B.V. Lawson's Blog, page 13

Author R&R with Ted Mulcahey

[image error]Author Ted Mulcahey’s observations and stories are formed by his stint in the Army, his sales, marketing, and entrepreneurial activities, and his life growing up as one of nine siblings in a typical Irish Catholic family. Starting in New England, he managed to find his way to the Pacific Northwest where he has made his home for over three decades. He now lives on an island with his wife and trusted GSD, Emma, in the middle of Puget Sound. The oddly shaped land mass of picturesque landscapes and small-town charm supplies plenty of fodder for the quirky cast members he brings to life.

[image error]In his new novel, Ferry Tales, beneath the tranquil charm of Whidbey Island, a storm of deception and danger brews. When Deputy Sheriff Roger Wilkie stumbles upon a sinister polygamist sect with a violent enforcer, he’s pulled into a relentless game of cat and mouse. The deeper he digs, the more he realizes that beneath the island’s postcard-perfect scenery lurks a deadly undercurrent of corruption, power, and murder. But Wilkie isn’t facing the darkness alone. Armed with his signature dry wit, a rogue’s gallery of eccentric islanders—including an ex-con with a knack for trouble—and two sharp-nosed German Shepherds, he sets out to bring the killers to justice. As the body count rises and the stakes grow higher, Wilkie must outwit an enemy who will stop at nothing to keep their secrets buried.

Ted stops by In Reference to Murder to take some Author R&R about writing and researching the book.

 

Almost all of my novels are the product of the life experiences I’ve enjoyed and the places I’ve lived. From the exploration of Vancouver Island in Bearied Treasure to the encounters with like-minded gamblers in Teed Up for Terror, and the life and times on Whidbey Island in the remaining six novels, there is a smattering of truth in all of them. I guess it’s one of the benefits of spending this much time on planet earth.

Front and center in Ferry Tails is the Washington State Ferry System, which, if you’re an island dweller, is the lifeline connecting our kind to the rest of civilization. My good fortune in having a pal who is a former ferry captain was immeasurably helpful in understanding the complexities of transporting over eighteen million passengers a year. In addition to the ferry-related aspects of the story, my two years spent in Southern Utah provided me with enough material for a dozen novels. The majestic beauty of that part of the country, juxtaposed with the smaller towns and outposts dotted throughout the region, was the inspiration for one of the character’s travels and encounters. A great deal of time was spent researching the history of several religious cults that still call the area home.

Every story I write leads me to places and people —some real and some imagined —that give me a reason to delve into their backgrounds. Writing about Francis’s encounter with the German Shepherd at Best Friends Sanctuary in Kanab was especially fun. Having had the pleasure and good fortune of spending a dozen years with one of these extraordinary creatures has given me new insight into the tremendous loyalty and dedication this breed has to their pack. If you have one, you know what I mean.

I’m often asked who I use as models for the characters in my books, and the answer is nobody in particular, but aspects and quirks of almost everyone I’ve ever met. I suppose I tend to exaggerate both extremes—the good stuff and the bad—but that’s where the fun is. I like to use everyday confrontations and situations as opening scenes and develop the story from there. More often than not, the characters and their personalities take me places I never initially considered, but somehow, when they do, strange things happen.

With the proliferation of search engines and databases now available, research is considerably more straightforward than it was years ago. However, because so much information is available, there are times when I get lost in the possibilities. A simple blurb in a scientific article discussing the future of vanadium flow batteries led me to imagine what it would be like if these giant storage batteries were miniaturized, and what that would do to the world. The result was the backstory for Juiced.

In Lone Lake Road—a real-life road on the island—an isolated curve where the temperature is always four or five degrees cooler than the surrounding areas led me to consider why. As it turned out, it was because a chubby little warlock named Buzz Aldrin lived there, and the story began to unfold.

I’m never quite sure when or where inspiration will strike me, but when it does, I hope I’m aware enough to recognize it, because that will be the foundation for another adventure.

 

You can learn more about Ted Mulcahey via his website or follow him on Goodreads. Ferry Tales is now available via all major booksellers.

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Media Murder for Monday

[image error]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

20th Century Studios has picked up an untitled Hawaii-set crime thriller, from a script by journalist and author Nick Bilton inspired by actual events, and has attached Leonardo DiCaprio, Dwayne Johnson, and Emily Blunt to star, and Martin Scorsese to direct. The project is said to be in the mold of Scorsese’s Goodfellas and The Departed and centers on a mob boss vying for control of the Hawaiian islands in the 1960s and 1970s. The formidable and charismatic mobster rises to build the islands’ most powerful criminal empire, waging a brutal war against mainland corporations and rival syndicates while fighting to preserve his ancestral land. His ruthless quest for absolute power ignited the last great American mob saga, where the war for cultural survival takes place in the unlikeliest of places: paradise.

David Leitch's new high-profile action thriller, based on a script by Mark Bianculli, has signed Nicholas Hoult to star. Plot details are being kept under wraps, but the project is said to involve a bank heist and will likely follow in the same vein as Leitch's previous projects, Bullet Train, Deadpool 2, and most recently, The Fall Guy.

TELEVISION/STREAMING

In a competitive situation, Amazon MGM Studios has landed for development Murdle, a scripted adaptation of G. T. Karber’s multi-volume collection of murder mystery puzzles. Written by Jon Croker (Paddington) and based on a story by Karber, Murdle is "a quirky, voice-driven series in the vein of Knives Out and The Gentlemen" and centers on two rival members of a London-based detective club, who are forced to work together despite their very different approaches to solving murders.

