B.V. Lawson's Blog, page 236

Author R&R with D.J. McIntosh

D.J. (Dorothy) McIntosh is the former co-editor of the Crime Writers of Canada's newsletter, Fingerprints, and is a Toronto-based writer of novels and short mystery fiction. Her short story "The Hounds of Winter" was nominated for the 2008 Arthur Ellis Award for Best Short Story.

Her first novel, The Witch of Babylon, was short-listed for the Crime Writers Association Debut Dagger Award, and won a Crime Writers of Canada Arthur Ellis Award for best unpublished (at the time) novel. The trade paperback version, published in Canada last year, was named "One of Six Enduring Historical Thrillers" by CNN (along with works by Umberto Eco, Wilbur Smith, Kate Mosse, Agatha Christie, and Dan Brown), and honored as one of Amazon.ca’s Best Books of 2011. The hardcover version debuts in the U.S. this week.


The book is set in modern-day New York City and Iraq and follows street-smart Turkish-American art dealer John Madison, who is caught up in the aftermath of the looting of the Baghdad Museum. A race to beat the bad guys to an mysterious ancient Assyrian treasure leads Madison on an international treasure-hunting adventure of lost relics, ancient sorcery, alchemy and the Mesopotamian cult of Ishtar. Author Louise Penny said of the novel, "I think The Witch of Babylon is going to blow everyone’s socks off, and Dorothy McIntosh will establish herself in the pantheon of Canadian writers."

D.J. is on a blog tour this week and stopped by to take some Author R&R (Reference and Research) with In Reference to Murder:

If there
were ten rules for writing, one of them almost certainly would be “write what
you know.” We authors hear that over and over again. I chose another path because
I felt passionate about my subjects. My lack of knowledge didn’t stop me but it
did necessitate years of research.

One way to
look at a novel is as an extended lie; it is fiction after all! A writer’s job
is to convince readers that what is fabricated is real and the more skillfully
achieved, the more enjoyable the read. My approach was to pack as many facts
and recognizable place names or other elements into the book as possible
without diluting the story. That’s why I’d never choose a fictional city for a
setting. The liberal use of ‘facts’ though, whether historical or contemporary,
means that research has to be comprehensive.

The Witch of Babylon is set in two locations, New York
City and Iraq. The challenge with New York was to find unique venues as the
city has been written about so well and so often. Not being a New York native
compounded the issue. It took three separate visits to find these venues, a
welcome task I must say as I love the city so much.

I started by
wandering, to the Village, Harlem, Hell’s Kitchen (now called the much less colorful
Clinton) and the Lower East side. New York is a bountiful feast for authors
because almost everywhere, something – a building, a park, an elevated rail
line, a store window – catches our attention. I found a fantastic gothic high
rise with terraces and gargoyles sprouting at the roof line, an abandoned steel
arch bridge spanning the Harlem River and the Dominican Church of Saint Vincent
Ferrer, not as well known as the cathedrals but exquisitely beautiful with
remarkable stained glass windows, candle lit chapels and saintly relics. My
love of music took me to Kenny’s Castaways, a historic New York music club that
nurtured stars like Bruce Springsteen and Patti Smith in the early days. These
are just a few of the many gems I discovered.

Iraq
presented the opposite problem. The Witch
is set in 2003 at the advent of the war so it was impossible to visit there. To
paint a convincing picture of Baghdad and Mosul in the north, I relied on
hundreds of newspaper articles, photos, blogs written by Iraqi civilians, journalists
and soldiers and books (notably Thieves
of Baghdad by Matthew Bogdanos and William Patrick) detailing the looting
and recovery of antiquities from the Iraq Museum. I watched many hours of
television war coverage and you-tube videos. One of these taken in real time by
a soldier that showed a high wall of sand as it swept toward a military
encampment, left an indelible impression. There was a wealth of material to
choose from and I’m so grateful to the bloggers, reporters and photojournalists
who risked their lives to bring us the story of the war.

