B.V. Lawson's Blog, page 95

Author R&R with Katherine Dean Mazerov

Katherine Dean Mazerov is a former news and features reporter and editor for The Denver Post, including being a member of the team that won the 2000 Pulitzer Prize for breaking news reporting. She has been a magazine writer, worked in corporate communications for a Fortune 500 company, and written extensively on trends, market outlook, and emerging technologies for the global energy industry. Summer Club is her debut novel, which follows newspaper reporter-turned stay-at-home mom, Lydia Phillips.

Normally, politics and parent drama, drunken soirees, and sex-capades reign at Lydia Phillips’s swim and tennis club. Now, a strange car following the club manager, a break-in at Lydia’s home, and a shocking discovery on the club grounds have Lydia dusting off her newspaper-reporting skills to unravel the mystery. Then, a body surfaces in the river, and Lydia’s life gets a whole lot more complicated—and dangerous.

Katherine Mazerov stops by In Reference to Murder to take some Author R&R and talk about researching and writing the book:

 

Like Lydia Phillips, I am a career journalist and a big believer in background research and firsthand information. As a reporter and magazine writer, I’ve done thousands of interviews—famous authors, police officers, crime victims and witnesses, scientists and medical experts, politicians (Joe Biden) and actors (Arnold Schwarzenegger). As an editor, I always encouraged reporters to develop sources and go to the scene of a crime or event rather than rely on the computer – or what the spokesperson provided.

Summer Club is my first novel and, coming from the non-fiction world, I never imagined embarking on such an undertaking. The story was inspired by my own experience as a volunteer board member and, later, president of a neighborhood swim and tennis club rife with whining and complaining, power plays, politics, parent drama, drunken soirees and snarkiness. You can’t make this stuff up, I kept telling myself. I’ve got to write a book.

Because I’d “lived” much of the story, I could draw on something that is even better than research—my own knowledge and perspective. I know first-hand how swim meets are run and how people cheat at tennis. I’ve seen helicopter parents and neurotic swim team moms at their worst. I’ve served on numerous volunteer boards and observed how power-hungry members use the organization to further their own agendas. These are the interpersonal dynamics and universal foibles of human nature that emerge when people are thrown together in a situation—from the PTA to the HOA, the workplace, church councils…the list goes on. Many of the personalities and events in Summer Club are amalgams of real people and situations.

While I could use my imagination to vividly enhance scenes and characters, I knew that even works of fiction must describe events in a realistic, accurate way. For example, for the pothead snack bar manager who runs her own marijuana-growing operation, I researched the provisions of the law in a state where recreational marijuana is legal. 

But that is only part of the story. In Summer Club, Lydia finds herself using her own investigative reporting and research skills (also something I understand) to unravel a troubling mystery that is casting a shadow on the day-to-day shenanigans at the club. Coming up with that idea was challenging. I researched news stories and famous crime cases about drug rings, shady timeshare frauds and organized crime operations. Nothing was resonating. I couldn’t figure out how to weave those angles into the book.

A friend who had worked for a company connected to a real-estate investment scam provided the perfect solution. Investment scams are quite common and clever, often fooling savvy and well-educated individuals. Furthermore, the scenario would not require taking the reader too much into the weeds or down a rabbit hole of highly technical terms and complicated explanations that would diverge from the overall plot and tone of the book.

After “interviewing” this person extensively about what he knew and what he’d seen, I turned to the Internet, which can provide a well of background material—provided you use reliable, respected and legitimate sources. I found some basic information about how real estate investing works, as well as news stories, affidavits and court documents about real estate investment fraud cases, which I used as the basis to create the dark element of the story. I basically combined what I’d learned about real estate investing with a Ponzi scheme, embellishing it with murder and a colorful cast of unsavory characters.

I’m considering a sequel, which, again, will likely start with what I already know. And then some digging.

 

You can learn more about Katherine Mazerov via her website and also follow her on Facebook, Goodreads, Instagram, and Twitter. Summer Club is currently available via all major booksellers.

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Canadian Accolades

Crime Writers of Canada (CWC) announced the Shortlists for the 2021 Crime Writers of Canada Awards of Excellence in Canadian Crime Writing. Formerly known as the Arthur Ellis Awards (which started in 1984), the annual Crime Writers of Canada Awards of Excellence recognizes the best in mystery, crime, and suspense fiction, and crime nonfiction by Canadian authors.  Winners will be announced Thursday, May 27, 2021.

 

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

Marjorie Celona, How a Woman Becomes a Lake, Hamish Hamilton Canada; Penguin Canada
Cecilia Ekbäck, The Historians, HarperCollins Publishers Ltd.
Will Ferguson, The Finder, Simon & Schuster Canada
Thomas King, Obsidian, HarperCollins Publishers Ltd.
Roz Nay, Hurry Home, Simon & Schuster Canada

Best Crime First Novel sponsored by Writers First, with a $500 prize

Raye Anderson, And We Shall Have Snow, Signature Editions
Chris Patrick Carolan, The Nightshade Cabal, Parliament House Press
Guglielmo D’Izza, The Transaction, Guernica Editions
Russell Fralich, True Patriots, Dundurn Press
Emily Hepditch, The Woman in the Attic, Flanker Press

The Howard Engel Award for Best Crime Novel Set in Canada sponsored by The Engel Family with a $500 prize

Randall Denley, Payback, Ottawa Press and Publishing
Helen Humphreys, Rabbit Foot Bill, HarperCollins Publishers Ltd.
Ann Lambert, The Dogs of Winter, Second Story Pres
Kevin Major, Two for The Tablelands, Breakwater Books
Katrina Onstad, Stay Where I Can See You, HarperCollins Publishers Ltd.

