In Reference to Murder

Friday's "Forgotten" Books: Spence At Marlby Manor

Born in 1939, English author Michael Derek Allen had a career in education, first as a teacher and then as a university administrator at the University of Bath, and also served a brief stint working for the New York Herald Tribune. When he retired from all his various day jobs, he started his own small press, Kingsfield Publications, and turned his hand to writing novels full-time under the pen names Michael Bradford, Anne Moore, and Patrick Read.

Allen has penned mostly standalone novels and short stories, but he did write three books in a series featuring his police detective Superintendent Ben Spence. The third and final book in that series was Spence at Marlby Manor, dating from 1982, in which wealthy Lady Dinnister of Marlby Manor begins to suffer from "accidents" she suspects are actually attempts on her life. When Lady Dinnister's companion Emily Fosdyke dies from arsenic poisoning, it's only natural she thinks she herself was the intended victim.

Detective Ben Spence agrees with the Lady of the Manor after interviewing a houseful of servants and family members that are all-too-eager to sell off Marlby Manor and inherit Lady Dinnister's considerable fortune. Chief among them is an artist son-in-law; a handsome but unmotivated grandson in love with a secretary neither Lady Dinnister nor Emily Fosdyke deemed good enough for him; and a selfish, greedy granddaughter and her husband who tend to live well beyond their means. But, as Spence and his assistant, Inspector Laruel, take a closer look, they uncover undercurrents of malevolence coming from an unexpected source.

Although Publishers Weekly was a little critical of the book's "awfully implausible murderer-catching traps to snare the culprit," the publication's reviewer ultimately deemed it "comfortable, mildly beguiling entertainment in the traditional style." It deviates a bit from the traditional police procedural into more of the classic whodunit format.

Michael Allen's last Spence novel was in 1982, but Lume Books re-released the three Spence books in 2016. His blog, the Grumpy Old Bookman, was listed by The Guardian as one of the top 10 literary blogs worldwide in 2005, but fell inactive until recently, when in a poignant post, he notes that the reason he's been away is due to his age (82) and a diagnosis of Alzheimer's Disease.

Born in 1939, English author Michael Derek Allen had a career in education, first as a teacher and then as a university administrator at the University of Bath, and also served a brief stint working for the New York Herald Tribune. When he retired from all his various day jobs, he started his own small press, Kingsfield Publications, and turned his hand to writing novels full-time under the pen names Michael Bradford, Anne Moore, and Patrick Read.

Allen has penned mostly standalone novels and short stories, but he did write three books in a series featuring his police detective Superintendent Ben Spence. The third and final book in that series was Spence at Marlby Manor, dating from 1982, in which wealthy Lady Dinnister of Marlby Manor begins to suffer from "accidents" she suspects are actually attempts on her life. When Lady Dinnister's companion Emily Fosdyke dies from arsenic poisoning, it's only natural she thinks she herself was the intended victim.

Detective Ben Spence agrees with the Lady of the Manor after interviewing a houseful of servants and family members that are all-too-eager to sell off Marlby Manor and inherit Lady Dinnister's considerable fortune. Chief among them is an artist son-in-law; a handsome but unmotivated grandson in love with a secretary neither Lady Dinnister nor Emily Fosdyke deemed good enough for him; and a selfish, greedy granddaughter and her husband who tend to live well beyond their means. But, as Spence and his assistant, Inspector Laruel, take a closer look, they uncover undercurrents of malevolence coming from an unexpected source.

Although Publishers Weekly was a little critical of the book's "awfully implausible murderer-catching traps to snare the culprit," the publication's reviewer ultimately deemed it "comfortable, mildly beguiling entertainment in the traditional style." It deviates a bit from the traditional police procedural into more of the classic whodunit format.

Michael Allen's last Spence novel was in 1982, but Lume Books re-released the three Spence books in 2016. His blog, the Grumpy Old Bookman, was listed by The Guardian as one of the top 10 literary blogs worldwide in 2005, but fell inactive until recently, when in a poignant post, he notes that the reason he's been away is due to his age (82) and a diagnosis of Alzheimer's Disease.

Mystery Melange

Book art by Alex Comfort

The Friends of the Orange County Public Library are presenting a conversation with crime writers, S.A. Cosby and Eryk Pruitt, on Friday, October 4th, at 7pm. This event is free and open to the public, but registration is required. S.A. Cosby is the bestselling author of Razorblade Tears, Blacktop Wasteland, and All the Sinners Bleed, which have won the LA Times Book Prize, Anthony Award, International Thriller Writers Best Hardcover Novel, Macavity Award for Best Mystery Novel, the Crime Writers’ Association’s Silver Dagger, and Gold Dagger awards. Eryk Pruitt is a filmmaker, podcaster, short story writer, novelist, and publisher of the quarterly literary magazine, Dark Yonder.

