B.V. Lawson's Blog, page 123
January 31, 2020
FFB: Thorne in the Flesh
Rhona Petrie was the pen name of British author Eileen-Marie Duell Buchanan, who also wrote under the name Clare Curzon. Born in 1922, 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 a/k/a Rhona Petrie died at the age of 87 in 2010, and even though her last novel, Devil in the Detail (part of the Yeadings series), was published as recently as that year, she isn't all that widely known, especially in the U.S. Hopefully, new publications of her backlist will be picked up by a publisher soon to make the books available to a new generation.
January 30, 2020
Mystery Melange
Registration is now open for the International Thriller Writer's Seventh Annual Online Thriller School. The eight-week program begins March 23, 2020, where the craft of thriller writing will be front and center. Each instructor will teach an aspect of craft though a Facebook Live video, written materials that include further reading and study suggestions, and an entire week of on-line Q&A with the registered students. Featured author-instructors include Allison Brennan, Grant Blackwood, Raymond Khoury, Karen Dionne, Steven James, Hank Phillippi Ryan, Peter James and Kathleen Antrim.
Perfect Crime, the first crime writing festival set in the heart of Liverpool, is gearing up for its inaugural convention on November 14 with a new website. Ann Cleves is the special guest, with more authors and evnets to be announced soon.
More good conference news: Noireland 2020 is returning with a one-day festival packed full of panels, workshops, tours, and screenings on Saturday, March 28 in Belfast at the Clayton Hotel. Organizers plan to announced the program soon with more information about registration and tickets.
Level Best Books is partnering with Lee and Denene Lofland to launch New Arc Books, a new imprint. Lee, a veteran police investigator, has served as a consultant for Slate Magazine, Spike TV and for many well-known bestselling authors. As an expert, he has appeared on BBC television, CNN, NPR radio’s Talk of the Nation and Public Television. Denene received a Ph.D. from Virginia Commonwealth University School of Medicine, and while her career is focused on science, her life-long passions are fantasy and science fiction. They are actively seeking submissions, from agents or authors, of novels between 70,000 and 100,000 words with a tilt toward crime titles, both fiction and nonfiction.
Faber will celebrate the 100th anniversary of P D James’ birth by publishing her short story "The Part-Time Job" in book form for the first time. August 3 will mark what would have been the 100th birthday of James, which Faber published for over 50 years following the publication of her first novel, Cover Her Face, in 1962. In celebration of this centenary, Faber will publish short story "The Part-Time Job" in book form, which editorial director Angus Cargill described as "an ingenious, dark-treat of a story." Faber will also publish a specially designed new paperback edition of A Mind to Murder, the second novel in James' Adam Dalgliesh series. Faber said it hopes to draw a new generation of readers to "this great character and classic series."
Nancy Drew debuted in 1930 in The Secret of the Old Clock and has been busily solving crimes ever since. She has become an icon as few other characters have. But while you’ve certainly heard of the celebrated girl detective, how much do you really know about her? This quiz poses 15 questions about the characters and cases that appeared in the original 56 Nancy Drew books.
Speaking of Nancy Drew, her fans might not be thrilled to learn that a new graphic novel by Anthony Del Col just killed off the teen detective. But Bustle came to the rescue with a list of "15 Female Detective Novels To Read While You Mourn Nancy Drew."
If you work a lot of crossword puzzles (guilty!), then you've probably come across the word "yegg." Ever wonder how this unusual crime-associated term came about? Grammarphobia has you covered.
This week's crime poem at the 5-2 is "Xannie" by J.B. Stevens.
In the Q&A roundup, Deborah Kalb spoke with Tanen Jones about her new thriller, The Better Liar; the Irish Examiner chatted with Jo Spain, author of Six Wicked Reasons, about how she multitasks to get a lot done; and the Washington Times interviewed Otto Penzler, a long-time champion of short crime fiction through his Mysterious Press imprint.
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January 27, 2020
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
Matt Damon is set to re-team with James Mangold, his director on Ford v Ferrari, for an adaptation of Don Winslow's 2017 novel, The Force. Damon will star as a New York City detective named Denny Malone, who leads an elite squad of cops called "Da Force" that wages war on drugs, gangs and gun violence. The only problem is that Denny is dirty and is being pursued by the feds for stealing millions after one of the biggest drug busts in the city’s history.
It was previously reported that Martin Scorsese and Leonardo DiCaprio were working on an adaptation of Killers of the Flower Moon: The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI, the 2017 book by David Grann which investigates a series of murders of members of the Osage Native American tribe in Oklahoma in the 1920s. Now it seems that Robert De Niro has officially come on board, with filming set to get underway shortly.
Paramount has debuted a second official trailer for The Rhythm Section, an adaptation of the first book from the "Stephanie Patrick Thrillers" series by Mark Burnell. The Rhythm Section is described as an international spy thriller about a woman who takes on the identity of an assassin in order to seek out and get revenge on those who orchestrated a plane crash that killed her family. Blake Lively stars as Stephanie Patrick, along with Jude Law, Max Casella, Daniel Mays, Richard Brake, Raza Jaffrey, Tawfeek Barhom, and Sterling K. Brown.
