B.V. Lawson's Blog, page 158

Mystery Melange

The International Thriller Writers announced the winners of the 2018 Thriller Awards this past weekend during the annual ThrillerFest in New York City. Best Hardcover Novel went to Final Girls, by Riley Sager; Best First Novel: The Freedom Broker, by K.J. Howe; Best Paperback Original Novel: Grievance, by Christine Bell; Best Short Story: “Charcoal and Cherry,” by Zoë Z. Dean (Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine, May/June 2017); Best Young Adult Novel: The Rains, by Gregg Hurwitz; Best E-Book Original Novel: Second Chance, by Sean Black. (HT to Mystery Fanfare)

The International Association of Crime Writers announced the winner of this year's Hammett Prize for literary excellence in the field of crime-writing, as reflected in a book published in the English language in the US and/or Canada. August Snow, by Stephen Mack Jones, edged out the other finalists which included The Marsh King’s Daughter by Karen Dionne, The Tragedy of Brady Sims by Ernest J. Gaines, and Two Days Gone by Randall Silvis.

 

Strand Magazine announced the winners of its annual awards for the best in the previous year's crime fiction. Best Novel went to Wonder Valley, by Ivy Pochoda; Best First Novel, The Lost Ones, by Sheena Kamal; Lifetime Achievement Awards: Jonathan Gash (aka John Grant), British creator of the antiques-focused Lovejoy mysteries, and J.A. Jance, best known for her J.P. Beaumont series and her Joanna Brady series; and Publisher of the Year Award goes to Tom Doherty of Tor/Forge books. (HT to the Rap Sheet)

Ellen Hart and Marcie Rendon are the recipients of the 2018 Pinckley Prizes for Crime Fiction, named to honor the memory of Diana Pinckley. Hart won the Pinckley Prize for Distinguished Body of Work for her thirty-two novels in two series, one featuring Jane Lawless, a lesbian restaurateur and her best friend, Cordelia Thorne, the other being the Sophie Greenway series. Marcie Rendon, a member of the White Earth Nation, and a playwright, poet, and freelance writer, won the Pinckley Prize for Debut Novel for her book Murder on the Red River.

comes the sad news of the death of Jessica Mann, the distinguished crime writer, broadcaster and reviewer. She penned a series featuring archaeologist Tamara Hoyland among several other novels as well as nonfiction such as Deadlier than the Male, an excellent study of female crime writing. She also served on committees for the Crime Writers Association and the Detection Club.

Here's something to put on your bucket list, especially if you find yourself in Europe his summer: high atop the Austrian Alps sits the new James Bond Museum, 007 Elements, an immersive installation celebrating Bond's cinematic outings past and present. The museum neighbors the glacial ice Q restaurant featured in "Spectre" - both buildings are on Gaislachkogl mountain in Sölden. The museum, which opened July 12, can be reached via the Gaislachkoglbahn cable car.

Stephen Knight, the author of Australian Crime Fiction: A 200-Year History, took a look at the history of Aussie crime writing for The Conversation magazine, from brilliant exotics to the richness of the tradition as a whole.

Ahead of ThrillerFest in New York City, CrimeReads assembled a panel of authors for a roundtable conversation on the state of the thriller. Joining in the discussion were Don Chaon, Layton Green, Jeff Gunhus, K.J. Howe, Gregg Hurwitz, Alan McDermott, Caroline Mitchell, Gin Phillips, Lori Rader-Day, Riley Sager, Rysa Walker, and Diana Rodriguez Wallach, all of whom were nominated in various categories for this year's Thriller Awards.

The latest issue of the Film Noir Foundation’s magazine includes a no-holds-barred conversation between FNF master of ceremonies Eddie Muller and novelist James Ellroy that took place after the FNF handed out its second Modern Master Award to Ellroy (the first last year was director Stephen Frears). Ray Banks also has an essay on Britain’s first neo-noir Nowhere to Go (starring Maggie Smith); Eddie Muller talks about the silent Japanese proto-noir Policeman (1933); Sara Smith has an appraisal of forgotten Swedish master Hasse Ekman; and much more. (HT to Vince Keenan)

Here's a fun fact for fans of both books and the films upon which they're based: movies based on books take 44% more at the box office in the UK and 53% more worldwide than original screenplays, according to research from the Publishers Association.

Be careful what you take to the Antiques Roadshow: on a recent installment of the popular program (the UK version), Jude Hooke showed the resident specialist a printed score of the "Enigma Variations" with annotations and pasted-in corrected passages of music in Elgar’s own hand. Imagine the surprise of the Elgar Foundation: that very score had gone missing in 1994 – at which time, it turns out, Ms. Hooke’s late husband was an attorney at the same firm as the Foundation’s former vice-chairman.

The latest poem at the 5-2 crime poetry weekly is "Tiger Watching at Yorkshire Animal Park" by Alyson Faye.