One More Page books in Arlington, Virginia, is hosting a Cozy Mystery Panel with authors Donna Andrews (Meg Lanslow mysteries), Maureen Klovers (Rita Calabrese Culinary Mysteries), Korina Moss (Cheese Shop Mysteries), and Maya Corrigan (Five-Ingredient Mysteries) on October 31st in honor of Halloween. Registration for the event is free.

Janet Rudolph has a list of crime fiction titles themed around Rosh Hashana, the "Days of Awe" in the Jewish religion, with ten days of repentance and renewal that begin at sunset on Rosh Hashanah and close with Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement. This year, Rosh Hashanah begins October 2, 2024, at sundown and it concludes at nightfall on October 4.

Suspense Magazine announced on Facebook that it's making a comeback after closing down the PDF version of the magazine in 2021. But starting in January 2025, Suspense will be producing a quarterly digital magazine for free with more educational articles from bestselling authors and tips and tricks for authors. There will also be new reviews, features and much more. The magazine's Suspense Radio digital interview series is also back on the air, with author interviews posted on the magazine's website and subscriptions available via Spotify, Apple Music, and other podcast sites.
 

Publisher Penguin Random House (PRH) announced that Oscar-winning actor Reese Witherspoon is writing a thriller novel (her first) in collaboration with bestselling author Harlan Coben, of the Myron Bolitar series. Set to be published in autumn 2025, the untitled thriller is said to be based on an original idea from Witherspoon, and the co-writers "have been developing the concept, creating characters, and writing pages over many months," according to PRH.

Over at The Rap Sheet blog, Jeff Pierce has a list of new crime fiction releases coming out through the end of the year in both the U.S. and the U.K., including some titles he's particularly looking forward to.

This week at "The First Two Pages" on Art Taylor's blog, Linda Landrigan, long-time editor of Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine, stops by to discuss how knowing some of the pitfalls for writers in this form and genre is different from avoiding those pitfalls yourself.

In the Q&A roundup, Suspense Magazine chatted with Anthony Horowitz, author of the Moonflower Murders and the new PBS show based on the book; Janice Hallett spoke with the Irish Times about scripting, art, the crime genre, epistolary murder-mysteries and her admiration for healthcare workers after the death of her brother when she was 12; and Readers Digest welcomed Iris Yamashita to talk about her debut novel, City Under One Roof, as well as the difference between writing for the page and the screen, and more.

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

Netflix's feature adaptation of Ruth Ware bestselling novel, The Woman in Cabin 10, has added a slate of actors alongside star Keira Knightley. Joining two-time Oscar nominee Knightley are Guy Pearce, Hannah Waddingham, David Ajala, Gitte Witt, Art Malik, Daniel Ings, David Morrissey, Christopher Rygh, Paul Kaye, Kaya Scodelario, Lisa Loven Kongsli, and Gugu Mbatha-Raw. The Woman in Cabin 10 follows a journalist who witnesses a passenger being thrown overboard a luxury yacht at night — only to be told that it didn’t happen as all the passengers and crew are accounted for. Despite no one believing her, she continues to look for answers, putting her own life in danger.

Emmy nominee D’Pharaoh Woon-A-Tai (Reservation Dogs) has joined the cast of Darren Aronofsky's crime thriller, Caught Stealing, from Sony Pictures. Based on the book by Charlie Huston, Caught Stealing follows Hank Thompson (Austin Butler), a burned-out former baseball player, as he’s unwittingly plunged into a wild fight for survival in the downtown criminal underworld of ’90s NYC. In addition to Butler, Woon-A-Tai joins the previously announced cast of Vincent D’Onofrio, Zoë Kravitz, Regina King, Matt Smith, Liev Schreiber, Will Brill, Bad Bunny, and Griffin Dunne.

TELEVISION/STREAMING

Acorn TV, the AMC Networks-owned streamer, has greenlit Art Detectives starring Stephen Moyer (True Blood) as art-loving DI Mick Palmer of the Heritage Crime Unit police department. Alongside straight-talking DC Shazia Malik, played by Nina Singh (The Lazarus Project), the pair solve murders connected to the world of art and antiques, from Old Master paintings, to Banksy street art, medieval manuscripts and collectible vinyl. In the series, the artfully astute detectives encounter a fake Vermeer, Viking gold, a rare Chinese vase, and items rescued from the Titanic. Palmer navigates these cases while managing a budding romance with museum curator Rosa, played by Sarah Alexander (Coupling), and the sudden reappearance of his charismatic father, Ron, played by Larry Lamb (Gavin & Stacey), who just happens to be one of Britain’s most notorious forgers.

