B.V. Lawson's Blog, page 39

Mystery Melange

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Laura Lippman and Denise Mina have been announced as the Featured Guests at CrimeFest, one of Europe’s biggest crime fiction conventions. Canadian mystery writer, Cathy Ace, will be the Gala Dinner’s "Leader of Toasts," and the convention has also announced a homage to PD James, known as the "Queen of crime fiction," who is the creator of the Adam Dalgliesh series. CrimeFest, sponsored by Specsavers, is hosted from May 9 to 12, 2024 at the Mercure Bristol Grand Hotel in Bristol. Up to 150 international authors are scheduled to appear in over 50 panels, and the convention also features the annual CrimeFest Awards. (HT to Shots Magazine)

There has been concerning news recently about a possible volcanic eruption on Iceland which prompted the island nation's government to declare a state of emergency and evacuate residents. The annual Iceland Noir conference is scheduled for this weekend, November 16-18, and there was some confusion and concern about that event's status in light of the situation. But organizers posted on Twitter that the conference is still on since Reykjavik is sixty kilometers (roughly 37 miles) away from the potentially affected towns. However, they did encourage participants from outside the country to check on their airline status, just in case there are cancellations of certain flights. This year's special guests include Richard Armitage, Dan Brown, Neil Gaiman, Lisa Jewell, Louise Penny and Hilary Clinton, C.J. Tudor, and Irvine Welsh.

Also being celebrated this weekend is Perth Noir, jointly hosted by Perth’s two publishing companies, Rymour Books and Tippermuir Books. The one-day event will take place Saturday November 18 at the Subud Centre, St Leonard’s Bank. If you happen to be Downunder and have the weekend free, register via this link.

Next up for Noir at the Bar is at 3rd Turn Brewing in Lousiville, KY, on November 18 at 7:00. Authors scheduled to read from their works include S.A. Cosby, Wesley Browne, Ashley Erwin, James D.F. Hannah, David Joy, JH Markert, Bobby Mathews, Eryk Pruitt, and J. Todd Scott.

The Grolier Club in New York City is set to explore a history of detective stories and murder mysteries in the exhibition Whodunit? Key Books in Detective Fiction. On view from Nov. 30 to Feb. 10, Whodunit features more than 90 detective novels from the 19th and early 20th centuries by Francois Vidocq, Edgar Allan Poe, Charles Dickens, Wilkie Collins, Anna Katherine Green, Arthur Conan Doyle and Agatha Christie. Rare items include a four-volume set of the Newgate Calendar (1824), a sensationalist publication on criminal activity; the first American edition of The Memoirs of Francois Vidocq (1834), the world’s "first" detective; the first collection of Sherlock Holmes stories (1892); and Agatha Christie’s first novel, featuring the debut appearance of "the little Belgian," Hercule Poirot (1920).

Fans of thriller writer David Cornwell, better known by his pen name John le Carré, may have despaired they'd seen the last of George Smiley when the author died in 2020. But the beloved spy is set to return next autumn, this time penned by Cornwell’s son. Penguin Random House announced a currently untitled novel by Nicholas Cornwell, who writes as Nick Harkaway, set during the decade that passes between the end of le Carré’s The Spy Who Came in from the Cold and the beginning of Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy. "Smiley is woven into my life," Harkaway said. "Tinker Tailor was written in the two years after I was born and I grew up with the evolution of the Circus, so this is a deeply personal journey for me, and of course it’s a journey which has to feel right to the le Carré audience." Though this is the first time anyone has sought to continue le Carré’s work posthumously, Harkaway was involved in bringing his father’s book Silverview to publication in 2021, a novel that le Carré had completed before he died.

The Crime Fiction Lover Awards has posted the finalists for the third annual event, where readers get to nominate and vote on the winners. There are six categories including Crime Book of the Year, Best Debut Crime Novel of 2023, Best Crime Novel in Translation of 2023, Best Indie Crime Novel of 2023, Best Crime Show of 2023, and Best Crime Author of 2023. Voting closes at noon GMT on Monday December 4, 2023.

Likewise, the Goodreads Choice Awards is now open for you to vote on the best mysteries and thrillers of the year, with the opening round for the top sixteen continuing through November 26. The final round will commence November 28 through December 3, and the finalists will be announced on December 7.

The yearly Crime Time debate on the best crime fiction of the year featuring the critics of the Guardian, the Telegraph, the Express, Shotsmag, and the Financial Times (Barry Forshaw), took place at Waterstones Islington on November 9. As Forshaw noted, there was healthy agreement and healthy disagreement as usual, with the top six and individual choices listed on Crime Time's website.

Over at The Rap Sheet blog, Jeff Pierce has been keeping track of the dizzying release of other end-of-the-year "best" crime fiction lists, which are almost too numerous to follow. (Thanks, Jeff! And also a HT to George Ester of Deadly Pleasures magazine). Here's one from the London Times (with 44 titles!); the Washington Post for both thrillers and mysteries; Kirkus Reviews; and Amazon.

In the Q&A roundup, Lisa Haselton spoke with cozy mystery author Emma Dakin about her new novel, Shadows in Sussex, book 5 in the British Book Tour Mysteries series; and Writers Who Kill's E.B. Davids interviewed Lisa Malice about her psychological thriller, Lest She Forget, in which a woman with amnesia is haunted by a forgotten past and hunted by a ruthless killer with no one to save her but herself.

          

Media Murder for Monday

[image error]It's the start of a new week and that means it's time for a brand-new roundup of crime drama news:

THE BIG SCREEN/MOVIES

Conclave, the latest from Oscar-winning director Edward Berger, has been picked up for U.S. distribution by Focus Features. Berger’s follow-up to Netflix’s All Quiet on the Western Front remake stars Ralph Fiennes, Stanley Tucci, John Lithgow, Carlos Diehz, Lucian Msamati, Brían F. O’Byrne, Merab Ninidze, Sergio Castellitto, and Isabella Rossellini. Based on Robert Harris’s novel, the film centers on a secret papal conclave as they go about electing a new Pope — and a conspiracy amid rival factions, self-serving political ambitions, and secrets held by the former Pope.