The third
major research area concerned history. Mesopotamian achievements easily equal
those of the Egyptians but surprisingly, little has been recently written about
them for the lay reader. My main source was a book: The Might That Was Assyria by H.W. Saggs supplemented by lots of
internet searches. Speaking with university professors helped enormously as
well. Research turned up many fascinating facts. I had no idea for example,
that a Babylonian scholar first posited that the earth revolves around the sun
or that, in the Parthian era a rudimentary battery was developed more than a
millennium before the modern version, or that the alchemy had its beginnings in
perfume making. Learning about the three great Mesopotamian cultures, Sumerian,
Assyrian and Babylonian, was so fascinating it became a pastime I really looked
forward to. All three novels – Book 2 and 3 to come – focus on some aspect of
Mesopotamian history. So by not following “write what you know” whole new
worlds opened up to me.

Mystery Melange

Book sculpture by Mike Stilkey

The latest edition of Mystery Scene
magazine features a profile of investigative journalist /author Hank
Philippi Ryan talking about where she gets her ideas; Hollywood
screenwriter Attica Locke discusses how her family history is reflected
in her writing; John Connolly offers an insightful look at what he
considers to be Ross Macdonald's crowning achievement, The Chill; Martin
Edwards considers the stellar career of Robert Barnard; Larry Block
bares all in "Now We Call It Mid-Century Erotica"; and Kevin Burton
Smith offers "Mystery Fiction Action Figures We'd Like to See."  Plus,
G.M. Malliet discusses James Thurber in a special online essay feature.

The latest crime poem is up over at the 5-2, an offering titled "Kilmahog" by Nigel Bird. Gerald So, editor over at the 5-2, also has an open call for holiday-themed crime poems set around Christmas or New Year's. Send 'em along by November 30th.


There is still time to buy tickets to the QuébeCrime Writers Festival
coming up Thursday, October 25 to Saturday, October 27. Among the
authors scheduled to attend are Linwood Barclay, Mark Billingham, Giles
Blunt, Chelsea Cain, John Connolly, Chris F. Holm, Owen Laukkanen, Laura
Lippman, Archer Mayor, and Michael Robotham.



Missed Bouchercon? Criminal Element has a few "mugshots" and "overheard" tidbits.



The University of South Alabama Baldwin County will offer "What about
Murder? The Great Mystery Writers from the 'Golden Age' of Crime Fiction
to the Present Day," a non-credit course
this fall Tuesdays from Nov. 1-15 at the Fairhope campus. The course
will focus on the life and major writings of six mystery and crime
writers, including G.K. Chesterton, Dorothy L. Sayers, Ellery Queen,
P.D. James, Colin Dexter and Stieg Larsson. 

There's still time to
register for MWA (Mystery Writers of America) University to be held October 27th in Charlotte. One of the instructors will
be Nancy Pickard, and the core curriculum will include topics like "Dramatic Structure and Plot" and "Character."



Every week seems to launch a new trend or approach to digital
publishing, with many of these companies hoping to shake up the world of
publishing. StoryBundle is a pay-what-you-want indie book publishing
site founded by former Gizmodo and Lifehacker editor Jason Chen that
releases bundles of theme-curated eBooks. Its latest bundle is a group of thriller and crime novels.



Meanwhile, Harper Collins' new imprint, Bourbon Street Books, yesterday launched its line of trade paperbacks with the reissue of four Lord Peter Wimsey novels by Dorothy L. Sayers. The four titles, Strong Poison, Have His Carcase, Gaudy Night, and Busman's Honeymoon incorporate new designs and an introduction by contemporary bestselling mystery author, Elizabeth George.

Media Murder for Monday

MOVIES

Ben Affleck may don his director's hat again to take on a film adaptation of Dennis Lehane's latest novel, Live By Night. The book is set during the Prohibition era in Boston and follows Joe Coughlin, "the black sheep son of a police captain," as he moves up the ranks of organized crime.

Ewan McGregor will lead the cast of the Australian indie thriller Son of a Gun, playing a veteran criminal who takes a younger criminal under his wing.

CBS Films has offered Chris Hemsworth the role of terrorist hunter Mitch Rapp in in the big-screen version of Vince Flynn's bestselling novel series.

Julianne Moore is joining the Liam Neeson thriller Non-Stop about a federal air marshal (Neeson) challenged by a strange enemy who threatens the lives of his passengers.

