In Reference to Murder

Mystery Melange

UK's Theakstons Old Peculier Crime Writing Festival in Harrogate July 21-24 announced their Special Guest lineup, which includes authors Peter James, Jeffery Deaver, Martina Cole, Neil Cross, Linwood Barclay, Tess Gerritsen, Val McDermid, and Gerald Seymour. Conference organizers encourage fans to "grab a pint of Yorkshire’s finest ale, and dip into an intoxicating mix of comedy, heated debate and scintillating socialising" at Agatha Christie’s old haunt, the luxurious Old Swan Hotel.

The Romance Writers of American announced the 2016 RITA Award finalists, including the Romantic Suspense category.

Mystery Readers NorCal's Literary Salon will welcome Rhys Bowen on Wednesday, April 6 in Berkeley. Rhys Bowen has been nominated for every major award in mystery writing, including the Edgar, and has won many, including the Agatha, Macavity, and Anthony awards. In addition to her titles in the Royal Spyness series, she is the author of the Molly Murphy Mysteries set in turn-of-the-century New York, and the Constable Evans Mysteries set in Wales.

The Florida Book awards handed out recently included a Gold Medal to the thriller After the Fall by Patricia Gussin in the Popular Fiction category, with a Silver Medal to The Price of Justice by Marti Green, and a Bronze Medal to Perception of Power by Bruce Thomason.

Time's running out for a chance to submit your manuscript to the Mystery Writers Key West Whodunit Writing Competition. The winner will claim a book-publishing contract with Absolutely Amazing eBooks, free Mystery Writers Key West Fest 2016 registration, airfare, hotel accommodations for two nights, and a Whodunit Award trophy to be presented at the 3rd Annual Mystery Writers Key West Fest, June 10-12 in Key West, Florida.

West Hollywood, California, has launched a grant program for residents to build a Little Free Library. In addition, Friends of the West Hollywood Library will "donate a starter set of books to each person who receives a grant from the city to build one."

In not-so-happy library news: the BBC reported on the alarming state of libraries and the librarian profession, especially in the UK where 8,000 jobs in UK libraries have disappeared in six years, although there are still a few bright spots that offer up hope.

In response to the popular new BBC adaptation of the John le Carré novel Night Manager, The Independent posted a list of the "10 best spy books."

But if you want to stick the spy thriller master's works only, The Guardian chose "Five of the best Le Carré novels."

At the 68th Annual Scientific Meeting of the American Academy of Forensic Science in Las Vegas, one of the big topics hanging over everyone's heads was the spate of recent scandals and flawed convictions based on shaky forensics "expertise."

Sherlock Holmes will soon be immortalized in a Japanese manga series based on the BBC series starring Benedict Cumberbatch as Holmes and Martin Freeman as his sidekick Watson. “It’s really interesting seeing such a British thing being reinterpreted in Japanese manga,” said Titan Comics editor Andrew James, who acquired the manga series for the publisher.

Author Chris Callaghan offered up "Ten reasons why you should eat chocolate while reading." (Hear, hear!)

Authors take heart: Robert Galbraith, a/k/a JK Rowling, Tweeted some of the rejection letters she'd received for both her Galbraith crime fiction books and the Harry Potter series.

Authors take warning: a bizarre tale of one author's battle fighting a plagiarist who stole all of her out-of-print crime fiction novels and uploaded them as her own.

This week's featured crime poem at the 5-2 is "Better Call Yahweh" by Catherine Wald.

In the Q&A roundup, the latest 9mm interview at Crime Watch is Susan Moody, author of 34 crime and suspense novels over the past three decades; Omnimystery spoke with authors Nancy Herriman (No Comfort for the Lost) and Robert Richter (Something To Die For); journalist and novelist Michelle Davies spoke with Shots Magazine about the first novel in her new crime series, Gone Astray; Do Some Damage welcomed Neely Tucker, author of Only the Hunted Run; The Mystery People chatted with Sarah Weinman, editor of the Library of America’s publication, Women Crime Writers: Eight Suspense Novels of the 40s and 50s; and the Financial Times snagged Chris Pavone for a quickie Q&A.

Media Murder for Monday

MOVIES

Author Walter Mosley and producer Denise Grayson have hired writer-director Paul Chart to adapt Mosley’s thriller Killing Johnny Fry for a feature film that  Mosley will produce through his company BOB Filmhouse together with Denise Grayson Productions. Mosley’s novel centers on nice guy Cordell Carmel, who discovers his long-time girlfriend is secretly enjoying a darkly sexual double life with the handsome but menacing Johnny Fry, and soon finds himself seduced into a twisted world of sex, drugs and murder.  