In the Q&A roundup author Ruth Ware (The Woman in Cabin 10) stopped by the Keep It Kassual blog; Tonya Kappes (a/k/a Maymee Bell) was a guest at Lesa's Book Critiques to talk about the first book in her new Campers & Criminals mystery series, Beaches, Bungalows & Burglaries; Writers Who Kill snagged V.M. Burns to discuss her book The Plot is Murder, nominated for a Best Debut Novel in the Malice Domestic Awards; the Mystery People sat down with Megan Abbott to talk about falling in love with your mysteries; the MPs also chatted with Ace Atkins, whose novel The Sinners continues his southern crime fiction series with Afghan war vet and Mississippi sheriff Quinn Colson.

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Media Murder for Monday

Monday greetings to all and a big welcome to the roundup of the latest crime drama news:

THE BIG SCREEN

Constantin Film is adapting German author Ferdinand von Schirach’s international legal thriller bestseller The Collini Case. German actor Elyas M’Barek stars as an attorney who takes on a defendant accused of the vicious murder of a respected elderly businessman. In researching the case, the young lawyer comes across one of the biggest judicial scandals in German history and a truth that nobody wants to face. The project is being directed by Marco Kreuzpaintner from a screenplay by Christian Zuebert, Robert Gold and Jens-Frederik Otto, and was inspired by the author’s own family history.

Julianne Moore is in negotiations to join Amy Adams in The Woman in the Window, Fox 2000’s adaptation of the book by A.J. Finn. Joe Wright (The Darkest Hour) is directing the thriller, which sees Adams portraying a child psychologist with severe agoraphobia and a penchant for mixing alcohol with her medication who hasn’t left her house in months. The woman believes she witnessed a horrible crime involving a new neighboring family but no one, including the police, will believe her. Moore will play the mother of a mysterious young boy who moves in across the street. It was also announced last week that Wyatt Russell has been cast as David, the tenant who lives in Anna’s basement.

Gary Oldman and Jessica Alba have joined the cast of the thriller Killers Anonymous, from producer Goldfinch Studios. The cast also includes Tommy Flanagan (Sons of Anarchy), Sam Hazeldine (Mechanic: Resurrection), Rhyon Nicole Brown (Empire) MyAnna Buring (Ripper Street), Tim McInnerny (Game of Thrones), Michael Socha (Svengali), Elizabeth Morris (Let’s Be Evil), Elliot James Langridge (Northern Soul), and Isabelle Allen (Les Misérables). Martin Owen (Let’s Be Evil) is directing from a script co-written by Owen, Elizabeth Morris and Seth Johnson. The story revolves around an unusual support group for killers -  but the failed assassination of a senator and the brutal and professional demise of his attempted assassin causes the very fabric of the group to unravel as one layer of betrayal leads to another.

Fresh off his turn as King T’Challa aka Black Panther in Disney/Marvel’s Avengers: Infinity War, Chadwick Boseman is reteaming with Joe and Anthony Russos to produce and star in the action thriller 17 Bridges from STXfilms. Brian Kirk (Luther, Game of Thrones) has signed on to direct from a script by Adam Mervis that follows a disgraced NYPD detective (Boseman) who, after being thrust into a citywide manhunt for a cop killer, is given a shot at redemption.

District 9 director Neill Blomkamp has signed on to direct a new installment of the RoboCop series for MGM called RoboCop Returns. The project is a long-dormant sequel that had been planned by the original 1987 film’s screenwriters Ed Neumeier and Michael Miner, but was cancelled when director Paul Verhoeven declined to direct the project and a WGA strike in 1988 followed. Justin Rhodes, who is also attached to write the upcoming Terminator reboot and the DC film Green Lantern Corps, will rewrite Neumeier and Miner’s script.

Geneva Robertson-Dworet is set to adapt Artemis, an adaptation of the novel by The Martian author Andy Weir that Phil Lord and Chris Miller will direct. Artemis is described as an adrenaline-charged crime caper that features smart, detailed world-building based on real science. It centers on Jasmine Bashara, aka Jazz, a twentysomething living in a small town named Artemis — and it’s the first and only city on the moon. Her budding career as a smuggler isn’t exactly setting her up as a kingpin, so when the chance at a life-changing score drops in her lap, she finds herself in the middle of a conspiracy for control of Artemis itself.

Quentin Tarantino has rounded out the large cast for his upcoming crime drama Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, bringing Spencer Garrett, Martin Kove, James Remar, Brenda Vaccaro, Nichole Galicia, Mike Moh, Craig Stark, Marco Rodriguez, Ramon Franco and Raul Cardona on board. They join the already cast stars Leonardo DiCaprio, Brad Pitt, Margot Robbie, Burt Reynolds, Kurt Russell, Timothy Olyphant, Damian Lewis, Dakota Fanning, Scoot McNairy and Al Pacino. Once Upon a Time takes place in Los Angeles in 1969, at the height of hippie Hollywood era ... and the Charles Manson murders.