TELEVISION/SMALL SCREEN

Andrée A. Michaud’s novel Boundary is being developed as a thriller series to be known as Boundary Pond. Louis Choquette (19-2; Mafiosa) is attached as showrunner and director, and the project will come to market in coming weeks. The story is set amid the idyllic cottage life and warmth and familiarity of Boundary Pond’s forests, which turn treacherous after a mysterious death rocks the normally peaceful lake community where outsiders keep summer cabins, and locals struggle through the winter. When a second body turns up, murder is suspected.

MGM+ has given the green light to the true crime docuseries, The Wonderland Murders & The Secret History of Hollywood, a four-episode series based on Michael Connelly’s Audible podcast of the same name. The project explores the notorious Wonderland murder case, which took place in Los Angeles in the 1980s when four people were discovered severely beaten to death in a suburban home in Laurel Canyon on Wonderland Avenue. As the description notes, “From a bought-off juror to the biggest porn actor of his generation, an alleged corrupt federal agent and a kind of Zelig of Hollywood’s dark underbelly, much about the case remains unresolved, and there are people who got away with murder."

The BBC will air Return to Paradise, an Australia-set spin-off of the long-running drama, Death in Paradise. Filming next year, the six-part series follows Australian ex-pat Mackenzie Clarke, the seemingly golden girl of the London Metropolitan police force, who is suddenly forced to pull up stakes and move back to her childhood home of Dolphin Cove. When a murder takes place in the idyllic beachside hamlet, Mack can’t help but put her inspired detective brilliance to good use.

The Rookie: Feds has been canceled after one season at ABC. The drama series stars Niecy Nash-Betts as former guidance counselor Simone, who becomes the oldest rookie in the agency as she joins the FBI as an agent. As Simone hones her skills and trusts her intuition, she proves her skeptics wrong, including Special Agent Matthew Garza, played by Felix Solis. Created by Alexi Hawley and Terence Paul Winter, who also served as showrunner for the freshman show, The Rookie: Feds rounded out its cast with Frankie R. Faison, James Lesure, Britt Robertson, and Kevin Zegers.

In more fallout from the WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes, ABC has also opted not to proceed with The Good Lawyer, its planned legal spinoff from The Good Doctor that was going to be toplined by Kennedy McMann and Felicity Huffman. ABC had planned to launch The Good Lawyer this coming spring, but the broadcasting networks are running out of shelf space as they try to accommodate all of their popular returning scripted series.

A trailer was released for the second season of the hit show Reacher on Prime Video. Based on Bad Luck and Trouble, the 11th book in Lee Child’s global best-selling series, the story begins when veteran military police investigator Jack Reacher (played by Alan Ritchson), receives a coded message that the members of his former U.S. Army unit, the 110th MP Special Investigations, are being mysteriously and brutally murdered one by one.

A trailer also dropped for Mr. Monk’s Last Case: A Monk Movie, in which everyone’s favorite germaphobic detective (played by Tony Shalhoub) is tasked with solving a murder for his stepdaughter Molly (Caitlin McGee) a journalist who is getting ready for her wedding. Shalhoub reunites with stars from the original series that ran from 2002-2009, Ted Levine, Traylor Howard, Jason Gray-Stanford, Melora Hardin, and Hector Elizondo. The cast is also joined by Caitlin McGee and James Purefoy. The movie premieres Dec. 8 on Peacock.

Masterpiece Mystery released a trailer for season 4 of Miss Scarlet and the Duke, which premieres Sunday, January 7, 2024 at the special time of 8/7c. The series follows Eliza Scarlet, Victorian London’s first-ever female detective, who spars with Scotland Yard Detective Inspector William Wellington, a.k.a., The Duke. In Season 4, Eliza is running a London-based detective agency. Things are not going entirely smoothly, although help comes from some familiar sources. Outside work, her relationship with William (The Duke) builds towards a looming decision that will shape both their lives.

PODCASTS/VIDEO/RADIO/AUDIO

The second season of Moriarty dropped this week on Audible. This nine-episode audio performance, subtitled "The Silent Order," is inspired by Sherlock Holmes, but Charles Kindinger’s script offers a moral scrambling of Arthur Conan Doyle’s classic stories. In the latest Moriarty installment, six months after surviving near death at Reichenbach Falls, Professor James Moriarty tracks down the woman he loves in New York City, where she is trapped in the web of The Order – an evil organization that stretches beyond Britain and the Crown. When his attempts to break her free lead to tragedy, Moriarty returns home, determined to bring down the entire global organization. But before he can strike, he makes another shocking discovery: Sherlock Holmes is alive and shares his goal. Moriarty and Holmes must set their animosity aside and join forces to stop the assassination of the American president and a devastating world war.

On the Crime Writers of Color podcast, Robert Justice interviewed Shelly Ellis, author of over a dozen novels including the "Three Mrs. Greys" series and Not So Perfect Strangers.

Norwegian crime writing legend, Gunnar Staalesen, chatted with Crime Time FM's Craig Sisterson about his new hardboiled thriller, Mirror Image; Varg Veum and Bergen; crime fiction as social commentary with humor; Joe Biden, PI; and wolves in a sanctuary.

The Red Hot Chili Writers spoke with crime writer and former journalist, Fiona Cummins, about her momentous meeting with George Clooney. They also discussed new research showing the range of cats' facial expressions, and dissected the case of the Aussie mushroom poisoning.

It Was a Dark and Stormy Book Club discussed mysteries set in Colonial America.

A new Mysteryrat's Maze Podcast is up, featuring the first chapter of Steadying the Ark by Rebecca K. Jones, read by actor Shauna Dolin.

         Related StoriesMedia Murder for Monday 

Friday's "Forgotten" Books: A Country Kind of Death

 

Mary McMullen (1920-1986), a/k/a Mary Reilly Wilson, had an interesting writing pedigree. Her mother was the distinguished and prolific mystery writer, Helen Reilly, which brings up interesting comparisons between them and the mother/daughter duo, Mary Higgins Clark and Carol Higgins Clark. Mary McMullen, however, also had a sister, Ursula Curtiss, who was a suspense author, and her uncle James Kieran wrote mystery fiction (yet another family member, John F. Kieran, was a sportswriter and long-time panelist on the1940s radio program Information Please).

