B.V. Lawson's Blog: In Reference to Murder, page 162

Quote of the Week

            

FFB: This Rough Magic

Mary Stewart was born in 1916 in Sunderland, County Durham, England and graduated from Durham University, later serving as a lecturer in English Language and Literature there. She turned to writing novels in the 1950s and is considered to be one of the founders of "romantic suspense." Her marriage to Sir Frederick Stewart, one-time chairman of the Geology Department of Edinburgh University, led to extensive travels that provided inspiration for the detailed exotic settings her novels are famous for.



One such novel heavily dependent upon a sense of place is 1964's This Rough Magic, a finalist for the Edgar Award for Best Mystery Novel in 1965 (beaten out by John Le Carré's The Spy Who Came in From the Cold). Lucy Waring, a young British stage actress whose first big play folded abruptly, is having a hard time finding work, so she accepts an invitation to stay with her married sister on the idyllic Ionian island of Corfu. At least, it appears idyllic, but on her first morning there, someone shoots at a tame dolphin, a young Greek boy drowns off the coast of Albania, and soon afterward a smuggler washes up dead in a nearby cove. The prime suspect is one of their neighbors, the handsome, arrogant son of a famous British actor-turned-hermit, although he's not the only one with secrets to hide.



In the story, Corfu is the alleged locale for Shakespeare's The Tempest, which provides plenty of fodder for tie-ins to Shakespeare's play, including the character of Sir Julian Gale (who is a Lawrence Olivier clone), elements such as a deliberate take on Prospero's books, a girl named Miranda and a touch of Ariel's music and epigraphs from the play prefacing each chapter, along with plenty of other literary references.



Setting is another major aspect of the novel, not surprising since the author has said she is blessed with a very good visual memory, "almost like a movie camera. When I start describing something in a book, I find myself putting down things I didn't know I'd caught. I'm a sponge, a happy thing for a writer to be":

The alleys were deserted, save for the thin cats and the singing birds in cages on the walls. Here and there, where a gap in the homes had a blazing wedge of sunlight across the stones, dusty kittens baked themselves in patches of marigolds, or very old women peered from the black doorways. The smell of charcoal-cooking hung in the warm air. Our steps echoed up the hills while from the main streets the sound of talk and laughter surged back at us, muted like the roar of a river in a distant gorge.

Stewart is also solid in her characterizations for the most part, with Lucy, the typical plucky-and-feisty Stewart heroine, and the various supporting cast members fleshed out in vivid detail, particularly the aging hermit actor, Sir Julian. As this is "romantic suspense," there are a couple of love-story angles involved. However, they actually take a back seat to the suspense elements that start off slowly but build steadily until the end, which includes a bona fide deus ex machina (involving a young man, a motorcycle and the island's patron saint, Spiridion).



As for male readers hesitant to pick up a Stewart book, Anthony Boucher noted that "it would take a suspiciously over-male he-man to resist the charm and narrative vigor of Mary Stewart's adventure stories." Stewart's strong story-telling skills are indeed evident, something she once commented on:  "I've written stories since I was three and a half, and I think you're either born with the storyteller's flair or you're not. You can learn much about the craft of writing, but you either have the storyteller's flair or you don't. It's no virtue of mine. It's just there."

            

Mystery Melange

News of crime fiction awards have been coming so fast, it's almost impossible to keep up, but here are a few of the most recent:

The UK's CrimeFest conference announced the winners of its annual awards at a ceremony held this past weekend. The eDunnit Award for the best crime fiction ebook first published in both hard copy and in electronic format in the British Isles in 2017 went to Michael Connelly for The Late Show; the Audible Sounds of Crime (for audiobooks) winner was J.P. Delaney, The Girl Before, read by Emilia Fox, Finty Williams & Lise Aagaard Knudse; the Last Laugh Award for the best humorous crime novel was handed out to Mick Herron for Spook Street; the H.R.F. Keating Award for the best biographical or critical book was won by Mike Ripley, Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang; the Best Children's Novel winner was Helena Duggan, A Place Called Perfect; and the Best Young Adult novel winner was Patrice Lawrence, Indigo Donut.

Also at the Gala Dinner at CrimeFest, Petrona Award judges Barry Forshaw and Sarah Ward announced the winner of the 2018 Petrona Award for the Best Scandinavian Crime Novel of the Year. The winner is Quicksand by Malin Persson Giolito, translated from the Swedish by Rachel Willson-Broyles and published by Simon & Schuster. Malin Persson Giolito and Rachel Willson-Broyles will also receive a cash prize. (HT to the Rap Sheet, which also lists the other finalists.)

