B.V. Lawson's Blog, page 104

Happy Thanksgiving

           Related StoriesSupport Your Indies! 

Mystery Melange, Thanksgiving Edition

Mystery Writers of America (MWA) has announced the recipients of the 2021 Grand Master Awards, Charlaine Harris and Jeffery Deaver, as well as the 2020 Raven Award recipient, which goes to the Malice Domestic conference. They will receive their awards at the 75th Annual Edgar Awards Ceremony, which will be held April 29, 2021. MWA’s Grand Master Award represents the pinnacle of achievement in mystery writing and was established to acknowledge important contributions to this genre, as well as for a body of work that is both significant and of consistent high quality. The Raven Award recognizes outstanding achievement in the mystery field outside the realm of creative writing.

Six crime novels from Finland, Iceland, Norway, and Sweden have been shortlisted for the 2020 Petrona Award for the Best Scandinavian Crime Novel of the Year. They include: The Courier by Kjell Ola Dahl, tr. Don Bartlett (Orenda Books; Norway); Inborn by Thomas Enger, tr. Kari Dickson (Orenda Books; Norway); The Cabin by Jørn Lier Horst, tr. Anne Bruce (Michael Joseph; Norway); The Silver Road by Stina Jackson, tr. Susan Beard (Corvus; Sweden); The Absolution by Yrsa Sigurðardóttir, tr. Victoria Cribb (Hodder & Stoughton; Iceland); and Little Siberia by Antti Tuomainen, tr. David Hackston (Orenda Books; Finland).

The finalists for the 12th Annual Goodreads Choice Awards in the Mystery/Thriller category have been chosen, and readers will have a chance to vote for the best books of the year the end of the month. To vote and check out the ten finalists, follow this link.

The latest issue of Mystery Scene Magazine includes Oline Cogdill’s cover profile of James Rollins, the thriller writer behind an impressive list of bestsellers—particularly the Sigma Force novels about gun-toting scientists. John B. Valeri talks to Lisa Jewell about her latest novel, Invisible Girl, which looks at the delicate shifting balances of a couple's relationship over time. Valeri also sits down with Kevin O’Brien to discuss O'Brien's new novel, The Bad Sister, and reaching the author's milestone of 20 books in 23 years. Craig Sisterson has an interesting conversation with Irish novelist Liz Nugent, plus there's a celebration of the 60th anniversary of everyone's favorite deceptively humble lieutenant, Columbo, and much more.

Janet Rudolph's Mystery Fanfare blog has the annual list of Thanksgiving-themed crime fiction for you to enjoy over the holiday.

Need some more reading over the holidays? The Rap Sheet has been keeping up with the media's "best of 2020" lists so far.

The Mystery Lovers' Kitchen blogger-authors have some helpful recipes for your Thanksgiving feast, including Cranberry Crisp Cake via Peg Cochran; Mini-Pumpkin Cheesecake Swirls by Mary Jane Maffini, and for after the feast, a Leftover Turkey Casserole, via Cleo Coyle.

Something I am incredibly thankful for are public libraries. But I have a feeling I'm not alone in my appreciation for these vital community institutions, as patrons of these "16 Wonderfully Weird Libraries Around The World" can attest.

Speaking of libraries, the New York Public library has a collection of vintage quirky Thanksgiving postcards online.

The latest crime poem at the 5-2 Weekly is "Easy Mark" by Rena J. Worley.

In the Q&A roundup, Anthony Horowitz joined NPR's Fresh Air to talk about his Alex Rider books and the joys of reading and writing mysteries; Ed Aymar, a columnist, host of the DC Noir at the Bar, and also thriller author, stopped by the Writers Who Kill blog to talk about his Anthony-nominated novel, The Unrepentent, and his latest book, They’re Gone (just launched under the pen name of E.A. Barres); and The Mystery People spoke with Jeff Vorzimmer, editor of The Best of Manhunt and its follow-up anthology of stories from the great crime fiction magazine of the fifties and sixties.

           Related StoriesMystery MelangeMystery Melange - Halloween Edition 

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

Stampede Ventures Productions has optioned the rights to screenwriter Ward Parry’s spec script, Mr. Croup, described an original spy-thriller with franchise potential, inspired by the likes of James Bond and Liam Neeson’s Taken character, Bryan Mills. The script follows a mysterious recluse on a desolate island who finds himself in the company of a 10-year-old girl after her boat capsizes offshore and he is called to save her. With her in his possession, he must come out of hiding and face his past as a secret agent for the British government.

Saoirse Ronan, Sam Rockwell, and David Oyelowo have signed on to star in a new untitled murder mystery thriller from Searchlight Pictures. Tom George is on board to direct the film from a script by Mark Chappell. The story is set in 1950s London, where a desperate Hollywood film producer sets out to turn a popular West End play into a film. When members of the production are murdered, world-weary Inspector Stoppard (Rockwell) and overzealous rookie Constable Stalker (Ronan) find themselves in the midst of a puzzling whodunit within London’s glamorous Theatreland and sordid underground.

