In Reference to Murder

Quote of the Week

FFB: The Ethnic Detectives

For the 1985 anthology The Ethnic Detectives: Masterpieces of Mystery Fiction, editors Bill Pronzini and Martin Greenberg had to first determine how exactly to define "ethnic" for inclusion in this book. In the introduction, they say that such a distinction isn't all that simple and point out how in one sense, even Edgar Allan Poe's C. August Dupin qualifies. The principal definition is that the sleuth is a member of a minority group within a dominant culture, and whose mannerisms, world view, and approach reflect upon his background.

The reasons for writing such a character are many and varied, but as Greenberg and Pronzini point out, "These are particularly interesting characters because their adventures frequently concern problems of identity, of the search for one's roots, and of reconciling different heritages — problems that are the stuff of emotion and high drama." And, as the editors ultimately conclude, "Vive le roman policier! Vive la difference!"

This particular group of stories were chosen to represent different ethnic groups, without duplications. Thus, we have one each of the Chinese detective (Judge Dee by Robert van Gulik); one of a couple of different Native American tribal detectives (David Return by Manly Wade Wellman and also Tony Hillerman, mentioned below); the Czechoslovakian detective (Dr. Jan Czissar by Eric Ambler); the Filipino detective (Jo Gar by Raoul Whitfield) and so forth. Most of these authors will be new to the majority of crime fiction readers, with only a handful well-known, such as Georges Simenon (Inspector Maigret), Tony Hillerman (Jim Chee), and Marcia Muller (Elena Oliverez).

Reading the book is something akin to eating at an international food fair, with little tastings that may satisfy, but leave you wanting more. The most effective stories are those from the authors who have lived the longest with their characters, primarily Hillerman and his Navajo Corporal, Jim Chee, and for the most intense banquet of all, a novella-length story from Ed McBain featuring the various multi-cultural detectives of his 87th Precinct series the author featured in dozens of novels and stories.

The Ethnic Detectives is a fascinating look at the various ways writers slip into worlds not their own and try to create fiction that conveys the spirit of people who live there. Like most such efforts, some of these attempts are successful, others a little less so. But it's an easy way to travel around the world vicariously and be pleasantly entertained at the same time.

Mystery Melange

Amazon announced its choices for "Best Books" of 2019, including those in the Mystery & Thriller category. For a listing of all of the top twenty crime titles, follow this link.

A week after winning the Bill Crider Prize for Short Fiction at Bouchercon 2019, Joseph S. Walker won the 2019 Al Blanchard Award presented at New England Crime Bake. The Al Blanchard Award, named after Al Blanchard, honors the best crime short story by a New England writer or with a New England setting. Mr. Walker’s winning short story, "Haven" is published in Seascape: Best New England Crime Stories. (HT to Kevin Tipple)

Sisters in Crime, New Orleans chapter, is sponsoring a one-day conference for writers and readers of crime fiction titled "A Journey into the Mystery of the Criminal Mind." Keynote speaker Hank Phillipi Ryan will be joined by local authors BJ Bourg, O'Neil De Noux, Jean M. Redmann, and Erica Spindler for disucssions such as "Mastering the Art of Addictive Suspense" and "Crafting the Dark Side: Creating Criminal Characters."

As one of the first initiatives under the leadership of new CEO James Daunt, Barnes & Noble has announced the shortlist for a new Book of the Year award. Books are nominated by B&N booksellers, who will also choose the winner, and represent "the title for which they are most proud to be selling," said Daunt. The prize replicates a similar prize offered by Waterstones in the U.K., which was launched in 2012. The shortlist for the inaugural award includes the crime novel, The Silent Patient by Alex Michaelides, as well as The Nickel Boys by Colson Whitehead, based on a true story about a violent and torturous reform school in Florida during the Jim Crow era.

Fifty years ago, CWA Diamond Dagger Lifetime Achievement Award-winner, Peter Lovesey, published his first mystery novel, Wobble to Death, after winning a first novel contest he stumbled across in an English newspaper. To celebrate Lovesey's incredible career and its unusual beginnings, Soho Crime has created the Peter Lovesey First Crime Novel Contest, in which one debut crime/mystery author will be awarded a publication contract with Soho Crime. All submissions must be received by 11:59pm EST on April 1, 2020. (HT to Mystery Fanfare, which has more info and links.)

I recently reported on The Sunday Times Audible Short Story Award, which bills itself as "the richest prize for a single short story in the English language" (the winner receives £30,000). However, on Victoria Strauss's Writer Beware blog, she notes something that authors should take into account: by agreeing to the terms and conditions, you are essentially granting a sweeping, non-expiring license not just to Times Newspapers Limited (The Sunday Times' parent company), but also to Audible to use your story or any part of it in any way they want, anywhere in the world, without payment to or permission from you.

There is a call for papers for the upcoming conference, The Golden Age of Crime: A Re-Evaluation. As well as interrogating the staples of Golden Age crime (the work of Agatha Christie and/or Ellery Queen, the puzzle format, comparisons to "the psychological turn"), this conference will look at under-explored elements of the publishing phenomenon. Organizers invite proposals for 20-minute papers or panel presentations of one hour. If you're interested, email your 200-word proposal and short biographical note to goldenageofcrime@gmail.com no later than 15th December. (HT to Shots Magazine)

Speaking of Golden Age authors: do you agree with The Guardian's list of the "Top 10 Golden Age Detective Novels?"

Sotheby's is selling an "extraordinary stash of letters" (160 plus) between James Bond creator, Ian Fleming, and his wife, Ann, that shine a light on the tangled relationship between them—from their intense and secret affair to the bitter end of their marriage. Gabriel Heaton, a specialist in books and manuscripts at the auction house, said the letters in their scope and scale provided what "must surely be an unmatchable record of the life of the author as his fortunes changed." They also provide insight into the rise of the iconic James Bond character.