The annual Sundance Film Festival has produced lists of the "hottest" titles (for example, here and here) that may be hitting screens near you. They include Assassins, where true crime meets global spy thriller; the political thrillers, The Last Thing He Wanted, and Ironbark; and various crime-based documentaries.
TELEVISION/STREAMING SERVICES
Amazon has put in development a series based on James Patterson’s Alex Cross novels for television. The series focuses on Metropolitan Police Department detective and father Alex Cross as he faces threats to his family and the city of Washington, D.C. The thriller series, which is ongoing, currently consists of 29 books, and it's not known yet which specific novels would be adapted for the series. Morgan Freeman and Tyler Perry have both previously starred as the character on the big screen.
TNT is developing Liars Club, a one-hour dramedy/thriller from a team that includes actress/writer Amy Rutberg (Netflix’s Daredevil) and NCIS: New Orleans showrunner, Christopher Silber. Written by Rutberg, Liars Club is a show about a woman with a unique skill set and a dark history leading two very different lives – one adorned in the trappings of Connecticut country clubs and house parties, the other drenched in the murk of the underground New York gambling circuit.
The Night Manager executive producer Stephen Garrett has optioned the rights to Gordon Corera’s non-fiction book, Russians Among Us: Sleeper Cells, Ghost Stories And The Hunt for Putin’s Spies with a view to turning it into a television series. Russians Among Us tells the story of Vladimir Putin’s espionage campaign in the West, the Russian "deep cover" spies who penetrated America and the FBI campaign to capture them.
Emmy-winning Fleabag director Harry Bradbeer has co-created a Rear Window-esque crime drama with Manhunt writer Ed Whitmore for ITV. The five-part thriller Viewpoint follows a police surveillance investigation into a tight knit community in Manchester and explores "whether it is ever possible observe the lives of others with true objectivity and zero effect."
Quibi’s upcoming action-thriller starring Liam Hemsworth and Christoph Waltz now has an official title, Most Dangerous Game. The series, from Scorpion creator Nick Santora, focuses on a man desperate to take care of his pregnant wife before a terminal illness can take his life, accepting an offer to participate in a deadly game where he soon discovers that he’s not the hunter…but the prey.
Johnny Flynn is set to star opposite Andrew Scott in Steven Zaillian’s drama series for Showtime, Ripley, based on Patricia Highsmith’s bestselling quintet of Tom Ripley novels. Oscar winner Zaillian (Schindler’s List) will write and direct the entire first season. In the series, Tom Ripley (Scott), a grifter scraping by in early 1960s New York, is hired by a wealthy man to try to convince his vagabond son, Dickie Greenleaf (Flynn), who is living a comfortable, trust-funded ex-pat life in Italy, to return home. Tom’s acceptance of the job is the first step into a complex life of deceit, fraud and murder.
Philip Anthony-Rodriguez is set to recur in CBS’ upcoming drama, Tommy, which premieres February 6. The series stars Emmy-winner Edie Falco as Abigail "Tommy" Thomas, a former high-ranking NYPD officer who becomes the first female chief of police for Los Angeles. Anthony-Rodriguez will play Rascal Santos, described as "a wary, smart and dedicated Vice Squad Commander" who works closely with Tommy when one of his operations might be compromised.
Iain Maitland’s thriller, Mr. Todd’s Reckoning, has been optioned for TV by Abbott Vision, producers of critically acclaimed TV dramas including No Offence. The project tells the story of a father and a son in a seemingly normal house on a normal street...who are slowly driving each other insane, with one of them a psychopath.
The Chris Evans-starrer Defending Jacob has set its premiere date at Apple TV, debuting its first three episodes late in April. Based on William Landay’s crime drama novel of the same name, Evans plays Andy Barber, an assistant District Attorney whose life is turned completely upside down when his 14-year-old son becomes a key suspect in one of his murder trials.
Netflix released a trailer for Spenser Confidential, the series based on the Spencer novels by Robert B. Parker (and continued by Ace Atkins after Parker's death). Although there are to be changes from the books, Spenser Confidential stars Mark Wahlberg as ex-cop Spenser, who is just getting out of prison and ready to leave Boston for good. But first, he's dragged into helping his old mentor and boxing coach Henry (Alan Arkin) into helping a promising amateur, Hawk (Winston Duke). When two of Spenser’s former colleagues are murdered, he recruits Hawk and his ex-girlfriend, Cissy (Iliza Shlesinger), to help him investigate and bring the culprits to justice.
Richard Armitage stars in the trailer for Harlan Coben’s upcoming Netflix series, The Stranger, about a secret that destroys a man's perfect life and sends him on a collision course with a deadly conspiracy.
PODCASTS/VIDEO/RADIO
RedCarpetCrash interviewed author Joseph Finder about his new Nick Heller thriller, House On Fire.
Special guest co-host Lori Rader-Day joined Eric Beetner on Writer Types to chat with Kate Kessler and Kim Taylor Blakemore. Plus, the Malmons were on hand with new book reviews.