Two teaser stills were released for the upcoming film Budapest Noir, featuring actors Krisztian Kolovratnik and Reka Tenki. The project was adapted for the screen by Andras Szeker (The Notebook) from the original novel by Vilmos Kondor, and centers on Zsigmond Gordon, Kondor’s reporter hero, who's often compared with the detective protagonist in Philip Kerr’s Bernie Gunther historical thriller series.

Warner Bros. added four new movies to its 2017 calendar, including the release date of October 20 for Live By Night, the Ben Affleck-directed adaptation of Dennis Lehane's book that follows Joe Coughlin (played by Affleck), the son of a police captain who gets dragged into the world of organized crime. The studio also announced other 2017 releases including "an untitled mystery project."

TELEVISION

The CBS pilot Four Stars has added Jackson Davis in a potentially recurring role of Jeff, described as an "epic underachiever" who is the love interest of character Krissy. The pilot, which revolves around two powerful rival families in Tampa, Florida’s military community who make decisions at the highest levels in the interest of national security, already signed Wilmer Valderrama, Ashley Zukerman, Bojana Novakovic, and Anna Cruz Kayne to the cast.

A TV series adaption of Patricia Highsmith's Tom Ripley novels has found it screenwriter in Luther creator Neil Cross.The project is being developed via Endemol Shine with an eye toward a launch in the U.S. and other key territories at the same time.

TNT has given a pilot order to Claws, an hourlong dramedy set in a Southern Florida nail salon and described as "a dark, wickedly funny meditation on female badness which follows the rise of five diverse and treacherous Florida manicurists in the traditionally male world of organized crime."

Elijah Wood has been tapped to co-star in BBC America’s Dirk Gently, an adaptation of the novel Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency, by Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy author Douglas Adams. The Gently series is described as "a comedic thriller that follows the bizarre adventures of eccentric ‘holistic’ detective Dirk Gently and his reluctant assistant Todd (played by Wood), as they wend their way through one big, seemingly insane mystery a season, crossing unlikely paths with a bevy of wild and sometimes dangerous characters, each episode landing them a few random steps closer to uncovering the truth.”

Shemar Moore is bidding farewell to his role on the CBS drama Criminal Minds after playing special agent Derek Morgan on the CBS series (which also stars Thomas Gibson, Joe Mantegna and Kirsten Vangsness) for eleven years. Viewers may not have to miss him forever, since Moore said he is open to returning for appearances.

Following a lengthy and extensive casting search, CBS has found its new MacGyver, with X-Men alum Lucas Till taking on the character that was originally made famous by Richard Dean Anderson. Joshua Boone has also joined the drama pilot as a series regular, playing Gunner, MacGyver's best friend from high school.

NCIS has signed 24 actress Sarah Clarke to play Tess Monroe, guest starring in the final two episodes of the veteran series’ current season with an option to become a new regular in the upcoming Season 14. Monroe is an FBI Special Agent who has recently transferred to D.C. from New York City, who is quick-witted, tough and shrewd.  

Lorraine Toussaint is joining Chicago Justice, NBC’s next installment in its Windy City franchise. Toussaint is set to guest star in the forthcoming backdoor pilot as defense attorney Shambala Green, a role she originated on Law & Order in 1990 and last played in 2003. Chicago Justice's trial run will air this spring, as Episode 21 of Chicago P.D.

Richard Belzer will reprise his role as Detective Munch on Law & Order: SVU in a May episode that centers on a young model who accuses a famous fashion photographer of assault. Det. Munch has also crossed over into other shows, including The X-Files, The Wire, and Arrested Development.

CBS renewed eleven series on Friday including crime dramas Blue Bloods, NCIS: Los Angeles, NCIS: New Orleans, Hawaii Five-0, Elementary, and Scorpion. A renewal for NCIS was previously announced, while The Good Wife and Person of Interest are all ending this season. No word yet on the fates of new crime dramas Limitless, Code Black, Criminal Minds: Beyond Borders, CSI: Cyber, or the original Criminal Minds.

PODCASTS/VIDEO/RADIO

It’s A Mystery to Me host Stacy Verdick Case spoke with bestselling author JA Jance about the 13th book in her Ali Reynolds series Clawback.

