B.V. Lawson's Blog, page 182

Author R&R with Sam Wiebe

Growing up in Vancouver, Canadian author Sam Wiebe read his parents' dog-eared copies of John D. MacDonald’s Travis McGee books and Raymond Chandler’s Philip Marlowe. But it wasn't until the end of grad school that he decided to try his hand at writing in the genre, hammering away at it until he came up with his first novel, Last of the Independents. That novel wound up winning the Kobo Emerging Writer Prize and an Arthur Ellis Award, and was also a Shamus award finalist. It also prompted a second novel and a stint as the Vancouver Public Library's writer-in-residence.



His latest novel continues the adventures of ex-cop Dave Wakeland, who is a talented private investigator with next to zero business sense and navigates by a moral compass stubbornly jammed at true north. Invisible Dead finds him with a fancy new office and a corporate-minded partner, but he's still drawn to difficult cases such as a terminally ill woman who hires him to discover the whereabouts of her adopted child who disappeared as an adult more than a decade earlier. It all seems run of the mill until the case takes him into Vancouver's terrifying criminal underworld—all to find someone the rest of the world seems happy enough to forget.



Sam stops by In Reference to Murder today to take some Author R&R about planning and writing his new book:

 

Invisible Dead takes place in Vancouver, in the world of survival sex work. Private detective Dave Wakeland investigates the disappearance of Chelsea Loam, a troubled woman with a history of addiction. The novel takes Wakeland from prisons to the streets to government offices, encountering professional criminals, captains of industry, and other dangerous people.

 

I’ve lived in and around Vancouver my entire life. I know aspects of the city pretty well. Others were entirely foreign to me, which necessitated reading books and reports—and then interviewing people to find out what didn’t get written down.

 

(Photo credit Mel Yap)

 

The novel is influenced by events in the city’s history, specifically its neglect of missing women, many of whom are indigenous. I wrote the first draft of the novel during the Oppal Commission hearings, a judicial probe into the city’s failures in regards to properly reporting missing women, and its lack of efficiency in catching and prosecuting the people responsible. Besides watching the hearings, I’d pay attention to the protests and the criticism of the process.

 

While the hearings were going on, I’d talk to friends who are involved in the affected communities, as well as journalists and documentarians. What struck me from those conversations was how much wasn’t in the hearings—the voices of victims and family members were often marginalized, while the official narrative was shaped by, well, officials.

 

The fact is, the city has never been forced to deal with its treatment of missing women. To do so would mean coming to grips with its history of colonialism, racism, poverty, and addiction. Add to that the gentrification which has rapidly made Downtown Vancouver uninhabitable to all but the very wealthy, and you have a perfect storm of neglect.

 

I wanted the novel to speak to that systemic violence. I didn’t want to write a serial killer story, or rely on the cliches usually employed to describe those in the sex trade . Most of all, I didn’t want to write a protagonist who was somehow above or removed from the problem. Wakeland, like everyone else, has to struggle with his own complicity.

 

(Photo credit Mel Yap)

 

Reading trial and interview transcripts, visiting prisons, and interviewing police officers, lawyers, and journalists, were all part of the research process. I visited the site of some of the atrocities, now turned into a quiet suburban housing development.

 

Still, it was talking with people involved in the community which gave the novel focus. Discussions about serial killers are usually framed around finding the (male) killer, often trivializing the (female) victims. I wanted to start the narrative with Wakeland visiting a killer in prison, a scene familiar to crime fiction readers.  From there, the story heads in a different direction. 

 

Above all, I wanted the story to be Chelsea’s, driven and informed by her, so that Wakeland’s investigation becomes her chance to speak, if only through her silence.

 

 Invisible Dead was released this week and is available via all major bookstores. You can learn more about Sam and his books via his website, on Facebook, and on Twitter.

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Mystery Melange

Our Awards-a-Palooza begins with the Edgars - The Poe statuettes handed out last week at the annual Mystery Writers of America banquet included Before the Fall by Noah Hawley for Best Novel; Under the Harrow by Flynn Berry for Best First Novel; Rain Dogs by Adrian McKinty for Best Paperback Original; The Wicked Boy: The Mystery of a Victorian Child Murderer by Kate Summerscale for Best Fact Crime. For the complete list of finalists and winners, head on over to the official Mystery Writers of America Edgar Award website.



Also this past week, the annual Malice Domestic Conference handed out its Agatha Awards, including Best Contemporary Novel: A Great Reckoning by Louise Penny; Best Historical Novel: The Reek of Red Herrings by Catriona McPherson; Best First Novel: The Semester of Our Discontent by Cynthia Kuhn; Best Nonfiction: Mastering Suspense, Structure, and Plot: How to Write Gripping Stories that Keep Readers on the Edge of Their Seats by Jane K. Cleland; Best Short Story: "Parallel Play" by Art Taylor in Chesapeake Crimes: Storm Warning; and Best Children/Young Adult: The Secret of the Puzzle Box: The Code Busters Club by Penny Warner. The Lifetime Achievement Award was also presented to Charlaine Harris, and the Poirot Award to Martin Edwards.



