B.V. Lawson's Blog, page 76
February 21, 2022
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
The indie production company, Madison Wells, is developing a feature adaptation of State of Terror, the best-selling novel by former Secretary of State, U.S. Senator, and First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton, and New York Times best-selling novelist, Louise Penny. The high-stakes thriller of international intrigue follows novice Secretary of State Ellen Adams, who is unexpectedly brought into the administration by a newly-elected President, her political and personal adversary. Events soon erupt that sweep her into a world of global intrigue and diplomacy where the stakes could not be higher and the potential consequences, both personal and global, could not be greater. Both Clinton and Penny will serve as Executive Producers as well as consultants on the film, and HiddenLight Productions (founded by Hillary Clinton, Sam Branson and Chelsea Clinton) will produce.
Stampede Ventures has acquired the rights to Nick Schenk’s action spec script, Galahad, and is eyeing A-list directors for the first feature in a potential new franchise. The film will follow a badass ex-American special forces soldier who goes on a berserker, come-hell-or-high-water mission to avenge the death of an innocent woman. The quest will take him into the depths of modern American military supremacy and its sometimes awful shadow.
Jonathan Rhys Meyers and MyAnna Buring have signed on to star alongside Alec Baldwin in the hijacking action-thriller, 97 Minutes, from director, Timo Vuorensola (Iron Sky). The story centers on a hijacked 767 that will crash in ninety-seven minutes when its fuel runs out. Against the objections of NSA Deputy Toyin, NSA Director Hawkins (Baldwin) prepares to have the plane shot down before it does any catastrophic damage on the ground. The decision leaves the fate of the innocent passengers in the hands of one of the alleged hijackers on board who is an undercover Interpol agent — or is he? Meyers and Buring are playing passengers on the transatlantic flight, with Jo Martin, Michael Sirow, Pavan Grover, Anjul Nigam, Davor Tomic, Slavko Sobin, Luke J I Smith and Kasia Koleczek rounding out the cast.
Showtime and Paramount Pictures Home Entertainment have acquired U.S. distribution rights to the Tarik Saleh-directed action movie, The Contractor, starring Chris Pine and Ben Foster. The deal will see The Contractor released in a limited number of theaters in the U.S. by Paramount with a simultaneous PVOD release across platforms. Pine plays Special Forces Sgt. James Harper, who is involuntarily discharged from the Army and cut off from his pension. In debt, out of options, and desperate to provide for his family, Harper contracts with a private underground military force. When the very first assignment goes awry, the elite soldier finds himself caught in a dangerous conspiracy and on the run for his life.
TELEVISION/STREAMING SERVICES
20th Television has optioned Steve Almond’s forthcoming novel, All the Secrets of the World, to adapt as a television series. Jon Feldman (Monarch; Designated Survivor) will pen the adaptation and serve as showrunner. The book, described as "a sweeping social novel," opens in 1981 in Sacramento, where 13-year-old Lorena Saenz has just been paired with Jenny Stallworth for the science fair by a teacher hoping to unite two girls from starkly different worlds. The unlikely friendship they form will draw their families into a web of secrets and lies, one that sends Lorena on an unforgiving odyssey through the desert, past the gates of a religious cult in Mexico, and into the dark heart of America’s criminal justice system.
Hulu has acquired the rights to develop Adrian McKinty’s upcoming novel, The Island, as a limited series. The Island is described as an intense thriller that tells the story of a family trip that turns into a living nightmare. After a tragic accident, a young wife with her new husband and his two children find themselves being hunted by locals in harsh bushland. Her husband doesn’t really believe in her, the kids don’t trust her, and the locals want to kill her. But Heather has been underestimated most of her life and she knows she is capable of bringing this family together and becoming the mother her children need, even if it means doing terrible things to keep them all alive.
FX, Lee Daniels, and 20th Television are taking another stab at adapting Sam Greenlee’s spy novel, The Spook Who Sat By The Door, as a TV series after a pilot, written by Leigh Dana Jackson and directed by Gerard McMurray, did not go forward at the network. "We are working on a redeveloping of it," FX Entertainment President Eric Schrier told Deadline. The Spook Who Sat By The Door tells the fictional story of Dan Freeman, a patriot and Vietnam vet, who is recruited as the only Black operative in the CIA as part of an affirmative-action program in the late 1960s. After a very competitive selection process, he trains in high-level combat and espionage. However, following this arduous training, this model recruit is rewarded with a post in the reprographics (aka photocopying) department, "left by the door" as a token of the CIA’s "racial equality." The FX pilot starred Y’lan Noel, Christina Jackson, Lucas Till, Nafessa Williams, Nathan Darrow, and Tom Irwin.