Omnimystery News has a poster and the official trailer for the crime drama Gangster Squad, scheduled for release in January 2013, which is based on the book by Paul Lieberman and set in the 1950s LAPD.

TV

Gaumont International Television inked a deal with ABC for a potential straight-to-series project based on novelist James Patterson's character of New York Detective Michael Bennett. If the network likes the pilot, it will greenlight at 13-episode series for the project. (Hat tip to Omnimystery News.)

The infamous Depression-era bank robbers Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow are big in Hollywood right now. Fox bought a modern take on the duo from Sony TV; the untitled project is described as a "serialized drama about two sexy, young lovers from struggling families in East Texas, who use their respective skill sets to pair up and fight back, one crime at at time." Plus, Oscar-nominated director Bruce Beresford has signed on to direct the four-hour Bonnie & Clyde miniseries that will air on both the History and Lifetime networks.

CBS bought a project from McG and Mentalist executive producer Daniel Cerone. It's a female-lead crime drama about an unconventional young female detective for the San Francisco Police Department who gets fired from the force, only to be secretly recruited by the Chief of Police to become an undercover officer posing as a vigilante.

The online video site Hulu is continuing to expand its original programming slate, with the latest including a joint 6-episode project with the BBC for the conspiracy comedy/thriller series titled The Wrong Mans. Hulu also picked up the exclusive U.S. rights to the French crime drama Braquo (Heist), about four Paris policemen whose colleague commits suicide following a case where he is being unfairly blamed..

NBC is in talks to buy a detective drama from Universal TV and Scott Free Productions. The project stars Kevin Klein and revolves around a genius investigator who moves in with a compulsive thief.

Clark Gregg will reprise his film role as Agent Phil Coulson in a television pilot based on Marvel's S.H.I.E.L.D.

USA announced that Psych will return on Wednesday, February 27, 2013 for its upcoming seventh season.

Fox announced that the reality series Cops will return for a 25th season, taking turns in the police departments of Sacramento, Las Vegas, Portland (Oregon) and Alameda County, California.

David Suchet indicated that the next series of TV programs featuring his portrayal of Agatha Christie's Hercule Poirot will probably be the last. By then, Suchet will have appeared in every story Christie wrote featuring the Belgian detective. The upcoming final programs would include Labours of Hercules , Dead Man’s Folly, The Big Four, Elephants Can Remember and Curtain. (Hat tip to Crimespree.)

Film director Jane Campion talked with Hollywood Reporter about her new new project, a six-parter for the BBC and Sundance Channel called Top of the Lake. She called it "the anti-CSI procedural," which ties together a women's camp, a drug lord (played by Peter Mullan) and a murder mystery all in one.

PODCASTS

Suspense Radio's October lineup included Amy Shojal, Keith Rommel, and David Lyons on October 6th, and coming up on October 20th are John Connolly, Sandra Parshall, Tasha Alexander and Sam Hawken.

For a little bit of fun, check out this duet between Robert J Randisi and Parnell Hall at the recent Shamus Awards held at Bouchercon.

THEATER

Tom Hanks will play crime reporter Mike McAlary in Lucky Guy, the play Nora Ephron completed before she died in June at age 71. The role will mark the actor's Broadway debut in the limited-engagement run, scheduled at the Broadhurst Theatre with opening night set for April 1, 2013.

Bookish Bliss

I'm a sucker for whimsy, especially when it's tied to bookish things (or crime fiction). And since it's never too early to start planning ahead for those on your Christmas list who have everything, consider this a two-fer of whimsical items that could be gift ideas.

This sunflower chair (or bookshelf chair) was created by designers He Mu and Zhang Qian from the Shanghai University of Engineering Science and won the Redtory Design Award.

 

The world's largest Scrabble game spans over 49 square feet, about five times the size of the original. One of only nine in
existence, it's handmade by John Kahn, renowned mixed media artist and
creator of colossal pop art. Due to the price, it's probably not a good stocking-stuffer candidate.

 


You don't even need an e-book for this one. A point-and-click dictionary slides over reading material, and its integrated flip-up camera scans
any word with the touch of a button to instantaneously display definitions on its screen.

This diminutive typewriter is actually a USB-capable device created by Jack Zylkin that plugs into device such as your PC, Mac, or even your iPad. So you can get the thrill of the old-fashioned click and clack of typewriter keys and still have the modern convenience of your digital device. 