The Crime Writers Association announced the longlists for this year's Dagger Awards for the Gold, Ian Fleming, John Creasey, International, Historical and Short Story Daggers plus the Dagger in the Library. Shortlists for the Daggers will be released in July and the winners announced at the Dagger Awards dinner in London in late October. If you'd like a quick at-a-glance summary of the lists, Karen Meeks at EuroCrime has a rundown.

We also now know this year’s longlist of ten titles for the Ngaio Marsh Award for Best Novel written by a New Zealand author. The finalists will be announced in July, along with the finalists for the Ngaio Marsh Award for Best First Novel, and the winners announced as part of a special event at the WORD Christchurch Festival, held from August 29 to September 2.

The ABA Harper Lee Prize for Legal Fiction announced the shortlist of three novels and has opened up voting by the public who serve as a collective "fifth juror" for determining the winner. This year's finalists are Proof by CE Tobisman; Testimony by Scott Turow; and Exposed by Lisa Scottoline.

In other crime fiction and book world news:

Join the Mystery Writers of America, New York Chapter, for a "thrilling night of chilling crime fiction read by our talented members" next month. The lineup includes Jill Block, Lawrence Block, Jeffrey Brown, P.D. Halt, Michael O'Keefe, and Jeff Soloway. Hosted by Jeff Markowitz, this event, to be held June 7 at the KGB Bar, is free and open to the public.

It was only a week or two ago that I noted the most recent RT Book Review Award announcements, which included both career achievement and the annual yearly winner nods for crime fiction works. Unfortunately, last week came news that RT Book Reviews parent company Romantic Times is shutting down after 37 years, which will mean the end to those two endeavors plus the RT VIP Salon. It would also mean the end to the annual RT Booklovers Convention, but according to Shelf Awareness, at least one of the people behind the RT conventions plans to launch a successor convention called "BookLoversCon" next year. Let's hope someone comes through for the review end of the company, as well, since book review and discovery outlets are continuing to rapidly shrink in number.

Ambient Lit is an ambitious project that hopes to redesign fiction for phones by customizing a reader's experience by using their location, weather, and season. Will it take off or just be another interesting but passing experiment? And what would it mean for writers?

The Conversation magazine profiled the interesting history behind an Agatha Christie anomaly: When the ancient Egyptian priest Heqanakhte wrote a series of letters to his family during the 12th Dynasty (1991-1802BC), he couldn't have imagined he was creating the framework around which the British crime writer Agatha Christie would weave one of the world’s first historical crime novels, some 4,000 years later.

If you want to own a literal piece of Agatha Christie's world, the seaside home overlooking the island where Agatha Christie wrote And Then There Were None is on the market. All you need is £2million ($2.7 million U.S.). Onnalea is a four-bedroom abode in the Devon area with views over Burgh Island where the author penned her 1939 crime fiction masterpiece.

You've probably heard of the phrase "bats in the belfrey," but you probably haven't heard about bats in the library. And it's all for a good cause.

Speaking of libraries, the Guardian reported on "Bacon, cheese slices and sawblades: the strangest bookmarks left at libraries."

The latest poem at the 5-2 crime poetry weekly is "Consensual Crime" by J.H. Johns.

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Media Murder for Monday

MOVIES

Gary Oldman, Meryl Streep, and Antonio Banderas are all in talks to star in The Laundromat, a Steven Soderbergh-directed drama about the Panama Papers scandal. The script, by Scott Z. Burns, is based on Jake Bernstein's book Secrecy World: Inside the Panama Papers Investigation of Illicit Money Networks and the Global Elite. The drama is the story of the revelations of reams of documents leaked from Panama-based law firm Mossack Fonseca by an anonymous whistleblower that bared embarrassing details on investments and money trails from politicians the world trying to evade taxes.

Sony’s Screen Gems picked up a worldwide rights deal at Cannes for The Intruder, a Deon Taylor-directed thriller that stars Dennis Quaid, Meaghan Good, Michael Ealy, and Joseph Sikora. The project is a psychological thriller about a young married couple who buys a beautiful Napa Valley home only to find that the man they bought it from refuses to let go of the property as he slowly terrorizes them. Quaid plays the seller, with Good and Ealy playing the couple who discover that the motivated seller has no intention of vacating the premises.

British filmmaker Gerard Johnson is set to direct the true-crime thriller Three Rivers, with Robbie Brenner (Dallas Buyers Club) and Michael Keyes producing. Although the exact plot details are being kept under wraps, the dark and gritty thriller is based on actual events and follows three troubled and volatile individuals whose lives collide in a series of tragic and fateful events that took place in the Pittsburgh.

