B.V. Lawson's Blog, page 15
February 17, 2025
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
Julia Roberts is teaming up with director James Gray to tackle an adaptation of bestselling author Peter Swanson’s forthcoming novel, Kill Your Darlings. The story is a murder mystery told in reverse and centers on Tom and Wendy Graves, a couple married for over 25 years who appear to have a picture-perfect life, but beneath the surface, they harbor a shocking secret. The story moves backward through time to witness key moments from the couple’s lives—their fiftieth birthday party, buying their home, Jason’s birth, the mysterious death of a work colleague—all painting a portrait of a marriage defined by a single terrible act they plotted together many years ago.
Paramount Pictures has acquired the rights to Thomas Ray‘s novella, Silencer, enlisting Ben Jacoby (The First Omen) to adapt it for the big screen. The story follows a CIA field agent who is sent to bring in the ultimate CIA target who’s been out in the cold for decades. An operative who dates back to the dark times of MK Ultra, the target is a silencer — someone who can read minds, and wipe them from a distance, making him impossible to find or catch. Jacoby is also co-writer on The Whisper Man,the adaptation of the novel by Alex North, which has been greenlighted at Netflix with Robert De Niro on board to star.
Miles Teller (Whiplash) is set to star with Oscar winner Casey Affleck (Manchester By The Sea) in the manhunt thriller, Wild Game, from Oscar-nominated screenwriter Jason Hall (American Sniper) who will direct. The film is adapted by Hall from the novel of the same name by Frank Bergon, based on true events. The synopsis reads: "When Fish and Game officer Jack Irigaray (Casey Affleck) joins a routine poacher arrest in the Black Rock Desert, a deadly encounter with renegade Claude Dallas (Miles Teller) shatters his reality and propels him into a relentless quest for vengeance — one that blurs the line between justice and obsession."
Yorgos Lanthimos is reportedly set to write and direct Fatale, an adaptation of Jean-Patrick Manchette’s assassin thriller novel. The story centers on female assassin Aimé. Whether you call her a cold-hearted grifter or the soul of modern capitalism, there’s no question that Aimée is a killer and a professional one. Now she’s set her eyes on a backwater burg, where she plans to pose as an innocent newcomer to town while sniffing out old grudges and engineering new opportunities. But then something snaps: the master manipulator falls prey to a pure and wayward passion.
A first look was revealed for Rebecca Zlotowski’s French-language murder mystery movie, Vie Privée, starring Jodie Foster alongside a host of top French talent including Daniel Auteuil and Virginie Efira. Foster stars in the film as renowned psychiatrist Lilian Steiner who mounts a private investigation into the death of one of her patients, whom she is convinced has been murdered. Foster, who speaks fluent French, has appeared in a handful of French-language films, but Vie Privée marks her first French-language role in two decades after Jean-Pierre Jeunet’s wartime romance A Very Long Engagement in 2005.
TELEVISION/STREAMING
Emmy nominee Blair Singer (Bull) has landed a script commitment at Fox for Cold Blooded Liar, a one-hour procedural mystery thriller series based on the international bestseller of the same name by Karen Rose. The drama is set in postcard-perfect San Diego, where strong-willed homicide detective Kit McKittrick uses her ferocious determination and heightened empathy from her foster kid background to solve the most chilling murder cases the city has ever seen. As she confronts some of the darkest corners of humanity, she meets a handsome, insightful psychologist named Sam Reeves, and together, their partnership develops into a transformative bond.
Apple TV+ has landed the rights to High Wire, the thriller novel from international bestselling Australian author Candice Fox, for development as a TV series. Ridley Scott’s Scott Free is set to produce under their first-look deal with Apple TV+. High Wire takes readers on a high-octane journey through the Australian outback and centers on Harvey Buck, a former soldier racing against time to reach his dying girlfriend. Along the way, he encounters Clare Holland, a traveler stranded after her car breaks down. Offering her a ride, Harvey unwittingly plunges them both into a nightmare: they are ambushed by a vengeful crew and forced into bomb vests, compelled to commit a series of increasingly dangerous missions under threat of detonation.
Oscar, BAFTA, and Tony Award-winner Catherine Zeta-Jones has landed her next high-profile TV project, an adaptation of Aidan Truhen's thriller, The Price You Pay. Zeta-Jones is starring in and producing Kill Jackie [working title], in which the novel’s lead Jack has switched from man to woman for the TV version. Zeta-Jones will play Jackie Price, who has lived a wealthy, luxurious existence for the last 20 years—travelling the world, selling fine art using sophisticated tax loopholes and, above all, trying to stay anonymous after escaping a dangerous past as an international cocaine dealer. But just as life starts to feel a little boring, it takes a sudden lethal turn when she discovers that The Seven Demons, a squad of the world’s most terrifying hitmen, have been hired to kill her.
Sean Bean has been tapped to star opposite Jack Patten in MGM+'s upcoming series, Robin Hood. The series is set following the Norman invasion of England and follows Rob (Patten), a Saxon forester’s son, and Marian, the daughter of a Norman lord, who fall in love and work together to fight for justice and freedom. As Rob rises as the leader of a band of rebel outlaws, Marian infiltrates the power at court, as both work together to thwart royal corruption and bring peace to the land. Bean will play the Sheriff of Nottingham who is envisioned as a statesman, a strategist, and a builder of Nottingham itself, who navigates the dangerous tides of power, facing not only an outlaw in the woods but also the ambitions of Eleanor of Aquitaine and the Norman Barons that surround him.