Studio Lambert has optioned bestselling true crime author Hallie Rubenhold’s new book, Story of A Murder: The Wives, the Mistress and Dr Crippen. The book looks into the case of Belle Elmore, a music hall performer whose mutilated remains were uncovered in a North London cellar in 1910. A transatlantic manhunt ensued for her husband, Dr. Crippen, and his young lover and secretary, Ethel le Neve, posing as Crippen’s son with cropped hair. Although Dr. Crippen has always been at the center of the story, Rubenhold’s book brings the women to life and places them at the center and seeks to address the question: Was Ethel truly as innocent of the murder as she wanted the world to believe? Award-winning screenwriter Amanda Coe (Black Narcissus) is adapting the book as a drama series.

Hulu has given a series order to a drama written and executive produced by Liz Meriwether (New Girl). Emmy Rossum is executive producing and in negotiations to headline the untitled project loosely inspired by the 1987 movie, Black Widow. In the Hulu series, an FBI agent—the role Rossum is poised to play—uses the secrets from a female serial killer’s past to try to find her.

The BBC has announced a new crime family drama titled Mint, starring Emma Laird (Mayor of Kingstown, The Brutalist), Sam Riley (Firebrand), Laura Fraser (Breaking Bad), Lewis Gribben (Somewhere Boy), Lindsay Duncan (Sherwood) and Ben Coyle-Larner (also known as musician Loyle Carner). Charlotte Regan (Scrapper) created, wrote, and will direct the project, described as a darkly comic and unconventional drama about a crime family’s inner life. At the center is Shannon (Laird), the naïve and fiercely romantic daughter of the area’s dominant crime family. Shannon is desperately searching for love in the shadow of her gangster father, Dylan (Riley), devoted mum Cat (Fraser), older brother Luke (Gribben), and the indomitable family matriarch, grandma Ollie (Duncan). Having grown up protected within the surreal, yet violent confines of the "family business," things are shaken up when Arran—played by acting newcomer Coyle-Larner —arrives on the scene.

Emmy winners John Lithgow (Conclave) and Jimmy Smits (Sons of Anarchy) are set to reprise their roles of Arthur Miller aka the Trinity Killer, and Miguel Prado, the ADA-turned-lawbreaker hellbent on revenge, in the Showtime original series Dexter: Resurrection. New additions also include Uma Thurman as Charley, Peter Dinklage as Leon Prater, Ntare Guma Mbaho Mwine as Blessing Kamara, Kadia Saraf as Detective Claudette Wallace, Dominic Fumusa as Detective Melvin Oliva, and Emilia Suárez as Elsa Rivera. Previously announced stars are Neil Patrick Harris, who will play Lowell, Krysten Ritter as Mia Lapierre, Eric Stonestreet as Al, David Dastmalchian as Gareth, and David Magidoff as Teddy Reed. Lithgow received an Emmy Award, Critics’ Choice Award, and a SAG Award as well as a Golden Globe nomination for his role, although, since his character was killed off, it is suspected his role will come via flashbacks.





PODCASTS/RADIO

Suspense Radio host Tracey Devlyn sits down with New York Times bestselling author Chris Bohjalian to chat about his new historical fiction novel, The Jackal's Mistress.

BBC Radio chatted with author Tricia Voute about what inspired her new book, The Accused: The Mark Roussel Mysteries, set in Guernsey.

Debbi Mack's guest on the latest Crime Cafe podcast was crime writer Brenda Chapman, discussing her journey from writing for her daughters to becoming a published author, her inspiration for various protagonists, and her writing process. She also shared insights into her latest series, the Hunter and Tate Mysteries, set in Ottawa

On the Spybrary podcast, former MI6 officer turned critically acclaimed novelist, Charles Beaumont, returned to the Spybrary podcast on the launch day of his second novel, A Spy at War, the highly anticipated sequel to his bestselling debut, A Spy Alone.

Murder Junction spoke with Stig Abell about his latest novel, The Burial Place, and the inspiration for another of his upcoming books, Josephine Tey's The Daughter of Time.

On the Pick Your Poison podcast, Dr. Jen Prosser investigated what poison makes bones crumble and glow-in-the-dark? And what living thing thrives inside Chernobyl?

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Mystery Melange

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The bidding for items in the Crime Writers for Trans Rights 2025 auction opened yesterday and continues through April 1. You can bid on a wonderful range of items, including from some of the most celebrated voices in crime and crime-adjacent fiction, with all proceeds given to the Transgender Law Center to help further their important work. Items include everything from a manuscript critique by William Kent Krueger, to various signed books and book club appearances by bestselling authors, to conference admissions, and much more.

CrimeFest has announced DG Coutinho as the recipient of its 2025 bursary for a crime-fiction writer of color. The bursary covers the cost of a full Weekend Pass to the convention and a night’s accommodation at the Mercure Bristol Grand Hotel, plus Coutinho will appear on a panel at the conference. Coutinho has also won the Bloody Scotland Harvill Secker Crime Writing Competition for under-represented writers, and is the author of The Light and Shade of Ellen Swithin (Harvill Secker), a darkly comic thriller exploring toxic work culture. Last year, the organizers announced that this year’s convention will be the last to be hosted in Bristol after 16 years, and will feature a lineup of authors including Lee and Andrew Child, Simon Brett, Lindsey Davis and Martin Edwards, among others.

To mark the end of Britain’s long-standing crime fiction convention, CrimeFest organizers have compiled a new anthology, with proceeds of its sale going the Royal National Institute of Blind (RNIB) library. CrimeFest: Leaving the Scene will feature short stories by authors who have had a close relationship with CrimeFest over the years, including Jeffrey Deaver, Lindsey Davis, Simon Brett, Martin Edwards, Cathy Ace, Vaseem Khan, Maxim Jakubowski, and Donna Moore. The foreword is by Lee Child, who attended the very first convention and was a Featured Guest at the fifth and tenth anniversaries of CrimeFest. The book will be available for general sale on August 28, 2025, with an early copy exclusively gifted to each of the first 450 registered Full Pass Holders at the final CrimeFest, which is hosted in Bristol from May 15 to 18.