Siân Brooke is set to lead the BBC One police thriller, Blue Lights, from the creators of The Salisbury Poisonings, with filming kicking off in Belfast. Brooke will play Grace and be joined by The Dig’s Katherine Devlin and newcomer Nathan Braniff as three rookie police officers in the Northern Irish capital. Grace made the decision in her 40s to leave her steady job and join the force, but just a few weeks into her role, she’s making so many mistakes, her decision no longer looks like a winning bet. Brooke is best known for her roles as Sherlock Holmes’s evil sister, Eurus, in the BBC’s Sherlock, and as disgraced Metropolitan Police Commissioner Cressida Dick in ITV’s Stephen.
Gemma Arterton has joined the cast of J Blakeson’s upcoming Disney+ heist series, Culprits, alongside Eddie Izzard, Kirby Howell-Baptiste, Niamh Algar, Kamel El Basha, Tara Abboud, Ned Dennehy, and Kevin Vidal. Arterton will play Dianne, a member of a heist crew which is being targeted one-by-one by a killer after each went their separate ways. Nathan Stewart-Jarrett was revealed in the lead role of Joe when the show was announced as one of Disney/Star’s debut UK originals last year.
Circle Network, the country lifestyle streaming outlet best known as the home of the Grand Ole Opry, will air the six seasons of the Western drama, Longmire, starting tomorrow. The crime drama, set in rural Wyoming and based on the novels by Craig Johnson, debuts on Circle at 10 PM ET/PT, 9 CT with season one, and consecutive episodes will air weekdays. Longmire follows the work of recent widower, Sheriff Walt Longmire, who works to investigate crimes in his town, assisted by staff, friends, and his daughter. The series stars Robert Taylor, Katee Sackhoff, Lou Diamond Phillips, Cassidy Freeman, and Adam Bartley.
PODCASTS/VIDEO/RADIO/AUDIO
Listening to the Dead is back with a new season, discussing the forensics behind the Great Train Robbery. In a world first, Listening to the Dead brings together the son of the robbery's mastermind, Bruce Reynolds, with a fingerprint expert who worked on the case back in 1963.
Yasmin Ango was interviewed by Robert Justice onabout her debut novel, Her Name is Knight, featuring an elite assassin heroine on a mission to topple a human trafficking ring and avenge her family.
The latest episode of the Crime Cafe podcast featured Debbi Mack's interview with crime writer, Robert McCaw, about his Hawaiian crime thriller series.
On Wrong Place Write Crime, guest host John A. Hoda interviewed the Ghanaian-American former physician-turned crime author, Kwei Quartey, about his award-winning series, one featuring police detective, Darko Dawson, and another with private eye Emma Djan.
My Favorite Detective Stories welcomed Alafair Burke, crime novelist, professor of law, and legal commentator. She is a New York Times bestselling author of 18 crime novels, including a series featuring NYPD Detective Ellie Hatcher, and another with Portland, Oregon, prosecutor Samantha Kincaid.
On the latest Writers Detective Bureau, Detective Adam Richardson explained what DHS Fusion Centers do; discussed what a Brady List is and how to use them in your writing; and went old school tech with Teletypes.
It was a Dark and Storm Book Club spoke with Colleen Cambridge about Murder at Mallowan Hall, part of a new historical series that introduces an unforgettable heroine in Phyllida Bright, fictional housekeeper for none other than famed mystery novelist Agatha Christie.
On CrimeTime FM, host Paul Burke and Tim Shipman, Chief Political Commentator for The Sunday Times, interviewed Paul Vidich about his Cold War spy thriller, The Matchmaker, and all things spy fiction-related, including an exclusive announcement of the highest placed living author on Tim Shipman's 120 top spy writers.
THEATRE
Broadway’s upcoming Macbeth, starring Daniel Craig and Ruth Negga, has rounded out its cast, announcing new additions, Amber Gray, Asia Kate Dillon, and Phillip James Brannon. Directed by Tony Award winner Sam Gold, Macbeth begins performances at Broadway’s Longacre Theatre on Tuesday, March 29, with an official opening on Thursday, April 28.