Speaking of Mysteries welcomed Chad Dunas to talk his new novel, The Blaze, featuring Matthew Rose, who lost some of his memories after a traumatic brain injury while serving in Afghanistan - memories that are linked to a series of arsons and murder in his hometown.
Suspense Radio's Beyond the Cover podcast chatted with Dana Ridenour, the author of the Lexi Montgomery series.
Meet the Thriller Author spoke with Peter Riva about his travels in Africa and his Mbuno and Pero Thriller series.
It Was a Dark and Stormy Book Club sat down with Robert Bryndza about his new novel, Nine Elms, the first in his Kate Marshall private detective series.
THEATRE
Richmond Theatre, in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames, will stage a production of My Cousin Rachel from February 3-8. Alluring, exotic and unconventional, Countess Rachel Sangalletti travels from Florence to the Ashley Estate in Cornwall, home of her recently deceased husband. Her presence in the house arouses dark suspicions and uncontrollable desires, not least in young Philip, cousin and heir to the Ashley home. Helen George, known for her role as Trixie Franklin in Call the Midwife, plays the enigmatic Rachel.
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January 25, 2020
January 24, 2020
FFB: Edgar Winners
The Edgar Awards for 2020 were just announced yesterday by the Mystery Writers of America. So it seems fitting to profile an anthology from 1980, The Edgar Winners, the 33rd Annual Anthology of the Mystery Writers of America. It was edited by Bill Pronzini, who noted in his introduction that this anthology is:
"The first anthology to bring together in one volume only those stories that have received the coveted Edgar as the Best Mystery Short Story of its year....These twenty-four stories include some of the finest mystery fiction to be published in the past four decades. Moreover, they represent the widest possible variety of types, themes, styles and authors—testimony to the fact that the mystery story, contrary to what certain critics would have us believe, is by no means a limited and hidebound genre."
A little history is in order, too, as the first two years of the Edgar Award for the short story were given for bodies of work; the third went to Ellery Queen's Mytery Magazine; and the next four were given to one-volume single-author collections. The current policy of honoring a single story didn't begin until 1954, and thus, Pronzini chose representative stories from the pre-1954 categories to be included here.
The stories are printed chronologically, from 1947's "The Adventure of the Mad Tea Party," by Ellery Queen (Frederic Dannay and Manford Bennington Lee), up through "The Cloud Beneath the Eave" by Barbara Owens, the winner from 1978. Other names are indeed a "Who's Who" of giants in crime fiction, short or long forms, including William Irish (a/k/a Cornell Woolrich), Lawrence G. Blochman, Philip MacDonald, Roadl Dahl, Stanley Ellin, Edward D. Hoch, Joe Gores and Robert L. Fish. On the other hand, it's interesting to see how many of the winning stories were penned by authors who, for whatever reason, never went on to widespread name recognition, like William O'Farrell, David Ely, Warner Law, Margery Finn Brown.
The themes and styles Pronzini alluded to above range from detective stories to psychological suspense, police procedurals, character studies, morality plays, social commentaries, and "gently nostalgic glimpses of the past, even what might be termed an avant-garde literary exercise." If you're looking for a book than provides an overview of the best writing in a variety of short mystery fiction sub-genres, then this is a good place to start.
As a reminder and nod to the latest possibilities for inclusion in a future Edgar-winning anthology, here are this year's nominated stories:
"Turistas," from Paque Tu Lo Sepas by Hector Acosta (Down & Out Books)
"One of These Nights," from Cutting Edge: New Stories of Mystery and Crime by Women Writers by Livia Llewellyn (Akashic Books)
"The Passenger," from Sydney Noir by Kirsten Tranter (Akashic Books)
"Home at Last," from Die Behind the Wheel: Crime Fiction Inspired by the Music of Steely Dan by Sam Wiebe (Down & Out Books)
"Brother's Keeper," from Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine by Dave Zeltserman (Dell Magazine)
Good luck to all!
January 23, 2020
Mystery Melange
There are 37 titles on the longlist for the 2020 Petrona Award for the Best Scandinavian Crime Novel of the Year. The award honors books in translation published in English in the UK during the preceding calendar year that are written by a Scandinavian-born author or feature a Scandinavian setting. The winner of the Award will be announced at CrimeFest in June.
Lee Child is passing the baton of his Jack Reacher novels over to his younger brother, with the first book in the new partnership, The Sentinel, to be published October 29. Publisher Transworld announced a new four-book deal in the series, to be co-authored by Lee and Andrew Child, who writes thrillers under his birth name Andrew Grant, with Grant set to take over the series thereafter. Lee Child said he has been searching for a way to kill off the title character, portrayed on film by Tom Cruise, for years but has ultimately decided his fans deserve to see him live on in books.
From February 21-23, CrimeCon will host CrowdSolve: Chicago at the Hilton Palmer House in Chicago, Illinois. Citizen sleuths and true crime enthusiasts will gather to delve into a real-life cold case alongside industry experts and seasoned investigators in hopes of reaching a breakthrough. Now in its second year, CrimeCon CrowdSolve selects a special cold case for each event, which this year will focus on two open cases from Thurston County, Washington.