Elisabeth Moss and Michael Stuhlbarg will star in the feature film Shirley about the famed horror author Shirley Jackson. Based on Susan Scarf Merrell’s book of the same name, the film tells the story of a young couple who move in with Jackson and her Bennington College professor-husband, Stanley Hyman (Stuhlbarg), in the hopes of starting a new life. Instead, they find themselves fodder for a psycho-drama that inspires Jackson’s next major novel.

Bradley Cooper may reunite with Clint Eastwood in his next film, as he's in talks to join the Eastwood-directed The Mule. The movie follows 90-year-old drug courier Earl Stone (to be played by Eastwood), an award-winning horticulturist and decorated WWII veteran, who is broke, alone, and facing foreclosure of his business when he's offered a job that simply requires him to drive—easy enough but, unbeknownst to Earl, he’s just signed on as a drug courier for a Mexican cartel, and also hit the radar of hard-charging DEA agent Colin Bates (Cooper).

Famke Janssen and Robert Patrick have joined John Travolta and Morgan Freeman in the crime thriller The Poison Rose. Travolta will play a private investigator who enjoys his share of drinking, smoking, and gambling, as well as women in distress. Janssen will play Travolta’s former love interest in the film, who hires him to investigate a murder. George Gallo will direct from a script he wrote with Richard Salvatore, based on Salvatore’s novel of the same name.

Sony Pictures has released an official trailer for their upcoming thriller, Searching, starring John Cho (Star Trek) as a father trying to find his missing 15-year-old daughter through clues left behind by her digital footprint.

A trailer was also released for The Happytime Murders, the Muppets movie that stars Melissa McCarthy playing Connie Edwards, a law enforcement officer. When Edwards is asked to investigate the mysterious deaths of Hollywood puppet personalities, she soon realizes that these are no coincidence – someone is targeting them. The trailer also features Joel McHale, Elizabeth Banks, Maya Rudolph, and Leslie David Baker. Parents should take note that this is an R-rated version that promises "No Sesame, All Street," and even some Muppet copulating.

TELEVISION/STREAMING SERVICES

Amazon Studios has landed The Hunt, a vengeance-driven Nazi hunting series executive produced by Oscar-winning Get Out writer-director Jordan Peele, with a 10-episode straight-to-series order. Based on an original idea, drawing from real-life events, The Hunt follows a diverse band of Nazi Hunters living in 1977 New York City who have discovered that hundreds of high ranking Nazi officials are living among us and conspiring to create a Fourth Reich in the U.S. The eclectic team of Hunters will set out on a bloody quest to bring the Nazis to justice and thwart their new genocidal plans.

CBS picked up some of its drama pilots to series including the crime dramas, F.B.I., Magnum PI, The Red Line, and The Code. One of the highest-profile pilots that did not get picked up is the 1950s drama LA Confidential, based on James Ellroy’s classic novel. Deadline reports that although the project drew the same reaction throughout pilot season – from script stage to network screenings – that it's a great show, there were doubts it belonged on CBS. Because of its strong critical praise there is speculation that LA Confidential could go to CBS’ streaming sibling CBS All Access or another digital platform.

After three seasons on SundanceTV, Hap and Leonard won’t be getting another renewal notice. The noirish series stars James Purefoy and Michael Kenneth Williams as amateur investigators and is based on Joe R. Lansdale’s 1980s set novels of two mainly unlucky Lone Star state buddies’ misadventures. Although it became the highest rated original series in Sundance TV’s history, it was apparently not enough to save the fan-favorite show.

TV Line had a partial listing of all the pilots that didn't get picked up to series, including some surprises such as the reboots of Get Christie Love, Greatest American Hero, Cagney and Lacey, and LA's Finest. I can't help but noticing a theme here (also including the non-crime dramas Mix Tape and Wayward Sisters), that all of those shows are "diverse" and female-centric, something that Hollywood has said it was going to work to increase.

Jennifer Love Hewitt has joined the cast of 9-1-1 for Season 2 for a lead role opposite Peter Krause, Angela Bassett, and Oliver Stark. She steps in for Connie Britton, who is departing the Ryan Murphy-produced series at the conclusion of her one-year deal. Hewitt will play Maddie, the sister of firefighter Evan "Buck" Buckley (Stark), who is starting her life over as a 911 operator. 9-1-1 explores the high-pressure experiences of police officers, firefighters and emergency operators who are thrust into the most frightening, shocking and heart-stopping situations. 