Best Crime Novella sponsored by Mystery Weekly with a $200 prize

C.C. Benison, The Unpleasantness at the Battle of Thornford, At Bay Press
Vicki Delany, Coral Reef Views, Orca Book Publishers
Winona Kent, Salty Dog Blues, Sisters in Crime - Canada West
Sam Wiebe, Never Going Back, Orca Book Publishers

Best Crime Short Story sponsored by Mystery Weekly with a $300 prize

Marcelle Dubé, Cold Wave, Sisters in Crime - Canada West
Twist Phelan, Used to Be, Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine
Zandra Renwick, Killer Biznez, Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine
Sylvia Maultash Warsh, Days Without Name, Carrick Publishing
Sarah Weinman, Limited Liability, Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine

Best French Crime Book (Fiction and Nonfiction)

Roxanne Bouchard, La mariée de corail, Libre Expressio
Stéphanie Gauthier, Inacceptable, Éditions Québec Amérique
Christian Giguère, Le printemps des traîtres, Héliotrope NOIR
Guy Lalancette, Les cachettes, VLB éditeur
Jean Lemieux, Les Demoiselles du Havre-Aubert, Éditions Québec Amérique

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

Frances Greenslade, Red Fox Road, Puffin Canada, an imprint of Penguin Random House
Janet Hill, Lucy Crisp and the Vanishing House, Tundra Books, an imprint of Penguin Random House
Sheena Kamal, Fight Like a Girl, Penguin Teen, an imprint of Penguin Random House
Kelly Powell, Magic Dark and Strange, Margaret K. McElderry Books, an imprint of Simon & Schuster Inc.
Tom Ryan, I Hope You're Listening, Albert Whitman & Co.

The Brass Knuckles Award for Best Nonfiction Crime Book sponsored by Simpson & Wellenreiter LLP, Hamilton, with a $300 prize

Jeff Blackstock, Murder in the Family: How the Search For My Mother's Killer Led to My Father, Viking Press
Norm Boucher, Horseplay: My Time Undercover on the Granville Strip, NeWest Press
Silver Donald Cameron, Blood in the Water: A True Story of Revenge in the Maritimes, Viking Press
Justin Ling, Missing From the Village: The Story of Serial Killer Bruce McArthur, the Search for Justice, and the System That Failed Toronto's Queer Community, McClelland & Stewart
Michael Nest with Deanna Reder and Eric Bell, Cold Case North: The Search for James Brady and Absolom Halkett, University of Regina Press

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

The Future by Raymond Bazowski
Predator and Prey by Dianne Scott
Notes on Killing your Wife by Mark Thomas
A Nice Place to Die by Joyce Woollcott
Cat with a Bone by Susan Jane Wright

CWC also announced the 2021 Derrick Murdoch Award recipient, Marian Misters.

The Derrick Murdoch Award is a special achievement award for contributions to the Canadian crime writing genre. As co-owner of Toronto’s Sleuth of Baker Street, Marian Misters has been supporting mystery authors since the bookstore opened and CWC from its inception. Through hosting book events, she has helped launch the career of many CWC authors. In addition, Marian served as Jury Chair for the Awards for three years, during which time she streamlined and developed written procedures for the judges. She was also instrumental in guiding CWC to a new, more diverse, Jury Selection Committee format, and has been active on the Awards Committee for five years.

          

Mystery Melange

The winners of the 41st Los Angeles Times Book Prizes were announced this past weekend in a live-streamed virtual ceremony. The winner in the Mystery/Thriller Category was Blacktop Wasteland by S.A. Cosby. The other finalists included A Beautiful Crime, by Christopher Bollen; And Now She’s Gone, by Rachel Howzell Hall; Little Secrets, by Jennifer Hillier; and These Women, by Ivy Pochoda.

Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine announed the winners of this year's Reader's Choice Awards for the best short stories from the past year's issues. Barb Goffman took top honors for her story, "Dear Emily Etiquette," with John M. Floyd taking second place with "Crow’s Nest," and Gregory Fallis's "Terrible Ideas" in the third slot. Although EQMM doesn't have the complete winner's list available online just yet, Mystery Fanfare has a look at the other Top Ten finishers.

The Bodies From The Library conference is back after falling victim to COVID last year. The event has been held since 2015 in the British Library and is designed for lovers of all aspects of Golden Age crime fiction. This year, organizers are moving online via Zoom on the afternoon of May 15th from 1:30pm to 6:00pm. The free program includes Martin Edwards, Alison Joseph, Kate Ellis, Jake Kerridge and more with panels such as "Howdunit: A Masterclass in Crime Writing by The Detection Club." (HT to In Search of the Classic Mystery Novel)

The virtual More Than Malice conference, which is taking place July 14 - 17 online instead of the usual in-person Malice Domestic event, keeps growing the roster of guest authors for panels. Among the most recent additions are Tasha Alexander, Deborah Crombie, Mia P. Manansala, Laura Joh Rowland, Brad Thor, Kate White, and DM Whittle. There will also be a virtual "speed dating" Malice-Go-Round zoom event that will take place during the festival weekend, open to registered authors who are not otherwise participating on panels. The latest announcement was made after other featured authors were recently listed as joining in the festivities, including Linda Castillo, Marcia Clark, William Kent Kruger, Sujata Massey, Lisa See, Victoria Thompson, PJ Vernon, Simon Brett, Leslie Budewitz, Sophie Hannah, Michael Koryta, Sara Paretsky, Chris Verner, David Heska Wanbli Weiden, and a special appearance by Louise Penny.