J. Kingston Pierce shared the work of the late cover artist Tom Adams (March 29, 1926 – December 17, 2019), who painted the covers for many Agatha Christie and Sue Grafton mysteries.
Speaking of book covers, do you ever think you're having déjà vu? Maybe not.
Writing for Crimereads, M.L.Huie discussed the shadowy noir of the postwar thriller, from 1945 to the Cuban missile crisis, and how crime fiction is the perfect space to ponder the long aftermath of the Second World War.
You think that you have a tough job? Crimereads focused on the "Hostile Work Environment: Women in Today's Thrillers."
Dutch art detective Arthur Brand, lauded as the Indiana Jones of the art world, has done it again: he solved another major case, recovering an ancient manuscript known as the Diwan of Hafez. Featuring the collected works (or diwan) of the 14th-century Persian lyrical poet Hafez, the handwritten and gold leaf-embellished book was stolen in 2007 and is worth €1 million ($1.1 million), according to German authorities
In yet another plot straight out of a mystery novel, two men were accused of stealing and reselling more than $500,000 worth of rare books, maps and other artifacts from the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh.
Speaking of libraries and librarians, they have to put up with a lot, including this.
This week's crime poem at the 5-2 is "Smoking in Jail" by Richard Spillman.
In the Q&A roundup, Sophie Hannah (The Monogram Murders) spoke with the Cambridge Independent about how "People can do pretty damaging stuff behind closed doors"; Chip Scanlan asked author Bryan Gruley (the Starvation Lake mystery series) three questions about his writing; Richie Narvaez stopped by the Verge Le Noir blog to chat about crime short stories and his novel, Hipster Death Rattle; and Fiona Mcvie interviewed Scottish crime author, Craig Russell, about his gothic psychological thriller set in 1930s Czechoslovakia, The Devil Aspect, the film rights of which have been bought by Columbia Pictures in Hollywood.
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January 22, 2020
The Edgar Elite
The Mystery Writers of America announced the nominees for the 2020 Edgar Allan Poe Awards, honoring the best in mystery fiction, non-fiction and television published or produced in 2019. The Edgar Awards will be presented to the winners at the organization's 74th Gala Banquet, April 30, 2020, at the Grand Hyatt Hotel, New York City.
BEST NOVEL
Fake Like Me by Barbara Bourland (Hachette Book Group – Grand Central Publishing)
The Stranger Diaries by Elly Griffiths (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt)
The River by Peter Heller (Penguin Random House – Alfred A. Knopf)
Smoke and Ashes by Abir Mukherjee (Pegasus Books)
Good Girl, Bad Girl by Michael Robotham (Simon & Schuster - Scribner)
BEST FIRST NOVEL BY AN AMERICAN AUTHOR
My Lovely Wife by Samantha Downing (Penguin Random House - Berkley)
Miracle Creek by Angie Kim (Farrar Straus and Giroux)
The Good Detective by John McMahon (Penguin Random House – G.P. Putnam's Sons)
The Secrets We Kept by Lara Prescott (Penguin Random House – Alfred A. Knopf)
Three-Fifths by John Vercher (Polis Books – Agora Books)
American Spy by Lauren Wilkinson (Penguin Random House – Random House)
BEST PAPERBACK ORIGINAL
Dread of Winter by Susan Alice Bickford (Kensington Publishing)
Freedom Road by William Lashner (Amazon Publishing – Thomas & Mercer)
Blood Relations by Jonathan Moore (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt – Mariner Books)
February's Son by Alan Parks (Europa Editions – World Noir)
The Hotel Neversink by Adam O'Fallon Price (Tin House Books)
The Bird Boys by Lisa Sandlin (Cinco Puntos Press)
BEST FACT CRIME
The Ghosts of Eden Park: The Bootleg King, the Women Who Pursued Him, and the Murder that Shocked Jazz-Age America by Karen Abbott (Penguin Random House - Crown)
The Less People Know About Us: A Mystery of Betrayal, Family Secrets, and Stolen Identity by Axton Betz-Hamilton (Hachette Book Group – Grand Central Publishing)
American Predator: The Hunt for the Most Meticulous Serial Killer of the 21st Century by Maureen Callahan (Penguin Random House - Viking)
Norco '80: The True Story of the Most Spectacular Bank Robbery in American History by Peter Houlahan (Counterpoint Press)
Indecent Advances: A Hidden History of True Crime and Prejudice Before Stonewall by James Polchin (Counterpoint Press)
BEST CRITICAL/BIOGRAPHICAL
Hitchcock and the Censors by John Billheimer (University Press of Kentucky)