The CW is making a casting change on its newly picked up drama series In the Dark, from CBS TV Studios and Ben Stiller’s Red Hour Films. Austin Nichols, who co-starred in the pilot, is leaving and his role, Dean, will be recast. Written by Corinne Kingsbury and directed by Michael Showalter, In the Dark centers on Murphy (Perry Mattfeld), a flawed and irreverent young woman who just happens to be blind and is the only "witness" to the murder of her drug-dealing friend, Tyson. When the police dismiss her story, she sets out with her dog, Pretzel, to find the killer.

Fox’s Lethal Weapon has hired a new co-lead, tapping American Pie's Seann William Scott to replace fired star Clayne Crawford. With Scott — who will be playing a new character (possibly Riggs’ brother) — in place, Fox has renewed Lethal Weapon for a third season. The recasting caps a tumultuous two weeks for Fox’s sophomore drama that began with an explosive Deadline report that detailed Crawford’s alleged bad behavior on the show’s set.

The recasting news continues as Dick Wolf’s new CBS drama series F.B.I. recasts a co-starring role. The part of Ellen, who was played in the pilot by Connie Nielsen, is FBI Special Agent in Charge at the New York Bureau, a deeply respected boss who is elegant, cultured, and operates under massive pressure. The cast of the show includes Missy Peregrym, Zeeko Zaki, Jeremy Sisto and Ebonée Noel.

HBO is taking on one of the most famous cases in America with The Case Against Adnan Syed, a four-hour documentary series directed by Oscar nominee Amy Berg. The series will explore the 1999 disappearance and murder of Hae Min Lee and the conviction of her ex-boyfriend Adnan Syed. The case gripped the nation when it became the subject of the popular podcast Serial. 

Shades of Blue and Eyewitness creator Adi Hasak is teaming with Dynamic Television (SyFy’s Van Helsing, Wynona Earp) for a U.S. version of German series Tempel. The project tells the story of Mark Tempel, an ex-con who struggles to pay the bills working as an elderly care giver. When his family is terrorized by thugs hired to scare working class families into moving out of Los Angeles’ Frogtown neighborhood — Tempel is drawn back into the underground world of cage fighting in order to provide for his family. But what begins as a struggle to replace his daughter’s shattered violin becomes a battle against the evil forces of gentrification.

If you're still confused by all of the whirlwind network fall schedule news, TV Guide has links for schedules, trailers, and other articles for ABC, CBS, the CW, Fox, and NBC.

PODCASTS/VIDEO/RADIO

Peter James was featured in a Q&A with London Live, chatting about researching his latest thriller that took him all the way to Albania.

Big Blend Radio’s Toast to The Arts show welcomed acclaimed novelist Mike Nemeth to discuss his new crime thriller The Undiscovered Country (a follow up to his best-selling debut novel, Defiled), which explores the complexities of families, the depth of secrets they hide, and the sacrifices they make to keep them buried.

On episode 17 of Writer Types, the special guests were Kellye Garrett, Alex Segura, and Naomi Hirahara, plus the Unpanel featured comedic crime writers Bill Fitzhugh, Ellen Byron, Mike McCrary and Alex Shaffer.

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Sunday Music Treat

Scott Drayco will be making his fifth appearance in the upcoming novel, The Suicide Sonata. One of the pieces that is mentioned in the book is Franz Schubert's Impromptu #3, from Opus 90. As Drayco notes, the piece has "Hints of deep sadness and a bit of acceptance of that sadness as part of being human. Not a prayer, not a plea, just an admission that dark and light were all part of the same spectrum." Here's pianist Evgeny Kissin peforming this deceptively simple work:

 

 

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Quote of the Week

            

FFB: Death of a Celebrity

Hulbert Footner (1879-1944) was born in Canada but emigrated to the U.S. at the age of 19 and lived most of his life in the States. He became a journalist and author after a failed attempt at being an actor, although at least three of his novels were later made into movies. He wrote two mystery series, one featuring the pathbreaking female detective Madame Rosika Storey, and the other featuring a successful middle-aged mystery writer-turned criminologist named Amos Lee Mappin. But even the latter series showed the author's interest in writing women into his novels, as Mappin's sidekick is his young secretary, Fanny Parran.



