B.V. Lawson's Blog, page 42

Mystery Melange

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Karys Frank's Stone Cold Truth has won the 2023 Lindisfarne Prize for Crime Fiction. The literary prize, now in its fifth year, aims to celebrate the outstanding crime and thriller storytelling of those who are from, or whose work celebrates, the North East England. Frank's winning thriller novel tell the story of a daughter who flees her narcissistic mother’s suffocating love, only to run into her mother’s net from which she can’t escape. As the winner of the prize, Karys will receive a £2,500 cash prize to support the development of her work, alongside funding for membership of the Society of Authors (SoA) and the Alliance of Independent Authors (ALLi).

The Rocky Mountain Fiction Writers announced the 2023 Colorado Gold Rush Winners, including the Mystery/Thriller Category, which was won by What Survives the Fire by Maria St Louis Sanchez. The other finalists were Speaking in Tongues by D Gonzales Montano and Killing Every Alice by JV Reed.

Six books have been chosen as Richard and Judy (Richard Madeley and Judy Finnegan) picks for the autumn Book Club in the UK, including three crime fiction titles. Mystery writer Janice Hallett’s The Mysterious Case of the Alperton Angels features on the list, a book that Finnegan describes as "creepy and complicated" and lays out a new story in the author’s "inimitable cosy style of dossiers, emails, texts and recorded phone calls." Also chosen was the thriller, The Traitor, by former crime reporter and civil servant, Ava Glass, and Gregg Hurwitz's thriller, The Last Orphan, marking the author's third time on the list. (HT to Shots Magazine)

Elaine's in Alexandria, Virginia, will host its inaugural Noir at the Bar this evening, September 21, at 7:00 pm. Authors schedule to read from their writing include E.A. Aymar, S.A. Cosby, Adam Meyer, Eliza Nellums, Kathryn O'Sullivan/Paul Awad, Josh Pachter, and Stacy Woodson.

And yet more authors are suing ChapGPT. In a grievance filed with the Authors Guild, the authors accuse the A.I. company of infringing on authors’ copyrights, claiming it used their books to train its ChatGPT chatbot. Some of the high-profile crime fiction authors involved with the Authors Guild suit include Michael Connelly, David Baldacci, Douglas Preston, and John Grisham.

Murder in a Mill Town: Sex, Faith, and the Crime That Captivated a Nation by Bruce Dorsey was featured at the Page 99 Test. About the book, from the publisher: a master storyteller presents a riveting drama of America's first "crime of the century," from murder investigation to a church sex scandal to celebrity trial, and its aftermath.

Jessica would be proud. A "Murder, She Wrote" picket from the WGA is planned for Fox today, which actually makes a lot of sense considering Jessica Fletcher was a professional writer. It’s the brainchild of strike captain Tyler Ruggeri, who surveyed his followers on Twitter about the possibility before making it a reality. He’s also asking members to wear their best J-Fletch outfits to walk the line.

In the Q&A roundup, mystery novelist Nancy M Bell chatted with Lisa Haselton about her new historical novel, Discarded, set in Winnepeg in the 1800s; over at the Writers Who Kill blog, E. B. Davis interviewed author Kait Carson about Death Dive, the third book in the Hayden Kent mystery series set in the Florida Keys; and Lou Berney spoke with The Orange County Register about his new thriller, Dark Ride, which centers around a theme park scare actor and cannabis-consuming twentysomething underachiever named Hardy “Hardly” Reed.

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Author R&R with Maggie Giles

[image error]Canadian author Maggie Giles developed an interest in writing while backpacking in Europe and began writing historical fiction from the Tudor era in England. She later turned her hand to thrillers, science fiction, and fantasy, including the 2022 novel, The Things We Lost. She has been a member of the Women's Fiction Writers Association since 2014 where she volunteers as their Social Media Director. Her latest thriller novel, Twisted, is being released via Rising Action Publishing today.

[image error]In Twisted, Detective Ryan Boone thought the simple jewelry heist was an open and shut case. That is until he discovers an unknown drug, and the minor crime he was investigating may be tied to a string of seemingly unconnected murders. Meanwhile, Mel Parker, unscrupulous leader of a high-end escort service, stumbles across the same pills. On top of protecting her "investment," she has her own reasons for attempting to unravel the mystery behind the medication. Ryan knows someone has the answers he seeks, and Mel can’t come forward. To complicate things further, five other women are implicated in the murders despite most having never met. As the trail turns up as many mysteries as resolutions, Ryan and Mel must discover the twisted connection before someone else ends up dead.

Maggie Giles stops by In Reference to Murder to take some Author R&R about writing and researching the book:

 

Research has always been a tricky thing. Authors want to make sure we get the facts right but we also don’t want our stories to be too rooted in reality. We want some suspension of belief and some escapism.

Most readers, when they think of research, they think historical fiction as this is a genre that requires the upmost care and precision to stay true to the times written. However, it is often overlooked how much research can go into a contemporary novel. This includes specifics about jobs, procedures, places, and people of importance. The opportunities for research are endless.

When it comes to my research, I find my focus is on the more finite details. In my debut novel, The Things We Lost, one of my characters is arrested.  I was lucky enough to chat with an RCMP (Royal Canadian Mounted Police) Officer to nail down some of the details surrounding the police procedure and arrest. I wanted to make sure my character’s experiences were authentic and believable. In my upcoming novel, Twisted, I have a point of view that follows a Toronto detective on the case of his life. For this I chatted with an Ontario Provincial Police Officer to ensure I represented him correctly.

Both officers were super helpful in talking me through the different scenarios that I hoped to portray. While I didn’t feel the scenes needed to be 100% accurate to the real-life processes, having close friends in law enforcement has allowed me to experience their frustration with poor representation of procedure in some fiction and that was something I wanted to make sure I got right in my books.

I’ve set both my works in the Toronto area, which has been a huge bonus as it was somewhere I spent a lot of time growing up. I was able to pull from my own experience (verified with online research) and bring the city alive.