Planet Word, a new Washington, D.C. language museum, is set to open in May 2020. The project has been spearheaded by Ann Friedman, who describes it as an interactive museum “that will bring language to life," now under construction at the historic Franklin School on the corner of 13th and K streets NW in downtown Washington. The museum is expected to open May 31 with 10 immersive galleries that will explore language in novel and entertaining ways. Visitors will be invited to solve puzzles, listen to poetry and paint pictures with words and encouraged to try their skills at delivering famous speeches and creating a marketing pitch. Planet Word will also have an auditorium, classrooms, a restaurant and gift shop, and admission will be free.

Finland has one of the highest literacy rates in the world, so of course, they'd build something incredible like this.

This week's crime poem at the 5-2 is "Sometimes I Think About Murder" by Terry Dawley.

In the Q&A roundup, Ivy Pochoda interviewed Alex Segura for the LA Review of Books about his series featuring private eye, Pete Fernandez; WAToday chatted with Garry Disher, "Australian crime fiction's quiet giant"; Shots Magazine had a Q&A with Atticka Locke, the author of five award-wining novels including Bluebird, Bluebird (2017) that won an Edgar Award, Anthony Award and the CWA Ian Fleming Steel Dagger Award; and Lena Gregory stopped by the Writers Who Kill blog to chat about her All-Day Breakfast Cafe Series.

Media Murder for Monday

It's the start of a new week and that means it's time for a new roundup of crime drama news:

THE BIG SCREEN/MOVIES

Fox Searchlight has picked up Consume, based on an original idea by David Gelb who will also direct the project. it's described as a "contained thriller" that follows a group of thought leaders who are invited to an enigmatic billionaire’s Icelandic retreat for what they think is the trip of a lifetime. Little do they know that they are not guests, but the unwitting test subjects of a nefarious experiment.

Ben Affleck is set to star in the next film from director Robert Rodriguez, the "mind-bending" action thriller, Hypnotic. Rodriguez and Max Borenstein wrote the film that will star Affleck as a detective who becomes entangled in a mystery involving his missing daughter and a secret government program while investigating a string of impossible high-end heists.

Mel Gibson and Frank Grillo are leading the cast of Joe Carnahan’s thriller, Leo From Toledo. The film follows a former killer for the Kansas City mob, now hiding in witness protection, who has trouble with his memory. When his past catches up with him and he becomes a hunted man, he has little time to save the one thing he has left – his estranged daughter and granddaughter.

Scott Eastwood is set to star opposite Jason Statham and Holt McCallanay in Cash Truck, the Miramax action thriller directed by Guy Ritchie. It’s a revenge story that shifts across timelines and between various character’s perspectives. At the center is "H" (Statham), a cold and mysterious character who works at a cash truck company responsible for moving hundreds of millions of dollars around Los Angeles each week. McCallany will play Bullet, the head of transportation who hires H despite not fully trusting him, but Eastwood's role has yet to be announced.

Jason Sudeikis and Evangeline Lilly have been cast in Till Death, the action thriller being from Aharon Keshales, who co-directed 2013 breakout Israeli horror project Big Bad Wolves. In the film, convicted felon Jimmy gets early parole after serving twelve years for armed robbery. Upon his release, he vows to give Annie, his childhood love, now dying from cancer, the best last year of her life, but unfortunately it’s not that simple.

TELEVISION/STREAMING SERVICES

Sandra Bullock is reteaming with Netflix after the success of Bird Box and will star in an untitled drama for the streaming service about life after prison. Nora Fingscheidt will direct the film that’s based on a script by director Christopher McQuarrie who adapted the screenplay from the BAFTA-nominated British miniseries, Unforgiven. Bullock stars as Ruth Slater, a woman released from prison after serving a sentence for a violent crime and who re-enters a society that refuses to forgive her past. Facing severe judgment from the place she once called home, her only hope for redemption is finding the estranged younger sister she was forced to leave behind.

ABC has put in development Invisible, a thriller drama written and executive produced by the Burn Notice duo of Watkins and Raisani. Invisible is described as a "sexy, high-octane thriller" about an undercover federal agent going through an identity crisis as she struggles to find balance between her roles as a wife and mother and her calling as a high risk law enforcement officer.

CBS has put in development, Vanishing Point, from writer Breen Frazier (Criminal Minds). Vanishing Point revolves around a cavalier but brilliant behavioral psychologist and his methodical FBI agent ex-wife, who are forced to reteam on a missing-persons case that in fact might be the spark they need to rekindle their relationship and finally locate their own teenage son, who disappeared years before.

Adam Scott has teamed up with director Ben Stiller for the workplace thriller, Severance, which has been handed a series order by Apple. The series takes place at Lumen Industries, a company that’s looking to take work-life balance to a new level. Scott will play the lead role of Mark, an employee with a dark past trying to put himself back together.

NBC has put in development Quantum Spy, based on David Ignatius’s CIA thriller novel. Quantum Spy is centered around Harris Chang, a newly promoted Chinese-American CIA officer. After America’s top-secret quantum research lab is compromised, he’s tasked with finding the traitor and ends up in the middle of a global conspiracy that leads him to uncover dark secrets from his own past.

ITV is developing a "sweeping" adaptation of Lindsey Davis’ Falco Roman private detective novels, a project originally pitched to the BBC. Davis has published 20 Falco novels, starting with The Silver Pigs in 1989. Each tells a self-contained story about Marcus Didius Falco, a fictional Roman private detective who investigates crimes and acts as an often reluctant imperial agent across the Roman Empire in 70 AD and beyond.