McMullen had early success in 1952 when she received the Edgar Award for Best First Novel, Stranglehold, but didn't publish another novel for over two decades until 1974. Then, in a flurry of activity, she cranked out 18 additional mysteries in just 12 years.

Her stories often drew on the advertising and fashion worlds she was familiar with and her settings included sleepy hamlets, but her writing was neither cozy nor noir, a hybrid which reviewer Steve Lewis called "domestic malice" with a lot of bite. A Country Kind of Death from 1975 starts out as an idyllic summer for the young daughters of the Keane family who pass the two months their mother is off in Europe inventing murder stories, not surprising since their father is a crime writer. But when the stories become all too real, everyone including the police wants to believe a mysterious death was an accident, since the alternative is an unthinkable crime committed by someone in their midst.

McMullen's writing is filled with details that evoke a distinctive sense of place and she also possessed a wry, ironic humor and enjoyed poking fun at pretentious people. The Keane family is a semi-Bohemian clan and neighbors to the unfortunate Mrs. Mint, who

"did not allow the Keanes or her stepchildren or any but the most honored visitors to use the front way, as the door opened directly into her living room, a perfect marvel of cleanliness, cretonne, tautly pinned-on antimacassars, rubber plants so dusted and oiled as to seem artificial, china figurines, tapestry-covered footstools, and fat hard upholstered furniture. There were no books, no magazines, newspapers, or ashtrays in the room and it was always kept dark, the cretonne curtains drawn, the shades down, so that the sun couldn't fade its splendors."

Patrick Keane, brother of the crime-writer father and a successful playwright, plays a crucial role in the denouement and has his own wry observations about the literary and entertainment circles the Keanes run in:

"The dinner party had gone predictably, from the shrimp dip to the cold sliced ham and turkey to Elaine Bonner attacking him fiercely with hot gray eyes and half-bared breasts whenever her husband's back was turned, to the local bon vivant who probably told the same long anecdotes at every Bedford party to the three women who told him they adored his plays to Johnny Coe, urged finally to the piano, and singing, 'Oh Oh Oriole' and 'Pray Forget Me,' this last bringing tears and a meaning look at Patrick to Elaine's eyes."

The strength of this particular novel by McMullen is less in the whodunnit and police procedural aspects which are minimized and more in the characterizations and how human failings and foibles knit closely together to create tragedy.

All of McMullen's books are out of print, although several of her works were included in The Detective Book Club subscription series of 3-in-1 (and some 2-in-1 and singles) reprinted novels by various authors distributed from the early forties onward by publisher Walter J. Black.

          

Author R&R with Thomas Locke & Jyoti Guptara

[image error]Thomas Locke is an award-winning novelist whose works have sold over eight million copies in twenty-six languages. Locke divides his time between Florida and the UK, where he is Writer-In-Residence at Oxford University. Jyoti Guptara dropped out of school at age 15 to write his first bestseller. An executive coach and business storytelling strategist, Jyoti has helped leaders on five continents experience more success with less stress. Together, they are as international, inter-generational, inter-racial writing duo and recently released their first mystery novel, Roulette.

[image error]About Roulette: When a new and dangerous substance suddenly appears on the rave scene in Gainesville, Florida, former special agent Eric Bannon is sent to investigate. The inquiry must be kept quiet, but why are senior government officials turning a blind eye to such a dangerous drug? The drug is called Roulette because there’s no way of knowing what kind of ecstasy awaits—a rollercoaster ride through any one of seven heavens—or straight to hell. Along with county hospital senior ER nurse, Carol Steen, and snobbish new doctor, Stacie Swann, Eric pinpoints the drug’s origin to clandestine operations within a university's student body and uncovers a terrifying truth: these young people both finance the production and facilitate the human trials of the world’s most exciting new high, with a purpose so heinous it will rewrite not just history, but the human genome.

Locke & Guptara stop by In Reference to Murder to take some Author R&R about the new book. In this conversation, Jyoti gleans invaluable insights from seasoned master storyteller Thomas Locke, who is four decades his senior. Thomas reveals one of his secrets to penning four books every year: the right kind of research.

 

JYOTI GUPTARA:

Thomas, Roulette is the second mystery you and I co-authored. I’ve always been impressed with how quickly you write great first drafts – right down to the details that would take me ages to get right. How did you develop your approach to research, especially in genres that need a lot, like your historical fiction (published under ‘Davis Bunn’) and your technothrillers?

THOMAS LOCKE:

My first mystery was also my first breakout opportunity.  I was offered the chance to move to a major house, have a big event-style release, if I had an idea big enough to fit the bill:  To The Ends Of The Earth was my response - a murder mystery taking place in the fourth century, a few weeks after the death of Emperor Constantine, six months before civil war broke out.

My wife was doing her doctorate at Oxford University.  I fearfully approached the head of her college and asked if I might get some help with the research.  After being quizzed about my concept, the head granted me a one-year position as Visiting Member of the Senior Commons Room, which is something normally handed out to visiting professors.  He also arranged for me to be tutored by a friend of his, the head of Oxford's theology department, a world-renowned specialist in late Roman empire, and the Orthodox Bishop of England.

No pressure.

We met, the Bishop and I, and he assigned me a ton of reading, plus two classes I needed to take.  A week later, when we next met, I admitted defeat.  To say I was overwhelmed didn't go far enough.  I felt like the minnow swimming in a tank of whales.

The Bishop responded with advice I still apply to this day.  My job is not to become an expert.  My research task, with this book and all those to come, is twofold.  First, I have to determine which questions are necessary in order to write a good story.  Second, I must find one answer to each question.  No more.  Soon as I reach that singular milestone, I move on.  Everything else must wait.

The most important lesson garnered here is just how easy research can become an excuse for not actually writing.  Added to that is the risk is how extra research can become a barrier to the story's flow.  The temptation is to write what might impress an expert.  This in turn can damage and, at times, destroy the novel's appeal to a more general readership. 