It's nice to see theatrical performance resuming around the world, as well. Dial 'M' for Murder by Frederick Knot returns with live performances on February 25 to The Mousetrap Theatre in Redcliffe, Australia. The story centers on Tony Wendice, a retired English tennis player, who is married to wealthy socialite Margot, an adulteress who has been having an affair with American crime fiction writer, Mark Halliday. Unbeknownst to them, Tony has discovered their affair and is planning to have Margot killed so he can inherit her fortune. The production runs through March 13.
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February 19, 2022
Sunday Music Treat
Today is the birthday of Australian-born composer, arranger, and pianist, Percy Grainger (1882-1961), who lived in the United States from 1914 and became an American citizen in 1918. One of his more popular compositions was "Molly on the Shore," which is actually an arrangement of two contrasting Irish reels, "Temple Hill" and "Molly on the Shore." It was written in 1907 by Grainger as a birthday gift for his mother, Rose Annie Aldridge. Below is a recording of Grainger himself playing the work in a recording from 1927 (Scott Drayco has also played this a few times):
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February 18, 2022
Friday's "Forgotten" Books - A Thief in the Night
Ernest William Hornung (1866–1921) was an English poet and author who also happened to be the brother-in-law of Arthur Conan Doyle. He also worked as a journalist in England, France, and Australia, and centered many of his stories around Aussie settings and culture. He's perhaps best known for his series featuring gentleman thief, A. J. Raffles, who first appeared in a story in Cassell's Magazine in 1898.
Raffles may have been one of the earliest anti-heroes in crime fiction, spending his days playing cricket and his nights carrying out ingenious burglaries, aided by his sidekick Harry "Bunny" Manders, a man he once saved from suicide and disgrace. Raffles the "Amateur Cracksman" appears in several stories that divide into two periods, one before he was unmasked while plying his trade on board a cruise ship and presumably jumped overboard and drowned, and the other following his return where he and Manders continue their thieving ways in disguise. 
The stories were collected into several volumes, including A Thief in the Night, published in 1905. They include "The Criminologists," about a society of crime experts who invite Raffles and Manders to discuss crime in sport, but have more nefarious purposes in mind, beliving him to be the notorious gentleman thief; "A Trap to Catch a Cracksman," in which Raffles attempts to rob American heavyweight boxing champion Barney Maguire, only to have it backfire on him; and "The Raffles Relics," where Ruffles—now in hiding—hears about an exhibit dedicated to his "work" at Scotland Yard's Black Room, and decides to steal back his trophies.
Raffles is a cynical character, whose philosophy is "we can't all be moralists, and the distribution of wealth is all wrong anyway." Still, he has his own code of honor, once stealing money from a miserly man to make a donation to their former school and volunteering for the Boer War, where he dies in battle after exposing an enemy spy. The stories in A Thief in the Night are actually told from Bunny's point of view, a la Watson and his accounts of Holmes, as Bunny reflects back on their adventures prior to the master thief's demise.
Several of Hornung's stories were later adapted for the theater, television, and film, including protrayals by John Barrymore, David Niven, and as recently as 2001, a production starring Nigel Havers (Dangerfield, Coronation Street, Downton Abbey).
February 17, 2022
Mystery Melange
Submissions to the Lindisfarne Prize for Crime Fiction are now open to all writers who are from (or whose work celebrates) the North East of England. The award is sponsored by the author L J Ross through her publishing imprint, Dark Skies Publishing, in association with the Newcastle Noir Crime Writing Festival and Newcastle Libraries. To be considered, entrants must submit an unpublished short story of no more than ten thousand words or the first two chapters and a synopsis of their work in progress. The winning entry will be awarded a prize of £2500 to support the completion of their work. The deadline for submissions is June 30. (HT to Shots Magazine)
As part of the upcoming Granite Noir conference, you can catch the online panel, Brilliant Women, on February 25, moderated by Jenny Brown. Three brilliant authors share the stage to talk about their books, how they found their place in crime fiction, and their influence in leading the way for women’s voices. Featured authors include Ann Cleeves, author of over thirty critically acclaimed novels including popular detectives Vera Stanhope and Jimmy Perez from TV’s Vera and Shetland series; and Lin Anderson and Alex Gray, best known for the Rhona MacLeod forensic scientist and Detective William Lorimer series respectively, and for co-founding the Bloody Scotland Crime Writing Festival.