Richard Hutton created this table for Milan Design Week 2008. The legs are composed of layers of books, piled upon each other. As Hutton notes, "A book is all about layers, layers
of meaning. This collection is about objects and what we can read in
them. Design is not only about beautiful forms, but also about the
stories an object can tell."

 

This umbrella may not be a work of art, but it looks like one. The Sky Stack Cane Umbrella uses  nature and sky-high piles of vividly colored books placed along
a grass border, a bold blue sky, and fluffy white
clouds. Supposedly, it even keeps the rain off.

 

This one is cheating a little bit because these are "vintage" items from the 1980s that are no longer made, although you can still find them on eBay and other similar sites. These gun-shaped hairdryers were created by Jerdon industries and include such beauties as a 357 Magnum with holster. (Go ahead: make my bad-hair day.)

Did you know there is a Library Hotel near Grand Central Station in NYC? Each of the 10 guestroom floors honor one of the 10 categories of the
Dewey Decimal System and each of the 60 rooms are uniquely adorned with a
collection of books and art exploring a distinctive topic within the
category. Splurge on the Love Room, with a private terrace with views of the New York City Public Library and books chosen by Dr. Ruth Westheimer.

Friday's "Forgotten" Books - The Labours of Hercules

Patti Abbott has chosen Agatha Christie as the feature of today's Friday's "Forgotten Books" feature. (Previous special features have included George Simenon, John D. MacDonald and Donald Westlake.)


The prolific Agatha Christie is best known for her 66 detective novels, but she also penned romance novels, plays, and some 157 short stories. Of the latter category, 22 collections were published with stories culled from fiction magazines, over half of which first appeared in the 1920s. The collections were themed around her various detective heroes, Miss Marple, Tommy and Tuppence, Parker Pyne and Ariadne Oliver, Mr. Harley Quin, as well as several standalones. At least five featured Christie's most popular fictional creation, Hercule Poirot.

The 1947 collection The Labours of Hercules (with all stories save one first published in The Strand between 1939 and 1947) uses an unusual literary device: Poirot is at the end of his career and ready to retire, but before he does, he decides to solve 12 more cases that correspond to the mythological Twelve Labours of Hercules. As Poirot himself states in the "Foreword," as he looks as his reflection in a mirror:

Here, then, was a modern Hercules – very distinct from that unpleasant sketch of a naked figure with bulging muscles, brandishing a club. Instead a small compact figure attired in correct urban wear with a moustache – such a moustache as Hercules never dreamed of cultivating – a moustache magnificent yet sophisticated.

Yet there was between this Hercule Poirot and the Hercules of Classical lore one point of resemblance. Both of them, undoubtedly, had been instrumental in ridding the world of certain pests … Each of them could be described as a benefactor to the Society he lived in.

The 12 stories feature appearances by Poirot's occasional sidekicks including his secretary, Miss Lemon, his valet, Georges, Chief Inspector Japp, and even the love of Poirot's life, Countess Rossakoff. The "labours" start off with "The Nemean Lion," in which Miss Lemon finds a letter from businessman, Sir Joseph Hoggin, whose wife's Pekingese dog has been kidnapped. Poirot is reluctant to take on the case, calling such dogs "bulging-eyed, overpampered pets of a rich woman," but when he digs deeper, he uncovers and prevents a much worse crime.

Other stories place Poirot in uncharacteristic situations involving travel and even the dreaded physical activity, as in "Erymanthian Boar," where the sleuth sets out to capture an infamous gang leader and violent murderer in the Swiss Alps. In "The Horses of Diomedes"—based on the eighth labour of Hercules in which the hero has to capture the wild horses that were fed on human flesh—Poirot has to tame the "wild horses" who are actually human beasts supplying cocaine to impressionable young people.

If you're not a fan of Poirot in general, these little bite-sized morsels may be more palatable and enjoyable, with half the fun seeing how Christie (and Poirot) manage to tie in a case to the Hercules task on which it's based. The Sunday Express was called the collection "Twelve little masterpieces of detection. Poirot and Agatha Christie at their inimitable best."

