In Reference to Murder

Media Murder for Monday

Monday means it's time for a new roundup of crime drama news, and if you're a fan of TV crime, you'll especially be interested in the announcements about show pickups, renewals, and cancellations that came fast and furious during the past week. First, the big screen:

MOVIES

Brainstorm Media has optioned Stephen King's 2007 novella "The Gingerbread Girl" for film and hired King to co-write the script with frequent collaborator Craig R. Baxley, who will also direct.  Mitchell Galin, serving as producer, also handled the previous adaptations of King’s Pet Sematary, The Stand, and more. "The Gingerbread Girl" focuses on Emily, a woman recovering from a recent loss in a secluded house in the loneliest stretch of New England. She avoids contact with her husband and her father and channels her grief into a grueling daily running regimen until one day she makes the mistake of looking into the driveway of a man named Pickering. Pickering also enjoys privacy, but the young women he brings to his home suffer the consequences of knowing him. Will Em be next?

Australia’s Hopscotch Features has optioned rights to the hot debut novel The Ruin from Dervla McTiernan with plans to adapt it for the screen. The crime thriller by the Irish author is set in Galway and follows detective Cormac Reilly as he is thrown back into a case from 20 years ago involving two children whose mother died of an overdose. It’s a twisting tale that delves into the dark heart of Ireland, examining police corruption and the abuses of the church through the eyes of Reilly — "the kind of cop you’d trust with your life, and follow to hell and back."

Saban Films has picked up the North American rights to Gerard Butler’s Keepers. Kristoffer Nyholm directed the film (which also stars Peter Mullan and Connor Swindells) that was inspired by the Flannan Isle mystery where three lighthouse keepers arrive on an uninhabited island for a six-week shift but then discover something life-changing that isn’t theirs to keep. Soon, they have to battle paranoia and isolation to survive.

Saban Films also has acquired the North American rights to the thriller Siberia, which stars Keanu Reeves, Ana Ularu and Molly Ringwald. Matthew Ross directed the romantic crime-thriller that was written by Scott B. Smith from a story by Stephen Hamel and Smith. Siberia follows Lucas Hill (Reeves), an American diamond trader who sells blue diamonds to buyers in Russia. He soon begins an obsessive relationship with a Russian cafe owner while dealing with the dangerous world of diamond trade.

Warner Bros. has just made it official that they’re releasing Sherlock Holmes 3 on December 25, 2020. Both lead actors Robert Downey Jr. and Jude Law are returning, but there's no word yet on whether Guy Ritchie is set to return as director. Narcos co-creator Chris Brancato is credited as screenwriter, with Joel Silver, Susan Downey and Lionel Wigram returning as producers. 

Arclight Films has picked up worldwide rights to the thriller Furie. Directed by Le Van Kiet (The Rich Woman), Furie stars Veronic Ngo as a gangster who is lying low in the countryside after becoming a mother, but can’t escape her violent past when her daughter is kidnapped in front of her eyes. 

British director Justin Chadwick has been tapped to direct the mystery thriller Dead House, slated to being production later this year. Set in 1885 Pennsylvania, the pic follows Annaliese Kruger who, after witnessing the brutal slaughter of her husband and children, finds employment in the confines of the town’s dead house, a morbid dwelling where bodies are kept for 48 hours to make certain they have passed. But any semblance of normalcy is shattered when Annaliese sleuths out the psychopath who killed her family. Driven to save other families from her fate, she will have to catch the killer herself … if she can stay alive.

A trailer was released for The Spy Who Dumped Me starring Mila Kunis and Kate McKinnon as two 30-year-old best friends from Los Angeles who end up embroiled in a deadly (and funny) international conspiracy after Audrey's ex-boyfriend shows up at their home while being trailed by a gang of assassins. The project also stars Sam Heughan, Justin Theroux, Gillian Anderson and Hasan Minhaj.

