B.V. Lawson's Blog, page 167
February 23, 2018
FFB: The Mystery of Mary
Grace Livingston Hill (1865-1947) published over 100 novels and numerous short stories during her career. Since she was the daughter of a Presbyterian minister, it's not terribly surprising that her novels had strong religious and moral underpinnings. Initially, she tried to used her books to proselytize, but her publishers tried to tone down the religious angle, and she later modified her writing to make it more appealing to secular audiences.
Hill was an accidental pioneer of what is now often termed "romantic suspense," but her sometimes over-simplistic views of good versus evil are clearly rooted in more conservative culture of the time. You also can't draw any direct lineage between her characters and those of contemporary women authors with strong female protagonists (think Marcia Muller, Sara Paretsky, et al.) as the young women in her book are almost always of the damsel-in-distress type.
In 1912's The Mystery of Mary, a beautiful young woman approaches wealthy Tryon Dunham on a dark New York night at a train station. She tells him she's terrified she is being followed, so Dunham escorts her to safety and gets her to agree to attend a dinner party with him. Her dress and manner give away the fact she is a well-bred woman, and at the party she displays her musical talents playing the piano. But why was she traveling alone, with only the clothes on her back and no money?
The young woman won't tell him her full name or why she is in danger. When Dunham helps her leave town on a different train later that night, he can't get her out of his mind. From there on, he determines to discover her true identity and to solve the mystery that surrounds her. With assistance from the famous Judge Blackwell, Dunham picks up the trail that leads to an inheritance and an evil cousin, just in time to save the day.
Coming in at just under 37,000 words, this book is more a novella by today's standards, and many of Hill's books approach that same length. The plotting and characterization are fairly straightforward and simple in these works, but they are a quick read and interesting for their snapshot of the social mores and customs of that era.
February 22, 2018
Mystery Melange
The finalists of the Los Angeles Book Prizes were announced, including those in the Mystery/Thriller category:
Michael Connelly, The Late Show
Paul LaFarge, The Night Ocean
Attica Locke, Bluebird, Bluebird
Joyce Carol Oates, A Book of American Martyrs
Ivy Pochoda, Wonder Valley
The winners will be announced in a ceremony at USC's Bovard Auditorium on April 20 prior to the opening of the LA Times Festival of Books. (HT to Mystery Fanfare)
Bestselling authors John Grisham and John Hart will be featured in conversation about the imagination and creativity of writing thrillers, hosted by D.G. Martin of UNC-TV’s North Carolina Bookwatch, on February 23 at Meymandi Concert Hall in Raleigh. Hart was the first to win two consecutive Edgar Awards for Best Mystery Novel, and Grisham's legal thrillers have sold more than 300 million copies, with nine of his novels adapted into feature films.
According to a recent announcement by the Theakston Crime Writing Festival in Harrogate, Grisham will also be one of the headliners at this year's conference, chatting with fellow bestselling author Lee Child. The other previously-announced special guest is Don Winslow, with the full lineup set to be released in April.
The "Orenda Roadshow," the series of author events sponsored by UK's Orenda publishing company, has three additional dates for the remainder of this month. Seven Orenda authors will travel to Granite Noir on February 23-25 in Aberdeen, followed by events at the Waterstones Bookstore Liverpool on Monday the 26th, Waterstones in Nottingham on February 27th, and Northgate Methodist Church in Warwick on Wednesday, February 28th. Authors scheduled to appear at these events include Louise Beech, Su Bristow, Steph Broadribb, Simone Buchholz, Thomas Enger, Johana Gustawsson, Lucy Hay, Matt Johnson, Doug Johnstone, Michael Malone, Lilja Sigurdardottir, Sarah Stovell, Antti Tuomainen, Louise Voss, and Matt Wesolowski.
NoirCon is celebrating the 101st Birthday Celebration of David Goodis on March 3rd with the annual carpool tour of David Goodis' Philadelphia. This is a special year, as festival organizers will also be remembering Andy Kevorkian, a friend of David's and a devoted supporter of NoirCon, who passed away in 2017. The car tour leaves from Port Richmond Books and visits the places Goodis lived in Philadelphia and the sites that inspired his novels.
The Guardian's latest Crime Fiction Masterclass May 19 in London will offer participants an opportunity to learn how to craft a gripping story for film, fiction or TV. The headliners leading the coursework include bestselling author Erin Kelly, former chief superintendent Graham Bartlett, CSI Kate Bendeow. and lawyer and author Neil White.
Mystery Scene Magazine's winter issue profiles Jane Harper, whose debut novel The Dry was an international bestseller; there's a tribute by Michael Mallory to Anthony Boucher, the crime fiction reviewer and uber-fan whose name is honored each year via the Bouchercon conference; Max Allan Collins and James L. Traylor show how Mickey Spillane is still a cultural icon on the centenary of his birth; plus many more interviews, reviews, and features.
In less happy magazine news, Pulp Metal announced it was closing down, probably permanently. Jason Michel has been running the monthly ezine since 2009, which has recently featured such authors as Alex S. Johnson, Simon Maltman, Eric Westerlind, Frank Quinn, Jason Beech, Paul D. Brazill, Vincent Zandri, Jen Hughes, and many more.
Crime fiction has truly become a global phenomenon, with authors and books spanning the globe. Crime Fiction Lover introduces you to some of the French contingent.
Not to be outdone, Sam Wiebe notes several Vancouver crime novels worth a read.
And if you're in Leipzig on March 17, check out Night of the French-speaking Crime during the Leipzig Book Fair, as crime writers Louise Mey, Emmanuel Grand, Jérémy Fel, Grégoire Hervier, Joseph Incardona, and Antonin Varenne alternate round tables around themes characteristic of the current trends of the French thriller.
Laura Lippman was the latest author to take the Page 69 test for her new novel, Sunburn.
Writing for Mental Floss, Sonya Vatomsky profiles a mysterious case that has captivated Iceland for almost 200 years and spawned several books and an upcoming movie (Burial Rites) starring Jennifer Lawrence.
Another contemporary interesting case offers up an interesting legal conundrum: when a prisoner gets a book deal, should the state take the proceeds to help pay for his incarceration, or does the prisoner have rights to pass along the money to his children?
Crime writers have a hard time keeping up with modern technology to incorporate into their novels, but sometimes the news provides storylines and simultaneous cautions for the public at large. Case in point: bitcoin holders who have amassed large sums of the cryptocurrency are becoming victims of an increasing number of crimes, including kidnapping, identity theft, cellphone number hijacking, scams, and extortion. Can murder be far behind?
This week's crime poem at the 5-2 is "Bluff" by Chad Haskins.
In the Q&A roundup, Crime Fiction Lover chatted with Joanna Schaffhausen, whose debut crime book The Vanishing Season won the Mystery Writers of America First Crime Novel Award in 2016; Screen Anarchy snagged Spanish-born German actor Daniel Brühl, the star of The Alienist, the new period drama based on the book by Caleb Carr, to discuss 19th-Century psychology and classic crime fiction; Omnimystery News welcomed author Saralyn Richards, whose new mystery, Murder in the One Percent, features the young African-American detective Oliver Parrott; and authors Alex Segura and Gregg Hurwitz stopped by Boing Boing to discuss cults and the cult of personality in crime fiction.