Plus, you can even buy the Labours of Hercules tea towel.

Media Murder for Monday

MOVIES

Hatfields & McCoys star Sam Reid is in talks to play a rebellious prophet who becomes the prime suspect in a murder investigation in writer-director David Barker's Australian thriller, The Second Coming.

Nate Parker joined Liam Neeson in the cast of the thriller Non-Stop, about a federal air marshal in a deadly game of cat and mouse with a terrorist who threatens to kill an airplane passenger every 20 minutes that the hero doesn’t kill himself.

Christian Bale has been added to a cast that includes Jeremy Renner, Bradley Cooper and Amy Adam for an as-yet-untitled drama. The project is based on a true story about a financial con artist and his mistress who
worked with a federal agent in order to nab other criminals.

The auction in celebration of 50 years of James Bond on film raised one million pounds ($1.6 million dollars U.S.) for charity.

TV

CBS is developing a crime drama project from the Mentalist creator/executive producer that is centered on two young female detectives who are complete opposites. The working title is Murder Bitches, and although it's also the nickname given to the detectives by colleagues, I have a feeling the show's title may change if it gets picked up for a full season order. (Hat tip to Omnimystery News.)

The creative team behind Homeland have been busy; co-creators/executive producers Howard Gordon and Alex Gansa landed a pilot commitment from CBS based on the book The Anatomy Of Violence: The Biological Roots Of Crime by Adrian Raine, about a female FBI agent who starts working with a mysterious psychiatrist with whom she shares a past connection. Meanwhile, director/executive producer Michael Cuesta is teaming up with CSI executive producer/showrunner Carol Mendelsohn for Second Sight, a drama based on the 2000 British series starring Clive Owen.

As Omnimystery News reports, ABC has ordered Killer Women, a crime drama project based on the Argentine series Mujeres Asesinas, which in turn was adapted from the trilogy of thrillers by Marisa Grinstein. The original books include stories with each featuring a different female killer.

Martin Henderson (ABC's Off The Map) has signed on to star in the Jerry Bruckheimer-produced NBC drama pilot The Secret Lives Of Husbands And Wives, described as thriller-dramatic soap about a murder and the secrets and lies within a tightly woven group of three suburban couples and their families.

Doctor Who's Alex Kingston (River Song) will make an appearance on NCIS plyaing a shady business woman who gets tangled up with Gibbs (Mark Harmon) and the team.

Richard Burji (Desperate Housewives) has joined the cast of Body of Proof, to play a love interest for Jeri Ryan's character Kate Murphy.

Friday's "Forgotten" Books - First Cases

(This is a "rebroadcast" from 2010. Back to new FFB posts next week....)

Before they were stars, everyone's favorite literary private
eyes had to start somewhere. Many jumped to life fully-formed in novels, but
others began their lives in short
stories. Robert Randisi, a lifelong champion of P.I. fiction and founder of the
Private Eye Writers of America (PWA), in
addition to being an author himself, put together a collection of First Cases:
First Appearances of Classic Private Eyes in 1996. Fortunately, that volume was
successful enough that Randisi was able to compile three additional collections,
the last in 2002.

The 1996 volume (and the one that started it all) includes stories
in which now-beloved protagonists first saw the light of day, such as Bill Pronzini’s
Nameless Detective in "It’s  a Lousy
World," first published in Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine in 1968; Joe Gores's
Dan Kearny and company in "File #1: The Mayfield Case," printed in Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine in 1968 (a banner year, it seems); Linda Barnes's
Carlotta Carlyle in "Lucky Penny," published in New Black Mask in 1986; and Robert
Randisi's own ex-boxer Miles Jacoby in "The Steinway Collection," first
published in Mystery Monthly in 1977.

Other entries are the first short story appearances of
detectives who had already made a splash in a novel, such as Lawrence Block's
Matthew Scudder in "Out of the Window,"  Sara Paretsky' V.I. Warshawski  in "The Takamoku Joseki," and Max Allan
Collins's Nathan Heller in "The Strawberry Teardrop," all three of which were
published just barely one year after each character's debut novel.