In 2024 my third novel, Wicked, will be released and this one presented more of a challenge. I opted to set the book in Ottawa, a well-known city but one I’ve only spent a few days in. To make sure I got the correct details, I spent hours going through the different neighbourhoods in Ottawa and learned about the different types of publications I could tie into my work. While I still took some liberties, I wanted the things I mentioned to come across as authentic as possible.

I make use of a lot of online imagery to get the descriptions and visuals of places, people, and things correct. I have something called aphantasia which basically means I do not have a visual imagination. Due to this I can sometimes struggle to describe things in the amount of depth a reader would enjoy. To combat this struggle, I will often use visual aids to help me properly explain what my readers may see in their minds.

Writing groups are another great way to find the resources you need. While online research can be stellar and heading to the library archives can provide you with an abundance of knowledge, I’ve found my ability to learn and retain information this way hasn’t always stuck. For me, it’s real-life people that can answer my real time, specific questions that have helped the most.

The Women’s Fiction Writers Association, which I am a member of, offers a toolbox for emerging authors which includes a list of member experts. I’ve consulted this list a few times when dealing with a specific industry or profession I don’t have any knowledge of.

My upcoming duology, Twisted and Wicked, revolve around a new medication and the consequences of it. To properly understand the intricacies of medication creation, I spoke to a former FDA employee to learn the ins and outs of how a medication gets to market. While I continued to take my creative liberties, I wanted to fully understand how such a thing could happen, so I could properly apply it to my novel.

While too much research can stifle creativity (or distract us from writing entirely!), I find that going into a story with a better sense of how things should be makes it easier for me to craft my storyline and allow for some creative changes.

 

You can read more about Maggie and her books via her website and follow her on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Goodreads, and TikTok. Twisted is now available via Rising Action Publishing and via all major booksellers.

 

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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

Murder, She Wrote is apparently getting a movie adaptation from writers Lauren Schuker Blum and Rebecca Angelo (Dumb Money) and Amy Pascal’s Pascal Pictures for Universal (although the film is currently on hold due to the writers' and actors' strikes). The original TV series was created by Peter S. Fischer, Richard Levinson, and William Link for Universal Television and ran on CBS from 1984-1996. It starred Angela Lansbury as Jessica Fletcher, a widowed mystery writer who applies her skill writing whodunnits to solving real life homicides, and netted several Emmy and Golden Globe nominations and wins.

Indie distributor Brainstorm Media has locked down North American rights to LaRoy, a darkly comedic thriller starring John Magaro (First Cow), Steve Zahn (The White Lotus) and Dylan Baker (Happiness) that premiered at the 2023 Tribeca Festival and nabbed three awards at the Deauville American Film Festival. The film is the first from writer-director Shane Atkinson and is set for release in theaters and on digital in 2024. LaRoy follows a down-and-out man who is mistaken for a hired killer, leading him to play a dangerous game with dire consequences.

In the first major acquisition at the Toronto Film Festival, Netflix picked up Woman of The Hour, the fact-based thriller that marks the directing debut of actress Anna Kendrick. The project is based on the true story of a young woman, Cheryl Bradshaw (played by Kendrick), who actually won a date on The Dating Game TV series with a man who turned out to be notorious serial killer, Rodney Alcala (played by Daniel Zovatto), later convicted of murdering at least eight women.

Neil Burger’s thriller, The Marsh King’s Daughter, is now scheduled for release November 3 instead of October 6. It's the latest project to change dates due to AMC’s Taylor Swift: Eras Concert (which opens on October 13, plays for four weekends, and is already on target to becoming the highest-grossing concert film of all time). The Marsh King's Daughter centers on Helena (Daisy Ridley), whose seemingly ordinary life hides a dark and dangerous truth: her estranged father is the infamous Marsh King (Ben Mendelsohn), the man who kept her and her mother captive in the wilderness for years. When her father escapes from prison, Helena will need to confront her past. Knowing that he will hunt for her and her family, Helena must find the strength to face her demons and outmaneuver the man who taught her everything she knows about surviving in the wild.

TELEVISION/SMALL SCREEN

ITV has announced a new crime drama, Out There, starring Doc Martin's Martin Clunes, who plays a farmer confronted with dark forces seeping into his rural community. ITV says the drama "will depict the stealthy, surreptitious invasion of the land our farmer cherishes, with devastating consequences, as his livelihood, homestead, and family life are threatened by local county lines drug dealers, essentially urban gangs using the British countryside as a field of operations, moving drugs and money between their inner-city hubs and provincial areas."

Amazon Studios has pushed the premiere date for Mr. and Mrs. Smith to early 2024 from its originally scheduled November window, the latest premiere date to change due to the dual Hollywood strikes. From co-creators and executive producers Donald Glover (Atlanta) and Francesca Sloane (Fargo), the series is a re-imagining of New Regency’s 2005 Doug Liman-directed action comedy film that starred Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie. The movie followed a bored married couple who are surprised to learn that they both are assassins hired by competing agencies to kill each other.

The second season of the BBC Drama, Vigil, has sold to Peacock in the U.S. and several other territories. Season 2 returns with a brand-new investigation that takes Amy Silva (Suranne Jones) and Kirsten Longacre (Rose Leslie) into the secret world of drone warfare to catch a killer. Following multiple deaths at a Scottish weapons test, Silva and Longacre are tasked with uncovering the cause. The show is written by The Crown scribe, Tom Edge.

Netflix has unveiled a trailer for season 3 of Lupin, the streamer’s smash French comedy-thriller. The original French series is a contemporary adaptation of the novels penned by French writer Maurice LeBlanc, who created the character in 1905. The books have been adapted into dozens of TV series and movies over the years. The Lupin trailer sees Assane (Omar Sy) in hiding, learning to live far from his wife and son. With the suffering they endure because of him, Assane can’t stand it any longer and decides to return to Paris to make them a crazy proposal: leave France and start a new life elsewhere. But the ghosts of the past are never far away, and an unexpected return will flip his plans upside down.