The nominees for the Strand Magazine Critics Awards were also announced, including a nod for Lifetime Achievement to Clive Cussler. Best Novel finalists include: You Will Know Me by Megan Abbott; The Wrong Side of Goodbye by Michael Connelly; The Trespasser by Tana French; What Remains of Me by Alison Gaylin; Out of Bounds by Val McDermid; and The Woman in Cabin 10 by Ruth Ware. Best Debut Novel finalists are: The Widow by Fiona Barton; IQ by Joe Ide; The Madwoman Upstairs by Catherine Lowell; A Deadly Affection by Cuyler Overholt; The Homeplace by Kevin Wolf; and The Lost Girls by Heather Young.



The 2017 David Award nominees for the best mystery published in 2016 were announced and include: Blonde Ice by R. G. Belsky; Written Off by E. J. Copperman; Death of a Toy Soldier by Barbara Early; Seconds to Live by Melinda Leigh; and Yom Killer by Ilene Schneider. Voting will take place during the Deadly Ink Conference, and the winner will be announced at the Awards Banquet on Saturday, June 17, 2017.



The Derringer Awards honoring the best in short crime fiction this year include Best Flash Story, “The Phone Call," by Herschel Cozine (Flash Bang Mysteries); Best Short Story, “The Way They Do It in Boston," by (Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine); Best Long Story, “Breadcrumbs” by Victoria Weisfeld (Betty Fedora: Kickass Women In Crime Fiction); and Best Novelette, "Inquiry and Assistance," by Terrie Farley Moran (Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine).



During the recent Edgars Award celebrations, it was also announced that Paul D. Marks won first place in the 2017 Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine Readers Award competition for his short story "Ghosts of Bunker Hill" (which appeared originally in the December 2016 edition of EQMM). Second-place went to "Puncher’s Chance," by Doug Allyn (June 2016), while "The Dropout," also by Doug Allyn (March/April 2016), won third place honors. (HT to the Gumshoe and Rap Sheet)



Wrapping up the Awards-a-Palooza news, RT Book Reviews announced the winners of their Reviewers' Choice and Career Achievement Awards. In the latter category, Karen Rose was honored for her body of work in Romantic Suspense, Karin Slaughter for Suspense Novels, and Irish Johansen for Thrillers. Winners were also announced for various categories of Romantic Suspense books of the year and also Mystery/Suspense/Thriller books of the year.



Mystery Writers of America, New York Chapter, are hosting Megan Abbott, Edgar-winning author of eight novels, including The End of Everything, Dare Me, and You Will Know Me, in crime-filled conversation with S.J. Rozan, winner of the Edgar, Shamus, Anthony, Nero, and Macavity awards for Best Novel. The event is scheduled for Wednesday, June 7 at 6 p.m. at the Club Quarters Hotel  in New York City. For ticket information, click on over here.



Some sad news to report from last week: the New York City-born Montana novelist who gave us private investigator Harry Angel (in 1978’s Falling Angel), the lively detective pairing of Arthur Conan Doyle and Harry Houdini (in 1994’s Nevermore), and a drug-fueled nightmare excursion through 1960s Mexico (in 2015’s Mañana) passed away from pancreatic cancer. Author William Hjortsberg, who was known to friends simply as "Gatz," was 76 years old. (HT to the Rap Sheet.)



Michael Mann has secured four-time Edgar Award-nominated author Reed Farrel Coleman to co-write a prequel novel with him to his landmark crime film Heat, which starred Al Pacino and Robert De Niro. The novel will be published in 2018 under the Michael Mann imprint at William Morrow/HarperCollins.



In the true-crime arena, James Patterson is set to pen a book about the life and recent suicide of former NFL player Aaron Hernandez, which is scheduled for early 2018. The book is Patterson's first nonfiction work since 2016's Filthy Rich, which profiled the disgraced hedge-fund billionaire Jeffrey Epstein.



If you're in the UK, you can try to snag a spot in one of the Crime Scene Live special events at the Flett Lecture Theatre in Kensington where you become a crime scene investigator for the night and work with Museum forensic experts to solve a murder mystery. The upcoming May, June, and July events are all sold out, but if you hurry, there are still openings for the fall.



In light of Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte’s recent government-sanctioned vigilante war on Manila's drug dealers, executed without any form of trial, there has been a stream of books from journalists and others about this unprecedented period of slaughter on the streets of the city. But, as Lit Hub notes, amidst the real-life, true-crime explosion, there are still a number of crime fiction-themed novels penned by Philippines authors worth checking out. As article author Paul French notes, "whether that will mean a continued reluctance to write crime or, perhaps, a whole new embracing of the crime genre to explain contemporary Manila society is just around the corner."



After the recent Scandinavian noir boom, it seems that dark tales from British authors are now making waves abroad. As to why and how that trend has grown recently, several publishers and agents offer their take for The Guardian.



Stacy Alesi, writing for the Library Journal's latest Readers Advisory, took at look at mystery novels, old and new, from cozies to procedurals to private eyes, with some recommendations.



The Alnwick Garden in northeast England includes a "Poison Garden" that showcases plants with killer properties. Visitors are invited to look but not touch or even smell.



Forensic science is an ever-evolving discipline, with sometimes a few steps forward and other times a few steps back. Case in point, research from The Australian National University (ANU) has cast doubt on a method used in forensic science to determine whether skeletal remains are of a person who has given birth.



For something really inspirational, check out this amazing story of a quadriplegic book reviewer.