The Broward, Florida Public Library Foundation is holding the LitLive! event in the Horvitz Auditorium at the NSU Art Museum on Friday, March 28 from 5:30-8:30 pm. A mystery panel will be moderated by Oline Cogdill and feature authors Jeffery Deaver (Fatal Intrusion), Wanda M. Morris (What You Leave Behind), Alex Segura (Alter Ego), and Lauren Willig (The Girl from Greenwich Street). The event is free and open to the public, with a percentage of all book sales benefiting the Library Foundation.

The Avon Public Library is hosting a "Murder, Mayhem, and Mystery" writers panel on Tuesday April 8th at 6:30 pm to celebrate National Library Week. Authors Sarah P Blanchard, Addison McKnight (Nicole Moleti and Krista Wells), Glen Ebisch, and Chris Knopf will discuss here their ideas come from, how they plot the twists and turns, and how they develop their characters.

Over at the Rap Sheet, Jeff Pierce has a handy list of some new crime fiction titles being released in March and April in the U.S. and UK.

In April 2015, B.K. Stevens debuted the blog series "The First Two Pages," hosting craft essays by short story writers and novelists analyzing the openings of their own work. Art Taylor has continued the series on his blog following the death of Stevens, with the latest essay featuring Fleur Bradley. The author, who has published several novels for younger readers, including Midnight at the Barclay Hotel and Daybreak on Raven Island, discusses her new story, "Sunday in the Park with George," for the anthology, Every Day A Little Death: Crime Fiction Inspired by the Songs of Stephen Sondheim, edited by Josh Pachter.

In the Q&A roundup, Andrew Welsh-Huggins, author of 10 mystery novels and two nonfiction books and editor of a short-story anthology, applied the Page 69 Test to his latest novel, The Mailman, a Library Journal pick of the month; and Crime Fiction Lover welcomed Fiona Forsyth to discuss historical crime fiction and her latest novel, Death and the Poet, in we slip back to 14AD to meet the Roman poet Ovid who is tasked with solving the murder of Dokimos, the vegetable seller.

         Related StoriesMystery MelangeMedia Murder for Monday 

Media Murder for Monday

[image error]It's the start of a new week and that means it's time for a brand-new roundup of crime drama news:

THE BIG SCREEN/MOVIES

The producers of Ballerina released a trailer of the first feature-length spinoff from the world of John Wick. Directed by Len Wiseman, the film stars Ana de Armas as a lethal assassin who is in over her head, and also features a cameo by Wick star, Keanu Reeves. Returning franchise stars include Ian McShane and Lance Reddick, who passed away in 2023 at the age of 60 (this will be his final posthumous on-screen appearance). Joining the returning cast are new-to-the-franchise stars Norman Reedus, Gabriel Byrne, and Sharon Duncan-Brewster.

TELEVISION/STREAMING

Lionsgate Television has optioned author and theater critic Alexis Soloski’s bestselling novel, Here in the Dark, described a dark and stylish novel of psychological suspense about a young theater critic drawn into a dangerous game that blurs the lines between reality and performance. Megan Abbott, the New York Times bestselling author, co-creator, and showrunner of the hit series Dare Me, based on her own novel, will serve as both co-executive producer and writer.

MGM+ has picked up another series from its most prolific creator, Chris Brancato, under his overall deal with the streaming service. The Westies, which Brancato created with Michael Panes, is an eight-episode crime drama about New York City’s violent Irish gang. The drama is set in the early 1980s when the construction of the Jacob Javitz Convention Center on the Westies’ home turf in Hell’s Kitchen promises a financial windfall. Despite being outnumbered 50-to-1 by the Five Families of the Italian mafia, the Westies’ legendary brutality and cunning have given them the leverage necessary to share the spoils through a fragile détente. But internal conflict between the brash younger generation and the old-school leadership threatens to set a match to this powder keg, which will sweep the Westies into the FBI’s ever-deepening investigation into the Italian mafia.

Former Doctor Who and Broadchurch showrunner Chris Chibnall’s debut novel, Death at the White Hart, is becoming an ITV drama series. The story is set in the Dorset village of Fleetcombe, where the village pub’s landlord is found murdered, and Detective Nicola Bridge must unpick a web of lies and rivalries to unmask the killer. The novel is the first of a two book deal in the UK and U.S. for Chibnall.

Steve Coogan, Tom Burke, and Hayley Squires have boarded Netflix’s upcoming heist series, Legends, inspired by one of the most remarkable criminal investigations ever conducted. The drama is set in the early 1990s, when Her Majesty’s Customs and Excise was losing its battle with illegal drug smuggling across Britain’s borders. In a top-secret operation, a small team of customs employees were sent undercover with the task of infiltrating Britain’s most dangerous drug gangs.

Max has set Thursday, May 15 for the premiere of Duster, its upcoming drama series from J.J. Abrams and LaToya Morgan, and released the first teaser trailer. Duster follows Nina (Rachel Hilson), the first Black female FBI agent, who in 1972 heads to the Southwest and recruits a gutsy getaway driver (Josh Holloway), the first move in a bold effort to take down a growing crime syndicate.

PODCASTS/RADIO

All Of It host Alison Stewart discussed the new Peacock series, Long Bright River, based on the best selling novel by Liz Moore and set in a Philadelphia area known for high opioid rates. It tells the story of an awkward cop, played by Amanda Seyfried, investigating the deaths of known prostitutes in the area while also searching for her own sister, also an addict. Seyfried joined in the discussion, along with showrunner Nikki Toscano, to discuss making the series.