France is to honor renowned South African crime fiction author, Deon Meyer, with its most prestigious cultural award in recognition of his literary work and special relationship with the country. Meyer will have the Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres (Knight in the Order of Arts and Letters) honor bestowed on him by France’s ambassador to SA, Aurélien Lechevallier, on behalf of the French president, at a ceremony at Glenelly Estate in Stellenbosch.

If you're a female Welsh writer, this call for submissions is for you: Welsh publisher Honno will publish an anthology of crime fiction in 2022, showcasing the talents of new and established women crime writers in Wales today. Co-editor Katherine Stansfield said, "Whether you’re a published author or a debutante, we want to hear from you."

Writing for the LA Review of Books, Gina Arnold talked about creating "The Chandler Project" during lockdown.

Which room is Agatha Christie most likely to kill you in? Find out here.

Speaking of Agatha Christie and rooms, if your dream is to live in her house, here's your chance: Winterbrook House, home to Dame Agatha for 40 years, is for sale in England’s Oxfordshire for only £2.75 million.

Literary prize scammers are on the loose, apparently. The organizers of at least five British awards received emails from cyber criminals asking them to transfer prize money to a PayPal account. One of them paid out.

This is pretty cool ... did you know there are hidden apartments in many of New York City's libraries?

This week's crime poem at the 5-2 is "False Identity" by B. Sedgwick.

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Author R&R with Amy Rivers

Amy Rivers was raised in New Mexico and holds degrees in psychology and political science, two topics she loves to write about. She's been published in several magazines and anthologies, and her novel, All The Broken People, was recently selected as the Colorado Author Project winner in the adult fiction category. Her latest novel, Complicit, is the first in her new "Legacy of Silence" series featuring forensic psychologist, Kate Medina.

In Complicit, Medina left a dream career within the prison system after an unspeakable act of violence changed everything. She retreats to her hometown working in the "safer" world as a high school psychologist until tragedy strikes again when a student disappears. After the lead detective on the case reaches out to her for assistance, Kate finds herself directly into the crosshairs of an enemy who remains largely in the shadows. As her past and present collide, Kate is dragged into the middle of a deadly game where only one thing is clear—no one can be trusted.

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

I write about a lot of heavy topics: interpersonal and family violence, sexual assault, substance abuse, etc. In Complicit, sexual assault and trafficking are the heart of the matter and handling those topics with care is one of the most important parts of my job and my goal in writing these stories.  Unlike police procedurals and other types of crime fiction that go into great detail about the investigatory process, my work focuses more on psychology including the motivation for human behavior and the underlying mental health issues that can lead to distorted thinking and behavior that is outside societal norms. Here is a little bit about my foundations and process. 

The root of my understanding of these things come from formal study. I earned a Master’s Degree in interdisciplinary studies with focus on psychology and political science so that I could more clearly understand the intersection between human behavior and the law. Specifically, I studied the prevention of violence both in terms of mental health and the criminal justice system. After I began writing full-time, I completed a graduate certificate in forensic criminology to continue learning about the particulars of violent behavior, victimology, and trends in violent offending.

Now, the bulk of both my interest in and knowledge of the implications of sexual assault and community violence prevention efforts is experiential. For several years, I served as the Director for the Sexual Assault Nurse Examiners (SANE) of Otero & Lincoln County. This organization consists of specially trained nurses who perform forensic exams and collect evidence in sexual assault and abuse cases. Forensic nurses are truly amazing people. They are tasked with interviewing and providing physical and emotional care to victims. They must follow the strict chain of command necessary to ensure the integrity of the evidence collected, treat injuries, and help victims find the resources they will need to heal and, when possible, seek justice. They are also asked to testify in court about cases they’ve handled, sometimes years after the incident.

In bringing the stories of these nurses into my writing, I have reached out to SANE’s and other forensic nurses throughout the country (and a few in other countries) through the International Association of Forensic Nursing (IAFN). These nurses have been incredibly giving of their time and willing to fact-check and provide input for this and future books. Finding resources in the field is a common practice in crime fiction and I am no exception.

I also look at the stories of real victims of crime. There are many resources for reading survivor accounts and these provide clues to how violence impacts individuals, their families, and even whole communities. In some cases, I have spoken directly with victims and their families. It is humbling to hear their stories and I think the most important thing for me, as an author, is to handle that information with care and compassion. The reality for many victims, especially of sexual assault and abuse, is that there are many reasons not to tell their stories—feelings of shame and guilt, re-victimization through the criminal justice system, lack of support, etc. Studies tell us that the number of victims who report their assault are statistically low compared to the number of assaults taking place. In my writing, I hope to not only paint a realistic and accurate picture of the impact of sexual assault and other violent crime on victims and their families, but to give voice to those who have suffered and to let them know they are not alone.