US-based streaming service Sundance Now has acquired the rights to Norwegian TV series Wisting, based on the best-selling crime novels by Jørn Lier Horst. Wisting is a police procedural series about a former New York-based FBI agent (Carrie-Anne Moss) working with Norwegian homicide detective William Wisting (Sven Nordin) to catch a serial killer from the United States. The storyline is based on two of Lier Horst’s books, The Caveman and The Hunting Dogs.
 

CBS has put in development Clues, a drama based on an Israeli series, from Madam Secretary Barbara Hall and Madam Secretary executive producer David Grae. When a private investigator goes missing, his socialite wife and his blue-collar protégé are forced together to solve the mystery of his disappearance while also desperately trying to save the business. But each of the women holds a secret that could jeopardize their budding friendship and pursuit of the truth. 

Queen Latifah is set to star in and executive produce an Equalizer reboot currently in development at CBS. Described as a reimagining of the 1985 CBS series starring Edward Woodward, the reboot centers on Queen Latifah as "an enigmatic figure who uses her extensive skills to help those with nowhere else to turn." Castle duo Andrew Marlowe and Terri Miller will serve as writers and showrunners on the reboot.

A new Revenge follow-up series is in the works at ABC. Written by the series creator Mike Kelley and Revenge alum Joe Fazzio, the new project will feature a new Hispanic immigrant character, in addition to at least one of the characters from the original show. The returning character, who has not yet been cast, will guide the new protagonist "as she arrives in Malibu to exact revenge on a Sackler-esque pharmaceutical dynasty, whose insatiable greed led to the murder of her biochemist mother, the destruction of her family, and a global epidemic."

ABC also put in development Ghost, a one-hour drama from writer Justin Britt-Gibson (Counterpart) and Blindspot creator-executive producer Martin Gero. Written and executive produced by Britt-Gibson, Ghost follows Elton Cleaver, a once-celebrated CIA officer who was betrayed and left for dead by a shadowy organization embedded within the Agency. Living under a new identity, Cleaver now uses his skills to protect everyday people from threats beyond the law’s reach.

James Nesbitt has been cast as the lead in new BBC One detective drama, Bloodlands. Dubbed an "Irish noir," Nesbitt will play Northern Irish police detective Tom Brannick who connects a suicide note with an infamous cold case with enormous personal significance. The discovery sparks an explosive hunt for a legendary assassin. 

Merle Dandridge has been set as a series regular opposite Kaley Cuoco in HBO Max’s thriller drama series, The Flight Attendant. The Flight Attendant is a story of a flight attendant (Cuoco) who wakes up in the wrong hotel, in the wrong bed, with a dead man – and no idea what happened. The dark comedic thriller is based on the novel of the same name by New York Times best-selling author Chris Bohjalian. Dandridge will play Kim, a no-nonsense lead FBI agent who ends up revisiting some of her own mistakes while investigating all of Cassie’s. Griffin Matthews (Dear White People) has also been tapped as a series regular to play Shane Evans, Cassie’s flight attendant "work friend" and fellow nightlife compatriot. 

One of the original castmembers on NCIS: New Orleans has exited the popular CBS series after six seasons. Special Agent Christopher Lasalle met an untimely fate when he was fatally shot while trying to avenge his brother Cade’s murder by tracking the drug ring in Alabama he suspected was responsible. Actor Lucas Black, who played Lasalle, shared a heartfelt message on Instagram with fans after the episode aired, thanking them for their love and support.

The cast is growing for Dirty John: The Betty Broderick Story. Rachel Keller, Emily Bergl, Lena Georgas, Tiera Skovbye, and Chris Mason are set to recur opposite Amanda Peet and Christian Slater in the second installment of the anthology series which will air on USA Network. Like the first installment, which aired on Bravo and starred Connie Britton and Eric Bana, the second will be based on a true crime story featuring an epic tale of love gone wrong. In Season 2, it is the story of convicted murderer Betty Broderick (Peet) and her ex-husband (Slater) that spans the 1960s to the ’80s and chronicles the breakdown of their marriage that Oprah deemed one of "America’s messiest divorces" even before it ended in double homicide.

Ahead of its January premiere, NBC has retitled its new midseason drama, Lincoln. Now titled Lincoln Rhyme: Hunt for the Bone Collector, the drama series is inspired by Jeffery Deaver’s bestselling book series, which had been previously adapted into the 1999 movie of the same name starring Denzel Washington and Angelina Jolie. The project follows former NYPD detective and forensic genius Lincoln Rhyme, played by Russell Hornsby, and his new partner, Amelia Sachs (Arielle Kebbel) in a cat-and-mouse game as they join forces to bring down a notorious serial killer

PODCASTS/VIDEO/RADIO

Partners in Crime welcomed Adam Croft, who talks about the process of writing his new political thriller, Absolution; there was also a discussion of whether or not crime writers approve of murder and answer – in great detail – their least favorite question: where do you get your ideas from?

The recent Mysteryrat's Maze podcast episode featured the mystery short story, "Fig Newtons and Heavy Bags by Earl Staggs," read by actor Donna Beavers.

Read or Dead hosts Katie McClean Horner and Rincey Abraham talked about all of the recent mystery award winners and the books they picked up in honor of Nonfiction November.

Crime Cafe host Debbi Mack welcomed guest crime writer Les Abend, an airline pilot turned author of the novel, Paper Wings.

The latest Speaking of Mysteries guest was Frank Heller, whose first thriller, The Secret Empress, reimagines an alternate history where the last Emperor of China’s wife and child did not die in childbirth.