Meet the Thriller Author welcomed back Walter Mosley, known for his extensive body of work that spans over 60 books across various genres, including the beloved Easy Rawlins series and the Joe King Oliver novels.

On Crime Time FM, Laura McCluskey chatted with Craig Sisterson about Laura's new crime thriller, The Wolf Tree; the Scottish lighthouse mystery; and writing the sequel.

Wrong Place, Write Crime host Frank Zafiro spoke with Claire Booth about her background and novels, including her Sheriff Hank Worth series.

On Read or Dead, Katie McLain Horner and Kendra Winchester recommended mysteries and thrillers for book clubs.

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Mystery Melange

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The Detective/Mystery Caucus of the Popular Culture Association announced its latest Dove Awardee: David Geherin, professor emeritus of English at Eastern Michigan University, who is an Edgar nominee in the Best Critical/Biographical category this year for Organized Crime on Page and Screen. He received earlier Edgar nominations for The Crime World of Michael Connelly: A Study of His Works and Their Adaptations (2022); Scene of the Crime: The Importance of Place in Crime and Mystery Fiction (2008; also nominated for a Macavity Award), and The American Private Eye: The Image in Fiction (1985). The award, given to individuals who have contributed to the serious study of mystery, detective, and crime fiction, honors well-known mystery scholar George N. Dove. Past recipients include Frankie Y. Bailey, Martin Edwards, Barry Forshaw, Douglas G. Greene, P.D. James, Christine Jackson, H. R. F. Keating, Margaret Kinsman, Maureen Reddy, Janet Rudolph, J. K. Van Dover, and Elizabeth Foxwell. (HT to Elizabeth Foxwell's Bunburyist blog)

C.J. Box, the award-winning author of over 30 novels including the highly acclaimed Joe Pickett series, will be the featured speaker at Jefferson County Public Library’s Spring Author Event from noon to 4 p.m., March 29 at Mile Hi Church, 9077 W. Alameda Ave. in Lakewood, Colorado. Box, a recipient of Edgar, Anthony, Macavity Award, and the Barry Awards, is known for his gripping crime fiction and compelling portrayals of the American West, and has also served as an executive producer for two television adaptations of his work. His latest novel, Battle Mountain, was released in February. The Spring Author Event will also include an author panel featuring Barbara Nickless, Manuel Ramos, Emily Littlejohn, Erika T. Wurth, and David Heska Wanbli Weiden, with Carter Wilson serving as the emcee.

 

Noir at the Bar returns March 22nd, 7pm, to the Los Angeles area at the Book Jewel in Westchester, 6259 W. 87th Street. The event will include readings from Adam Sikes, Caitlin Rother, Sean Jacques, DC Frost, John McMahon, Jeffrey Messineo and Eric Beetner, as well as celebrating the release of Eric's new book, Real Bad, Real Soon.

The next Mystery Writers of America's MWA University is scheduled for Tuesday, March 25 at 8 p.m. EDT via Zoom. The time is "Crime Is Kid’s Stuff," writing mysteries for middle-grade and YA. Join authors Michael Thomas Ford, Christina Diaz Gonzalez, and Fleur Bradley Visscher for a discussion about the ins and outs of writing YA/Juvenile mysteries, how to pick your crime, navigate difficult topics, and hone that elusive voice. There will also be time for Q&A with these award-winning MWA authors. Registration for the event is free for MWA members and $20 for non-members.

A two-part event on Tuesday, March 25th at the Seamus Heaney Centre at Queen's University, Belfast, Ireland, will feature crime fiction experts and novelists discussing the knotty issue of translation and influence. The first event, from 4-5pm, is "Translating the American Hardboiled Greats: Raymond Chandler, David Goodis and Horace McCoy," and includes Benoît Tadié in conversation with QUB’s Dominique Jeannerod and Andrew Pepper. Professor Tadié is the French translator of Raymond Chandler’s Le Grand Sommeil / The Big Sleep and a collection of Horace McCoy’s Black Mask short stories, Les Rangers du Ciel, for Gallimard’s world renowned Série noire, where he has also worked on some of the greatest US hard-boiled novels. From 5:30-7pm, Gerard Brennan, Sharon Dempsey, Brian McGilloway, and Anthony Quinn will discuss the current state of Irish / Northern Irish crime fiction, about how well and far their work travels to other places and cultures, and about the nature of their own reading tastes and influences.

On Saturday, March 29 at 2pm, in the UK's Wolfson Centre, Library of Birmingham, there will be a panel discussion with top crime and thriller authors, including former policeman Paul Finch and authors Andy Conway, AA Abbott, and Ryan Stark, who share how they craft page-turning mysteries, build suspense, and create unforgettable characters that keep readers hooked.

Leading up the Ngaio Marsh Awards are a couple of events featuring various aspects of crime/thriller writing. The first event takes place Thursday, April 3, at Old Masonic Hall, in Warkworth, New Zealand and includes Swedish-born bestselling author Madeleine Eskedahl (who sets her popular mysteries in the Matakana wine region) in conversation by past Ngaio Marsh Awards winner Fiona Sussman, TV producer and true crime writer Angus Gillies, and Hibiscus Coast author and first-time crime writer Robyn Cotton. The second event is April 10 at the Davis Library, in Whanganui, New Zealand, where Ngaio Best Novel winner Charity Norman will chair a fascinating panel discussion with pathologist and past Ngaio Best Non-Fiction finalist, Cynric Temple-Camp; Manawatū mystery writer and Queer Indie Award nominee, GB Ralph; and TV producer and past Ngaio Best First Novel finalist, Stephen Johnson.