Related StoriesMystery Melange
February 19, 2018
Media Murder for Monday
Welcome to Monday, folks! Here's the latest roundup of crime drama news for you:
AWARDS
The annual British Academy Film Awards, or BAFTAs, were handed out this weekend. Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri was a big winner, taking home Best Film, Leading Actress (Frances McDormand), Supporting Actor (Sam Rockwell), and Original Screenplay (Martin McDonagh).
MOVIES
Oscar winner Christopher Walken and rising star Elizabeth Debicki (The Night Manager, Steve McQueen’s upcoming Widows) have been cast in The Burnt Orange Heresy, the new neo-noir thriller from Golden Lion-nominated filmmaker Giuseppe Capotondi. The project is based on a screenplay by Oscar-nominated writer Scott B. Smith (A Simple Plan) and adapted from the cult novel by Charles Willeford, about an art-world scam that goes horribly wrong.
Black Bear Pictures and Anonymous Content have hired Morten Tyldum to direct and Oscar-winner Alicia Vikander to star in the adaptation of the dramatic thriller The Marsh King’s Daughter. Based on Karen Dionne's bestsller, the story centers on Helena Petterier (Vikander), who lives with a secret: her mother was kidnapped as a teen and she was the product of the relationship between captive and tormentor, remaining in captivity herself for twelve years until her captor was finally arrested. But when he escapes from prison, she becomes determined to hunt him down using all the tools he himself gave her years ago.
Scott Eastwood has signed on to join Oscar winner Morgan Freeman in the cat-and-mouse thriller The Manuscript. Nick Cassavetes (The Notebook) will direct from a script by Louis Rosenberg and Joe Rosenbaum. The story follows a jailed genius (Freeman) who writes and sends chapters from a mysterious novel to an aspiring young writer (Eastwood), ensnaring him in a high-stakes ploy to recover $100 million in stolen diamonds.
Actors Gerard Butler, Tucker Tooley, Mark Canton, Alan Siegel, Curtis "50 Cent" Jackson, and director Christian Gudegast with have all signed on to return for the sequel to the heist thriller Den of Thieves. The project, Den of Thieves 2 will find Big Nick (Butler) on the hunt in the streets of Europe closing in on a man who is embroiled in the dangerous world of diamond thieves and the infamous Panther mafia as they plot a massive heist of the world’s biggest diamond exchange.
Chad Stahelski, director of the John Wick films, might be launching another film franchise with Sandman Slim, a film adaptation based on bestselling author Richard Kadrey’s nine-book fantasy series.The story centers on James "Sandman Slim" Stark, a fast-talking, hard-boiled, supernatural vigilante who escapes from Hell to avenge his girlfriend’s murder and hunt down the magicians responsible for getting him sent "downtown." Kerry Williamson, who penned the Netflix film What Happened to Monday, will adapt the novel (a previous draft was written by Kel Symons).
20th Century Fox has slotted a release date for Kenneth Branagh’s Death on the Nile, the sequel to his Agatha Christie adaptation Murder on the Orient Express, which Branagh directed as well as playing super-sleuth Hercule Poirot. The sequel is scheduled to premiere on Nov. 8, 2019, going up against Disney’s holiday film Nicole starring Anna Kendrick and Bill Hader and the second week of Wonder Woman 2.
Morgan Freeman and Forest Whitaker are in talks to join John Travolta in the action thriller The Poison Rose. Bad Boys scribe George Gallo will direct from a script he wrote with Richard Salvatore, based on Salvatore’s novel of the same name. The Poison Rose is described as being in the vein of Chinatown, L.A Confidential, and The Long Goodbye, with Travolta starring as a down on his luck PI who enjoys drinking, smoking, gambling and ladies in distress. Freeman will play Doc, the godfather crime boss of Galveston, Texas; Whitaker will play the shady owner of the town’s sanitarium for the rich and disillusioned. Also starring is John Travolta’s daughter, Ella Bleu Travolta, who will portray the daughter of Travolta’s character, Carson Philips.
Jake Gyllenhaal, Ansel Elgort, and Zendaya have signed on to star in Finest Kind, a crime thriller written and directed by Oscar-winner Brian Helgeland (L.A. Confidential). It follows two brothers (Gyllenhaal and Elgort) who strike a dangerous deal with a crime syndicate that draws them into the Boston underworld.
Clive Standen, who currently stars in NBC’s Taken series adaptation, has been tapped to co-star along with Theo Rossi in Verdi Productions’ crime thriller, Vault. Tom DeNucci is on board to direct the film, which is inspired by true events. The story follows a group of small-time criminals, who in 1975 attempted to pull off the biggest heist in American history, stealing more than $30 million from the mafia in the smallest state in the union, Rhode Island.
Piper Perabo, best known for toplining USA’s drama series, Covert Affair, has come aboard the third installment of the Olympus Has Fallen series, Angel Has Fallen, starring Gerard Butler and Morgan Freeman. Ric Roman Waugh is directing the sequel, which follows Mike Banning (Butler) as he continues to be a target of terrorists, this time while mid-flight on Air Force One.
The Film Noir Foundation is partnering with the Alamo Drafthouse Cinema in Littleton, Colorado, to present the first NOIR CITY: Denver, March 23 - 25, 2018, a three-day festival that will feature ten films. FNF founder and president Eddie Muller ("The Czar of Noir") will have a special co-host, the legendary crime fiction author James Ellroy, who will co-program the festival. (HT to Mystery Fanfare)
TELEVISION/STREAMING SERVICES
TNT has picked up to series the suspense drama pilot Deadlier Than the Male (working title), starring Lily Rabe, Amy Brenneman, and Hamish Linklater. Created and written by Harriet Warner (Call the Midwife), Deadlier Than the Male is described as "an intense, morally complex thriller" that revolves around a trio of characters, each with a mysterious and troubling past: Emma (Rabe), a young woman who once looked into the eyes of a dangerous killer; John (Linklater), a former serial predator desperate to find redemption; and Mary (Brenneman), a grieving mother obsessed with finding her missing daughter. As each of them is pushed to the edge, the truth about their pasts and motives grows ever murkier, blurring the lines between victim and perpetrator.
Jason Statham is in negotiations to star in The Killer’s Game, an action thriller that D.J. Caruso has been hired to direct. Based on a Jay Bonansinga novel, the script centers on a veteran assassin who is diagnosed with a life-threatening illness and takes a hit out on himself to avoid the pain that is destined to follow. After ordering the kill, he finds out that he was misdiagnosed and must then fend off the army of former colleagues trying to kill him. The book was published in 1997, and Hollywood has been trying to adapt since it was in manuscript form.
Multiple award-winning Big Little Lies is bringing back all of its stars for the second season. Nicole Kidman and Reese Witherspoon confirmed their returns a few months ago, and now it was recently announced that Shailene Woodley, Zoë Kravitz, and Laura Dern will also be back. Even Alexander Skarsgård (spoiler alert ahead) who was allegedly murdered in the first season, is coming back, although it's not known if it will only be in flashbacks. The new addition to the cast is Meryl Streep, who will be playing the mother of Skarsgård's character.