Beyond the Thirty-Nine Steps: A Life of John Buchan by Ursula Buchan (Bloomsbury Publishing)
The Hooded Gunman: An Illustrated History of Collins Crime Club by John Curran (Collins Crime Club)
Medieval Crime Fiction: A Critical Overview by Anne McKendry (McFarland)
The Mutual Admiration Society: How Dorothy L. Sayers and her Oxford Circle
Remade the World for Women by Mo Moulton (Hachette Book Group – Basic Books)
BEST SHORT STORY
"Turistas," from Paque Tu Lo Sepas by Hector Acosta (Down & Out Books)
"One of These Nights," from Cutting Edge: New Stories of Mystery and Crime by Women Writers by Livia Llewellyn (Akashic Books)
"The Passenger," from Sydney Noir by Kirsten Tranter (Akashic Books)
"Home at Last," from Die Behind the Wheel: Crime Fiction Inspired by the Music of Steely Dan by Sam Wiebe (Down & Out Books)
"Brother's Keeper," from Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine by Dave Zeltserman (Dell Magazine)
BEST JUVENILE
The Collected Works of Gretchen Oyster by Cary Fagan (Penguin Random House Canada – Tundra Books
Eventown by Corey Ann Haydu (HarperCollins Children's Books – Katherine Tegen Books)
The Whispers by Greg Howard (Penguin Young Readers – G.P. Putnam's Sons BFYR)
All the Greys on Greene Street by Laura Tucker (Penguin Young Readers – Viking BFYR)
Me and Sam-Sam Handle the Apocalypse by Susan Vaught (Simon & Schuster Children's Books – Paula Wiseman Books)
BEST YOUNG ADULT
Catfishing on CatNet by Naomi Kritzer (Tom Doherty Associates – Tor Teen)
Killing November by Adriana Mather (Random House Children's Books – Alfred A. Knopf BFYR)
Patron Saints of Nothing by Randy Ribay (Penguin Young Readers - Kokila)
The Deceivers by Kristen Simmons (Tom Doherty Associates – Tor Teen)
Wild and Crooked by Leah Thomas (Bloomsbury Publishing)
BEST TELEVISION EPISODE TELEPLAY
"Season 5, Episode 3" – Line of Duty, Teleplay by Jed Mercurio (Acorn TV)
"Season 5, Episode 4" – Line of Duty, Teleplay by Jed Mercurio (Acorn TV)
"Episode 1" – Dublin Murders, Teleplay by Sarah Phelps (STARZ)
"Episode 1" – Manhunt, Teleplay by Ed Whitmore (Acorn TV)
"Episode 1" – The Wisting, Teleplay by Katherine Valen Zeiner & Trygve Allister Diesen (Sundance Now)
ROBERT L. FISH MEMORIAL AWARD
"There's a Riot Goin' On," from Milwaukee Noir by Derrick Harriell (Akashic Books)
THE SIMON & SCHUSTER MARY HIGGINS CLARK AWARD
The Night Visitors by Carol Goodman (HarperCollins – William Morrow)
One Night Gone by Tara Laskowski (Harlequin – Graydon House)
Strangers at the Gate by Catriona McPherson (Minotaur Books)
Where the Missing Go by Emma Rowley (Kensington Publishing)
The Murder List by Hank Phillippi Ryan (Tom Doherty Associates – Forge Books)
THE G.P. PUTNAM'S SONS SUE GRAFTON MEMORIAL AWARD
Shamed by Linda Castillo (Minotaur Books)
Borrowed Time by Tracy Clark ( Kensington Publishing)
The Missing Ones by Edwin Hill (Kensington Publishing)
The Satapur Moonstone by Sujata Massey (Soho Crime)
The Alchemist's Illusion by Gigi Pandian (Midnight Ink)
Girl Gone Missing by Marcie R. Rendon (Cincos Puntos Press)
The Edgar Awards, or "Edgars," as they are commonly known, are named after MWA's patron saint Edgar Allan Poe and are presented to authors of distinguished work in various categories. MWA is the premier organization for mystery writers, professionals allied to the crime-writing field, aspiring crime writers, and those who are devoted to the genre. The organization encompasses some 3,000 members including authors of fiction and non-fiction books, screen and television writers, as well as publishers, editors, and literary agents.
Mystery Writers of America want to emphasize their commitment to diversity and fairness in the judging of the Edgar Awards. Judges are selected from every region of the country, from every sub-category of our genre, and from every demographic to ensure fairness and impartiality.
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January 21, 2020
Agatha Accolades
The Malice Domestic conference announced the finalists for this year's Agatha Awards. The awards honor the "traditional mystery," books typified by the works of Agatha Christie, or the genre loosely defined as mysteries that contain no explicit sex, excessive gore or gratuitous violence and are not classified as "hard-boiled." The official announcement also noted that this year there are six Best Contemporary Novel nominees on the ballot. Winners will be chosen by the attendees of Malice Domestic 32 (May 1 - 3, 2020). Congrats and best of luck to all!