On April 27, Barnet Libraries in the UK will present an online evening with Scandinavian authors Anne Mette Hancock (Denmark), Lina Bengtsdotter (Sweden), and Silje Ulstein (Norway) in conversation with Alex Minnis from Nordic Watchlist, a website that supports and showcases Nordic entertainment and culture. Following the discussion, there will be the opportunity for a Q&A session.
Mystery Writers of America announced that the 2022 Edgar Awards Banquet will be held in person on Thursday, April 28, at the New York Marriott Marquis. In compliance with local guidelines, MWA is requiring that all Edgar Awards banquet attendees be fully vaccinated. The evening will begin at 6:30 pm with the main reception/dinner/program. For a list of all of this year's nominees in the various categories, follow this link.
Due to the ongoing COVID pandemic, this year's Suffolk Mystery Festival has been changed to an all-virtual format on Saturday, March 5, 2022. There will also be pre-recorded interviews available for viewing during the festival. The event will showcase 40+ best-selling mystery, suspense, thriller, horror, paranormal, historical, romance, and women's fiction authors. Registration for this free event is now open. You can check out the full schedule via this link.
The UK's CrimeFest 2022 announced the lineup for this year's event to be held in person May 12-15 at the Mercure Bristol Grand Hotel, after a two-year hiatus from Covid. Up to 150 authors will be participating in panels on topics ranging from division in society today to historical crime, and locked room mysteries to police procedurals. Headliner guests include Ann Cleeves, Andrew Child, Martin Edwards, and Robert Goddard, with this year’s Ghost of Honour commemorating Dick Francis.
First Monday is a crime fiction evening held on the first Monday of each month in Central London in association with MA Creative Writing at City, University of London. The next event will be held on March 7 and will feature a panel including authors Janice Hallett, Catherine Ryan Howard, Robert Gold, and Stuart Neville, with Joy Kluver moderating. You can catch an archive of the previous month's panels on the First Monday Facebook page.
The DePaul Pop Culture Conference is an annual fan/academic event at DePaul University, with thoughtful discussions from fans, scholars, and media makers from around the world on the year's particular pop culture theme. The 2022 conference, which will be held May 7, is focused on Sherlock Holmes. In addition to talks from icons such as screenwriters Brannon Braga and Cheryl Cain, as well as authors, journalists, and academics, the Distinguished Contributions Award will be presented to Arwel Wyn Jones, Production designer on Sherlock, Doctor Who, and many other series. Event organizers are also soliciting ideas for papers on the Sherlock Holmes theme.
The Anaheim Public Library Foundation celebrates its 25th year with Sinister Shenanigans, a panel on April 24th of three best-selling authors, Paige Shelton, Mike Befeler, Wendall Thomas, and moderator Matt Coyle. The event is a fundraiser for the library with a silent auction, raffles, and more.
Phyllis M. Betz, editor of Reading the Cozy Mystery: Critical Essays on an Underappreciated Subgenre, is seeking short essays that discuss an author's approach to their work for a companion anthology. The tentative title is Writing the Cozy: Cozy Authors on their Craft, organized into major sections that focus on key aspects of the cozy such as setting, characters, racism, and more.
You can check out the free ongoing online exhibition "Books, Bohemians and Baker Street: A Study in Sherlock in Special Collections" at University of Delaware Library. The collection features items in the library collections related to the Arthur Conan Doyle story, "A Scandal in Bohemia," some unusual items pertaining to Sherlock Holmes (such as Julian Symons's speculation, "Did Sherlock Holmes Meet Hercule...?"), and letters from Conan Doyle. (HT to Elizabeth Foxwell)
Crimetime Online sat down with Jade Chandler, publishing director of the new crime imprint from John Murray Press titled Baskerville. Chandler, who has previously served in a similar capacity at Sphere and Harville Secker publishers, talked about the new imprint's philosophy and some of the upcoming titles in the pipeline.
This week's crime poem at the 5-2 weekly is "Quicksand" by Browning Mank.
In the Q&A roundup, Lisa Haselton spoke with author Robin Jeffrey about her new sci-fi mystery novel, exe: A Cadence Turing Mystery; Indie Crime Scene interviewed Simon Marlowe, author of The Dead Hand of Dominique; and Author Interviews chatted with Bonnie Kistler, a former Philadelphia attorney and the author of House on Fire and The Cage.