Michael Shannon is set to join Sony’s action thriller, Bullet Train, also starring Brad Pitt, Joey King, Aaron Taylor Johnson, Brian Tyree Henry, Zazie Beetz, and Andrew Koji. Hobbs & Shaw director David Leitch will direct and also supervise the script, which will be written by Zak Olkewicz. The film is based on the Japanese novel, Maria Beetle, by bestselling author Kotaro Isaka and involves five assassins aboard a fast moving bullet train who find out their missions have something in common.

TELEVISION/STREAMING SERVICES

A Dial M for Murder anthology series from Alicia Vikander and Terence Winter is in development at MGM/UA Television. Based on the 1952 Frederick Knott play and subsequent Alfred Hitchcock film adaptation, the series is said to retell the crime drama from a female perspective. Vikander (Danish Girl, Ex Machina, Tomb Raider) is set to star, with potential follow-up installments in the suspense thriller genre also planned. The original Dial M For Murder centers on a retired tennis champion who discovers that his wife has had an affair and hires an acquaintance to murder her. When the plan backfires and the wife kills her assassin, her husband frames her for the man’s murder, with his elaborate plot only uncovered with the help of his wife’s lover hours before she was to be executed.

Silverprint Pictures, the ITV Studios-owned production label behind the long-running series, Vera, is turning its attentions to its next Ann Cleeves adaptation. The production outfit will reimagine The Long Call as a four-part series, penned by Kelly Jones in what will be her first standalone series. The Long Call was published last year and is the first in a series of Two Rivers novels set in the English county of Devon. It follows detective Matthew Venn as he returns to the evangelical community in which he grew up to attend his father’s funeral. He is soon embroiled in the investigation of a murder close to his new home when the body of a man with a tattoo of an albatross on his neck is found on the beach. It draws Venn back into a community where murder and intrigue bubble beneath the surface, all set against the stunning backdrop of Devon’s coastline.

Lifetime has ordered the Meagan Good-led thriller, Death Saved My Life, as the next movie in its "Ripped From the Headlines" franchise. Along with Meagan Good, the small-screen film also stars Chiké Okonkwo and Good’s real-life sister, La’Myia Good. The Good sisters will portray siblings in the project, which is inspired by the true story of a woman who faked her own death in order to trap her husband after he hires a hitman to kill her. Lifetime’s lineup of upcoming "Ripped from the Headlines" movies also includes Girl in the Basement, starring Stefanie Scott, Judd Nelson, and Joley Fisher, and The Long Island Serial Killer: A Mother’s Hunt for Justice, lead by Kim Delaney and executive produced by Deborah Norville.

ABC has firmed up its midseason schedule, setting up early 2021 premiere dates for its scripted series. That includes ABC’s returning police procedural, The Rookie, starring Nathan Fillion, which is slated to return on January 3, and Big Sky, based on the 2013 novel The Highway by C. J. Box, scheduled to premiere January 26.

Coyote, the Border Patrol drama starring Michael Chiklis, is the latest high-profile Viacom scripted series to move to streaming. The series, which is produced by Sony Pictures Television, is moving from Paramount Network to CBS All Access. Coyote, which stars Juan Pablo Raba alongside Chiklis, is the story of Ben Clemens (Chiklis), who after 32 years as a border patrol agent is forced to work for the very people he spent his career trying to keep out of America. Now exposed to life on the other side of the wall, Ben will start to question his black and white views of the world, challenging his ideology and his loyalties.

PODCASTS/VIDEO/RADIO/AUDIO

Jeffery Deaver was the special guest on The Tartan Noir Show, talking about his latest books and plans for both the Lincoln Rhyme and Colter Shaw series, as well as the thrill of hearing his words spoken by Denzel Washington and Angelina Jolie in the film version of The Bone Collector.

All About Agatha Christie chatted with Tana French about her latest book, The Searcher.

Meet the Thriller Author sat down with Jennifer Graeser Dornbush, a screenwriter, author, speaker, and forensic specialist.

In GAD We Trust discussed the new book from Mark Aldridge, Agatha Christie’s Poirot: The Greatest Detective in the World.

The Gay Mystery Podcast welcomed Anne Laughlin, author of six novels for Bold Strokes Books. She is the recipient of four Goldie Awards and has been short-listed three times for a Lammy Award.

My Favorite Detective Stories chatted with Norman Brewer, an award-winning reporter and editor, about his latest work, Killer Politics, the sequel to Blending In: A Tale of Homegrown Terrorism.

Writers Detective Bureau host, veteran Police Detective Adam Richardson, talked about fingerprints, vigilantes, fiction writing, technical advising, and more in the latest episode.

The latest topic on the forensic podcast, Criminal Mischief, hosted by Dr. D.P. Lyle, was "Gunshot Wound Analysis."

Wrong Place, Write Crime spoke with Eric Campbell about the founding of Down and Out Books and his experiences as a publisher of hard boiled crime fiction.

Read or Dead geared up for the holiday season with a giant pile of books that you could give to someone (or yourself).