Linwood Barclay stopped by Beyond the Cover to chat about his new thriller, Elevator Pitch, in which a series of disasters paralyzes New York City with fear.

The Meet the Thriller Author podcast featured Brian Andrews and Jeffrey Wilson, the co-author team behind the #1 Bestselling Tier One series and other standalone thrillers.

Dr. D.P. Lyle's Criminal Mischief took on the topic of "Body Disposal."

Det. Adam Richardson, host of the Writers Bureau, answered questions about what constitutes a hate crime, how to use search warrants in a proactive investigation where a crime hasn’t occurred yet, and death investigations in paradise.

Terry Shames was interviewed by Wrong Place, Write Crime host, Frank Zafiro, to discuss her Samuel Craddock series.

Robert McCaw was the guest on It Was a Dark and Stormy Book Club, chatting about his new novel featuring Hilo police Chief Detective Koa Kāne, Off the Grid.

Quote of the Week

FFB: Ghost of a Chance

William Roos was born in Pennsylvania in 1911, eventually heading to Carnegie Tech in Pittsburgh to study drama, first as an actor, then as a playwright. Audrey Kelley was born in New Jersey in 1912, and also ended up at Carnegie Tech at the same time as Roos to study acting. They met, fell in love, and like many wannabe actors and playwrights, moved to New York City.

What followed was a less-than-successful effort on both their parts initially, until Audry decided to try mystery writing as a career. It's unknown how she and her husband decided to collaborate, but collaborate they did, using a combination of their surnames as a pen name, Kelley Roos. According to their son, one of his parents would work on the even-numbered chapters, the other the odd-numbered chapters, then they would turn their chapters over to the other for rewrites.

Their first book, Made Up To Kill, was published in 1940 by Dodd, Mead, and featured husband-and-wife sleuth team, Jeff Troy, a photographer and jack-of-all-trades and Haila Troy, actress, who live in Greenwich Village. Son Stephen adds that "The Troys were a lot like my parents. They laughed a lot, drank a lot too. They worked very hard at their writing, but they never looked on their work as art. It was fun. They were entertainers."

In addition to the novels, William continued to write plays, including January Thaw and the book for the long-running 1948 Mike Todd musical, As the Girls Go. He and Audrey took their collaboration to the stage for the mystery play, Speaking of Murder, which had only a month's run in New York but longer when it moved to London. In 1961, their adaptation of John Dickson Carr's The Burning Court was televised by the National Broadcasting Company and picked up the Edgar Award from the Mystery Writers of America.

Ghost of a Chance from 1947 was the sixth of nine novels featuring the Troy duo, and starts off with a cryptic phone call to Jeff from a mysterious stranger who wants Jeff's help because an unnamed woman is going to be murdered. The Troys follow the strangers's instructions to meet him, hopping through bars and on to Times Square—only to find the stranger dead beneath a subway train. Believing the man was pushed to his death, but unable to convince anyone else, the Troys begin a suspenseful hunt to find the identity of the woman who is being targeted before the murderous gang behind the plot gets to her first, even as the Troys themselves are followed, shot at, and held virtual captives in a deadly game of cat-and-mouse.

As with the other Troy novels, Jeff does most of the detecting (something New York homicide cop Lt. George Hankins prefers to call "meddling") with Haila narrating the action, spotting clues, and proving she's far from a typical damsel-in-distress, all the while engaging in non-stop cheery banter along with her wry asides:

 

Jeff whistled a merry tune while we waited. I, too, felt fine. Actually, it wasn't much. Locating a man who owned a hansom cab that was driven years ago by a man who knew the name of a woman who was slated to be murdered was still a long way from finding that woman. But it was something, a little something. After hours and hours of nothing but high, thick stone walls it was worth whistling about. I joined Jeff, supplying some doubtful harmony to his doubtful melody of that recorded cantata in praise of Piel's light beer of Broadway fame.

Ghost of a Chance was filmed as Scent of Mystery (1960) starring Denholm Elliott, Beverly Bentley and Peter Lorre (with Elizabeth Taylor making an uncredited cameo). The location was changed to Spain, and the film was scripted by William Rose, but Kelley Roos turned around and created a novelization of the film, published to coincide with the movie release. Interestingly, the movie was made in the short-lived technology Smell-O-Vision, where the theatre was equipped with a system that gave off various odours synched up with the film, such as the opening scene with a butterfly flitting through a peach grove that called up peach scents, and later a smashed barrel of wine.

Other Roos novels were made into films (sans Smell-O-Vision), including The Frightened Stiff, which became A Night to Remember (1942), with Haila and Jeff portrayed by Loretta Young and Brian Aherne; Dangerous Blondes in 1943 starring Allyn Joslyn and Evelyn Keyes; The Blonde Died Dancing, filmed in France as Do You Want to Dance With Me? in 1959 and starring Brigitte Bardot and Henri Vidal; And To Save His Life made into the TV-Movie, Dead Men Tell No Tales in 1971.

Following in the tradition of Nick and Nora Charles, Pam and Jerry North (written by another husband-and-wife duo, Richard and Frances Lockridge), it's a shame that the Troys have been largely forgotten, although thanks to Rue Morgue Press, four of the Kelley Roos/Troy novels were reissued a few years ago, including Made Up to Kill, If the Shroud Fits, The Frightened Stiff and Sailor Taking Warning. But even those are a bit hard to find, now.

Author R&R with Eugenia Lovett West

Today, my Author R&R features a very special guest, Eugenia Lovett West, who at age 96 is the author of the newly published Firewall: An Emma Streat Mystery. She was born in Boston, Massachusetts, the daughter of Reverend Sidney Lovett, the widely known and loved former chaplain at Yale. She attended Sarah Lawrence College and worked for Harper's Bazaar and the American Red Cross. Then came marriage, four children, volunteer work, and freelancing for local papers. Her first novel, The Ancestors Cry Out, was published by Doubleday; it was followed by two mysteries, Without Warning (2007) and Overkill (2009), published by St. Martin's Press. 