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February 15, 2022
Author R&R with Emilya Naymark
Photo credit: Lynne Breitfeller
Emilya Naymark's short stories appear in Secrets in the Water, After Midnight: Tales from the Graveyard Shift, River River Journal, Snowbound: Best New England Crime Stories 2017, 1+30: The Best of Mystory, and in the upcoming Harper Collins anthology, A Stranger Comes to Town. She has a degree in fine art, and her artworks have been published in numerous magazines and books, earning her a reputation as a creator of dark, psychological pieces. Being married to an N.Y.P.D. undercover detective compelled her to create the character of Laney Bird, whose occasionally wild and, even more often, terrifying experiences are inspired by real events. When not writing, Emilya works as a visual artist and reads massive quantities of thrillers and crime fiction. She lives in the Hudson Valley with her family.
Behind the Lie is the second installment in Emilya's Sylvan series, in which NYPD detective-turned small town PI, Laney Bird, is in a fight to save lives—including her own—after a neighborhood block party turns deadly and ends with the disappearance of her friend and another woman. As people closest to Laney fall under suspicion, the local authorities and even her colleagues question her own complicity.
Emilya stopped by In Reference to Murder to take some Author R&R about writing and researching Behind the Lie:
My novels Hide in Place and Behind the Lie feature an ex-NYPD undercover detective. In my case, the research happened before the ideas for the novels even materialized. Being married to an NYPD undercover detective gave me a lot of my research ahead of time. In fact, it generated the story.
Once I had my novel’s plot, I sat down with my personal detective and asked him hundreds of specific questions—everything from how, exactly, an undercover makes a drug buy on the street (lots of acting), to what happens with the evidence in the precinct (the drugs get tested and whatever was confiscated gets vouchered, including cash), to what happens to an undercover during an arrest (they get arrested).
For those who don’t have a personal detective, I recommend finding one. Police officers are often very pleased to discuss their jobs. Many of them write, and if you know any who belong to the same writing association as you do, reach out! Take him or her out for lunch and ask away. Schedule a zoom. Offer a beta read in exchange for their hard-won wisdom. In addition to my husband, I interviewed three other detectives and one corrections officer.
I read everything I could find on racketeering cases against the Russian mob. The Shulaya gang case in Brighton beach was a treasure trove, and I downloaded the official indictment and referenced it for plot ideas. And really, when it comes to the Russian mob, no ideas were too wild.
My detective’s teenage son is a firebug, and I spent countless hours watching instructional videos on building homemade flamethrowers (it’s super easy), breathing fire, and juggling flaming torches. I downloaded and read elaborate instructions and journals written by people who practice fire breathing for a living.
One of the characters in Behind the Lie is a research scientist, and I’m fortunate to have a research scientist in the family. I needed to know how medical compounds are tested and how drugs get approved for human use. He gave me thorough notes.
Another part of the novel takes place inside a residential facility for at-risk youth. I found a similar establishment near me and read about its troubles. Whatever I put into the novel, no matter how drastic it sounds, came directly from the news. Then I spoke with a psychiatrist who works with residential programs, and she gave me the procedural details I wouldn’t have gotten from just reading articles.
Because my novels and stories revolve around crimes, I downloaded the entire NYPD Patrolman’s Guide, all 1000+ pages of it. It’s been quite useful because my police officer characters have to know procedures and what crimes come with what charges. The Patrolman’s Guide is an exhaustive manual for both.
I bought several handbooks for private investigators, which are a goldmine because they list not just how to run a case, but what tools of the trade to use, down to the brand names and models.
In general, my best sources are the news, legal and judicial websites, and professionals who work in the pertinent fields.
For me, there can never be too much research or too much information. A great deal of what I learn doesn’t make it into the books, but it gives me the confidence I need to write about a subject as if I know it well. Or, more importantly, as if my characters know it well.
You can find out more about Emilya Naymark via her website and follow her on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Goodreads. Behind the Lie is available via Crooked Lane Books and can be purchased through all major booksellers in ebook, print, and audio formats.
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February 14, 2022
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:
AWARDS
The 94th Oscar nominations include several book and play adaptations for 2022. The Power of the Dog, based on the novel by Thomas Savage, and Dune, based on the novel by Frank Herbert, led the nominations in several categories with 22 nods between them. Drive My Car, based on a short story by Haruki Murakami (from his collection, Men Without Women), was also nominated for Best Picture and Adapted Screenplay. Other literary adaptation honorees include Nightmare Alley, based on the novel by William Lindsay Gresham; The Lost Daughter, based on the novel by Elena Ferrante; The Tragedy of Macbeth, adapted from William Shakespeare's play; House of Gucci, based on the book by Sara Gay Forden; and Cyrano, adapted from the play by Edmond Rostand.