Death of a Celebrity dates from 1938 and is one of the last outings for Mappin, who is described as "not a tall man and far from slender." As usual, Mappin finds himself involved in criminal activity among New York's wealthy social circles. The "celebrity" of the title is famous playwright Gavin Dordress, who throws a party for fellow celebrities who all have reasons to hate—and kill—their host:  an aging actress is enraged when she finds out Dordress didn't create a role for her in his latest play; the playwright's "best and oldest friend" is jealous because he relies on Dordress for handouts to fund a failed career as a novelist; the suitor of Dordress's daughter feels her father is holding her back from marrying; and Dordress's manager thinks his wife is having an affair with Dordress.



As one of the playwright's former classmates and a friend, Mappin is also invited to the party and brings along his secretary Fanny Parran, whose "littleness, her dimples, her blonde curls and her lisp gave her the artless charm of a child, but a man who assumed to talk baby-talk to her was apt to get a shock." The party is anything but jovial, but when Dordress turns up dead the next morning, the police assume it's suicide from the layout of the victim's body. It's Dordress's daugher and Fanny who convince Mappin to consider murder, and as Mappin digs deeper, he uncovers blackmail, revenge, jealousy and a simmering deep hatred that eventually point to one of the party-goers as the killer.



Like many of Footner's other stories, Mappin's investigation involves discovering clues left at the crime scene, which he uses to recreate the timeline and events of the murder. The writing is serviceable, if not particularly memorable, nor are Footner's plots intricate, often not playing fair with the reader in laying out the clues. But his characterizations and the interactions between the characters are entertaining. Considering Footner's focus on strong women in his novels, it's not surprising that the most interesting characters in Death of a Celebrity are female.

            

Mystery Melange

The recently announced British Book Awards included a win for The Dry by Jane Harper in the Crime and Thriller category. The winner of the Best Fiction award went to Jon McGregor for Reservoir 13, about the aftershocks of a girl's disappearance in an English village.

The Short Mystery Fiction Society announced this year's winners of the Derringer Awards for short crime fiction. Best Flash Story was "Fishing for an Alibi" by Earl Staggs (Flash Bang Mysteries); Best Short Story was "The Cop Who Liked Gilbert and Sullivan" by Robert Lopresti (Sherlock Holmes Mystery Magazine #23); Best Long Story was "Death in the Serengeti" by David H. Hendrickson (Fiction River: Pulse Pounders: Andrenaline); and Best Novelette was "Flowing Waters" by Brendan DuBois (Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine). Read the lists of all the finalists in the various categories here.

The International Association of Media Tie-in Writers' announced their annual Scribe Award Nominees. Included among the books of interest to crime fiction fans are Don Pendleton’s The Executioner: Fatal Prescription, by Michael A. Black; The Will to Kill, by Mickey Spillane and Max Allan Collins; and Robert B. Parker’s The Hangman’s Sonnet, by Reed Farrel Coleman (Putnam). Winners of all the 2018 Scribe Awards will be declared during this year’s San Diego Comic-Con International, July 19-22. (HT to the Rap Sheet)

A new festival is headed to Cardiff, Wales on June 1-2. The Crime and Coffee festival is the first such event to be held in Wales and will include panels, workshops, and readings with such authors as Belinda Bauer, Christopher Fowler, Rebecca Tope, Kate Hamer, Mark Ellis, Katherine Stansfield and many more.

The Southbank Centre has scheduled a special event featuring internationally best-selling authors Lee Child (Jack Reacher novels) and Ian Rankin (Inspector Rebus) in conversation as they consider the art of creating suspense and discuss the real world that their novels reflect. Although the event won't take place until November 15 at the Southbank Center's Queen Elizabeth Hall in the UK, tickets have already gone on sale.

Book publisher, editor and bookstore owner Otto Penzler has started another new initiative, Penzler Publishers, which will release its first six books this fall under the American Mystery Classics imprint. The imprint will focus on traditional mystery stories from the "golden age of detective fiction," to be released in both hardcover and trade paperback but not as e-books. Penzler said his inspiration to launch the imprint by the fact that British publishers have been successfully releasing mystery reprints from this time period but none so far in the U.S. Instead of hardboiled titles like Vintage, the imprint will focus on authors such as Ellery Queen and Mary Roberts Rinehart with the goal toward releasing 24 books annually by 2020.

The Lawrence Library in Pepperell, MA, is hosting the exhibit "Mysteries Revealed Book Illustration: Nancy Drew and the Hardy Boys," through June 8. The exhibition of original cover art and first editions of both children's series is drawn from a collection by Jim McNamara, who owns nearly 4,000 Nancy Drew and Hardy Boys books from the 1920s to now and written in several languages. He also collects memorabilia and cover artwork from each decade, dating back to the 1950s.  (HT to Elizabeth Foxwell at the Bunburyist)

NoirCon, which cancelled this year's event due to the death of co-founder, Deen Kogan, has launched a new online journal, Retreats from Oblivion. NoirCon is a biennial conference devoted to noir and its creative expressions, and the journal will spotlight newly published work as well as highlights from past NoirCon catalogs. Offerings will include short stories, critical essays (not single-title reviews), poems, photographs, comics, artwork, interviews, songs, and much more. First up is the story "Easy Go" by Rick Ollerman.