May is International Short Story Month (as decreed by StoryADay.org). To celebrate, the Short Mystery Fiction Society will highlight one or more members' online stories per day. The first participant for 2017 is Cynthia St-Pierre who offers "Dear Reader" from the archives of Flash Bang Mysteries.

 

This week, the featured crime poem at the 5-2 is "The Beggar Generation" by Peter Braddock, and the new story over at Beat to a Pulp is "The Sun in Dust" by Jen Conley.



In the Q&A roundup, Criminal Element grilled John Rector, Author of The Ridge, about creative inspiration, genre classification, setting serving story, and the inevitable influence of the outside world on fiction; Criminal Element also snagged a Q&A with Patricia Abbott, author of the Edgar-nominated Shot in Detroit; NPR spoke with Girl on a Train's Paula Hawkins about her new book new book, Into the Water; and Scotch Rutherford is the latest victim of Paul D. Brazill's "Short, Sharp Interview" challenge.

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Author R&R with Dana King

Dana King has been a finalist twice for the Private Eye Writers of America Shamus Award for A Small Sacrifice (2013) and again two years later for The Man in the Window. His novel Grind Joint was noted by Woody Haut in the L.A. Review of Books as one of the fifteen best noir reads of 2013. A short story, “Green Gables,” appeared in the anthology Blood, Guts, and Whiskey, edited by Todd Robinson. Other short fiction has appeared in Thuglit, Spinetingler, New Mystery Reader, A Twist of Noir, Mysterical-E, and Powder Burn Flash.



In Dana's new novel, Resurrection Mall, just released yesterday, development and funding of a new religious-themed mall in Penns River grinds to a halt when heavily armed assassins cut down five leaders of the town’s fledgling drug trade while eating lunch in the food court. The television minister behind the mall has associates not normally associated with a ministry, outside drug gangs may be muscling into town, and the local mob boss could have an angle of his own. The cops have this and all the usual local activity to contend with in a story that extends beyond the borders of Penns River.



Dana stopped by In Reference to Murder to take some Author R&R on how he went about researching and writing the book:

 

I try to do as little pure research as I can get away with. Part of this is sloth, part is a shortage of time, and a large part is a fear the book will read too much like a research paper. I’m constantly aware of the risk involved when the author tries to make sure the reader knows every damn thing said author knows about the subject at hand. That’s great if you’re writing non-fiction. It’s death for a novelist.

That said, I do a lot of reading and viewing and web surfing that fill the role of research but don’t fit the definition of actively looking for specific things. My Penns River series of police procedurals is a good example. I’ve been reading non-fiction about what it’s like to be a cop ever since I discovered Connie Fletcher’s wonderful series of interviews that began with What Cops Know in 1990. Fletcher went on to write five similar books on different aspects of police work. I’ve read—and re-read, and re-re-read—all of them.

Cop memoirs—first- or third-person, doesn’t matter—are great sources. I read them because they’re full of fascinating stories, but also because I’m immersing myself in how cops think, what they notice, common habits, and their manner of speaking. The hope is that I’ll gain a feel for cops as people. This should allow me to work in what I’ve learned in the best way possible: between the lines.

The books I read are rarely about specific cases, they’re about the cops and their lives and careers. A quick look at my bookshelf shows Edward Conlon’s Blue Blood, Gina Gallo’s Armed and Dangerous, William Roemer’s Man Against the Mob, Bo Dietl’s One Tough Cop, James Wagner’s My Life in the NYPD*, and Adam Plantinga’s 400 Things Cops Know, along with all six of Fletcher’s books, which I consider first-person because they’re basically transcribed bull sessions.

(* -- Wagner’s other book, Jimmy the Wags: Street Stories of a Private Eye, is not only full of the same kind of stuff from Wagner’s career as a PI, but might be the funniest book I ever read. I mean laugh out loud tears in my eyes funny.)

In third-person books, there’s Joe Pistone’s Donnie Brasco and its follow-up, Unfinished Business. (Way of the Wiseguy is Pistone’s spot-on look at how mobsters think and behave aside from criminal acts.) Del Quentin Wilbur’s A Good Month for Murder takes its cue from David Simon’s seminal work Homicide: a Year on the Killing Streets by following a homicide squad around and taking what comes.

Simon repurposed much of what’s in Homicide for his first two TV series, Homicide and The Wire. Therein lies a great research tidbit. Find out which fictional books, TV series, and movies get it right, and combine entertainment with research. Joe Wambaugh broke this ground with books like The New Centurions and The Blue Knight, leading up to his masterpiece, The Choirboys. Television shows from Hill Street Blues through NYPD Blue and The Wire and beyond show all aspects of cops’ lives, and how they view different situations, both on and off the job.

I have received few, if any, more flattering compliments related to writing than was inadvertently paid to me last year at Bouchercon when Colin Campbell, ex-policeman turned writer, turned to me during a conversation and said, “You were police, right?” No, not at all, but it made me feel I must be doing something right.

 

 

You can follow Dana via his blog, on Facebook, or on Goodreads. Resurrection Mall is available from Down & Out Books and all major booksellers.