Best Contemporary Novel
Fatal Cajun Festival by Ellen Byron (Crooked Lane Books)
The Long Call by Ann Cleeves (Minotaur)
Fair Game by Annette Dashofy (Henery Press)
The Missing Ones by Edwin Hill (Kensington)
A Better Man by Louise Penny (Minotaur)
The Murder List by Hank Philippi Ryan (Forge)
Best First Mystery Novel
A Dream of Death by Connie Berry (Crooked Lane Books)
One Night Gone by Tara Laskowski (Graydon House, a division of Harlequin)
Murder Once Removed by S. C. Perkins (Minotaur)
When It’s Time for Leaving by Ang Pompano (Encircle Publications)
Staging for Murder by Grace Topping (Henery Press)
Best Historical Mystery
Love and Death Among the Cheetahs by Rhys Bowen (Penquin)
Murder Knocks Twice by Susanna Calkins (Minotaur)
The Pearl Dagger by L. A. Chandlar (Kensington)
Charity’s Burden by Edith Maxwell (Midnight Ink)
The Naming Game by Gabriel Valjan (Winter Goose Publishing)
Best Nonfiction
Frederic Dannay, Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine and the Art of the Detective Short Story by Laird R. Blackwell (McFarland)
Blonde Rattlesnake: Burmah Adams, Tom White, and the 1933 Crime Spree that Terrified Los Angeles by Julia Bricklin (Lyons Press)
Furious Hours: Murder, Fraud and the Last Trial of Harper Lee by Casey Cep (Knopf)
The Mutual Admiration Society: How Dorothy L. Sayers and her Oxford Circle Remade the World for Women by Mo Moulton (Basic Books)
The Five: The Untold Lives of the Women Killed by Jack the Ripper by Hallie Rubenhold (Houghton, Mifflin, Harcourt)
Best Children/Young Adult
Kazu Jones and the Denver Dognappers by Shauna Holyoak (Disney Hyperion)
Two Can Keep a Secret by Karen MacManus (Delacorte Press)
The Last Crystal by Frances Schoonmaker (Auctus Press)
Top Marks for Murder (A Most Unladylike Mystery)
by Robin Stevens (Puffin)
Jada Sly, Artist and Spy by Sherri Winston (Little Brown Books for Young Readers)
Best Short Story
"Grist for the Mill" by Kaye George in A Murder of Crows (Darkhouse Books)
"Alex’s Choice" by Barb Goffman in Crime Travel (Wildside Press)
"The Blue Ribbon" by Cynthia Kuhn in Malice Domestic 14: Mystery Most Edible (Wildside Press)
"The Last Word" by Shawn Reilly Simmons, Malice Domestic 14: Mystery Most Edible (Wildside Press)
"Better Days" by Art Taylor in Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine
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January 20, 2020
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. There's a lot of activity due to the flood of pent-up news following the dormant holiday season, but we'll try to get through it all:
AWARDS
The 2020 Screen Actors Guild Awards were handed out at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles last night. Crime drama nods include Joaquin Phoenix snagging a Best Actor nod for his role as the Joker and Brad Pitt as Best Supporting Actor for Once Upon a Time... in Hollywood.
THE BIG SCREEN/MOVIES
It's been 25 years since the original Bad Boys film starring Will Smith and Martin Lawrence as Miami cops, and 17 years since Bad Boys II. But Sony’s Bad Boys For Life, the long-awaited third installment of the series, is in the midst of the second-best MLK Weekend opening of all time at the domestic box office, leading to an inevitable sequel. Bad Boys For Life screenwriter Chris Bremner has been set to return and write the script for the fourth movie, although there is no word on whether Belgians Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah will return to direct. But Smith and Lawrence are expected to reprise their respective roles.
Mike Colter has joined the cast of the thriller, Till Death, which is directed by Aharon Keshales and stars Jason Sudeikis and Evangeline Lilly. The project follows convicted felon Jimmy (Sudeikis) who gets early parole after serving twelve years for armed robbery. Upon his release from prison, he vows to give Annie (Lilly), his childhood love, now dying from cancer, the best last year of her life.
RLJE Films has acquired rights to The Postcard Killings, the thriller based on James Patterson and Liza Marklund’s 2010 bestseller, The Postcard Killers. Jeffrey Dean Morgan stars as NYPD Detective Jacob Kanon, whose world is thrown into turmoil when he learns his daughter and son-in-law have been brutally murdered in London. When similar crimes are being reported across Europe, with each killing accompanied by a postcard sent to a local journalist, Jacob will do whatever it takes to stop the killings and find justice for his little girl.
TELEVISION/STREAMING SERVICES
The Emmy-nominated Breaking Bad prequel, Better Call Saul, has been picked up for a sixth and final season. The 13-episode final season is set to air on AMC in 2021. Showrunner Peter Gould said he was set to begin work on the final run of episodes in the coming weeks.
Amazon Studios has greenlit Jack Reacher, a series based on the character from Lee Child’s bestselling series of books that will be scripted by Nick Santora (Scorpion, Prison Break). The first season will be based on the first Jack Reacher novel, The Killing Floor. Amazon is also determined to find a Jack Reacher-sized actor, according to Amazon Studios head, Jen Salke, who added "You may see us take our time really making sure we find that person."
The CW greenlit a Walker, Texas Ranger reboot series. Walker will star Jared Padalecki as Cordell Walker, a widowed father of two with his own moral code who returns to his home in Austin after two years of undercover work on a high-profile case. He’ll attempt to reconnect with his family and find common ground with his new partner (one of the first women in Texas Rangers history), while growing increasingly suspicious about the circumstances surrounding his wife’s death.