You can learn more about Amy Rivers and her writing via her website, and you can also follow her on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. Complicit is now available via all major booksellers.

          

Triumphant Thrillers

The International Thriller Writers announced the finalists for the 2021 Thriller Awards this morning. The winners will be announced on Saturday, July 10, 2021 during Virtual ThrillerFest.

 

BEST HARDCOVER NOVEL

 

S.A. Cosby – BLACKTOP WASTELAND (Flatiron Books)

Joe Ide – HI FIVE (Mulholland Books)

Richard Osman – THE THURSDAY MURDER CLUB (Penguin)

Ivy Pochoda – THESE WOMEN (Ecco)

Lisa Unger – CONFESSIONS ON THE 7:45 (Park Row)



BEST FIRST NOVEL

 

Jasmine Aimaq – THE OPIUM PRINCE (Soho Press)

Don Bentley – WITHOUT SANCTION (Berkley)

Kyle Perry – THE BLUFFS (Michael Joseph)

Francesca Serritella – GHOSTS OF HARVARD (Random House)

David Heska Wanbli Weiden – WINTER COUNTS (Ecco)

 

BEST PAPERBACK ORIGINAL NOVEL

 

Alyssa Cole – WHEN NO ONE IS WATCHING (William Morrow Paperbacks)

Layton Green – UNKNOWN 9: GENESIS  (Reflector Entertainment)

John Marrs – WHAT LIES BETWEEN US (Thomas & Mercer)

Andrew Mayne – THE GIRL BENEATH THE SEA (Thomas & Mercer)

Benjamin Stevenson – EITHER SIDE OF MIDNIGHT (Penguin Random House Australia)

 

BEST SHORT STORY

 

Steve Hockensmith – "The Death and Carnage Boy" (Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine)

Laura Lippman – "Slow Burner" (Amazon Original Stories)

Alan Orloff – "Rent Due" (Down & Out Books)

Elaine Viets – "Dog Eat Dog" (Untreed Reads)

Andrew Welsh-Huggins – "The Mailman" (Down & Out Books)

                     

BEST YOUNG ADULT NOVEL

 

Demetra Brodsky – LAST GIRLS (Tor Teen)

Andrea Contos – THROWAWAY GIRLS (Kids Can Press)

Kit Frick – I KILLED ZOE SPANOS (Margaret K. McElderry Books)

Lily Sparks – TEEN KILLERS CLUB (Crooked Lane Books)

Heather Young – THE DISTANT DEAD (William Morrow)

 

BEST E-BOOK ORIGINAL NOVEL

 

Sean Black – AVENUE OF THIEVES (Sean Black)

Jeff Buick – A KILLING GAME (Novel Words)

Diane Capri – FULL METAL JACK (AugustBooks)

Jake Needham – MONGKOK STATION (Half Penny)

Kirk Russell – NO HESITATION (Strawberry Creek)

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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

In a bidding war, Neon has acquired the North American rights to The Actor, a film noir based on Donald E. Westlake's bestselling book, Memory. Directed by Duke Johnson, the project is set in the 1950s and stars Ryan Gosling as Paul Cole, who has been stranded in Ohio after a brutal attack. As he finds himself suffering from severe memory loss, he struggles to find his way back to his life in New York and reclaim what he has lost.

Netflix has acquired Corey Mead’s true crime article, "The Poet," for a feature film adaptation. The article tells the story of Ruth Finley, who escaped a murderer as a teen, only to find herself on the run again decades later as the killer terrorizes her hometown. With a team of police investigators and her devoted husband intent on saving her, the identity of her tormentor is too chilling to believe.

Guy Pearce and Monica Bellucci are set to co-star opposite Liam Neeson in the indie crime thriller, Memory (not related to the Neon/Westlake project above). The project is based on the book, De Zaak Alzheimer, by Jef Geeraerts as well as the Belgian film, The Memory of a Killer, directed by Erik Van Looy. The story follows Alex Lewis (Neeson), an expert assassin with a reputation for discreet precision. When Alex refuses to complete a job for a dangerous criminal organization, he becomes a target and must go on the hunt for those who want him dead. Veteran FBI agents Vincent Serra (Pearce), Linda Amistead (played by Taj Atwal), and Mexican intelligence liaison Hugo Marquez (Harold Torres) are brought in to investigate the trail of bodies, leading them closer to Alex, but also drawing the ire of local tech mogul Davana Sealman (Bellucci).

Killers of the Flower Moon has added four more to the cast: Tatanka Means, Michael Abbott Jr., Pat Healy, and Scott Shepherd have joined Martin Scorsese’s film based on David Grann’s bestseller. Set in 1920s Oklahoma, the long-in-the-works Killers of the Flower Moon depicts the serial murder of members of the oil-wealthy Osage Nation, a string of brutal crimes that came to be known as the Reign of Terror. Previously announced cast members include stars Leonardo DiCaprio and Robert De Niro, as well as Indigenous actors, Tantoo Cardinal, Cara Jade Myers, JaNae Collins, and Jillian Dion.

