of interest to crime, mystery, and thriller lovers due out between now and New Year's Day, 2026, on at least one side of the Atlantic Ocean or the other.

Fans of both river cruising and crime might be interested in Death on the Brahmaputra, a 12-day journey through Assam & Bengal from January 16-27, 2026, including a 7-night private cruise on India's Brahmaputra River. Best-selling crime writer Abir Mukherjee will lead literary masterclasses and introduce the concept of the “closed circle mystery” before a screening of Agatha Christie’s Death on the Nile. There will also be an evening exploring the heritage of Bengali detective fiction in Kolkata with local authors.

Art Taylors' "The First Two Pages" blog feature continues a series of essays on the anthology, The Most Dangerous Games, edited by Deborah Lacy, published last month by Level Best Books. This week, LaToya Jovena talks about her included story, "The Six Questions."

This week's crime poem up at the 5-2 Crime Poetry Weekly is "At First Avenue and 97th Street," by Elisabeth Frischauf.

In the Q&A roundup, Deborah Kalb spoke with Karen Dukes, author of the new novel, Welcome to Murder Week; Jill Amadio interviewed Mary Keliikoa about her Kelly Pruett Mysteries and Misty Pines series; and James R. Benn, author of the Billy Boyle World War II novels, applied the Page 69 Test to his new novel, A Bitter Wind, the twentieth installment of the Boyle series.

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Published on September 25, 2025 08:30

Author R&R with Dan Buzzetta

(A reminder: Typepad is shutting down. This blog will switch to a new URL as of October 1st, so please change your bookmarks)

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Dan Buzzetta is a successful attorney and partner in the New York City office of a large national law firm. He is also an aficionado of the history of the mafia in the United States and Italy, where his parents were born. His legal thriller series is inspired, in part, by a fascination with all things mafia and an actual case where he worked closely with the Department of Justice and FBI. After several years, Dan's team succeeded in recovering over $240 million on behalf of thousands of innocent investors swindled by foreign nationals. In 2024, Dan was elected to the governing body of his hometown in New Jersey for a three-year term. Dan is also a volunteer firefighter, and in his spare time enjoys traveling and skiing with his wife and three children.

His debut novel, The Manipulator, follows Thomas Berte, a Harvard-educated attorney at the peak of his career with a corporate law firm, who's thrust into the legal battle of a lifetime when he's offered the position of Deputy Attorney General. Tasked with the daunting mission of bringing to justice Cosimo "Nino" Benedetto, the elusive mastermind of an international criminal syndicate, Tom soon realizes that the immense pressure of the job is only one challenge of the enviable position.

Dogged by Special Agent Bruce Young, an insolent, insubordinate underling intent on making Tom's dream job a nightmare, Tom is determined to complete the task before him. But when he uncovers troubling connections between his former law firm and the underworld empire he's determined to dismantle, Tom's world is upended. Even more disturbing, Tom discovers unimaginable secrets about his own family. The chase for Benedetto becomes a personal crusade and a pivotal moment of reckoning, pitting the pursuit of justice against unspeakable threats that come from exposing long-buried secrets. For Tom Berte, discovering the truth could be as devastating as failing to succeed.

Dan stops by In Reference to Murder to take some Author R&R about writing the novel:

When I read a description for this blog post, I felt a bit uneasy. I was asked to share details about the research I did for my debut novel, The Manipulator, published by Severn River Publishing. I wish I could describe late nights spent in dusty libraries in far away places, the way one could imagine Dan Brown toiling away the hours while he researched the meaning behind mystical symbols for one of his many fast-paced thrillers. Or perhaps I would be expected to recount countless hours interviewing lawyers and gangsters trying to divine realistic plot points for my legal thriller centered around the pursuit of the mastermind of an international criminal syndicate who takes an unusual personal interest in the life of his pursuer.

The fact is, the story I wrote marries two subjects I already knew a little about: the law and the mob. As a result, it didn't require much research at all beyond my own life experiences. You see, I've been practicing law for over thirty years as a commercial litigator in various big New York City law firms. A large chunk of my practice has been devoted to uncovering financial frauds, tracing secreted assets, and using tools the law provides to recover monies hidden in traditional offshore tax and money laundering havens such as the Isle of Man, Cyprus, and Switzerland, to mention just a few. Cases I've worked on have necessitated cooperating with colorful characters who were once on the wrong side of the law but have since proclaimed to be "reformed criminals" who've turned over a new leaf.