In honor of the 10th anniversary of CrimeFest this year, organizers tapped Martin Edwards and Adrian Muller to edit an anthology of short crime fiction titled Ten Year Stretch. The work includes stories by Bill Beverly, Simon Brett, Lee Child, Ann Cleves, Jeffrey Deaver, Martin Edwards, Kate Ellis, Peter Guttridge, Sophie Hannah, John Harvey, Mick Herron, Donna Moore, Caro Ramsay, Ian Rankin, James Sallis, Zoë Sharp, Yrsa Sigurdardottir, Maj Sjöwall, Michael Stanley, and Andrew Taylor. All royalties from this collection go to the Royal National Institute for the Blind.

Murder on the Beach mystery bookstore in Delray Beach, Fla., was part of a feature by Atlas Obscura of "62 of the World's Best Independent Bookstores" as recommended by the Atlas Obscure readers. To celebrate that honor, Boca Magazine also featured a Q&A with bookstore owner Joanne Sinchuk. To see more of the indie bookstores named in the article - and whether your favorite was included - follow this link.

A possible plot for your next thriller - or maybe, it's more like your next sci-fi novel, depending upon your viewpoint. A prominent geneticist, who helped pioneer the use of the Crispr technique, said recently that criminals could alter their DNA to evade justice with new genetic editing tools. Not so fast, says Dr. Caitlin Curtis, a geneticist who studies privacy and data protection issues.

Speaking of thrillers, at least of the spy variety, Newsweek reported on a recently-outed spy whose name was included in the release from the National Archives of thousands of documents pertaining to the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. Not only is the spy still alive, he is a former editor at the Agence France-Presse and was friends (or frenemies) with Richard Wright, the acclaimed author of Native Son and Black Boy, and Chester Himes, the ex-convict turned author of hard-boiled detective fiction.

You probably don't give your fingerprints much thought. But Chantel Tattoli, writing for the Paris Review, invites you to take a look at "The Surprising History (and Future) of Fingerprints."

The latest poem at the 5-2 crime poetry weekly is "Northern Bride" by Colin James.

In the Q&A roundup, Rob Hart interviewed fellow author Owen Laukkanen for Lit Reactor, talking about boats, trains, dogs, and his latest novel, Gale Force. Lit Reactor also featured an interview with Jeffery Hess about Tushhog, a follow-up to his 2016 debut novel Beachhead; Crime Fiction Lover's Catherine Turnbull chatted with Isbelle Grey, a prolific writer with a series featuring detective Grace Fisher, as well as standalone psychological thrillers and television writing credits that include over 35 episodes of series such as Midsomer Murders; and Alex Segura was snagged by the Mystery People to discuss Blackout, his latest book to feature private eye Pete Fernandez.

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Media Murder for Monday

Monday means it's time for a new roundup of crime drama news, and if you're a fan of TV crime, you'll especially be interested in the announcements about show pickups, renewals, and cancellations that came fast and furious during the past week. First, the big screen:

MOVIES

Brainstorm Media has optioned Stephen King's 2007 novella "The Gingerbread Girl" for film and hired King to co-write the script with frequent collaborator Craig R. Baxley, who will also direct.  Mitchell Galin, serving as producer, also handled the previous adaptations of King’s Pet Sematary, The Stand, and more. "The Gingerbread Girl" focuses on Emily, a woman recovering from a recent loss in a secluded house in the loneliest stretch of New England. She avoids contact with her husband and her father and channels her grief into a grueling daily running regimen until one day she makes the mistake of looking into the driveway of a man named Pickering. Pickering also enjoys privacy, but the young women he brings to his home suffer the consequences of knowing him. Will Em be next?

Australia’s Hopscotch Features has optioned rights to the hot debut novel The Ruin from Dervla McTiernan with plans to adapt it for the screen. The crime thriller by the Irish author is set in Galway and follows detective Cormac Reilly as he is thrown back into a case from 20 years ago involving two children whose mother died of an overdose. It’s a twisting tale that delves into the dark heart of Ireland, examining police corruption and the abuses of the church through the eyes of Reilly — "the kind of cop you’d trust with your life, and follow to hell and back."