GAMES

After eight years, fans of the James Bond franchise will finally get a new video game, and it will tell the superspy’s origin story. Details about "Project 007" are sparse so far, but IO Interactive said the game will not be based solely on Ian Fleming’s Casino Royale novel or the 2006 film adaptation (or the prequel novels by Anthony Horowitz). Instead, it's a "wholly original Bond story developed exclusively as a video game." IO Interactive said the game will be released on modern systems and platforms, most likely playable on both current consoles and PCs.

           Related StoriesMedia Murder for Monday 

Quote of the Week

            

FFB: Death in the Old Country

Eric Wright was born in London, England in 1929 but immigrated to Canada and eventually became chair of the English department and Dean of Arts at Ryerson Institute of Technology in Toronto. Wright penned dozens of stories, many of them crime fiction, and served as editor of Criminal Shorts: Mysteries by Canadian Crime Writers, published in 1992.



Wright created four different detective series, but his most popular series features Charlie Salter, a Toronto inspector suffering from middle-aged depression when he's first introduced in The Night the Gods Smiled in 1983. The book won the Arthur Ellis Award for Best Crime Novel, the Crime Writer's Association's John Creasey Award, and the City of Toronto Book Award.



Inspector Salter is an engaging character, self-righteous, outspoken, wise, vulnerable, witty and loving, although there is also an undercurrent of class friction between his police officer status and his wife's wealthy family. The Salter installment Death in the Old Country (1986), which also won the Arthur Ellis Award, finds Charlie Salter and his wife Annie vacationing in merrie olde England while trying to repair their strained marriage. A car accident in the small town of Tokesbury Mallett forces them to find shelter for a few days at the local Boomewood Hotel. At first, they find the unexpected stop to be a blessing, as Annie tours local sights with new friends Maud and Henry Beresford, while Charlie discovers steeplechasing and the local pub.



But the respite is too good to last, as two strange incidents bring a jarring halt to their vacation: a peeping Tom is spying on Charlie and Annie, and an intruder goes through Charlie's coat pockets in their hotel room. Charlie shrugs the incidents off at first, trying to keep his police connections secret, but when middle-aged hotel owner Terry Dillon is stabbed to death, Charlie reluctantly springs into action. He tries to help his British colleague, Inspector Chucher, only to be reprimanded by Chucher's boss, but continues his own investigation on the sly.



The primary suspect is the victim's young Italian wife, who accused her husband of adultery with Canadian hotel guest Miss Rundstedt, but other possibilities include Dillon's proud brother or possibly someone from Dillon mysterious past when he disappeared in Italy during WW II and resurfaced decades later as a wealthy man. Salter's investigations lead to switched identities and blackmail and take him and Annie to Pisa and Florence as they track the victim's shadowy international connections.



Wright is known for his "lucid and agreeably laconic style," as one reviewer put it, and Kirkus adds that "the appeal this time is almost entirely in the trimmings: the English-village charm, the droll peripheral characters, and the Salters themselves—who just may be the most endearingly tart cop-and-wife couple since Roderick Alleyn and Agatha Troy."

            

Mystery Melange

For the first time ever, audiences worldwide can watch the An Post Irish Book Awards ceremony as it happens – online via RTÉ Culture, on 25th November at 7:30 pm. RTÉ's Evelyn O'Rourke will announce the winners of each of the 16 categories, including Novel of the Year and Best Crime Fiction of the Year.

The Poisoned Pen Bookstore is sponsoring a live online event featuring James Patterson in conversation with Lee Child on Monday, December 7 at 7 pm EST. They'll be discussing two new Patterson releases: The Last Days of John Lennon, a true crime account of Lennon’s murder, and Deadly Cross, the new Alex Cross novel. Registration is required.

If you missed the recent virtual Bouchercon or Bloody Scotland conferences, video events are still available online. Check out the various panels and Q&As via the Bouchercon YouTube channel; and on Bloody Scotland's YouTube channel, you can catch Michael Connelly in conversation with Ian Rankin.

The call for papers was extended for the upcoming Mean Streets: A Journal of American Crime and Detective Fiction issue devoted to crime literature set in New York outside of New York City. Abstracts of 250 words with a proposed title should be emailed no later than November 30 to the editors: Rebecca Martin (doc.rmartin@gmail.com) and Walter Raubicheck (wraubicheck@pace.edu). Final papers of 7,000-8,000 words will be due by February 15, 2021, with publication anticipated in spring 2021. (HT to Shots Magazine)

Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp, which already owns publisher Harper Collins, made a bid for Simon & Schuster, which was put up for sale by CBS Viacom in March. It's unknown at this point how the sale would affect S&S titles going forward (except for the expected staff cuts). S&S has published books by such crime fiction authors as Megan Abbott, James Lee Burke, Mary Higgins Clark, John Connolly, Janet Evanovich, Walter Mosley, and hundreds more.

Following Quentin Tarantino's award-winning film, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, which followed a fading actor and his stunt double in 1969 Los Angeles as they cross paths with the Manson cult, the filmmaker is writing a novelization of the project. Harper Collins announced a two-book deal for both the novel of Tarantino's 2019 film and a "deep dive" into 1970s cinema.