I've also had the privilege of working with courageous men and women in law enforcement whose north star is to always follow the rule of law without fear or favor. Those cases often included scintillating facts, huge sums of money, sexy foreign locations, and, more often than not, exotic cars and big, expensive boats. Given this abundance of rich material, a thriller script practically writes itself with archetypal heroes, reluctant and otherwise, villains and crooks, skilled operatives, and by-the-book bureaucrats who usually make life more difficult for the honest cops than for the rogue and corrupt insiders.

The Manipulator contains aspects of real life cases I've worked on during my career which formed the backdrop for some of the legal wranglings and maneuverings taking place in the story. Likewise, aspects of The Manipulator pertaining to organized crime also reflect my life experiences but, thankfully, not from any first-hand knowledge. Rather, they reflect a passion I developed from a relatively young age as a result of being surrounded, literally, by the mystique of organized crime.

I often tell people I met my first real-life mobster when I was around twelve - years before I met a real-life lawyer. I grew up in the Todt Hill section of Staten Island. Notorious neighbors included a who's-who of real life mafiosi, including none other than Paul Castellano, then head of the Gambino crime family, perhaps the largest, richest and most feared crime family in the United States. I actually met Paul Castellano when I was around twelve when I was friends with his grandsons who lived a few houses away from me. Even at that young age, I knew who Paul Castellano was and knew about the mafia. It was hard not to.

I grew up in an Italian family in the 1980s and 1990s in New York City when stories about the mob were often front page tabloid news. Add to that that my parents immigrated to the United States from Italy, with my father having been born in a small town outside of Palermo, Sicily. After a few years in the United States, he started his own construction company. You can imagine the rumors that swirled around my private elementary school also on Todt Hill when I moved there from Brooklyn, NY, at the age of 9. The fact that my given name is 'Danilo' did nothing to swell the rumors that my family, too, must be connected to "that life."

Dispelling those rumors became a quest for me, which I did by focusing on my studies and outworking everyone else in my class. But it also sparked an interest and curiosity to learn about the origins and history of the mafia both in the United States and in my father's native land. I read everything I could get my hands on concerning the mafia and developed a fascination with its traditions, its lore, and the impact it had on our society and in the communities it penetrated. I tried to weave some of that history into the narrative of The Manipulator without writing a history lesson. I'll leave it to others to decide if I succeeded.

A few years ago, immediately after I finished writing the manuscript that became The Manipulator, I spent three months training to become a volunteer firefighter. An early lesson I learned is that you don't need to put your hand in a fire to know it burns - you know what you know. I sort of felt the same way when I sat down to write my novel. I knew what I knew about the law and the mob and didn't feel I needed any more research. I just needed to figure out how to write about it.

You can learn more about Dan Buzzetta via his website and follow him on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and BlueSky. The Manipulator is now available via Severn House and all major booksellers.

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Published on September 23, 2025 08:00

Media Murder for Monday

(A reminder: Typepad is shutting down. This blog will switch to a new URL as of October 1st, so please change your bookmarks)

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

The action thriller, Foster, has added six new members to the cast: Dash Mihok (Long Bright River), Randy J. Goodwin (Dynasty), Rhys Coiro (The Penguin), Alexis Knapp (Pitch Perfect), James Frain (Quantum Leap), and Jeremy Luke (The Irishman). As previously announced, James Franco, Ron Perlman, and Natalie Burn will headline the project. Foster is billed as "an analog, 1980s-set action thriller" that follows Donald “Don” Foster (Franco), a man haunted by his past and clawing his way through sobriety, who just wants peace — one day at a time. But when June (Burn), a troubled addict, leaves her young son on his doorstep, Don is dragged back into the violent underworld he thought he left behind. Hunted by his former boss, Brooks (Perlman), a ruthless crime lord who knows every secret Don swore to bury, Don must fight for redemption, protect the boy, and face the sins of the woman who pulled him back in…one bullet at a time.

Charlotte Kirk (The Reckoning) has boarded the action-thriller, The Night Driver, which is filming in New Mexico. Directed by Jeremy Weis (The Teacher), the film follows a traveling salesman (Josh Lucas) who is desperate to return home after surviving a run-in with a psychotic killer, only to be stalked relentlessly by him across the country and framed for several murders along the way. Kirk plays Max, a struggling single Mom bartender with a dark past who has a brief encounter with the salesman which changes her life forever. The script is by John Cork (Blue Moon).

