
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
Oscar-nominated actress Vera Farmiga is set to star in the Cold War thriller, Billion Dollar Spy, opposite Russell Crowe and Harry Lawtey. Adapted from the acclaimed book by Pulitzer Prize-winning author David E. Hoffman, Billion Dollar Spy follows Adolf Tolkachev (Crowe), who in real life risked everything to pass thousands of pages of top-secret Soviet intelligence to the U.S. Despite repeated rejections by a wary CIA, Tolkachev persisted, embodying the courage to stand against a regime that betrayed its own people. Finally finding an ally in CIA agent Tom Lenihan (Lawtey), Tolkachev was able to shift the balance of power, proving that true patriotism lies not in blind allegiance, but in the willingness to challenge a government when it strays from its ideals. Farmiga will play Natasha, Tolkachev’s wife. BAFTA winner Amma Asante is directing.
Netflix and AGBO’s adaptation of the Alex North novel, The Whisper Man, is adding Michael Keaton to the ensemble cast of Robert De Niro, Adam Scott, Michelle Monaghan, John Carroll Lynch, Hamish Linklater, Owen Teague, and Acston Luca Porto. James Ashcroft is set to direct, with Ben Jacoby and Chase Palmer adapting the script. Based on North’s New York Times bestselling novel, The Whisper Man revolves around a widower crime writer who, after his 8-year-old son is abducted, looks to his estranged father, a retired former police detective, for help, only to discover a connection with the decades-old case of a convicted serial killer known as "The Whisper Man."
ITN Distribution has acquired North American rights to Salvation, a new feature described as a "southern gothic thriller" starring Thomas Jane and Skeet Ulrich alongside Ashley Moore. The film follows a troubled foster child who is given a final chance to make good when she is sent to live with a kind couple in rural Tennessee. But she soon learns that her foster family is not quite what they seem as she is drawn into their world of snake-handling worship, where even holy people can do evil things. Theo Rossi, Devon Bostick, and Claire Forlani round out the key cast. Mackenzie Munro directed the film from Alex Runnels’ screenplay.
TELEVISION/STREAMING
Laura Lippman’s series of books following private investigator Tess Monaghan may soon hit the small screen after Tomorrow Studios (The Better Sister, One Piece) has acquired the series. Lippman, a New York Times bestselling author, will co-write the television series with Edgar-winning author Megan Abbott, whose own novel, Dare Me, was adapted by the USA Network in 2019. Lippman's series follows the investigative pursuits of Tess Monaghan, a former reporter turned private investigator in Baltimore, with each book exploring intricate plots and intriguing characters in Baltimore’s diverse neighborhoods.
Sarah Michelle Gellar (Dexter: Original Sin, Buffy the Vampire Slayer) has come on board to star in and executive produce Bad Summer People, a TV series adaptation of the bestselling novel by Emma Rosenblum. Cara DiPaolo (No Good Deed) will write and executive produce the project. Bad Summer People, which has drawn comparisons to The White Lotus, is set in the idyllic fictional town of Salcombe, Fire Island, and follows a sequence of life shattering events when a body is discovered off the side of the boardwalk. The series will be centered on frenemies and master manipulators, Jen Weinstein and Lauren Parker. They, alongside their husbands, childhood friends Sam and Jason, have summered together on the island for years, but this summer everything will come to a head as lifelong grudges and secrets are unearthed.
Lindsay Lohan has joined Count My Lies, a drama series in development at Hulu based on the novel of the same name, as star and executive producer. The project is being written by Isaac Aptaker and Elizabeth Berger, best known for their work on NBC’s This Is Us. If greenlit, Count My Lies will mark Lohan’s first lead role in a TV series, as she plays wealthy mother Violet. The official logline for the series reads, “When compulsive liar Sloane Caraway fibs her way into a nanny position for the gorgeous and charismatic Violet and Jay Lockhart, it seems she’s finally landed her dream job. But little does Sloane know, she’s just entered a household brimming with secrets that are about to explode — with potentially catastrophic consequences for all."
Apple released a first look at Smoke (fka Firebug), the upcoming crime drama series from creator Dennis Lehane, starring and executive produced by Taron Egerton. The nine-episode series premieres globally on Apple TV+ on Friday, June 27 with the first two episodes, followed by one new episode every Friday through August 8. Inspired by true events, Smoke follows troubled detective Michelle Calderon (Emmy-nominated Jurnee Smollett) and enigmatic arson investigator Dave Gudsen (Egerton) as they pursue the trails of two serial arsonists. The cast also includes Rafe Spall, Ntare Guma Mbaho Mwine, Hannah Emily Anderson, Emmy-nominated Anna Chlumsky, Adina Porter, Oscar and Emmy-nominated Greg Kinnear and Emmy winner John Leguizamo. The fictional series is inspired by truth.media’s acclaimed Firebug podcast, which was hosted by the Oscar and Emmy-winning Kary Antholis,
Citadel spinoffs Honey Bunny and Diana have been canceled after one season each at Amazon MGM Studios. Rather than continuing as individual series, the shows, which are based in India and Italy, respectively, will be woven into the mothership series’ upcoming second season, which will premiere in the second quarter of 2026. Per its logline, Season 2 of Citadel will take place one month after the events of Season 1, following the spies underground as they’re being hunted by Manticore agents around the world. They’re pulled out of hiding to join forces with a new team of unconventional spies when Manticore’s Brazilian billionaire Paulo Braga threatens to unleash a cataclysmic piece of technology, built by Citadel’s own Bernard Orlick, into the world. Citadel stars Richard Madden and Priyanka Chopra Jonas and features Lesley Manville and Stanley Tucci.