Determine the right questions.  Find the one good and necessary answer. 

Write the story.

JYOTI GUPTARA:

This approach is so liberating! I wish I’d learned this lesson sooner.

When you and I started working on our first joint thriller, I was serving as writer-in-residence at a United Nations partner organization in Geneva. I had unparalleled access to experts from the UN, WEF, WTO, UNESCO and other prestigious institutions. It was a goldmine for a writer…

And goldmines can be deadly if you get lost.

In Geneva, the potential for research was boundless. But with every expert I met, every piece of insider information I gathered, I found myself being pulled in a new direction. The allure of having such access was intoxicating. I envisioned a novel that would weave in intricate details from these global institutions, a story that would be both enlightening and thrilling.

I failed.

To use Thomas’s words, it was too easy for research to become an excuse for not actually writing. My biggest challenge was not having a clear vision for the story. That’s where a different kind of research comes into play: reading, travel and dialogue for inspiration. Say, your next book. Not the one you’re actively writing.

We could say there are two very different types of research: farming versus hunting.

Farming: This is the phase of exploration and discovery. A farmer tills the soil, plants various seeds, and waits to see what grows. Similarly, in the farming phase of research, we allow ourselves the freedom to meander. We dive into topics without a clear agenda, seeking inspiration and letting our curiosity guide us. It’s a time of soaking in information and seeing what resonates. An open-ended process. There's a certain beauty in not knowing exactly what you’ll find.

Hunting: After the season of exploration comes the phase of targeted pursuit. This is the hunting phase. Here, we’re no longer wandering aimlessly. We are going after known information holes with the focus and intentionality of an Inuit spearfishing through a hole in the ice. There are a million other fish under your frozen feet, but your only concern are the ones that swim under your hole. That’s what you, Thomas, described so vividly.

THOMAS LOCKE:

Well put, Jyoti. The trap is to confuse these two very different categories.

One tip is, don’t even think of the ‘farming’ phase as research. You’re simply looking for ideas and inspiration.

Again, the goal is to lock into a solid concept. And start writing.

 

You can learn more about the authors and the book via their website and Down & Out Books. Roulette is now available via all major booksellers.

          

Mystery Melange

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Capital Crime, the crime and thriller festival led by Goldsboro Books’ co-founder and managing director David Headley, has announced that it will be returning in 2024 to its new home of the Leonardo Royal Hotel in London, May 30-June 1 2024. Authors and speakers confirmed so far include Ian Rankin, creator of Inspector Rebus; Trainspotting author Irvine Welsh; Ann Cleeves, author of the Vera and Shetland series; author and screenwriter Anthony Horowitz; U.S. crime fiction author, Kellye Garrett; author and barrister, Rob Rinder; Elly Griffiths, creator of the Ruth Galloway series; Silo creator, Hugh Howey; Alex Michaelides, author of the global bestseller, The Silent Patient; and Paula Sutton, the "queen of cottage-core" and the face behind Hill House Vintage. Also returning are the festival’s Fingerprint Awards and the social outreach initiative, which aims to demystify the industry for young state-school Londoners considering a career in publishing. Early bird weekend tickets for next year are on sale now at www.capitalcrime.org. (HT to Shots Magazine)

As part of the Texas Book Festival Lit Crawl, the Vintage Bookstore & Wine Bar in Austin is hosting a Noir at the Bar on Saturday, November 11, with a round of hip, hard-boiled, nitty-gritty noir readings by crime fiction authors. Participants will include Chandler Baker, David McCloskey, Mike McCrary, Amanda Moore, James Wade, and Ashley Winstead.

The Real Book Spy founder and author of the Matthew Redd thriller series, Ryan Steck, has signed a two-book deal with Berkley, an imprint of Penguin Random House, to continue the Lord Alexander Hawke series following the sudden passing of author Ted Bell earlier this year. Bell, the famed, award-winning adman who conquered the world of advertising before retiring in his 50s and launching a career as a novelist, published Hawke, the first of twelve globe-trotting adventures starring MI6 super agent Alex Hawke, back in 2003. An instant New York Times bestseller, Hawke—who was described as "a secret agent who takes you into the danger zone with a ballsy wit" by author Vince Flynn and as "the new James Bond" by James Patterson—quickly became one of the genre’s most recognizable names, read by millions around the world. Steck, who was close friends with Bell, will release the first new Hawke thriller, Monarch, in 2025.

After a spate of bookstore closings, it's always welcome news to hear of a new store opening. Criminally Good Books is headed to York, Pennsylvania, next year and will stock all kinds of crime fiction, such as historical crime, cozy crime, thriller, mystery, police procedural, and detective fiction, as well as true crime books, special editions, book-related gifts and mystery-themed items. In addition to stocking crime books, Criminally Good Books will have special themed events like author signings and fingerprint classes, as well as incorporating a recording studio for podcasters. Owner Isla Coole said that "York has a proud history linked to books, printing, and publishing. We want to continue and support the tradition of books in York, promote literacy, and support our community."

In less happier news, another bestseller list bites the dust. Book coverage in the mainstream media has been on the decline for the past several years, and the latest to fall is the Wall Street Journal's weekly bestseller lists. The paper ran a total of six fiction and nonfiction lists, as well as a hardcover business list, all powered by Circana BookScan. Paul Gigot, editorial page editor at the WSJ said that all other aspects of the paper’s book coverage will "continue as usual," although with literary and arts coverage declining at a rapid rate, it remains to be seen how long that will last.

Good kitty! In a bit of fun forensic news, it turns out almost every cat has a unique DNA mutation detectable in their hair, which is offering CSI detectives an almost sure-fire way to put criminals at the scene of their crimes or their homes, provided there was a cat there.

In the Q&A roundup, Jacqueline Seewald Interviewed author Daniella Bernett about Betrayed By The Truth, the latest book in her Emmeline Kirby-Gregory Longdon mystery series set in London and Switzerland; Lisa Haselton chatted with cozy mystery author Catherine C. Hall about her latest novel, Secrets Laid to Rest, which she describes as "the Golden Girls meet the Ghostbusters in small-town Sutter, Georgia"; and Tess Gerritsen spoke with Parade Magazine about her new book, The Spy Coast, and living among spies in Maine.