Universal has given a release date of September 24, 2027 to the film adaptation of Miami Vice from Top Gun: Maverick filmmaker Joseph Kosinski. Kosinski’s big screen version will explore the glamour and corruption of mid-80’s Miami, inspired by the pilot episode and first season of the NBC television series that influenced culture and set the style of everything from fashion to filmmaking. The project will be shot in Imax, with casting is underway for a 2026 production start date.

TELEVISION/STREAMING

Nicole Kidman and Elle Fanning are teaming up again to star in Discretion, a legal series written by The Husbands author Chandler Baker. It comes after A24 acquired the rights in a competitive situation with multiple bidders to Baker’s short story, "Discretion," which is yet to be published. Baker will adapt the fictional short story set in Dallas, which is inspired by her experience as a corporate attorney, having also worked for a major sports franchise.

Agatha Christie is best known for her two series featuring Hercule Poirot and Miss Marple. But she also wrote a few other mysteries, including Christie’s largely forgotten 1929 thriller, The Seven Dials Mystery. The tone is far more bubbly than her other writing, centering on a giggling group of fresh-faced aristocrats, a secret society who all wear masks with clocks on their faces, and a dastardly international espionage plan incorporating secret formulas for airplanes. Critics at the time were not enthused about the work since it deviated from her usual tightly plotted detective stories, and it's only been adapted once before, in an equally forgotten effort from 1981. But Netflix hopes to change all that with a new three-part adaptation in January. Although officials at Netflix aren't saying much about future installments, there are indications it may be planned as a series. The impressive cast includes Mia McKenna-Bruce as the main protagonist, Lady Eileen "Bundle" Brent; Helena Bonham-Carter as Bundle’s aunt, Lady Caterham; Edward Bluemel as the handsome young gadabout and Bundle’s sleuthing partner Jimmy Thesiger; and Martin Freeman as Superintendent Battle.

Glassriver, the leading Icelandic film and TV production company behind Reykjavik Noir, has optioned the bestselling "Konrad" book series from Arnaldur Indriðason, the successful author of Operation Napoleon and Jar City. The banner will be making a TV series based on the seven-book series, whose story follows a retired Reykjavík detective haunted by his own troubled past while solving cold cases. Though no longer working for the police, Konrad finds himself unable to ignore the unresolved crimes that continue to haunt both victims and their families. This marks the first TV series adaptation of Indriðason’s work, although Operation Napoleon and Jar City were turned into films.

Ben Stiller and Jessica Chastain will star in the new thriller series The Off Weeks from showrunner Alissa Nutting and director Michael Showalter for Apple TV+. The drama follows new divorcé Gus Adler, a writing professor struggling to keep it together amid massive change. As Gus tries to manage the "on weeks" where he’s given custody of his children, he begins falling in love with the mysterious Stella West during his off weeks.

Dougray Scott (Mission: Impossible 2) will play iconic Danish author Hans Christian Andersen in Fairytale Detective, a new crime drama series from writer Brendan Foley and Omega Global Media. Each one-hour episode follows Andersen as he solves crimes in 1850s Copenhagen aided by a coterie of characters from his stories, who come to life to help him find justice. While embarking on his unusual hobby, he hopes to convince Jenny Lind, the love of his life, to marry him.

Another actor with ties to the Dick Wolf universe has joined the CBS's upcoming drama, CIA. Natalee Linez, who did an arc on Chicago P.D., is set as a series regular opposite Tom Ellis, Chicago Med alum Nick Gehlfuss, and Michael Michele on the FBI offshoot. CIA centers on two unlikely partners – a fast-talking, rule-breaking loose cannon CIA case officer (Ellis), and a by-the-book, seasoned and smart FBI agent (Gehlfuss) who believes in the rule of law. When this odd couple are assigned to work out of CIA’s New York Station, they must learn to work together to investigate cases and criminals posing threats on U.S. soil, finding that their differences may actually be their strength. Linez is playing Gina Rojas, a trusted CIA analyst on the team; Michele plays the head of CIA’s New York Station. CIA is scheduled to debut in midseason 2026.

Netflix has shared the teaser trailer for The Beast in Me, the upcoming mystery thriller miniseries, which hails from producers Conan O’Brien and Jodie Foster. All eight episodes will be available for streaming starting on November 13. The video introduces Emmy and Golden Globe winner Claire Danes as an author whose mysterious neighbor (Matthew Rhys) becomes the subject of her next book.