Jeremy Renner has been set to star alongside Jamie Foxx in Spawn, the Blumhouse film that marks the directorial debut of Todd McFarlane from his scripted adaptation of his comic book creation. It was announced back in May that Foxx would play the title character, Al Simmons, a member of a CIA black ops team who is twice betrayed: after being set up by his cohorts to be murdered with his corpse set aflame, Simmons is then double crossed in Hell.  Spawn turns his rage on street scum and revenge and enlists the aid of Detective "Twitch" Williams (Renner), an unconventional detective whose intelligence and intuition compliments Spawn’s power and will help Spawn win his war.

Steve McQueen's crime drama Widows is set to open the 2018 London Film Festival. The thriller is co-written by the Oscar-winning director with Gone Girl author Gillian Flynn and unites a group of four women with nothing in common except a debt left behind by their dead husbands’ criminal activities. Viola Davis, Michelle Rodriguez, Elizabeth Debicki and Cynthia Erivo star.

On the 30th anniversary of the iconic film Die Hard starring Bruce Willis and the late Alan Rickman, The Telegraph profiled the genesis of the movie, which was actually based on Roderick Thorp’s 1979 thriller novel Nothing Lasts Forever.

TELEVISION/STREAMING SERVICES

The Television Academy announced the nominees for this year's Emmy Awards. The spy series The Americans was among the nods for Best Drama Series, and Best Limited Drama Series included the outlaw project Godless, the psychological thriller The Alienist, and The Assassination Of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story. The Americans also snagged Best Actor and Best Actress nods for Matthew Rhys and Keri Russell, and Sandra Oh was nominated for her role in the thriller Killing Eve. For all of the various categories and finalists, head on over to the official Emmys website.

Karin Slaughter’s upcoming thriller novel Pieces of Her is being developed for television by Bruna Papandrea’s Made Up Stories and Endeavor Content, with Lesli Linka Glatter (Homeland, Mad Men) attached to direct and Charlotte Stoudt (Homeland, House of Cards) to pen the adaptation. Pieces of Her asks: What if everything you thought you knew about your quiet, middle-age mother was wrong? What if she has spent the past 30 years hiding in plain sight? What if, when violence erupts at your local mall and a shooter goes on a rampage, the person who stops him, dead, is your mother? Pieces of Her follows Andrea, a woman who thought she knew everything about her mother, Laura, until the moment she realized she didn’t, and their world unravels.

Another novel by Big Little Lies author Liane Moriarty is headed to Netflix. EveryWhere Studios has optioned the rights to Moriarty’s Three Wishes for a series adaptation written by playwright/TV writer Lila Feinberg (Younger). Three Wishes follows three wildly different sisters as their lives intertwine and unfold around their glamorous Manhattan wedding weekend that ends in a shocking tragedy. When a scandalous secret emerges, the tight-knit bond among the sisters is tested as they unravel a mystery that ripples throughout each of their lives.

Netflix has set Michael C. Hall, Cleopatra Coleman and Bokeem Woodbine to join Boyd Holbrook in the cast of the crime drama In The Shadow of the Moon. The Hap and Leonard helmer Jim Mickle is directing the movie from a script by Gregory Weidman and Geoff Tock. Holbrook plays a Philly police officer who struggles with a lifelong obsession to track a mysterious serial killer whose crimes defy explanation.

Former Sex&Drugs&Rock&Roll alums Elaine Hendrix and Denis Leary are reuniting for USA Network’s thriller Erase pilot. Created by the Rescue Me veteran and Alex Cary, Erase focuses on a once rotten to the core character (Leary), a ill cop who changes his stripes after a life altering revelation and decides to bring down his corrupt superiors in the department. Leary’s O’Neal also has to strive against time to fix the family he almost destroyed in his old ways and keep everyone alive too. Hendrix will portray Bella Tanner, a fun, loving and true problem solver.

Ben Affleck will join Anne Hathaway in Dee Rees' Mudbound follow-up, The Last Thing He Wanted. Based on Joan Didion's 1996 novel, the movie will center on a hardscrabble journalist, Elena McMahon (Hathaway), who inherits her father's position as a dealmaker — an arms dealmaker. She soon finds herself on dangerous ground as the Iran-Contra Affair's arms-for-drugs plot reaches its tipping point. Toby Jones, Rosie Perez and Edi Gathegi are also joining the cast of the Netflix feature, which is currently filming in Puerto Rico.

Nashville star Charles Esten has booked a new series gig in the form of a season-long recurring role on TNT’s upcoming thriller drama Tell Me Your Secrets. Created and written by Harriet Warner, Tell Me Your Secrets is a thriller that revolves around a trio of characters, each with a mysterious and troubling past: Emma (Lily Rabe), a young woman who once looked into the eyes of a dangerous killer, John (Hamish Linklater), a former serial predator desperate to find redemption, and Mary (Amy Brenneman), a mother obsessed with finding her missing daughter. Esten will play Mary's husband, Saul Barlow, a grieving father who has coped with the disappearance of his daughter by walking away from materialism and trying to move on from the loss. This has severely strained his relationship with his wife who refuses to give up the search.