The trailer for HEIST 88 is here, offering a glimpse at what happens when a criminal mastermind ropes a bunch of amateurs into a multi-million-dollar bank job. Set during 1988 in Chicago, the story follows career criminal Jeremy Horne (Courtney B. Vance), who wants to pull one final job before he's sent to prison. But rather than rely exclusively on his established criminal connections, Jeremy decides to draw in some new blood for the $80 million bank heist: specifically, four young bank employees. HEIST 88 premieres Sept. 29 on SHOWTIME and Paramount+.

The first trailer for Mike Flanagan and Trevor Macy’s The Fall of the House of Usher has arrived. An adaptation of the famous Edgar Allan Poe short story, The Fall of the House of Usher follows siblings Roderick and Madeline Usher (Bruce Greenwood and Mary McDonnell), the two ruthless forces behind the massive financial empire, Fortunato Pharmaceuticals. However, when secrets from this ruling family’s past come back to haunt them, the members of this powerful family will start to fall. The limited series is set to premiere all eight episodes on Netflix on Oct. 12.

ITV has dropped the first trailer for the upcoming financial crime thriller, Payback. With an idyllic family lifestyle in the suburbs of Edinburgh, Lexie Noble (Morven Christie) becomes entangled in a police operation to topple a notorious crime lord, Cal Morris (Peter Mullen).

PODCASTS/VIDEO/RADIO/AUDIO

The latest episode of the Crime Cafe podcast features Debbi Mack's interview with Matt Witten, who has written for television shows including House, Law & Order, Pretty Little Liars, CSI: Miami, and Homicide. He's also the author of the Jacob Burns Mysteries and has published two thrillers, one of which, The Necklace, has been optioned for adaptation to film by Leonardo DiCaprio's Appian Way Production Company.

On Crime Time FM, Denise Mina chatted with Craig Sisterson about her new Marlowe novel, The Second Murderer; and revisiting misogyny, racism, and feminism.

It Was a Dark and Stormy Book Club welcomed Harry Carpenter, an author and the founder and producer of the Fright Reads Book Festival.

On the latest Red Hot Chili Writers, TV personality-turned-writer AJ West stopped by to discuss his time on Big Brother and the greatest ever ghost stories, including the one about the saucy ghost ape of Dorset.

The new installment of Mysteryrat's Maze Podcast features the first chapter of Murder Faux Paws by T.C. LoTempio, read by actor Ariel Linn.

The Pick Your Poison podcast discussed a toxin abused by teenagers that causes sudden cardiac death and how fear can kill you.

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Scotland's Finest

The winners were revealed for the 2023 McIlvanney Prize and The Bloody Scotland Debut Prize. Prior to last night's awards dinner announcement, the finalists for both prizes led the iconic torchlit procession from Stirling Castle through the historic old town this evening accompanied by the pipes and drums of the Stirling and District Schools Pipe Band. The McIlvanney Prize is awarded to the best Scottish Crime book of the year (renamed in 2016 in memory of William McIlvanney, often described as the "Godfather of Tartan Noir"); and the Bloody Scotland Debut Prize is awarded to the best first-time crime novelist - although this year, the McIlvanney winner was also a debut novelist. Congrats to all the winners and finalists!

McIlvanney Prize:  Squeaky Clean, by Callum McSorley (Pushkin)

Also nominated:

Ritual of Fire, by D.V. Bishop (Macmillan)
The Things We Do to Our Friends, by Heather Darwent (Penguin)
The Maiden, by Kate Foster (Mantle)
Penitent, by Mark Leggatt (Fledgling Press)
The Bookseller of Inverness, by S.G. Maclean (Quercus)
989, by Val McDermid (Little, Brown)
The Second Murderer, by Denise Mina (Vintage)
Cast a Cold Eye, by Robbie Morrison (Macmillan)
A Heart Full of Headstones, by Ian Rankin (Orion)
The Devil’s Playground, by Craig Russell (Little, Brown)
An Honourable Thief, by Douglas Skelton (Canelo)

Debut Prize:  The Maiden, by Kate Foster (Mantle)

Also nominated:

Unsolved, by Heather Critchlow (Canelo)
The Things We Do to Our Friends, by Heather Darwent (Penguin)
Squeaky Clean, by Callum McSorley (Pushkin)
The Unforgiven Dead, by Fulton Ross (Inkshares)

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Friday's "Forgotten" Books: Death of a Dutchman

[image error]Magdalen Nabb was born in Lancashire in 1947 but lived in Florence, Italy, from 1975 until her untimely death from a stroke in 2007 at the age of 60. She wrote both children's fiction and crime fiction, the latter featuring her literary creation Marshal Salvatore Guarnaccia. She modeled the Marshal on a real Florentine law officer who used to keep the author up to date on crimes in the city being investigated by the Carabinieri, the national Italian police force. Critic Susanna Yager of the Sunday Telegraph once noted that "The mystery for me is why Magdalen Nabb is not better known," certainly not as well as Michael Dibdin (Aurelia Zen) and Donna Leon (Commissario Guido Brunetti).



[image error]After the first book featuring Guarnaccia appeared in 1981, it impressed Georges Simenon so much that he wrote to congratulate Nabb. After the publication of the sequel, Death of a Dutchman, he said, "Your first novel was a coup de maitre, your second is a masterpiece." That second book (she wrote 14 Guarnaccia installments in all) opens as Marshal Guarnaccia finds a jeweler dying in an apparent suicide from slashed hands and a barbiturate overdose, uttering his last words, "It wasn't her." The only witnesses to the crime are a blind man and a notoriously untruthful 91-year-old woman.



Although the case seems to be a dead end, the Marshal refuses to let it go, fighting his way through bureaucratic red tape, hordes of tourists, the soggy July heat, the secret police known as Digos and the dead Dutchman's troubled past in order to reach the truth. The dead man is known as a "Dutchman" even though his father was Dutch and his mother Italian. This neither-here-nor-there sense of belonging echoes the life of the Marshal himself, a Sicilian stationed in Florence, living at the station barracks without his wife and sons, as they care for his invalid mother back home.