The first major documentary about the Harvey Weinstein sexual harassment scandal is set to air next week. Channel 4 is to air Working with Weinstein on February 20, a documentary that explores Weinstein’s relationship with the UK film business and "meets people who worked with Weinstein across 30 years of British film and investigates how we kept his accusers quiet for decades."
Fargo star Bokeem Woodbine has been cast to play the lead role in the pilot for CBS drama Main Justice. Woodbine will play the role of Miles Blair, the new U.S. attorney general after a career in Detroit as a beat cop and then police commissioner. The series is inspired by former U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder’s life.
Netflix announced this past week that Kevin Costner and Woody Harrelson will be playing Texas Ranger Frank Hamer and ex-partner Maney Gault in The Highwaymen, from director John Lee Hancock. This was the project that goes back far enough that it once had Paul Newman and Robert Redford ready to play those roles, before Newman’s health failed. The plot focuses on Hamer and Gault coming out of retirement to hunt down the notorious bank robbers Bonnie and Clyde. The lawmen were out of the Rangers by the time Bonnie and Clyde started their robbery reign, but were commissioned as special investigators, coaxed by a consortium of banks to assemble a posse and end the spree of the notorious gang reputed to have killed thirteen cops and others.
The series adaptation of the action film Hanna at Amazon has found its three leads in Esme Creed-Miles, Joel Kinnaman, and Mireille Enos, with Sarah Adina Smith set to direct. Written by David Farr, who co-wrote the original film, Hanna follows the journey of a young girl with extraordinary skills as she evades the relentless pursuit of an off-book CIA agent and tries to unearth the truth behind who she is.
Amazon Studios has also renewed Bosch for a fifth season, ahead of the season four premiere of the hour-long cop drama in April. Bosch, starring Titus Welliver in the titular role, and based on Michael Connelly’s best-selling novels about LAPD homicide detective Harry Bosch, has become Amazon Prime Video’s longest-running one-hour series.
Former Criminal Minds: Beyond Borders star Alana De La Garza has been tapped as one of the three leads in CBS drama pilot Chiefs, from David Hudgins and Carol Mendelsohn. In addition, helmer Zetna Fuentes (How To Get Away with Murder, This Is Us, Shameless) has been tapped to direct the pilot, from Sony Pictures TV and CBS TV Studios. Written by Hudgins, Chiefs explores the professional and personal lives of three driven, successful, but very different women who are each Chiefs of Police of their own precincts in L.A. County. They band together to create a task force to catch a dangerous serial killer.
Quantico has lost yet another major character leading up to its Season 3 premiere. Aunjanue Ellis, who plays Quantico director Miranda Shaw, has officially exited the show. It was reported last year that Ellis' role would be reduced, and she would no longer be billed as a series regular, but now it appears she will not be part of the show at all. Two other series regulars, Yasmine Al Massri and Pearl Thusi, also left the series last year. Priyanka Chopra, Johanna Braddy, Jake McLaughlin and Russell Tovey remain on as the core cast of the show.
James Franco is headed back for season 2 of The Deuce, but according to Megan Abbott, a writer for the HBO series, it looks like his status on the show was never in doubt. Abbott told Entertainment Tonight at the Writers Guild Awards on Sunday that Franco, who was accused of sexual misconduct following his Best Actor in a Musical or Comedy win at the Golden Globes last month, would "of course" return for the show’s second season. The accusations were posed against Franco by five women in a Los Angeles Times expose published in January. After the news broke, The Deuce creator David Simon released a statement saying that Franco was "entirely professional as an actor, director and producer." The series, which centers around the beginnings of the porn industry, stars Franco as twin brothers Vincent and Frankie Martino.
PODCASTS/VIDEOCASTS/RADIO
Two Crime Writers and a Microphone hosts Steve Cavanagh and Luca Vest talked about libraries closing and the importance of visiting them, and also chatted about the intensity of Karl Ove Knausgaard. Noelle Holten reviewed books from Elle Croft and Matt Wesolowski, and special guest Mark Hill discussed book title changes, doing book events, and much more.
The Story Blender podcast welcomed John Lescroart to talk about his latest thriller featuring San Francisco attorney Dismas Hardy, titled Poison.
Debbi Mack interviewed thriller author Kristin Helling on Crime Cafe to discuss The Altruism Effect, which is based on the real-life Stanford Prison Experiment that happened in 1971.
Beyond the Cover's latest special guest was Brad Parks who stopped by to discuss his new stand-alone domestic suspense thriller, Closer Than You Know.
Read or Dead podcast hosts Katie and Rincey talked about romantic mysteries, with quick mentions of the Audie awards and some Stephen King news.
Suspense Radio's Inside Edition hosted two crime authors, author Phillip Donlay talking about Speed the Dawn, and bestselling author Brad Taylor talking about his latest Pike Logan Series, Operator Down.
Dennis Palumbo stopped by Crime Corner with host Matt Coyle to discuss his new book, Head Wounds, the fifth book in the series featuring psychologist and trauma expert Daniel Rinaldi. Palumbo was also the featured guest on the most recent Speaking of Mysteries podcast.
The latest Crime Time podcast profiled Italo Calvino’s If on a Winter’s Night a Traveler, reviewed K.L. Slater’s Liar, and used the Rosemary's Baby sequel to talk about really bad endings.
The new Flash Friction podcast welcomed Aaron Philip Clark for its inaugural episode. Clark's Paul Little novels will be republished this spring by Shotgun Honey/Down & Out Books along with his third novel, The Furious Way, to be published November 2018.
THEATER
Audiobook company Audible announced that Tony Award winner Billy Crudup will return to the title role in Harry Clarke, written by Obie Award winner David Cale (Lillian) and directed by Leigh Silverman (Violet). Audible is bringing the sexually charged, wickedly funny one-man thriller to the Minetta Lane Theatre in a strictly limited 10-week-only engagement with performances beginning Wednesday, March 7th ahead of a Sunday, March 18th opening. Audible listeners will have exclusive access to discounted, premium seats.
I don't often have many dance-related news for Media Murder, but here's an interesting item: Houston choreographer and educator Heather von Reichbauer has interwoven Edgar Allan Poe's life and literary characters to create an original dance narrative work, Madness, Memories, and Woe: A Fantastical Journey Inspired by Edgar Allan Poe. Performances run at Houston's Match on Main Street, March 2-4.
Related StoriesMedia Murder for Monday
February 14, 2018
Mystery Melange
Fans of Bill Crider are offering up their remembrances following the author's death after a bout with cancer in home hospice. Crider, best known for his Sheriff Dan Rhodes series, was also a huge advocate and promoter of crime fiction, a fixture at Bouchercon conferences, and most recently, a social media icon via his pop culture blog and Facebook presence where he chronicled his life with the three adopted Very Bad Kitties (VBKs). You can read some of the tributes from The Rap Sheet, Evan Lewis, Jayme Lynn Blaschke, and Crimespree, with more to come. Even those of us who never had the good fortune to meet him in person feel like he was a friend, and he will be sorely missed.