THEATER

The play that was named the best on Broadway in 2015 will be ending its run there this summer. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, which won five 2015 Tony awards including Best Play, will host a final performance at the Ethel Barrymore Theatre on Sept. 4. The play, an adaptation of the 2003 Mark Haddon novel, stars Tyler Lea as 15-year-old Christopher, a boy with an exceptional intelligence who sets out to solve the mystery of who killed his neighbor’s dog. In the process, Christopher uncovers a deep family secret that shakes his world to the core.

Your Sunday Music Treat

Mars has been in the news a lot lately, with the movie The Martian based on Andy Weir's book, as well as continued missions such as the recent launch of the European-Russian Trace Gas Orbiter and Schiaparelli lander. In honor thereof, I think it's fitting we hear the "Mars" section from The Planets by Gustav Holst, always one of my favorite pieces:

 

Quote of the Day

FFB: The House at Balnesmoor

Scottish writer Hugh C(rauford) Rae was born in 1935 and brought up in Glasgow, where he spent fourteen years working in a bookshop before turning to writing books rather than selling them. Between 1965 and 1992, he published over seventy novels in various genres under several pseudonyms, including Robert Crawford, James Albany, R B Houston, Stuart Stern (with S. Ungar), and Jessica Stirling (with Margaret M. Coghlan). He also served as past president of the Scottish Association of Writers.

The House at Balnesmoor, a/k/a A Few Small Bones, dates from 1968 and is one of Rae's earliest efforts. It follows Norman Lang, who makes a gruesome discovery near his idyllic country retreat in Glasgow's countryside, the bodies of two schoolgirls buried among the heather. The chapters alternate between Chief Superintendent McCaig and Inspector Ryan and their investigation and the lives of the cast of suspects, including the reclusive Lang; his wife, who is prone to nervous fits; the real estate agent Galbraith, an aging libidinous bachelor; and Lang's neighbors, the Johnstones, both involved in separate adulterous affairs. As the investigation deepens, it casts a long shadow over Lang and his reputation and threatens to push his tormented wife to the brink of madness. But McCaig begins to worry that a fatal fusion of youthful passion and neurosis gone murderously awry may lead the killer to strike again.

Rae once said in an interview that he hoped he was "crafty enough not to bury the story in an excess of detail but to lure the reader into the experience of another time, another place through the interaction of the characters." He also noted that he returned again and again to Scottish backgrounds and themes, with a particular interest in the shifting phases in his home country over the past two centuries and the hardships suffered by its people, urban and rural. It's been pointed out that Rae was one of the earliest in the "tartan noir" line of Scottish authors whose descendants include Ian Rankin and Denise Mina.

Rae went on to write only one additional book in the McCaig/Ryan series, The Shooting Gallery (1972), which was a finalist for the 1973 Edgar Award for Best Mystery. Rae eventually turned to "lightweight guns'n'gals thrillers" under the Crawford and Albany names and historical romance novels under the Stirling pseudonym because they were more lucrative. He also dabbled in radio plays and television, and two of his novels were adapted for TV in the '80s and '90s.

Mystery Melange

RT Book Reviews announced the winners of the 2015 Reviewers Choice Awards and Career Achievement Awards. The latter category included Rhys Bowen for Historical Mysteries, Janet Evanovich for Mainstream Mysteries, and Carla Neggers for Romantic Suspense. You can check out the website listing for all the finalists in the various Mystery/Suspense/Thriller categories, as well as Romantic Suspense.

The Independent Book Publishers Association also announced this year's winners of the Benjamin Franklin Awards in the Mystery & Suspense category, including The Fame Equation: A Cat Enright Equestrian Mystery by Lisa Wysocky; The Lost Concerto by Helaine Mario, and Method 15/33 by Shannon Kirk.

This year’s Whistler Writers Festival (October 13–16) will include the presentation of the inaugural Independent Book Awards. The Whistler Independent Book Awards will be open to Canadian authors or permanent residents who have independently published a book or books in the last five years with winners in four categories: fiction, non-fiction, crime fiction and poetry. The shortlist will be selected by the Canadian Authors Association.

Fans of crime fiction in the UK can take note of the new and upcoming Noir at the Bar NE, which will have its inaugural outing on Wednesday, 1st June. Participating authors currently scheduled to appear include Graham Smith, Tess Makovesky, Janet O’Kane, Bea Davenport, Sheila Quigley, Eileen Wharton, Patrich Welsh, Martyn Taylor, Danielle Ramsay and more.