Nic Bishop (Covert Affairs), The Sopranos star Annabella Sciorra, Molly Hagan (iZombie) and Tami Roman (When Love Kills: The Falicia Blakely Story) have been cast as recurring opposite Octavia Spencer and Lizzy Caplan in Apple’s thriller drama series Are You Sleeping. Created and written by Nichelle Tramble Spellman and based on the true-crime novel by Kathleen Barber, the provides a unique glimpse into America’s obsession with true-crime podcasts and challenges its viewers to consider the consequences when the pursuit of justice is placed on a public stage.

Fresh on the heels of news that Netflix has picked up a Bollywood crime drama from India comes the report that the streaming service has also signed two international crime dramas from Argentina and Brazil. The Argentine drama is titled Puerta 7 and follows one woman’s attempt to cut through the male-dominated world of football hooliganism to cleanse one club of its corruption and criminal element; the Brazilian thriller, The Faction, is set in the 90s and centers on Cristina, an honest, dedicated lawyer who finds out her missing brother has been jailed for years and is a leader of an ascendant criminal faction and is forced to become an informant and work against her brother.

Netflix will explore the true crime genre again in 2019 with a show based on the controversial case of the Central Park Five, boys who were accused of and then convicted of a rape they did not commit. The four-part series, which is created, directed, and written by Ava Duvernay, just announced the signing of Michael K. Williams, best known for his iconic role as Omar on The Wire, to play Bobby McCray, the devoted father of one of the teenage boys who lost valuable years of his life while incarcerated. Also joining the cast are John Leguizamo, who will play the father of one of the other accused teens, and Vera Farmiga of Bates Motel fame who plays Manhattan Assistant District Attorney Elizabeth Lederer, the lead prosecutor for the case.

Rosario Dawson is set as the lead of USA Network’s crime drama pilot Briarpatch, from Mr. Robot creator Sam Esmail. Written by Andy Greenwald and based on the Ross Thomas novel, Briarpatch centers on Allegra "Pick" Dill (Dawson), a tenacious and highly-skilled investigator working in Washington, DC for a young, ambitious Senator. When her ten-years-younger sister, a homicide detective, is killed by a car bomb, Allegra returns to her corrupt Texas hometown. What begins as a search for the murderer becomes a fraught and dangerous excavation of the past Allegra has long sought to bury.

George Newbern has booked his first post-Scandal TV series role, taking on a recurring character in Law & Order: SVU. Newbern will play Dr. Al Pollack, a charming, handsome and very wealthy doctor who is a past and future love interest to Detective Rollins (Kelli Giddish). They’ve had a tumultuous relationship in past and he has a bit of a wandering eye, but when they reconnect, things might be different this time — or not.

CBS released its fall schedule lineup, including returning series Bull, the NCIS franchises, SWAT, MacGuyer, Hawaii Five-O, Seal Team and Criminal Minds, as well as new shows Magnum PI and FBI.

Acorn TV, North America’s largest streaming service for British and international TV, announced its August slate featuring exclusive U.S./Canada Premieres. The roster includes the new drama series Mystery Road, called "Australia’s answer to True Detective" and starring multiple Emmy and Golden Globe winner Judy Davis and AFCA winner Aaron Pedersen (Jack Irish) as detectives in this outback noir; and also the return of the female-driven British police procedural No Offence.

A trailer was released for the fourth season of Better Call Saul, which sees Bob Odenkirk as unemployed, casing joints, and sporting a purple tracksuit as he begins to transform into Saul Goodman.

The new trailer for Season six of Orange is the New Black shakes things up at Litchfield Penitentiary.

PODCASTS/VIDEO/RADIO

Radio New Zealand spoke with Robin Burcell about her life as a cop, a forensic artist and how she pours all that experience into her writing, including her latest novel, The Grey Ghost.

Writer Types welcomed authors Caroline Kepnes and Rob Hart for a chat about their various writing projects. The show also brought back the "5 Questions With..." segment featuring Ronald Colby, author of Night Driver. Plus an Unpanel of current and former law enforcement members and authors told us what writers get wrong about writing the police, with J. Todd Scott, Patricia Smiley and Paul Bishop

Spybrary featured a round table discussion on the life and books of spy writer Frederick Forsyth.

Destination Mystery spoke with attorney, author, and anti-trafficking advocate Pamela Samuels Young, often called "John Grisham with a female twist," about her legal thrillers, sex trafficking, and what she's working on next.