A collaboration between researchers at Monash University and the University of Newcastle, Australia, in association with the Australian Research Council, is inviting crime fiction academics, authors, and fans to participate in a project on world crime fiction by completing a survey on the development of different crime fiction traditions. The project aims to produce an online map of the historical development of the genre around the world. This map will be publicly available and be a future resource for researchers and fans of this popular genre. The survey is anonymous and will take between 30 minutes and 1 hour to complete. You can answer as many or as few questions as you wish. You may also be offered the opportunity to take part in an optional follow-up interview.

Florida State University's London Study Centre is sponsoring a "Golden Age Crime Fiction and Trauma Conference" in London from September 12-13. They have placed a call for papers on the theme, "Silent Echoes: Golden Age Crime Fiction and Trauma." Papers should examine how, to what extent, and with what implications – textual, literary, sociocultural, political, medical, legal, and historical – the concept of trauma shaped crime writing between the 1910s and the 1950s. The conferences hopes to explore the influence of trauma on a variety of aspects (daily life, mental health, gender roles and relations, the environment, levels of violence, cultural memory, national identity, medical theory, and legal practice), examining how Golden Age crime fiction articulates the spatial, temporal, and psychic echoes of trauma.

In the Q&A roundup, Crime Fiction Lover welcomed Miles Joyner, a new crime author based in Washington, DC, who is about to release his debut techno thriller, Bazaar, the first in a a proposed series; and Deborah Kalb chatted with Tess Gerritsen, author of the new novel, The Summer Guests, featuring retired CIA operative Maggie Bird.

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Author R&R with Paul Crawford

[image error]Paul Crawford is a British novelist and multi-genre author, who is also founder and the world's first professor of the field of health humanities, advancing creative wellbeing. He directs the Centre for Social Futures at the Institute of Mental Health at The University of Nottingham. His first novel, Nothing Purple, Nothing Black achieved critical acclaim and optioned for film with award-winning filmmaker Jack Emery at The Drama House. Crawford led the creation of a new series of animations, What’s Up With Everyone, with Academy-award winning Aardman (Wallace & Gromit, etc.) and was the researcher behind award-winning filmmaker Chi Thai's (e.g. Raging Grace) new production, Astronaut. His second novel is The Wonders of Doctor Bent

[image error]In The Wonders of Doctor Bent, when everything is falling apart, who do you trust? The worlds of Jason Hemp, an English lecturer, and Dr Bent, the unlikely Medical Director of high-security psychiatric hospital Foston Hall, come together in this dark tale of murder, revenge and abandonment. Attempting to track down his twin brother's killer, Jason finds his life unraveling in unexpected and frightening ways, whilst visionary Dr Bent attempts to reform Foston Hall into a place of comfort, all while facing his own mental health challenges. Will both men survive the death of trust?

Paul stops by In Reference to Murder to talk about writing and researching his novels:

 

My latest novel, The Wonders of Doctor Bent, is a loose sequel to my first novel, Nothing Purple, Nothing Black. Both are dark literary thrillers with a core focus on mental health. My fictional writing is essentially hybrid rather than wholly geared to any particular genre. The next novel will be in a similar vein. What made The Wonders of Doctor Bent particularly different for me, however, was a more direct turn to a sub plot of crime and how this carried into the whole business of forensic mental health services, namely a high-security mental facility, Foston Hall.

How did I go about research and writing this element? 

Well, in terms of mental health and the law, I came pre-packed because I was writing about something I knew intimately at a professional level: the human mind, mental capacity, various disorders framed by psychiatry and psychology, and a range of criminal behaviour. Indeed, the field of mental health frequently leans into criminality, especially in cases of drug use, arson, sexual and domestic abuse, and, in this novel particularly, the business of claims of diminished responsibility following extreme violence that attract indefinite hospital orders. My line of work has brought multiple opportunities to visit relevant environments such as courts, prisons, police stations, etc.

This pre-packing of nearly forty years of practice or research in mental health has proven invaluable. I currently direct the Centre for Social Futures at the Institute of Mental Health, The University of Nottingham. Over the years, I have developed expertise in diverse mental health challenges from anxiety, depression, and bipolar disorder, to schizophrenia, personality disorders and so forth. I have also experienced and researched grief reactions. 

In the novel, there are a variety of mental health and social care settings providing dementia care, psychotherapy/psychoanalysis, and care in acute/urgent, community and forensic contexts. My in-patient and community-based mental health work, research and multiple site visits across the country and overseas, has afforded great familiarity with how people are situated in such facilities and endure or respond to their mental health challenges. This provided the precision required in a realist novel such as The Wonders of Doctor Bent.

Yet on the crime side, I had to research additional, more granular aspects for action and procedural steps to achieve credible plotting of the core crime elements in The Wonders of Doctor Bent. For a start, avoiding spoilers, I read specialised information not ordinarily or widely known widely online and through library access. I double-checked key details with third parties who had relevant expertise. I also read multiple congruent reports and accounts of the core criminal activity in the press. When I used online sources, I did begin to wonder if data analysts somewhere had marked me up as a potential terrorist!

Importantly, lived experience also informed both the mental health aspects and criminality of the novel. This experience includes insights into emotional responses and therapeutics. This is a kind of naturally occurring research. It is the inside track complemented by the outside, standard research. It is, if you will, the governor for the creative engine and character build in the novel. Characters need a kind of blood pressure and reality to walk through the hallucinatory world that you scaffold for the reader to experience. It also provides an emotional resonance difficult to achieve from outside such experiences. For example, if you have not had depression or suicidal ideation, it is hard to enter fully or profoundly the embodied and potentially disembodying experience.