Writer-director Michael Mann has made a deal to launch Michael Mann Books. The imprint will generate a series of novels with a stable of writers, with the properties to simultaneously be developed for film and television. Mann will look through his own long list of credits for ideas, placing high priority on a prequel novel dealing with the principal characters of Heat, Mann’s seminal crime thriller. The prequel novel will cover the formative years of homicide detective Vincent Hanna (Al Pacino), Neil McCauley (Robert De Niro), Chris Shihirles (Val Kilmer), McCauley’s accomplice Nate (Jon Voight), and other characters from the 1995 film.

If you're looking for some fantastic crime fiction by women authors, Lisa Lutz (author of the bestselling author of the “Spellman Files” series) suggests "10 Fantastic Crime Novels Written By Women."

Speaking of women mystery authors, Japanese mystery writer Shizuko Natsuki died at the age of 77 on March 19. She who won the Mystery Writers of Japan award for her 1973 work, Johatsu (Disappearance).

Stephen Pike, hotel manager extraordinaire and the prototype for Le Carré’s lead character in The Night Manager, spoke with The Guardian about his part in sparking the story behind the 1993 novel, which has become a successful BBC television drama.

Deutsche Welle posted some "Travel tips for mystery buffs," international settings that serve as the central location for many of today's crime fiction bestsellers.

ITV in the United Kingdom is broadcasting an adaptation of the Inspector Maigret series by French crime author Georges Simenon. To celebrate, France Today published an essay on how to follow in the steps of the fictional Maigret in the City of Light.

Pulp Modern Issue #10 is now available in paperback format at Amazon, filled "with dangerous women and reckless men and bad craziness all around."

The new crime poem at the 5-2 this is week is "Fair Housing" by Charles Rammelkamp.

In the Q&A roundup, Omnimystery News welcomed mystery authors Ginny Fite and Sibella Giorello; MysteryPeople contributor Scott Butki interviewed Drew Chapman about his new thriller, The King of Fear; Brian Freeman spoke with The Huffington Post about Goodbye to the Dead, the 7th novel in the Jonathan Stride series; and Sara Paretsky sat down with Prose 'n' Cons for a Q&A about her writing and the state of publishing.

Media Murder for Monday

Top o' the week means it's time again for the latest crime drama news:

MOVIES

Michael Mann has set the first publishing project for his new book imprint Michael Mann Books, teaming up with Don Winslow (the bestselling author of The Cartel), to co-create an original novel about the complex relationship between two organized crime giants, Tony Accardo and Sam Giancana. The project will be developed into a feature film that Mann will produce and possibly direct, based on the novel and a preexisting screenplay Mann co-wrote with Shane Salerno.  

Netflix has finished acquiring David Ayer's Bright in a deal worth more than $90 million that saw the streaming service beat out several major studios for the cop thriller starring Will Smith and Joel Edgerton. Bright will also receive a limited, day-and-date theatrical release under the terms of the Netflix deal. Set in a world where orcs and fairies live among humans, Bright boasts a unique protagonist in the form of an orc cop.

Julia Roberts is in final talks to star in the legal drama Train Man, based on a true story adapted by Black List screenwriter Simon Stephenson. The film is centered on Roberts’ lawyer character, who is assigned to defend a man with Asperger’s syndrome with a history of arrests for impersonating New York City transit officials and stealing subway trains.

Nicolas Cage is set to star in Philly Fury, a thriller penned by Jason Mosberg that Steven C. Miller will direct, with production to begin in May. The story revolves around a Philadelphia businessman whose deadbeat brother is kidnapped for a large ransom, but when everyone involved believes the deadbeat is in on the kidnapping, the businessman must take action himself. Cage plays a Philadelphia mobster and alleged kidnapper.

Australia’s most notorious female cannibal killer is to be the subject of an upcoming film based on the book Blood Stains by journalist Peter Lalor. Killer Katherine Knight is an Australian former abattoir worker who decapitated and skinned her de facto husband before trying to serve his flesh to his children and is currently serving a life sentence.

TELEVISION

Helen Hunt is returning to the small screen along with Richard Dreyfuss and Stephen Moyer. The trio have booked starring roles on Fox limited series Shots Fired that will explore the aftermath of racially charged shootings in a small town in Tennessee. Sanaa Lathan stars an expert investigator who digs into the cases; Hunt will play a fictional governor; Dreyfuss will play a real estate mogul and owner of a privatized prison who is intricately involved in the shooting; and Moyer will portray a seasoned veteran in the town's sheriff's department who gets caught in the middle of the investigation.