 

Firewall is the third installment in a series centering on former opera singer Emma Streat, who has survived the murder of her husband and the destruction of her beautiful old house. Now a full-time single mother, she struggles to move forward and make a home for her two sons. Because of her detection skills, she has become a go-to person for help―so, when her rich, feisty, socialite godmother is blackmailed, she turns immediately to Emma. Soon, Emma finds herself thrust into the dark world of cybercrime. Mounting challenges take her to exclusive European settings where she mixes with the elite of the financial and art collecting worlds. When she is targeted by a cybercrime network using cutting-edge technology, it takes all of Emma's resilience and wits to survive and bring the wily, ruthless criminal she's hunting to justice.

 

Author R&R by Eugenia Lovett West

It’s never too late to create and publish. At age 96, I wake up every morning and look forward to sitting down at the computer and producing. Writing could be a compulsion that’s hard-wired in the brain. It’s certainly a life-changing commitment as to how one wants to spend time and energy.

To create a book, my sense is that it’s 10% talent and 90% applying the seat of the pants to the seat of the chair. In a way, it’s like making a big stew. You put in the ingredients, stir, hope for a good result, but for most people it takes time and hard work to find one’s voice and one’s style. Through trial and error, I’ve learned to show rather than tell and to use dialogue that covers ground and moves the plot without an excess of description. I try to make the setting liven and illuminate the story,  while secondary characters add color, and the end is emotionally satisfying. I aim for drama and conflict in every chapter without stretching the reader’s credibility—and for me, suspense is key. I really want readers to be compelled to turn the page.

For historical novels, it can be a challenge to balance facts with imagination. For my thriller set in Jamaica, it was enough to read a few journals mostly written by English governor’s wives. On the other hand, American history demands extensive research. Any mistakes will quickly be found and noted. On the other hand, the mystery genre has different requirements. There should be sly red herrings, judiciously scattered clues, a surprise ending, and justice must always triumph. And—the reader should get a few hints as to who will emerge as the villain, not let him jump out on the last page. I actually got to the end of my first mystery with several candidates and had to do a lot of revising. No domestic violence. My mystery subplots must have a global theme like advanced weapons, lethal viruses, cybercrime. My detective character Emma Streat goes to many different countries, ones I visited on business trips with my husband, and it’s great fun to travel back in time.

As for process, I try never to sit at the computer staring into space. When problems arise, I take a sheet of paper and write “What If” at the top, then think up several possibilities. This usually works—and the time-honored long walk can clear the mind. I start with a general idea and let pictures run through my mind like watching a movie. Like painting a picture, there are layers and layers of process.  I don’t block out the plot chapter by chapter, it’s not set in concrete, but the overall structure should be there. It is said that there are only two master plots in existence: “A Stranger Comes to Town” and the “Hero’s Journey.” Readers and writers are setting out on a journey together, and the reader must care about the outcome.

One might say that being a writer is like living in two worlds—one is where you eat, sleep, and talk. The other is where you exist with a different set of people. I get to know them better than my own children, and my job is to guide them to their destinations. I believe, deeply, that a writer should try to provide the reader with something of value—entertainment, information, or just the chance to escape to a different world.

 

For more information about Eugenia Lovett West and her books, you can visit her website or follow her on Facebook. Firewall is now available via all major online and brick-and-mortar booksellers.

 

Mystery Melange

 

The shortlist for the second annual Staunch Book Prize was announced recently. The list includes Only To Sleep (in the Philip Marlowe series) by Lawrence Osborne; the 15th-century literary mystery, The Western Wind, by Samantha Harvey; Liar's Candle by August Thomas; Honey by Brenda Brooks; and The Godmother by Hannelore Cayre.The £1,000 award was set up in 2018 by author Bridget Lawless for the best thrillers in which no woman gets beaten, stalked, sexually exploited, raped, or murdered. The inaugural prize attracted criticism from authors such as Val McDermid and Sophie Hannah, while CrimeFest organizers withdrew an offer of a complimentary pass and panel appearance for the winning writer. BBC News gathered some authors together to share their thoughts on the controversy.

Goodreads announced the finalists for its annual Readers Choice Awards, including those in the Mystery/Thriller category. Goodreads members will be able to vote for their favorites for a week, with the semifinalists announced on November 12 and finalists on November 19th. This year, readers also have the opportunity for a write-in vote if their favorite didn't make the initial list of 15 books. But you'd better hurry: write-ins are only accepted through November 10th. Goodreads adds that any book published between November 16, 2019 and November 15, 2019 is eligible to be a write-in title.

The 50th Bouchercon World Mystery Conference was held this past weekend in Dallas (see the award winners here), and CrimeReads assembled a round table discussion of "The state of the crime novel," with Anthony Award nominees taking a look at where crime fiction is now and where it's heading.

Although I already noted most of the awards handed out at Bouchercon, I neglected to mention the Bill Crider award. Named in honor of the popular late author of the Sheriff Dan Rhodes mysteries, the award offered a first-place reward of $1,000 to stories "relating to Texas ... with an element of mystery or crime." First Place went to Joseph S. Walker, for "The Last Man in Lafarge"; Second Place: Jaap Boekestein, "Long Overdue"; Third Place: Douglas Dorow, "Trust Me"; and Fourth Place: Dixon Hill, "Mi Corazón, Sin Cartero, Sin Timbre de la Puerta" ("My Heart, Sans Postman, Sans Doorbell"). (HT to the Rap Sheet)

The Tampa Bay Times is presenting a Festival of Reading this weekend. One of the featured events is "Bourbon & Books" with Michael Koryta, Lori Roy, and Lisa Unger on November 9 in the Student Center Ballroom at the University of South Florida, St. Petersburg. Their panel discussion will include their writing, latest books, and more.