THEATER

Spokane, Washington's Stage Left is bringing the Agatha Christie mystery And Then There Were None to the stage through July 29th. Bryan Durbin directs the classic tale of eight strangers on a deserted island who are being picked off one by one.

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Quote of the Week

           Related StoriesQuote of the Week 

FFB: An Amiable Charlatan by E. Phillips Oppenheim

British author Edward Phillips Oppenheim (1866-1946) worked in his father's leather business before serving in the Ministry of Information following World War I. He eventually turned his hand to writing crime novels after his father helped him get his first book published. It was a good investment on his father's part, because Oppenheim was apparently successful enough to buy a French villa and a yacht and appeared on the cover of Time magazine in September 1927, referring to himself as the "prince of storytellers." That may appear to be a bit of boasting, but he published some 150 novels in all, with 45 movies made from his books between 1914 and 1942.



Many of Oppenheim's works were early precursors of the spy genre, with An Amiable Charlatan (1916) filled with its own smattering of intrigue. The story revolves around the protagonist, Paul Walmsley, a sophisticated British gentleman (a frequent type of Oppenheim character), with most of the action taking place inside Stephano's Restaurant in London. The "amiable charlatan" of the title is American "adventurer" Joseph H. Parker who interrupts Walmsley's dinner by sitting down with him uninvited and eating his food. When a detective bursts into the room and searches Parker for suspected stolen goods, he finds nothing—unbeknownst to Walmsley, Parker has temporarily stowed the goods on him and then palmed them off to an accomplice maître d'hôtel.



Thus begins an unusual friendship, as Parker sticks to Walmsley like glue, interrupting more of his life than just dinner and pickpocketing one item after another, even getting Walmsley involved with ex-cons, theft after theft and a counterfeit ring. Even worse, Parker has a partner-in-crime, his lovely daughter, who Walmsley happens to fall for. But as the book proceeds, it becomes apparent that the charming and master-manipulator Parker isn't exactly what he appeared to be at first. It's a fun caper, with some adventure and romance mixed in. Parker is a winsome character and a little reminiscent of Donald Westlake's comic thief, John Dortmunder—except he has a success rate with his con jobs that would make Dortmunder proud.

            

Mystery Melange

Sisters in Crime Australia announced the shortlists for this year's Davitt Awards, which celebrate the best crime books by Australian women in the categories of adult, young adult, children, nonfiction and debut books. The finalists for the Best Adult Crime Book include Sarah Bailey, The Dark Lake; Sara Foster, The Hidden Hours; Candice Fox, Crimson Lake; Sulari Gentill, Crossing the Lines; Jane Harper, Force of Nature; Emma Viskic, And Fire Came Down. For all the nominees, head on over to the SinC Australia website.

The shortlists were announced for the 2018 Ngaio Marsh Awards, which celebrate the very best in Kiwi Crime. Contenders for Best Novel include Marlborough Man by Alan Carter; See You In September by Charity Norman; Tess by Kirsten McDougall; The Sound of Her Voice by Nathan Blackell; A Killer Harvest by Paul Cleave; and The Hidden Room by Stella Duffy. The finalists will be feted and the winners announced at the WORD Christchurch festival August 29-September 2. For all the nods, including Best First Novel, Craig Sisterson has the details on his blog.

The Deadly Ink Conference announced the finalists for the David Award, handed out each year at the annual event and named in honor of David G. Sasher, Sr., a great supporter of the mystery genre and a prime mover in the early days of Deadly Ink. This year's nominees are The Case of the Absentee Father by E. J. Copperman/Jeff Cohen; The Black Kachina by Jack Getze; Blind to Sin by David White; The Persian Always Meows Twice by Eileen Watkins; and Unsub by Meg Gardiner.

A detective constable from the Metropolitan Police Service has been crowned the winner of the inaugural Write Here, Right Now open submissions competition. Vicki Bradley scooped the prize, organized by Simon & Schuster UK, Darley Anderson Literary Agency and the Bradford Literature Festival, for her psychological thriller Before I Say I Do. As a result of her win she has secured an offer of representation from Darley Anderson Literary Agency and a publishing contract with Simon & Schuster.

Congratulations go to Lesa Holstine, the recipient the 2018 David Thompson Memorial Special Service Award given by the Bouchercon Board. The honor is handed out annually to honor the memory and contributions to the crime fiction community of David Thompson, a beloved Houston bookseller who passed away in 2010. Winners are recognized for their “extraordinary efforts to develop and promote the crime fiction field.”

Virden, Illinois' Sly Fox Bookstore is celebrating its 20th birthday with an open house on Saturday, July 22. The store focuses primarily on mysteries and children's books as well as Illinois history. Sly Fox is offering a 20% storewide discount this month in honor of the milestone. Owner George Rishel noted, "When I first opened, I didn't know how long I would be here but here I am 20 years later still going." (HT to Shelf Awareness)

Crime writer Anthony Horowitz is featured in the latest issue of MI6, the James Bond-themed magazine. He discusses the research, writing style and enormity of the task of integrating his timeline with Fleming’s when creating the latest Bond continuation novel, Forever and a Day.