Likewise, the cast of the film adaptation of Delia Owens's book, Where the Crawdads Sing, has recently increased with the additions of Garret Dillahunt, Michael Hyatt, Ahna O’Reilly, Sterling Macer Jr., and newcomer Jojo Regina. Set against the backdrop of the mid-20th century South, the story centers on a young woman named Kya who, abandoned by her family, raises herself all alone in the marshes outside of her small town. However, when her former boyfriend is found dead, Kya is thrust into the spotlight, instantly branded by the local townspeople and law enforcement as the prime suspect for his murder

Renegade Entertainment, the production company co-founded by Courtney Lauren Penn and Thomas Jane, has optioned Chuck Hustmyre’s feature screenplay, Relentless, and will develop and produce the project as a starring vehicle for Jane. The action thriller follows a former U.S. Army Green Beret who gets caught between warring crime gangs as he fights to save the life of a young girl. Screenwriter Hustmyre spent 22 years in law enforcement and retired as a special agent with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATF). During his career he specialized in violent crime, narcotics, and fugitive investigations.

TELEVISION/STREAMING SERVICES

Emmy and Golden Globe-winning actress, Jane Seymour, will star in and exec produce the Irish mystery thriller, Harry Wild, for Acorn TV. Seymour will play a recently retired English professor who cannot help but take an active interest in the criminal cases assigned to her police detective son, Charlie. She displays her flair for investigation by interfering in her son’s baffling murder case, noticing the murderer has followed a pattern from a well-known play. When she successfully catches the killer by putting herself at great risk, she finds a new lust for life.

NBC has greenlighted two pilot orders, a wedding island disaster thriller exec produced by The Blacklist duo of John Davis and John Fox, and a bank heist drama exec produced by Julie Plec. Getaway centers on a destination wedding at an isolated luxury resort that quickly descends into chaos after a group of dangerous criminals takes the island hostage. The small group of guests, led by a fearless female Army vet, will do everything they can to stay alive. The second untitled project is described as "a high-stakes two-hander featuring two women – a recently captured brilliant criminal mastermind who orchestrates a number of coordinated bank heists for a mysterious purpose, and the principled, relentless and socially outcast FBI agent who will stop at nothing to foil her ambitious plan."

Disney+ has unveiled a slate of UK scripted originals, teaming on projects with the producers behind Killing Eve, Gentleman Jack, and The Night Manager. Two of these have crime-related themes including The Ballad of Renegade Nell, which follows Nell Jackson who is forced into a life of highway robbery, along with her two orphaned sisters Roxanne and George. Aided by a plucky little spirit called Billy Blind, Nell realizes that fate has put her on the wrong side of the law for a reason, "a reason much bigger than she could’ve ever imagined, a reason that goes right up to Queen Anne and beyond, to the struggle for power raging across the battlefields of Europe." The other project is titled Culprits and described as a "whip smart thriller" that follows what happens after a heist when the crew have gone their separate ways but are being targeted by a killer one-by-one.

PODCASTS/VIDEO/RADIO/AUDIO

James Ellroy, the "Demon Dog" of American literature, is teaming up with the podcast firm, Audio Up, for a five-part podcast series to launch in August. The author of L.A. Confidential and The Black Dahlia will produce and narrate the podcast, titled Hollywood Death Trip, which takes listeners on a nocturnal tour of murder and mayhem in Los Angeles with period music, archival radio, and cinematic sound design.

A new Mysteryrat's Maze Podcast is up featuring the first chapter of Assault With a Deadly Glue Gun by Lois Winston, read by actor Julie Lucido.





Complicit is a new true-crime anthology podcast that follows the story of 29 year old Lauren Dumolo, who vanished from her home in Cape Coral, FL, on June 19, 2020. Her disappearance has baffled her family, friends, and even the police investigating her case. When Lauren's belongings mysteriously begin appearing in a nearby park, the investigation is escalated, and the community rallies to search for the missing woman.

Writer Types host, Eric Beetner, and guest co-host, Erica Ruth Neubauer (Death At Wedgefield Manor), spoke with the creator of the Maisie Dobbs series, Jaqueline Winspear; debut author and criminal defense attorney, Nadine Matheson; and thriller writer, Ell Marr.

Meet the Thriller Writer welcomed author, Frank H Jordan. Trained in martial arts, and an ex-weekend warrior (Army reservist) with the Australian Defence Force, Frank showcased his interests in combat and all things military in the high-action Jo Modeen series.

The featured guest at Queer Writers of Crime was Joseph R.G. De Marco, author of the Marco Fontana Mysteries including the latest installment, The Vermilion Pursuit.

Wrong Place, Write Crime heard from Tennessee author Sandra Wells; super reader and blog reviewer Colman Keane; and Hawaii-based author Scott Kikkawa, whose Kona Winds is set in the islands' pre-statehood era. There were also book recommendations from Joe Reid, Ryan Sayles, and T.G. Wolff, and Lance Wright had an April update on new releases from Down and Out Books.

My Favorite Detective Stories podcast host, John Hoda, spoke with screenwriter Simon McCleave about his bestselling DI Ruth Hunter crime thriller series.

E.A. Barres (a/k/a E.A. Aymar) stopped by It Was a Dark and Stormy Book Club to talk about his most recent thriller, They're Gone. Two women's husbands are murdered on the same night in the same way, and the investigation the women undertake to find answers uncovers a terrifying connection.