Marshal, lower down the police hierarchy than a Lieutenant or Magistrate, is nonetheless a dedicated, sensitive and caring officer, not particularly articulate but with a subtle humor who patiently helps the young and inexperienced officer in charge of the case. The city and culture that is Florence becomes another character, focusing on the importance of family, place and tradition. Or as the Washington Post added, "The richest scene here, however, is Florence itself, whose intricate politics and class structure Nabb parses with precision and wit." Her final novel, Vita Nuova in the Marshal Guarnaccia series, was posthumously published in 2008.

          

Mystery Melange

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The Black Spring Crime Series announced that the inaugural judge for its new crime-mystery prize will be Lee Child, best-selling author of the Jack Reacher series. The Big Bang: Black Spring's Best Opening to a Crime/Thriller Prize is open to anyone over the age of 18 who wants to write in the English-language and has an interest in crime, thriller or mystery novels. Organizers are looking for the best 50-200 words of an opening for a crime-mystery-thriller novel/story. The work must be never-before-published (including online), original to the author, and ideally written for this prize. It need not be connected to a completed book, and it's hoped the prize encourages people to start a novel, with this first page – and maybe go on to complete it. Writers can enter as many times as they want. The contest opened on September 7th and will close on December 7th. (HT to Shots Magazine)

A group of authors including Michael Chabon (The Yiddish Policemen's Union) have filed suit in federal court against OpenAI, alleging the company unfairly used their copyrighted works to teach its chatbots how to respond to written prompts. The suit notes that responses from a model like OpenAI’s ChatGPT are “entirely and uniquely dependent on the text contained in its training dataset,” adding that the chatbot can generate summaries and in-depth analysis of themes in the authors’ copyrighted works.

The American Comparative Literature Association (ACLA) has a call for papers for an interesting and unusual topic. This seminar takes the global environmental crisis as a starting point to consider the ways that global crime fiction has sought to expose, mitigate, reflect, and reconfigure impending catastrophe. Contributions are invited that consider how or how well "the (crime) genre’s central ideological concerns with culpability and criminality" align to the climate crisis. Interested authors can submit individual paper abstracts by September 30, with the conference scheduled to place at the Palais des congrès de Montréal in Montreal, March 14-17, 2024. (Hat tip to Shots Magazine)

A life-sized bronze statue of Agatha Christie was unveiled by Christie’s grandson, Mathew Prichard, in the Oxfordshire town of Wallingford, near where the iconic novelist resided for more than forty years. Sculptor Ben Twiston-Davies, who also designed the Agatha Christie memorial in London, explained that it shows her "looking out as if she’s seen a clue for one of her stories." Christie bought Winterbrook House, located on the banks of the River Thames near Wallingford, in 1934. Many of her books were written at the house, and it remained her primary residence until she died there in 1976. She is buried in the churchyard of St Mary’s Church, Cholsey, just south of Wallingford.

Gentle Readers, start your to-be-read-pile engines. The Rap Sheet posted a list of choice crime novels being released in fall and early winter 2023.

Janet Rudolph has a list of mysteries set during the days of awe: Rosh Hashanah (September 15-17) through Yom Kippur (September 24-25).

An early Van Gogh worth €3m-€6m (£2.6m-£5.2m) stolen from a Dutch museum three years ago was being passed around the criminal world like a hot potato, according to art detective Arthur Brand, who had a hand in the return of the painting Monday night. Brand, who is most famous for having recovered the "Hitler’s Horses" bronze statues, a Picasso painting and a ring that once belonged to Oscar Wilde, told The Guardian that such a famous stolen item had become "a headache" and that the man who eventually handed it over had nothing to do with the theft.

In the Q&A roundup, Indie Crime Scene interviewed Maggie Giles, whose novel Twisted has its debut on September 19; and Writers Who Kill's Grace Topping chatted with Frances Brody about her historical Kate Shackleton mysteries set in various locations in Yorkshire, England.

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Author R&R with J. Lee

[image error]J. Lee was born and raised in the Midwest, between the Chicago suburbs and rural Southern Illinois. He received dual degrees in Engineering and Sociology from Duke University, and although his day job has been in engineering, marketing, and program management, he also pursued writing, first as a stress-relieving hobby and then as a professional endeavor. His first crime thriller, The Hubley Case, was published in 2018, followed by The Silent Cardinal in 2021, and The Deadly Deal, which was released today.

[image error]The Deadly Deal follows David Centrelli, a junior business development executive at a pharmaceutical company with no military training or criminal record whatsoever...but an innocent knock on the door one Monday morning changes his life forever. Thrust into a world of unbelievable accusations, outrageous claims, and danger he's only seen in the movies, he's told his best friend's death two weeks earlier was no accident, and that his buddy has a message for him from the grave. Blackmailed by decisions he made years ago, informed that his brother has been kidnapped, and threatened with a future not even his worst nightmare could imagine, the temptation to give up what he knows and disappear into affluent anonymity grows stronger by the second...until he learns millions of lives depend on him trying to do the right thing. But can this ordinary businessman really escape death from experts trained to administer it and prevent a colossal calamity already set in motion by the highest levels of government?

J. Lee stops by In Reference to Murder to take some Author R&R about writing and researching the book:

 

“Truths & Categories”

Whether you’re writing a term paper for a college class or a thriller novel for the beach reader, there are three truths about research that stand the test of time. Let’s start by identifying them:

You want to represent truth in what you write – for your audience, yourself, and what you’re writing. Doing so not only enhances the world by offering something genuine and original for people to enjoy, but also establishes and enhances credibility for you as an author.
As the world changes, the methods used to gather research will change, too. Gone are the days where Encyclopedia Britannica and the local library are the primary sources, but we’d all be naïve to think that in eighty years Google will be either.
What you’re writing isn’t solely about facts or figures that have already been established in the world…if it were, there’d be no need for you to write it. Thus, while you want your research to be accurate and support the story you are telling or point you are making, you don’t want it to become that either.