Amazon has renewed the YA series, We Were Liars, for a second season, two months after the mystery-thriller launched on Prime Video. The drama is an adaptation of E. Lockhart’s bestselling book and follows Cadence Sinclair Eastman and her tight-knit inner circle, nicknamed the Liars, during their summer escapades on her grandfather’s New England private island. The Sinclairs are American royalty—known for their good looks, old money, and enviable bond—but after a mysterious accident changes Cadence’s life forever, everyone, including her beloved Liars, seems to have something to hide.

PODCASTS/RADIO/AUDIO

On Crime Time FM, Guy Hale chatted with Paul Burke about The Shakespeare Murders; Stratford theatre; indie publishing; dodgy 70s cops, and more.

Read or Dead hosts Katie McLain Horner and Kendra Winchester discussed books by women writers for Latine Heritage Month.

The latest Mysteryrats Maze podcast featured the first chapter of Murder at the Royal Albert by Gerald Elias, read by actor Ariel Linn.

Want to know what the wet-dog shakes have to do with humans? What drug reaction causes a temperature so high it can cook the proteins inside your body? What over the counter medicine can cause a potentially life-threatening reaction with SSRIs? Find out on the latest Pick Your Poison podcast.

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Published on September 22, 2025 08:30

Friday's "Forgotten" Books: Thorne in the Flesh

(A reminder: Typepad is shutting down. This blog will switch to a new URL as of October 1st, so please change your bookmarks)

Rhona Petrie (1922-2010) was the pen name of British author Eileen-Marie Duell Buchanan, who also wrote under the name Clare Curzon. She didn't start her literary career until the 1960s, with the publication of Death in Deakins Wood, the first installment in a series featuring Police Inspector Marcus Maclurg. She went on to publish over forty novels, and the most successful was her series focusing on Detective Superintendent Mike Yeadings of the Thames Valley Serious Crime Squad, some 24 books in all.

Her numerous books weren't just throw-away quickies, either. Guilty Knowledge (1999), the first book in the Stakerly Series set in 1900s London and featuring Lucy Sedgewick, was short-listed for the Ellis Peters Historical Dagger in 2000. It actually won an award in that same year, the Herodotus Award for Best First International Historical Mystery.

Perhaps it was the author's studies in French and psychology at King's College, London, that culminated in the publication of Thorne in the Flesh in 1971, a standalone suspense/political thriller novel. Just about every page is heavily laced with the philosophical musings of the protagonist, and there's a strong Francophile-oriented angle, as well.

The titular protagonist of the book, Ellis Thorne, is a dedicated London schoolmaster living a fairly quiet life renting a single room whose entrance is crammed between Express Dairy and the launderette. One day, out of the blue the police arrive with word that a great uncle whom Thorne knows only by name, Sylveste Aury, has been seriously injured in a car crash that at first glance appears to be an accident. Thorne makes a promise to his dying relative who tells him "No accident—all yours now—you'll find—in the file—you'll take it over?"

As Thorne digs deeper into his great-uncle's business, he's pulled down into a seamy world of strippers, a squatter's siege, 1960s counterculture and anarchism, muggings, and the high-profile kidnapping of a politician that sets off riots. With pressure on all sides from thugs, the police and the intelligence service, he soon decides he's had enough and almost turns his back on the whole lot. But he can't seem to tear himself away from Tina, one of the night-club employees, and the responsibility he feels for the unlikely-named Katte Mandu, an African girl Aury was taking care of, as well as Millie, the oversized English sheepdog that came with Thorne's apartment.

The writing and subject matter is still relevent today, and Petrie manages to weave some fanciful turns of phrase and wit along with the dark atmosphere:

His mind, he'd prided himself, was a tidy one. Now it was ransacked, its contents churned and pawed over like a room that had been pillaged. He had thought he'd known what it contained and where everything was kept. Now he wasn't sure. Hidden prejudices were brought to light, the junk stuffed away behind furniture.

and

A girl took off her clothes and danced, and the audience watched serpents of light wriggle and coil over her limbs, saw stardust powder the upward curves of her pagoda body. But from where Thorne had sat, without neophiliac needs, he had seen the mechanics, recognized not spangles but sweating flesh, seen on the nakedness the sad little marks of tight elastic, pubic stubble and bitten nails. Things that on a loved body would be endearing, but here were pathetic.

and

. . . before them the muffled sounds of people boxed up inside the building—water running, a child's fretful crying, voices raised in angry dipute, a woman suddenly screaming abuse from only a few yards distant; the sound of fist on flesh and a moment's silence, then moaning and sobs of something subhuman, pleading and hating and desperately needing.