Glen Erik Hamilton applied the Page 69 Test to his latest novel, A Dangerous Breed. A native of Seattle, Hamilton was raised aboard a sailboat and grew up around the marinas and commercial docks and islands of the Pacific Northwest. His novels have won the Anthony, Macavity, and Strand Magazine Critics awards, and been nominated for the Edgar, Barry, and Nero awards. 

The UK's Sherlock Holmes Magazine celebrated part 2 of the 25th anniversary issue, which is jam-packed with Holmesian goodies. Articles include a profile of Jeremy Brett as Sherlock; celebrating the wonder women of Sherlock (Molly, Mary, and Mrs. Hudson, as well as the new Enola Holmes series); a look at the TV series, Remembering Reichenbach; and more.

Matt Barton, curator of the Library of Congress's Recorded Sound Section, discussed author Rex Stout's roles on the radio that are reflected in more than 40 LOC holdings. These include various incarnations of Stout's sleuth Nero Wolfe, Stout's appearances on Information Please, his hosting duties for Speaking of Liberty, and his participation in an episode about the detective story on the NBC program, Conversation with critics Clifton Fadiman and Jacques Barzun. (HT to Elizabeth Foxwell's Bunburyist blog)

The latest crime poem at the 5-2 Weekly is "Viewers Like You" by Margot Douaihy.

In the Q&A roundup, Twin Cities crime novelist Priscilla Paton talked about inspiration, research, and Scandinavian noir with the Minnesota Daily; and Ruth Ware, author of Woman in Cabin 10, stopped by Shots Magazine to talk about her most recent thriller, One by One.

           Related StoriesMystery MelangeMystery Melange - Halloween Edition 

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 winner Richard Dreyfuss and Taryn Manning are joining the action-thriller, Every Last One of Them, joining the previously cast Mike Hatton, Paul Sloan, Brian Hayes Currie, Mary Christina Brown, Nick Vallelonga, and Claire Kniaz. Christian Sesma is directing from a screenplay co-written with Chee Keong Cheung, Alistair Cave, and Edward Thomas, although details about the plot haven't been revealed.

Indian filmmaker Vishal Bhardwaj's upcoming untitled Bollywood film is inspired by a novel from the "queen of crime," Agatha Christie, and marks the first time that Agatha Christie Limited, which looks after the author's estate, has franchised her stories to an Indian filmmaker. Bhardwaj will only say of the plot, "A murder takes place in a misty Himalayan hill resort. As the whodunit unfolds, a couple almost unwittingly begin sleuthing to get to the bottom of the crime." Bhardwaj, 55, has directed and produced 15 films, including three modern-day adaptations of Shakespeare's plays - Maqbool based on Macbeth, Omkara based on Othello, and Haider based on Hamlet - which have a cult following among fans.

Stuart Ford’s AGC Studios has optioned rights to David Gilman’s thriller novel, The Englishman. Gilman is a former reconnaissance platoon paratrooper in the British Army, a firefighter, and a professional photographer who has also spent time as a writer on the ITV series, A Touch Of Frost. His published works include the "Master Of War" historical novels and the adventure series, Danger Zone. The Englishman centers on a former soldier whose work in the French Foreign Legion taking on terrorists in sub-Saharan Africa brings him to the attention of MI6. He is soon recruited for an undercover mission that takes him on a relentless search through the network of a dangerous international organized crime operation. The book is viewed as the first in a series.

Peter Sarsgaard, Riley Keough, and Bill Burr are joining Jake Gyllenhaal in The Guilty, for Netflix. Also joining the cast are Byron Bowers, Da’Vine Joy Randolph, David Castañeda, Christina Vidal, Paul Dano, Ethan Hawke, Adrian Martinez, Beau Knapp, and Edi Patterson. Antoine Fuqua is directing, while Nic Pizzolatto (True Detective) is writing the thriller, based on the Danish drama, Den Skyldige, which premiered at the 2018 Sundance Film Festival. The film will take place over the course of a single morning in a 911 dispatch call center, where operator Joe Bayler (Gyllenhaal) tries to save a caller in grave danger. However, he soon discovers that nothing is as it seems.

Jake Gyllenhaal is also in talks to star in Michael Bay's next film, an action movie titled Ambulance. While the logline for the film is being kept under wraps, Ambulance is said to be a remake of a 2005 film from Denmark about two brothers staging a robbery who steal an ambulance as their getaway vehicle with a paramedic and a dying patient in the back.

 

Gerard Butler will star in Night Has Fallen, the fourth installment in the successful "Fallen" box-office franchise. The film will reunite Butler and the Angel Has Fallen creative team, with Robert Kamen returning to write the screenplay and Ric Roman Waugh set to direct. Butler will return as U.S. Secret Service agent Mike Banning, although the plot details haven't been divulged. The fourth film in the franchise will be filmed at Millennium Media’s Nu Boyana Studios in Bulgaria and throughout Europe.