THE BIG SCREEN/MOVIES
The creative team behind Amazon’s The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power are producing the thriller, Escape, and have tapped James Watkins (The Ipcress File; The Woman in Black) to direct. The action-adventure pic is inspired by the true story of convicts Robert Greenhill and Alexander Pearce and their sensational journey of survival after escaping from prison, which scandalized the Victorian-era world. While the story has previously inspired songs, works of fiction and non-fiction, news articles, tall tales, art, illustrations and other printed materials, it has never before been adapted as a large-scale feature film. When the wrongly-accused Greenhill is shipped to the harshest Tasmanian penal colony in the 1820s, he quickly realizes his only chance of survival is to partner with the notorious murderer Pearce and five other hardened criminals in order to escape. Now on the run in the treacherous wilds, their epic adventure takes increasingly darker and more dangerous turns as Greenhill slowly realizes he may have allied with a force more evil than he suspected.
Actor Chris Pine is tackling his first turn as a director with the mystery-comedy, Pool, which will star Pine alongside Annette Being and Danny DeVito. Pine will play Darren Barrenman, a hapless dreamer and would-be philosopher who spends his days looking after the pool of the Tahitian Tiki apartment block in sunny Los Angeles and crashing city council meetings with his neighbors Jack and Diane (DeVito, Bening). When Barrenman uncovers the greatest water heist in LA history since Chinatown he makes uneasy alliances with a beautiful and connected femme fatale while following every lead he can with corrupt city officials, burned out Hollywood types, and mysterious benefactors – all in the name of protecting his precious Los Angeles.
Gerard Butler is eyeing the starring role in the heist thriller, Just Watch Me, which Derek Kolstand (John Wick) is set to adapt from the novel by Jeff Lindsay (Dexter). Just Watch Me, the first in the Riley Wolfe book series, follows Wolfe, a master thief and expert in disguise who targets the wealthiest one percent. The likeable bad guy teams up with a master forger named Monique and a team of expert thieves on a job that will make history.
Tom Welling (Smallville; Lucifer) has signed on to star in Deep Six, an action-thriller from writer-director Scott Windhauser (Death in Texas). Welling plays Terry, who is released early from prison only to be forced into an undercover unit of six men tackling the mobster enterprise, Cosa Nostra—and on his first day the other five men in his unit are all killed. Now he must go face-to-face with the targets who he was tasked to spy on, not knowing if they realize he's working for the police. Cam Gigandet, Sidhartha Mallya, Brahman Naman, Cher Cosenza, Al Linea, and Alessia Alciati will also star.
Abbey Lee and Christopher Abbott are attached to headline Fear is the Rider, a chase thriller from BAFTA-nominated director, John Michael McDonagh. The project is based on Kenneth Cook’s acclaimed novel of the same name and tells the story of John Shaw (Abbott), a photojournalist who arrives in Australia trying to recover from his experiences reporting on the Vietnam War. After meeting a young woman (Lee) in a small-town bar, he decides to detour into the Outback to photograph cave paintings. But the brutal heat isn't the most hazardous thing in the bush, and Shaw and his mysterious companion soon find themselves caught up in an unrelenting fight for survival.
Harvey Keitel and Peter Stormare will lead the cast of Hard Matter, an action thriller being directed, written, and produced by Justin Price. The film is set in a new America divided by quadrants, in which a power-hungry corporation has taken over the conventional prison system and replaced it with a system of deadly paramilitary watches. Criminals are the new law enforcers who carry out all forms of capital punishment in order to regain their place in society. Franzi Schissler is also in the cast.
Oliver Trevena has signed on to star alongside Aaron Eckhart and Nina Dobrev in the action-thriller, The Bricklayer, based on the novel by Noah Boyd, which is heading into production in Europe next month. In the film, directed by Renny Harlin, someone is blackmailing the CIA by assassinating foreign journalists and making it look like the agency is responsible. As the world begins to unite against the U.S., the CIA must lure its most brilliant – and rebellious – operative out of retirement, forcing him to confront his checkered past while unraveling an international conspiracy.
Sebastian de Souza, Eddie Marsan, and Rich Sommer have boarded the finance thriller, Fair Play, which also stars Phoebe Dynevor and Alden Ehrenreich and will be written and directed by Chloe Domont. Full plot details or what roles the actors will play haven't been released just yet.