Saban Films has picked up the North American rights to Gerard Butler’s Keepers. Kristoffer Nyholm directed the film (which also stars Peter Mullan and Connor Swindells) that was inspired by the Flannan Isle mystery where three lighthouse keepers arrive on an uninhabited island for a six-week shift but then discover something life-changing that isn’t theirs to keep. Soon, they have to battle paranoia and isolation to survive.

Saban Films also has acquired the North American rights to the thriller Siberia, which stars Keanu Reeves, Ana Ularu and Molly Ringwald. Matthew Ross directed the romantic crime-thriller that was written by Scott B. Smith from a story by Stephen Hamel and Smith. Siberia follows Lucas Hill (Reeves), an American diamond trader who sells blue diamonds to buyers in Russia. He soon begins an obsessive relationship with a Russian cafe owner while dealing with the dangerous world of diamond trade.

Warner Bros. has just made it official that they’re releasing Sherlock Holmes 3 on December 25, 2020. Both lead actors Robert Downey Jr. and Jude Law are returning, but there's no word yet on whether Guy Ritchie is set to return as director. Narcos co-creator Chris Brancato is credited as screenwriter, with Joel Silver, Susan Downey and Lionel Wigram returning as producers. 

Arclight Films has picked up worldwide rights to the thriller Furie. Directed by Le Van Kiet (The Rich Woman), Furie stars Veronic Ngo as a gangster who is lying low in the countryside after becoming a mother, but can’t escape her violent past when her daughter is kidnapped in front of her eyes. 

British director Justin Chadwick has been tapped to direct the mystery thriller Dead House, slated to being production later this year. Set in 1885 Pennsylvania, the pic follows Annaliese Kruger who, after witnessing the brutal slaughter of her husband and children, finds employment in the confines of the town’s dead house, a morbid dwelling where bodies are kept for 48 hours to make certain they have passed. But any semblance of normalcy is shattered when Annaliese sleuths out the psychopath who killed her family. Driven to save other families from her fate, she will have to catch the killer herself … if she can stay alive.

A trailer was released for The Spy Who Dumped Me starring Mila Kunis and Kate McKinnon as two 30-year-old best friends from Los Angeles who end up embroiled in a deadly (and funny) international conspiracy after Audrey's ex-boyfriend shows up at their home while being trailed by a gang of assassins. The project also stars Sam Heughan, Justin Theroux, Gillian Anderson and Hasan Minhaj.

TELEVISION/STREAMING SERVICES

The British Academy of Film and Television Arts handed out its annual BAFTA Awards for Television this past weekend. The winner of Best Drama was Peaky Blinders (see Theater below for a tie-in news item), the series about a criminal gang based in Birmingham, England, during the Victorian era. The winner for Best Single Drama (TV Movie) was Murdered for Being Different, based on the true story of the murder of 20-year-old Sophie Lancaster and the beating of her boyfriend in 2007 all because they were dressed as Goths. Three Girls was also a winner in the Mini-Series and Leading Actress Awards (Molly Windsor); the project was also based on a real-life story surrounding the Rochdale child sex abuse ring. Brian F. O'Byrn also won a Supporting Actor nod for his performance in Little Boy Blue playing the father of murdered school boy Rhys Jones, based on another true story of the 11-year-old who was murdered by members of a gang.

Castle star Nathan Fillion is officially back on ABC with the new light crime drama series, the Rookie, aftter the network has given a formal series order to the pilot from former Castle executive producer/co-showrunner Alexi Hawley, Entertainment One and ABC Studios. Written by Hawley, The Rookie is inspired by a true story and follows John Nolan, the oldest rookie in the LAPD. Starting over isn’t easy, especially for small town guy John Nolan who, after a life-altering incident, is pursuing his dream of being an LAPD officer. As the force’s oldest rookie, he’s met with skepticism from some higher-ups who see him as just a walking midlife crisis. The series co-stars Alyssa Diaz as Angela Lopez, Richard T. Jones as Sergeant Wade Grey, Titus Makin as Jackson West, Mercedes Mason as Captain Zoe Andersen, Melissa O’Neil as Lucy Chen, Afton Williamson as Talia Bishop and Eric Winter as Tim Bradford.

The slate of fall shows began to be firmed up last week, although many final schedules won't be announced until next week. ABC did announce it was cancelling the FBI drama Quantico after three seasons, the magician-sleuth series Deception after only one season, and the crime drama The Crossing. The drama How to Get Away with Murder was spared the axe and renewed for a fifth season, and ABC also picked up the legal drama The Fix, headlined by former Mentalist star Robin Tunney.