Most
of these authors and their detectives went on to win
major awards, including several Shamus nods--awards Randisi initiated as
part
of the PWA. In this book and the following volumes, the stories and
characters
include hard-boiled and soft-boiled, covering a range of settings
(Block's
Manhattan, Jeremiah Healy's Boston, Gores's San Francisco), but the most
interesting aspect, as Randisi says, "It's interesting to go back and
read an
early story about a series character. In some cases the character you
meet is
very different from the character as he or she appears in later
stories." In some cases, these include a switch of POVs from third to
first, or major life
changes as with Block's pre-AA Scudder who still drinks bourbon with his
coffee.

These collections should be both inspiration and caveat
to contemporary writers of crime fiction short stories. If you're fortunate
enough to produce a long-lived private eye series after having auditioned the
character first in the short format, you might just wind up in a future Randisi
anthology. So make it good and make it count.

Anthology Potpourri

The advent of eBooks has brought many changes to publishing, both good and bad, but one of the positive developments is a new wave of terrific short crime fiction anthologies. In case you missed them, here are a few of the latest publications released in September and October (noting that some are eBooks, some print, some both):

 

Beat to a Pulp: Superhero has gathered some of the best hardboiled and
noir crime stories with a superhero twist. Billy Mitchell, the
six-year-old "Red Avenger" in Kevin Burton Smith's tale, has an
innocence and a special something that draws us to want to don a mask
and tie a towel around our necks. Steve Weddle dissects the reality of a
world in which super-powered "others" walk in the midst of normal
people who tend to quote only parts of the Bible. And James Reasoner's
story is set in a time not usually associated with superheroes -- the
American Revolution -- yet Patrick Mainwaring finds the classic essence
of a superhero. Other top contributors include Jake Hinkson, Garnett
Elliott, Liam Jose, Sandra Seamans, Jerry Bloomfield, Thomas Pluck,
Keith Rawson, Court Merrigan, Benoit Lelievre, and Chad Eagleton

The recent inaugural Bloody Scotland conference sponsored a short-story competition. The 19 winners chosen from 230 entries are collected into an anthology titled Worth the Wait, sponsored by Glengoyne Whisky. You can download a free copy via the conference site. As the sponsor foreword notes, "Scottish crime fiction and malt whisky are both international success stories and two of this nation’s greatest exports. Why? Because here in Scotland we understand that quality cannot be rushed. Crafting a great crime story takes time, care, attention and commitment. It doesn’t happen overnight – but when it does come together, it’s magical."

Crime Factory is launching an all Australian crime fiction anthology, Hard Labour. It includes brand new fiction from Peter Corris, Leigh Redhead, Helen FitzGerald,
Angela Savage, David Whish-Wilson, along with Garry Disher's first ever
Wyatt story (unpublished in over a decade), JJ DeCeglie, Andrez Bergen, Deborah Sheldon and many more,
including CFP’s own widely-published editorial staff. Along with a brand
new story by Melbourne-based Irish veteran Adrian McKinty, the story
collection is topped off with a foreword by Sisters in Crime National
Co-Convenor, Lindy Cameron.

 

Fifteen Tales of Murder, Mayhem and Malice from the Land of Minnesota Nice, are "perfect for a quiet evening cozied up in front of the fireplace or to share around a flickering campfire. Some of them will scare you. Some may make you cringe. A few might bring a smile to your lips. All of them, we guarantee, will put to rest forever the myth of Minnesota Nice." Contributing authors include William Kent Krueger, Jess Lourey, Rich Thompson, Lois Greiman, Mary Logue, Pat Dennis, David Housewright, Elizabeth Gunn, Judith Borger, Joel Arnold, Lori L. Lake, Michael Allen Mallory, Marilyn Victor, Carl Brookins, and Ellen Hart.

 

Noir at the Bar 2 is "Back for another round of booze, blood and bad taste...and continues its assault on the literate world." Contributors include: Jedidiah Ayres,
Frank Bill, Jane Bradley, Sonia L. Coney, Hilary Davidson, Les Edgerton,
Nate Flexer, Matthew C. Funk, Jesus Angel Garcia, Glenn Gray, Kevin
Lynn Helmick, Gordon Highland, John Hornor Jacobs, David James Keaton,
Tim Lane, Erik Lundy, Jason Makansi, Matthew McBride, Jon McGoran,
Cortright McMeel, Aaron Michael Morales, Scott Phillips, Robert J.
Randisi & Christine Matthews, John Rector, Caleb J. Ross, Duane
Swierczynski, Mark W. Tiedemann, Fred Venturini, Benjamin Whitmer and
Nic Young.