Colin Firth, Gemma Arterton, Simon Russell Beale, and Pappa Essiedu are attached to star in the period drama, Curtain Call, with Anand Tucker directing. The film, set in 1930s London, revolves around a feared theater critic named Jimmy Erskine (Beale); his loyal assistant; a newspaper owner who wants to get rid of the critic; and an actress who has been devastated by the excoriating theatrical reviews. The critic’s determination to survive ensures that the other characters are caught in a web of blackmail, deceit and murder. Patrick Marber adapted the script from Anthony Quinn’s novel.

Scott Eastwood has signed on to star alongside Tyrese Gibson, Famke Janssen, Kevin Durand, and Mel Gibson in the action-thriller, Dangerous, which is to be directed by David Hackl (Saw V). Eastwood will play a reformed sociopath who, after the death of his brother, heads to a remote island which soon falls under siege from a deadly gang of mercenaries. Forced to fend for himself, he discovers their role in his brother’s demise and sets off on a relentless quest for vengeance.

TELEVISION/STREAMING SERVICES

ITV has announced a new four-part suspenseful thriller, Our House, based on Louise Candlish’s bestselling book of the same name. The four-part series tells the story of Fiona, who arrives home one day to find strangers moving into her house. With all her family’s possessions and furniture nowhere to be seen, Fiona believes there’s been a huge mistake and insists her home isn’t for sale. Events spiral beyond her control, and she’s unable to reach her husband, Bram. With her life as she knows it disappearing before her eyes, Fiona digs deeper and also realizes her husband has disappeared too. But the secrets and lies have only just begun.

Black Bear Television has nabbed the rights to Mary Kubica’s Local Woman Missing, an upcoming mystery novel about a series of strange disappearances. The story is told through different perspectives and timelines, and revolves around three missing women from the same town whose disappearances have remained unsolved. One day, over a decade after the women go missing, one of the victims shockingly returns home. That raises a number of questions. Where has she been? What happened to the other women? And who is responsible?

Emmy winner Kim Delaney has been tapped to star in Lifetime's original movie, The Long Island Serial Killer: A Mother’s Hunt for Justice. The movie is inspired by the emotional story of Mari Gilbert, played by Delaney, a mother whose daughter’s disappearance led to the discovery of 19 bodies, many of which are believed to have been murdered by an unidentified Long Island serial killer. The film follows her relentless pursuit for answers and the truth. Emmy-winning journalist Deborah Norville, who covered Gilbert’s story as anchor for Inside Edition, will executive produce. 

NBC has put in development a drama from husband-and-wife writing duo, April Maguire and Will Honley. In the untitled drama, a year after a weekend getaway ends in tragedy, a diverse group of former high school friends reunites in the hopes of getting closure. Their reunion takes a dark turn, however, when a stranger begins taunting them and exposes dangerous secrets that lead them to question whether their friend’s death was really an accident.

Adam Goldberg has been tapped as a lead opposite Queen Latifah in The Equalizer reboot, which has a straight-to-series order at CBS to launch this season. A reimagining of the classic series, The Equalizer stars Queen Latifah as Robyn McCall, an enigmatic woman with a mysterious background who uses her extensive skills to help those with nowhere else to turn. Goldberg will play Harry Keshegian, an endearing, eccentric, and paranoid tech geek whose experience as a white-hat hacker lets him know what the real conspiracies are. He’s as loyal as they come and like a brother to McCall. The series, which recently started production, also stars Chris Noth, Lorraine Toussaint, Tory Kittles, Liza Lapira, and Laya DeLeon Hayes.

Marnee Carpenter (Criminal Minds) is set as a series regular opposite Rebecca Breeds in CBS’s Silence of the Lambs sequel series, Clarice. Additionally, Jayne Atkinson, Shawn Doyle, and Tim Guinee have been cast in recurring/guest roles in the midseason crime drama series based on Thomas Harris’ famous character. Clarice is set in 1993, one year after the events of The Silence of the Lambs. It tells the personal story of FBI Agent Clarice Starling (Breeds) as she returns to the field to pursue serial murderers and sexual predators while navigating the high-stakes political world of Washington, D.C.

PODCASTS/VIDEO/RADIO/AUDIO

The new Mysteryrat's Maze Podcast features the mystery short story, "The Belle Hope," written by Peter DiChellis and is read by actors Max and Brianne Vogt Debbas.

Crime Cafe host, Debbi Mack, interviewed crime and suspense writer Sandra Woffington, author of the Wine Valley Mystery series.

Speaking of Mysteries welcomed Anthony Horowitz to discuss Moonflower Murders, his latest novel to feature book editor, Susan Ryeland, first introduced in the 2017 Magpie Murders.

The featured guest on My Favorite Detective Stories was Frank Bequaert, who trained as an electrical engineer, before turning his hand to writing short stories, including "Never Kidnap a Crime Novelist" under his pen name of Stan Dryer. 

Suspense Radio's Beyond the Cover chatted with Dr. Ian Smith, known for his work on dieting and nutrition, who just completed his first thriller, The Unspoken.