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Media Murder for Monday

Mondays seem to roll around a lot faster than they used to - but at least, it means it's time for the weekly crime drama news roundup:

MOVIES



Cross Creek Pictures has preemptively picked up The Spy’s Son, based on Bryan Denson’s best-selling 2015 book, which tells the true story of a high-ranking star CIA officer who was caught selling secrets to the Russians. But he then embarrassed the U.S. government when he did it again, this time from behind prison bars by using his son, training him in the ways of spycraft, to continue to spy for Russia and to even ferret out the mole that ratted on him in the first place.



Cat Vasko has been hired to write the script for the adaptation of Gin Phillips' novel Fierce Kingdom for Warner Bros. The thriller is set over three hours and tells of a mother and son who are trapped in a zoo with a gunman on the loose.



Alexandra Shipp (X-Men: Apocalypse) is set to co-star in the upcoming psychological thriller Spinning Man from director Simon Kaijser, joining Pierce Brosnan, Guy Pearce, and Minnie Driver in the project based on George Harrar’s novel. The story follows Evan Birch, a professor and family man, whose past reveals a number of illicit relations with his students, and when a young woman is found murdered, Evan becomes the prime suspect. Shipp will play Anna, a college student conflicted by an affair she had with her professor.



The Arthur Lyons Film Noir Festival returns for its 18th iteration to sunny Palm Springs, May 11-14, at the Camelot Theatres. The festival kicks off with a restored print of Hollow Triumph (1948) with special guest, actress-filmmaker Monika Henried, daughter of star Paul Henried. Richard Duryea will also be in attendance for Roy William Neill's Black Angel (1946), which features a rare sympathetic role for his father Dan Duryea. Other guests include Sara Karloff, daughter of Boris, for a screening of the Val Lewton production The Body Snatcher (1945) directed by Robert Wise, and actor Andy Robinson from 1973's Charley Varrick, Don Siegel's classic heist film. (HT to Mystery Fanfare.)



The Cannes Film Festival has added Roman Polanski’s film Based on a True Story (D’Apres Une Histoire Vraie) to the official selection (playing out of competition). Eva Green, Emmanuelle Seigner, and Vincent Perez star in Polanski’s psychological thriller about a writer and her obsessive admirer. As Variety noted, "Polanski was forced to resign as president of the Cesar Awards in January after protests from feminist organizations over his longstanding rape case, so another round of protests could be in store."



The Museum of the Moving Image in Astoria, New York, is featuring a mini-festival called "Donald Westlake on Film" from May 12-14. The opening event is Point Blank followed by a discussion with Abby Westlake, Donald Westlake’s wife, and historian Luc Sante (Low Life), as moderated by guest curator Levi Stahl. (HT to Sarah Weinman)



TELEVISION



Movie star Hilary Swank is taking a break from the silver screen to appear on the small screen, joining the cast of the FX series Trust, which will also star Donald Sutherland. Trust will be a limited series event telling the story of the kidnapping of John Paul Getty III, who was the heir to a vast oil fortune. Paul was kidnapped in Rome in 1973 by a group of mobsters looking to score a big ransom from his wealthy family members.



The Night Manager, adapted from spy author John le Carre’s novel, landed two honors at the British Academy Television Craft Awards, which celebrate the best behind-the-scenes talent. The Night Manager had wins in the fiction editing and sound categories.



A new documentary from Vince Vaughn being developed for the Audience Network will tackle police and race relations, with Vaughn adding, "The concept is really to humanize people on both sides."



WWE Studios has been an outlet for low-budget action and comedy films starring pro wrestlers, but in recent years has been reaching outside of the ring to produce and distribute other projects including its new thriller Sleight. The series stars Jacob Latimore as Bo, a teenage street illusionist and hustler who struggles to make ends meet for himself and his sister after the death of their parents. But Bo’s attempts to escape to a better life put him on a collision course with the drug lord Angelo, forcing him to use all the skills he’s built on the streets, including one secret ability that gives Sleight a comic-book bent.



Guest blogger Dennis Broe at Crime Fiction Lover posted a wrap-up of the best new crime shows from around the world.



ABC has set spring season finale dates for its scripted and unscripted series, including American Crime and Quantico.



PODCASTS/VIDEO/RADIO



Noir on the Radio host Greg Barth welcomed author Brian Stoddart to discuss his series of books set in 1920s Madras in India and featuring Superintendent Chris Le Fanu.



The Two Crime Writers and a Microphone podcast featured guest reviewer Ayo Onatade, of Shots Magazine, and also special guest Harry Brett a/k/a Henry Sutton who discussed his shift to "proper" crime fiction, meta-fictional crime novels, teaching degrees in crime fiction, and creative writing.



If you're a fan of old time radio, you should check out Adam Graham's list of the "Top Ten Greatest American Radio Detective Performances."



WSIU radio chatted with Laura Benedict, a recent finalist in the Edgar Awards Best Short Story category for her work "A Paler Shade of Death."



THEATER



Paul Auster's City of Glass is playing at London's Lyric Hammersmith theater until May 20. The story centers on reclusive crime writer Daniel Quinn who receives a mysterious call seeking a private detective in the middle of the night and quickly and unwittingly becomes the protagonist in a thriller of his own.



The Syracuse Stage in Syracuse, New York, is presenting the comedy-thriller Death Trap, written by award-winning playwright and novelist Ira Levin, beginning May 12 with preview performances on Wednesday, May 10 and Thursday, May 11. The play received an Edgar Award for Best Play from the Mystery Writers of America and later earned a Tony.