Emmy and Golden Globe Award winner Peter Dinklage (Game of Thrones) has officially joined the series regular cast of the Showtime Original Series Dexter: Resurrection, from executive producer and showrunner Clyde Phillips. Production began in New York last month and will premiere this summer. No official synopsis for the Michael C. Hall-led series has been revealed, but it’s the continuation of Dexter: New Blood set in the present day. Dinklage will portray Leon Prater, a billionaire venture capitalist. To the world, Leon is a generous philanthropist, but behind his polished exterior lies dark intrigue.
BritBox International is serving up a crime procedural series using classic Italian cuisine as the basis for each episode’s murder mystery. A Taste for Murder will star Downton Abbey actor Phyllis Logan alongside Warren Brown (The Responder) and Cristiana Dell’Anna (Gomorrah). Each episode of the series will feature a murder mystery connected in some way to Italian cuisine. Brown is DCI Joe Mottram, a star detective with the Metropolitan police who, after a personal tragedy, retreats to Capri in Italy with his daughter to stay with his Italian in-laws for the summer. Logan is Elena Da Vinale, the witty matriarch of the family, front-of-house manager of the family restaurant, and mother to DCI Joe’s late wife. Gomorrah star Dell’Anna plays Inspector Lara Sarrancino, an ambitious and no-nonsense detective with the State Police in Naples.
PODCASTS/RADIO
NPR's Mary Louise Kelly spoke with writer Jo Nesbo about his new thriller, Blood Ties, which features two brothers with a dark history—standing in contrast to the setting, a pretty little spa town.
Meet the Thriller Author welcomed Gregg Hurwitz to the podcast to discuss his writing and his 24 thrillers, including the Orphan X series.
On Crime Time FM, Graeme Macrae Burnet chatted with Paul Burke about the concluding volume of the Gorsky trilogy, A Case of Matricide; Simenon; Zola; small town France; and Kilmarnock.
Write Place, Wrong Crime's Frank Zafiro spoke with DM Barr (Dawn Barclay), who shared her wide range of work in crime fiction and non-fiction alike.
Murder Junction welcomed Simon Mayo, radio broadcasting legend, to discuss his latest thriller, Black Tag, the legend of convict King Dick, and his fondest memories from his famous radio "Confessions" segment.
On Crime Cafe, host Debbi Mack chatted with educator and crime writer Michael Kaufman about his Jen Lu series, which features a brain implant character named Chandler.
On Pick Your Poison, Dr. Jen Prosse investigated a toxin in the local diet that affected Arctic explorers in the 1800s but not native people; which body part reflects brain swelling; and what the ancient Egyptians used to treat night blindness.
Related StoriesMedia Murder for Monday
February 13, 2025
Mystery Melange - Valentine's Edition
Grove Atlantic Press is launching a new crime fiction imprint, Atlantic Crime, led by senior editor Joe Brosnan. The imprint will release approximately 18-24 titles per year, with Grove Atlantic’s current crime fiction backlist of more than 300 titles also moving to the new imprint. Atlantic Crime is scheduled to publish five frontlist releases in its inaugural season this fall: The Predicament by William Boyd, Silent Bones by Val McDermid, The Whisper Place by Mindy Mejia, and We Had a Hunch by Tom Ryan. The imprint will make its official debut on September 2 with What About the Bodies, Ken Jaworowski's second novel (his first, Small Town Sins, published by Holt in 2023, was an Edgar Award nominee).
On the Postman on Holiday blog, Lou Armagno made note of the 100th anniversary of the first Charlie Chan novel, The House Without a Key. It was serialized in the Saturday Evening Post over seven-weekly editions, beginning January 24th, 1925, before being released as a mystery novel by Bobbs-Merrill publishers later that year. Chan's creator, the author Earl Derr Biggers, only wrote six novels in the series, but the beloved Hawaiian-Chinese detective has been adapted into hundreds of movies and TV and radio programs in the years since.
In a guest post for The Rap Sheet, Mark Coggins made note of the surprising fact that Raymond Chandler, known for his hard-boiled novels set in Los Angeles, actually lived and worked in San Francisco before fellow detective author, Dashiell Hammett, who is more associated with that city. As it turns out, both authors had connections to architect Albert Pissis, who designed a number of important buildings in the years before and after the 1906 San Francisco earthquake.
Noir at the Bar heads to Roma's Garden in Nacogdoches, Texas, on March 7th. Authors scheduled to read from their works include Joe R. Lansdale, Jim Nesbitt, VP Chandler, Tim Bryant, Reavis Wortham, and James King.
Janet Rudolph updated her list of Valentine's Day Crime Fiction with mysteries that take place on or around Valentine's Day.
Mystery Lovers' Kitchen included some Valentine's reads and eats, past and present, including Cleo Coyle's Easy Double Chocolate Brownie Muffins; Chocolate Sour Cream Bundt Cake via Maddie Day; a Dark Chocolate Cake with Pomegranate Glaze, courtesy of Lucy Burdette; and Gluten Free Linzer Hearts from Libby Klein.
In the Q&A roundup, Lisa Haselton chatted with cozy mystery author Marlene M. Bell about her new novel, A Hush at Midnight; El Pais spoke with Kate Atkinson, who reflected on her career and the value of giving fiction distance from contemporary issues to ensure it stands the test of time; E. B. Davis interviewed Debra H. Goldstein about her collection of mystery short stories, With Our Bellies Full and the Fire Dying; and Crime Fiction Lover welcomed Yorkshire-based writer Nick Boreham to discuss his debut crime novel, Jurymen May Dine.