The latest edition of Switchblade (digital version, with print still to come) includes 14 "psychologically disturbing tales from independent operators making moves outside the five families of traditional publishing…It’s another indie noir star-studded line up." There's a new Ford Fairlane, rock and roll detective story in this issue as well as new offerings from Rusty Barnes, Jim Thomsen, Aidan Thorn, Mike Payne, John Bosworth, George Garnet, Scot Carpenter and Evelyn Deshane and "repeat offenders" E.F. Sweetman, Tais Teng, Danny Sophabmisay, Tom Barlow, and Travis Richardson.

Author James Brydon, who is multilingual and has worked as a cryptic crossword setter for major UK newspapers, applied the Page 69 Test to The Moment Before Drowning, his debut novel that is set in 1959, where a French Resistance hero investigates a murder in a small Breton town while awaiting his own trial.

Writing for The Guardian, Rob Reynolds profiled gangster-themed crime fiction from The Godfather to LA Confidential, picking ten of "the most compulsive tales of men who live and die in the mob."

Bookriot reported on Goodreads' new "gorgeous" app for books and readers.

The latest poem at the 5-2 crime poetry weekly is "Florida Man" by Peter M. Gordon, and the latest Beat to a Pulp offering is "Jenny Bow" by Chris La Tray.

In the Q&A roundup, Brad Thor spoke with Smashing Interviews' Melissa Parker about Spymaster, the latest in his Scot Harvath series, and how the current political climate played a role in his writing; Crime Fiction Lover welcomed Laura Marshall to discuss her second standalone novel, the psychological thriller, Three Little Lies; David Owain took Paul D. Brazill's "Short, Sharp Interview Challenge"; and Billy Kring stopped by the Mystery People blog to chat about his series featuring Texas Border Patrol agent Hunter Kincaid.

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Media Murder for Monday

Happy Monday to you and welcome to the latest roundup of crime drama news:

THE BIG SCREEN

Innis Lake Entertainment has optioned the film and television rights to John Verdon's Dave Gurney mystery book series. Deadline reported that Richard Wernham has been tapped to pen a screenplay for the film adaptation, which will center on the events on the first book, Think of a Number, with Nick Wernham attached to direct. The first book centered on a mysterious serial killing spree in upstate New York, and the detective, Dave Gurney, who comes out of retirement in an attempt to solve the case. The series currently contains five books with a sixth due out this week.

Idris Elba will be playing the villain in The Fast and The Furious spinoff, Hobbs and Shaw, with Deadpool 2 director David Leitch on board to helm and Fast and Furious scribe Chris Morgan penning the script. Dwayne Johnson and Jason Statham are set to eprise their roles as special agent Luke Hobbs and criminal mastermind Deckard Shaw. 

TELEVISION/STREAMING SERVICES

Netflix has picked up Freud, an eight-part period crime thriller that sees the young eponymous psychoanalyst involved in a nerve-racking investigation into a murderous conspiracy. The co-production from Satel Film/Bavaria Fiction for ORF and Netflix is set in Vienna and is the streaming service’s first Austrian original. The story centers on Sigmund Freud in Vienna in 1886, just as his revolutionary theories are being met with strong opposition from colleagues and wider Austrian society. It’s at this time he meets a war veteran and policeman and notorious medium Fleur Salomé and unwittingly becomes part of the hunt for a serial killer.

Netflix's first Indian original series makes its debut, the first of a slate of new shows aimed at the vast Bollywood entertainment market. Sacred Games is based on the 2006 novel by Vikram Chandra, and is a thriller set in Mumbai with a cast of police officers, politicians and spies, and stars some of Bollywood's biggest personalities: Saif Ali Khan, Nawazuddin Siddiqui and Radhika Apte. The eight-episode series, in Hindi and with English subtitles, is the first of seven original Indian series for Netflix, including a new adaptation announced last week of Salman Rushdie's 1981 epic novel Midnight's Children.

Karen Perry’s latest thriller, Your Closest Friend (2018), has been optioned for UK television. Set in London following a terror attack, the story centers on Cara who is rescued from a terrorist attack by a Good Samaritan. After she tells him some of her deepest secrets, she later begins receiving anonymous threats. Perry and former partner Paul Perry also had another novel, Girl Unknown, optioned by Tiger Aspect, the people behind Peaky Blinders, Cuffs and Ripper Street. (HT to Crime Fiction Ireland)

The secretive second season of The Night Manager is coming together after British spy author Charles Cumming revealed that he was part of the writing team. He joins Matthew Orton as part of the four writers that are purportedly working on the series, which has not been officially picked up by British public broadcaster BBC One or U.S. cable network AMC. As Deadline reported, producers The Ink Factory are being increasingly coy about the show’s return, although as one source close to the company remarked, given that it’s a spy drama, it’s no surprise it’s under wraps.