Meet the Thriller Author spoke with Danny Gardner, who has enjoyed careers as an actor, director, and screenwriter. His latest book is Ace Book Coon, the second book in the series featuring disgraced Chicago Police Officer, Elliot Caprice, who is caught between two worlds in 1950s Chicago.

Wrong Place Write Crime welcomed James Swallow to discuss his Marc Dane novels as well as the considerable other IP universes he's written in (Star Trek, 24, Highlander, Deus Ex, and more).

The Writer's Detective Bureau podcast, hosted by veteran Police Detective Adam Richardson, celebrated its 100th episode with Adam answering a whole slew of writers' questions during a Facebook Live event.

It Was a Dark and Stormy Book Club featured a true-crime book review roundup.

Multi award-winning writer, Craig Russell, joined Theresa Talbot on The Tartan Noir Show to talk about what it’s like to have your books translated into 25 languages; how to immerse yourself in the world you are writing about; and how having really great headphones can change your life. Five of his Jan Fabel novels have been made into movies, with Craig making a cameo appearance as a detective.

           Related StoriesMedia Murder for Monday 

FFB: Fool's Gold

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



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



In Fool's Gold, the fourth novel in the series (also nominated for an Arthur Ellis Award), gold found in the mountains of Canada prompts a sudden influx of prospectors, chopper pilots, construction workers and drifters, all hoping to get rich quick. It also brings the dead body of geologist Jim Prudhomme, who's found mauled beyond recognition presumably by a bear, even though bear attacks in that area are rare. But the mystery increases when a witness claims to have seen Prudhomme days after the murder, and then Prudhomme turns up dead for real. As Bennett digs deeper, he doesn't discover gold but rather a plot to defraud the gold mine. With the help of the local police chief out for one last big case and a beautiful motel keeper with secrets of her own, Bennett races to get to the bottom of the scheme, dodging blackmailers, vengeful miners and a mounting body count.

 

A tendency to skirt the rules makes Bennett take chances that aren't always credible, but Woods' plots are known for their many twists and turns, and also witty dialogue and elements of suspense. Fans of the series are particularly fond of Sam, who Publisher's Weekly described as "…a multitalented utility infielder who can 'keep,' 'track,' 'seek,' 'fight,' 'guard,' sniff out cocaine and corpses, save lives and generally pinch-hit for a dozen patrolmen."



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

            

Mystery Melange

In honor of Veteran's Day, I'm reposting a link to a previous blog post I wrote about Veteran's Day mysteries. Janet Rudolph has more suggestions via her Mystery Fanfare blog.

Vintage will be hosting an interactive locked room mystery tomorrow, November 12, from 2-3:30 EST, with a script written by Ruth Ware during lockdown and featuring Ware and fellow crime writers Steve Cavanagh, Lisa Jewell, Dorothy Koomson, Abir Mukherjee, and Liz Nugent (along with audiobook narrator Imogen Church). The event will focus on six fictional crime writers who are invited to the annual dinner of The Detective Club, an organization comprising the crème de la crème of mystery authors. However, their host is murdered, and audience members must follow the clues to solve the crime. (HT to The Bookseller).

The 2020 Tampa Bay Times Virtual Festival of Reading takes place this weekend, November 12-14, featuring video interviews and panels with more than 40 authors talking about their latest books. Live events will include Q&As with authors James Lee Burke, Colson Whitehead, John Grisham, Laura Lippman, James Swain, Michael Connelly, Lisa Unger, Ace Atkins, Walter Mosley, Brad Meltzer, and Carl Hiaasen. Preregistration is required for all live events, although they are free.

Fans of Michael Connelly (creator of the Bosch procedural series) can catch the author via two other upcoming online events. Bloody Scotland is presenting a global live-streamed conversation with Connelly and fellow author Ian Rankin (of the Inspector Rebus series). This free event is scheduled for November 16th at 7:30 BST. Connelly will also be marking his debut with the Mark Twain House & Museum lecture series on November 17 at 7pm EST as he appears with author and journalist Douglas Preston to discuss Connelly's latest novel in the Lincoln Lawyer series, The Law of Innocence.

QuoScript, a new publishing company initially specializing in YA and crime fiction, has been co-founded by Salt director Linda Bennett. The new firm is billed as an experimental publisher "keen to foster new writing and design talent." The crime fiction will fall under the Poisoned Chalice imprint, launching with Christina James’ new novel, De Vries, a sequel to Sausage Hall (published by Salt). They've also launched a NaNoWriMo Challenge, with one potential winner receiving a publishing contract.

The yearly anthology of All Due Respect is out on bookstands now. The magazine, edited by Chris Rhatigan and David Nemeth, posts one crime fiction short story online each month and then collects all twelve stories into the yearly anthology. Authors this year include Stephen D. Rogers, Tom Leins, Michael Pool, Andrew Davie, Sharon Diane King, Preston Lang, Jay Butkowski, Steven Berry, Craig Francis Coates, Bobby Mathews, Michael Penncavage, and BV Lawson. (Personal note: I'm honored to have my story, "Quaking in My Boots" as the featured December offering coming up soon.)