Related StoriesMystery Melange
February 10, 2025
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
Two-time Oscar nominee John Travolta (Pulp Fiction), Emmy and Tony winner Mandy Patinkin (Homeland), and SAG nominee Dermot Mulroney (August Osage County) have been set to headline the JFK thriller, November 1963, from two-time Oscar nominee Roland Joffé (The Killing Fields). The film sheds light on the crime group, the Chicago Outfit, and their alleged involvement in the assassination and draws directly from first-hand accounts, including insights from the family of crime boss Sam Giancana. John Travolta will star as Johnny Roselli, a key figure in organized crime and the Outfit’s man on the West Coast and in Vegas. Mandy Patinkin will star as Anthony Accardo, a powerful and calculating head of the Chicago Outfit, considered one of the most powerful crime bosses in America at the time. Dermot Mulroney will step into the role of Chuckie Nicoletti, Sam Giancana’s bodyguard and the Outfit’s most notorious South Side hit man.
Netflix and AGBO's adaptation of the Alex North novel, The Whisper Man, is gaining steam with Robert De Niro set to star in the crime thriller. James Ashcroft is on board to direct, with Ben Jacoby and Chase Palmer adapting the script. Based on North’s New York Times bestselling novel, The Whisper Man revolves around a widower crime writer who, after his 8-year-old son is abducted, looks to his estranged father, a retired former police detective, for help, only to discover a connection with the decades-old case of a convicted serial killer known as “The Whisper Man.”
Samuel L. Jackson (The Piano Lesson) and Daveed Diggs (Nickel Boys) are set to star in a new hit man thriller from filmmaker Ernest Dickerson (Juice) and Gringo scribe Matthew Stone. Jackson plays Morris Stokes, a recently retired and very opinionated hit man for mob boss Easy-A. When his nephew Leslie (Diggs), is implicated in the theft of the mob’s earnings, Morris gets a call from his old boss that forces him off the golf course and back into action to negotiate one last job: he’s got the weekend to help the kid recover the stolen money or put a bullet in him. Complicating things is the fact that Leslie has a baby on the way
Ben Affleck and Gillian Anderson are set to star in the kidnapping thriller, Animals, for Netflix, with Affleck also directing. Matt Damon was originally attached to star in the film but dropped out due to scheduling conflicts with Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey. The film follows a mayoral candidate and his wife who must get their hands dirty to save their son after he is kidnapped.
TELEVISION/STREAMING
BAFTA-winner Nick Leather's next project, an as-yet untitled TV series, will reveal the inner workings of UK's National Crime Agency (NCA), told through a story about the 2020 infiltration of the encrypted phone-system EncroChat and how it gave the agency a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to decimate the criminal underworld. There have been more than 3,400 arrests so far including almost 13,300 years of combined sentencing, and the operation is still ongoing.
Bergerac is returning with a 2025 makeover and plenty of global networks are welcoming the iconic detective back. The original series starred John Nettles as the titular crime fighter, Jim Bergerac, and ran for nine seasons between 1981 and 1991. Unlike that show, which had a new storyline in each episode, the modern series from writer Toby Whithouse follows one character-led murder mystery. Bergerac begins the series as a broken man, grappling with grief and alcoholism following his wife’s death. His mother-in-law (Zoe Wanamaker) is concerned he is not putting his daughter (Chloé Sweet Love) first, and when a woman from a wealthy Jersey family is murdered, he has to go through personal struggles to become the formidable investigator he was. Philip Glenister also stars.
The story of California’s most notorious female serial killer, Dorothea Puente, is being turned into a TV series by former Sony Pictures Television Studios President Jeff Frost through his new production company, Bristol Circle Entertainment. The potential series is based on the life of Puente, who opened a boarding house in Sacramento in the 1980s, inviting the poor, the mentally infirm, and homeless to live there, often for free. Hailed as a generous benefactor, Puente, then in her 50s, was in reality murdering her boarders and continuing to cash their social security checks. After evading suspicion for years, in part because of her disarming, matronly demeanor, Puente was ultimately arrested. After a wild trial, she was convicted for three of the murders and spent her last years in prison.
PODCASTS/RADIO
On the latest Read or Dead, Katie McLain Horner and Kendra Winchester recommended mysteries and thrillers for Black History Month.
Authors on the Air welcomed Kate Alice Marshall to discuss her new chilling thriller, A Killing Cold.
On Crime Time FM, Anna Sharpe (aka Anna Mazzola) chatted with Craig Sisterson about her new legal thriller, Notes on a Drowning; contemporary vs. historical fiction; misogyny; childhood reading; and condensing the law.
Related StoriesMedia Murder for Monday
February 6, 2025
Mystery Melange
Book art by MynMakes
Mark Schuster posted in the Short Mystery Fiction Society group the finalists for the inaugural SMFS Derringer Award for Best Anthology. Voting will be held from April 1, 2025, to April 29, 2025, along with the other Derringer categories (those finalists are yet to be announced), with winners revealed May 1. The shortlist includes:
Devil's Snare: Best New England Crime Stories 2024 edited by Susan Oleksiw, Ang Pompano, Leslie Wheeler
Friend of the Devil: Crime Fiction Inspired by the Songs of the Grateful Dead edited by Josh Pachter
Larceny & Last Chances: 22 Stories of Mystery & Suspense edited by Judy Penz Sheluk
Murder, Neat: A SleuthSayers Anthology edited by Michael Bracken and Barb Goffman
New York State of Crime: Murder New York Style 6 edited by D.M. Barr and Joseph R.G. De Marco
The 13th Letter edited by Donna Carrick
Submissions to he Eleanor Taylor Bland Award for Emerging Crime Writers of Color, sponsored by Sisters in Crime, will be accepted through March 31. This $2,000 grant is intended to support the recipient in crime fiction writing and career development activities. The grantee may choose to use the grant for activities that include workshops, seminars, conferences, retreats, online courses, and research activities required for completion of the work. You do not have to be a member of Sisters in Crime to apply for this grant, but you can't have published two novels or ten or more short stories. For more information, follow this link.