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Your Sunday Music Treat

Here's a piece of music you're probably quite familiar with but don't know its origins. It's the "Humoresque" No.7 in G-flat Major by Antonin Dvořák, who died on May 1, 1904 (tomorrow will be the 113th anniversary of his death). Although one of eight such pieces in a cycle, this particular work has gone to obtain some infamy all on its own, appearing in The Great Ziegfield, Mr. Deeds Goes to Town, Daffy Duck and the Dinosaur, the Animaniacs, and countless others. Here it is performed by Balazs Szokolay:

 

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Quote of the Week

            

FFB: The Edgar Winners

In honor of the Edgar Awards announced last night, I thought I'd highlight The Edgar Winners anthology published in 1980 and edited by Bill Pronzini. There are two dozen short stories included from writers who were awarded an "Edgar" for excellence by the Mystery Writers of America between 1948 and 1978.



As Pronzini states in his introduction, this anthology is

"The first anthology to bring together in one volume only those stories that have received the coveted Edgar as the Best Mystery Short Story of its year....These twenty-four stories include some of the finest mystery fiction to be published in the past four decades. Moreover, they represent the widest possible variety of types, themes, styles and authors--testimony to the fact that the mystery story, contrary to what certain critics would have us believe, is by no means a limited and hidebound genre."

A little history is in order, too, as the first two years of the Edgar Award for the short story were given for bodies of work; the third went to Ellery Queen's Mytery Magazine; and the next four were given to one-volume single-author collections. The current policy of honoring a single story didn't begin until 1954, and thus, Pronzini chose representative stories from the pre-1954 categories to be included here.



The stories are printed chronologically, from 1947's "The Adventure of the Mad Tea Party," by Ellery Queen (Frederic Dannay and Manford Bennington Lee), up through "The Cloud Beneath the Eave" by Barbara Owens, the winner from 1978. Other names are indeed a "Who's Who" of giants in crime fiction, short or long forms, including William Irish (a/k/a Cornell Woolrich), Lawrence G. Blochman, Philip MacDonald, Roadl Dahl, Stanley Ellin, Edward D. Hoch, Joe Gores, and Robert L. Fish. On the other hand, it's interesting to see how many of the winning stories were penned by authors who, for whatever reason, never went on to widespread name recognition, like William O'Farrell, Warner Law, and Margery Finn Brown.



The themes and styles Pronzini alluded to above range from detective stories to psychological suspense, police procedurals, character studies, morality plays, social commentaries, and "gently nostalgic glimpses of the past, even what might be termed an avant-garde literary exercise." If you're looking for a book than provides an overview of the best writing in a variety of short mystery fiction sub-genres, then this is a good place to start.



As a reminder and nod to the latest possibilities for inclusion in a future Edgar-winning anthology, here are this year's nominated stories (with a new update - the winner is Lawrence Block!):

"Oxford Girl" – by Megan Abbott (Mississippi Noir)
"A Paler Shade of Death" – by Laura Benedict (St. Louis Noir)
"Autumn at the Automat" – by Lawrence Block (In Sunlight or in Shadow)
"The Music Room" – by Stephen King (In Sunlight or in Shadow)
"The Crawl Space" – by Joyce Carol Oates (Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine)

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Mystery Melange

The winners of the Los Angeles Times Book Awards were announced this past weekend at the LA Festival of Books. The top nod in the Mystery/Thriller category went to Bill Beverly for his novel Dodgers. The other finalists included Graeme Macrae Burnet, His Bloody Project: Documents Relating to the Case of Roderick Macrae; Emma Cline, The Girls; Ian McGuire, The North Water; and Thomas Mullen, Darktown.



In the 2017 Independent Publisher Book Awards, Michelle Cox’s A Girl Like You  won the Gold Medal in the Mystery/Cozy/Noir category, with the Silver going to Delivering the Truth, by Edith Maxwell, and the Bronze to Catriona McPherson’s Quiet Neighbors.



The Crimefest Awards shortlists were announced ahead of the Crimefest Gala Awards Dinner on Saturday, May 21 in the categories of he Audible Sounds of Crime Award for the best unabridged crime audiobook (first published in the UK); the eDunnit Award for best crime fiction ebook first published in both hard copy and in electronic format; the Last Laugh Award for the best humorous crime novel; the H.R.F. Keating Award for best biographical or critical book related to crime fiction; and the Best Novels for Children and YA. (Hat to Spinetingler Magazine)



The finalists for the Arthur Ellis Awards, which honor the best in Canadian crime writing, were announced last Friday. In the category of Best Novel, the nominees are Kelley Armstrong for City of the Lost; Michael Helm for After James; Maureen Jennings for Dead Ground in Between; Janet Kellough for Wishful Seeing; and Donna Morrissey for The Fortunate Brother. For all the finalists, head on over to the Crime Writers of Canada website.



May 19-21, a Noir at the Bar Crawl will spread out across three cities, Washington, DC, Richmond, Virginia, and Baltimore, Maryland. Thirty authors will be taking part, with E.A. Aymar serving as host. Aymar wrote more about the whole Noir at the Bar experience for Lithub, and if you aren't already acquainted with these events, check out a history here.