TELEVISION/STREAMING SERVICES
Amazon has renewed Reacher for a second season, an announcement that comes only three days after the streamer launched the first season of the Lee Child adaptation. From writer Nick Santora, the series follows Jack Reacher (Alan Ritchson), a veteran military police investigator who has just recently entered civilian life. Reacher is a drifter, carrying no phone and the barest of essentials as he travels the country and explores the nation he once served. When Reacher arrives in the small town of Margrave, Georgia, he finds a community grappling with its first homicide in 20 years. The cops immediately arrest him, and eyewitnesses claim to place Reacher at the scene of the crime. While he works to prove his innocence, a deep-seated conspiracy begins to emerge, one that will require Reacher’s keen mind and hard-hitting fists to deal with.
Peacock has given a straight-to-series order to Apples Never Fall, a limited series based on Liane Moriarty’s (Big Little Lies; Nine Perfect Strangers) bestselling novel. Melanie Marnich will pen the adaptation for the series, which centers on the Delaneys, who appear to be an enviably contented family. Former tennis coaches Joy and Stan are parents to four adult children, and after fifty years of marriage, they have finally sold their famed tennis academy and are ready to start what should be the golden years of their lives. But after Joy disappears, her children are forced to re-examine their parents’ marriage and their family history with fresh eyes.
FX has set the cast of its new murder mystery series, Retreat, which has Emma Corrin set in the lead role. Retreat is described as a "radical conceptualization" of the whodunit with a new kind of detective at the helm. Corrin plays a Gen Z amateur sleuth named Darby Hart who, along with 11 other guests, is invited by a reclusive billionaire to participate in a retreat at a "remote and dazzling" location. But when one of the other guests turns up dead, Darby must fight to prove it was a murder before the killer strikes again. Joining Corrin in the limited series will be Clive Owen, Harris Dickinson, Brit Marling, Alice Braga, Jermaine Fowler, Joan Chen, Edoardo Ballerini, Raúl Esparza, Pegah Ferydoni, Ryan J. Haddad, and Javed Khan.
CBS has ordered the pilot East New York, a cop drama from Law & Order and NYPD Blue exec producer, William Finkelstein, and Big Sky co-exec producer, Mike Flynn. The series follows Regina Haywood, the newly promoted police captain of East New York, an impoverished, working class neighborhood at the eastern edge of Brooklyn. She leads a diverse group of officers and detectives, some of whom are reluctant to deploy her creative methods of serving and protecting during the midst of social upheaval and the early seeds of gentrification.
Netflix has picked up the female-led action adventure series, Palomino, with filming set to get underway later this year in Barcelona. Palomino will follow Erin Collantes, a British teacher in Spain who finds herself caught up in a supermarket robbery. When one of the robbers claims to recognize her, her life threatens to unravel. In Palomino, a town of secrets, she must fight to clear her name and protect her family.
Catherine Zeta-Jones has signed on as a co-lead opposite Lisette Alexis in National Treasure, Disney Branded Television’s TV series for Disney+ produced by ABC Signature. The project is an expansion of the National Treasure movie franchise told from the point of view of young heroine Jess (Alexis) — a DREAMer in search of answers about her family — who embarks on the adventure of a lifetime to uncover the truth about the past and save a lost Pan-American treasure. Oscar winner Zeta-Jones will play Billie, a badass billionaire, black-market antiquities expert, and treasure hunter who lives by her own code. In addition to Alexis, Zeta-Jones joins fellow series regulars Lyndon Smith, Zuri Reed, Jake Austin Walker, Antonio Cipriano and Jordan Rodrigues.
ABC is exploring a spinoff of its popular police procedural, The Rookie, starring Nathan Fillion, with a different lead, Niecy Nash, and a new setting, the FBI. The planned spinoff follows the premise of The Rookie, which stars Fillion as John Nolan, the oldest rookie in the LAPD. Nash will guest star as Simone Clark, a force of nature, the living embodiment of a dream deferred – and the oldest rookie in the FBI Academy.
After pausing production in 2020 due to the Covid pandemic, Tokyo Vice will land at HBO Max this spring, premiering with three episodes on Thursday, April 7, followed by two episodes airing every Thursday until the season finale on April 28. The series hails from creator and writer J.T. Rogers and stars Ken Watanabe and Ansel Elgort, with the pilot directed by Michael Mann. Tokyo Vice is loosely inspired by American journalist Jake Adelstein’s nonfiction firsthand account of the Tokyo Metropolitan Police beat and captures Adelstein’s (Elgort) daily descent into the neon-soaked underbelly of Tokyo in the late '90s, where nothing and no one is truly what or who they seem. Watanabe will play Hiroto Katagiri, a detective in the organized crime division of the Tokyo Police Department who is also a father-figure to Jake throughout the series as he helps guide him along the thin and often precarious line between the cops and the world of organized crime.