This is a nice idea which I hope spreads around to other stores: 130 children in need will receive books this year through the Book Angel Project run by independent bookstore Oblong Books & Music in Rhinebeck, New York. Begun in 2002 by Piper Woods, co-owner of Montgomery Row—and Oblong Books’ landlord—the program has provided books to over 1,500 children attending kindergarten through twelfth grade.

Writing for CrimeReads, Halley Sutton makes the case for a "new wave of private eye fiction," with PIs who are more diverse and share community bonds. Although Sutton also notes that the crime fiction world still has a long way to go to get out from the shadow of the loner white knight.

If you have a subscription to The Smithsonian, you might look for an article in the December issue by Jack El-Hai about a White Mountain Apache medicine man, wrongfully convicted of murder, who partnered with mystery writer Erle Stanley Gardner to gain his freedom.

British comedy writer John Finnemore has solved Cain’s Jawbone, a murder mystery considered one of the world’s most fiendish literary puzzles, marking only the third time the puzzle has been solved in almost a century. Cain’s Jawbone was dreamed up by the Observer’s first cryptic crossword inventor, Edward Powys Mathers, who was known as Torquemada. First published in 1934, the puzzle invites the reader to reorder the book’s 100 pages – there are more than 32 million possible combinations – and solve the murders within.

In more "gaming" news, as the weather gets colder in some parts and the Covid-19 lockdowns remain/return, there's more demand for indoor entertainment options than ever before. Some of interest to crime fiction fans include a subscription mystery game; or you might try your hand at one of these "10 Mystery Subscription Boxes and Escape Room Puzzles."

The latest crime poem at the 5-2 Weekly is "Trump at the Casket of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Reposing in State" by Robert Cooperman.

In the Q&A roundup, Writers Who Kill spoke with Jennifer J. Chow, author of the Winston Wong cozy mysteries (under a pseudonym, "J.J. Chow," and the Sassy Cat mystery series; The Indie Crime Scene chatted with author John Triptych about his new release, The Boy in the Gutter; HB Lyle stopped by Crimetime to discuss The Year of the Gun, the third novel to feature Wiggins, the former leader of the Baker Street Irregulars and a pupil of Sherlock Holmes, now spy for Vernon Kell, head of the Home Department of the newly formed Secret Service; and Author Interviews welcomed D.S. Butler, a research scientist in biochemistry and pathology, about the latest book in her DS Karen Hart Series, House of Lies.

           Related StoriesMystery MelangeMystery Melange - Halloween Edition 

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

Jason Priestley is attached to star in Fear The Worst, an adaptation of Linwood Barclay's thriller novel of the same name.  Fear The Worst portrays a divorced father whose quiet life is shattered when his 16 year old daughter mysteriously disappears. His search takes him on an agonizing journey through a twisted underworld, faced continually with the unrelenting fear of never finding his daughter.

Kevin Bacon has come aboard Andrew Baird’s action thriller, One Way, joining the previously announced cast Colson Baker and Travis Fimmel. The story centers on Freddy (Baker) who goes on the run with a bag full of cash after a robbery of his former crime boss goes wrong. With a potentially fatal wound, he slips onto a bus headed into the unrelenting California desert. After a call for help, Freddy’s estranged father (Bacon) betrays him, notifying the crime boss where he is. With his life slipping through his fingers, Freddy is left with very few choices to survive. Production is expected to commence in February in Los Angeles and Tulsa, OK.

Josh Duhamel has signed on to star in Bandit, a heist thriller directed by Allan Ungar and written by Kraig Wenman. Wenman’s script centers on the true-life exploits of Gilbert Galvan Jr., a notorious American bank robber who escaped from prison and crossed into Canada. There, he embarked on a robbery spree that set a record for the most consecutive robberies in Canadian history and would get him dubbed the "Flying Bandit."

Netflix has put together its ensemble cast for Munich, which will be led by Jeremy Irons. The World War II movie is set to be directed by Christian Schwochow (The Crown) and is based on the acclaimed novel of the same name by Robert Harris. The story centers on British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain's (Irons) desperate plan to find a peaceful solution to thwart WWII. British civil servant Hugh Legat (George McKay) and German diplomat Paul von Hartmann (Jannis Niehwöhner) are sent to Munich for an emergency conference. As they see if war can be averted — and at what cost — the two old friends find themselves at the center of a political plot, with their own lives in danger.

Noomi Rapace (Girl With the Dragon Tattoo) is returning to Scandinavia and her native Sweden to star in an action thriller titled Black Crab, in the works at Netflix. Adam Berg will direct the feature adaptation of the novel by the same name written by Jerker Virdborg. The project is an action thriller set in a post-apocalyptic world torn apart by climate change and war. During an endless winter, six soldiers are sent on a dangerous mission across the frozen sea to transport a package that could finally end the war. Equipped with ice skates, unaware of what they’re carrying, or whom they can trust, the mission challenges their beliefs and forces them to ask: What are they willing to sacrifice for their own survival?