The locations for the novel cohere around the Midlands, notably Nottinghamshire, yet bring elements from other places across the UK. Some of this social and environmental detail is from random recall and some is from researching (re-looking) at particular locations in mind. For example, Foston Hall emerges from several mental health facilities visited over the years, combined with places that are familiar to me, such as Rampton high-security hospital. I also make use of an entirely contrived area of Nottingham, Ardinweald, which left great freedom for invention and setting out feasible, local character mobility.

Overall, my strategy as a writer has been around achieving sufficient detail and cogency to allow the reader to do their job, hallucinating their own unique world of action. It is about finding and delivering the sparks for firing their imaginations but also ensuring switchback revelations and routes to deeper emotional and intellectual sharing. In The Wonders of Doctor Bent, I think I struck the perfect balance between the drama of words and that of silence.

 

You can learn more about Paul Crawford via his website or follow him on LinkedIn and BlueSky. The Wonders of Dr. Bent is now available via Cranthorpe Millner Publishers and all major booksellers.

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Lionized Lefties

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The Lefty Awards were presented at Left Coast Crime 2025 on Saturday, March 15, at the Westin Denver Downtown in Denver, Colorado. Congratulations to all the winners and finalists!

 

Lefty Nominees for Best Humorous Mystery Novel:  Rob Osler, Cirque du Slay (Crooked Lane Books)

Also nominated:

Ellen Byron, A Very Woodsy Murder (Kensington Books) 
Jennifer J. Chow, Ill-Fated Fortune (St. Martin’s Paperbacks)
A.J. Devlin, Bronco Buster (NeWest Press)
Catriona McPherson, Scotzilla (Severn House)
Richard Osman, We Solve Murders (Pamela Dorman Books / Viking)

Lefty Nominees for Best Historical Mystery Novel: (Bill Gottfried Memorial) for books covering events before 1970: John Copenhaver, Hall of Mirrors (Pegasus Crime)

Also nominated:

Robert Dugoni, A Killing on the Hill (Thomas & Mercer)
Dianne Freeman, An Art Lover’s Guide to Paris and Murder (Kensington Books)
Laurie R. King, The Lantern’s Dance (Bantam Books)
Laura Jensen Walker, Death of a Flying Nightingale (Level Best Books / Historia)

Lefty Nominees for Best Debut Mystery Novel:  Jennifer K. Morita, Ghosts of Waikiki (Crooked Lane Books)

Also nominated:

Peter Malone Elliott, Blue Ridge (Level Best Books)
Cindy Goyette, Obey All Laws (Level Best Books)
Audrey Lee, The Mechanics of Memory (CamCat Books)
K.T. Nguyen, You Know What You Did (Dutton)

Lefty Nominees for Best Mystery Novel:  James L’Etoile, Served Cold (Level Best Books)

Also nominated:

Claire Booth, Home Fires (Severn House)
Margot Douaihy, Blessed Water (Zando, Gillian Flynn Books)
Rob Hart, Assassins Anonymous (G.P. Putnam’s Sons)
Leslie Karst, Molten Death (Severn House)
Duane Swierczynski, California Bear (Mulholland Books)

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Media Murder for Monday

[image error]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

Walden Media and Akiva Goldsman‘s Weed Road Pictures are making the Cold War thriller, Billion Dollar Spy, with Russell Crowe and Harry Lawtey set to star. Oscar-winning writer Stephen Gaghan (Traffic; Syriana) wrote the most recent draft, originally adapted from the bestselling book by David E. Hoffman. Set against the high-stakes backdrop of the late Cold War, Billion Dollar Spy follows real-life Adolf Tolkachev (Crowe), an ordinary man who risks everything to pass thousands of pages of top-secret Soviet intelligence to the U.S. Despite repeated rejections by a wary CIA, Tolkachev persisted, embodying the courage to stand against a regime that betrayed its own people. Finally finding an ally in CIA agent Tom Lenihan (Lawtey), Tolkachev was able to fundamentally shift the balance of power, proving that true patriotism lies not in blind allegiance but in the willingness to challenge a government when it strays from its ideals. In an era when resistance and bravery are more relevant than ever, his story still resonates deeply.

Chloë Grace Moretz (Kick-Ass) has been set to star in serial-killer thriller, The Edge Of Normal, the first English-language feature from director Carlota Pereda (Piggy). The film was written by Matt Venne (Dexter: Resurrection) with revisions by Lori Evans Taylor (Final Destination: Bloodlines), based on Carla Norton’s novel of the same name from St. Martin’s Press. The synopsis reads: "Reeve LeClaire is still haunted from when she was held captive as a teenager by a sadistic man, but when her psychiatrist asks her to mentor a newly rescued survivor, she’s pulled into a chilling game of cat-and-mouse—one that threatens to drag her back into the nightmare she barely escaped."

TELEVISION/STREAMING

Matthew Macfadyen has been cast as George Smiley in a new TV series based on the novels of John le Carré that will be produced by the late author’s sons (who also produced the award-winning adaptation of his novel, The Night Manager, and are currently working on two sequel series to the hit show). A middle-aged, podgy, balding man described by his own wife as "breathtakingly ordinary," Smiley is also a ruthlessly clever spymaster working in the British secret service during the cold war. The project is described as an amalgamation of a number of le Carré’s novels, including The Spy Who Came In From The Cold, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, and The Honorable Schoolboy, as well as others, along with some unpublished work.