The Disney-owned Freeform network has picked up the Jessica Biel-produced Last Summer, an unconventional thriller that takes place over three summers — 1993-95 — in a small Texas town. The plotline: "When a beautiful popular teen, Kate (Mika Abdalla), is abducted and, seemingly unrelated, a girl, Jeanette (Chiara Aurelia), goes from being a sweet, awkward outlier to the most popular girl in town and, by ’95, the most despised person in America."
BBC One has commissioned and set the cast for a new six-part thriller from the makers of Bodyguard. Vigil (working title) will tell the fictional story of how the disappearance of a Scottish fishing trawler and a death on-board a Trident nuclear submarine create conflict between the police, the Royal Navy, and intelligence services.
Acorn TV has acquired the North American rights to Channel 4’s David Tennant four-part drama, Deadwater Fell. Created and written by Daisy Coulam (Grantchester), Deadwater Fell centers on a Scottish community that is torn apart by mistrust and suspicion when a happy family is murdered by someone they know and trust. Tennant becomes a prime suspect in the investigation.
CBS’s FBI and FBI: Most Wanted could be joined by another spinoff from executive producer Dick Wolf, who has always envisioned FBI as a franchise. Wolf, who is behind the formidable Law & Order and Chicago franchises said the FBI offers an "endless trove of stories." CBS and Wolf will likely start working on developing another FBI series next season.
Speaking of the current FBI franchises, FBI and FBI: Most Wanted are set for a crossover episode in the spring that would start in New York. Dick Wolf also hinted at potential crossovers with other series in the Wolf universe, such as Chicago PD, despite the fact that they are on a different network.
Courtney B. Vance (Law & Order: Criminal Intent) is heading back to the courtroom to star in AMC’s upcoming legal thriller, 61st Street. He’ll play Franklin Roberts, a public defender in the twilight of his career who takes on the case of a lifetime: a promising, black high school athlete who is swept up into the infamously corrupt Chicago criminal justice system when he is taken by the police as a supposed gang member and accused of the death of an officer during a drug bust gone wrong.
Hannibal star Hugh Dancy is joining The Good Fight's upcoming fourth season in a major recurring role. Dancy will play Caleb, a former military officer who now works as an associate at the huge multi-national law firm that has acquired Reddick Boseman & Lockhart. However, his wit and decency threaten to make him a better fit with Diane and Co. than the overlords.
Kurt Fuller will be returning as Woody in the second TV movie continuation of the USA series, Psych. Fuller's character, Dr. Woodrow Juniper "Woody" Strode, was introduced in Psych Season 4 as the SBPD's quirky coroner. The producers also announced that Allison Miller, James Roday, Sarah Chalke, Kadeem Hardison, and Richard Schiff have also been added to the cast.
Netflix has ordered a 10-episode third season of its hit stalker-drama series, You, based on Caroline Kepnes’s bestselling books, for premiere in 2021.
Showtime has opted not to proceed with spy thriller Intelligence, from The Hurt Locker and Zero Dark Thirty screenwriter Mark Boal. Intelligence was to be based on real stories from around the world, exploring the secret inner workings of power – how espionage intersects with politics, finance, media and Silicon Valley.
Meanwhile, another Showtime project, the Ray Donovan series, is nearing the end of its run, according to Showtime’s Co-President of Entertainment, Gary Levine. Levine added that Showtime is expected to make a decision on the future of the Liev Schreiber-fronted show "in the next few weeks" but hinted that it is set to return for an eighth and final season.
Netflix has released the cast of Mindhunter from their contracts, although the show has not been cancelled and co-executive producer David Fincher has the option of producing a third season in the future. The project is based on the best-selling true-crime nonfiction book, Mindhunter: Inside the FBI’s Elite Serial Crime Unit by John E. Douglas and Mark Olshaker. The first two seasons starred Holt McCallany, Jonathan Groff, and Anna Torv as fictionalized versions of key people behind the formation of the FBI team and included depictions of some of America’s worst serial killers and their crimes.
ITV and BritBox’s long-running detective drama, Vera, is returning for an 11th season. The show stars Brenda Blethyn as Detective Chief Inspector Vera Stanhope, a middle-aged employee of the Northumberland & City Police, who plods along in a disheveled state but has a calculating mind. The series is based on novels by British crime writer, Ann Cleeves.
Starz has opened talks to order a second season of the gritty crime drama, Dublin Murders, adapted from Tana French’s crime thrillers featuring the Dublin Murder Squad. The show stars Killian Scott as Rob Reilly, a smart-suited detective whose English accent marks him as an outsider, who is dispatched to investigate the murder of a young girl on the outskirts of Dublin with his partner, Cassie Maddox, played by Sarah Greene.
PODCASTS/VIDEO/RADIO
Monocle Magazine's Meet the Writer podcast welcomed bestselling UK crime author, Sophie Hannah, who has taken up where Agatha Christie left off by continuing the stories of Hercule Poirot.
Debbi Mack, host of the Crime Cafe podcast, welcomed crime writer Blaine Pardoe to the show.
