B.V. Lawson's Blog, page 52

Agatha Praise for 2023

The annual Malice Domestic conference revealed this year's winners for the Agatha Awards at a celebratory dinner last evening in Rockville, Maryland. The Agatha Awards celebrate the traditional mystery, best typified by the works of Agatha Christie, for whom the award is named. The genre is loosely defined as mysteries that contain no explicit sex, excessive gore, or gratuitous violence, and would not be classified as "hard-boiled." Congrats to all the winners and finalists!

 

Best Contemporary Novel: A World of Curiosities by Louise Penny (Minotaur)

Also nominated:

Bayou Book Thief by Ellen Byron (Berkley Prime Crime)
Death By Bubble Tea by Jennifer J. Chow (Berkley)
Fatal Reunion by Annette Dashofy (Level Best Books)
Dead Man's Leap by Tina de Bellegarde (Level Best Books)

Best Historical Novel: Because I Could Not Stop for Death by Amanda Flower (Berkley)

Also nominated:

The Counterfeit Wife by Mally Becker (Level Best Books)
The Lindbergh Nanny by Mariah Fredericks (Minotaur)
In Place of Fear by Catriona McPherson (Mobius)
Under a Veiled Moon by Karen Odden (Crooked Lane Books)

Best First Novel: Cheddar Off Dead by Korina Moss (St. Martin’s)

Also nominated:

Death in the Aegean by M. A. Monnin (Level Best Books)
The Bangalore Detectives Club by Harini Nagendra (Constable)
Devil’s Chew Toy by Rob Osler (Crooked Lane Books)
The Finalist by Joan Long (Level Best Books)
The Gallery of Beauties by Nina Wachsman (Level Best Books)

Best Short Story:  "Beauty and the Beyotch," by Barb Goffman (Sherlock Holmes Magazine, Feb. 2022)

Also nominated:

"There Comes a Time," by Cynthia Kuhn (Malice Domestic Murder Most Diabolical) Wildside Press
"Fly Me to the Morgue," by Lisa Q Mathews,( Malice Domestic Mystery Most Diabolical) Wildside Press
"The Minnesota Twins Meet Bigfoot," by Richie Narvaez, (Land of 10,000 Thrills, Bouchercon Anthology) Down & Out Books
"The Invisible Band," by Art Taylor (Edgar & Shamus Go Golden) Down & Out Books

Best Non-Fiction:  Promophobia: Taking the Mystery Out of Promoting Crime Fiction, Diane Vallere Ed.(Sisters in Crime)

Also nominated:

The Life of Crime: Detecting the History of Mysteries and Their Creators by Martin Edwards (HarperCollins)
The Handbook to Agatha Christie: The Bloomsbury Handbook to Agatha Christie by Mary Anna Evans and J. C. Bernthal (Bloomsbury Academic)
The Science of Murder: The Forensics of Agatha Christie by Carla Valentine (Sourcebooks)
Agatha Christie: An Elusive Woman, by Lucy Worsley (Pegasus Crime)

Best Children's/YA Mystery:  Enola Holmes and the Elegant Escapade by Nancy Springer (Wednesday Books)

Also nominated:

Daybreak on Raven Island by Fleur Bradley (Viking Books for Young People)
In Myrtle Peril by Elizabeth C. Bunce (Algonquin Young Readers)
#shedeservedit by Greg Herren (Bold Strokes Books)
Sid Johnson and the Phantom Slave Stealer by Frances Schoonmaker (Auctus Publishers)

         Related StoriesEdgar Excellence for 2023Short and SweetThrills Galore 

Edgar Excellence for 2023

Mystery Writers of America announced winner of the Edgar Allan Poe Awards, honoring the best in mystery fiction, non-fiction and television published or produced in 2022. The 77th Annual Edgar® Awards were revealed at a ceremony this evening, April 27, at the New York Marriott Marquis Times Square, New York City. Congratulations to all the winners and finalists!

 

BEST NOVEL: Notes on an Execution by Danya Kukafka (HarperCollins – William Morrow)

Also nominated:

Devil House by John Darnielle (Farrar, Straus and Giroux – MCD)

Like a Sister by Kellye Garrett (Hachette Book Group – Little, Brown & Co./Mulholland Books)

Gangland by Chuck Hogan (Hachette Book Group – Grand Central Publishing)

The Devil Takes You Home by Gabino Iglesias (Hachette Book Group – Little, Brown & Co./Mulholland Books)

The Maid by Nita Prose (Penguin Random House – Ballantine Books)

BEST FIRST NOVEL BY AN AMERICAN AUTHOR:  Don’t Know Tough by Eli Cranor (Soho Press – Soho Crime)

Also nominated:

Jackal by Erin E. Adams (Penguin Random House – Bantam)

Shutter by Ramona Emerson (Soho Press – Soho Crime)

More Than You’ll Ever Know by Katie Gutierrez (HarperCollins – William Morrow)

Portrait of a Thief by Grace D. Li (Penguin Random House – Tiny Reparations Books)

BEST PAPERBACK ORIGINAL:  Or Else by Joe Hart (Amazon Publishing – Thomas & Mercer)

Also nominated:

Quarry’s Blood by Max Allan Collins (Hard Case Crime)

On a Quiet Street by Seraphina Nova Glass (Harlequin Trade Publishing – Graydon House

Cleopatra’s Dagger by Carole Lawrence (Amazon Publishing – Thomas & Mercer)

A Familiar Stranger by A.R. Torre (Amazon Publishing – Thomas & Mercer)

BEST FACT CRIME:  Tell Me Everything: The Story of a Private Investigation by Erika Krouse (Flatiron Books)

Also nominated:

Slenderman: Online Obsession, Mental Illness, and the Violent Crime of Two Midwestern Girls by Kathleen Hale (Grove Atlantic – Grove Press)

Trailed: One Woman’s Quest to Solve the Shenandoah Murders by Kathryn Miles (Hachette Book Group – Workman Publishing – Algonquin Books)

American Caliph: The True Story of a Muslim Mystic, a Hollywood Epic, and the 1977 Siege of Washington, D.C. by Shahan Mufti (Farrar, Straus and Giroux)

American Demon: Eliot Ness and the Hunt for America’s Jack the Ripper by Daniel Stashower (Minotaur Books)

BEST CRITICAL/BIOGRAPHICAL:  The Life of Crime: Detecting the History of Mysteries and Their Creators by Martin Edwards (HarperCollins – Collins Crime Club)

Also nominated:

The Bloomsbury Handbook to Agatha Christie by Mary Anna Evans & J.C. Bernthal (Bloomsbury – Bloomsbury Academic)