Noir Con is sponsoring Dancing on the Edge of the Abyss: Goodisville 2025, to be held on Sunday, March 2nd, from 12 noon to 5:30 pm ET. David L. Goodis was a prolific writer, churning out numerous novels, movies, screenplays, pulps, and short stories. He is considered to be one of the greatest noir masters that include Jim Thompson, Chester Himes, and Charles Willeford, with work characterized by a gritty, cynical, and often fatalistic tone, exploring themes of despair, loneliness, and the underbelly of his favorite city, Philadelphia. Participants will gather at Philadelphia's Fishtown Crossing, with a bus ride to some of Goodis’s favorite haunts and his final resting place, special guest appearances, birthday cake, door prizes, Special Commemorative Goodis Swag, and more.
Bloody Scotland announced Ian Rankin will serve as their first ever guest programmer. Sir Ian is working with the Bloody Scotland International Crime Writing Festival programming team as they prepare the line-up for the event, which returns to Stirling in September. He's working with them to share his personal passions and put his unique spin on one of the UK’s largest crime fiction festivals. All will be revealed when the program launches in June 2025. On joining, Sir Ian said: "Bloody Scotland manages to remain the world’s friendliest and most inclusive crime fiction festival while also attracting the biggest and brightest names in the business to the city of Stirling. It’s epic!" Bloody Scotland will be held 12th-14th September 2025.
Noir at the Bar heads to Swampscott, Massachusetts at Cafe Avellino on February 20th at 6pm. Authors scheduled to participate include Kate Flora, Connie Hambley, Tom Davidson, Bonnar Spring, Zakariah Johnson, Gabriela Stiteler, Sally Milliken, E. Chris Ambrose, Stephen D. Rogers, and Norman Birnbach.
In the Q&A roundup, Michael Cannell, author of five non-fiction books, applied the Page 99 Test to his latest book, Blood and the Badge: The Mafia, Two Killer Cops, and a Scandal That Shocked the Nation; thriller author Luis Figueredo chatted with Lisa Haselton about his new medical legal novel, When Canaries Die; Tova Mirvis spoke with the The Boston Globe about writing her first mystery/thriller, We Would Never; and Seattle Magazine interviewed Kirsten Sundberg Lunstrum about her first novel, Elita, "a Northwestern take on Nordic Noir" set during a Seattle winter in 1951.
Related StoriesMystery Melange
February 3, 2025
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
Olivia Cooke (House of the Dragon) has joined the cast of Anton Corbijn’s thriller, Switzerland, starring Helen Mirren as crime novelist and Tom Ripley creator, Patricia Highsmith. The movie was adapted by Australian writer Joanna Murray-Smith from her play of the same name, revolving around Patricia Highsmith’s encounter with an ambitious young literary agent, played by Alden Ehrenreich (Oppenheimer). Set in 1995, an aging Patricia Highsmith is living a secluded existence in the Swiss Alps with only her cats for company. When a pushy young man turns up at her residence, sent by her New York publisher to persuade her to write a final book in her best-selling Tom Ripley series, it becomes clear he is on a more sinister mission.
Samuel Goldwyn Films has acquired North American rights to the action-caper, Killing Mary Sue, starring Sierra McCormick (American Horror Stories), Dermot Mulroney (My Best Friend’s Wedding), Sean Patrick Flanery (The Boondock Saints), Jason Mewes (Clerks), Martin Kove (Cobra Kai) and Kym Whitley (Rango). Written and directed by James Sunshine, Killing Mary Sue is about a corrupt senator who arranges for the murder of his biggest liability, his erratic burnout stepdaughter, only for her to unwittingly discover her natural talent as an untouchable killer.
In the wake of Den Of Thieves: Pantera grossing close to $50M globally, talks are already underway for a Den of Thieves 3. Right now, Gerard Butler is expected to return to both star in and produce the third installment, and Lionsgate is in talks with franchise creator Christian Gudegast to return to write and direct as well. The plan is for actor O’Shea Jackson Jr. to also return in the proposed follow-up. The original film centered on the clash between an elite unit of the LA County Sheriff's Department and the state's most successful bank robbery crew as the outlaws plan a seemingly impossible heist on the Federal Reserve Bank.
Sony Pictures has set a release date for Darren Aronofsky’s upcoming thriller, Caught Stealing, for August 29. Based on the book of the same name by Charlie Huston, the film stars Austin Butler as Hank Thompson, a burned-out former baseball player, who is unwittingly plunged into a wild fight for survival in the downtown criminal underworld of '90s NYC. Zoë Kravitz, Regina King, Liev Schreiber, Matt Smith, and Bad Bunny also star.
TELEVISION/STREAMING
Just a week after Rupert Murdoch's apology and settlement with Prince Harry, ITV has unveiled a phone hacking drama series starring David Tennant as investigative journalist Nick Davies. ITV and Australian streamer Stan have spent the past year quietly filming, editing, and laying the groundwork for The Hack, which comes from the storied creative trio of multi-BAFTA Award winner Jack Thorne, director Lewis Arnold (Sherwood) and producer Patrick Spence (Mr Bates vs the Post Office). Set between 2002 and 2012, The Hack interweaves two real-life stories, the work of Davies, who uncovered evidence of phone hacking at Murdoch’s now-defunct News of the World, and the story of the investigation into the unsolved murder of private investigator Daniel Morgan, led by former Met Police Detective Chief Superintendent Dave Cook (played by Robert Carlyle).