NOTE: if you don’t think the above are fundamental truths, you should stop reading. When I write, I do so believing they are central pillars to the research aspects of my book.  Not agreeing but reading on would be a waste of your time. 

So, I was asked to describe my approach to research as I wrote The Deadly Deal, my third mystery/suspense novel that centers around a fictional conspiracy launched between the federal government, a pharmaceutical company and an insurance conglomerate.

The research I did fell into one of two separate, yet equally important categories (Law & Order style) that in my head I labeled – not so originally – as:

The big picture
The nitty-gritty

For the big picture, it always starts with understanding the overall characters to the story, and I don’t mean people. In this case: How does the FDA approve drugs? What process and controls go into verification? How does the government’s separation of powers ensure it acts in the best interests of the people? What about the development process? How do drugs go from an idea to a tangible product? And how does insurance fit into all of this? We all know it affects the pocketbooks of both companies and consumers, but when does that start and how does that work?

These are the types of fundamental questions you need to ask first when you write fiction, especially plot-driven novels. Because ultimately, understanding the bigger picture players is critical to meeting Truth #1 above, and misrepresenting it will discredit your story.

How?

It’s common to say people should “write what they know” and this is where it best applies. I’d worked at a company involved with the regulatory process. So while I needed to verify what had changed over twenty years, I did have a baseline. I knew some people who still worked in the space. I also have a family member into cutting edge medical research who let me pick his brain about some things.

The point is that for the big picture, it helps immensely to start with something you know and like. You can Google “FDA Approval Process” and get a lot of information, more than enough to provide the level of detail I did in the book, but it’s incredibly helpful to have a baseline and rely on experts in the field going in. The other thing is, going back to Truth #3, don’t overdo it. If people wanted to read a detailed description about the FDA, there are books for that. Don’t over-demonstrate your knowledge of a subject at the expense of your story. Practically speaking, what that meant for me was that for every paragraph of research that made it into the book, there were five pages of notes that never saw the light of day.

For the nitty-gritty, there’s good and “bad” news.

The good news is the information is readily available and can be verified with multiple sources on the web. Some readers think I’m a gun guy because my books have lots of them used by good guys and bad guys. My first novel, The Hubley Case, even has the protagonist holding one on the cover. Yet without even owning one, I learned what I needed from reading online. And when I described an intersection, Street View gave me context that complemented my site visit. The data is available, and you don’t have use old-fashioned encyclopedias that could be outdated or be an Internet savant to get it…you just need to make the commitment to do the work.

There’s the “bad” news…it’s work.

When I wrote a scene with two guys chasing another through a boathouse, I didn’t necessarily want to look up types of boats, how boathouses are winterized, how big they are, what the floor material is, what the temperature might be, etc. But those details help set the scene. And answers are out there; it just takes time to get them.

Certainly, “writing what you know” makes nitty-gritty research easier and probably more enjoyable, but it’s not as critical as it is for the big picture. And trust me, even if you write what you know, when your book is 80,000 words, there’s going to be nitty-gritty research you just need to commit to doing to get it right. Most research at this level isn’t about the “how.” It’s about your mindset as a writer. You need to know it’s worth it.

Bottom line: respecting the three truths, big picture and nitty-gritty category research is hard work. But once you’ve made the commitment, once you’ve put in the effort to make your writing as authentic and genuine as you can, you’ll be that much more satisfied. You’ll know that your time and energy went into making something you’re happy to attach your name to.

And your readers will, too. 

 

You can learn more about J. Lee and his writing via his website and follow him on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Goodreads. The Deadly Deal is now available via all major booksellers.

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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

Samuel L. Jackson is in talks to star as the President of the United States alongside Joel Kinnaman in the independent action thriller, The Beast, from WME Independent. The film, which has an Interim Agreement from SAG-AFTRA during the strike, centers on the impenetrable presidential limousine — nicknamed "The Beast" by the Secret Service. Stocked with grenades, rigged with shotguns, armor-plated, bullet- and bomb-proof and hermetically sealed, the Beast is a grinding defensive titan. When a militia of unidentified hostiles coordinates a devastating coup against the U.S. presidency, the president (Jackson) uncovers the extent of the Beast’s highly classified offensive capabilities, too. Separated from his wife, the one thing tethering him to his humanity as he tears through a violent wasteland of chaos and carnage, the president must learn to control the Beast — and the monster inside himself — in order to save his life, the life of Secret Service agent Taft (Kinnaman), and the United States of America.

Lionsgate landed an eight-figure deal for domestic rights to the reboot of the 1994 cult classic revenge thriller, The Crow, which memorably starred Brandon Lee in his last film role. Bill Skarsgård (It), singer-songwriter FKA twigs (Honeyboy) and Danny Huston (Succession) lead Rupert Sanders’s reimagining, which is based on the graphic novel created, written, and illustrated by James O’Barr (as was the original film). The movie is expected to be released next year.

The first trailer was released for Amazon Studios' The Burial. The film is directed by Maggie Betts, who also co-wrote the script with Doug Wright, based on the latter’s story and The New Yorker article by Jonathan Harr. In The Burial, when a handshake deal goes sour, funeral homeowner O’Keefe (Tommy Lee Jones) enlists charismatic, smooth-talking attorney Gary (Jamie Foxx) to save his family business from a half-billion-dollar corporation whose brass are none too worried. The businessmen counter with a hotshot attorney of their own — one Mame Downes (Jurnee Smollett), who graduated at the top of her Harvard Law School class and earned the nickname "The Python." Tempers flare between O’Keefe and Gary and doubts arise, but bonding ensues as the unlikely pair expose corporate corruption and racial injustice — while seeking a cool $100 million. The film hits theaters for a one-week run starting October 6 and begins streaming October 13 on Prime Video.