Emmy winner David E. Kelley, who created Netflix's The Lincoln Lawyer based on Michael Connelly’s novels, is helping bring another popular book character by a bestselling author to the streamer, teaming up with Harlan Coben to adapt his Myron Bolitar novels as a TV series. The project has been a priority for Netflix when it re-upped its overall deal with Coben in 2022. The original pact gave the streamer access to 14 Coben books to develop into English-language and foreign-language series as well as films. The 2022 pact added 12 more titles: Coben’s signature 11-book Myron Bolitar series as well as the stand-alone 2021 novella, Win, for an adaptation as an ongoing, U.S.-based series. The books’ title character is a former top basketball player-turned-owner of an agency representing sports stars and celebrities.

Following the success of the limited series, The Perfect Couple, starring and executive produced by Nicole Kidman, Netflix is developing a second installment. Like the first season, the followup will be based on a Nantucket-set book by best-selling author Elin Hilderbrand, this time her 2024 novel, Swan Song. The new season will have a new writer/showrunner, Joanna Calo, with most of the executive producing team returning, including Kidman. The story is set around a 22-million-dollar summer home purchased by the mysterious Richardsons who throw lavish parties, flirt with multiple locals, flaunt their wealth with not one but two yachts, and raise impossible hopes of everyone they meet. When their house burns to the ground and their most essential employee goes missing, the entire island is up in arms. The sequel's lead characters, Leslee and Bill Richardson, are spiritual successors to Season 1’s Greer (Kidman) and Tag (Liev Schreiber) Winbury.

Mistletoe Murders is returning for a second season on Hallmark+. The holiday whodunnit stars Sarah Drew (Grey’s Anatomy) as Emily Lane, a small-town shop owner with a secret past. The series also features Peter Mooney (Rookie Blue) as local detective Sam Wilner and Sierra Marilyn Riley as his teenaged daughter Violet, who works at Emily’s store. The rest of the cast includes Jean Yoon (Kim’s Convenience), Lara Amersey (Operation Nutcracker) and Kylee Evans (Good Witch). Shooting will begin later this year for a 2025 holiday season premiere.

Canadian author Ian Hamilton’s Ava Lee novels are being given the small screen treatment by Robin Cass and Robert Munroe, who signed a deal for seventeen of the Ava Lee novels plus four Uncle Chow Tung prequel books. A globe-traveling enigma, Ava Lee is an unexpected heroine—a formidable forensic accountant, a fearless sleuth and a master of an ancient martial artform, Bak Mei, historically taught only to males. She is a true original as she outruns, outsmarts and outpaces the most dangerous criminals in the world.





PODCASTS/RADIO

Talking Book Publishing hosts Kathleen Kaiser and Adanna Moriarty sat down with Jane Howatt, author of Jigsaw and Jane: 13 Years of Murder and Mayhem with Badge Number One. Jane shares the incredible story of how a single newspaper article led her into the world of homicide detective John St. John, the LAPD’s legendary investigator known as "Jigsaw John." What started as an ambitious attempt to write a book turned into a transformative journey that brought Jane face-to-face with crime scenes, victims' families, and even serial killers.

Murder Junction welcomed thriller writing legend Scott Turow to talk about his new book, Presumed Guilty, and also discussed the true story behind the classic Presumed Innocent and Turow's short-lived career as a screen extra.

On Crime Time FM, Ajay Chowdhury chatted with Craig Sisterson about his new novel, The Shadow, which follows Detective Kamil Rahman, who has handed in his resignation to the Met and set up a detective agency with his friend Anjoli after a bruising encounter with a terrorist group.

Debbi Mack's latest guest on the Crime Cafe podcast was Carter Wilson, author of 10 award-winning psychological thrillers.

Wrong Place, Write Crime explored Claire Booth's background and novels, including her Sheriff Hank Worth series.

Authors on the Air host Matthew V. Clemens and author Lauren Willig discussed her latest novel, The Girl From Greenwich Street, based on a real-life murder trial where Alexander Hamilton and Aaron Burr served as part of the defense team.

On the Pick Your Poison podcast, Dr. Jen Prosser investigated a poison that causes septic shock, a famous scientist who died after exposure, and a medical treatment that requires a doctor’s note to get through airport security after receiving it.

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Author R&R with Brandi Bradley

[image error]Brandi Bradley is an indie author and educator who lives in the great city of Atlanta, Georgia. She writes short stories and novels about crime, family drama, flea markets, cowboys, rowdy girls, and gossip. She has had short stories and essays published in Juked, Louisiana Literature, Carve, and Nashville Review. She teaches writing at Kennesaw State University. Mothers of the Missing Mermaid (2023) is her debut novel of secrets by the sea in Destin. Bradley’s second book, Pretty Girls Get Away With Murder is being released today.

[image error]About the book: When a young entrepreneur is killed, everyone in town points fingers at his picture-perfect fitness influencer ex-girlfriend, Gabbi – including the victim's best friend, Jenna. As detective Lindy D'Arnaud and her partner Boggs search for a motive, they begin to wonder if this is a case of jealous violence or something much deeper. In Lindy's personal life, things aren't much clearer. When Lindy's wife's ex-boyfriend–and sperm donor to their baby–decides to move back to town, she finds herself competing for her wife's affection. Told through the shifting perspectives of Lindy, Gabbi, and Jenna, "Pretty Girls Get Away With Murder" is a page-turner brimming with quick wit and juicy gossip.

Brandy stops by In Reference to Murder to take some Author R&R about writing and researching the book:

 

Pretty Girls Get Away With Murder is about the murder of an up-and-coming small town entrepreneur, Ethan Moll, but it’s really about the women he surrounded himself with before he died, and the woman who solves the case.

When working on this novel, I kept recalling how a writing instructor once told me to make sure I include something in my books that’s just for me, something that makes me smile. Because writers get so much feedback on what works, what doesn’t work, what people want, what readers want, what agents want, and after a while it’s like your book is no longer your own, because you are trying to make everyone else like it. She suggested that I always keep something in it just for me.