Goodreads is presenting Mystery Week on their website, May 1 to 7, shining the spotlight on page-turning mysteries, thrillers, and suspense stories. Anthony Horowitz, Charlaine Harris, Dennis Lehane, and many others will be recommending books and sharing original content to kick off the week, but many other mystery authors (including myself) will also be participating.  Look for the hashtag #MysteryWeek across various social media.



Booklist is sponsoring a Mystery Month during May, which will including a small press lineup and a feature called "The Clues to My Crime," where authors explain the influences behind their latest works. Jane Harper will shed some light on the writing of her bestselling book The Dry, and A. J. Hartley, Leah Carroll, David Swinson, Rob Hart, Jay Hosking, Nancy Werlin, Kristen Lepionka, Bill Loehfelm, and other authors will offer up their take on their process.



Sandra Ruttan and Jack Getze, editors of Spinetingler magazine, have been maintaining an online 'zine for some time featuring news and short fiction, even while many other publications have fallen by the wayside. Recently, Sandra announced that Spinetingler will have its first print issue in years this fall and is actively scheduling author interviews, selling limited ad space and pulling things together. Although they've already lined up several stories (including one by yours truly), they are still seeking a few additional pieces. But you'd better hurry if you're interested; they expect slots to fill up soon. You can read all the submission details here.



At the recent LA Festival of Books, author Michael Connelly explained why he's allowing Harry Bosch to age in his novels, adding,"I didn't freeze Harry in time, because it's better storytelling not to. As long as he can keep his health and his knees are good, he can close cases."



Sisters in Crime was founded in 1986 by Charlotte MacLeod, Kate Mattes, Betty Francis, Dorothy Salisbury Davis, Sara Paretsky, Nancy Pickard and Susan Dunlap. The organization was established to promote equality for women in crime fiction (particularly with reviews and awards), but has since branched out to include men and other educational and outreach programs. This past week, it expanded even further with the official founding of the New Orleans chapter of Sisters in Crime, who will also present the Third Annual Mystery Writers Conference in cooperation with the East Bank Regional Library.



This week, the 5-2 continues its "30 Days of the Five-Two" poetry blog tour with  "Her Beheading" by Anne Graue and "Paradise" by Emilie Buchwald.



In the Q&A roundup, the Mystery People welcomed Megan Miranda, best-selling author of All The Missing Girls and The Perfect Stranger; Esquire spoke with Sophie Hannah about the challenges of writing the continuation Hercule Poirot novels originally created by the Queen of Crime, Agatha Christie; Sara Paretsky stopped by the Huffington Post to talk about her latest V.I Warshawski novel, Fallout; mystery writer Lynne Raimondo (the "Dante" series) chatted with the Chicago Tribune about her novels and writing routine; Criminal Element hosted Carolyn Haines (Sticks and Bones); and Lori Rayder-Day explained to the Wicked Cozy Authors why she's chosen to be a standalone writer.

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Author R&R with Randy Wayne White

New York Times best-selling author Randy Wayne White has been a farm hand, a brass and iron foundry worker, a telephone lineman, and, for thirteen years, a full-time fishing guide at Tarpon Bay Marina on Florida's Sanibel Island. His official bio also goes on to state that White has been stabbed, "shot at with intent," and was in a hotel that got blown up by Shining Path Anarchists in Peru. As a columnist for Outside magazine he has covered the America's Cup races in Australia, gone dog sledding in Alaska, searched for wild orangutans on Borneo, brought back refugees from Cuba, been diving in the infamous Bad Blue Hole lake on the desolate Cat Island in the Bahamas, and even participated in a mission to steal back General Manuel Noriega's bar stools.



In 1981, White turned his hand to crime fiction with the first book featuring Ex–Navy SEAL Dusky MacMorgan, Deep Six, written under the pen name of Randy Striker. He went on to pen seven novels under the Striker name and eleven novels as Carl Ramm, writing various series under the various pen names, including the Hannah Smith and Hawker novels, But White's primary focus has been his series featuring marine biologist and former secret operative, Doc Ford, who first appeared in 1990's Sanibel Flats.



In the twenty-fourth work in that series, Mangrove Lightning, legendary charter captain and guide Tootsie Barlow has come to Ford, muttering about a curse. The members of his extended family have suffered a bizarre series of attacks, and Barlow is convinced it has something to do with a multiple murder in 1925, in which his family had a shameful part. Ford doesn’t believe in curses, but as he and his friend Tomlinson begin to investigate, following the trail of the attacks from Key Largo to Tallahassee, they, too, suffer a series of near-fatal mishaps. Is it really a curse? Or just a crime spree? The answer lies in solving a near-hundred-year-old murder . . . and probing the mind of a madman.



White stops by In Reference to Murder today to talk about his writing and the inspiration and background behind it:



 

Novel Writing Tip #102: Use What You Know

by Randy Wayne White, Author of Mangrove Lightning: A Doc Ford Novel





Among the great strokes of good fortune -- and there were many junctures where I could have gone awry -- was the decision to write about, via fiction, my small marina family at Tarpon Bay, Sanibel Island, Florida, where I was a fishing guide from 1974 to 1987.  This marina family embraced a wider tribe of watermen from along the Gulf Coast, fascinating characters, and also decent, caring people, who now populate my novels.