Ayo Onatade has a handy listing of all the events coming up during the Granite Noir festival in Aberdeen, Scotland, February 23-25. Val McDermid and Anne Cleeves will be featured in separate conversations, plus there is a plethora of crime fiction-themed panels for aspiring writers including one for kids aged 8-10, as well as screenings of Double Indemnity, The Big Clock, and the Big Easy; an exhibition of crime scene and police photography; an interactive tour of sites associated with medieval and beyond crime and punishment in Aberdeen; a Noir at the Bar; the Crime Writers Pub Quiz; and much more.
Mystery Writers of America NorCal is holding a Master Class on Writing Commercial Fiction with Jeffery Deaver on March 10 from 10 a.m.- 2:30 p.m. in Oakland, CA. This event, which will include lunch, conversation, handouts, a lecture on specific goals and techniques, is free but exclusive to MWA NorCal members. However, if you're in the area, you can join MWA and reap many year-round benefits, as well. (HT to Mystery Fanfare)
Del Sol Press is holding a first novel competition and seeking to publish exceptional work by both new and recognized writers, with an emphasis is on original, unique, and accessible work with an edge. The 2018 competition invites submissions of literary and upmarket fiction, general fiction, serious women's fiction, SFF with a literary edge or fiction with a catalytic speculative element (e.g., Time Traveler's Wife), as well as mystery, crime, or suspense fiction.The competition is open to all authors writing in English regardless of nationality or residence, and is available to published and unpublished authors alike. The winner will receive a $1,500 honorarium and book publication by Del Sol Press, and finalist manuscripts will also be considered for publication. The submission deadline is May 15, 2018.
Fahrenheit Press founder Chris McVeigh announced that as of this month the press has joined with Number Thirteen Press to form a new imprint called Fahrenheit 13. Fahrenheit Press Senior Editor Chris Black noted that the imprint will highlight the finest hard-boiled noir and experimental crime fiction, or, as he puts it, "hardboiled, pulp, crossover, literary, neo- or classic noir, everything goes." The original Fahrenheit Press will continue to publish a blend of traditional crime fiction from established and debut novelists
The Ian Fleming estate has authorized Anthony Horowitz to once again write an official James Bond novel, this time a prequel to the first ever James Bond novel, Casino Royale. Forever and a Day, Horowitz's second 007 continuation novel, will make use of material left behind by Ian Fleming to imagine Bond’s first mission.
The Washington Post announced its new bestselling books charts. The Post (owned by Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos) had previously used data from Nielsen Bookscan for its best-seller list that only provided data on print sales and was an incomplete view of the market. The new lists factor in Amazon's ebook sales and reads in Kindle Unlimited and will allegedly "more accurately reflect what people are reading instead of editor-influenced lists like the New York Times." The Post’s lists are backed by a new in-house technology called Bradbury, which enables automatically imported data from multiple sources and will be used to generate a data-driven weekly synopsis detailing movement on the list from the week prior such as fastest rising titles, authors, new additions, and historic performance.
Mystery Fanfare has a list of Olympics-themed crime fiction you can read while waiting for your favorite Winter Games athletes to complete. And for those of you who celebrate Mardi Gras, there's a list of mysteries and thrillers on that theme, too.
Jen Gann takes a look at how "A New Crop of Mom Thrillers Taps Into Our Worst Fears."
This is the kind of heart-warming news that's good to see: Garbage collectors in the Turkish capital have opened a public library comprised entirely of books once destined for the landfills. The library, located in the Çankaya district of Ankara, was founded after sanitation workers started collecting discarded books. For months, the garbage men gathered forsaken books. As word of the collection spread, residents also began donating books directly. The collection grew so large the library now loans the salvaged books to schools, educational programs, and even prisons.
Big Brother meets high-tech law enforcement: Chinese police are using dark sunglasses equipped with facial recognition technology to spot criminal suspects. The glasses, which are being worn by police at a busy train station ahead of the Chinese New Year travel rush, are linked to a central database which contains details of criminal records. Wearing the technology, police can almost instantly view an individual's personal details, including name, ethnicity, gender and address.
In an interesting study, new research from a memory expert at James Cook University in Australia shows there may be a simple way to help eyewitnesses of crimes remember more about what they have seen - and it's a lot simpler than you'd think.
This week's crime poem at the 5-2 is "Surprise Me Deadly" by Michael A. Arnzen.
In the Q&A roundup, The Crime Warp's Liz Mistry interviewed Sharon Thompson about her debut novel, The Abandoned; Deborah Kalb chatted with Maureen Johnson, the author of the new young adult mystery novel Truly Devious; Craig Sisterson's first 9mm Interview for the year featured French crime writer Johana Gustawsson whose debut, Block 46, was an international bestseller that won both the Balai de la Découverte and Nouvelle Plume d’Argent awards in 2016; the Mystery People's Scott Montgomery grilled Don M. Patterson about his novel Sierra Blanca that features Texas native and CIA operative Hank Copeland; the Sunday Guardian Live spoke with Swedish author Carin Gerhardsen, who specializes in writing "socially-engaged crime novels"; and was the guest of Matthew Turbeville over at the Mystery People blog, discussing her newest book, Sunburn, which she has said might be her favorite book she's written so far.
Related StoriesMystery Melange
February 12, 2018
Media Murder for Monday
Another week has begun and and so has another listing of the latest crime drama news:
MOVIES
Bruce Willis, Gugu Mbatha-Raw, and Alec Baldwin have signed on for the thriller Motherless Brooklyn, written and directed by Edward Norton, who is also starring in the project. Inspired by Jonathan Lethem’s novel of the same name, the story is set in 1950s New York and follows Lionel Essrog (Norton), a lonely private detective afflicted with Tourette’s Syndrome, as he ventures to solve the murder of his mentor and only friend, Frank Minna (Willis). Armed only with a few clues and the powerful engine of his obsessive mind, Lionel unravels closely-guarded secrets that hold the fate of the whole city in the balance.
Armie Hammer is set to star in an untitled thriller from writer-director Babak Anvari (Under the Shadow), from Annapurna Pictures. Hammer will play a New Orleans bartender whose life begins to unravel after he picks up a phone left behind at his bar.
Stephen Merchant and Norwegian actress Synnove Macody Lund have joined The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo sequel The Girl in the Spider's Web, joining already-signed actors Claire Foy and Lakeith Stanfield and director Fede Alvarez. Sony hopes to relaunch the film franchise, whose last installment was released in 2011, planning for a November 9, 2018 release. The film is adapted from the David Lagercrantz-penned fourth book in the Millennium series.
Amber Heard will star in Run Away With Me, a romantic thriller from Sentinel Pictures, playing Kimberly, a star-crossed lover who encounters the dark criminal underbelly of the European fashion industry in Paris. There is no word on other casting, including Heard's love interest. French-Canadian director Fred Grivois has come on board to direct the project, after making his feature film debut with the 2015 thriller Through the Air (La Resistance de l’air).