The Crime World of Michael Connelly: A Study of His Works and Their Adaptations by David Geherin (McFarland)

The Woman Beyond the Attic: The V.C. Andrews Story by Andrew Neiderman (Simon & Schuster – Gallery Books)

Agatha Christie: An Elusive Woman by Lucy Worsley (Pegasus Books – Pegasus Crime)

BEST SHORT STORY:  “Red Flag,” Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine by Gregory Fallis (Dell Magazines)

Also nominated:

“Backstory,” Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine by Charles John Harper (Dell Magazines)

“Locked-In,” Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine by William Burton McCormick (Dell Magazines)

“The Amnesty Box,” Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms by Tim McLoughlin (Akashic Books)

“First You Dream, Then You Die,” Black is the Night by Donna Moore (Titan Books)

BEST JUVENILE:  Aggie Morton Mystery Queen: The Seaside Corpse by Marthe Jocelyn (Penguin Random House Canada – Tundra Books)

Also nominated:

The Swallowtail Legacy: Wreck at Ada’s Reef by Michael D. Beil (Pixel+Ink)

The Area 51 Files by Julie Buxbaum (Random House Children’s Books – Delacorte Press)

Adventures on Trains: Murder on the Safari Star by M.G. Leonard & Sam Sedgman (Macmillan Children’s Publishing – Feiwel & Friends)

Chester Keene Cracks the Code by Kekla Magoon (Random House Children’s Books – Wendy Lamb Books)

BEST YOUNG ADULT:  The Red Palace by June Hur (Macmillan Children’s Books – Feiwel & Friends)

Also nominated:

Pretty Dead Queens by Alexa Donne (Random House Children’s Books – Crown BFYR)

Frightmares by Eva V. Gibson (Random House Children’s Books – Underlined)

The Black Girls Left Standing by Juliana Goodman (Macmillan Children’s Books – Feiwel & Friends)

Lock the Doors by Vincent Ralph (Sourcebooks – Fire)

BEST TELEVISION EPISODE TELEPLAY:  “Episode 1” – Magpie Murders, Written by Anthony Horowitz (Masterpiece/PBS)

Also nominated:

“One Mighty and Strong” – Under the Banner of Heaven, Written by Brandon Boyce (Hulu/FX)

“Episode 1″ – Karen Pirie, Written by Emer Kenny (BritBox)

“When Harry Met Fergus” – Harry Wild, Written by David Logan (Acorn TV)

“The Reagan Way” – Blue Bloods, Written by Siobhan Byrne O’Connor (CBS)

“Eighteen Wheels A Predator” – Law & Order: SVU, Written by  Brianna Yellen, Kathy Dobie, and Monet Hurt-Mendoza (NBC Universal)

ROBERT L. FISH MEMORIAL AWARD

“Dogs in the Canyon” – Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine by Mark Harrison (Dell Magazines)

THE SIMON & SCHUSTER MARY HIGGINS CLARK AWARD:  A Dreadful Splendor by B.R. Myers (HarperCollins – William Morrow)

Also nominated:

Because I Could Not Stop for Death by Amanda Flower (Penguin Random House – Berkley)

The Woman in the Library by Sulari Gentill (Sourcebooks – Poisoned Pen Press)

The Disinvited Guest by Carol Goodman (HarperCollins – William Morrow)

Never Name the Dead by D.M. Rowell (Crooked Lane Books)

THE G.P. PUTNAM’S SONS SUE GRAFTON MEMORIAL AWARD:  Hideout by Louisa Luna (Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group – Doubleday)

Also nominated:

Secret Lives by Mark de Castrique (Sourcebooks – Poisoned Pen Press)

An Unforgiving Place by Claire Kells (Crooked Lane Books)

Behind the Lie by Emilya Naymark (Crooked Lane Books)

Secrets Typed in Blood by Stephen Spotswood (Knopf Doubleday Publishing – Doubleday)

THE LILIAN JACKSON BRAUN MEMORIAL AWARD:  Buried in a Good Book by Tamara Berry (Sourcebooks – Poisoned Pen Press)

Also nominated:

The Shadow of Memory by Connie Berry (Crooked Lane Books)

Smile Beach Murder by Alicia Bessette (Penguin Random House – Berkley)

Desert Getaway by Michael Craft (Brash Books)

The Marlow Murder Club by Robert Thorogood (Sourcebooks – Poisoned Pen Press)

GRAND MASTER

Michael Connelly

Joanne Fluke

RAVEN AWARD

Crime Writers of Color

Eddie Muller for Noir Alley and The Noir Foundation

ELLERY QUEEN AWARD

The Strand Magazine

         Related StoriesShort and SweetThrills GaloreAgatha Accolades 

Mystery Melange

The Los Angeles Times revealed the winners of the 2022 Book Prizes. Alex Segura won the Mystery/Thriller category with his novel, Secret Identity. The other finalists in that category were We Lie Here: A Thriller by Rachel Howzell Hall; Back to the Garden by Laurie R. King; All That's Left Unsaid: A Novel by Tracey Lien; and The Cartographers: A Novel by Peng Shepherd.

The longlist was announced for Theakston's Old Peculiar Crime Novel of the Year 2023. The winner of the prestigious award will be announced at the opening night of the Theakston Old Peculier Crime Writing Festival (July 20), which this year celebrates its 20th anniversary. To mark the occasion, for the first time the longlist includes twenty outstanding authors, rather than the traditional eighteen, competing for the UK and Ireland’s most coveted crime fiction writing Award. Members of the general public will now be able to vote on the longlisted titles, from which a shortlist of of six titles will comprise the shortlist. Voting closes on Thursday, May 18. (HT to Shots Magazine)

Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine announced the winners of the 2022 EQMM Readers Award. W. Edward Blain’s story, "The Secret Sharer," took first place; second place went to Doug Allyn, a ten-time first-place winner of the award, for his story, “Blind Baseball"; and third place was won by Anna Scotti for "Schrödinger, Cat."

The longlist was also announced for the 2023 Margery Allingham Short Mystery Competition, sponsored by the Crime Writers Association and the Margery Allingham Society. A shortlist culled from the twelve longlisted stories will be revealed online in early May, with the ultimate winner crowned at CrimeFest in Bristol on Friday 12 May.

Sisters in Crime has partnered with the Innocence Project to raise $35,000 to "restore freedom for the innocent, transform the systems responsible for their unjust incarceration, and advance the innocence movement." As of January 2020, the Innocence Project has documented over 375 DNA exonerations in the United States. Twenty-one of these exonerees had previously been sentenced to death. The auction will take place from May 18-21, but you can get a sneak preview of all the items that are up for grabs, courtesy of such authors as Lee Child, Michael Connelly, Laurie R. King, Sara Paretsky. and many more.