A first-look trailer was also released for Paramount+’s Finestkind from Oscar winner Brian Helgeland. Finestkind tells the story of two brothers (Ben Foster and Toby Wallace), raised in different worlds, who are reunited as adults over a fateful summer. Set against the backdrop of commercial fishing, the story takes on primal stakes when desperate circumstances force the brothers to strike a deal with a violent Boston crime gang. Along the way a young woman (Jenna Ortega) finds herself caught perilously in the middle. Sacrifices must be made and bonds between brothers, friends, lovers, and a father (Tommy Lee Jones) and his son are put to the ultimate test. The film is set for a November premiere exclusively on Paramount+.

A trailer also dropped for David Yates's Pain Hustlers, which begins streaming on Netflix October 27. Emily Blunt stars as Liza Drake, a blue-collar single mom who has just lost her job and is at the end of her rope. A chance meeting with pharmaceutical sales rep Pete Brenner (Chris Evans) puts her on an upwards trajectory economically but dubious path ethically as she becomes entangled in a dangerous racketeering scheme. Dealing with her increasingly unhinged boss (Andy Garcia), the worsening medical condition of her daughter (Chloe Coleman), and a growing awareness of the devastation the company is causing forces Liza to examine her choices.

TELEVISION/SMALL SCREEN

Golden Globe, SAG, and BAFTA award winner, Clive Owen, is stepping into the role of Detective Sam Spade, the protagonist of noir writer Dashiell Hammett’s 1930 classic novel, The Maltese Falcon, in AMC Networks’ Monsieur Spade. The series, which is set in 1963, follows Spade (Owen) as he enjoys a peaceful and quiet retirement in the South of France – until the rumored return of his old adversary changes everything. When six beloved nuns are brutally murdered at a local convent, Spade learns that they are somehow connected to a mysterious child who is believed to possess great powers. Monsieur Spade, which was shot on location in France, will premiere on AMC and AMC+ in early 2024.

The BBC has acquired the Australian crime drama, Scrublands, based on the award-winning novel written by Chris Hammer, for BBC Four and BBC iPlayer. The four-part series is set in an isolated country town, where a charismatic and dedicated young priest (Jay Ryan) calmly opens fire on his congregation, killing five parishioners. One year later investigative journalist, Martin Scarsden (Luke Arnold), arrives in Riversend to write what should be a simple feature story on the anniversary of the tragedy. But when Martin's instincts kick in and he digs beneath the surface, the previously accepted narrative begins to fall apart and he finds himself in a life and death race to uncover the truth. The cast also includes Robert Taylor, Adam Zwar, Zane Ciarma, Victoria Thaine, Stacy Clausen, Genevieve Morris, and newcomer Ella Ferris.

Paramount+ has renewed the drama series, Mayor of Kingstown, for Season 3, following the conclusion of the second season this past March. Created by Taylor Sheridan and Hugh Dillon, Mayor of Kingstown debuted in 2021 and stars Jeremy Renner as the head of the McClusky family who keeps the peace in a town riddled with crime. Dianne Wiest also co-stars in the project. Renner was in a life-threatening snowplow accident back in January of 2023 that left the actor with 30 broken bones and a crushed chest, but has since made a remarkable recovery.

With new seasons of all CBS scripted series delayed by the ongoing WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes, the network is looking globally for content, including the addition of NCIS: Sydney, the first international spinoff for a CBS Studios global drama franchise. Episodes will make their U.S. debut on the broadcast network just three days after their worldwide premiere in Australia. NCIS: Sydney will air on CBS Mondays at 10 PM beginning in November, following a rerun of the flagship series at 9 PM. The Aussie version stars American Olivia Swann (DC’s Legends of Tomorrow) and Australian Todd Lasance (Spartacus: War of the Damned).

Fox is bringing in some repeats of 9-1-1: Lone Star to its fall schedule as it tries to remind viewers that scripted drama still has a place on broadcast TV amid the writers and actors strikes. Season 4 of 9-1-1:Lone Star will air starting on Tuesday September 19 at 9 pm.

Masterpiece on PBS has dropped the first images from its production of The Marlow Murder Club, based on Robert Thorogood’s novel of the same name, which premieres in 2024. The drama follows retired archaeologist Judith Potts (Samantha Bond), who lives alone in a faded mansion in the peaceful town of Marlow, filling her time by setting crosswords for the local paper. During one of her regular wild swims in the Thames, Judith hears a gunshot coming from a neighbor’s garden and believes a brutal murder has taken place. When the police are reluctant to believe her story, Judith finds herself forming an unlikely friendship with local dog-walker and empty-nester Suzie (Jo Martin) and unfulfilled vicar’s wife Becks (Cara Horgan) as they start an investigation of their own. Eventually asked to assist with the official police investigation, headed by newly promoted Tanika (Natalie Dew), the women must piece together clues, grill suspect witnesses, and face down real danger as they work against the clock to stop the killer in their tracks.





PODCASTS/VIDEO/RADIO/AUDIO

The Crime Cafe podcast featured Debbi Mack's interview with Edgar Award-winning crime writer, Naomi Hirahara, whose first historical mystery, Clark and Division, won the Mary Higgins Clark Award.

The latest episode of It Was a Dark and Stormy Book Club discussed mysteries featuring libraries and librarians.

On Crime Time FM, Sarah Moorhead chatted with Paul Burke about her new speculative crime thriller, The Treatment; Witness X; Liverpool; teaching, good & evil; the godfather of the northern crime writing scene; young people today; and Wizard of Oz meets Frankenstein.

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Mystery Melange

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I'm a little late posting this week's "Mystery Melange," but unfortunately Typepad has been down. And thus it is with online services these days.

Anyway, without further ado, the Bouchercon conference in San Diego wasn't the only hotspot for crime fiction awards this past week, with the Anthony, Shamus, and Barry Awards. Australia was a close second, with winners named for the 2023 Davitt Awards (from Sisters in Crime Australia for best crime books by Australian women), and the 2023 Ned Kelly Awards (given by the Australian Crime Writers Association).