Paramount+ dropped a new trailer for its upcoming crime drama series, Happy Face, and set a premiere for March 20. The drama is inspired by the true-life story of Melissa Moore and taken from her podcast and the autobiography, Shattered Silence. At 15, Moore discovered her beloved father was the prolific serial killer known as Happy Face, and the series follows Melissa (played by Annaleigh Ashford) and her incarcerated father, known as the Happy Face Killer (Dennis Quaid). After decades of no contact, he finally finds a way to force himself back into his daughter’s life. In a race against the clock, Melissa must find out if an innocent man is going to be put to death for a crime her father committed. Throughout, she discovers the impact her father had on his victims’ families and must face a reckoning of her own identity.
Lesley Manville and Tim McMullan are set to reprise their roles as Susan Ryland and Atticus Pünd in Marble Hall Murders, an adaptation of the third and final installment in Anthony Horowitz’s Susan Ryeland series. The story picks up with Susan (Manville) returning to England where she is drawn into a new Atticus Pünd mystery — this time written by a new, young writer. "Pünd’s Last Case” is a story set in 1955 in a villa in Corfu – but the identity of a real killer is hidden in the book. McMullan (The Crown) plays Atticus, the literary detective who steps out of the books to help Susan unravel the real-life mystery of who killed Miriam Crace, the most famous children’s author in the world.
Annette Bening (Apples Never Fall) is set to star alongside Anya Taylor-Joy in Lucky, Apple TV+’s limited series from creator/executive producer Jonathan Tropper and executive producer Reese Witherspoon. Based on Marissa Stapley’s bestselling novel and Reese’s Book Club pick of the same name, Lucky stars Taylor-Joy as the eponymous heroine, a young woman who left behind the life of crime she was raised in years ago, but must now embrace her darker, criminal side one final time in a desperate attempt to escape her past. Bening will play Priscilla, a dangerous mob leader.
Suranne Jones and Jodie Whittaker are teaming on an ITV heist thriller about two skilled confidence tricksters separated by a 10-year prison sentence. Jones will play Bert, who has spent the last decade in a Spanish prison cell with a burning desire to pull off one final job that will prove her worth. Whittaker is Sam, her partner, who for the past decade has been content to live a life of quiet anonymity in the hills of Southern Spain. The story begins as Sam anxiously waits for Bert to be released from a maximum-security prison on grounds of compassionate discharge. On the pretext of one final, multi-million-pound art heist, Bert attempts to lure Sam out of retirement, but at what cost?
Peacock has given a series order to a new crime drama called Superfakes from the Emmy Award-winning Alice Ju (Beef). Superfakes follows a small-time Chinatown counterfeit luxury item dealer who enters a dangerous black market underworld in order to fund a life of suburban respectability for her family. Ju will serve as showrunner, writer, and executive producer
PODCASTS/RADIO
On the Crime Wave podcast, Scott Turow talked about life, writing, and Presumed Guilty, the long-anticipated third thriller in his Rusty Sabich series.
Crime Cafe host Debbi Mack welcomed internationally bestselling crime writer Gregg Hurwitz to discuss his writing and his Orphan X series.
Crime Time FM host Paul Burke chatted with Stella Rimington about the zeitgeisty new thriller, The Hidden Hand; the Chinese threat; MI5; sexism, and more.
Murder Junction (formerly The Red Hot Chili Writers) hosts Vaseem Khan and Abir Mukherjee spoke with journalist and crime writer Jonathan Whitelaw about his latest book, The Garden Club Murders; discussed some fun facts about bingo; and delved into the true crime case of a stolen Churchill painting taken from an Ottawa hotel.
On the Spybrary podcast, The Sunday Times chief political commentator and spy fiction fan, Tim Shipman, interviewed David McCloskey, ex-CIA analyst turned award-winning spy novelist. They discussed McCloskey's journey from a promising debut author to an international expert on espionage; his new podcast, The Rest Is Classified; and his reflections on Syria and the fall of Assad. They also talked about the development of McCloskey's protagonist, Artemis Proctor, in his latest book, The Seventh Floor, and McCloskey revealed more about the actual Seventh Floor at the CIA's HQ in Langley.
Meet the Thriller Author's Alan Peterson interviewed Jerri Williams, a former FBI special agent turned bestselling author of FBI Myths and Misconceptions: A Manual for Armchair Detectives and host of the popular podcast, FBI Retired Case File Review.
The Michael Shermer Show welcomed Dr. Rachel Toles, a licensed forensic psychologist, as they delved into the psychology of criminals, addressing the motivations behind some of the world’s most notorious killers. Her expertise spans trauma, addiction, and impulse control, culminating in her upcoming U.S. theater tour, The Psychology of a Murderer. Through captivating case studies, Toles sheds light on the dark corners of human behavior.
On Thinking Allowed, Laurie Taylor explored the fascination for true crime stories, joined by Jennifer Fleetwood, Senior Lecturer in Criminology at City, University of London, whose latest book, What We Talk About When We Talk About Crime, considers the remarkable rise in the number of people who speak publicly about their experience of crime.
On the Pick Your Poison podcast, Dr. Jen Prosser featured the antidote that has caused more deaths than the toxin itself and the type of bite that has been mistaken for appendicitis.
Related StoriesMedia Murder for Monday
Agatha Award Finalists for 2025
The annual Agatha Awards celebrate the traditional mystery, best typified by the works of Agatha Christie. The genre is loosely defined as mysteries that contain no explicit sex, excessive gore, or gratuitous violence, and would not be classified as "hard-boiled." Everyone who is registered for the Malice Domestic conference or becomes a Friend of Malice of any given year will receive a nomination ballot in early January, with finalists voted on during the convention. Winners are announced at the Agatha Awards Banquet on Saturday night during Malice, which this year will be held from April 25-27, 2025 in Bethesda, MD. Congrats to all!