TNT released the first look at the upcoming limited series I Am the Night, which finds actor Chris Pine reteaming with his Wonder Woman director Patty Jenkins. The six-episode series stars Pine as Jay Singletary, a hack reporter whose coverage of a young woman's (India Eisley) search for her true identity may be the key to his redemption. Originally titled One Day She'll Darken, the series is based on the true story of Fauna Hodel, who was given away at birth to a black casino restroom attendant in 1949. When Fauna eventually begins looking into her past, she finds herself on a trail that leads her to the infamous gynecologist, Dr. George Hodel, who was a suspect in the Black Dahlia murder.

There have been many great British TV crime drama through the years, but the readers of Radio Times chose the Oxford-based whodunnit series Inspector Morse as their all-time favorite. To see a list of the top twenty vote-getters .

PODCASTS/VIDEO/RADIO

Author Debbi Mack interviewed mystery author Daniella Bernett on Crime Cafe to kick off a new season of the podcast, chatting baout the author's series featuring journalist Emmeline Kirby and jewel thief Gregory Longdon.

Crime writer Liam McIlvanney stopped by BBC Radio's The Afternoon Show to chat about his new novel, The Quaker.

Read or Dead hosts hosts Katie McClean and Rincey Abraham caught up on some series books that they've been meaning to pick up.

The second episode of the Mystery Rats Maze podcast from Kings River Life featured the mystery short story, "The Dead Lady's Coat", written by mystery author Joan Leotta and read by Fresno actor Julia Reimer.

Destination Mystery welcomed author and former Peace Corps volunteer Carole Sojka about her Andi Battaglia police series, set in Florida.

THEATER

Jeffrey Hatcher’s play Holmes and Watson, the final production of Houston's Alley Theatre, is currently playing through July 22. Set three years after the mysterious death of beloved detective Sherlock Holmes off Reichenbach Falls, Dr. John H. Watson receives a telegram that suggests his old friend may still be alive. The mysterious wire was sent from a doctor who states that three patients in his asylum’s care have each claimed to be the late Sherlock Holmes. Watson embarks on a journey to disprove these claims. Could Sherlock Holmes really be alive after all this time?

The Marriott Theatre of Lincolnshire, Illinois, is staging the musical comedy Murder for Two: Whodunit. The show stars two actors, Kellen Blair and Joe Kinosian who take on the roles of a small-town policeman trying to solve a famous writer’s murder, while the other plays all the suspects. And they both play the piano. Scott Weinstein directs the production, which runs through August 26.

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Quote of the Week

            

FFB: Nocturne by Ed McBain

Ed McBain (1926-2005) was the pen name of Salvatore Albert Lombino who later legally changed his name to Evan Hunter in 1952 (he also wrote under the pen names Curt Cannon, Ezra Hannon, Hunt Collins, and Richard Marsten). The prolific output of McBain/Hunter included over 110 novels, which have sold more than one hundred million copies worldwide, as well as numerous short stories and collections and a few plays and screenplays. He was the first American author to receive the Diamond Dagger, the highest award given by the British Crime Writers Association. He was also a Mystery Writers of America Grand Master and an Edgar Award recipient for his 2002 novel Money, Money, Money.  

 

His greatest success came with his 87th Precinct series, which began in 1956 with Cop Hater, made into a film in 1958. The series also served as the basis for a television show in the early 1960s, starring Robert Lansing, Gena Rowlands, Norman Fell, Ron Harper and Gregory Walcott. The 87th Precinct books are set in New York City (going under the alias of Isola in the books) and pioneered many of the elements of police procedurals today such as using multiple plot lines and viewpoints and an ensemble cast.



The synopsis for Nocturne, from 1997: In Isola, the hours between midnight and dawn are usually a quiet time. But for 87th Precinct detectives Carella and Hawes, the murder of an old woman makes the wee hours anything but peaceful — especially when they learn she was one of the greatest concert pianists of the century long vanished. Meanwhile 88th Precinct cop Fat Ollie Weeks has his own early morning nightmare: he's on the trail of three prep school boys and a crack dealer who spent the evening carving up a hooker.



This is a McBain procedural romp on one hand, with the usual cast of characters, as well as members of the 88th precinct chasing down the killers. There are the touches of whimsy, such as the recurring in-joke involving references to The Birds, "that movie that Alfred Hitchcock wrote," prompting corrections from Detective Steve Carella that "I don't think Hitchcock actually WROTE that..." (Ed McBain, as Evan Hunter, actually did write the screenplay for The Birds.) But there is also more explicit violence and graphic sexual language than is usual even in these gritty novels (content warning: group sex, torture and murder). Still, it's a good introduction to the 87th and McBain's procedural prowess, and as Marilyn Stasio wrote about this book for The New York Times, "the stories behind these bluesy vignettes of one night's life and sudden death in the city can be sad, sordid, bizarre or disgusting, but they are never not real."