When my marina closed, I was out of a job -- a tough period financially, but a powerful motivator to write a good book that would sell.  I did exactly that, but it didn’t happen as easily as it might sound.  During my years as a guide, I’d also worked hard in my spare time at writing.  I sold some stories to Outdoor Life (not about fishing) but my big break came when Rolling Stone founded Outside Magazine. This led to calls from other magazines, and a New York editor who asked me to write a series of thriller novels under pennames; jobs of work that paid $5k each.  I wrote 18 of those tawdry bastards; called them D&F books (Duck and F---).  I didn’t complain.  They helped fund college accounts for my two young sons, and also provided a

bruising trial-by-fire during which I learned the rudiments of how to structure a novel.



I was not unprepared, then, when I set out to write not only a book I would be proud to carry my name, but one that sold.  First, the protagonist: I was an experienced fishing guide, so why not a marine biologist?  Also, thanks to Outside Magazine, I’d traveled countries torn by wars and revolutions, so why not a biologist who was also a clandestine operator – a “spook” with skills and knowledge far beyond my own.



Florida is an American microcosm that lures the best and the worst sort of people from all of the Americas, not just the U.S.  I love the social diversity as much as I adore the varieties of subtropical land and waterscapes.  For much of my life here, I’ve lived in an old Cracker house, tin-roofed, with a fireplace for heat, built atop the remnants of a shell pyramid that was constructed more than three thousand years ago by contemporaries of the Maya.  Florida is an ancient place, but as modern as the latest South Beach fads in fashion and food.  From my acre on the bay I can stand atop a mound, where kings once parlayed with Conquistadors, and watch the Space Shuttle arch toward the moon.



The boating experiences played out by characters in my books mirror my own, for I know no other way to write.  One of the joys of writing is the opportunity to come as close as I can to capturing on paper the intimacies of water, mangroves, bays, backcountry and open sea.  During my thirteen year guiding career, I spent three hundred days a year on the water, in small boats, in every possible type of weather.  I was up at first light to catch bait, and, during the busy spring season, often tagged a third half-day charter onto my schedule, trips that went from seven p.m. until midnight.  In Southwest Florida, where there are bays and many islands, it is often easier and faster to travel by boat, so I travel a lot at night, sometimes using night vision optics, always attuned to the various landmarks and ranges important when running shallow water.



As a writer, I still enjoy advantages gained by growing up in rural areas where isolation and boredom were relentless motivators and keys to the limitless worlds that lie between covers, not coasts.  Better yet, my isolation was split between bipolar geographies: farms in the Midwest and my maternal home of Richmond County, North Carolina, a solid place of cotton mills, tobacco, truck farming (of the vegetable variety) and some of the finest people I’ve known.  The fact that many of these fine people were also my aunts, uncles and cousins only added to the richness of a Midwestern and Deep South childhood that practically guaranteed that, even if I had failed as a writer, I was bound to succeed at something.



© Randy Wayne White, author of Mangrove Lightning: A Doc Ford Novel

 

 

You can find out more about Randy Wayne White and his books via his website and by following him on Facebook. Mangrove Lightning is available via all major book retailers and just hit the New York Times Bestsellers List.

            

Media Murder for Monday

Welcome to a new week and a new roundup of crime drama news:



MOVIES



Feature film rights to David Grann's true crime book, The Flower Moon: The Osage Murders And The Birth Of The FBI, were snapped up last year after a bidding war for $5 million by Imperative Entertainment, and now the producers are in talks to bring Martin Scorsese, Leonardo DiCaprio, and Robert De Niro on board. The book follows the aftermath of an oil discovery on Osage Indian tribal lands in Oklahoma, which led to conspiracy, greed, and murder among the tribe that caused the federal government to step in. It also chronicles the rise of J. Edgar Hoover, who led the investigation into the murders and ended up making a name for himself.



Smart House, a new techno-thriller from James Wan, is being developed by Lionsgate, with Alexandre Aja (The Hills Have Eyes) on board to direct from a script by Brad Keene (The Grudge 3). Based on an original idea by Wan, Smart House follows a family in the witness protection program who are placed in the custody of a state-of-the-art, autonomous "smart house." When a group of assassins locates the family, the house goes into lethal defense mode to protect them.



Clint Eastwood is set to direct a drama based on the book The 15:17 To Paris: The True Story Of A Terrorist, A Train, And Three American Heroes. The book was written by Anthony Sadler, Alek Skarlatos, Spencer Stone, and Jeffrey E. Stern and is based on the 2015 real-life incident when an ISIS terrorist boarded a train from Brussels to Paris armed with an AK-47 and enough ammo to kill more than 500 people. The terrorist might have succeeded except for three American friends who refused to give in to fear.



The first trailer was released for American Assassin, based on the novel by Vince Flynn. The film stars Dylan O’Brien as Mitch Rapp, a man recruited by the CIA after terrorists kill his fiancée, into a black ops mission aimed at stopping World War III in the Middle East. Michael Keaton also stars as a Cold War veteran who would be the most feared training officer in the CIA if more than a handful of people at the agency actually knew of his existence.



A new trailer was released for The Beguiled, Sofia Coppola’s screenplay adaptation of Thomas Cullinan’s novel of the same name, which will screen in competition at the 2017 Cannes Film Festival. The Beguiled stars Nicole Kidman, Elle Fanning, Kirsten Dunst, and Colin Ferrell in the atmospheric thriller set during the Civil War at a Southern girls’ boarding school where its sheltered young women take in an injured enemy soldier. As they provide refuge and tend to his wounds, "the house is taken over with sexual tension and dangerous rivalries, and taboos are broken in an unexpected turn of events."