PODCASTS/VIDEO/RADIO/AUDIO
A new Mysteryrat's Maze Podcast episode is up featuring the first chapter of Checked Out For Murder by Allison Brook aka Marilyn Levinson, as read by actor Julie Lucido.
NPR's Fresh Air took at look at a reissue that is helping revive Joseph Hansen's series about a tough, gay detective.
Read or Dead's Katie and Nusrah chatted about cozy mysteries to cuddle up with this Valentine’s Day.
Spybrary hosts Shane Whaley and David Craggs found out more about Damascus Station with spy writer, author, and former CIA analyst, David McCloskey
On Wrong Place, Write Crime, David Putnam talked about his Bruno Johnson series and his law enforcement career.
Bruce Coffin was the featured guest on My Favorite Detective Stories. Coffin is the award-winning author of the bestselling Detective Byron mystery series and a former detective sergeant with more than twenty-seven years in law enforcement.
On the All About Agatha podcast, Sophie Hannah was interviewed about her Hercule Poirot continuation novels, the discussion of character versus plot in contemporary crime fiction, and Sophie’s "shocking" takedown of American English.
In GAD [Golden Age of Detection] We Trust noted that there is a Golden Age of detective fiction going on at the very moment, but because most of what’s being written is aimed at 8-to-12 year-olds, it gets overlooked by adults. To help correct that oversight, the podcast welcomed M.G. Leonard and Sam Sedgman, authors of the excellent Adventures on Trains series.
On Crime Time FM, Irish authors, Brian McGilloway (Blood Ties) and Catherine Ryan Howard (56 Days), discussed what it is about Ireland that lends itself so well to crime.
Related StoriesMedia Murder for Monday
February 13, 2022
Sunday Music Treat
Since Valentine's Day is tomorrow, I thought it would be fitting to feature the popular Liebestraum (Dreams of Love) No. 3 by Franz Liszt. Here's a performance by Lang Lang:
February 12, 2022
February 11, 2022
Friday's "Forgotten" Books - The Animal Lover's Book of Beastly Murder
Although Patricia Highsmith (1921-1995) was best known for her psychological thrillers, with some two dozen film adaptations (Strangers on a Train, for one), she also wrote many short stories. One of her most unusual outings is The Animal Lover's Book of Beastly Murder, first published in Britain in 1975 and later released in the U.S. in 1986. Each story revolves around an abused animal who gets revenge in one way or another, or as one reviewer put it, the "anti-Marley & Me."
Highsmith may have been a misanthropist (or even a misogynist, a la another satirical collection, Little Tales of Misogyny), but she was a little more sympathetic toward animals. Beastly Murder builds on a Kafka-esque premise of anthropormophic animals, and in some cases, the effect is poignant, as in the case of a lonely circus elephant who bonds with a sympathetic handler for thirty years and then has to deal with his cruel replacement.
But these aren't sentimental tales, with the likes of Djemal, the camel, getting back at a cruel driver; a Capuchin monkey, annoyed at the petty thief who employs him; and chickens on an automated farm (which Kirkus called "nauseating but interesting"), all getting their due in ways that are often grisly and filled with black—and bleak—humor. Some are written from the animal's POV, some from the human's, and some of them, like "The Bravest Rat In Venice" are downright horrific. (Maybe appropriate, then, that Terry Castle wrote how Highsmith once commented that creepy ideas came to her as "frequently as a rat has orgasms").
Publishers Weekly said of the collection that it's "Grisly and atmospheric…[these] stories feature small worlds of animal amorality in which the sweet taste of revenge leaves no aftertaste of guilt."
CONTENTS
Chorus Girl’s Absolutely Final Performance
Djemal’s Revenge
There I Was, Stuck with Bubsy
Ming’s Biggest Prey
In the Dead of Truffle Season
The Bravest Rat in Venice
Engine Horse
The Day of Reckoning
Notes from a Respectable Cockroach
Eddie and the Monkey Robberies
Hamsters vs. Websters
Harry: A Ferret
Goat Ride