Zac Efron (The Greatest Showman) has boarded the survival thriller, Gold. Actor Anthony Hayes (Animal Kingdom) will direct and co-star in the project, which is based on a screenplay Hayes wrote with Polly Smyth. The film follows two strangers traveling through a desert who stumble across the biggest gold nugget ever found. They hatch a plan to protect and excavate their bounty with one man leaving to secure the necessary equipment. The other man remains and must endure harsh desert elements, ravenous wild dogs, and mysterious intruders, while battling the sinking suspicion he has been abandoned to his own fate.

Samuel Goldwyn Films has picked up North American rights to James Kermack’s action thriller film, Knuckledust, with a planned release later this year. The movie stars Moe Dunford, Kate Dickie, Phil Davis, Alex Ferns, Olivier Richters, Jaime Winstone, Gethin Anthony, and Sebastien Foucan. In Knuckledust, police discover an elite fight club where they find seven underground levels, filled with the dead bodies of fighters from around the world. Only one man is found left alive, and the task force has to work out if he’s a mass murderer or the lone survivor.

Disney has officially pulled a couple of their 20th Century Studios movies off the December calendar, including Death on the Nile, starring Kenneth Brannagh as Hercule Poirot in the Agatha Christie novel adaptation. As Deadline notes, this stands as a grim reminder that the holiday moviegoing season is not going to be a gift for either Hollywood or moviegoers.

TELEVISION/STREAMING SERVICES

Kurt Wallander is set to take on more cases after the European drama, Young Wallander, based on Henning Mankell’s novels, was renewed at Netflix for a second season. The prequel series stars Swedish actor, Adam Pålsson, as the eponymous detective as he's just starting out his police career in the increasingly violent environment of present-day Sweden. In the first season, after he was unable to save a teenager from a gruesome attack, Wallander had to learn to cope with his guilt in order to solve the crime.

Irish public broadcaster RTÉ and Scandinavian streamer Viaplay have lined up an all-star cast including Game of Thrones and Project Blue Book star, Aidan Gillen, and Daredevil’s Charlie Cox for the crime drama, Kin. The series charts the lives of a fictional Dublin family embroiled in a gangland war and speaks to the enduring unbreakable bonds of blood and family.

CBS All Access will not move forward with a second season of the experimental police drama, Interrogation. The 10-episode series centered on a case in which a young man was charged and convicted of brutally murdering his mother. The non-linear series was structured such that viewers were allowed to watch the episodes in any order, which CBS All Access billed as an opportunity for viewers to “follow the evidence like a cold case detective, abandon the linear narrative and determine their own investigative path.” Peter Sarsgaard, Kyle Gallner, David Strathairn, Kodi Smit-McPhee starred in the series, with Vincent D’Onofrio as a recurring guest star.

Chris Labadie has booked a recurring role opposite Jared Padalecki on Walker, the CW’s Walker, Texas Ranger reboot from CBS Studios. The series centers on Cordell Walker (Padalecki), a widower and father of two with his own moral code, who returns home to Austin after being undercover for two years, only to discover there’s harder work to be done at home. Labadie will play Jordan, a hardened, tough ex-con who is in the Green Thumb and Grace program – and he’s also involved in a heroin smuggling operation.

The second season of Anthony Horowitz’s spy thriller, Alex Rider, (Amazon Prime) is set to start shooting at the beginning of next year. Sony is yet to officially confirm Season 2, but Deadline reported that the drama is slated to begin a 22-week shoot starting January 25 in Bristol, southwest England, which is later than originally intended due to Covid-related delays. Otto Farrant stars as Alex Rider, a British teenager who has been trained as a spy since childhood. Stephen Dillane and Vicky McClure also feature in the series as members of The Department, an underworld offshoot of MI6.

PODCASTS/VIDEO/RADIO/AUDIO

Read or Dead celebrated Nonfiction November with some great nonfiction reads; talked about the great casting in the new Jane Harper adaptation; and were pleasantly surprised by the Goodreads Choice Awards.

Meet the Thriller Author welcomed K. A. Perry to talk about her environmental thriller, The Green Beach File.

Wrong Place, Write Crime chatted with Gary Lippman about his novel, Set the Controls for the Heart of Sharon Tate.

It Was a Dark and Stormy Book Club spoke with Susan Spann, the award-winning author of CLIMB and the Hiro Hattori mystery novels featuring ninja detective, Hiro Hattori, and Portuguese Jesuit, Father Mateo.

The Tartan Noir Show welcomed Gordon Brown, the author of eight crime thriller novels set in Spain, Scotland, and the US. The latest in his Morgan Cry series is Thirty-One Bones.

The Gay Mystery Podcast talked with Grant Atherton, who lives in a small sleepy town on the east coast of England after moving down from London ten years ago. The fictional town of Elders Edge in his books is based very much on his home town with a few minor changes to suit the plots.

In GAD We Trust discussed "Appeal and Deception in Golden Age Detective Fiction" with Scott K. Ratner.

           Related StoriesMedia Murder for Monday