Robocop continues to progress through the development process at Amazon MGM Studios. Veteran Peter Ocko (Lodge 49) has been tapped as writer, executive producer, and showrunner on the potential series, based on the MGM movie franchise, with horror master James Wan on board to executive produce through his Atomic Monster banner. The series will follow the premise of the films, focusing on a giant tech conglomerate which collaborates with the local police department to introduce a technologically advanced enforcer to combat rising crime — a police officer who’s part man, part machine.


MGM+ has ordered a 10-part series based on the English folktale Robin Hood to air in 2025. The series comes from Jonathan English (Librarians: The Next Chapter), showrunner John Glenn (SEAL Team), and Lionsgate Television. The series, which will begin production in Serbia at PFI Studios in February 2025, is a modern take on the classic tale of the roguish outlaw hero who stole from the rich and gave to the poor, and the epic love story between him and a courageous and daring Marian. Following the Norman invasion of England, Rob – a Saxon forester’s son – and Marian, the daughter of a Norman lord – fall in love and work together to fight for justice and freedom. As Rob rises as the leader of a band of rebel outlaws, Marian infiltrates the power at court, and both work together to thwart royal corruption and bring peace to the land.


Guy Ritchie's Young Sherlock series has cast the title character’s older brother, with Max Irons (Condor) set to play Mycroft Holmes opposite Hero Fiennes Tiffin’s Sherlock. Inspired by Andy Lane’s book series, Young Sherlock is described as an irreverent, action-packed origin story of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s beloved detective in a re-imagining of this iconic character. At age 19, Sherlock Holmes (Fiennes Tiffin) is disgraced, raw, unfiltered, and unformed, when he finds himself caught up in a murder mystery at Oxford University which threatens his freedom. Diving into his first-ever case with a wild lack of discipline, Sherlock manages to unravel a globe-trotting conspiracy that will change his life forever.

Netflix has unveiled three new Nordic originals as part of its 2025 slate, including the Swedish crime series, Synden, written and directed by Peter Grönlund, whose credits include Goliat and Beartown. The series follows the perpetually angry, odd, but highly intelligent investigator Dani (Krista Kosonen) who is teamed up with newly graduated police colleague Malik (Mohammed Nour Oklah) to investigate the murder of a teenager found dead at a farmhouse on the Bjäre peninsula. The investigation propels Dani and Malik toward the center of a dark family feud that has been going on for generations and revolves around Patriarch Elis (Peter Gantman).

PODCASTS/RADIO

Suspense Magazine Radio had two recent interviews of interest, one with Jeffery Deaver and Isabella Maldonado about their new collaborative novel, Fatal Intrusion, which features Homeland Security agent Carmen Sanchez who pairs up with Professor Jake Heron, a brilliant and quirky private security expert, to solve a series of murders across Southern California; and Tasha Alexander, chatting about the 18th book in her Lady Emily series, Death by Misadventure.

Speaking of Mysteries spoke with Andrew Bridgeman about his debut thriller, Fortunate Son, in which Ben Danvers thinks his biggest challenge is giving a presentation to the executives at his company. Then he finds he isn’t who he grew up thinking he was—and people want to kill him

On the latest Spybrary Spy Podcast, guest host David Clark is joined by author and investigative journalist Tim Tate to dissect his latest espionage non-fiction book, To Catch A Spy, which examines the enigmatic and controversial history surrounding Roger Hollis, the former MI5 Director.

Kate Rhodes chatted with Paul Burke on Crime Time FM about her new thriller, The Stalker; the Isles of Sicily mysteries; stalking; and Cambridge.

The Red Hot Chili Writers spoke with suspense thriller writer, T.M. Logan, about his new book, The Dream Home, comparing him to the suave conmen who starred in the film Dirty Rotten Scoundrels.

The Cops and Writers welcomed attorney and author Mark Bruce, who won the Black Orchid Novella Award and has appeared four times in Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine.

THEATRE

Oscar-nominated Rosamund Pike (Gone Girl) will make her debut at London’s National Theatre in 2025 in the new play, Inter Alia, by Suzie Miller. The playwright also created Prima Facie, the legal drama that catapulted Jodie Comer to Olivier and Tony Award trophies. Pike has been cast as a British High Court judge forced to reckon with conflict in her private and professional life. Justin Martin is set to direct after having also helmed Prima Facie, about a criminal defense lawyer who is sexually assaulted.