The latest issue of Mystery Readers Journal is out in PDF and hardcopy, featuring a theme of "Private Eyes." This is the first installment of this theme, with "Private Eyes II" due out Winter 2019-2020. Editor Janet Rudolph is still looking for articles and author essays for the next issue. (Full disclosure: I have an Author! Author! essay in the first issue.)

Akashic Books is known for its lineup of noir-related individual book titles, anthologies, poetry, and more. They also sponsor a weekly "Mondays are Murder," featuring a different short story each week. I'm honored this week to be included in that august company with a story titled "Moby Mick." All stories are archived online for your reading pleasure and include offerings from Patti Abbott, Karen Heuler, Tom Gartner, Lynne Bronstein, and many more.

The Burns Library at Boston College, the depository of author Rex Stout's papers, has opened the exhibition, "Golden Spiders and Black Orchids: A 'Satisfactory' Look into the Life and Mysteries of Rex Stout." The exhibition features Stout’s fiction (mostly notably, the Nero Wolfe series) and its adaptations, his activism, his pastimes, and his fandom, and has items such as a Nero Wolfe comic strip and Nero Wolfe postage stamps from San Marino and Nicaragua. The exhibition will be on view until January 2020. (HT to Elizabeth Foxwell at the Bunburyist)

A group of U.S. libraries plans to boycott Macmillan over its controversial new e-book lending policy, suspending purchases of digital copies from the publisher. As of November 1st, the publisher is limiting library purchases to only one copy of each new e-book title for the first eight weeks after its release. This week, Macmillan CEO John Sargent defended the policy in a letter to librarians, insisting: "We believe the very rapid increase in the reading of borrowed e-books decreases the perceived economic value of a book." However, Alan Inouye, the ALA’s senior director of public policy and government relations, hit back, saying: "Macmillan remains the sole Big 5 publisher that perceives a business need to limit libraries’ ability to purchase and lend e-books. ALA has frequently requested but never received data or analysis that demonstrates that library lending undermines book sales. It is simply false to state otherwise."

To win a chance for a $50 gift card to your favorite independent bookstore, you can sign up for Book Riot's new "Read This Book" upcoming newsletter that will give you one book recommendation per week. The sweepstakes is open to residents of the United States (excluding Puerto Rico and all other U.S. territories), and entries will be accepted through November 30.

Did you know that Room 411 at the Pera Palace Hotel in Istanbul is where Agatha Christie is alleged to have written Murder on the Orient Express? It's also the location of a real-life mystery: in 1979, a medium claimed the author's ghost told her a key was hidden in the room, and one was later found under the floorboards. However, the medium also said the key would open a hidden box containing a secret notebook, but 40 years later, the box still hasn't been found.

Another reason to read more books: "Readers Are More Satisfied With Their Lives Than Nonreaders," a new study suggests.

I've said it before, and I'll keep shouting it from the rooftops, but librarians matter.

This week's crime poem at the 5-2 is "Safe in the Sunshine" by Peri Dwyer Worrell.

In the Q&A roundup, Mystery Person Scott Montgomery chatted with Jake Hinson, author of Dry Country, about the violent domino effect of a preacher dealing with a blackmail predicament over Easter weekend; at Writers Who Kill, E. B. Davis interviewed Jennifer David Hesse about her Wiccan Wheel Mystery series; and on Tor.com, Nicholas Meyer spoke with Ryan Britt about Sherlock Holmes tackling real-life hoaxes in Meyer's The Adventure of the Peculiar Protocols.

Media Murder for Monday

It's the start of a new week and that means it's time for a new roundup of crime drama news:

THE BIG SCREEN/MOVIES

The action thriller, Hypnotic, is moving forward thanks to a deal between Solstice Studios and Studio 8. The story follows a detective who becomes entangled in a mystery involving his missing daughter and a secret government program while investigating a string of impossible high-end heists. The script was penned by Sin City director, Robert Rodriguez, and Max Borenstein (Kong: Skull Island). Discussions are ongoing regarding potential cast for the film.

Jodie Foster, Tahar Rahim, and Shailene Woodley are joining Benedict Cumberbatch in the political thriller, Prisoner 760. Directed by Oscar- and BAFTA-winning filmmaker Kevin Macdonald, Prisoner 760 follows Mohamedou Ould Slahi (Rahim), who is captured by the U.S. government and languishing in prison without charge or trial. Losing all hope, Slahi finds allies in defense attorney Nancy Hollander (Foster) and her associate Teri Duncan (Woodley). Together, they face countless obstacles in a desperate pursuit for justice. Their controversial advocacy, along with evidence uncovered by formidable military prosecutor, Lt. Stuart Couch (Cumberbatch), eventually reveals a shocking and far reaching conspiracy.

Oscar Isaac is set to star in a revenge thriller titled The Card Counter, the next film from Oscar-winner Paul Schrader. Schrader wrote the original screenplay and will also direct the film. Isaac is set to star as William Tell, a gambler and former serviceman who sets out to reform a young man seeking revenge on a mutual enemy from their past.