After being discontinued in the 1980s, Penguin Modern Classics announced it will be reviving its crime and espionage series in summer 2023 with titles by the likes of John le Carré, Josephine Tey, and Chester Himes, published with classic “bottle-green” jackets. The series, to be published in 10-book tranches, will be curated by author and Penguin Press publishing director, Simon Winder. The publisher said the revival of Penguin Crime and Espionage “has seen Simon dig deep into the archives, reading hundreds of books to determine which of our existing titles should make the list, and which titles, previously not published by Penguin, should have been included years ago."

Jam Bookshop in Hackney, London, which opened just last year, is hosting an exhibition of art paying tribute to fictional TV detective Columbo, after soliciting drawings through social media. Just One More Thing, honoring the popular detective brought to life on screen by the late Peter Falk, opens on May 4th, 2023 and runs until May 30th at the independent shop. There's more information here, as well as a couple of the illustrations. (HT to Elizabeth Foxwell at The Bunburyist blog)

This week's crime poem at the 5-2 weekly is "Peterborough Murder Mystery" by William Doreski.

In the Q&A roundup, Shots Magazine had an interview with Teresa Driscoll about her new novel, Tell Me Lies; Dennis Lehane chatted with CrimeReads about his latest novel, Small Mercies and its topics of Boston, busing, and the summer of '74; and Writers Who Kill had an Interview with Annette Dashoffy about her latest novel, Helpless.

         Related StoriesMystery Melange 

Author R&R With Margaret Fenton

Margaret Fenton was born in Florence, Alabama, and grew up on the Mississippi Gulf Coast in Ocean Springs. She received her B.A. in English from the Newcomb College of Tulane University in New Orleans, and her Master of Social Work from Tulane. She worked in Children's Mental Health for fourteen years before becoming a writer. Hence, her work tends to reflect her interest in social causes and mental health, especially where kids are concerned. She has been a planning coordinator of the mystery conference, Murder in the Magic City, since its inception in 2003. Margaret lives in the Birmingham suburb of Hoover with her husband, a retired software developer, and their three adorable Papillons.

Margaret's series featuring child welfare social worker, Claire Conover, includes Little Lamb Lost, Little Girl Gone, and the most recent installment, Little White Lies, in which the office of Black mayoral candidate, Dr. Marcus Freedman, is bombed. While Marcus is found safe, his campaign manager, Jason O'Dell, is discovered dead in the rubble. Claire's office gets a call about Jason's daughter, Maddie, who was left in daycare and becomes Claire's latest charge as she investigates what happened.

There are more questions than answers when it's revealed that Jason O’Dell was living under an assumed name. He's actually Jason Alsbrook, son of prominent local mine owner, James Alsbrook, whose mining company has an unseemly notoriety for having the most mining accidents and deaths in Alabama. Not surprisingly, there are many people who would wish harm to him and to his family. But who would’ve acted on that hatred?

As she works to keep little Maddie safe and find out who would’ve harmed Jason—and why—Claire uncovers a complex web of deception, secrets, and lies. While she struggles to piece together this dangerous puzzle, Claire weathers the storms in her personal life that threaten to rip apart everything Claire holds dear. In the end, will all the little white lies come with a big cost?

Margaret Fenton stops by In Reference to Murder to talk about her writing:

 

Hi everyone! My name is Margaret Fenton and I write the Little social work mysteries published by Aakenbaaken and Kent.  Three books are out in the series so far: LITTLE LAMB LOST, LITTLE GIRL GONE, and LITTLE WHITE LIES.  I’m working on number four, titled LITTLE BOY BLUE.  The books feature child welfare social worker Claire Conover, who is an investigator for the Jefferson County Department of Human Services in Birmingham, Alabama.  She’s been doing this job for several years and comes from a family of people who are service-minded, especially her father. 

First, a little about me, the author.  I have a Master’s Degree in Social Work from Tulane University, and for close to fifteen years I worked as a mental health consultant for the Department of Human Resources here in the real Jefferson County.  My team would evaluate children and families who came under the oversight of DHR, and offer them services including in-home family therapy, case management, psychiatric services, and more.  The goal was to try to keep them out of foster care. I worked very closely with all the child welfare social workers in the county at the time and became familiar with how things in that world worked.

From this short bio, I’m sure it’s not hard to see that my research into some aspects of the books comes from reality.  Claire’s character comes from several of the social workers I knew in real life, who were dedicated and determined to do the best for their clients. I got to see first-hand how the work affected their lives and families as well as some of the frustrations they faced.

That being said, I also break some of the rules.  In LITTLE GIRL GONE, Claire meets a 13-year old black girl named LaReesa Jones, and they develop a long-term relationship. She eventually becomes her foster mother, but in real life that would never be allowed.  Social workers are allowed to foster, but the child cannot be one that they have investigated or have had anything to do with professionally.  LaReesa is a culmination of all of the resilient kids I worked with over the years. Kids who have faced so much strife and stress and somehow manage to succeed, even with some bumps along the way.

Most of my characters are based on real people. There is a romance that develops when Claire meets Grant Summerville in LITTLE LAMB LOST.  He’s a very tall, very cute man who becomes Claire’s boyfriend.  Oh, but then there’s Kirk Mahoney, the sexy bad-boy reporter from the News. Claire is not allowed to share any information with him about any of her cases, but that doesn’t stop him from asking. Again and again.  Both Grant and Kirk are based on different sides of my husband’s personality. He likes to guess which ones.

Thank you for allowing me to share all this with you, and I hope you’ll check out the books!

 

You can find out more about Margaret Fenton via her website and follow her on Facebook, Twitter, and Goodreads. Little White Lies is available in digital and print editions via all major online booksellers.

          

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

Amazon Studios has acquired Brian Otting’s script, Never Too Old to Die, as a starring vehicle for Sylvester Stallone. The action comedy features a mysterious murder within a retirement home for spies that sparks a Cold War hero’s personal mission to find the assassin living among them. This will be the first project falling under Stallone’s multi-year, first-look deal with Amazon Studios, an agreement that will have Stallone write, direct, produce and star in both scripted and unscripted TV and film projects for the studio.