Friday's "Forgotten" Books: The Best American Mystery Stories, 1997, ed. Robert B. Parker

The history of the "best of" American mystery short story anthology probably dates back to 1931 and The Best American Mystery Stories of the Year, edited by Carolyn Wells, up through David C. Cooke's Best Detective Stories of the Year published from 1947 to 1959. More modern incarnations have been Edward Hoch's annual mystery anthology for Walker; The Year’s 25 Finest Crime and Mystery Stories, from the editors of Mystery Scene Magazine, during the 1990s; The World's Finest Mystery and Crime Stories edited by Ed Gorman; Otto Penzler's Mysterious Bookshop Presents the Best Mystery Stories of the Year; and The Best American Mystery and Suspense series.

The first Penzler anthology was in 1997 when Houghton Mifflin wanted a mystery version of its already established Best American Short Stories. They contacted Penzler, who said in the Foreword that "it was his responsibility to identify and read all the mystery stories published in the calendar year," a number which totaled 500 from mystery specialty magazines, small literary journals, popular consumer publications, and anthologies.

The editor for the freshman effort in the Penzler series, Robert B. Parker, first reflects on the Hammett-Chandler origins of the American crime story. Then he introduces the collection with the words "As you will see in this collection, the stories remain the story of the hero's adventure in search of a hidden truth.' They are stories about a hero 'fit for adventure' in a time when stories of far bluer blood are still stuck in their bleak corner of the wasteland where Spade took Hammett. This is no small thing." The 20 stories included cover a wide range of thematic material in a variety of authorial styles: from the high society setting of Elizabeth George to the psychological suspense-with-a-twist by Jeffery Deaver, and from Melodye Johnson Howe's Hollywood banality to the humor-noir of Elmore Leonard.

The collection starts off nicely with "Blind Lemon" by Doug Allyn, draped against a backdrop of the blues and music of real-life musician Blind Lemon Jefferson, in which private eye R.B. "Ax" Axton painfully relives a fateful day a decade earlier  when he and a female singer inadvertently caused the murder of a mutual friend. Other standouts include "Tales from the Dark Snow" by Brendan Dubois about a man who retires to bucolic New Hampshire, where he is harassed by persistent and increasingly malevolent neighbors; "Hoops" by S.J. Rozan, featuring Rozan's series character, private eye Bill Smith, who investigates the death of a basketball player, the victim of an apparent murder-suicide after killing his pregnant girlfriend; and "When You're Hungry" by George Pelecanos, a tale of double-crossing and betrayal in the steamy and lawless streets of Brazil.

Ask any author and most will tell you short stories can be harder to write than novels, but when you come across little gems like these, you almost wish the authors would drop the novels and dedicate themselves to the shorter form. The reader benefits, too, from such an anthology, being able to experience one actualized world after another - the literary equivalent of visiting an amusement park, finding some rides more to your liking than others, but having all of them leave you just a little bit breathless.

Mystery Melange

The winner of this year's Crime Cologne Award for a German-language mystery is Die Spiele by Stephan Schmidt. The honor has been presented as part of the Crime Cologne conference since 2015 and is intended to honor a work from the previous year that is linguistically, thematically, and psychologically convincing - and at the same time offers exciting entertainment at an outstanding level. A four-member jury, consisting of Mike Altwicker, Judith Merchant, Birgitt Schippers, and Margarete von Schwarzkopf, selected the novels. The winner receives 3,000 euros (approximately $3,300 USD).

Elly Griffiths, who writes the Dr. Ruth Galloway Mysteries, the Brighton Mysteries, and the Justice Series, has won Author of the Year at the Booksellers Association Conference Awards. The awards honor key figures in the book industry and the work they do to support UK bookshops. The winners were selected by 489 booksellers from across the UK.

Mystery Writers of America's 2025 Barbara Neely Scholarship, an award named after the late trailblazing Black crime novelist chosen as a Grand Master by MWA in 2019, is now open for applications from authors who are Black, American citizens, and age 18 or older. Applicants must submit a brief biography, competed application form, a five-page sample of their writing in the crime genre, a 300-500-word statement, and a copy of their CV/resume highlighting their education/writing career. The deadline is November 8, 2024. Two scholarships of $2,000 will be awarded, one for an aspiring Black writer who has yet to publish in the crime or mystery field, and another for Black authors who have already published in crime or mystery.

NoirCon is moving from the East Coast to the West Coast this year, landing in Palm Springs from November 7-10. The event includes a variety of panels and speakers, classic film screenings with special guests, notable author events, in-person book signings, and more. The conference will also hand out the Jay and Deen Kogan Award for Excellence posthumously to Jim Nisbet, to be accepted by his widow, artist Carol Collier. The award reflects the preservation of literary excellence and achievement, and recipients have devoted a lifetime to cultivating a greater appreciation and pride in America's literary heritage by writing, and/or publishing the most authoritative editions of America's best and most significant writing within the genre of noir.