         Related StoriesMystery Melange 

Media Murder for Monday

[image error]It's the start of a new week and that means it's time for a brand-new roundup of crime drama news:

THE BIG SCREEN/MOVIES

Universal has closed a deal on an action thriller based on the unpublished 43-page short story, "Run For Your Life," by Aaron Jayh. Designated Survivor creator David Guggenheim is attached to adapt the script, and Sam Hargrave (who helmed the Chris Hemsworth action films Extraction and its sequel for Netflix) is in talks to direct. The story centers on a groom marked for death on his wedding day.

Stefan Ruzowitzky (The Counterfeiters) is set to direct the thriller, Ice Fall, with production set to start in early 2024 and casting to get underway shortly. The film was written by George Mahaffey (Chief of Station) and centers on a young Indigenous game warden who arrests an infamous poacher only to discover that the poacher knows the location of a plane carrying millions of dollars that has crashed in a frozen lake. When a group of criminals and dirty cops are alerted to the poacher’s whereabouts, the warden and the poacher team up to fight back and escape across the treacherous lake before the ice melts.

Michael C. Hall (Dexter) and Grace Caroline Currey (Fall) have joined Vera Farmiga (The Conjuring), Tim Blake Nelson (Captain America: Brave New World) and Simon Rex (Red Rocket) in the true-crime biopic feature, The Leader, based on the 1997 mass suicide of the religious group known as Heaven’s Gate. Michael Gallagher (The Thinning) is directing from his original screenplay. The Leader will chart the memorable true story of the 39 members of the UFO cult known as Heaven’s Gate who committed the largest mass suicide ever on American soil. The film tracks Bonnie Nettles (Farmiga) and Marshall Applewhite (Nelson) as they develop the religion, build a devout following, and face unforeseen conflict when the spaceship they foretold fails to arrive and take them away. Hall will play a key devotee: a wealthy addict who attempts to win favor with Applewhite by financially supporting the cult with his trust fund. Currey will play an Oregon-based boutique owner who drops out of society in the late 1970s to join the cult — leaving her family and fiancé behind.

Josh Duhamel (Transformers franchise) and Oscar nominee Greg Kinnear (As Good As It Gets) are set to lead the cast in the action-thriller, Off The Grid. In the film, a scientist (Duhamel) steals an experiment and hides off the grid in Europe to prevent it from becoming weaponized. His former research partner (Kinnear), along with an extraction team, is sent in to find him and locate the missing experiment. Directed by Johnny Martin (Hangman), the film, which has a SAG-AFTRA interim agreement, is currently in pre-production with a shoot scheduled for January.

A trailer dropped for the action-thriller, The Fall Guy, a big-screen adaptation of the 1980s TV series that starred Lee Majors. Directed by David Leitch (Bullet Train), The Fall Guy stars Ryan Gosling as stunt man Colt Seavers. He's fresh off a nearly career-ending accident, and his next gig just happens to be a film directed by his ex, Jody Moreno (played by Emily Blunt). But Colt's efforts to rekindle their romance take a turn when the movie's mega-action star Tom Ryder (Aaron Taylor-Johnson) goes missing. Now, Colt has to perform some of the most dangerous stunts of his career and try to solve the mystery of Tom's disappearance. The Fall Guy hits theaters March 1.

TELEVISION/SMALL SCREEN

Joe Pickett will not return for a third season, as Paramount+ has canceled the series starring Michael Dorman. Based on the novels by CJ Box, Joe Pickett followed a dedicated game warden (Dorman) and his family as they navigated the shifting sociopolitical climate of a small rural town on the verge of economic collapse. The cast also starred Julianna Guill, David Alan Grier, Sharon Lawrence, Mustafa Speaks, Paul Sparks, Skywalker Hughes, and Kamryn Pliva.

Production company Impossible Dream Entertainment is developing a series adaptation of Twenty Years Later, the 2021 bestseller from author Charlie Donlea. A mystery thriller in the vein of Big Little Lies, True Detective, and Gone Girl, Twenty Years Later follows Avery Mason, TV host of American Events, who knows her latest story – a murder mystery laced with sex, tragedy, and betrayal – is ratings gold. With new technology, the New York medical examiner’s office has made its first successful identification of a 9/11 victim in years. The twist: the victim in question, Victoria Ford, had been accused of murder at the time of her death. As Avery goes into investigative overdrive, she starts to unwind an intricate puzzle of Victoria’s life, as well as a much darker mystery. But there are other players in the game who are interested in Avery’s own past — one she has kept secret from the world, her bosses, and her audience. A secret she thought was dead and buried.

A fan favorite series, Prison Break, is poised for a comeback. Hulu is in early development on a new incarnation of the Fox drama to be written and executive produced by Mayans M.C. co-creator, executive producer, and showrunner, Elgin James. Described as a new chapter, the new installment is set in the world of Prison Break, although further details are being kept under wraps. It is not expected to involve the characters who were at the center of the original series and its followups on Fox, Michael Scofield (Wentworth Miller) and Lincoln Burrows (Dominic Purcell). The original series aired on Fox for four seasons followed by a made-for-TV film titled The Final Break which aired 12 days after the Season 4 finale in 2009 to wrap things up. A 2015 Prison Break sequel limited series starring Miller and Purcell, also on Fox, served as a fifth season.

BBC dropped first images from its two-part Agatha Christie adaptation, Murder Is Easy. On a train to London, Fitzwilliam (David Jonsson) meets Miss Pinkerton (Penelope Wilton), who tells him that a killer is on the loose in the sleepy English village of Wychwood under Ashe. The villagers believe the deaths are mere accidents, but Miss Pinkerton knows otherwise – and when she’s later found dead on her way to Scotland Yard, Fitzwilliam feels he must find the killer before they can strike again

PODCASTS/VIDEO/RADIO/AUDIO

The latest episode of the Crime Cafe featured Debbi Mack's interview with crime writers David Bushman and Mark T. Givens about their new book, Murder at Teal's Pond.