PBS's Masterpiece Mystery! has announced the schedule for the second season of Grantchester, based on a character created by crime novelist James Runcie and starring James Norton as Reverence Sidney Chambers. The first of the season's six episodes will premiere on Sunday, March 27th and air weekly through May 1st.

The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation has greenlit The Council (working title), an international thriller woven around a remote Canadian Arctic town from Emmy Award-winning showrunner and writer René Balcer (Law & Order: Criminal Intent). The project traces the journey of two cops who uncover a small-town murder that is at the heart of a global conspiracy. Production kicks off this summer, shooting in Resolute, Iqaluit, London, Copenhagen and Manitoba, with the series debuting with 10 episodes in fall 2016.

On the Corner, the UK production company responsible for the Academy Award-winning Amy, has acquired the TV rights for Ragnar Jónasson’s Dark Iceland series featuring Icelandic police officer Ari Thor, who is based in the northernmost town in Iceland, Siglufjörður.

Holt McCallany (Lights Out) has been cast as the lead in Mindhunter, the Netflix crime drama series based on the 1996 book Mind Hunter: Inside the FBI's Elite Serial Crime Unit by former special agent John Douglas and Mark Olshaker. Written by playwright Joe Penhall and Scott Buck, the series is set in 1979 and "centers on the inquisitive and skilled FBI Agent Bill Tench (McCallany)." The cast also includes Jonathan Groff and Anna Torv.

Richard Brake (Game of Thrones) is set for a recurring role on the Showtime drama series Ray Donovan. Brake will play Vlad, a dangerous and intimidating man who works for some very powerful people.  

Keesha Sharp, who plays attorney Johnnie Cochran’s wife Dale in the hit FX miniseries American Crime: The People vs. OJ Simpson, is set to co-star opposite Damon Wayans Sr. in Lethal Weapon, Fox’s hourlong pilot based on the hit buddy cop action comedy movie franchise. Sharp will play Wayans' hardworking, perceptive and loving wife Trish, who worries about him and is not thrilled when she hears about his new adrenaline-crazed partner. It was also announced that newcomer Dante Brown has landed the role of Roger “R.J.” Murtaugh, Jr, son to Daman Wayans Sr.’s character.

Michael Weatherly's Tony Dinozo character on NCIS is being replaced by two fresh faces, with the latest going by the name of Clayton, an MI-6 agent in his late 20s/early 30s who will be introduced in time for the Season 13 finale. He's described as "loud, opinionated, and sarcastic" with a dash of chauvinism and a short-tempered streak. The second of the two characters to be announced is FBI Agent Tess, who will make her debut at some point prior to the end of Season 13.

Meanwhile, Michael Weatherly has found his first new role following his NCIS departure, a drama pilot based on talk show host Phil McGraw’s early days running one of the most prolific trial consulting services of all time. He'll play the lead role, which is based on Dr. Phil's real-life character, a man who "heads a company that analyzes juries to help develop defense strategies — possesses a physicality, feral intelligence and bruising candor that make him magnetic to women."

Another former Prison Break cast member will be returning to the event series sequel, with Amaury Nolasco confirming that his character Fernando Sucre would be back for the new episodes.

Revolution alum JD Pardo is set as a series regular opposite Jeremy Sisto, Archie Panjabi and Kevin Rankin in ABC’s murder trial drama pilot, The Jury. Written by VJ Boyd and Mark Bianculli and executive produced by Carol Mendelsohn, The Jury examines “the ultimate social experiment” that happens thousands of times a day in the U.S, and is described as “12 Angry Men meets the podcast Serial.”

Ana de la Reguera (Narcos) and Hugh Dillon (The Killing) are among the latest actors added to the reboot of the supernatural crime drama Twin Peaks. They join returning star Kyle MacLachlan, who is reprising his role as Special Agent Dale Cooper from the original series.

Fox renewed Gotham for a third season. The series, which stars Ben McKenzie as Comissioner Gordon, centers on Batman's longtime partner in crime(-solving) years before the Caped Crusader comes to life, when he is still a young boy. Based on the DC Comics origin story for Batman, the show has added several familiar names from the comics this season including Hugo Strange and Mr. Freeze among many others. Paul Reubens (Pee-Wee's Big Holiday) begins a multi-episode arc on March 21.

Showtime has picked up documentary series Dark Net for a second season. The docuseries explores the dangers of the Internet’s unregulated underbelly known as the deep web, with each half-hour episode shedding light on themes such as bio-hacking, cyber-kidnapping, digital warfare, online cults, pornography addiction, and the webcam sex trade.