When Justin Lin was unable to return to direct the penultimate installment, Fast X, in the long-running Fast & Furious action franchise, Louis Leterrier came aboard for directing duties. Now it appears he will also helm the franchise's 11th and final installment in that series. Although not much is known about the script for the final film, the franchise is known for pitting street racers and spies against assorted criminal elements, and the tenth film will pick up with globe-trotting street racer Dominic Toretto (Vin Diesel) and his crew, as they look to fend off the pair of big bads that are out for them — the cyberterrorist Cipher (Charlize Theron) and her mysterious cohort, Dante (Jason Momoa) — with the help of new friend, Tess (Brie Larson).

Scottish actor James McAvoy and Blumhouse Productions are re-teaming for a remake of the Danish thriller, Speak No Evil, with James Watkins (The Woman in Black) set to direct from his script. Universal has set a theatrical release of Aug. 9, 2024. In the original 2022 movie, a Danish family visits a Dutch family they met on a holiday, but what was supposed to be an idyllic weekend slowly starts unraveling as the Danes try to stay polite in the face of unpleasantness.

Cassady McClincy, Dempsey Bryk, Lucy Walters, and Royce Johnson are set to lead The Snare, an indie dramatic thriller marking the feature directorial debut of Merlin Camozzi. The film centers around Dani (McClincy), a straight-A student from the wrong side of the tracks, who has worked toward an academic scholarship for years. When she’s busted with a small amount of drugs, the police pressure her to become an informant, forcing her to choose between the people she most loves and the future she’s worked so hard to create.

Patriot Pictures and XYZ Films have tapped Wayward Entertainment to release the action-thriller, God Is A Bullet from director Nick Cassavetes, in June of this year. The film follows detective Bob Hightower (Nikolaj Coster-Waldau), who finds his ex-wife murdered and his daughter kidnapped by an insidious cult. Hightower takes matters into his own hands and infiltrates the secretive cult to try to save his daughter. With the help of the cult’s only female victim escapee, Case Hardin (Maika Monroe), Hightower and Hardin go down the rabbit hole with The Ferryman (Jamie Foxx) to save his child and find closure for Hardin from the cult – and its maniacal leader (Karl Glusman). The project is inspired by true events and based on the novel of the same name written by Boston Teran.

TELEVISION/STREAMING

Bret Easton Ellis’s The Shards, which is both a podcast and novel, is in the works at HBO as a drama series. The Shards is set in 1981 and tracks a group of privileged Los Angeles high school friends as a serial killer strikes across the city. The podcast dropped last year on Ellis’s Patreon, and Knopf published the book in January of this year.

A teaser trailer and poster were unveiled for the eight-part psychological thriller, The Clearing, the first scripted Australian Original series from Disney+. The project is based on the best-selling crime thriller, In The Clearing by author J.P. Pomare, and follows the nightmares of a cult and a woman who’s forced to face the demons from her past in order to stop the kidnapping and coercion of innocent children in the future. Teresa Palmer, Miranda Otto, and Guy Pearce lead the cast.

ABC has renewed the drama series, Will Trent, which is based on the novels by Karin Slaughter, for a second season. The series follows Special Agent Will Trent (Ramón Rodríguez) of the Georgia Bureau of Investigations. As a child, Trent was abandoned and was forced to endure a harsh coming-of-age in Atlanta's overwhelmed foster care system. Now that he is in a position to make a difference, Trent is determined to use his unique point of view to make sure no one is abandoned like he was.

Foxtel has announced a new eight-part mystery thriller, High Country, in partnership with Screen Australia, VicScreen, and Curio Pictures. The series will be headlined by Leah Purcell, with Aaron Penderson, Sara Wiseman, and Ian McElhinney also in the cast. Purcell will play Andrea Whitford, a detective who is transferred to the Victorian High Country. Once there, she is thrust into the baffling mystery of five missing persons who have vanished into the wilderness, and she discovers a complex web involving murder, deceit, and revenge.

As expected, ABC has renewed The Rookie for its sixth season, during which the series will reach its 100th episode. The Rookie is a police procedural crime drama created by Alexi Hawley and follows John Nolan (Nathan Fillion), a man in his forties, who becomes the oldest rookie at the Los Angeles Police Department.

PODCASTS/VIDEO/RADIO/AUDIO

The latest Mysteryrat's Maze Podcast episode features the prologue and first chapter of With a Twist by Cathi Stoler, as read by actors Ariel Linn and Sean Hopper.

NPR's Steve Inskeep interviewed David Grann about his retelling of the dramatic Wager Mutiny of 1741, The Wager, which Grann calls "a parable for our own turbulent modern times." The book is being adapted into a movie by Leonardo DiCaprio and Martin Scorsese, the same team who are also bringing another of Grann's historical mysteries to the screen, Killers of the Flower Moon: The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI.

Crime Time FM featured the first of a series of podcast episodes featuring the Gwyl Crime Cymru Festival, with an introduction to the festival and a chat with authors, committee members, and organizers about upcoming events, including a peek at the National Library of Wales tour.

Stuart Neville joined Luca Veste on Two Crime Writers and a Microphone to talk about his early days growing up in a small town in Northern Ireland, becoming passionate about storytelling at a young age, and how music became an important part of his life.

It Was a Dark and Stormy Book Club continued its series featuring Agatha Award Nominees, including Jennifer Chow who is nominated for her book, Death By Bubble Tea, for Best Contemporary Novel; Rob Osler, who is nominated for a Best First Novel for his book, Devil's Chew Toy; and Harini Nagendra who is nominated for a Best First Novel for her book, The Bangladore Detective's Club.

The latest episode of the Crime Cafe podcast featured Debbi Mack's interview with the first female Bond novelist, Kim Sherwood.

Read or Dead hosts, Katie McLain Horner and Kendra Winchester, discussed YA mystery novels.