It Was a Dark and Stormy Book Club visited with an old friend, Lou Berney, award-winning author of November Road and The Long and Faraway, about his new book, Dark Ride.

Speaking of Mysteries chatted with Tess Gerritsen, who is launching a new series featuring retired CIA operative Maggie Bird and her fellow former intelligence officers, all of whom now reside in Purity, Maine.

Femi Kayode spoke with Paul Burke on Crime Time FM about his new Nigerian crime thriller, Gaslight; Philip Taiwo; Light Seekers; and eduction addiction.

The latest Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine podcast featured "The Picardy Third" by Jacqueline Freimor, originally published in the Jan/Feb 2023 issue, in which a murder strikes close to Private Investigator Jeannie Tannenbaum's granddaughter's music class.

The Pick Your Poison podcast investigated a poison that causes pathological shyness and is historically associated with being mad as a hatter; and also what causes dancing cat fever and might have contributed to the death of John Wilkes Booth.

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Friday's "Forgotten" Books: A Bleeding of Innocents

Author Jo Bannister (b. 1951) is a former journalist born in Rochdale, Lancashire, who currently lives in Northern Ireland. She's the author of over 30 novels and has received recognition from the Royal Society of Arts and the British Press Awards and garnered an Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine Readers' Award in 1988.

She has several series including the Castlemere books, the very first of which was titled A Bleeding of Innocents, published in 1993, featuring a trio of police detectives. The story opens at a funeral for a dead policeman, soon followed by a case handed to Detective Superintendent Frank Shapiro, who has brought in the ambitious DI Liz Graham to take over after the policeman's death.

The dead policeman's partner, Sgt.Cal Donovan, tries to get over the guilt surrounding his partner's murder, which he blames on a local crime baron. The case they're given is that of a young nurse shot in her car, but it's soon followed by the death of a surgeon who used to work with the murdered nurse. Making things worse, a third member of the same operating-room team, the anaesthetist, seems to be next in line, pointing to a serial killer. Then there's the matter of who killed Cal's partner adding to the mix.

Bannister is particularly known for her skillful plotting and convincing characterization. (The New York Times Book Review said "Jo Bannister scores high on character with her persuasive insights into the psychological responses to pain").

In an interview with Gerard Brennan via his blog Crime Scene NI, the author talked about her writing:

"I used to be a lot more disciplined about writing than I am now – working 8 to 12 and 7 to 9 six days a week. One of the advantages of getting older is that you no longer feel the need to do everything yesterday. When I’m in the middle of a book I aim at producing a thousand words a day. Sometimes I struggle; sometimes I’m on a roll and produce a lot more. But I don’t beat myself up if nothing much is happening, just keep trying until it does. There are more than thirty of my books on the shelves: if the next is a little late, people can read one of the earlier ones while they’re waiting."

She also discussed her worst writing experience involving a heavy-handed editor: "She was a zealot. And she thought...that she could improve something on just about every page," and gave her very sage advice for writing greenhorns:  "Do it for your own pleasure. There are easier ways to make a living."

Bannister's other novels include several standalone police procedurals and other non-Castlemere series:  Brodie Farrell who runs Looking for Something?—an eclectic problem-solving agency in Dimmock, England; a series with Gabriel Ash, ex-British Government Investigator and police recruit Hazel Best (the last published in 2018); a series with Dr. Clio Marsh and her husband, Detective Harry Marsh; a series with photojournalist Mickey Flynn; and a series with Rosie Holland, a newspaper advice columnist.

          

Mystery Melange

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The Crime Writers’ Association (CWA) announced two new award categories that will be added to their annual Dagger Awards slate for excellence in crime fiction. The Twisted Dagger is aimed at psychological and suspense thrillers, while the Whodunnit Dagger covers cozy crime, traditional mysteries, and Golden Age crime. Eligible books for the CWA Twisted Dagger are psychological thrillers (set in any period), suspense thrillers, and domestic noir, and those that "celebrate dark and twisty tales that often feature unreliable narrators, disturbed emotions, a healthy dose of moral ambiguity, and a sting in the tail." Eligible books for the CWA Whodunnit Dagger include cozy crime, traditional crime, and Golden Age mysteries, which focus on the intellectual challenge at the heart of a good mystery and often revolve around quirky characters. Entries open in early 2024 on the CWA website, with the inaugural awards to be presented at the annual Dagger awards ceremony in 2025.

Dallas Noir At The Bar returns to The Wild Detectives on Sunday, November 5th from 7-9 pm. Authors scheduled to read from their writing include Sean Wright Heeley, Kevin R. Tipple, Jim Nesbitt, Keith Lansdale, Opalina Salas, Graham Powell, Harry Hunsicker, Trang Quynh Thi Vu, and Danny Trest.

The organizers of the Newcastle Noir conference announced it will return to Newcastle upon Tyne in the UK, December 6-9, with panels, talks, and signings. Highlights include Ann Cleeves in conversation with Marsali Taylor and Mari Hannah & Kate London as they offer up a deeper understanding of police work from their novels. Last year's conference which was an in-person and hybrid event featured authors David Baldacci, Lisa Gray, Sarah Hillary, Chris Merritt, and other Northeast UK crime authors, and previous years have included Val McDermid, and Stuart MacBride. For more information and registration, follow this link.





Glencairn Crystal, maker of the "world’s favourite whisky glass" – and sponsor of the McIlvanney and Bloody Scotland Debut crime writing awards - is once again seeking crime short stories in collaboration with Bloody Scotland and Scottish Field Magazine. As with the 2023 contest, the theme will be "A Crime Story Set In Scotland," and short stories must be unpublished and 2,000 words or fewer. First prize is £1,000, and the Runner Up will receive £500, with both winners also snagging a set of six bespoke engraved Glencairn Glasses and publication of their stories in Scottish Field Magazine and online. The competition is open to all writers worldwide who are over 16 years old by October 23, with a deadline for submissions of midnight on Sunday, December 31, 2023.

As The Guardian reported:  Billed as "one of the greatest rarities of English literature," a signed copy of William Butler Yeats’s first play, Mosada, is on display this weekend for the first time since 1956 – and its £125,000 price tag is all thanks to a message from beyond the grave.