Best Contemporary Novel
A Collection Of Lies by Connie Berry
A Midnight Puzzle by Gigi Pandian
A Very Woodsy Murder by Ellen Byron
Fondue Or Die by Korina Moss
The Dark Wives by Ann Cleeves
Best Historical Novel
Hall Of Mirrors by John Copenhaver
The Last Hope by Susan Elia MacNeal
The Paris Mistress by Mally Becker
The Wharton Plot by Mariah Fredericks
To Slip The Bonds Of Earth by Amanda Flower
Best First Novel
A Deadly Endeavor by Jenny Adams
Ghosts Of WaikīkĪ by Jennifer K. Morita
Hounds Of The Hollywood Baskervilles by Elizabeth Crowens
Threads Of Deception by Elle Jauffret
You Know What You Did by K.T. Nguyen
Best Short Story
"A Matter Of Trust" by Barb Goffman, Three Strikes—You're Dead
"Reynisfjara" by Kristopher Zgorski, Mystery Most International
"Satan’s Spit" by Gabriel Valjan, Tales of Music, Murder and Mayhem: Bouchercon 2024
"Sins Of The Father" by Kerry Hammond, Mystery Most International
"The Postman Always Flirts Twice" by Barb Goffman, Agatha and Derringer Get Cozy
Best Non-fiction
Abingdon's Boardinghouse Murder by Greg Lilly
Agatha Christie, Marple: Expert On Wickedness by Mark Aldridge
Some Of My Best Friends Are Murderers: Critiquing The Columbo Killers by Chris Chan
The Bookshop: A History Of The American Bookstore by Evan Friss
Writing The Cozy Mystery: Authors' Perspectives On Their Craft Edited by Phyllis M. Betz
Best Children’s/YA Mystery
First Week Free At The Roomy Toilet: A June Knight Mystery by Josh Pachter
Sasquatch of Harriman Lake by K.B. Jackson
Sid Johnson & The Well-Intended Conspiracy by Frances Schoonmaker
The Big Grey Man Of Ben Macdhui by K.B. Jackson
The Sherlock Society by James Ponti
Related StoriesThe Audies Have ItEdgar Award Nominations Set for 2025Left Coast Crime "Lefty" Finalists 2025
January 30, 2025
Mystery Melange
Book art by Thomas Wightman
Mystery Writers of America will present the first MWA-U session of the year on February 5, via a Zoom webinar at 8:00 PM Eastern Time. In this presentation, AuthorBytes will share key insights it has gleaned from 25 years of creating websites for bestselling, mid-list, and debut authors. AuthorBytes’ Creative Director, Steve Bennett, will cover topics such as the elements of an effective website and how you can incorporate them into your web presence. A registration link is available here, which is free for MWA Members and $20 for non-members.
Mystery Readers International is supporting the victims of and responders to the devastating LA Wildfires by donating funds from the sale of PDFs of the Southern California issue and two Los Angeles issues of Mystery Readers Journal. Buy the Southern California and/or Los Angeles issues of MRJ for $5/each, and the money (including PayPal fees) will be donated to World Central Kitchen and Pasadena Humane. Both charities are on the ground helping victims and responders of the Los Angeles area fires.
Harrogate International Festivals has announced the special guests for this year’s festival, which takes place in the town in July. Scottish novelist Irvine Welsh, the author behind Trainspotting, as well as Lee and Andrew Child, Attica Locke, Kate Atkinson, Paula Hawkins, Kate Mosse, Steph McGovern, Val McDermid and Mark Billingham, will feature in the line up of crime writing icons, TV talent, and reader favorites in a program curated by 2025 festival chair Mick Herron. The Theakston Old Peculier Crime Writing Festival takes place from July 17 to 20 at the Old Swan Hotel, Harrogate. The full program will be announced on April 1.
Noir at the Bar heads to Chicago on February 20 at the ERIS Brewery and Cider House. The roster of authors currently scheduled to read from their works includes Lina Chern, Tracy Clark, Kelsey Rae Dimberg, Michelle Falkoff, Jake Hinkson, Lindsay Hunter, Regan MacArthur, Juan Martinez, Lori Rader-Day, and Banca Sloane.
Janet Rudolph compiled a listing of crime fiction reads for the Chinese New Year, the annual 15-day festival also celebrated in many other Asian communities and across the U.S.
As part of the weekly Short Story Wednesday, George Kelley reviewed "Missing in Miskatonic" by JP Behrens; Patti Abbott profiled "Torch Song" John Cheever; and Todd Mason (who collects the links), looked at Gregory Shepard's Stark House Anthology.
In the Q&A roundup, CrimeReads interviewed Kevin Shinick, voice actor, comic book creator, and co-writer of The Mike Tyson Mysteries, about his upcoming project, Host Mortem, in which two game show hosts from the 90s get together to investigate mysteries from the 1940s; Author Interviews spoke with Kemper Donovan, host of the All About Agatha podcast, about his new novel, Loose Lips, described as "Knives Out meets high seas intrigue on a literary cruise to nowhere"; and Deborah Kalb chatted with veteran screenwriter and Blue Bloods showrunner, Kevin Wade, about his debut novel, Johnny Careless.
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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
Tom Blyth, star of The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes, has landed a role alongside Mia McKenna-Bruce, Matt Dillon, and Isaach De Bankolé in The Cry of the Guards, the forthcoming drama from renowned French filmmaker Claire Denis (Stars at Noon). Based on Bernard-Marie Koltes’s play, Black Battles with Dogs, the story unfolds over the course of one night near a construction site in Senegal, where a group of workers is confronted by a man seeking justice for the cover-up of his brother’s murder at the site.