After last week noting that production on the spy thriller The Rhythm Section had been shut down to star Blake Lively's injury, word comes this week that the film is expected to resume production in Spain in June. The film, based on Burnell’s series of "Stephanie Patrick" novels, centers on Lively who takes on an assassin’s identity so she can wage revenge against those who orchestrated a plane crash that killed her family.
Paramount released the full trailer for Mission: Impossible - Fallout, the sixth film in the series starring Tom Cruise. The extensive supporting cast includes returnees Simon Pegg, Ving Rhames, Rebecca Ferguson, Alec Baldwin, Sean Harris, and Michelle Monaghan, as well as newcomers Angela Bassett, Vanessa Kirby, and Henry Cavill,
Lionsgate has released the first trailer for their upcoming thriller Spinning Man, along with the first poster. Guy Pearce stars alongside Pierce Brosnan and Minnie Driver in the project, which serves as a gripping examination of crime, punishment, and conscience when a professor is suspected in the disappearance of one of his students.
Universal Pictures has debuted the very first trailer for their upcoming British thriller Tango One, the adaptation of Stephen Leather’s thriller of the same title, which is about how far one man will go to rescue his daughter and save his criminal empire from collapse.
A featurette was also released for the upcoming spy thriller Red Sparrow, starring Jennifer Lawrence.
TELEVISION/STREAMING SERVICES
NBC has given a pilot order to the drama Suspicion, based on the book by Joseph Finder, from The Path creator Jessica Goldberg, Universal TV and Keshet Studios. Created/written by Goldberg, Suspicion is described as a Hitchcockian thriller about how far one man will go to save the people he loves.
The novels in the "Teddy & Emilie" trilogy by Swedish crime author Jens Lapidus have been picked up by the production company Filmlance to be adapted into a new eight-part crime series. Jens Lapidus is known in Sweden as a criminal defense lawyer and is perhaps most famous for having written Easy Money, which was adapted into a film starring Joel Kinnaman.
Amazon Prime Video, Liberty Global, and All3Media International are partnering for the psychological thriller series The Feed from writer Channing Powell (The Walking Dead) and Studio Lambert. Based on the recently published novel by Nick Clark Windo, the London-set futuristic series centers on the family of the man who invented an omnipresent technology called The Feed. Implanted into nearly everyone’s brain. The Feed enables people to share information, emotions and memories instantly. But when things start to go wrong and users become murderous, the family is driven apart as they struggle to control the monster they have unleashed.
The Magnum P.I. pilot from Peter Lenkov (Hawaii Five-O), Davis Entertainment (The Blacklist), and CBS TV Studios has found its director in Fast & the Furious helmer Justin Lin. the reboot of the classic 1980s Tom Selleck series will feature the same central quartet of characters as the original but, instead of four guys, it will consist of three men and a woman, with Higgins reconceived as Juliet Higgins.
Michael Emerson (Lost, Person of Interest) in the adaptation of Umberto Eco's historical crime novel Name of the Rose, joining a cast that includes Rupert Everett and John Turturro. The international eight-part drama is produced by Germany’s Tele Munchen Group and Italian production company Palomar and will first be shown on Italian broadcaster Rai in the first quarter of 2019.
Former Survivor’s Remorse star Teyonah Parris has been set as the female lead in CBS drama pilot Murder, based on the BBC miniseries, from producer Dan Lin. Written by Amanda Green, this investigative drama explores crime through the unique and often-conflicting perspectives of cops and killers, witnesses and victims, friends and family, shot like a true-crime documentary. Parris will play Det. Ayana Lake, a rising star in the NYPD whose keen intellect and quick, analytic mind are the keys to her success. But when she’s partnered with instinctive intuitive Det. Jack Garrity (not yet cast), styles and personalities sometimes clash.
Felicity Huffman has signed on for a recurring role opposite Chris O’Dowd and Ray Romano in Season 2 of Epix’s dark comedy series Get Shorty, which is based in part on the 1990 Elmore Leonard bestseller. Huffman will play Clara Dillard, a mothering, high-level special agent for the FBI who’s described as hippie therapist meets J. Edgar Hoover. She takes over the investigation focusing on Amara and the crime organization in Season 2. In addition, Sarah Stiles (playing Gladys in Season 1), has been promoted to series regular for the second season.
A major shakeup has hit Law & Order: SVU. Rafael Barba (Raul Esparza) has exited the series and Chicago Justice's Peter Stone (Philip Winchester) will officially take his place. Ezparza spoke out about his exit, thanking his cast and crew in an emotional tweet. Showrunner Michael Chernuchin also opened up, hinting that this probably isn't the last we've seen of Barba.
Gracepoint alum Virginia Kull is set for a recurring role in season 2 of AT&T Audience Network’s breakout series Mr. Mercedes. Kull will play Sadie McDonald, a nurse on the neurology ward, known as the “Brain Bucket” at Mercy General Hospital. She’s an epileptic who has recently gone off her medication and is prone to occasional microscopic seizures which pull her away from the task at hand. Her most famous patient is Brady Hartsfield, the infamous Mercedes killer.
A first-look at Channel 4's innovative new thriller series, Kiss Me First, was unveiled. Adapted by Skins co-creator Bryan Elsley from Lottie Moggach's debut novel, the series fuses live action with computer-generated sequences.
PODCASTS/VIDEO/RADIO
Robert Crais returned to WYSO's Book Nook to talk about his latest installment in his mystery series featuring Elvis Cole and answer the question "If it came down to a hypothetical battle between Lee Child's dominating fictional hero Jack Reacher and (Elvis' sidekick) Joe Pike, who would come out on top?"
WTOP Radio chatted with David Baldacci about his latest novel, End Game, the fifth in his Will Robie series, as well as his Virginia roots.
Two Crime Writers And A Microphone hosts Steve Cavanagh and Luca Veste welcomed reviewer Kate Moloney and special guest Will Dean, who talks about living in the middle of a forest, flat-pack houses, being Robin Hood, and Moose.
The Crime Friction podcast was joined by Gary Phillips (The Man), ahead of the release of his latest novel, Culprits.
THEATER
The Speed of Darkness is currently in production at the River Street Theatre in Los Angeles. Steve Tesich's South Dakota-set mystery-thriller is about a Vietnam veteran and construction-business owner whose past returns to haunt him. The show runs through March 18.
The Arts Center of Coastal Carolina is staging a production of the Tony Award-winning Dial "M" for Murder, directed by New York City-based Russell Treyz. Based on author Frederick Knott and the basis for the famous Hitchcock film, the story is chilling study of power, secrets, infidelity and greed. Performances run through February 25.
Calgary Stage West theater is presenting Baskerville: A Sherlock Holmes Mystery, Ken Ludwig’s farcical version of the famous mystery thriller, in which five actors take on 40 different roles. The production is directed by Mark Bellamy and runs through April 15.
Related StoriesMedia Murder for Monday
February 9, 2018
FFB: Science and the Detective
Dr. Brian H. Kaye (d. 2003) was a professor at Laurentian University who specialized in fine particle science, but as one university tribute mentioned, he also "had a gift for communicating science to those of many different backgrounds," and was known among students and peers for his knowledge, wit, and friendly outgoing manner. It was that ability to popularize science—along with his undergrad courses in forensic anthropology—that led him to write the textbook Science and the Detective: Selected Reading in Forensic Science.