In the Q&A roundup, Lisa Haselton interviewed cozy mystery author Diane Bator to chat about the third book in a series, All that Shimmers; Shots Magazine's Ayo Onatade spoke with Maxim Jakubowski about his new novel, Just A Girl With a Gun, featuring a stripper who is recruited for her hidden talents and becomes an unlikely assassin; and Author Interviews welcomed Elise Hart Kipness, a former television sports reporter turned crime writer, whose debut mystery, Lights Out, is based on the author’s experience in the high-pressure, adrenaline-pumping world of live TV.

          

Media Murder for Monday

[image error]It's the start of a new week and that means it's time for a brand-new roundup of crime drama news:

THE BIG SCREEN/MOVIES

Black Bear is launching international sales on the crime-thriller, She Rides Shotgun, set to star Golden Globe winner Taron Egerton (Rocketman) in the lead role. Nick Rowland will direct the screenplay, written by Ben Collins and Luke Piotrowski (The Night House) and based on the novel by crime author Jordan Harper (which won the 2018 Edgar Award for Best Debut Novel). The official synopsis reads: "After years in prison, Nate (Egerton) has made some dangerous enemies, including the powerful criminal gang he worked for on the inside. Desperate for a fresh start, Nate cuts ties with his old crew on his release from prison, but the gang retaliates by putting a hit on his family. Nate picks up Polly, the shy eleven-year-old daughter he hardly knows and goes on the run to keep her out of harm’s way. As they attempt to stay off the radar, it becomes clear their enemies won’t give up easily. Nate teaches Polly how to survive and watches her transform from a timid little girl into a force to be reckoned with. And Nate, in turn, learns what it is to love unconditionally as he bonds with his daughter and battles for their future."

Black Bear, along with BlockFilm, are also behind the new action thriller, Levon's Trade, starring Jason Statham (Fast & Furious franchise) and directed by David Ayer (Suicide Squad) from a screenplay adapted by Sylvester Stallone. Based on a graphic novel by author Chuck Dixon, the book is the first installment in the popular Levon Cade thriller series, which centers on Levon Cade (Statham) who left his profession behind him to go straight and work in construction. He wants to live a simple life and be a good father to his daughter. But when his boss’s teenage daughter Jenny vanishes, he’s called upon to re-employ the skills that made him a legendary figure in the shadowy world of black ops. His hunt for the missing college student takes him deep into the heart of a sinister criminal conspiracy creating a chain reaction that will threaten his new way of life.

Paramount Pictures has delayed the next Mission: Impossible installment by nearly an entire year, from its original date of June 28, 2024 to its new spot on May 23, 2025. Like other films of its size and scale, the eighth "Mission" movie was forced to halt production amid the ongoing SAG-AFTRA strike and won’t be completed in time to open next summer. As Variety noted, it’s a fate that faces many big-budget tentpoles if the actors union and studios don’t resolve their contract negotiations in the coming weeks. Mission: Impossible will arrive on the big screen with a new name as Paramount and Skydance are dropping the second half of its title, formerly Dead Reckoning Part Two, though the sequel will directly follow the events of 2023’s Dead Reckoning Part One.

Oscar-winner Halle Berry is set to star in the psychological thriller, The Process, with Tara Miele directing. The story follows a seemingly happily married couple, who attend the weekend seminar of Aiden, a renowned self-help guru, and are asked to examine their individual lives, careers, and ultimately their marriage, but when Kirsa resists Aiden’s "process" and his cult of committed volunteers, and her husband Peter buys in, their relationship and sanity are quickly put to the test. Levin Menekse penned the script.

The action thriller, The Bricklayer, starring Aaron Eckhart (The Dark Knight) and Nina Dobrev (The Vampire Diaries), has been picked up by Vertical for release in the U.S. early next year. An adaptation of the same-name novel by former FBI agent Paul Lindsay, using the pen name Noah Boyd, the film also stars Clifton Collins Jr. (Westworld), Tim Blake Nelson (The Ballad of Buster Scruggs), and Ilfenesh Hadera (Billions). The story is that of a rogue insurgent blackmailing the CIA by assassinating foreign journalists and making it appear the agency is responsible. As other nations begin turning against the U.S., the CIA must lure Steve Vail (Eckhart), their most brilliant and rebellious operative, out of retirement. With an elite and deadly skill set, Vail is tasked with helping clear the agency’s name, forcing him to confront his checkered past while unraveling an international conspiracy.

TELEVISION/SMALL SCREEN

Swedish actress Lena Olin has been confirmed to play Icelandic policewoman Hulda Hermannsdóttir in the TV adaptation of Ragnar Jónasson’s Darkness trilogy, with Lasse Hällström confirmed to direct. The award-winning trilogy features 64-year-old Detective Inspector Hulda of the Reykjavik Police Department who investigates a shocking murder case while coming to terms with her own personal traumas. Faced with an impending early retirement and forced to take on a new partner, Hulda is determined to find the killer, even if it means putting her own life in danger. The Hollywood Reporter added that the English-language six-episode series will start shooting in Iceland later this year for local broadcaster Síminn.

Amazon's MGM Studios has won a competitive bidding war to adapt Vanity Fair’s story about a Texas serial killer, titled "True Crime, True Faith: The Serial Killer and the Texas Mom Who Stopped Him." Published in this September’s issue, the piece by Julie Miller walks through the 1981 abduction of Texas mother Margy Palm by serial killer Stephen Morin outside of a Kmart during the holidays. Following her abduction, Palm discussed her religious faith with Morin, eventually convincing him to let her go. While Morin was sentenced to jail time for the abduction, a friendly relationship lingered between the pair, with Palm visiting Morin in prison, and Morin, converting to Christianity after his conviction, before eventually dying at the age of 34 in 1985 via lethal injection.