 

Off The Record 2, At The Movies, is an anthology with 47 Short Stories with Classic Film Titles, with proceeds benefitting two child literacy charities. Edited by Paul D Brazill and Luca Veste, authors contributing stories include Will Carver, Steve Mosby, Helen FitzGerald, Adrian McKinty, Matt Hilton, Stav Sherez, Claire McGowan, Sean Cregan, David Jackson, Mel Sherratt, Nick Quantrill, Maxim Jakubowski, and many more.

Psychos: Serial Killers, Depraved Madmen, and the Criminally Insane, edited by John Skipp, is a crime anthology featuring stories by master storytellers including Neil Gaiman, Lawrence Block, and Ray Bradbury. As Skipp writes in the Foreword, the anthology includes "A staggering thirty-eight-course banquet of literary mania and mayhem, served up by some of the most amazingly astute, deeply disturbing, immensely entertaining chronicles of crazy ever to grace the printed page."

 

The relatively new Shotgun Honey ezine of crime and noir fiction brought together 29 authors from around the
world to produce their first anthology, Shotgun Honey Presents: Both
Barrels. Featuring stories from: Patti Abbot, Peter Farris, Trey R.
Barker, Hector Acosta, Cameron Ashley, Ray Banks, Frank Bill, Nigel
Bird, Jen Conley, Paul D. Brazill, Thomas Pluck, Garnett Elliott,
Matthew C. Funk, Chris F. Holm, Glenn Gray, Naomi Johnson, Nik Korpon,
Kieran Shea, Julia Madeleine, Joe Myers, Andrew Nette, Mike Oliveri, Dan
O'Shea, Tom Pits, Keith Rawson, Holley West, Frank Wheeler Jr., Jim
Wilsky and Steve Weddle.

True Brit Grit was actually published in April of this year, but proceeds of this anthology go to support the charities Children 1st and the Francesca Bimpson Foundation. Edited by  Luca Veste and Paul D. Brazill, the volume contains forty five gritty stories from the likes of Ray Banks, Allan Guthrie, Charlie Williams, Julie Morrigan, Howard Lynskey, Sheila Quigley, Nick Quantrill and Matt Hilton.

Books to Die For is an anthology of essays billed as "the most ambitious anthology of its kind yet attempted, the world's
leading mystery writers have come together to champion the greatest
mystery novels ever written." In a series of personal essays that often
reveal as much about the authors and their own work as they do about the
books that they love, 119 authors from 20 countries have created a
guide that will be indispensable for generations of readers and writers.
From Agatha Christie to Lee Child, from Edgar Allan Poe to P. D. James,
from Sherlock Holmes to Hannibal Lecter and Philip Marlowe to Lord
Peter Wimsey, Books to Die For brings together the cream of the
mystery world for a feast of reading pleasure, a treasure trove for
those new to the genre and for those who believe that there is nothing
new left to discover.

CSI Portsmouth

Tickets are now on sale for the third annual CSI Portsmouth festival taking place on Saturday, November 3, at John Pounds Centre, Portsmouth, England. Special guests include international crime authors Stephen Booth, Ann Cleeves, Matt Hilton and Pauline Rowson; Crime Scene Manager Co-ordinator Carolyn Lovell from Hampshire Police; DC Terry Fitzjohn Crime Scene Fire Investigations Officer, Hampshire Police; Andy Earl Hampshire Fire and Rescue Arson Task Force; Adrian Fretter, Hampshire Police Hi Tech Crime Unit; Professor Bran Nicol, University of Surrey, an expert on stalking culture including Internet Stalking; and Dr. Mark Button, Director of the Centre for Counter Fraud Studies at University of Portsmouth.

Highlights of the one-day affair are two panel debates on crime fiction versus crime fact and a meet and mingle with top selling crime authors and police and forensic
crime experts. Participants will also have a chance to learn
about what really happens at a crime scene, how a fire investigation is
worked, hear about cyber crime and internet stalking, see how the
fingerprint bureau works, have your fingerprints taken, and much
more.