            

Mystery Melange

Elly Griffiths, author behind the Ruth Galloway series, has topped this year's Dead Good Reader Awards shortlists by securing a total three nominations, while crime writers Ruth Ware, Clare Mackintosh, Tony Kent and Teresa Driscoll have two nods apiece. Voted on by the Dead Good crime community, the awards include 24 authors who have been shortlisted across six categories such as detective duos, small town mysteries, and Dead Good's most recommended read. Voting closes Wednesday, July 18, with winners to be announced on July 20 during the Theakston Old Peculier Crime Writing Festival in Harrogate, England. (HT to The Bookseller)

The Houston Museum of Natural Science is presenting the interactive International Exhibition of Sherlock Holmes through September 30th. The exhibition contains original manuscripts, period artifacts, and investigative tools from Arthur Conan Doyle’s era, including the writings of Edgar Allan Poe and Doyle’s medical studies with Dr. Joseph Bell. Galleries are organized around a new Holmes mystery, written by award-winning Doyle biographer Daniel Stashower, and each visitor receives a casebook in which they can jot down notes and clues in helping Holmes solve this latest mysterious case.

The latest issue of Pulp Modern is out with new short crime stories by Michael Bracken, Thomas Dade, John Kojak, Doug Lane, Chris McGinley, J.A. Prentice, Stephen D. Rogers, Scotch Rutherford, and Cynthia Ward. Likewise, the latest Flash Bang Mysteries features short stories by John M Floyd, Michael Bracken, Herschel Cozine, Stephen D. Rogers, Erin Lanter, and Tracy Falenwolfe.

Mike Ripley’s newest "Getting Away with Murder" column for Shots included a sneak peak at Ripley’s interview with MI5’s former director general, Stella Rimington; a look at newly released novels from Ace Atkins, Ann Granger, Caro Ramsay, and Zoë Sharp; a note about newly reissued works in Christopher Bush’s Ludovic Travers crime series; and a short review of Jim Kelly’s The Great Darkness, set during Britain’s World War II blackouts and featuring the authors light-averse detective inspector, Eden Brooke. (HT to The Rap Sheet)

Congrats to crime writer Val McDermid who was awarded an honorary doctorate from Bath Spa University. McDermid, who received the honor in recognition of her significant contribution to literature and crime fiction, has also been the recipient of the Crime Writers’ Association Gold Dagger, the Diamond Dagger for Lifetime Achievement, the Theakston’s Old Peculier Award for Outstanding Contribution to the genre, and is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature and of the Royal Society of Edinburgh.

Just like Amazon did recently, The Telegraph has compiled a listing of its favorite crime novels of 2018 (so far), from the latest Bernie Gunther novel to an international bestseller by South Korea's most popular crime writer. (requires subscription)

Bookpage is celebrating is annual Private Eye July with a list of mysteries and thrillers to read in honor of the theme. (A little BSP: I might add that the Scott Drayco series fits in rather nicely, too.)

Although the Fourth of July is technically over, you may still find this, from Crime Reads, of "Revolutionary Crime Ficton: 21 Crime Novels Set During Revolutions and Rebellions" a fun list.

The case last week of a shooter at The Capital Gazette’s newsroom in Annapolis led authorities to use an increasingly effective method to identify the suspect: facial recognition technology. But as the New York Times notes, although the technique is becoming increasingly pervasive in law enforcement and part of the standard law enforcement toolkit, questions about privacy and concerns about potential misuse of facial recognition are also likely to increase.

In honor of the HBO adaptation of Gillian Flynn's Sharp Objects that premieres July 8, PopSugar has eight thrillers to check out that are in the same vein as Flynn's novel.

Think you might enjoy running a bookshop but aren't sure? Here's your answer: A bookstore in the village of Wigtown, Scotland, allows people to run the shop while renting an apartment upstairs.

If you're more in the market for a permanent literary home, the west London house which was once home to Britain’s top crime writer PD James is available for £4.95 million. The acclaimed author wrote 10 of her 22 published books while living in the house, many featuring her iconic policeman-poet Inspector Adam Dalgliesh.

Straight out of the plot of a mystery novel (and in fact, it sort of is), comes a report that three rare books on various historical topics in the University of Southern Denmark's library collection contain large concentrations of arsenic on their covers.

The latest poem at the 5-2 crime poetry weekly is "Those Loud Neighbors" by Rosanne Limoncelli.

In the Q&A roundup, Ellen Byerrum chatted with The Mysteristas about the latest installment of her Crime of Fashion mysteries, Masque of the Red Dress; and over at the Read and Drink Tea blog, Scottish crime writer Douglas Skelton popped by to chat aobut his Davie McCall series and the Dominic Queste books and more.

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Happy Fourth

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