Marie Buchanan's last novel, Devil in the Detail (part of the Yeadings series), was published in 2010, but the author still isn't all that widely known, especially in the U.S. Fortunately, several of her books are available in paperback and hardcover, worth seeking out for a first, or second, look.

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Published on September 19, 2025 05:00

Mystery Melange

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(A reminder: Typepad is shutting down. This blog will switch to a new URL as of October 1st, so please change your bookmarks)

The Bloody Scotland International Crime Writing Festival announced the winners of two crime fiction prizes this past weekend. The winner of the Debut Prize was A Reluctant Spy by David Goodman; the other finalists include Natalie Jayne Clark, The Malt Whisky Murders; Foday Mannah, The Search for Othella Savage; Richard Strachan, The Unrecovered; and Claire Wilson, Five by Five (Michael Joseph). The 2025 McIlvanney Prize Scottish Crime Novel of the Year went to The Midnight King by Tariq Ashkanani; the other finalists are The Good Father, by Liam McIlvanney; Paperboy, by Callum McSorley; The Good Liar, by Denise Mina; and Midnight and Blue, by Ian Rankin.

Seven crime novels from Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden have been shortlisted for the 2025 Petrona Award for the Best Scandinavian Crime Novel of the Year. The titles 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); Satu Rämö – The Clues in the Fjord tr. Kristian London (Finland, Zaffre); Gunnar Staalesen – Pursued by Death tr. Don Bartlett (Norway, Orenda Books). The winning title will be announced on October 16, 2025.

Shortlists were announced for The Speakies, new awards in the UK dedicated to celebrating excellence in audiobooks and audio drama, sponsored by The Bookseller and The Stage. It's the first such dedicated awards for audiobooks and drama in the UK and mirrors The Audies in the U.S. The finalists in the Crime & Thriller category include: Guilty by Definition by Susie Dent (Zaffre), narrated by Louise Brealey; Him by JD Kirk (Audible Originals), narrated by David Tennant, Louise Brealey; Lovers of Franz K by Burhan Sönmez (Oakhill), narrated by various; Marble Hall Murders by Anthony Horowitz (Penguin Random House Audio), narrated by Lesley Manville, Tim McMullan; Panic by LJ Ross (WF Howes), narrated by Richard Armitage; and The Hotel Avocado by Bob Mortimer (Gallery), narrated by Bob Mortimer, Paul Whitehouse, Sally Phillips, Julie Maisey. The awards ceremony and announcement of winners is slated for November 24th.

Desert Sleuths is presenting its Annual Writers Conference this Friday and Saturday. Registration is still open for Saturday's portion of this virtual event, which will feature Wendy H. Jones talking about self-editing; a panel on keeping the creative juices flowing, with Rhys Bowen (moderator), Edith Maxwell, Catriona McPherson, and Lois Winston, and a workshop titled "Is it Thriller, Mystery, or Suspense?" with Allison Brennan, among others.

The Mysterious Press has reported the passing of Thomas Perry (1947-2025), who died suddenly on September 15. His first book, The Butcher’s Boy, won the Edgar award in 1983, and he later launched his popular and critically acclaimed series about Jane Whitefield in 1995 with Vanishing Act, chosen as one of the “100 Favorite Mysteries of the Century” by the Independent Mystery Booksellers Association. The last book in the series, The Tree of Light and Flowers, will be published in March 2026. Many of his books have been adapted by Hollywood studios, most recently The Old Man, a limited-run television series starring Jeff Bridges and John Lithgow in 2022 (a second series made its debut in 2024), and his novel Strip has completed filming as Bear Country, starring Russell Crowe. (HT to The Rap Sheet)

Edgar Allan Poe is best remembered for his tales of psychological terror, but he was also acclaimed in his own day for his satires, mysteries, science fiction, literary criticism, and lyric poetry. Europeans regarded him as America’s first internationally influential author, and Lord Tennyson deemed him as "America’s most original creative genius." What some may not know is that apparently, there were real-life inspirations behind some of his famous stories.