AMC has picked up a 10-episode third season of its hit Breaking Bad prequel Better Call Saul, set six years before Saul Goodman meets Walter White.

CBS's drama Person of Interest, however isn't so lucky, as the network announced the show will be ending after five seasons. Creator/executive producer Jonah Nolan and executive producer Greg Plageman said in a statement, "We’re eternally grateful to our amazing cast and crew, as well as our partners at the studio and network. Most of all, we want to thank the show’s fans — the best fans in the world. This subversive little paranoia-inducing cyberpunk-thriller is for you and would not have been possible without your support." The fifth and final season will premiere May 3 and will get double-pumped, with originals in its old Tuesday 10 PM slot as well as Monday at 10.

ITV released a broadcast premiere date (and trailer) for its new feature-length adaptation of Maigret. The two-hour film Maigret Sets a Trap will be shown on the Easter weekend, while a second one, Maigret’s Dead Man, will follow shortly thereafter.

CBS also set the spring finale dates for its other series, including Scorpion, Limitless, the various NCIS franchises, Criminal Minds and Criminal Minds: Beyond Borders, Blue Bloods, Elementary, and Hawaii Five-0.

BBC America shared a new trailer for Season 4 of Orphan Black, which will premiere Thursday, April 14 at 10/9c. In Season 4, Sarah Manning and her clone sisters (Tatiana Maslany) have finally settled into quieter lives after their victory last season, but a mysterious new acquaintance is leading Sarah back into dangerous territory.

PODCASTS/VIDEO/RADIO

A recent Talking Books podcast focused on the works of James Ellroy, the "demon dog" of crime fiction. 

The latest Suspense Radio Inside Edition featured four authors, Glen Erik Hamilton, M.C. Beaton, Carter Wilson, and Phillip Donaly.

CrimeFiction.FM welcomed Tim Adler, entertainment and business journalist turned novelist, who discussed his latest thriller, Hold Still.

Your Sunday Music Treat

Sadly, we lost musician Keith Emerson this month when the founder/keyboardist of Emerson Lake and Palmer took his own life after a series of illnesses and depression. Most fans know of Emerson for his work with the ELP band, but did you also know he had a classical bent? Including composing a piano concerto that he recorded in 1974 with the London Philharmonic Orchestra. Critical reception was mixed, but the third movement is fun and exuberant. Here's a performance with Jeffrey Biegel as the piano soloist:

 

Quote of the Day

FFB: I Start Counting

British writer Audrey Erskine Lindop (1920–1986) joined a repertory company after leaving school, and by the age of 18 was a film scriptwriter. She went on to pen several additional movie scripts and married the British playwright Dudley Leslie. Lindop wrote the first of her eight suspense novels in 1953, with three of them later made into movies, including I Start Counting (featuring a teenage Jenny Agutter in her first big-screen starring role). The novel itself went on to win the Grand Prix de Littérature Policière - International Category in 1967.

I Start Counting centers on 14-year-old orphan Wynne Kinch, growing up in during the prosperous but tumultous 1960s Britain. Her working-class family—which includes her aunt by marriage who she calls Mum, her granddad, and her cousin—had been evicted from their Collins Wood home to make for a new development. But even after moving to a brand-spanking new high-rise council flat, Wynne sneaks back to the old beloved homestead, and it is there that a mystery begins to unfold.

Wynne has an intense crush on her 32-year-old stepbrother, George, and finds he's been in the old Collins Wood place recently and had lied about what he was doing. When she further spies on him, she sees scratches on his back and finds a bloody sweater he threw in the trash, making her suspect George is the serial strangler of several local teenage girls. Her loyalty to him and her attempts to protect him eventually draw the attention of the police, throw the members of her blended family into turmoil, and ultimately lead to tragedy.

The title I Start Counting refers to Wynne's philosophy of counting to "drown out the thought that was scaring you," yet the novel itself isn't a dark thriller, but rather a coming-of-age tale with warmth, humor, and an entertaining cast of characters that includess Wynne's boy-crazy pal Corinne, Wynne's doom-laden sister Aunt Rene Tyndall, George's high-strung half-brother Len, Wynne's cousin Helene, and her north-country "Mum." But the story would fall apart if it weren't grounded in the POV of the intelligent, funny, passionate Wynne, who Lindop has painted with a wholly sympathetic brush.