Banned Book Week (#BannedBooksWeek) is being commemorated this week by the American Library Association and a variety of organizations around the U.S. In a time of deep political divides, library staff across the country are facing an overwhelming number of book ban attempts. In 2023 alone, the American Library Association's Office for Intellectual Freedom tracked 1,247 efforts to censor books and other resources in libraries—an increase of 65% from the year before. In total, 4,240 unique book titles were targeted, many of them representing LGBTQIA+ and BIPOC voices and experiences. Even crime fiction books have been challenged through the years at some point, including Arthur Conan Doyle’s A Study in Scarlet, Edgar Allan Poe’s The Tell Tale Heart, and Gillian Flynn’s Gone Girl.

Bedford Square Publishers announced that Maxim Jakubowski has joined as Editor-at-Large to acquire new titles both for the Bedford Square and the No Exit Press imprints. Jakubowski is a well-known novelist, critic, and reviewer, as well as editor of several award-winning anthologies and owner of London bookshop Murder One. Maxim spent several decades in publishing roles in France and at Virgin, Rainbird and Ebury Press, where he commissioned many important bestsellers and created several major crime imprints, including the now legendary Black Box Thrillers and Blue Murder. The first titles he will bring to the list will include the highly controversial French prize-winner Emma Becker’s La Maison; works by the king of the French locked-room mystery, Paul Halter, and the master of Western noir, Scott Phillips; and Keith Donohue’s The Motion of Puppets, which US critics have described as "Stephen King meets Toys."

The Strand Mystery Magazine published a rarely seen essay this week from the 1930s, written by crime author G.K. Chesterton. He remains best known for his Father Brown mysteries, but he was also founding president of the Detection Club, a gathering of novelists whose original members included Agatha Christie, Dorothy L. Sayers, and AA Milne among others. In the essay he wrote, "Detective fiction had grown a little dull," and proceeded to opine about new ways to tell crime stories.

Elizabeth Foxwell, editor of Clues: A Journal of Detection, announced a call for papers on the theme of "reappraising James Ellroy," in honor of the 30-year anniversary of James Ellroy’s American Tabloid in 2025. Guest Editors will be Nathan Ashman (University of East Anglia) and Steven Powell (University of Liverpool). The proposal deadline is March 1, 2025. For more information, follow this link.

Mystery Readers Journal editor, Janet Rudolph, is seeking articles, reviews, and author essays for the upcoming issue, "Mysteries Set in London." Author essays are first person, about yourself, your books, and the "London" connection. Reviews are for books both in and out of print that are set in London. Author essays and articles should be 500-1,000 words, and reviews 50-250 words. The deadline is November 1, 2024.

In April 2015, B.K. Stevens debuted the blog series "The First Two Pages," hosting craft essays by short story writers and novelists analyzing the openings of their own work. The series continued until just after her death in August 2017, at which point Art Taylor took over at the helm. This week, Art welcomed Avram Lavinsky for the first post in a series celebrating the latest music-themed anthology from editor Josh Pachter: Friend of the Devil: Crime Fiction Inspired by the Songs of the Grateful Dead, coming out next week from Down and Out Books. In addition to Lavinsky, the anthology includes stories from Bruce Robert Coffin, James D.F. Hannah, Vinnie Hansen, James L’Etoile, G.M. Malliet, Twist Phelan, Faye Snowden, Joseph S. Walker, Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine editor Linda Landrigan (with her first published story), and more.

In the Q&A roundup, James R. Benn, author of the Billy Boyle World War II series, historical mysteries set within the Allied High Command during the Second World War, applied the Page 69 Test to The Phantom Patrol, the nineteenth installment of the series; and Vicki Delany, author of over 40 novels in various crime genres, also took up the Page 69 challenge to the newest novel in her Year-Round Christmas mystery series, A Slay Ride Together With You.

Ned Kelly Kudos

The Australian Crime Writing Association announced the winners of the 2024 Ned Kelly Awards. The awards are Australia’s oldest recognition honoring published crime fiction and true crime writing in the categories of Best Crime Fiction, Best Debut Crime Fiction, Best True Crime, and Best International Crime Fiction. Entries are accepted for books published in the 12 months prior to March 1st of each year. Congratulations to all the winners and finalists!