Ned Kelly winners:

Best debut crime fiction: Wake by Shelley Burr (Hachette)
Best crime fiction: Exiles by Jane Harper (Macmillan)
Best true crime: Betrayed by Sandi Logan (Hachette)
Best international crime fiction: The Lemon Man by Keith Bruton (Cutting Edge)

Davitt Award winners:

Adult novel: All That’s Left Unsaid by Tracey Lien (HQ Fiction)
Young adult novel: Seven Days by Fleur Ferris (PRH)
Children’s novel: The Sugarcane Kids and the Red-bottomed Boat by Charlie Archbold (Text)
Nonfiction book: Out of the Ashes by Megan Norris (Big Sky)
Debut book: Dirt Town by Hayley Scrivenor (Macmillan)
Readers’ choice: The Unbelieved by Vikki Petraitis (A&U)

 

The shortlist for the 2023 McIlvanney Prize for Scotland's prestigious annual crime writing award was also announced. The Prize is named in memory of the "Godfather of Tartan Noir," the late William McIlvanney. The finalists and authors shortlisted for the Bloody Scotland Debut Prize will lead a torchlit procession from Stirling Castle to the Albert Halls on Friday, September 15, when winner will be revealed. This year's finalists include:

Squeaky Clean by Callum McSorley (Pushkin)
The Second Murderer by Denise Mina (Vintage)
Cast a Cold Eye by Robbie Morrison (Macmillan)
The Devil's Playground by Craig Russell (Little, Brown)

Seven crime novels from Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, Sweden, and Switzerland have been shortlisted for the 2023 Petrona Award for the Best Scandinavian Crime Novel of the Year. The winning title will be announced on 5th October 2023. The Petrona Award is open to crime fiction in translation, either written by a Scandinavian author or set in Scandinavia, and published in the UK in the previous calendar year. Here are this year's contenders:

Femicide by Pascal Engman tr. Michael Gallagher (Sweden, Legend Press)
The Corpse Flower by Anne Mette Hancock tr. Tara F Chace (Denmark, Swift Press)
The Axe Woman by Håkan Nesser tr. Sarah Death (Sweden, Mantle)
Land of Snow and Ashes by Petra Rautiainen tr. David Hackston (Finland, Pushkin Press)
Kalmann by Joachim B Schmidt tr. Jamie Lee Searle (Switzerland, Bitter Lemon Press)
Red as Blood by Lilja Sigurðardóttir tr. Quentin Bates (Iceland, Orenda Books)
Bitter Flowers by Gunnar Staalesen tr. Don Bartlett (Norway, Orenda Books)

 

But wait, there's more! The Capital Crime conference revealed winners of its Fingerprint Awards at Capital Crime 2023 in London. 

Crime Novel of the Year: Elly Griffiths for Bleeding Heart Yard
Thriller Book of the Year: Gillian McAllister for Wrong Place Wrong Time
Historical Crime Book of the Year: Tom Hindle for A Fatal Crossing
Genre-Busting Book of the Year: Erin Keely for The Skeleton Key
Debut Book of the Year: Nita Prose for The Maid
Audiobook of the Year: Adele Parks, narrated by Kristin Atherton for One Last Secret
The Thalia Proctor Lifetime Achievement Award for her invaluable contribution to fiction publishing: Jane Wood
Publishing Campaign of the Year 2023: Viking BooksUK for The Bullet that Missed by Richard Osman.

 

Mystery Fanfare reported on the sad news that crime writer, Les Edgerton, passed away this past week at the age of 77. Les Edgerton published 23 books, including Adrenaline Junkie and the comedy crime novel, The Genuine, Imitation, Plastic Kidnapping (both from Down&Out Press) and Bomb! (Gutter Press). One of his most popular books is the writer's text, Hooked: Write Fiction That Grabs Readers at Page One and Never Lets Them Go. Les taught creative writing for the UCLA Extension Writer's Program, Trine University, St. Francis University, the New York Writer's Workshop, and was Writer-in-Residence for the University of Toledo. Before turning his hand to writing, Edgerton had an unusual background that included a stint in the U.S. Navy as a cryptographer but also two years in prison for burglary. Edgerton's fiction has been nominated for or won the Pushcart Prize, O. Henry Award, Edgar short story award, and more.





Featured at the Page 69 Test recently was Rusted Souls: A Tom Harper Mystery (#11) by Chris Nickson, set in 1920 Leeds. About the book, from the publisher: Retirement beckons for Chief Constable Tom Harper. Can he stop a spiraling crime spree involving love letters, robbery, and murder before he hangs up his boots for good?

Forensic science is turning to bees for inspiration. George Mason University Professor Mary Ellen O’Toole, who worked as an FBI profiler for twenty-eight years on cases including the Unabomber, Natalee Holloway, the Green River Killer, Golden State Killer, Zodiac Killer, and more, is the lead researcher on a project that will test a theory that bees can help find decomposing bodies.





Crime fiction fans planning a trip to Savannah, Georgia, might want to head to the North Historic District and check out at Agatha’s Coffee and Tea House. After decades of dreaming and coordinating, the cafe is an homage to the work of best-selling author Agatha Christie, complete with books, antiques, jazz, and employees dressed in period costumes.

This week's crime poem at the 5-2 Weekly is "Something Fishy" by J.H. Johns.

In the Q&A roundup, Indie Crime Scene interviewed Mark Pawlosky, whose novel Friendly Fire, the second novel in the Nik Byron Investigation series, was released in March; Lynda La Plante spoke with The Guardian about learning to read with dyslexia, the book that made her want to be a writer, and how Raymond Chandler's books made her laugh out loud; Lee Goldberg, who's penned many TV shows as well as the Eve Ronin mystery book series, chatted with Deborah Kalb about his new novel, Malibu Burning; and Author Interviews spoke with James R. Benn, author of Proud Sorrows, the eighteenth installment in the Billy Boyle World War II historical mysteries set within the Allied High Command during the Second World War.

         Related StoriesMystery Melange 

Media Murder for Monday

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

Roundtable Entertainment has greenlighted the action thriller, MOM, with filmmaker Mark Pellington (Arlington Road, The Mothman Prophecies) signed on to direct from a script by Brent Jordan. Billed as an "adrenaline-fueled" story, the project follows a single mother who embarks on a daring cross-country rescue mission, piecing together clues in the search for her teenage daughter who has fallen victim to the horrors of human trafficking.