Read or Dead hosts Katie McClean Horner and Rincey Abraham chatted about Dublin Murders, the TV adaptation of In the Woods and The Likeness by Tana French (see the TV listings above).
Speaking of Mysteries spoke with Jess Montgomery about the latest installment in her historical procedural series featuring Sheriff Lily Ross.
A new episode of Mysteryrat's Maze podcast is up, featuring the first chapter of A Legacy of Murder by Connie Berry, read by actor Ariel Linn.
Dr. DP Lyle's Criminal Mischief podcast tackled the topics of toxicology and poisons in the first of a two-part series on the subject.
Writer's Detective Bureau, hosted by veteran Police Detective Adam Richardson, answered questions about suspects seeking sanctuary in a church, off-site offices, and what a homicide scene looks like the day after the police leave.
It Was a Dark and Stormy Bookclub spoke with Rachel Monroe, a writer and volunteer firefighter living in Marfa, Texas, about her book, Savage Appetites, which takes a look at the appeal of true crime through four narratives of fixation.
Scott Montgomery led a discussion of private detective fiction with a panel of authors, historians, and editors including Matt Coyle, Tim Maleeny, Laura Oles, Tim Bryant, Billy Kring, and Jeff Vorzimmer, on the Mystery People's latest podcast.
THEATRE
Calgary, Canada's Vertigo Theatre Mystery Series is presenting Whispers in the Dark beginning January 25. Based on the short story, "A Pair of Hands" by Arthur Quiller Couch, the play centers on Miss Elizabeth Le Petyt, an aspiring author, who ventures to Cornwall to escape her hectic London life. The cottage she chooses has a mysterious past, and seems like the perfect inspiration for her writing. However, misplaced items, inexplicable events and whispers in the dark disrupt her solace, and have her questioning her sanity.
An adaptation of Kay Mellor’s classic ITV drama, Band of Gold, is heading to the Darlington Hippodrome in the UK on January 27. The story revolves around a group of women - Carol, Rose, Anita and Gina - and tells the story of how a young mother is drawn into the notorious red-light district where a killer is on the loose.
Cleveland, Ohio's Allen Theatre at Playhouse Square will present Clue on January 25. Based on the popular mystery board game, the play sees murder and blackmail are on the menu when six mysterious guests assemble at Boddy Manor for a night they’ll never forget.
American Son is headed to the Florida Studio Theatre in Sarasota, Florida, on January 22. Set in a Miami-Dade police station in the middle of the night, a mother is hunting for answers about her missing teenage son. Soon her husband appears, and the evening spirals out of control.
Joseph Kesselring's iconic play, Arsenic and Old Lace, will be presented at the La Mirada Theatre for the Performing Arts in La Mirada, California, with a run beginning on January 24. Abby and Martha Brewster are two spinster sisters known for their acts of charity – which lately includes poisoning lonely, old men with their homemade arsenic-laced elderberry wine.
When An Inspector Calls heads to the UK's Milton Keynes Theatre on January 21. Based on JB Priestley’s classic thriller, the story follows Inspector Goole, who arrives unexpectedly at the prosperous Birling family home and shatters their peaceful dinner party with his investigations into the death of a young woman.
Tom Chambers stars as Tony Wendice, a jaded ex-tennis pro who has given it all up for his wife Margot, in Dial M for Murder (made famous by Alfred Hitchcock’s 1950 film) at the Norwich Theatre Royal beginning January 21. When Tony discovers Margot has been unfaithful, his mind turns to revenge and the pursuit of the "perfect crime."
The Riverside Theatre in Vero Beach will present The 39 Steps with an opening date of January 21. Based on the novel by John Buchnan, the play is a fast-paced whodunit filled with nonstop laughs and over 150 characters (played by four actors).
The humorous whodunnit musical, Curtains, will head to the Sunderland Empire Theatre in the UK on January 21. The star of the new Broadway-bound musical, Robbin Hood, has been murdered on stage on opening night, and the entire cast and crew are suspects. Time to call in the local detective, Frank Cioffi, who just happens to be a huge musical theatre fan.
British director-choreographer, Melly Still, is set to direct a production of Agatha Christie's The Mirror Crack’d, "re-contextualised for an Indian audience" by writer Ayeesha Menon. The play will be staged at the NCPA in Mumbai between January 30 and February 9.
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January 19, 2020
Your Sunday Music Treat
January is the birth month of Russian composer Alexander Scriabin (1872-1915). His early piano works were heavily influenced by Chopin whereas his later output took a turn toward the abstract and atonal, influenced by his interest in mysticism.
Part of that "mystical" philosphy was an obsession with what was possibly a faux-synesthesia in music, not necessarily like the real synesthesia of the protagonist in my Scott Drayco series, but more of a conceptual idea of keys and the circle of fifths assigned to various colors (and possibly based on Sir Isaac Newton's Opticks). However, there is some debate on the issue of whether or not Scriabin was a true synesthete.
At any rate, here's a performance of Scriabin's Etude Op.8 No.12 by Vladimir Horowitz:
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