Best Crime Fiction:  Darling Girls - By Sally Hepworth

 

Also nominated:

 

Killer Traitor Spy - By Tim Ayliffe
Dark Corners - By Megan Goldin
Dark Mode - By Ashley Kalagian Blunt
The Seven - By Chris Hammer
Ripper - By Shelley Burr
The Tea Ladies - By Amanda Hampson
Everyone on this Train is a Suspect - By Benjamin Stevenson

Best International Crime Fiction:  The Only Suspect - By Louise Candlish

Also nominated:

 

Birnam Wood - By Eleanor Catton
Dice - By Claire Baylis
Resurrection Walk - By Michael Connelly
The Search Party - By Hannah Richell
Zero Days - By Ruth Ware

Best Debut Crime Fiction:  Murder in the Pacific: Ifira Point - By Matt Francis

Also nominated:

Four Dogs Missing - By Rhys Gard
Gus and the Missing Boy - By Troy Hunter
Lowbridge - By Lucy Campbell
The Fall Between - By Darcy Tindale
The Beacon - By P.A. Thomas
Violet Kelly and the Jade Owl - By Fiona Britton

Best True Crime:  Crossing the Line - By Nick McKenzie

Also nominated:

Killing for Country – By David Marr
The Murder Squad - By Michael Adams
Reckless - By Marele Day
The Teacher’s Pet - By Hedley Thomas

Sleuthfest Postponed

The organizers of the Sleuthfest Conference, which was scheduled for this week, September 26-29, in St. Petersburg, Florida, announced that due to Hurricane Helene, they are postponing the event until May 14-18, 2025. They indicated that current hotel reservations will be automatically cancelled by the Hilton Bayfront, and registrants should watch their email for additional information, including the opportunity to keep your registration for the new dates or receive a refund. The posting on the official website and on Facebook added, "Words can’t describe our disappointment, but we look forward to seeing you next May!"

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

Aaron Eckhart will star in the action thriller, Scorpion, directed by Jesse V. Johnson (Chief of Station) and written by Corey Large (Detective Knight trilogy) and Ed Drake (Gasoline Alley). Scorpion follows a CIA assassin who goes into hiding after taking the rap for a failed mission. But when he re-emerges, the past also comes back to haunt him, and in order to protect his daughter, he needs to take down the agency boss who set him up. Further casting information is yet to be announced.


Sam Richardson is set to join the cast of the thriller, Sacrifice, joining Chris Evans, Anya Taylor-Joy, and Salma Hayek Pinault. Based on a script by Romain Gavras (co-written with Will Arbery) who will also direct, the story is set at a high-end charity gala that is raided by a violent group of radicals on a mystical quest to fulfill a prophecy.

Josh O’Connor is set to star in The Mastermind, written and directed by Kelly Reichardt. Production is expected to start sometime this year on the film, which centers on an audacious art heist amidst the backdrop of the Vietnam War.

TELEVISION/STREAMING

After being in the works since last year, Amazon Prime Video has officially ordered a series adaptation of Patricia Cornwell’s Kay Scarpetta novels, with Nicole Kidman and Jamie Lee Curtis set for the lead roles. Amazon has greenlit two seasons of the series, titled Scarpetta, and added five additional cast members, Ariana DeBose (West Side Story) Bobby Cannavale (The Irishman), Simon Baker (Boy Swallows Universe), Rosy McEwen (Blue Jean), and Jake Cannavale (American Sports Story). Liz Sarnoff will serve as writer, executive producer, and showrunner. The mystery-thriller series follows Kay Scarpetta (Kidman), the Chief Medical Examiner, as she returns to Virginia and resumes her former position with complex relationships, both personal and professional – including her sister Dorothy (Curtis), with plenty of grudges and secrets to uncover.

ITV has greenlit the espionage thriller, Betrayal, starring and produced by Vigil’s Shaun Evans, which is set in the clandestine world of MI5. The story follows John Hughes (Evans), who joined MI5 during the war on terror and was at the forefront of averting the biggest terrorist plots on UK soil. Now in his mid 40s and married with two children, he’s struggling to adapt to the new MI5, where threats to national security have changed and he’s forced to confront the values of a progressive work environment.

Max has picked up for development an untitled a law enforcement drama loosely inspired by Geraldine Hart's experiences as an FBI agent and police commissioner. Eileen Myers (The Night Agent) is writing the pilot for the series, which follows a legendary FBI agent who returns to her hometown on Long Island to clean up mob corruption and quickly finds that the rot is even deeper and darker than she thought. Before long, she's facing down nefarious entities from all sides.

Monster series co-creator Ryan Murphy announced that Charlie Hunnam will star in Season 3 at Netflix as Ed Gein, the notorious serial killer. Gein, who also hailed from Wisconsin like Jeffrey Dahmer, became infamous in the 1950s when authorities discovered he'd not only killed multiple people, he'd dug up graves from a cemetery near his home and fashioned all manner of household items and clothing from human remains. Gein’s case served as an inspiration for several major pop culture characters later on, including Norman Bates in Psycho and Buffalo Bill in Silence of the Lambs. Season 1 of Monster focused on serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer, while Season 2 follows the Menendez brothers and the murder of their parents.