Anthologist, novelist, and historian, Nick Rennison, spoke with Paul Burke on Crime Time FM about the latest anthology of short stories in the rivals to Sherlock Holmes series, American Sherlocks.

NPR's David Bianculli took a look at Mare of Easttown, the new mini-series starring Kate Winslett as Mare Sheehan, an office police investigator in a small Pennsylvania town, who investigates a brutal murder as she tries to keep her life from falling apart.

Forensic psychiatrist and author of The Mind of a Murderer, Dr. Richard Taylor, was featured on the podcast All in the Mind.

         Related StoriesMedia Murder for Monday 

Quote of the Week

          

Friday's "Forgotten" Books: Johnny Under Ground

Patricia Pakenham-Walsh (1923-1977) was born in Dublin, the daughter of a father who served in the Indian civil service, retiring as a high court judge in Madras. Patricia joined the WAAF in 1939 during WWII as a a flight officer, experience which led Peter Ustinov to hire her as a technical assistant on his film Secret Flight in 1946.



She was Ustinov's personal assistant for eight years and penned her own screenplay, School for Scoundrels in 1960 (made into a film with Ian Carmichael, Terry-Thomas, and Alastair Sim). She married John Moyes in 1951, and although they divorced and she later remarried, she kept her married name of Patricia Moyes as the pen name for novels featuring C.I.D. Inspector Henry Tibbett and his cheerful Dutch wife, Emmy.



The Tibbett duo appeared in 20 novels, beginning with Dead Men Don't Ski in 1958 and wrapping up with 1993's Twice in a Blue Moon. The sixth entry in the series, Johnny Under Ground from 1965, further put the author's WWII training to use via the plot and Emmy Tibbett's background, with Emmy uneasily planning to attend her twentieth Royal Air Force reunion. Emmy had been a naive nineteen year-old auxiliary officer at Dymfield Air Base during the war, when she fell in love with the handsome RAF hero pilot Beau Guest. She was later devasted when Guest seemingly committed suicide by deliberately crashing his plane into the North Sea.



When Emmy attends the reunion, she learns Guest's widow wants to publish a book about the history of her husband's former military unit, which Emmy reluctantly agrees to help research. That isn't the only surprise in store—Emmy is shocked to find out she was the very last person to see Beau Guest alive, and that everyone connected with the fatal flight seems to have something to hide. Chief Inspector Henry Tibbett gets drawn into the mystery and realizes his wife has stumbled onto something sinister. But Emmy is determined to dig into the past, even after the other collaborator on the book is murdered and anonymous letters make it clear someone won't hesitate to kill in order to keep old secrets buried.



Although the Tibbett series technically falls into the police procedural category, the crimes are off-stage and the feel is more of a "cozy" or traditional mystery. As The New York Times Book Review noted, Moyes "handles indecorous events with a minimum of violence and fuss and makes drug dealing seem more like bad manners than bad morals.''

          

Mystery Melange

The 2021 winners of West Coast Crime's Lefty Awards were presented virtually this past weekend. Top nods included Best Humorous Mystery Novel: Ellen Byron, Murder in the Bayou Boneyard; Best Historical Mystery Novel for books set before 1970: Catriona McPherson, The Turning Tide; Best Debut Mystery Novel, David Heska Wanbli Weiden, Winter Counts; and Best Mystery Novel (not in other categories), Louise Penny, All the Devils Are Here. For a list of the finalists in the various categories, check out the conference's official website.

The Crime Writers Association today unveiled the longlists for the 2021 Dagger Awards, the premier literary crime-writing awards in the United Kingdom. Entries to the various categories are nominated by publishers and/or librarians (with the exception of the Debut Dagger) and judged independently of the CWA by industry professionals. For all the highlights of this year's slate, check out this wrap-up from Ayo Onatade at the Shots Magazine blog.

The finalists for the Bony Blithe/Bloody Words Light Mystery Award were also announced for the conference/award's tenth season celebrating Canadian crime fiction on the lighter side. As the website states, "Pandammit or no pandammit, Canadian crime writing is thriving." The 2021 honorees include Vicki Delany, There’s a Murder Afoot; Candas Jane Dorsey, The Adventures of Isabel; Liz Ireland, Mrs. Claus and the Santaland Slayings; Thomas King, Obsidian; and Iona Wishaw, A Match Made for Murder.

The finalists for this year's Hugo Awards for best sci-fi and speculative fiction were also announced, and as usual there are some crime-themed crossovers such as Rebecca Roanhorse's Black Sun and Martha Wells' latest Murderbot novel, Network Effect.

There's a call for papers for Edinburgh Conan Doyle Network Conference, "Conan Doyle and Storytelling," December 10-11, 2021, at Birkbeck, University of London. Organizers welcome proposals for 20-minute papers, which consider Conan Doyle’s writing in all wider contexts, and they offer up some suggested themes you can check out via the Shots Magazine blog. Interested writers should send along abstracts of 200–300 words together with a brief biography by July 31. 

The spring issue of Suspense Magazine is out, featuring interviews with J.A. Jance, Jonathan Kellerman, Don Bentley, Dietrich Kalteis, and Greg F. Gifune; new short fiction by Julia Shraytman, Dan A. Cardoza, Megan Towey, Bailey Day Simpson, Jeffrey A. Lockwood, Martha Reed, and Tom Halford; a detailed look at the TV mini-series, Harper's Island; book reviews and more.