CBS picked up the Magnum, P.I. reboot to series, starring Jay Hernandez in the title role played by Tom Selleck in the original. CBS has one of the largest share of crime dramas on TV, and if you're wondering where your favorite show stands in the renewal-or-cancellation cycle, the Hollywood Reporter is keeping track

CBS gave a surprising renewal for a seventh season of Elementary, the Sherlock Holmes update starring Jonny Lee Miller as Sherlock and Lucy Liu as Dr. Joan Watson. As TV Guide noted, "Despite currently being CBS' lowest-rated drama, Elementary still manages to rake in money with its international success and syndication, which is no doubt how this bubble show snagged a last-minute renewal." Also a bit of a surprise was Criminal Minds, which had been on the bubble, but the show was officially renewed at the end of last week.

The CBS drama Scorpion wasn't so lucky, getting the axe after four seasons, seven episodes shy of its 100th episode, a milestone that has traditionally been met with syndication. The project, which focused on Homeland Security's new think tank that helped defend against the high-tech threats of the computer age, will end on something of a minor cliffhanger, that is sure to further displease fans.

NBC picked up two pilots to series, including The Enemy Within. Written and executive produced by Woodruff and directed by Mark Pellington, The Enemy Within is a fast-paced thriller set in the world of counterintelligence and centers on Erica Shepherd (Jennifer Carpenter), a brilliant former CIA operative, now known as the most notorious traitor in American history and serving life in a Supermax prison. Against every fiber of his being but with nowhere else to turn, FBI Agent Will Keaton (Morris Chestnut) enlists Shepherd to help track down a fiercely dangerous and elusive criminal she knows all too well.

NBC has also renewed all four of its Dick Wolf series including Law & Order: SVU, picked up for a 20th season, tying the record for longest-running drama series, held jointly by Law & Order and Gunsmoke. The other returning three Windy City-set drama series for next season are Chicago Fire (returning for Season 7), Chicago P.D. for Season 6 and Chicago Med for Season 4.

One NBC shocker was the decision not to move forward with the Bad Boys offshoot pilot, LA’s Finest, starring the films’ Gabrielle Union and fellow movie star Jessica Alba. However, the producers are already fielding interest in the property from other networks for the drama that features two diverse female leads.

Fox has picked up the thriller The Passage, based on Justin Cronin’s trilogy of the same name, which follows a secret government medical facility experimenting with a dangerous virus. The series focuses on a 10-year-old girl named Amy Bellafonte (Saniyya Sidney), who is chosen to be a test subject for this experiment and Brad Wolgast (Mark-Paul Gosselaar), the federal agent who becomes her surrogate father as he tries to protect her.

Fox broke the hearts of Lucifer fans, however, not only by cancelling the show after three seasons but showrunner Joe Henderson says his team created a season finale "with a huge cliffhanger that’s going to "frustrate the hell" out of the show's supporters.

The CW has axed another show, announcing that Valor will not receive a Season 2 renewal. Valor told the story of two elite military helicopter pilots Leland Gallo (Matt Barr) and Nora Madani (Christina Ochoa) caught up in a government conspiracy after a botched rescue mission in Somalia. 

 

PODCASTS/VIDEO/RADIO

Suspense Radio welcomed authors Jon Land (A Date With Murder: A Murder She, Wrote mystery book), Matt Ginsberg (Factor Man) and Seamus Hefferman (Napalm Hearts) to discuss their new novels.

Crime Friction hosted S.J. Rozan, Alex Segura, Jedidiah Ayres, and Josh Stallings to offer readings from their latest novels.

Read or Dead hosts Katie and Rincey discussed the latest crime fiction news including award winners and all of the adaptations, plus chatted about their experiences reading funny mystery books.

The latest Spybrary guest was author, spy fan and political editor of the Sunday Times, Tim Shipman.

THEATER

Peaky Blinders creator Steven Knight has revealed plans for a ballet version of the hit Birmingham gangster TV show. The Oscar-nominated screenwriter said the Rambert dance company had approached him with plans for a ballet based on the Shelby crime family. Knight also told the Birmingham Press Club he is planning three more series of the drama and is lobbying the BBC to film more of the show in his home city.

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Sunday Music Treat

Today is Mother's Day, and Mozart was my Mom's very favorite composer. So, I thought it appropriate that today's Sunday Music Treat would be a little something she would have thoroughly enjoyed, the Andante movement from the  Piano Concerto No. 21 played by Alicia De Larrocha with the English Chamber Orchestra and Sir Colin Davis, conducting:

 

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