The book takes a look at events in history and analyzes them through the lens of modern forensics: Who really killed Napoleon? Were the witches of Salem high on LSD? Who were the real parents of alleged Russian royal Anastasia? Was WWII Jewish-French Army Captain Alfred Dreyfus really guilty of treason?
The author also has sections on how scientific evidence can be used to establish guilt or innocence in the courtroom via the use of voice analysis, methods for developing fingerprints and uncovering art forgeries, and the examination of bullet wounds. He also describes how maggots on a body tell us about the time of death, and extends his reach via topics on fraud, counterfeit money, gunshot residue, doping in sports, and much more.
The book was published in 1995, which means that some of the material in the book is outdated, but it nonetheless remains as an entertaining read. That's not too surprising, given the fact that, as the author explains in the introduction, he was a "detective story addict," that Sherlock Holmes and Agatha Christie were among his first loves (although he felt Christie cheated in laying false trails), and he watched every Perry Mason episode. But he also wrote this from some first-hand experience in forensic consulting and working with some of the pioneers in fingerprint processing.
February 7, 2018
Mystery Melange
The Audio Publishers Association has announced the finalists for their annual Audie Awards honoring the best in audiobook recordings.
The Mystery category nods include:
The Girl Who Takes an Eye for an Eye by David Lagercrantz, narrated by Simon Vance
Glass Houses by Louise Penny, narrated by Robert Bathurst
Magpie Murders by Anthony Horowitz, narrated by Samantha Bond
On Her Majesty's Frightfully Secret Service: A Royal Spyness Mystery, Book 11 by Rhys Bowen, narrated by Katherine Kellgren
Telling Tales by Ann Cleeves, narrated by Julia Franklin.
The Thriller/Suspense finalists include:
The Breakdown by B.A. Paris, narrated by Georgia Maguire
Don't Let Go by Harlan Coben, narrated by Steven Weber
The Chemist by Stephenie Meyer, narrated by Ellen Archer
The Fourth Monkey by J.D. Barker, narrated by Edoardo Ballerini and Graham Winton
A Legacy of Spies by John le Carré, narrated by Tom Hollander
Mississippi Blood by Greg Iles, narrated by Scott Brick
Bestselling crime and thriller writer Peter James, famous for the Brighton-based Roy Grace series, will be featured in an "Evening With…" in aid of the UK Sussex charity Care for Veterans. The Dead Good Evening will be held at the Sir Robert Woodard Academy in Lancing on Thursday, February 15 at 7pm.
Also across The Pond, Crime at the Castle takes a mixture of interviews, talks, and writers workshops to - you guessed it - a castle on February 24. The castle in question is Scotland's Glamis Castle, famous for being the childhood home of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother and also the setting for Shakespeare's Macbeth. Author who are scheduled to participate in the event include Val McDermid, Denise Mina, Christopher Brookmyre, Caro Ramsay, Jackie McLean, Douglas Skelton, Craig Robertson, Sandra Ireland, Shona MacLean, Michael J. Malone, Alex Gray, Frank Muir, Chris Longmuir, Caroline Dunford and Wendy H Jones.
The Mystery Writers of America announced the Edgar Week activities which kick off at the Mysterious Bookshop in New York City, Tuesday, April 24 at 6:00pm with an event featuring MWA members, the 2018 Edgar Award nominees, bestselling authors, and publisher representatives. That's followed by a one-day Symposium with bestselling authors who will be participating in various panels to help tutor budding authors on the craft of the crime fiction trade.
The Malice Domestic conference organizers recently announced the finalists for the annual Agatha Awards, and Mystery Fanfare has posted links to all of the nominated short stories.
Agatha Christie’s Murder on the Orient Express has been chosen as the Livingston Reads: One Book, One Community choice for 2018. Now in its fourteenth year, the program aims to present Michigan's Livingston County libraries as centers for culture, entertainment and enlightenment, and to position the libraries as leaders in promoting the joy of reading.
Last week, I noted a new award established to award thrillers that don't feature violence against women. Writing for The Guardian, author Sophie Hannah counters that it may sound like a good idea but it's not actually progressive, and other women authors also weighed in on the controversy.
Has the Jack the Ripper letter mystery been solved? Experts find that two key texts linked to the gruesome case were written by the same person.
Cellphone technology used in crime investigations has been in the news lately, and Mashable has the details about a murder case in Germany that revolves around an iPhone app.
Have you ever dreamed of owning a bookstore? Well, here's your chance: From My Shelf Books & Gifts in Wellsboro, Pennsylvaniaa (a store that is 1,000 square feet and includes about 50,000 books) is offering an open contest. The winner will receive six months free rent, an in-place staff, and free consulting from the owners. No business experience is needed, and there’s no money down, except a $75 entry fee. (You get your $75 back if you win, or if less than 4,000 people enter, in which case there is no winner.) You can sell the store after one year. If you're interested, just write a short essay of 250 words or fewer stating why bookstores are important to the community, and submit it before the deadline of March 18, 2018.
If you've ever wondered what kind of thriller protagonist you resemble, you can find out via this handy quiz from Bookriot.
Here's a way to have your book, er, cake, and eat it, too.
This week's crime poem at the 5-2 is "Like That" by Jeff Bagato.
In the Q&A roundup, the Daily Mail pinned down Mark Billingham to grill him on which book he'd take to a desert island; Omnimystery News welcomed Lauren Carr to continue a discussion of her new first in series mystery, Ice (Acorn Book Services); and Criminal Element spoke with Tracee de Hahn, author of the Agnes Lüthi Mysteries series, which includes Swiss Vendetta and the recent A Well-Timed Murder.
Related StoriesMystery Melange
February 5, 2018
Media Murder for Monday
It's the start of the week and time for a roundup of the latest crime drama news including a couple of novel adaptations, more TV reboots, and another coup for Stephenie Meyer:
MOVIES
The US rights for the thriller-western The Scent of Rain & Lightning have been acquired by SP Releasing. The film stars Maika Monroe (It Follows), Maggie Grace (Taken) and Bonnie Bedelia (Parenthood) and based on the New York Times bestselling novel by Nancy Pickard. The story follows Jody Linder (Monroe), a Midwestern twenty-something whose past resurfaces when the man convicted of killing her parents has his sentence pardoned, and Jody gradually faces the possibility the wrong man was convicted of the crime. The further Jody delves into the past, more and more startling truths begin to emerge about her family’s tragic past, and Jody must put the pieces together to reveal the truth.
Jim Parsons, Haley Joel Osment, Terry Kinney, and Dylan Baker have joined Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile. The project follows the relationship between the notorious serial killer (Zac Efron) and his longtime girlfriend (Lily Collins) who at the time, had no knowledge of the crimes. Parsons will be playing Larry Simpson, the lead prosecutor of the 1979 Miami trial that finally convicted Bundy; Osment will be playing “Jerry” opposite Collins; Baker will be playing David Yokum, the tough nosed Utah prosecutor; and Terry Kinney will be playing Detective Mike Fisher who sought to prove Bundy’s heinous crimes.