Colman Domingo is joining the cast of Gus Van Sant’s hostage thriller, Dead Man’s Wire. Austin Kolodney’s original screenplay is based on the story of Tony Kirtsis, who one frigid day in February 1977, took Indianapolis mortgage broker Dick Hall hostage in his office. He attached a steel wire that was hooked to a sawed-off, double barrel shotgun around his captive’s neck. (This "dead man's line" meant that if a policeman shot Kirtsis, the shotgun would go off and shoot Hall in the head.). Domingo joins previously announced cast members, Bill Skarsgård (Nosferatu) and Dacre Montgomery (Stranger Things).
Martin Scorsese and Leonardo DiCaprio may be set to make their seventh film together, as the director-actor duo are in talks to respectively direct and star in an adaptation of Erik Larson’s Devil in the White City for Disney’s 20th Century Studios. DiCaprio first acquired the rights to Larson’s bestselling book in 2010, with the project bouncing from studio to studio. It was last set up at Hulu as a big-budget miniseries in 2019 but was later dropped. First published in 2003, Devil in the White City follows H.H. Holmes, a notorious criminal regarded as the first American serial killer, for the lurid tabloid pieces published around his crimes. The story is set in 1893 at the Chicago World’s Fair, and contrasts Holmes’s killings against the efforts of architect Daniel Burnham to make the World’s Fair a reality.
TELEVISION/STREAMING
Minnie Driver, Ruth Jones, and James Nesbitt are set to star in Run Away, Harlan Coben's next Netflix series. The story centers on Simon Greene (Nesbitt), who had the perfect life with a loving wife (Driver) and kids, great job, and beautiful home. But everything fell apart when his eldest daughter Paige (Ellie de Lange) ran away. Simon's search to find her will take him into a dangerous underworld, revealing deep secrets that could tear his family apart forever. In keeping with previous Coben adaptations Fool Me Once and Missing You, Run Away will relocate the story from the U.S. to the U.K. Filming will begin around Manchester and the North West of England this month.
Netflix has greenlit a fourth season of its popular legal drama series, The Lincoln Lawyer, with production set to begin next month. Manuel Garcia-Rulfo will return as Mickey Haller in Season 4, based on the sixth book in The Lincoln Lawyer series by Michael Connelly, The Law of Innocence. Also coming back are Becki Newton (Lorna), Jazz Raycole (Izzy), and Angus Sampson (Cisco), as well as Neve Campbell (Maggie McPherson). Created for television by David E. Kelley and developed for television by Ted Humphrey, the drama follows Mickey Haller (Garcia-Rulfo), an iconoclastic idealist who runs his law practice out of the back seat of his Lincoln as he takes on cases big and small across Los Angeles.
Rhona Mitra has landed the female lead opposite Joel Kinnaman in Debriefing the President (wt), the four-hour miniseries for TNT, which comes as part of the network’s renewed focus on premium event programming. Mitra plays Polly Stevens, a colleague of Kinnaman’s real-life CIA analyst, John Nixon, whose book of the same name inspired the series. Delving into the 2003 interrogation of deposed Iraqi president Saddam Hussein, Debriefing the President explores a CIA analyst’s relentless search for truth, the complexities of justice on the global stage, and the deeply personal father-son connections woven into a turbulent period of history.
As Deadline noted, it was probably inevitable the worlds of FBI and CIA would eventually collide on a TV show from Dick Wolf, the king of crime procedurals. The result is FBI: CIA, a spinoff from Wolf's hit CBS drama FBI, which is targeting a potential series order for the 2025-2026 season. The proposed offshoot follows a dedicated, strait-laced FBI agent and a street-smart CIA agent who are part of a new, clandestine taskforce charged with solving and preventing domestic terrorism in and around New York City. Three characters, including the FBI and CIA agent leads, will appear in the spinoff episode airing this spring and would become series regulars should the project go forward. Casting is currently underway for the roles.
Uma Thurman (Kill Bill; Pulp Fiction) has been cast as a series regular opposite Michael C. Hall in the new Showtime original series, Dexter: Resurrection. Thurman will play Charley, who works as the head of security for mysterious billionaire Leon Prater. She worked as a Special Ops officer and in the world of private security before becoming the right-hand woman for Prater. Hall is set to reprise the titular role of Dexter Morgan, a blood spatter expert who doesn’t just solve murders but also commits them. The actor played Dexter for eight seasons during the show’s original run from 2006-13, followed by Dexter: New Blood in 2021, and he currently narrates origin story, Dexter: Original Sin.
Melissa Joan Hart is set to continue her long-standing partnership with Lifetime in the upcoming thriller, Killing the Competition. Debuting March 1st, the film is inspired by actual events of an overbearing mother (Hart), once her high school's star dancer and prom queen, who descends from meddling to menacing after her daughter is cut from the dance team of her own high school alma mater. In a desperate attempt to reclaim what she believes is rightfully theirs, she becomes involved in a shocking kidnapping plot. Lily Brooks O'Briant, Valerie Loo, Anzu Lawson, and Eddie Mills also star.
Fans of the ITV drama McDonald & Dodds were upset to learn it has been cancelled after four seasons. McDonald & Dodds, which debuted its first season in March 2020, followed Jason Watkins and Tala Gouveia's titular characters of DS Dodds and DCI Lauren McDonald as they solved crimes in Bath. Other regular cast members include Outnumbered's Claire Skinner and EastEnders's Charlie Chambers as Chief Superintendent Mary Ormond and DC Samuel Goldie. While fans won't be seeing Watkins back in the role of DS Dodds, it was recently announced he has been cast in a new detective drama from Death in Paradise boss, Toby Frow.