 

The mystery of Harry Houdini's mystery: Joe Notaro is reproducing The Zanetti Mystery (1925), featuring the "genius faker and arch-rogue" Zanetti, with future blog posts to have additional chapters. The tale was published under Houdini's name, but Notaro believes it was ghostwritten by Fulton Oursler, a/k/a mystery author Anthony Abbot. (HT Elizabeth Foxwell at the Bunburyist blog.)

Over at the Kill Zone blog, Debbie Burke takes a look at "Eugene Francois Vidocq and the Origins of Criminology."

If you're a fan of graphic novels and also Arthur Conan Doyle's most famous creation, Book Riot has "5 Sherlock Holmes Comics for You to Investigate."

Featured at the Page 99 Test this week: Do Not Disturb: The Story of a Political Murder and an African Regime Gone Bad by Michela Wrong. The book details a powerful investigation into a grisly political murder and the authoritarian regime behind it in Rwanda.

This week's crime poem at the 5-2 is "Power Murder Ballads" by Scott Cumming.

In the Q&A roundup, Author Interviews welcomed Karla Holloway to discuss her debut novel, A Death in Harlem, a mystery set during the Harlem Renaissance, and they also spoke with Adam Mitzner about his new thriller, The Perfect Marriage; CrimeReads chatted with Alan Parks, author of the Harry McCoy novels, about drugs, noir, and Glasgow in the 1970s; Shots Magazine spoke with crime writer Claire McGowan about her new true-crime audiobook project, The Vanishing Triangle, which shines a light on the unsolved disappearance of at least eight women from mid-nineties Dublin; and Erica Wright spoke with Marilyn Stasio, the recently retired crime fiction critic for The New York Times, about how she got her start, how crime fiction got taken seriously, and what she's reading now.

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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 British Academy Film Awards (BAFTAs) were handed out this past weekend. Crime drama winners included an Outstanding British Film nod for Promising Young Woman, which also won for Best Screenplay (Emerald Fennell); and a Best Supporting Actor win for Daniel Kaluuya for his role in Judas And The Black Messiah.

The Directors' Guild of America also announced winners for their annual awards. Although there weren't many nominees in the crime drama vein, Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Dramatic TV Series went to Lesli Linka Glatter for the Homeland episode, "Prisoners of War" (Showtime).

THE BIG SCREEN/MOVIES

BAFTA winner Simon Russell Beale (The Hollow Crown) and BAFTA-nominee Nikki Amuka-Bird (NW) have joined the cast of screenwriter Graham Moore’s directorial debut, The Outfit. The crime drama follows Leonard (Mark Rylance), an English tailor who used to craft suits on London’s world-famous Savile Row. But after a personal tragedy, he ends up in Chicago, operating a small tailor shop in a rough part of town where he makes beautiful clothes for the only people around who can afford them: a family of vicious gangsters.

It's a bit difficult to keep up with the revolving door on all of the movie schedulings and reschedulings due to the Covid pandemic. The latest to be hit (again) is Mission: Impossible 7, which was slated to be released on November 19. The new plan is for the Top Gun sequel to take Mission: Impossible 7’s November release date, while the next entry in the Mission: Impossible franchise will move to May 27, 2022. Subsequently, Mission: Impossible 8, which is shooting back-to-back with its predecessor, will come out on July 3, 2023 rather than November 4, 2022.

A trailer was released for Those Who Wish Me Dead, the upcoming action thriller starring Angelina Jolie. Adapted from Michael Koryta's novel of the same name, the film follows Jolie's character, Hannah Faber, who is a fire warden and wilderness survival expert assigned to a lookout tower in Montana. Faber is still reeling from the loss of three lives she failed to save in a fire. But her life becomes even more complicated when she crosses paths with a young boy being pursued by assassins.

A trailer was also released for The Woman in the Window, the film based on the novel by A.J. Finn, which stars Amy Adams as a shut-in who feels safest when she’s watching the world from behind her window...until she witnesses a possible murder.

TELEVISION/STREAMING SERVICES

House and The Night Manager star, Hugh Laurie, has signed up to write, direct, and executive produce an adaptation of Agatha Christie novel, Why Didn’t They Ask Evans?, for BritBox in North America. The three-part limited series represents the BBC Studios and ITV-owned streamer’s biggest U.S. commission to date. Laurie has apparently been enamored with Why Didn’t They Ask Evans? since he was a child. The book, first published in 1934, tells the story Bobby Jones and his socialite friend Lady Frances Derwent, who discover a dying man while hunting for a golf ball. Jones and Derwent turn amateur sleuths as they seek to unravel the mystery of the man, who has the picture of a beautiful young woman in his pocket, and, with his last breath, utters the cryptic question that forms the series’ title. The amiable duo approach their investigation with a levity that belies the danger they encounter.

Netflix has landed The 39 Steps, a limited-series star vehicle for Benedict Cumberbatch. The project is an update of the classic thriller novel by John Buchan that was famously turned into the 1935 film classic by Alfred Hitchcock. The producers describe the series as "a provocative, action-packed conspiracy thriller series that updates the classic novel for relevance in contemporary times. An ordinary man, Richard Hannay, becomes an unwitting pawn in a vast, global conspiracy to reset the world order: 39 Steps that will change the world as we know it, with only Hannay standing in the way."