         Related StoriesMedia Murder for Monday 

Crime Writers Association 2023 Dagger Awards Longlists

 
 



 
The Crime Writers Association announced the Dagger Longlists (with the exception of the Debut Dagger longlist, which will be posted online on April 26). Shortlists in all Dagger categories will be announced Friday, May 12, at CrimeFest 2023 in Bristol, England, with the winners revealed at the Awards Dinner to be held on Thursday, July 6, at the Leonardo Royal London City Hotel on Cooper’s Row in London. (HT to The Rap Sheet)


 

Diamond Dagger (previously announced)

Walter Mosley

Gold Dagger

Oxblood, by Tom Benn (Bloomsbury)
Shoot the Moonlight Out, by William Boyle (No Exit Press)
The Ink Black Heart, by Robert Galbraith (Sphere)
The Kingdoms of Savannah, by George Dawes Green (Headline)
The Lost Man of Bombay, by Vaseem Khan (Hodder & Stoughton)
The Bookseller of Inverness, by S.G. MacLean (Quercus)
A Killing in November, by Simon Mason (Riverrun)
The Clockwork Girl, by Anna Mazzola (Orion)
The Winter Guest, by W.C. Ryan (Zaffre)
A Killing Rain, by Faye Snowden (Flame Tree Press)
The Bone Road, by N.E. Solomons (Polygon)
The Silent Brother, by Simon Van der Velde (Northodox Press)

Ian Fleming Steel Dagger

Opera, by Julie Anderson (Claret Press)
A Kiss After Dying, by Ashok Banker (Michael Joseph)
Take Your Breath Away, by Linwood Barclay (HQ)
Seventeen, by John Brownlow (Hodder & Stoughton)
The Match, by Harlan Coben (Century)
The Botanist, by M.W. Craven (Constable)
Daisy Darker, by Alice Feeney (PanMacMillan)
The Ink Black Heart, by Robert Galbraith (Sphere)
Alias Emma, by Ava Glass (Century)
A Loyal Traitor, by Tim Glister (Point Blank)
Notes on an Execution, by Danya Kukafka (Phoenix)
May God Forgive, by Alan Parks (Canongate)

John Creasey (New Blood) Dagger

A Good Day to Die, by Amen Alonge (Quercus)
Better the Blood, by Michael Bennett (Simon & Schuster UK)
Breaking, by Amanda Cassidy (Canelo)
Don’t Know Tough, by Eli Cranor (Headline)
The Local, by Joey Hartstone (Pushkin Vertigo)
The Truth Will Out, by Rosemary Hennigan (Orion)
London in Black, by Jack Lutz (Pushkin Vertigo)
Dirt Town, by Hayley Scrivenor (Macmillan)
No Country for Girls, by Emma Styles (Sphere)
Nobody But Us, by Laure Van Rensburg (Michael Joseph)
Outback, by Patricia Wolf (Embla)
The Partisan, by Patrick Worrall (Bantam Press)

Historical Dagger

The Darkest Sin, by D.V. Bishop (Macmillan)
Blackstone Fell, by Martin Edwards (Head of Zeus/Aries)
Two Storm Wood, by Philip Gray (Harvill Secker)
The Lost Diary of Samuel Pepys, by Jack Jewers (Moonflower)
The Bookseller of Inverness, by S.G. MacLean (Quercus)
The Clockwork Girl, by Anna Mazzola (Orion)
Death at the Dolphin, by Gretta Mulrooney (Joffe)
The Homes, by J.B. Mylet (Viper)
The Bangalore Detectives Club, by Harini Nagendra (Constable)
Blue Water, by Leonora Nattrass (Viper)
Hear No Evil, by Sarah Smith (Two Roads)
The Mushroom Tree Mystery, by Ovidia Yu (Constable)

ALCS Gold Dagger for Non-Fiction

The Poisonous Solicitor: The True Story of a 1920s Murder Mystery, by Stephen Bates (Icon)
Dead in the Water: Murder and Fraud in the World’s Most Secretive Industry, by Matthew Campbell and Kit Chellel (Atlantic)
What We Fear Most: Reflections on a Life in Forensic Psychiatry, by Ben Cave (Seven Dials)
Scandal at Dolphin Square: A Notorious History, by Simon Danczuk and Daniel Smith (The History Press)
The Life of Crime: Detecting the History of Mysteries and their Creators, by Martin Edwards (Collins Crime Club)
Unlawful Killings: Life, Love and Murder: Trials at the Old Bailey, by Wendy Joseph (Doubleday)
Tremors in the Blood: Murder, Obsession and the Birth of the Lie Detector, by Amit Katwala (Mudlark)
To Hunt a Killer: How I Brought Melanie Road’s Murderer to Justice, by Julie Mackay and Robert Murphy (Harper Element)
The Real Special Relationship: The True Story of How the British and U.S. Secret Services Work Together, by Michael Smith (Simon & Schuster)
The Life Inside: A Memoir of Prison, Family and Learning to Be Free, by Andy West (Picador)
About A Son: A Murder and A Father’s Search for Truth, by David Whitehouse (Phoenix)
Stitched Up: Stories of Life and Death from a Prison Doctor, by Shahed Yousaf (Bantam Press)

Crime Fiction in Translation Dagger

Good Reasons to Die, by Morgan Audic, translated by Sam Taylor (Mountain Leopard Press)
The Red Notebook, by Michel Bussi, translated by Vineet Lal (Weidenfeld & Nicolson)
Even the Darkest Night, by Javier Cercas, translated by Anne McLean (MacLehose Press)
Bad Kids, by Zijin Chen, translated by Michelle Deeter (Pushkin Vertigo)
Impossible, by Erri De Luca, translated by N.S. Thompson (Mountain Leopard Press)
Femicide, by Pascal Engman, translated by Michael Gallagher (Legend Press)
The Bleeding, by Johana Gustawsson, translated by David Warriner (Orenda)
The Corpse Flower, by Anne Mette Hancock, translated by Tara Chace (Swift Press)
The Anomaly, by Hervé Le Tellier, translated by Adriana Hunter (Michael Joseph)
The Dark Flood, by Deon Meyer, translated K.L. Seggers (Hodder & Stoughton)
The Tattoo Murder, by Akimitsu Takagi,translated by Deborah Boehm (Pushkin Vertigo)
Lady Joker, by Kaoru Takamura, translated by Allison Markin Powell and Marie Iida (Baskerville)

Short Story Dagger

“The Disappearance,” by Leigh Bardugo (from Marple; HarperCollins)
“The Tears of Venus,” by Victoria Dowd and Delilah Dowd (from Unlocked; The D20 Authors)
“Strawberry Moon,” by John Grisham (from Sparring Partners, by John Grisham; Hodder & Stoughton)
“Clout Chaser,” by Rachel Howzell Hall (from The Perfect Crime, edited by Vaseem Khan and Maxim Jakubowski; HarperCollins)
“The Beautiful Game,” by Sanjida Kay (from The Perfect Crime)
“Death in Darjeeling,” by Vaseem Khan (from The Perfect Crime)
“Just One More,” by Laura Lippman (from Seasonal Work and Other Killer Stories, by Laura Lippman; Faber and Faber)
“Paradise Lost,” by Abir Mukherjee (from The Perfect Crime)
“Auld Bride,” by Judith O’Reilly (from Gone, edited by Stephen J. Golds; Red Dog Press)
“Runaway Blues,” by C.J. Tudor (from A Sliver of Darkness, by C.J. Tudor; Michael Joseph)
“The Lake House,” by Ferdinand von Schirach (from Punishment, by Ferdinand von Schirach, translated by Katharina Hall; Baskerville)
“Cast a Long Shadow,” by Hazell Ward Cast (from Cast a Long Shadow, edited by Katherine Stansfield and Caroline; Honno Welsh Women’s Press)