PODCASTS/RADIO
Authors on the Air spoke with Robert Crais about the twentieth novel in the Elvis Cole and Joe Pike series, The Big Empty.
Cops and Writers had the first of a special two-part show with Kansas City Police Detective Brent Cartwright, who dedicated over 25 years to serving as a US Army veteran and police officer, spending more than a decade as an undercover detective. His book, Undercover Junkie: Chasing Highs, Confronting Killers, and Unraveling in the Chaos, is due out February 15, 2025.
The latest Crime Time FM featured "The Review Show January 2025," with a look at the latest round up of new releases in the world of crime fiction.
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January 23, 2025
Mystery Melange
Book art by Emma Taylor
British writer Mick Herron, best known for his Slough House series beginning with Slow Horses, has been awarded the Crime Writers’ Association (CWA) Diamond Dagger for lifetime contribution to crime writing. CWA members make nominations for the Diamond Dagger, which are then narrowed down to a shortlist by industry experts before being voted on by a panel of past winners. Previous recipients include John le Carré, Ruth Rendell, Val McDermid, Ian Rankin and PD James. Last year, Lynda La Plante and James Lee Burke shared the award.
Authors for LA, a group of authors and readers coming together to support those affected by the Los Angeles fires, is gearing up for an online auction to raise funds. The list of participating authors includes David Baldacci, Lou Berney, S.A.Cosby, Tess Gerritsen, Heather Graham, Charlaine Harris, Brad Meltzer, Hank Phillippi Ryan, Lisa Unger, and host Daniel Palmer. Items up for grabs include signed books, the chance to offer up character names in novels, zoom meetings with authors, tickets to the Edgar Awards Banquet and Sleuthfest, plus editing services. Bidding Closes on Feb 4, 2025 at 7:00 PM EST. Interested authors and other publishing entities can still donate items or services by clicking on this link.
The 18th edition of the Jaipur Literature Festival (JLF) in India will return from January 30 to February 3, promising an exciting lineup of events, speakers, and themes. The Festival will feature over 600 luminaries, including Nobel laureates, Booker Prize, Pulitzer and Sahitya Akademi winners, policymakers, and acclaimed writers. This year's special theme will focus on crime fiction.
Ladies and gentlemen, start your engines, er, Ereaders. Over at The Rap Sheet blog, Jeff Pierce has a list of upcoming crime, mystery, and thriller novels scheduled for publication during the first quarter of this new year in both the U.S. and the U.K.
An Oxford restaurant, Six by Nico, is launching "Murder on the Midnight Express," a six-course tasting menu inspired by Agatha Christie's novel, Murder on the Orient Express. (The world-renowned murder mystery author lived in nearby Wallingford for more than 40 years.) Diners are invited to step aboard the Midnight Express to travel back to the 1930s and unravel the mystery. Six By Nico founder, Nico Simeone, said: "Murder on the Midnight Express is more than just a tasting menu. It’s a journey that introduces ‘immersion’ to our creative framework, adding to our existing sources of inspiration that cover destinations, memories, and ideas." Murder on the Midnight Express will be available from January 27 to March 9 and is priced at £50.
In the Q&A roundup, mystery author Sara Winokur joined Lisa Haselton to chat about her new historical Nordic noir, Ivory Bones: The Lewis Chessmen Murders; and over at Writers Who Kill, E.B. Davis interviewed Lilian Jackson Braun Award-nominee Jennifer J. Chow. about the second book in her Magical Fortune Cookie series; Robert Crais spoke with the LA Daily News about writing his latest novel, The Big Empty, and bringing Elvis Cole and Joe Pike into the darkness; and Paula Hawkins told The Scotsman about how she's inspired by her adopted homeland of Scotland, including in her latest thriller, The Blue Hour.
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The Audies Have It
The Audio Publishers Association announced the finalists across 28 categories for the 30th annual Audie Awards for audiobooks and spoken-word entertainment, including the mysteries and thrillers. You can check out all of the shortlisted titles here, which include some crime-related titles sprinkled throughout the various categories.
MYSTERY FINALISTS
Still See You Everywhere ( Audio ) By Lisa Gardner, Narrated by Hillary Huber, Published by Hachette Audio
The Midnight Feast ( Audio ) By Lucy Foley, Narrated by Joe Eyre, Sarah Slimani, Roly Botha, Laurence Dobiesz, and Tuppence Middleton, Published by HarperCollins Publishers
This Is Why We Lied ( Audio ) By Karin Slaughter, Narrated by Kathleen Early, Published by HarperCollins Publishers
Listen for the Lie ( Audio ), By Amy Tintera, Narrated by Will Damron and January LaVoy, Published by Macmillan Audio
Rough Pages ( Audio ), By Lev AC Rosen, Narrated by Vikas Adam, Published by Macmillan Audio
THRILLER FINALISTS
The Forest of Lost Souls ( Audio ) By Dean Koontz, Narrated by January LaVoy, Published by Brilliance Publishing
The Little Drummer Girl By John le Carré, Narrated by Adjoa Andoh, Published by reamscape Media LLC
Lone Wolf ( Audio ) By Gregg Hurwitz, Narrated by Scott Brick, Published by Macmillan Audio
First Lie Wins ( Audio ) By Ashley Elston, Narrated by Saskia Maarleveld, Published by Penguin Random House Audio
The Return of Ellie Black By Emiko Jean, Narrated by Mizuo Peck, Tessa Albertson, full cast, Published by Simon & Schuster Audio
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