The crime drama, Heist 88, starring two-time Emmy winner Courtney B. Vance, has set its premiere dates. Inspired by one of the largest bank robberies in U.S. history, the film is set to debut exclusively on Paramount+ with Showtime on September 29. Heist 88 is set at a time before widespread computerization and the cybersecurity protections of today. The story centers on Jeremy Horne (Vance), a criminal mastermind with an innate ability to convince anyone to do just about anything. After deciding to pull one last job before going to prison, Horne recruits four young bank employees to steal close to $80 million dollars in a daring and brazen assault on the nation’s banking system. Menhaj Huda (Kidulthood) directed from a script by Dwayne Johnson-Cochran (Minor Adjustments).

Netflix released a teaser trailer for director David Fincher’s new film, The Killer, which debuts on Netflix in November after a limited theatrical run in late October. The film, which stars Michael Fassbender, is based on the graphic novel of the same name by Alexis Nolent and follows an assassin who’s battling his employers (and himself) on an international manhunt he insists isn’t personal. He does yoga before each kill, destroys the evidence, then repeats. However, after a fateful near-miss triggers an international manhunt for him, the assassin will have to face his inner demons and do the one thing the plan doesn't allow for: improvise. The cast also includes Arliss Howard, Charles Parnell, Kerry O’Malley, Sala Baker, Sophie Charlotte, and Tilda Swinton.

Apple Original Films, partnering with Paramount Pictures, has changed the release plan for the Cannes Film Festival hit, Killers of the Flower Moon, to debut as a wide global theatrical release (including Imax) on October 20. Directed by Martin Scorsese and written for the screen by Eric Roth and Scorsese, the fact-based story is based on David Grann’s bestselling book. Set in 1920s Oklahoma, it depicts the serial murder of members of the oil-wealthy Osage Nation, a string of brutal crimes that came to be known as the Reign of Terror. Robert De Niro, Leonardo DiCaprio, and Lily Gladstone star, with Jesse Plemons, Cara Jade Myers, JaNae Collins, Jillian Dion, and Tantoo Cardinal rounding out the additional cast.

TELEVISION/STREAMING

Magpie Murders producer, Eleventh Hour Films, has optioned C.M. Ewan's thriller, The House Hunt, for a limited TV series. The project centers on the story of an everyday young couple, Lucy and Sam, who are selling their recently renovated dream house, but one viewing turns into a nightmare and events spiral beyond their control.

The Lincoln Lawyer has been renewed for a third season at Netflix that will consist of ten episodes following a successful sophomore turn that saw the series reach the Top 10 in eighty-one countries. Season 3 will be based on The Gods of Guilt, the fifth book in Michael Connelly’s Lincoln Lawyer series, with Manuel Garcia-Rulfo returning as Mickey Haller. Additionally, Becki Newton (Lorna), Jazz Raycole (Izzy), Angus Sampson (Cisco), Yaya DaCosta (Andrea Freemann) and others will reprise their roles. The show follows Mickey Haller, an iconoclastic idealist who runs his law practice out of the back seat of his Lincoln Town Car as he takes on cases big and small across the expansive city of Los Angeles.

Masterpiece on PBS has announced the premiere date and released first look images for the upcoming season of Miss Scarlet and the Duke, which returns on January 7, 2024, for its fourth season. In the new season, Eliza (Kate Phillips) has taken over the business of detective agency, Nash & Sons, and things are not going entirely smoothly, although help comes from some familiar sources. Outside of work, her relationship with William Wellington, a gruff Scottish detective inspector of Scotland Yard (the "Duke," played by Stuart Martin) builds towards a looming decision that will shape both their lives.





The Dutch thriller, Anonymous, is back for a second season on BBC. The show follows a pair of crime fighters who take justice into their own hands and relentlessly battle the criminal underworld — despite not knowing about each other. One is a public prosecutor (Anniek Pheifer) fighting the Cabo criminal gang, while the other is a history teacher (Jeroen Spitzenberger) who masquerades as "Anonymous."

A trailer was released for The Pigeon Tunnel, a documentary on the late David Cornwell, aka John le Carré. Cornwell worked for both MI5, the UK's domestic counterintelligence agency, and MI6, the British Secret Intelligence Service, before he became a bestselling spy novelist. The documentary is an adaptation of le Carré's autobiography and features an intimate interview between le Carré and Errol Morris, an Academy Award-winning director, alongside archival footage and reenactments of the stories le Carré tells. The Pigeon Tunnel will begin streaming on Apple TV+ on October 20.

The premiere of HBO’s anticipated True Detective: Night Country has been pushed back and is now listed as January of 2024 (the exact day is unknown). In Night Country, when the long winter night falls in Ennis, Alaska, the eight men who operate the Tsalal Arctic Research Station vanish without a trace. To solve the case, detectives Liz Danvers (Jodie Foster) and Evangeline Navarro (Kali Reis) must confront their pasts and the dark truths lying underneath the Arctic ice. John Hawkes, Christopher Eccleston, Fiona Shaw, Finn Bennett, Anna Lambe, Aka Niviâna, Isabella Star Lablanc, and Joel D. Montgrand also star.





PODCASTS/VIDEO/RADIO/AUDIO

The latest episode of The Red Hot Chili Writers discussed summer holidays; India's moon landing; Christie's Evil Under the Sun; and David Suchet's unusual method for perfecting Hercule Poirot's walk.

Victoria Selman chatted with Paul Burke on Crime Time FM about her latest novel, All the Little Liars; psychological depth in thrillers; what readers want; victims and survivors; and more.

On the latest Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine podcast, author Michael Z. Lewin read "Her Upstairs," his story of Greek gods and cribbage from the July/August 2023 issue. Lewin is the creator of the Albert Samson series of detective novels, the first regional series of its kind.

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