Publishers’ Dagger




Bitter Lemon Press
Bookouture (Hachette)
Canelo
Harper Fiction (HarperCollins)
Hodder & Stoughton (Hachette)
Mantle (PanMacmillan)
Michael Joseph (Penguin Random House)
Raven (Bloomsbury)
Pushkin Vertigo (Pushkin Press)
Quercus (Hachette)
Simon & Schuster
Viper (Profile Books)




Dagger in the Library




Ben Aaronovitch
Sophie Hannah
Mick Herron
Erin Kelly
Angela Marsons
Brian McGilloway
Tim Weaver



          

Canadian Criminal Citations

The Crime Writers of Canada Awards of Excellence released the 2023 SHORTLISTS. The Winners will be announced Thursday, 25 May 2023. Best of luck to all!

Best Crime Novel - sponsored by Rakuten Kobo, with a $1000 prize

Linwood Barclay, Take Your Breath Away,  William Morrow
Anthony Bidulka, Going to Beautiful, Stonehouse Publishing
Nicole Lundrigan, An Unthinkable Thing, Viking Canada
Catherine McKenzie, Please Join Us, Simon & Schuster Canada
Shelly Sanders, Daughters of the Occupation, HarperCollins Canada

 

Best Crime First Novel - sponsored by Melodie Campbell, with a $1000 prize

T. Lawrence Davis, The Pale Horse , Friesen Press
Bill Edwards, Killer Time , Friesen Press
Adam Frost, The Damned Lovely , Down and Out Books
Sam Shelstad, Citizens of Light , TouchWood Editions
M.Z. Urlocker, The Man from Mittelwerk , Inkshares, Inc.

 

The Howard Engel Award for Best Crime Novel Set in Canada - sponsored by Charlotte Engel and CWC, with a $500 prize

A. J. Devlin, Five Moves of Doom, NeWest Press
S. M. Freedman, Blood Atonement, Dundurn Press
Joanne Jackson, A Snake in the Raspberry Patch, Stonehouse Publishing
Maureen Jennings, Cold Snap , Cormorant Books
Amy Tector, The Foulest Things , Keylight Books

 

The Whodunit Award for Best Traditional Mystery - sponsored by Jane Doe, with a $500 prize

Alice Bienia, Knight in the Museum , Cairn Press
Anne Emery, Fenian Street, ECW Press
Thomas King, Deep House, HarperCollins Canada
Mary Jane Maffini, Death Plans a Perfect Trip, Beyond the Page
Iona Whishaw, Framed in Fire, Touchwood Editions

 

Best Crime Novella - sponsored by Mystery Magazine, with a $200 prize

M.H. Callway, Amdur's Ghost, In the Spirit of 13,Carrick Publishing
Hilary Davidson, Dangerous to Know, A Grifter's Song Vol. 8, Down & Out Books
Julie Hiner, Dead End Track , Julie Hiner
Matt Hughes, The Emir's Falcon, Shadowpaw Press Premiere
Alexis Stefanovich-Thomson, The Man Who Went Down Under, Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazines

 

Best Crime Short Story - sponsored by Mystery Magazine, with a $300 prize

Craig H. Bowlsby, The Girl Who Was Only Three Quarters Dead, Mystery Magazine
M.H. Callway, Must Love Dogs - or You're Gone, Red Dog Press
Blair Keetch, To Catch a Kumiho, In the Spirit of 13, Carrick Publishing
Sylvia Maultash Warsh, The Natural Order of Things, Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine
Donalee Moulton, Swan Song, Cold Canadian Crime, Crime Writers of Canada

 

Best French Crime Book (Fiction and Nonfiction)

Geneviève Blouin, Le Mouroir des anges , Éditions Alire
Isabelle Lafortune, Chaîne de glace, Éditions XYZ
Guillaume Morrissette, Le dernier manège , Saint-Jean éditeur
Suzan Payne, Modus operandi , Éditions Perce-Neige
Richard Ste-Marie, Monsieur Hämmerli, Éditions Alire

 

Best Juvenile or YA Crime Book (Fiction and Nonfiction) - sponsored by Shaftesbury, with a $500 prize

Natasha Deen, Lark Steals the Show , Orca Book Publisher
Marthe Jocelyn, Aggie Morton Mystery Queen: The Seaside Corpse , Tundra Books
H.N. Khan, Wrong Side of the Court , Penguin Teen
Wesley King, Butt Sandwich & Tree , Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers
Jo Treggiari, Heartbreak Homes , Nimbus Publishing Limited

 

The Brass Knuckles Award for Best Nonfiction Crime Book - sponsored by David Reid Simpson Law Firm, Hamilton, with a $300 prize

Michael Arntfield, How to Solve a Cold Case: And Everything Else You Wanted to Know About Catching Killers, HarperCollins Canada
Sharon Anne Cook and Margaret Carson, The Castleton Massacre, Dundurn Press Ltd.
Harley Rustad, Lost in the Valley of Death, Knopf Canada - Penguin Random House Canada
Rosemary Sullivan, The Betrayal of Anne Frank: A Cold Case Investigation, HarperCollins Canada
Sarah Weinman, Scoundrel, Knopf Canada - Penguin Random House Canada

 

The Award for Best Unpublished Manuscript - sponsored by ECW Press, with a $500 prize

Jan Garnett, No Safe House
Mary Keenan, Snowed
Joanne Kormylo, Two Knots
Joel Nedecky, The Broken Detective
Michael Pennock, The Peaks

          

Mystery Melange

The Florida Book Awards, coordinated by the Florida State University Libraries, announced winners for "the nation’s most comprehensive state book awards program," established in 2006 to celebrate the best of Florida literature. Winning authors from across the state will be honored at the annual awards banquet Thursday, April 20. The Popular Fiction category included three crime themed titles, the Gold Winner, Jenna Kernan, for The Ex-Wives (Bookouture); the Silver Winner, Tamatha Cain for Song of the Chimney Sweep (Orange Blossom Publishing); and the Bronze Winner, Lucy Burdette, aka Roberta Isleib, for A Dish to Die For (Crooked Lane Books).