 

Media Murder for Monday

MOVIES

Canadian author Linwoodo Barclay's novel Trust Your Eyes is being developed by Warner Brothers with Todd Phillips as director, his first thriller for the studio. The plot centers on a schizophrenic, map-obsessed savant who witnesses a murder online and investigates, along with his older brother. In the process, they cross paths with a politically connected ex-cop and his ice pick-wielding henchwoman.

A federal judge in New York ruled in favor of Paramount Studios over the estate of Mario Puzo, author of The Godfather. Puzo's family had sought to prevent Paramount from making additional movies based on Puzo's writing, and to cancel a contract made with the author. There's a lot more to the story (and many layers of legalities) that will likely continue in the courts for some time to come, so don't epect another Godfather film any time soon.

This may just be an item in the "wishful thinking" category, but Benedict Cumberbatch (BBC's Sherlock), is rumored to be the next James Bond villain. If that turns out to be true, we'll have to wait until 2014 to see him in the role. Meanwhile, it was reported last week that the upcoming Bond film Skyfall will be released in IMAX theaters a day early.

Speaking of all things James Bond, Digial Spy celebrates James Bond turning 50 on screen with "highlights" videos of all the 007s.

TV

Omnimystery News reported on not one, not two, but four new crime drama projects (here and here). CBS is developing three of them: a crime drama titled Solve For X in which a San Francisco game developer consults for a local police task force; Motor City Shakedown, based on characters created by novelist Jonathan Watkins featuring two very different lawyers forced to work together on cases; and Near Dead, centered on a NYPD detective who may have witnessed his wife's murder while undergoing a near-death experience. The fourth is from ABC, a pilot titled Wrongful Death, set in Florida where "a former cop-turned-felon-turned-Tampa insurance adjuster teams with an energetic but unpolished millennial at a private investigation firm to investigate wrongful deaths."

Deadline also reported that CBS is teaming up with Jerry Bruckheimer for an FBI drama pilot written by Aron Eli Coleite. Titled The Bureau, the project is described simply as "a character drama set at the NY field office of the FBI."

Meanwhile, NBC has a period crime drama pilot in the works titled Edison. As you can possibly guess from the title, it features a young Thomas Alva Edison who works "as a secret consultant to the under-trained and under-equipped New York Police force."

NBC and The Walking Dead executive producer Gale Anne Hurd will produce 11th Commandment, a series adaptation of UK author Jeffrey Archer’s 1998 thriller. Patrick Harbinson (Person of Interest, 24) is writing the script for the project.

The USA Network announced that Covert Affairs, Royal Pains and White Collar have all been renewed for new seasons. (Hat tip to Crimespree.)

TNT renewed Major Crimes for a second season. The show is the follow-up to The Closer, which ended its run after the departure of Kyra Sedgwick.

ABC has ordered a pilot commitment titled Dress To Kill, a drama from writer Jessica Sharzer (American Horror Story), described as "an erotic thriller/soap set in the New York fashion world with whodunit mystery at the heart of it."

John Larroquette has been added to the cast of NBC's midseason drama, Infamous, playing Senator Dwight Haverstock. He joins actress Meagan Good who will play a female detective trying to solve the murder of heiress Victoria Lawson.

FX Networks is developing a drama based on the 1996 crime thriller Fargo from the Coen Brothers. The film featured Frances McDormand as a pregnant police chief who investigates a series of homicides.

ITV renewed Whitechapel, the crime drama set in Victorian London's Whitechapel district, for a fourth season. (Hat tip to Omnimystery News.)

PODCASTS

The Guardian books podcast discusses a never-before-published essay on crime writing from Agatha Christie; takes a look at author Attica Locke and race and history in the American south; and Tanya Byrne talks about young readers who are turning to crime.

Harlan Coben recently appered on the CBS Morning Show to talk about his Myron Bolitar thrillers and his latest YA novel, Seconds Away.

THEATER

A new staged production of Stephen King's novel Misery is set to open at the Bucks County Playhouse in Pennsylvania in November. The play was adapted by William Goldman, who penned the screenplay for the Oscar-winning film version.