A mansion where a legendary crime writer penned her first murder mystery novel has hit the market for £10million. The elegant seven-bedroom townhouse on St George's Square in the upmarket Pimlico area of London is believed to have once been the home of Dorothy L Sayers, said to have taken a top-floor flat in the building during the early 1920s, where she wrote her first crime novel Whose Body?, published in 1923. Sayers, then 27, rented a room in the townhouse while she was also working as a copywriter for an advertising agency in London and studying for a masters degree at the University of Oxford. Whose Body? introduced her primary recurring character Lord Peter Wimsey, an aristocratic amateur sleuth.

And if you have enough money to buy that house, then you probably have enough to also purchase a copy of Dame Agatha Christie’s The Mousetrap, once owned by the late actor Lord Richard Attenborough, which is on view at Shapero Rare Books and carries an asking price of £7,500. The inscription reads: "For dear Dickie on our sixth birthday in grateful appreciation of your 'Sergeant Trotter' from Agatha." The book was gifted to Lord Attenborough on the sixth anniversary of the original West End production, which opened in 1952. Attenborough was in the original cast with his wife Sheila Sim, who played the owner of Monkswell Manor, Mollie Ralston.

Over at Art Taylor's "The First Two Pages," he posted the first of three essays from authors whose stories were included in the new anthology, The Most Dangerous Games, edited by Deborah Lacy. (Disclosure note: I have a story in that anthology, as well). L.L. Kaplan starts off first with a discussion of her story, "The Hack Job."

This week's crime poem up at the 5-2 Crime Poetry Weekly is "A Different Cash Dispenser" by Tom Docherty.

In the Q&A roundup, Deborah Kalb spoke with Jeffery Deaver and Isabella Maldonado, authors of the new novel, The Grave Artist, a followup to their book, Fatal Intrusion; Lisa Haselton chatted with suspense author Kimberly Lee about her new thriller, Have You Seen Him; and Writers Who Kill interviewed James M. Jackson, author of the Seamus McCree mystery series, about Niki Undercover, the first in a brand new series.

Author R&R with S.L. Woeppel

S.L. Woeppel gets antsy being in one place too long, so she’s lived in various places across the United States, most recently moving from Chicago farther north for even more cold and snow. She grew up wanting to be a writer and photographer for National Geographic but found her way to a public finance career and has recently turned her hand to writing. She was a BookLife Prize finalist for her 2024 debut, the humorous romance novel, Flipping the Birdie. Her second book is the mystery novel, The Butcher and The Liar

In The Butcher and the Liar, Daisy Bellon thinks she may have buried her skeletons forever. At thirty-five, she runs a butcher shop in a forgotten corner of Chicago, keeping her past locked away. But when an anonymous letter arrives, she’s thrust back to the day her life split in two.

At nine years old, Daisy meets Caleb Garcia, a boy who makes her believe in the possibility of friendship and happiness. But that same night, she stumbles upon her father dismembering a woman in their basement and becomes his unwilling apprentice, sworn to keep his monstrous secrets. When the victim’s ghost appears in Daisy’s room, she's bound to a haunting legacy. To endure, Daisy weaves a web of lies, clinging to the light of Caleb’s friendship while slipping deeper into the darkness of her father’s shadow.

More than two decades later, following the arrival of the mysterious letter, someone close to Daisy is brutally murdered in an all-too-familiar fashion. Forced to confront the truth about her family and herself, Daisy must decide whether to let the darkness consume her—or to fight for love and redemption, even if it means revealing everything she’s tried to bury.

S.L. Woeppel stops by In Reference to Murder to take some Author R&R about researching and writing the book:

Remember To Clear Your Browsing History: The Research of Writing.

While writing my novel, The Butcher and The Liar, I ended up with YouTube and social media feeds full of instructional videos on how to dismember an animal carcass; a clear sign to the algorithms that I was likely a danger to society, or maybe just a writer.

These videos and sites I stalked for a time belonged mostly to butchers showcasing their craft while explaining each step of the process. They discussed each part of the cow, what kind of cut comes from which section of the body and why you would cut it one way or the other. They discussed everything, and I ate it up (pun intended).

I watched their movements, how they maneuvered their knives through the meat. I noted their clothing and tools, their hair restraints and their mannerisms. I tried to gleam vocabulary and snippets of advice I could use in my characters. I was surprised to see the variety of presentation styles. Some were very scientific, noting exact specifications, using measuring devises, cutting each time with replicated precision. Then there were others who approached it more artfully, without the use of precision tools, discussing the feel and color and density of the meat; knowledge which could only be gained through many years of experience.