The CBS action drama, MacGyver, has been cancelled after five seasons. The reboot of the 1985 series will conclude with a series finale to air Friday, April 30, in the show’s regular 8 pm time slot. The show stars Lucas Till as Angus "Mac" MacGyver, an agent for a clandestine organization within the U.S. government, where he uses his extraordinary talent for unconventional problem-solving and vast scientific knowledge to save lives. The series also features Tristin Mays, Justin Hires, Meredith Eaton, Levy Tran, and Henry Ian Cusick. Original co-lead George Eads left in Season 3, and his character was subsequently killed off.

USA Network’s Nash Bridges revival is getting closer to reality. Series star, Don Johnson, confirmed on The Ellen DeGeneres Show that he's in "heavy prep" on the revival, reprising his title role in the project, which has been in development since 2019 as a two-hour movie/backdoor pilot. The actor also confirmed on The Talk in 2019 that his longtime co-star, Cheech Marin, would return for the revival in his role as Inspector Joe Dominguez. The original Nash Bridges series ran on CBS from 1996 to 2001.

The Killing Times reported that ITV has commissioned a third series of the detective drama, McDonald & Dodds. Starring Tala Gouveia as the wildly ambitious Detective Chief Inspector McDonald and Jason Watkins as the shy and enigmatic Detective Sergeant Dodds, the third series will comprise three new murder mysteries for the pair to solve.

Ntare Guma Mbaho Mwine has been tapped for a major recurring role opposite Manuel Garcia-Rulfo in The Lincoln Lawyer, Netflix’s drama series based on Michael Connelly's bestselling novels. Written and executive produced by David E. Kelley and showrunner Ted Humphrey, The Lincoln Lawyer revolves around Mickey Haller (Garcia-Rulfo), an iconoclastic idealist, who runs his law practice out of the back seat of his Lincoln Town Car as he takes on cases big and small across the city of Los Angeles. Ntare will play Detective Raymond Griggs, a character created specifically for the series who develops a wary working relationship with Haller.

Jennifer Jason Leigh has joined Amazon Prime Video’s Hunters for the drama’s upcoming second season. Hunters follows a diverse band of Nazi hunters living in 1977 New York City who have discovered that hundreds of high-ranking Nazi officials are living among us and conspiring to create a Fourth Reich in the United States. The first season starred Al Pacino, Logan Lerman, and Jerrika Hinton. As of now, Lerman and Hinton will be returning, but there’s no word yet on if Pacino will be back.

Michelle Veintimilla and Sebastian Roché are set for recurring roles on David E. Kelley’s hit freshman ABC drama series, Big Sky. The crime thriller series follows private detective, Cassie Dewell (played by Kylie Bunbury) and ex-cop Jenny Hoyt (Katheryn Winnick), who join forces to search for two sisters who have been kidnapped by a truck driver on a remote highway in Montana. But when they discover that these are not the only girls who have disappeared in the area, they must race against the clock to stop the killer before another woman is taken.

PODCASTS/VIDEO/RADIO/AUDIO

Two Crime Writers and a Microphone host, Luca Veste, was joined by guest host, CL Taylor, to discuss Locked Up Festival 2, the news, and one star reviews.

Crime Cafe host, Debbi Mack, interviewed intellectual property attorney, Kathryn Goldman, editor of the legal blog, Creative Law Center, a "must-read for writers, artists and other creative people."

Read or Dead hosts, Katie and Nusrah, discussed the Edgar Award Nominees and recommended books for you to prioritize from the list.

Jacqueline Winspear was the featured guest on Speaking of Mysteries, discussing The Consequences of Fear, the 16th installment of Winspear’s series with WWII-era detective and frequent intelligence asset, Maisie Dobbs.

Suspense Magazine's podcast welcomed author Mark Greaney as he talked about his latest Grey Man series book, Relentless.

Meet the Thriller Author chatted with Michael Kaufman about his new novel, The Last Exit, a near-future thriller where the secret to eternal life is closely guarded by people who will do anything to protect it, even if it means destroying everything in their path.

Wrong Place, Write Crime spoke with Dick Wybro‪w‬ about Past Life, the newest installment of his paranormal mystery series featuring Painter Mann.

Queer Writers of Crime welcomed Michael Nava, the author of an acclaimed series of eight novels featuring gay Latino criminal defense lawyer Henry Rios, who The New Yorker called "a detective unlike any previous protagonist in American noir."

Crime Writers of Color interviewed Alexia Gordon, a physician by day and award-winning crime novelist by night, about her mystery series with Gethsemane Brown, an African-American classical musician and expatriate to an Irish village who solves murders and encounters a snarky ghost.

It Was a Dark and Stormy Book Club discussed Daniel Pyne's Water Memory, the first in a new series with Black Ops specialist, Aubrey Sentro.

Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine's podcast selected a private-eye story for the latest episode, "All Shook Down," from the September/October 2020 issue of EQMM. It’s the first contribution to the magazine by Libby Cudmore, author of the highly acclaimed novel, The Big Rewind.

The latest episode of Lynda LaPlante's forensic podcast, Listening to the Dead, tackled the topic of "Cause of Death – Unknown."

CrimeTime FM host, Edward Wilson, talked to Paul Burke about his new spy novel, The Portrait of the Spy as a Young Man.

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