Another Dallas Noir At The Bar is coming to The Wild Detectives on Sunday, April 23. Those currently scheduled to read from their crime novels and stories include Trang Vu, Jim Nesbitt, Kathleen Kent, Harry Hunsicker, Sean C. Wright Neeley, Rod Davis, Tim Bryant, Opalina Salas, Kevin R. Tipple, and Scott Montgomery. Admission is free and there will be door prizes, too.

The Friends of The Ferguson Library and the Mystery Writers of America/NY chapter present CrimeCONN 2023, Connecticut’s one-day mystery writers' and lovers' conference, on May 6. This year, authors and crime experts will take stock of the the future of crime writing in this hybrid event, presented in person and via Zoom. Authors scheduled to participate include Reed Farrel Coleman, Vinnie O’Neil, Russ Colchamiro, Elizabeth Crowens, John Valeri, Kelley Ragland, Sarah Weinman, Dan Conaway, Kristin Sevick, Charles Salzberg, Mally Becker, Alex Segura, Gary Earl Ross, Rob Hart, Deborah Goodrich Royce, and Keynote Speaker, Joseph Finder.

Mystery Readers Journal has extended the deadline for its call for articles on Hobbies & Crafts in Mysteries to May 1, 2023. They're looking for articles (500-1,000 words), reviews (50-250 words), and author essays (500-1,000 words) about mysteries that focus on various aspects of crafts and hobbies. For more information, head on over to the Mystery Fanfare blog.

This week's crime poem at the 5-2 weekly is "Two Wrongs Making a Right" by Eric D. Goodman.

In the Q&A roundup, the New Zealand Herald spoke with Don Winslow, best-selling author of City of Dreams, about retiring from fiction writing for political activism; Indie Crime Scene chatted with Joshua Cohan, author of Past Imperfect, featuring private investigator Benjamin Gold; and Writers Who Kill interviewed Cordelia Rook about her Island Cozy mystery series.

         Related StoriesMystery MelangeMedia Murder for Monday 

Author R&R with Charles Salzberg

Charles Salzberg is a novelist, a journalist, and an acclaimed writing instructor. He has been a Visiting Professor at the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications at Syracuse University, and has taught writing at Sarah Lawrence College, Hunter College, the Writer's Voice, and the New York Writers Workshop, where he is a Founding Member. He is a consulting editor at the webzine Ducts.org and co-host, with Jonathan Kravetz, of the reading series, Trumpet Fiction, at KGB in New York City. His freelance work has appeared in such publications as Esquire, New York Magazine, GQ, Elle, Redbook, Ladies Home Journal, The New York Times Arts and Leisure section, The New York Times Book Review, and the Los Angeles Times Book Review. He is the author of the Henry Swann detective series, including Swann's Last Song, which was nominated for a Shamus Award for Best First PI Novel, and the upcoming Swann's Lake of Despair.

His new novel, Man on the Run, follows master burglar, Francis Hoyt, who walked away from his arraignment in a Connecticut courtroom and is now a fugitive who has to figure out what he’s going to do with the rest of his life. So he heads west to Los Angeles, where he meets Dakota, a young true crime podcaster who happens to be doing a series on Hoyt. At the same time, he’s approached by a mysterious attorney who makes Hoyt an offer he can’t refuse: break into a "mob bank," and liberate the contents.

Charles Salzberg stops by In Reference to Murder to talk about researching and writing the book:

 

When I started writing for magazines, I had no journalism background other than being a big fan of magazines like Esquire, GQ, New Times and The New Yorker, plus three months working in the mailroom at New York magazine.

I learned pretty quick there are essentially two different approaches to research. The first, embodied by my friend Tom, is to do as much research as possible on a subject before you start the interviewing process. Tom reasoned that knowing as much about a subject as possible will help the interview process, by opening up subjects for discussion you might otherwise miss. But for me, there was a downside to that approach: I was afraid if I knew too much about a subject, I might not ask the questions that might need to be asked, because I already knew the answers. Instead, I treated interviews more like organic conversations, uncovering all kinds of information and it encouraged me to ask questions I might otherwise not think to ask. It also resulted in me paying more attention to those answers, which resulted in sometimes having the conversation head in unexpected directions. The other looming concern was that to rely too much on information already in public domain, is potentially tricky because not all information out there is true. I was also afraid that if I knew all the answers before even asking the questions, I’d get lazy or, even worse, bored.

There was another potential problem inherent in researching and that is it’s often hard to know when to stop, which means you often wind up with so much research that when it comes time to write, you’re paralyzed. How much information does the reader need to know? Is it possible if I know too much about a subject that I’ll never get out of the weeds, which means never actually writing. Will I go down too many rabbit holes, much of what I find out totally unnecessary? Will all this research result in asphyxiation by information?

In journalism, it’s extremely important to get all the facts right—for obvious reasons. But in fiction, it’s just as important. There’s nothing that’ll turn a reader off more than finding inaccuracies, even those as simple as having a character drive down a one-way street in the wrong direction. And if you have any thoughts about getting away with inaccuracies, forget about it, because inevitably there’ll be some reader out there (usually more than one), who’ll catch you red-handed.

My latest novel, Man on the Run, required me to not only get inside the mind of Francis Hoyt, a master burglar, but it also meant I had to take a crash course in how to burgle a house, and how to elude alarm systems. Hoyt was a character in an earlier book, Second Story Man. He sprung from an article I read in The New Yorker way back in 2004. “The Silver Thief” chronicled the career of master burglar Blane Nordahl. For some reason, that article stayed with me and when, almost fifteen years later, I decided to do a book about what I think of as America’s obsession with winning, with being the best, sometimes at any cost, I decided to create a master burglar who is obsessed with being the best in his field. And so, I began researching everything I could on burglars. As a result of that research, I discovered another legendary second story man, Alan Golder, known as “The Dinnertime Bandit.” He only robbed houses at dinnertime, when he knew the chances were good that everyone was in the house, which meant all the valuables were upstairs, waiting to be plucked.

I never intended to revisit Francis Hoyt, but after completing the novel I was working on at the time, Canary in the Coal Mine, I was looking for my next project. For some reason, Francis Hoyt kept popping up. What, I wondered, happens to Hoyt after Second Story Man ends? Having escaped from the authorities, he’s on the lam. Where would he go? What would he do next? And so, from that curiosity arose Man on the Run.

During the pandemic, I discovered true crime podcasts. I listened to dozens of them, many the result of deep-dive investigations. It sparked an idea: What if a true crime podcaster decided to do a series on Francis Hoyt? And what if he found out about it? What would he do? And so, another character entered the picture: Dakota Richards, a former newspaper reporter who starts her own true crime podcast.