TELEVISION



Last Monday, I noted that although a new limited X-Files series wasn't in the works yet, a new audiobook release would help pacify fans. Later that week, Fox announced that yes, there is going to be another "event series," this time expanded slightly to ten episodes. Stars David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson have been confirmed to appear in the new season, which will be helmed by series creator and original executive producer, Chris Carter, and air during the 2017-18 television season.



Lifetime has given a straight-to-series 10-episode order to the romantic thriller You, based on Caroline Kepnes’ best-selling 2014 novel. The work is described as a 21st century love story that asks, "What would you do for love?" When a brilliant bookstore manager crosses paths with an aspiring writer, his answer becomes clear: anything. Using the internet and social media as his tools to gather the most intimate of details and get close to her, a charming and awkward crush quickly becomes obsession as he quietly and strategically removes every obstacle, and person, in his way.



TNT’s upcoming straight-to-series drama The Alienist, which has been filming in Europe, is making a casting change midstream with Brian Geraghty (The Hurt Locker) stepping in to co-star as Teddy Roosevelt, replacing Sean Astin who originally was cast in the role. "Unfortunately because of scheduling difficulties, Sean Astin will no longer play the role," TNT said in a statement. The psychological thriller drama is set in 1896, when a series of gruesome murders of boy prostitutes has gripped the city. Newly appointed top cop Roosevelt (Geraghty) calls upon Dr. Laszlo Kreizler (Daniel Brühl), a criminal psychologist — aka alienist — and newspaper illustrator John Moore (Luke Evans) to conduct the investigation in secret.



Producer and Miramax co-founder Harvey Weinstein has optioned TV rights to the new book by Detroit author and Kresge literary fellow Stephen Mack Jones. Weinstein, a fan of crime fiction who named his son after detective story author Dashiell Hammett, came across a blurb describing Jones' book, August Snow, when it was published in February. The book's protagonist is a half-black, half-Latino ex-cop and private detective working in Detroit named August Snow who testified against a crooked mayor and corrupt police officers and is adjusting to a Motor City that’s both gentrifying and decaying. Weinstein isn't alone in his interest, however, as there are other offers to adapt the book on the table.



Niels Arden Oplev, who directed the pilot for USA’s Mr. Robot, has been tapped to direct and executive produce the TNT hourlong pilot The Deep Mad Dark, an atmospheric mystery-thriller about the complexities of friendship. The story centers on Detroit neurosurgeon Polly Lewis who embarks on an unorthodox study in the field of memory and trauma. Her once closest friend – the irreverent, brilliant Tash Hollander – comes home after living many years in a strange, off-the-grid community in Belize and insinuates herself into Polly’s life in ways that threaten everything Polly has achieved.  



Crackle announced it had greenlighted the techno-thriller movie In The Cloud and is also developing the 10-episode seies The Oath, written and created by former Los Angeles County Sheriff’s deputy Joe Halpin and centering on a gang whose members turn on each other after being picked off by the FBI. Other projects under development include RPM, a "high-octane" drama set in the working-class streets of Boston’s most corrupt neighborhoods where a used-car salesman moonlights as a getaway driver for a Boston crime syndicate.



Jerry Ferrara, Jesse Bradford, and Todd Lowe will join USA Network’s Ryan Phillippe-starrer Shooter as recurring characters. Beverly D’Angelo will also return as Patricia Gregson, steely-eyed National Security Advisor to the President, when the show returns for its second season July 18.

RADIO/PODCASTS/VIDEO



The Writer Types podcast showcased four different crime fiction authors, Sara Paretsky, William Kent Krueger, Lori-Rader Day, Marcus Sakey, and Sean Chercover.



Inside Thrill Radio host Jenny Milchman welcomed Matt Coyle, David McCaleb, Nadine Nettmann, and Lili Wright for a program titled "Win, Lose, or Draw."



Haunted NIghts Live was joined by Ridley Pearson, a New York Times bestselling author of more than 50 novels. Ridley was also awarded The Raymond Chandler Fulbright fellowship in detective fiction from Oxford University in 1990, was an Edgar Award nominee, and was admitted to the Missouri Writer Hall of Fame in 2013.



Two Crime Writers and a Microphone hosts Steve Cavanagh and Luca Veste featured Miranda Dickinson, talking about genre, crossovers between romance and crime, and her publishing journey.



Sasscer Hill stopped by Authors on the Air Radio to chat about her new series featuring Thoroughbred Racing Protective Bureau agent "Fia McKee," and the AAR podcast also welcomed two time Edgar Award & Dagger Award shortlisted crime novelist, Adrian McKinty, Macavity Award finalist Jennifer Kincheloe, and Kate White (The Secrets You Keep).



THEATER



Captain America star Chris Evans will make his Broadway debut at Second Stage in spring 2018 in a revival of Oscar winner Kenneth Lonergan’s 2001 play Lobby Hero opposite Michael Cera. Trip Cullman will direct the project, which is set in the lobby of a Manhattan apartment building where an ambitious young security guard clashes with a stern boss, an intense rookie cop, and her unpredictable partner.

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