Max has canceled the latest iteration of the mystery-thriller series, Pretty Little Liars, after two seasons. The drama focused on a group of teenage girls enduring and investigating their own mysteries and starred Bailee Madison, Chandler Kinney, Zaria, Malia Pyles, Maia Reficco, Mallory Bechtel, Sharon Leal, Alex Aiono, Jordan Gonzalez, and Elias Kacavas. This was the fourth TV series in the Pretty Little Liars franchise, which are all based on or inspired by the book series written by Sara Shepard, with the others airing on Freeform (formerly ABC Family).

Hallmark's annual "Countdown to Christmas" lineup has been announced, with 47 all-new original movies spread across its networks including Hallmark Mystery.

PODCASTS/RADIO

Speaking of Mysteries welcomed Taylor Moore to discuss Cold Trail, the fourth installment in his series featuring Garrett Kohl, in which someone is blowing up natural gas facilities that may, or may not, have something to do with ecological demonstrators.

Spybrary Spy Podcast host Shane Whaley sat down with legendary actor Gary Oldman, who portrays the enigmatic Jackson Lamb in the hit TV adaptation of Mick Herron's Slow Horses. Oldman revealed how Jackson Lamb first appeared on his radar and the differences working with spy authors Mick Herron and John le Carré on Slow Horses and Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy.

On Crime Time FM, Craig Sisterson chatted with Attica Locke about her new novel, Guide Me Home; screenwriting and TV; the Crime Writers of Color; and Texas.

Meet the Thriller Author spoke with David Ellis, a judge and an Edgar-award-winning author of ten novels of crime fiction, as well as eight bestselling books co-authored with James Patterson.

This week’s episode of the Crime Cafe podcast features Debbi Mack's interview with crime writer Tom Fowler, author of the John Tyler thrillers and the CT Ferguson crime fiction series.

The latest Cops and Writers podcast featured bestselling author, drummer, and former Police Chief Rick Porrello. His first nonfiction book on organized crime, The Rise and Fall of the Cleveland Mafia, was based on family research into the murders of his grandfather and three uncles, all of whom, he learned, were mob leaders killed in Prohibition-era violence. HIs second book, To Kill the Irishman—the War that Crippled the Mafia, was made into the movie Kill the Irishman, starring Ray Stevenson, Vincent D’Onofrio, Christopher Walken, and Val Kilmer.

On Read or Dead, Katie McLain Horner and Kendra Winchester discussed mystery/thriller books for Hispanic Heritage Month.

A new Mysteryrat's Maze Podcast is up, featuring the first chapter of Four Pieces of Evidence by Pamela Ebel, read by actor Sean Hopper.

Friday's "Forgotten" Books: Detective Fiction (Cultural History of Literature)

Charles J. Rzepka's Detective Fiction (Cultural History of Literature) is an interesting read, and not just for its quasi-intended audience, college students. Author Rzepka has taught English at Boston University, but one of his specialties is also detective fiction. In addition to this book, he's published several articles on subjects from Elmore Leonard to Charlie Chan, and most of his works-in-progress are related to detective fiction, including a biographical essay on Earl Derr Biggers (creator of Charlie Chan); an essay on the theme of "nostos" in Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes stories; another on the detective fiction of Todd Downing (part-Choctaw writer, editor, and translator; and two book length studies: of the coterminous rise of formal detective fiction and the development of the lyric from Romanticism to Modernism (working title Lyrical Forensics), and the origins of ethnic and multicultural detective literature in the interwar period, 1920-1940, titled Two-Faced.

Yes, this is more of a scholarly look at the history of detective fiction—focusing primarily on the UK and America up to the latter part of the 20th century—but it's also entertaining. Thomas Paul (Modernism/Modernity) even went so far as to call it "cool, savvy, and utterly compelling." What is most interesting to me is the premise, i.e., he cultural context in which Rzepka places both authors and readers as the genre and society evolve together. As Rzepka points out, it's not surprising that the publication in 1841 of what is considered the first modern detective story, Edgar Allan Poe's "The Murders in the Rue Morge" coincided with the growing tension between religion and the physical sciences, where path-breaking discoveries were giving rise ultimately to modern forensics.

Another cause-and-effect in the genre's history took place in England where English sympathizers with the American Revolution were beginning to agitate for reforms in the "old corruption" of rule and law enforcement by the landed classes. One such sympathizer, William Godwin (1756-1836) went on to write the book Caleb Williams (1794, a "forgotten book" in its own right), considered one of the first English detective novels, which featured a murder, cover-up, and framing and execution of two innocent people by a wealthy landowner.  Rzepka adds, "Godwin intended to show how, given the current political situation, absolute power corrupts turning the former into outright bullies or conscience-tormented hypocrites and the latter into obsequious toadies or celebrity-obsessed curiosity-seekers." (Sound familiar? Some things never change.) Caleb Williams was a portent of things to come in other ways: "the terror and mystery of crime; the obsessive nature of suspicion; the paranoid thrills of flight, pursuit, arrest, and escape; and the daring use of incognito and disguise."