Kaya Scodelario (Maze Runner: Death Cure) has also joined the cast of Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil, and Vile directed by Joe Berlinger, playing Carole Ann Boone, the ex-wife of notorious serial killer Ted Bundy (Zac Efron). Bundy had an ongoing relationship with Boone that lasted through his 1979 televised trial, which ultimately resulted in the murderer’s death sentence. As previously announced, John Malkovich will be playing Judge Edward Cowart who presided over said trial.
Willem Dafoe has joined Edward Norton to star in the thriller Motherless Brooklyn, Norton’s long-in-development adaptation of the Jonathan Lethem novel. Norton is attached to direct from his own script and produce through his Class 5 Films production company. Lethem’s protagonist, Lionel Essrog (Norton), has Tourette syndrome and works as a private eye at a makeshift detective agency. The story, set in 1954, focuses on a young woman protesting against a powerful developer, who designs neighborhoods as slums so his people can buy up property. Dafoe will play the developer’s brother.
Actor Robbie Jones (One Tree Hill, Necessary Roughness) has come aboard New Line’s Tim Story-directed Shaft sequel, which stars past Shaft actors Samuel L. Jackson and Richard Roundtree as well as new comers Jessie T. Usher, Regina Hall, Alexandra Shipp, Cliff Smith, and Matt Lauria. The story follows John Shaft Jr. (a.k.a. JJ), a cyber security expert and FBI analyst who reluctantly enlists his estranged father to help to find out who killed his best friend Karim and bring down a drug-trafficking/money-laundering operation in NYC.
Bill Nighy and Chris Geere have come aboard Legendary/Universal’s live-action Pokémon franchise film, Detective Pikachu, joining Ryan Reynolds, Ken Watanabe, Justice Smith and Kathryn Newton. Rob Letterman is directing from a script by he co-wrote Nicole Perlman.
Production has halted on Blake Lively's spy thriller The Rhythm Section as the actress struggles to recover from on-set hand injury she suffered while filming a stunt sequence. Lively's recovery is taking longer than anticipated, and a second surgery is going to be needed which will extend the healing and rehabilitation period required. It's unclear when filming will recommence, although according to The Hollywood Reporter, one insider said that just under half the movie has been shot, while another source said it could be five months before the production resumes.
TELEVISION/STREAMING SERVICES
Tomorrow Studios is developing a TV series based on thriller novel The Chemist by Twilight author Stephanie Meyer. The book follows the gripping tale of a woman who was one of the darkest secrets of a U.S. government agency so clandestine it didn't even have a name. And when they decided she was a liability, they came for her without warning. When her former handler offers her a way out, she realizes it’s her only chance to erase the giant target on her back but it means taking one last job for her ex-employers. To her horror, the information she acquires only makes her situation more dangerous.
More than a decade after the release of the feature film adaptation of Dennis Lehane’s best-selling novel, Gone Baby Gone, Fox has ordered a pilot for a TV series adapting the story of working class Boston detectives investigating a young girl’s kidnapping. Written by Black Sails creator Robert Levine, the pilot will be a one-hour drama following private detectives Patrick Kenzie and Angela Gennaro, who are "armed with their wits, their street knowledge and an undeniable chemistry" as they attempt to tackle cases that the law can’t in the working-class Boston borough of Dorchester. Levine and Lehane are both set to executive produce the pilot, which is aiming for Fox’s 2018-2019 TV season.
CBS has ordered a small-screen version of L.A. Confidential, a new take on the James Ellroy detective novel that inspired the Oscar-winning 1997 film. Jordan Harper (Gotham, The Mentalist) will pen the pilot and serve as an executive producer on the project, should it go to series. Like the novel and film, L.A. Confidential is a crime drama set in 1950s Los Angeles, but CBS promises that the story gets "a thoroughly 2018 treatment in terms of tone, music and style." The plot centers on a trio of homicide detectives, a woman reporter and an aspiring actress whose paths cross "while the detectives pursue a sadistic serial killer among the secrets and lies of gritty, glamorous 1950s Los Angeles," per the official description.
CBS also ordered pilots for three more dramas, including: Red Line, a racially charged cop show about a white policeman accidentally killing a black doctor, executive-produced by Ava DuVernay and Greg Berlanti; Main Justice, a legal thriller from Jerry Bruckheimer that's based on the life of former U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder; and The Code, a military drama about U.S. Marine Corps attorneys, from Craig Sweeny (Limitless) and Craig Turk (The Good Wife).
Last week, I noted that new reboots of Magnum PI and Cagney and Lacey were in the works at CBS. In a nod to increasing diversity in programming, the network is allegedly planning on casting a non-white actor as the iconic detective, Magnum, and Lacey in the classic procedural also is likely to be non-white.
The CW announced new pilot orders including two crime-centric shows: In the Dark, a dramedy from Ben Stiller’s Red Hour Films banner and CBS Television Studios, which centers on a flawed and irreverent blind woman who is the only "witness" to the murder of her drug-dealing friend; and Skinny Dip, which is based on the novel of the same name by Carl Hiaasen in which a woman teams with a jaded ex-cop to exact her own twisted brand of revenge on her cheating spouse who tried to kill her, and winds up uncovering a wider conspiracy in the process.
"Dirty John," the Los Angeles Times' popular true crime podcast about the twisted life of "Dirty" John Meehan, is getting a scripted anthology series adaptation at Bravo, according to The Hollywood Reporter. The show is reportedly nearing a two-season pickup with the first season based on the podcast and the second telling an entirely new, closed-ended story that's yet to be determined. On the podcast, journalist Chris Goffard tells the story of con man John Meehan and his wife Debra Newell and her two daughters, Jacquelyn and Terra, whose lives are forever changed by Meehan's abuse and deception. Additionally, Bravo's sister network Oxygen, which recently rebranded as a true crime network, has commissioned a companion documentary series about Meehan's crimes.
Ilene Chaiken will write and executive produce an untitled pilot project with Melissa Scrivner Love for Fox TV. The hourlong drama pilot will center on FBI Special Agent Clementine Otis, who is in the midst of investigating a domestic terrorism threat when a personal indiscretion – an affair with a prominent general – shatters her life and threatens her career at the FBI.
Niels Arden Oplev (Mr. Robot) has been tapped to direct and executive produce the pilot episode of F.B.I., CBS’ upcoming 13-episode drama series from Dick Wolf, boss of the Law & Order and Chicago franchises. The series chronicles the inner workings of the New York office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
NBC offered up a first look for the upcoming SVU episode (February 7) which brings back Sam Waterston's character Jack McCoy to the courtroom to face off with Mariska Hargitay. The actor played District Attorney’s office denizen McCoy for 16 seasons on the Dick Wolf-created original series and appeared in three SVU episodes. Here’s the official synopsis: “When an infant goes missing, the SVU finds themselves taking sides in a family’s right-to-die court case. Meanwhile, Barba’s interference in the case puts the entire DA’s office in jeopardy.”