Lady Gaga has lined up her first acting role since A Star is Born, a film from director Ridley Scott about the assassination of a member of the Gucci family fashion empire. She'll play Patrizia Reggiani, who was the ex-wife of the wealthy Italian socialite and grandson to Gucci founder Guccio Gucci, Maurizio Gucci. In 1998, Reggiani was convicted with ordering the killing of her husband. The public trial led to her being called the "Black Widow" in the media, and she served 18 years in prison in connection to the murder after originally being sentenced to 29 years. The story about the Gucci murder is based on the non-fiction book by Sara Gay Forden, The House of Gucci: A Sensational Story of Murder, Madness, Glamour, and Greed.

Casey Affleck, Michelle Monaghan, and Sam Claflin have been added to 13 Films’ thriller, Every Breath You Take, from Sunshine Cleaning director Christine Jeffs. Affleck plays a psychiatrist whose career is thrown into jeopardy when his patient takes her own life. When he invites his patient’s surviving brother (Claflin) into his home to meet his wife (Monaghan) and daughter, his family life is suddenly torn apart.

Gerard Butler has found his latest action vehicle in the form of The Plane. The script comes from Charles Cumming and JP Davis (Violence Of Action), and is based on the book by Cumming. Butler will star as commercial pilot Ray Torrance, who after a heroic job of successfully landing his storm-damaged aircraft in a war zone, finds himself caught between the agendas of multiple militia who are planning to take the plane and its passengers hostage.

Isabel Arraiza has been added to the cast of The Little Things, the Warner Bros thriller that stars oscar winners Denzel Washington, Jared Leto, and Rami Malek. John Lee Hancock wrote and is directing the film, which centers around Deke (Washington), a burned-out Kern County, CA deputy sheriff who teams with Baxter (Malek), a crack LASD detective, to nab a serial killer. Deke’s nose for the "little things" proves eerily accurate, but his willingness to circumvent the rules embroils Baxter in a soul-shattering dilemma. 

TELEVISION/STREAMING SERVICES

ABC has put in development the legal thriller, Reasonable Doubt. Written by Raamla Mohamed, who was writer-producer on Scandal, Reasonable Doubt is co-executive produced by celebrity attorney Shawn Holley, a member of O.J. Simpson’s legal defense "Dream Team." The project follows Charlie Stewart, the most brilliant and fearless defense attorney in Los Angeles who bucks the justice system at every chance she gets.

CBS has put in development Cascadia, a crime drama from NCIS: Los Angeles executive producer Frank Military, series co-star Eric Christian Olsen, and CBS Television Studios. Cascadia revolves around an FBI special agent with an expertise in hunting psychopathic killers who returns to her hometown in the Pacific Northwest and stumbles onto a terrifying new breed of serial murders that threatens to expose a dark secret from her family’s past.

Amazon Studios has put in development Bone White, a drama based on Ronald Malfi’s novel and adapted by Henry Chaisson. The premise: after a telepathic distress call from his estranged twin brother jolts him out of his humdrum existence, an agoraphobic professor journeys deep into the Alaskan wilderness to uncover a vast supernatural mystery with the help of an intrepid police investigator.

Adam McKay is producing an untitled limited series about Jeffrey Epstein for HBO. Based on Miami Herald investigative reporter Julie K. Brown’s upcoming book about Epstein, the project will be executive produced by McKay and his producing partner Kevin Messick.

Shameless creator Paul Abbott is rebooting his award-winning BBC political thriller, State of Play, which inspired the Russell Crowe movie of the same name. In the original series, David Morrissey played politician Stephen Collins, whose researcher is killed on the London Underground. Journalist Cal McCaffrey (John Simm) and his editor Cameron Foster (Bill Nighy) investigate, uncovering a complex story that reveals links between government and big business.

Studio Soho has locked in a sales deal for In Absentia, a feature documentary from the six-time Oscar-nominated director of My Left Foot. The project digs into the murder of Sophie Toscan du Plantier, a French film and TV producer who was killed while at her isolated holiday cottage in West Cork, Ireland, just days before Christmas in 1996. The case has caused scandal and controversy in Ireland and France, and in May of this year, the French courts convicted Cork resident Ian Bailey in absentia of the murder and sentenced him to 25 years’ imprisonment. Bailey has protested his innocence for the past two decades and is living as a free man in Ireland, though remains under threat of extradition to France.

Fans of ABC's crime dramas Stumptown and The Rookie have cause for celebration: ABC announced it's given a full-season order to Stumptown, starring Cobie Smulders as an Army veteran who now work as a private investigator in Portland, and a spring season pickup to its police procedural, The Rookie.

Sky has renewed the crime medical thriller, Temple, for a second season. The Comcast-backed pay-TV platform has ordered another eight-episode run of the series, which stars Mark Strong, Daniel Mays, and Carice Van Houten, and is based on Norwegian scripted forma, Valkryien. Temple tells the story of Daniel Milton (Strong), a respected surgeon who finds himself drawn into the underground world of doomsday preppers and bank robbers when he tries to save his wife’s life, by setting up an illicit clinic with obsessive yet surprisingly resourceful misfit Lee (Mays), in the vast network of tunnels beneath Temple tube station in London. They are soon joined by Anna (Van Houten), a guilt-ridden medical researcher whose past is entangled with Daniel’s and fugitive bank-robber Jamie (Tobi King-Bakare).

Not quite as lucky in the renewal department is the Suits spin-off, Pearson, at USA. The cable network decided not to order a second season of the Gina Torres-led drama, which means the Suits universe is officially done. The series followed Gina Torres' Jessica Pearson from New York to Chicago where, stripped of her law license, the former managing partner of Pearson Hardman became a fixer for the Chicago mayor. It was a gritty political thriller versus Suits' glitzy corporate law drama.