I watched interviews with Temple Grandin and read excerpts of her books. I looked at pictures of old cattle auction houses and got guided on-line tours. While I’m sure a butcher will find inaccuracies in my presentation of the occupation, I spent a lot of time doing my best to get it as close to right as possible.

In The Butcher and The Liar, Daisy (our protagonist) learns the art of the trade from her father, a well-respected butcher in their small town. He also happens to kill people on this side, forcing Daisy to keep his grisly secrets and into the position of accomplice to his crimes. For these characters, the occupation of the butcher isn’t one that lingers in the background, a snippet here and there to let the reader know that the character is, in fact, employed. No, this occupation is the link between Daisy and her father. While the act of butchering is rarely the primary focus of the story - it’s always there, always pushing in from the background, her father’s legacy to her. Ever present – it seeps into her as any learned trait of one’s parent does. And as an adult, that same occupation is her father’s constant presence in her life, dictating her actions, filling up her identity. It was vastly important for me delve into as much of the grit of the trade as possible in order to present the characters with any level of authenticity.

As a child in small town Nebraska, I lived a few blocks from a cattle auction - the sounds, smells and organized chaos of which seeped into my subconscious. Much later, I moved to Chicago’s Fulton Market neighborhood while it was still a meatpacking district, through quickly evolving into something else. This story was inspired by the confluence of these settings and the thread that connects them – the business of cattle. So, while the book is complete fiction, it was important for me to present these settings more realistically. My own father passed away in 2022 and I went back to that hometown where he was buried, having not been there in many years. I stopped by that old cattle auction, closed seven years by then. It still stood, dilapidated, the catwalks cordoned off and falling apart, all right in the center of town. And I thought about how things change, how something with so much life would simply degrade into rubble, how things in the past, whether good or evil, fade. The notion was both sad and comforting at the same time. I took a few pictures without being able to get too close. They didn’t quite capture what I remembered, but looking at the image now, I still see the bustle of it, the colors and smells. I hear the sound of boots on a steel catwalk and see that magnificent Nebraska sunset that can light up the entire sky. Sometimes research is reconnecting with something from the past, something essential to the tone and sensory experience of the story. Research can be, and often is, as simple as that.

The big topic research pieces, like learning about a new occupation, are important, but so are the little details. Writing a novel is a constant back and forth with google, everything from looking for accurate spelling to ensuring dates are correctly referenced. In this story, Daisy is a solitary kid with generally absent parents, basically raised by 80’s and 90’s television. She tends to reference it a lot. As such, connecting timelines of when a show aired and at what point a particular reference would match up, was more of an ordeal than I would have anticipated. Then the question comes, if I’m off a bit, is that okay? Will anyone remember the precise year Rosanne premiered. I went with, yes. Someone always remembers these things.

I have a day job in finance, so it sticks out to me when fiction authors use language that isn’t particularly true to life – usually in a scene where they are just getting off a work phone call before returning to the real story. I don’t let it bother me too much, but it does stick out, takes me out of the story for just a moment.

Whether it’s something big that feels essential, or something little that’s also essential, it’s important to strive for that authenticity. Whether it’s in digging deep with a whole new occupation, checking the details, or even recalling our own memories for the minutiae that serves to transport the reader, you’ll know you’ve done your job when you’re your social media feeds and internet ads consist entirely of butchery training programs and ads for Omaha Steaks.

You can learn more about S.L. Woeppel and her books via her website and follow her on Instagram and Goodreads. The Butcher and the Liar is released today and is available via all major booksellers.

In The Butcher and the Liar, Daisy Bellon thinks she may have buried her skeletons forever. At thirty-five, she runs a butcher shop in a forgotten corner of Chicago, keeping her past locked away. But when an anonymous letter arrives, she’s thrust back to the day her life split in two.

At nine years old, Daisy met Caleb Garcia, a boy who makes her believe in the possibility of friendship and happiness. But that same night, she stumbled upon her father dismembering a woman in their basement and became his unwilling apprentice, sworn to keep his monstrous secrets. When the victim’s ghost appears in Daisy’s room, she's bound to a haunting legacy. To endure, Daisy weaves a web of lies, clinging to the light of Caleb’s friendship while slipping deeper into the darkness of her father’s shadow.