Noah Emmerich (The Big Cigar), Kathleen Wilhoite (Yellowstone), and Tommy Dewey (Saturday Night) have signed on to Hulu's upcoming limited series about the Murdaugh Murders. They join previously announced Jason Clarke as Alex Murdaugh, Patricia Arquette as Maggie Murdaugh, J. Smith-Cameron as Marian Proctor, Johnny Berchtold as Paul Murdaugh, Will Harrison as Buster Murdaugh, and Brittany Snow as Mandy Matney. The true crime drama series comes from showrunner Michael D. Fuller, who co-created the project with Erin Lee Carr. The as-yet untitled series is based on the true story of Maggie and Alex Murdaugh’s "stranger-than-fiction family drama," drawn from reporting by journalist Mandy Matney, creator of the Murdaugh Murders Podcast, and insider knowledge from years spent following the case. Emmerich will play strait-laced Randy Murdaugh, the antithesis to his wild card younger brother Alex in life and in the legal profession. Wilhoite portrays Gloria Satterfield, the Murdaughs’ loyal and doting housekeeper for decades, while Dewey will portray Mark Tinsley, a prosecutor who’s an old hunting buddy of Alex’s.
PODCASTS/RADIO
The latest guest on the Inspirational Indie Author Interview podcast was Ali Steed, an accomplished journalist, writer, editor, and broadcaster, who has worked for most of the UK’s national newspapers, as well as the BBC, Channel 4, and local TV and radio stations. Her debut novel, All It Takes, the first book in the DCI Caroline Cramer series, won the BIBA Suspense/Thriller 2024 category.
On The Magic Book podcast, Rebecca Josephy (Oakland University) talks about the collection she edited, Magic, Magicians and Detective Fiction: Essays on Intersecting Modes of Mystery (McFarland, 2025), on the use of magic and magicians in mysteries, including discussion of impossible crimes and supernatural elements. It analyzes this subgenre's nineteenth-century roots and features reflections on writers such as Canadian-born author Grant Allen (An African Millionaire), Japanese writer Edogawa Ranpo, and American magician-author-editor-illustrator Clayton Rawson. (HT to The Bunburyist)
On the Crime Cafe podcast, writer Ed Zuckerman joined host Debbi Mack to talk about his work as a freelance journalist for Rolling Stone, Spy, The New Yorker, Harpers, Esquire, and many other magazines. He has written two nonfiction books, The Day After World War III and Small Fortunes, then moved into writing for television drama, including more than 50 episodes of the original Law and Order, Blue Bloods, and Law and Order SVU. His debut novel is the financial thriller, Wealth Management.
Award-winning writer and screenwriter, Michael Idov, joined Shane Whaley on Spybrary to discuss his debut spy novel, The Collaborators. Raised in Soviet-era Riga and a creative force behind Deutschland 83, Idov brings a razor-sharp perspective to the spy genre. In this conversation, he opens up about weaving real-world intelligence events — from the Ryanair Belarus "hijacking" to OSINT — into gripping fiction, and how he bridges the gap between literary espionage and cinematic thrills.
Georgina Clarke chatted with Paul Burke on Crime Time FM about her new historical mystery, Viper in the Nest; Lizzie Hardwicke; and Georgian England.
Murder Junction hosts Vaseem Khan and Abir Mukherjee spoke with journalist, literary critic, and novelist Lucy Atkins about her latest book, Windmill Hill, and her love of pony fiction.
Suspense Radio host Tracey Devlyn interviewed Kimberly Belle, Layne Fargo, Cate Holahan, and Vanessa Lillie about their newest collaboration, Desperate Deadly Widows, an Amazon Audio Original bestseller. In 1987 Providence, four unforgettable widows are back—and when a honey-pot scheme goes sideways, they’re thrust into a scandal involving the city's sleaziest mayor, buried secrets, and explosive betrayals.
Host Dr. Jen Prosser of the Pick Your Poison podcast investigated which poisoning is often mistaken for an allergic reaction; what you risk by eating barracuda; and what causes Foreign Accent Syndrome.