Miles Gaston Villanueva (Law & Order True Crime: The Menendez Murders), is set for a key recurring role opposite Kennedy McMann and Riley Smith on the CW’s Nancy Drew. Nancy Drew centers on 18-year-old Nancy Drew (McMann) and is set in the summer after her high school graduation. She thought she’d be leaving her hometown for college, but when a socialite, Tiffany Hudson, is murdered, Nancy finds herself a prime suspect in the crime, along with a group of other teens present at the scene. Villanueva will play Owen, a young real estate mogul Nancy falls for until  she learns he may not have an alibi for the night Hudson was killed.

Peacock, NBCUniversal’s upcoming streaming service, has set the cast for One Of Us Is Lying, its YA mystery drama pilot based on Karen M. McManus’ bestselling novel. Marianly Tejada, Cooper van Grootel, Annalisa Cochrane, Chibuikem Uche, Jessica McLeod, Barrett Carnahan, and Melissa Collazo will lead the ensemble cast. The project tells the story of what happens when five high schoolers walk into detention and only four make it out alive. Everyone is a suspect, and everyone has something to hide.

PODCASTS/VIDEO/RADIO

Debbi Mack interviewed crime writer and non-fiction author Richard T. Cahill on the Crime Cafe podcast.

Writer Types featured a Halloween episode with John Hornor Jacobs, Alma Katsu, and Daniel Kraus.

Speaking of Mysteries chatted with Michael Bowen about his political thriller, False Flag in Autumn, featuring Washington insider Josie Kendall.

Spybrary host Shane Whaley interviewed Steve Vogel, the author of Betrayal in Berlin: The True Story of the Cold War's Most Audacious Espionage Operation.

It Was a Dark and Stormy Bookclub spoke with Rea Frey, an award-winning author of several nonfiction books who turned her hand to writing thrillers, including her debut novel, Not Her Daughter, followed by her second novel, Because You're Mine.

THEATRE

The hit Broadway play, To Kill a Mockingbird, adapted by The West Wing writer Aaron Sorkin, will open in London's West End in spring 2020, marking the 60th anniversary of the publication of Harper Lee’s Pulitzer-winning novel. The story about Atticus Finch, a small-town lawyer in 1930s Alabama who defends a black man wrongly accused of rape, has been running for a year on Broadway with Jeff Daniels in the role of Finch and adult actors portraying the children in the story.

The Geffen Playhouse in Los Angeles is presenting the world premiere adaptation of Key Largo from November 6 through December 10. Key Largo is a bold reimagining of Maxwell Anderson’s Broadway hit that became the iconic noir film starring Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall. Returning from World War II, disillusioned Frank McCloud travels to a hotel in Key Largo to pay his respects to the widow of a fallen friend. What McCloud doesn’t count on is an entirely different battle with mobsters who have overtaken the hotel, led by the ruthless Johnny Rocco (Academy Award nominee Andy Garcia). As a hurricane barrels toward the Keys, McCloud must face his demons in order to take down a monster.

The Alexandra Theatre, in Birmingham, UK, is staging Agatha Christie's iconic play, The Mousetrap, November 11-16. The scene is set when a group of people gathered in a country house cut off by the snow discover, to their horror, that there is a murderer in their midst. Who can it be?

Theatre Royal Brighton will present The Lady Vanishes, November 4-9. BAFTA-nominated Gwen Taylor and Andrew Lancel are reunited for the first time since their two years together in Coronation Street in this devilishly fun stage adaptation of Alfred Hitchcock’s classic film. When Socialite Iris’ travelling companion disappears, she’s bewildered to find fellow passengers deny ever having seen her. But with the help of musician Max, she turns detective, and together they resolve to solve this perplexing mystery.

Bouchercon Bounty

 

The 50th annual Boucheron World Mystery Convention was this weekend, with a cornucopeia of awards handed out, including the Anthony, Barry, Macavity, and Shamus Awards. Congrats to all this year's winners:

ANTHONY AWARDS

Best Novel:  November Road by Lou Berney (William Morrow)

Best First Novel:  My Sister, the Serial Killer by Oyinkan Braithwaite (Doubleday)

Best Paperback Original:  Under a Dark Sky by Lori Rader-Day (William Morrow Paperbacks)

Best Short Story: "The Grass Beneath My Feet" by S.A. Cosby (Tough, August, 2018)

Best Critical/Non-Fiction Book:  I’ll Be Gone in the Dark: One Woman’s Obsessive Search for the Golden State Killer by Michelle McNamara (HarperCollins)

BARRY AWARDS

Best Novel: November Road by Lou Berney (Morrow)  

Best First Novel: The Chalk Man by C. J. Tudor (Crown)

Best Paperback Original: The Ruin by Dervla McTiernan (Penguin) 

Best Thriller: Safe Houses by Dan Fesperman, (Knopf)

MACAVITY AWARDS

Best Novel: November Road by Lou Berney (William Morrow)

Best First Novel: Dodging and Burning by John Copenhaver (Pegasus Books)

Best Nonfiction: The Real Lolita: The Kidnapping of Sally Horner and the Novel That Scandalized the World by Sarah Weinman (HarperCollins)

Best Short Story: Art Taylor, "English 398: Fiction Workshop" (Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine, Jul/Aug 2018)

Sue Feder Memorial Award for Best Historical Novel: The Widows of Malabar Hill by Sujata Massey (Soho Crime)

SHAMUS AWARDS

Best Private Eye Novel: What You Want to See by Kristen Lepionka (Minotaur)

Best Original Private Eye Paperback: The Questionable Behavior of Dahlia Moss, by Max Wirestone (Redhook)

Best First Private Eye Novel: The Best Bad Things, by Katrina Carrasco (MCD/Farrar, Straus and Giroux)

Best Private Eye Short Story: "Chin Yong-Yun Helps a Fool," by S.J. Rozan (EQMM, September-October 2018)