I knew nothing about the ins and outs of podcasting, so I did what I’d do as a journalist: I contacted a podcaster, Lauren Bright Pacheco, and she was happy to cooperate. I peppered her with dozens of questions about the ins and outs of podcasting. What equipment would my character need? Did she work alone? What editing skills would she require? How do podcasts make money? Lauren was happy to answer all my questions.

At one point, near the end of the novel, I needed a particular location where Hoyt could get rid of a hot car. I’ve been to L.A. many times, but that isn’t the kind of information I ever picked up, so I called up my friend, Janet, told her what I was looking for, and she came through with the perfect spot.

Generally speaking, because I’m one of those annoying people who doesn’t outline plots, I have no idea where I’m going when I sit down to write. As a result, I tend to research on the fly. When I reach a point where I need to do research, I’ll stop and do it.

 

You can learn more about Charles Salzberg via his website and follow him on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube. Man on the Run is now available from Down & Out Books and via all major booksellers.

          

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

Nonagenarian director Clint Eastwood has set the thriller, Juror #2, as his next film, with Nicholas Hoult and Toni Collette in negotiations to star. While it isn’t official, sources also add that with schedules and budget figured, Warner Bros. (Eastwood’s longtime studio home) is close to officially greenlighting the film. The script hails from Jonathan Abrams and centers on a juror on a murder trial who realizes that he may have caused the victim’s death and must grapple with the dilemma of whether to manipulate the jury to save himself, or reveal the truth and turn himself in. Eastwood has hinted that this may be his last film, although there’s still a small chance that Eastwood decides to tackle another feature.

TELEVISION/STREAMING

Legendary Entertainment and Veritas Entertainment have struck a first-look television deal and set their first project together, an adaptation of a Lee Child short story, Ten Keys, which comes from Child's The Cocaine Chronicles anthology. It tells the story of the most dangerous cartel in Mexico that sends their mysterious enforcer only known by his alias, Octavian, to hunt down those who have stolen from them. When Octavian decides to kill his latest target and steal 10 kilos of cocaine from the cartel, he goes from being the hunter to being hunted for the first time in his life.

A Spy Among Friends, the story of British spies Kim Philby and Nicholas Elliott that stars Damian Lewis and Guy Pearce, recently premiered on MGM+. The series, which is produced by Sony Pictures Television, is based on Ben Macintyre’s eponymous book. Alexander Cary, who exec produced Lewis-fronted Homeland, created the A Spy Among Friends TV series. Cary and Lewis are now turning their attention to more Macintryre books for the small screen, and first up is an adaptation of The Spy and the Traitor: The Greatest Espionage Story of the Cold War. The book tells the story of Oleg Gordievsky, a former KGB colonel who became a bureau chief in London and was a double agent, providing information to the British secret intelligence service MI6.

In a competitive situation, Sherlock producer Hartswood Films has won the rights to adapt the Cold War magic thriller, The Warlock Effect, into a TV series. The debut novel, written by Jeremy Dyson and Andy Nyman, creators of the Ghost Stories theatre production, centers on Ludvik Weinschenk, a boy who escapes tyranny in Germany to become the most famous magician in 1950s Britain under the stage name Louis Warlock. His talent for deception attracts the attention of the British secret service and he is thrown into the world of espionage on a mission across

Warner Bros Television has acquired rights to Jesse Q. Sutanto’s latest novel, Vera Wong’s Unsolicited Advice for Murderers. Oprah Winfrey’s Harpo Films will develop the book for television with Mindy Kaling’s production company Kaling International. The novel follows Vera Wong, a lonely widow living in San Francisco’s Chinatown who wakes up one morning to find a dead body on the floor of her struggling tea shop. No one is more curious than a suspicious Chinese mother with time on her hands, so Vera decides to start her own investigation.

Amazon Studios is ramping up its production projects for both the large and small screens, including a reboot of Robocop, centering on the futuristic adventures of a Detroit police officer fatally wounded in the line of duty and transformed into a powerful cyborg, which is being talked about for both film and TV (with a TV show possibly first). Additionally, Amazon Studios is actively developing a TV series based on The Magnificent Seven, a remake of Akira Kurosawa’s Seven Samurai, and a Thomas Crown Affair reboot, likely a theatrical release.

NBC has renewed all six of its Dick Wolf-produced shows including the One Chicago franchise (Chicago Med; Chicago Fire; and Chicago P.D.) and the trio of Law & Order dramas (the mothership series; Law & Order: SVU; and Law & Order: Organized Crime) for the 2023-2024 season. All shows have received 22-episode orders except for Law & Order: Organized Crime which will be 13 episodes. In addition, Kelli Giddish is set to return as Amanda Rollins in both Law & Order: SVU and Law & Order: Organized Crime.

A trailer was released for True Detective: Night Country, the fourth installment of HBO’s crime anthology series, starring Jodie Foster and Kali Reis. 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 (Foster) and Evangeline Navarro (Reis) will have to confront the darkness they carry in themselves and dig into the haunted truths that lie buried under the eternal ice.

PODCASTS/VIDEO/RADIO/AUDIO

The latest episode of the Crime Cafe podcast features Debbi Mack's interview with crime writer Mark Schorr, who has worked as a bookstore manager, private investigator, nightclub bouncer, newspaper reporter, freelance writer, and is currently a licensed psychotherapist. He is an Edgar-nominated author of 11 mysteries, mystery thrillers, including a series about Red Diamond, Private Eye.

It Was a Dark and Stormy Book Club had Part III of their Agatha Nominee Interviews, this time featuring Nina Wachsman, nominated for a Best First Novel for her book, The Gallery of Beauties, and Martin Edwards. nominated for Best Non-Fiction for his book, The Life of Crime: Detecting the History of Mysteries and Their Creators.

On CRIMINAL MISCHIEF: The Art & Science of Crime Fiction, Dr. D.P. Lyle discussed autopsies to examine a corpse for evidence of the cause and manner of death, including toxicological (drugs and poisons), serology (blood), and any other ancillary testing the Medical Examiner deems necessary.

Two Crime Writers and a Microphone host, Luca Veste, welcomed Doug Johnstone to talk about his early days growing up in a small town; going to university to study physics; being a member of various bands; becoming a journalist; and how his love of writing jump-started his author career.

Crime Time FM's Paul Burke chatted with Callum McSorley about his new Glasgow-set crime novel, Squeaky Clean; Glasgow; humor in crime; what it's like when your mum see your novel in a bookshop.

Red Hot Chili Writers interviewed former cop turned crime writer Graham Bartlett; investigated the world's oldest police forces; and walked in the footsteps of Napoleon.

         Related StoriesMedia Murder for Monday