Rzepka has studies on Holmes, the Golden Age of Detection, and the rise of hard-boiled fiction in America, all tightly woven into the fabric of their particular time and place in history. Such nonfiction books are often quite neglected in general (although personally I enjoy them), but this particular nonfiction title is recommended.

Charles J. Rzepka's Detective Fiction (Cultural History of Literature) is an interesting read, and not just for its quasi-intended audience, college students. Author Rzepka has taught English at Boston University, but one of his specialties is also detective fiction. In addition to this book, he's published several articles on subjects from Elmore Leonard to Charlie Chan, and most of his works-in-progress are related to detective fiction, including a biographical essay on Earl Derr Biggers (creator of Charlie Chan); an essay on the theme of "nostos" in Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes stories; another on the detective fiction of Todd Downing (part-Choctaw writer, editor, and translator; and two book length studies: of the coterminous rise of formal detective fiction and the development of the lyric from Romanticism to Modernism (working title Lyrical Forensics), and the origins of ethnic and multicultural detective literature in the interwar period, 1920-1940, titled Two-Faced.

Yes, this is more of a scholarly look at the history of detective fiction—focusing primarily on the UK and America up to the latter part of the 20th century—but it's also entertaining. Thomas Paul (Modernism/Modernity) even went so far as to call it "cool, savvy, and utterly compelling." What is most interesting to me is the premise, i.e., he cultural context in which Rzepka places both authors and readers as the genre and society evolve together. As Rzepka points out, it's not surprising that the publication in 1841 of what is considered the first modern detective story, Edgar Allan Poe's "The Murders in the Rue Morge" coincided with the growing tension between religion and the physical sciences, where path-breaking discoveries were giving rise ultimately to modern forensics.

Another cause-and-effect in the genre's history took place in England where English sympathizers with the American Revolution were beginning to agitate for reforms in the "old corruption" of rule and law enforcement by the landed classes. One such sympathizer, William Godwin (1756-1836) went on to write the book Caleb Williams (1794, a "forgotten book" in its own right), considered one of the first English detective novels, which featured a murder, cover-up, and framing and execution of two innocent people by a wealthy landowner.  Rzepka adds, "Godwin intended to show how, given the current political situation, absolute power corrupts turning the former into outright bullies or conscience-tormented hypocrites and the latter into obsequious toadies or celebrity-obsessed curiosity-seekers." (Sound familiar? Some things never change.) Caleb Williams was a portent of things to come in other ways: "the terror and mystery of crime; the obsessive nature of suspicion; the paranoid thrills of flight, pursuit, arrest, and escape; and the daring use of incognito and disguise."

Rzepka has studies on Holmes, the Golden Age of Detection, and the rise of hard-boiled fiction in America, all tightly woven into the fabric of their particular time and place in history. Such nonfiction books are often quite neglected in general (although personally I enjoy them), but this particular nonfiction title is recommended.

Mystery Melange

Book art by Emma Taylor

The six finalists for this year's Booker Prize include Rachel Kushner's Creation Lake, a romantic spy thriller which sees an American woman infiltrate a radical anarchist collective in rural France, and Percival Everett's James, a retelling of Mark Twain's The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, written from the perspective of the runaway slave, Jim. Kushner, Everett, and the four other finalists will vie for the £50,000 (roughly $65,800 USD) top prize, with the winner to be revealed November 12.

Bestselling author Nelson DeMille, who grew up on Long Island and earned a Bronze Star in Vietnam before turning to a writing career, has died at the age of 81. He made his literary debut in 1974 with the novel, The Sniper, which introduced Joe Ryker, a tough New York police detective, a character who would return in several more novels. DeMille was known for his series of books featuring U.S. Army investigator Paul Brenner, introduced in the 1992 novel, The General’s Daughter, which was adapted into a 1999 film starring John Travolta. The author's most recent book, Blood Lines, co-written with his son Alex DeMille, was published last year. Many of his fellow authors have taken to social media to pay tribute to DeMille for his generosity, kindness, and sense of humor.

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The CBC profiled Winnipeg, Ontario's crime bookstore, Whodunit, which houses more than 23,000 new and used novels and has been in business for over thirty years. The bookstore hosts a Mystery Reading Club and has featured readings and signings by various mystery authors through the years.

One of the latest themed book recommendation lists over at Crime Reads comes from Sofie Kelly: "Librarians on the Case." I have a soft spot for this one, as my mother was a librarian. For those hungry for more, here's a list of more bookish sleuths via Mystery Fanfare.

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