 

Paramount+ is not going forward with second seasons of two crime series, Rabbit Hole and Fatal Attraction. Rabbit Hole was a spy drama that starred Kiefer Sutherland as John Weir, described as "a master of deception in the world of corporate espionage, who is framed for murder by powerful forces with the ability to influence and control populations." Fatal Attraction was a reboot of the 1987 domestic thriller of the same name, with Lizzy Caplan and Joshua Jackson starring in the series as Alexandra Forrest and Daniel Gallagher, the roles originally played by Glenn Close and Michael Douglass in the film.

A trailer was released for the fifth installment of FX's Fargo. After an unexpected series of events lands Dorothy "Dot" Lyon (Juno Temple) in hot water with the authorities, this seemingly typical Midwestern housewife suddenly is plunged back into a life she thought she had left behind. Jon Hamm also stars as North Dakota Sheriff Roy Tillman, who has been searching for Dot for a long time.

PODCASTS/VIDEO/RADIO/AUDIO

Speaking of Mysteries spoke with Rebecca Hanover about her debut adult thriller, The Last Applicant, in which a parent desperate to secure her son’s admission to an exclusive Manhattan private school stalks the school’s admissions director.

Crime Time FM welcomed authors Lauren North, Lesley Kara, and Niki Mackay to discuss the enduring popularity of psychological thrillers and where the future lies for the genre.

The Red Hot Chili Writers chatted with screenwriter-turned-novelist Suk Pannu, a core writer on shows such as Goodness Gracious Me and The Kumars at No 10. Suk discussed his debut novel, Dead and Scone, and the unstoppability of Indian aunties.

It Was a Dark and Stormy Book Club spoke with Vanessa Riley about her new book, Murder on Drury Lane.

A new Mysteryrat's Maze Podcast is up featuring the Halloween mystery short story, "When a Prank Goes Bad," written by John R. Clark and read by actor Theodore Fox.

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Gold medallion recipients of the 2023 Will Rogers Medallion Awards (WRMA) were announced during the organization’s annual awards banquet in Fort Worth’s fabled Stockyard District this past weekend. Among the highest honors was the Golden Lariat, awarded to Craig Johnson for outstanding service and dedication to the art of storytelling about the American West through his Walt Longmire mystery novels. Also, in the Western Mystery category, the Gold Winner was The Secret in the Wall by Ann Parker (Sourcebooks); the Silver went to Funeral Train by Laurie Loewenstein (Akashic Books); and the Bronze was awarded to Hardly Any Shooting Stars Left by B.K. Froman (Iron Stream Media).

The shortlists have been announced for this year’s An Post Irish Book Awards. There are half a dozen candidates for the 2023 Irish Independent Crime Fiction Book of the Year, including the finalists The Lock-Up, by John Banville; The Close, by Jane Casey; Kill for Me, Kill for You, by Steve Cavanagh; No One Saw a Thing, by Andrea Mara; Strange Sally Diamond, by Liz Nugent; and The Trap, by Catherine Ryan Howard. The books now go to a public vote, with winners announced at The Convention Centre Dublin on November 22.

The Midwest Mystery Conference is back for a one-day, in-person event on November 11, from 9-5 at Roosevelt University in Chicago, Illinois. With a single track of panels, keynote conversations, plus opening remarks from conference organizers Dana Kaye, Lori Rader-Day, and Tracy Clark, the Midwest Mystery Conference is a great opportunity to connect with your favorite authors, and meet a few new ones. The venue is fully accessible and registration includes a tote bag full of books and goodies.

HarperFiction publisher Julia Wisdom is to lead a new imprint, Hemlock Press, to "intrigue the mind and thrill the senses," featuring A J Finn and Abigail Dean alongside new voices in mystery fiction. Hemlock will showcase espionage fiction, literary crime thrillers and historical suspense, with the logo being unveiled at the 2023 Frankfurt Book Fair this week. Launching in spring 2024, the list will be headed by Wisdom with a newly promoted commissioning team including senior commissioning editor Kathryn Cheshire and assistant editor Lizz Burrell. HarperFiction said: "Hemlock Press is a curated list for those seeking literary quality alongside intriguing plots, vividly realized worlds and characters that live with you long after the final page."

El Pais profiled the new book, El monstruo y el asesino en serie. De Frankenstein a Hannibal Lecter, by co-authors Vicente Garrido (a criminology professor) and Virgilio Latorre, (a criminal lawyer), which explores how 19th century Gothic literature helped scientists identify the characteristics of a serial killer.

Is Taylor Swift a secret spy novelist? Her fans are convinced she's the mysterious author who wrote the book Argylle (attributed to "Elly Conway"), which is perplexing the literary world and being made into a film by Matthew Vaughan.

Elizabeth Foxwell's Bunburyist blog brings word of "Edgar Allan Poe: The Exhibit," an art exhibition inspired by the author's stories, quotes, and passages from his many literary works, which opens on November 16 at Orlando's City Arts venue and runs through December 17. Poe’s exploration of all aspects of the human psyche has appealed to modern artists through the present day, including those associated with the Symbolist movement, German Expressionism, Surrealism, and Abstract Expressionism. In that vein, the exhibit features art works created for the event with prizes handed out to four winning artists.

Foxwell is an editor for McFarlane books and also noted a sale on horror books via the publisher's website using coupon code HALLOWEEN2023 through October 31.

Janet Rudolph has expanded her Mystery Fanfare blog's Halloween-themed crime fiction list, which you can check out here. She'll have a separate Day of the Dead list, and while you're waiting, you can check out the titles from last year.

The authors at Mystery Lover's Kitchen are offering up some mysteriously good Halloween recipes, including Leslie Karst's Pumpkin Soup with Brown Butter and Toasted Pumpkin Seeds; Two-Ingredient Chocolate Fudge Halloween Cookies from author Cleo Coyle; Vampire Cake, courtesy of Peg Cochran, and more.





In the Q&A roundup, E. B. Davis over at Writers Who Kill interviewed Heather Weidner about her cozy mystery, Christmas Lights and Cat Fights; Martin Patience spoke with Crime Time about his latest novel, The Darker the Night, a dark political thriller set during a referendum on Scottish independence; and Russell Wate, author of the DCI McFarlane Crime Series, chatted with Indie Crime Scene about the third and latest installment in that series, Death at Chateau Peveril.

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