For Pretty Girls Get Away With Murder, because so much of it is about a drive to reinvent oneself, I allowed one of my characters to live their glow-up journey out in the open. I thought it would be fun to show someone under the influence of a self-help personality.

I read lots of self-help books: self-help for creativity, self-help for writers, self-help for spirituality, self-help for productivity, self-help for finances. I enjoy hearing tips and tricks and figuring out whether it works for my life. But some of the fun of self-help is the personalities of these people who write books designed to tell absolute strangers how that person should live their life. These are people who say they have all the answers.

And that takes such chutzpah.

One of my characters – and one of the more fun chapters to write – stumbles upon a lecture led by a self-help personality and she gets recruited into this person’s orbit. It was so fun to develop this hybrid character of different self-help personalities– these people who are charismatic and exacting, but also clearly making money. While my character waits for her book to be signed she is surrounded by tables full of not only books, but affirmation decks, journals, workbooks, bookmarks, flyers for additional events. She’s singled out by a member of the staff and is invited to an “intensive” retreat. It’s all very love-bombing, but also empowering for this character. I mean, who doesn’t like to be told they are smart and can do anything they set their mind to? Even if it comes with an undertone of “all of this for $19.95.”

I also wanted to show how parts of the self-help guidance worked for her. As the story progressed, I could pepper in how the character returns to this self-help personality’s products when she needs answers – she’s got audio books, she’s got physical books flagged and annotated, she quotes this person. She was able to change some negative patterns in her life. And it was fun having other characters eye-roll at her new self-satisfied attitude where she thinks she has all the answers, too.

When writing that scene, or actually just while writing this novel, I revisited a lot of old self-help audio books and listened to them while commuting around town. Which had a double benefit, because the person on the audio is telling me I’m pretty and smart and can crush all my goals, but then I would hear an affirmation or interesting quotable line and think, “Oh, that would be so good for the book!”

When I think of research, I flashback to my school days looking up academic articles on JStor and Academic Search Complete, but the truth is everything around me is research. The self-help books, the true crime podcasts I listen to, the stories my best friend tells me when we have one of our three-hour conferences, the crime story long reads my husband sends me with the comment, “relevant to your interests.” All of it goes through my brain, churns around, and comes out as new stories. And this kind of “research” is far more fun than googling answers.

 

You can learn more about Brandi Bradley via her website and follow her on Facebook, Instagram, and Tiktok. Pretty Girls Get Away With Murder is now available via all major booksellers.

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Mystery Melange

[image error]
Mount Rushmore Made From Old Phone Books by Long-bin Chen

Wyoming's Craig Johnson, author of the "Longmire" series, is the 2025 winner of the Owen Wister Award, the highest honor given by Western Writers of America in recognition of lifetime contributions to the genre. Originally given for "best book of the year," it was expanded in 1967 to include anyone advancing Western literature. Previous winners include Tony Hillerman, Elmore Leonard, and Loren D. Estleman.

Foreword Book Reviews announced the finalists for the INDIES Book of the Year Awards, including the dozen titles in both the Mystery and Thriller categories. Winners in each genre, along with Editor’s Choice Prize winners and Foreword’s Indie Publisher of the Year, will be announced in June 2025.

Several crime writers are putting together an auction for trans rights, with all proceeds going to the Transgender Law Center, an organization providing legal protections for trans adults and youth in the United States. The auction runs March 26-April 1, and includes writers like David Baldacci, Gillian Flynn, Roxane Gay, Ann Cleaves, S.A. Cosby, Megan Abbott, Kellye Garrett, Louise Penny, Alex Segura, Robyn Gigl, Gigi Pandian, and a lot more donating prizes for the cause. Check out all of the participating writers (as well as agents, organizations, bookstores, and more) and prizes via this link.

Alex Mattingly (aka Craig Francis Coates) is establishing a new crime/mystery publication for short fiction. Cold Caller is currently seeking stories of 2-6,000 words about "bad decisions and worse consequences; unlucky losers who can't catch a break; grifters and con men convinced they're about to score big; good men and women who have very good reasons to do terrible things." For more information, follow this link.

Mystery Readers Journal is seeking articles, reviews, and author essays about mysteries that focus on retail sales (shops, stores, and retail sales settings). Author Essays (500-1,000 words) are first person, about yourself, your books, and the "Retail Sales" connection, while articles on the topic should also be 500-1,000 words, and reviews 50-250 words.

Janet Rudolph posted a list of St. Patrick's Day themed Crime Fiction and mysteries.

This is almost more of a Media Murder for Monday item, but The John Wick Experience, based on the $1 billion-grossing "John Wick" movie franchise, is now open to the public. The 12,000-square-foot an immersive attraction is located at AREA15 (where Universal will soon open a year-round horror experience) and includes more than a dozen highly themed cinematic rooms, live interactions and interactive gameplay, two themed bars, and a retail shop.





In the Q&A roundup, Author Interviews spoke with Clea Simon, author of three nonfiction books and 32 cozy mysteries and suspense novels, most recently the psychological suspense title, The Butterfly Trap; mystery author Darlene Dziomba chatted with Lisa Haselton about her new cozy release, Assault & Gobblery; Tessa Wegert, author of the Shana Merchant series, stopped by Promoting Crime Fiction to discuss her writing and her latest book, The Coldest Case; and David Ellis, a Judge and an Edgar-award-winning author of ten novels of crime fiction, as well as eight books co-authored with James Patterson, stopped by WGN radio to talk about his writing style and how he goes about writing crime novels.

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