PODCASTS/VIDEOS/RADIO
The new Crime Cafe podcast with host Debbi Mack included mystery author S.G. Wong talking her hardboiled supernatural series set in 1934 Crescent City and featuring Lola Starke.
David Putnam visited Crime Corner with Matt Coyle. Putnam is a retired California law enforcement officer who worked on teams for Patrol, Investigations, SWAT, Narcotics, Violent Crimes, Criminal Intelligence, Internal Affairs, Detective Bureau and as child protective services coordinator before turning his hand to writing crime fiction.
Hosts Katie and Rincey of the Read or Dead podcast discussed the Edgar Awards nominees, the new Staunch book prize, and books by black authors to kick off Black History Month.
Related StoriesMedia Murder for Monday
February 2, 2018
FFB: The Notting Hill Mystery
The Notting Hill Mystery is an English-language detective novel published in 1863, which crime writer Julian Symons and others called "the first detective novel," preceding Wilkie Collins' The Moonstone by several years. However, historian Brian Stableford has taken exception to that claim, stating that Jean Diable by Paul Féval, published as a serial in 1862, was actually the first detective novel (featuring the Scotland Yard detective Gregory Temple). Another novel by Mary Elizabeth Braddon, The Trail of the Serpent, published in 1861, could also make a good case for being the "first," but so could other works of fiction that had detectives in them (e.g. Charles Dickens' Bleak House from 1852).
As to the author? Notting Hill also started out as an eight-part serial, with illustrations by George du Maurier, that ran in Once a Week magazine, but the author was listed as "anonymous" (later published in book form in 1865 under the pen name Charles Felix). Paul Collins, writing in the New York Times Book Review, believed the author was actually Charles Warren Adams (1833-1903), a lawyer, author and publisher who wrote novels under a pseudonym, including a crime novel titled Velvet Lawns from 1864. Collins also pointed out that Adams was also notably religious, which is why the novel has strong moral undertones.
The story is set in London, where the wife of a mysterious and sinister Baron R dies after allegedly sleepwalking into her husband's laboratory and drinking from a bottle of acid. Insurance investigator Ralph Henderson, working on behalf of several companies, is called into investigate. At first, it seems the Baron had no part in his wife's death, and is referred to by many as a good-hearted man and a loving husband. But Henderson soon learns the husband had taken out at least five life insurance policies on his wife. Henderson eventually comes to the conclusion that Baron R has committed not one but three crimes, but he can’t prove it.
The narration is written in seven sections—memoranda to his corporate bosses—as a series of maps, medical and chemical analysis reports, illustrations, eyewitness interviews, family letters and diary entries, all features that were groundbreaking in style. Henderson details them all, because the evidence is "not only circumstantial but so delicate and complicated that the failure of a single link would render the remainder worthless." Ultimately, the disposition of that evidence is left up to the reader as to whether they are enough to convict Baron R beyond reasonable doubt.
The reception of Notting Hill, and its tale of poisoning, hypnotists, gypsies, and kidnappers, was positive when it was first published: the Guardian called it "very ingeniously put together", the Evening Herald said "the book in its own line stands alone", and the London Review described it as "a carefully prepared chaos, in which the reader, as in the game called solitaire, is compelled to pick out his own way to the elucidation of the proposed puzzle."
After long being out of print, the British Library issued a new edition for the book's 150th anniversary that includes the original illustrations by du Maurier (the grandfather of author Daphne du Maurier), as well as an introduction by Mike Ashley.
January 31, 2018
Mystery Melange
Organizers of the Malice Domestic conference, which is set to take place this year in Bethesda, Maryland, from April 27 to 29, have announced their nominees for the 2017 Agatha Awards. The Agathas honor the "traditional mystery," i.e., books in the same vein as Agatha Christie. The finalists are divided into six categories including Best Contemporary Novel, Best Historical Novel, Best First Novel, Best Non-fiction, Best Short Story, and Best Children’s/Young Adult.
Finalists in nine categories have been chosen for the 2018 Minnesota Book Awards. The Genre Fiction category nominees include The Dark Net by Benjamin Percy; The End of Temperance Dare by Wendy Webb; Nothing Stays Buried by P. J. Tracy; and Sulfur Springs by William Kent Krueger. Winners will be announced on April 21.
Screenwriter Bridget Lawless has launched an award for a novel in the thriller genre in which no woman is beaten, stalked, sexually exploited, raped or murdered. The Staunch Book Prize, worth £2,000, was created because Lawless had grown "so fed up with the endless depictions of violence against women" in thrillers. She's currently funding it herself (and will begin a crowdfunding campaign to support running costs) and will judge the prize along with actress and writer Doon Mackichan. The Staunch Prize is open to female and male authors of any nationality over the age of 18 and may include traditionally or self-published print or e-books. Entries for the prize open on 22nd February and close at midnight on 15th July. Shortlisted novels will be announced in September and the winner will be revealed on 25th November coinciding with the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women.
Via The Bunburyist (Elizabeth Foxwell): The Robert Lesser Collection of 200 pieces of pulp art, housed at the New Britain Museum of American Art, can now be viewed online. Pieces include artworks for Amazing Stories, Argosy, Detective Short Stories, Detective Tales, Dime Mystery Magazine, Doc Savage, Mystery Tales, The Shadow, Spicy Mystery, Weird Tales, and Wonder Stories.
Writing for LitHub, Paul French looks at Irish crime fiction and wonders "Is Belfast Still the Most Noir Place on Earth?"
Walmart, which has been exploring ways to sell e-books for years, has partnered with Japanese-based Rakuten's Kobo subsidiary to sell Kobo digital content and electronic reading devices through the giant retailer's U.S. stores. Under the agreement, Kobo e-readers, e-books, and audiobooks will be available at 4,000 Walmart stores and Walmart.com later this year. Walmart will also offer digital book cards through its physical outlets.
If you're an Edgar Allan Poe fan, you can tip back a brand new whiskey inspired by the author's psychological thriller, "The Cask of Amontillado." The New Liberty Distillery is creating the whiskey that takes its name from the unsuspecting victim in Edgar Allan Poe’s short story in which Fotunato, lured by the promise of fine Amontillado sherry, is entombed alive in the wine cellar of his friend. Labelled Fortunato’s Fate, the brand new spirit is a malted rye whiskey, finished in sherry casks all the way from Spain.
This week's crime poem at the 5-2 is "Out Into the Woods" by Susan Montag.
In the Q&A roundup, J. P. Delaney (a/k/a Tony Strong) chatted with The Bookish Bundle about the author's psychological thriller The Girl Before; Jack Getze spoke with My Central Jersey news about his New Jersey-set series featuring stockbroker Austin Carr; the Western Genre Musings blog interviewed Ace Atkins about his novels focused on former U.S. Army Ranger Quinn Colson and also his experiences continuing Robert B. Parker’s Spenser series; Crimespree Magazine grilled Dennis Palumbo about Head Wounds, the fifth novel in his series about psychologist Daniel Rinaldi, who consults with the Pittsburgh police; and the Mystery People snagged Meg Gardiner about her Unsub series featuring Caitlin Hendrix.
Related StoriesMystery Melange