TELEVISION/STREAMING SERVICES

The British Academy of Film and Television Arts handed out its annual BAFTA Awards for Television this past weekend. The winner of Best Drama was Peaky Blinders (see Theater below for a tie-in news item), the series about a criminal gang based in Birmingham, England, during the Victorian era. The winner for Best Single Drama (TV Movie) was Murdered for Being Different, based on the true story of the murder of 20-year-old Sophie Lancaster and the beating of her boyfriend in 2007 all because they were dressed as Goths. Three Girls was also a winner in the Mini-Series and Leading Actress Awards (Molly Windsor); the project was also based on a real-life story surrounding the Rochdale child sex abuse ring. Brian F. O'Byrn also won a Supporting Actor nod for his performance in Little Boy Blue playing the father of murdered school boy Rhys Jones, based on another true story of the 11-year-old who was murdered by members of a gang.

Castle star Nathan Fillion is officially back on ABC with the new light crime drama series, the Rookie, aftter the network has given a formal series order to the pilot from former Castle executive producer/co-showrunner Alexi Hawley, Entertainment One and ABC Studios. Written by Hawley, The Rookie is inspired by a true story and follows John Nolan, the oldest rookie in the LAPD. Starting over isn’t easy, especially for small town guy John Nolan who, after a life-altering incident, is pursuing his dream of being an LAPD officer. As the force’s oldest rookie, he’s met with skepticism from some higher-ups who see him as just a walking midlife crisis. The series co-stars Alyssa Diaz as Angela Lopez, Richard T. Jones as Sergeant Wade Grey, Titus Makin as Jackson West, Mercedes Mason as Captain Zoe Andersen, Melissa O’Neil as Lucy Chen, Afton Williamson as Talia Bishop and Eric Winter as Tim Bradford.

The slate of fall shows began to be firmed up last week, although many final schedules won't be announced until next week. ABC did announce it was cancelling the FBI drama Quantico after three seasons, the magician-sleuth series Deception after only one season, and the crime drama The Crossing. The drama How to Get Away with Murder was spared the axe and renewed for a fifth season, and ABC also picked up the legal drama The Fix, headlined by former Mentalist star Robin Tunney.

CBS picked up the Magnum, P.I. reboot to series, starring Jay Hernandez in the title role played by Tom Selleck in the original. CBS has one of the largest share of crime dramas on TV, and if you're wondering where your favorite show stands in the renewal-or-cancellation cycle, the Hollywood Reporter is keeping track

CBS gave a surprising renewal for a seventh season of Elementary, the Sherlock Holmes update starring Jonny Lee Miller as Sherlock and Lucy Liu as Dr. Joan Watson. As TV Guide noted, "Despite currently being CBS' lowest-rated drama, Elementary still manages to rake in money with its international success and syndication, which is no doubt how this bubble show snagged a last-minute renewal." Also a bit of a surprise was Criminal Minds, which had been on the bubble, but the show was officially renewed at the end of last week.

The CBS drama Scorpion wasn't so lucky, getting the axe after four seasons, seven episodes shy of its 100th episode, a milestone that has traditionally been met with syndication. The project, which focused on Homeland Security's new think tank that helped defend against the high-tech threats of the computer age, will end on something of a minor cliffhanger, that is sure to further displease fans.

NBC picked up two pilots to series, including The Enemy Within. Written and executive produced by Woodruff and directed by Mark Pellington, The Enemy Within is a fast-paced thriller set in the world of counterintelligence and centers on Erica Shepherd (Jennifer Carpenter), a brilliant former CIA operative, now known as the most notorious traitor in American history and serving life in a Supermax prison. Against every fiber of his being but with nowhere else to turn, FBI Agent Will Keaton (Morris Chestnut) enlists Shepherd to help track down a fiercely dangerous and elusive criminal she knows all too well.

NBC has also renewed all four of its Dick Wolf series including Law & Order: SVU, picked up for a 20th season, tying the record for longest-running drama series, held jointly by Law & Order and Gunsmoke. The other returning three Windy City-set drama series for next season are Chicago Fire (returning for Season 7), Chicago P.D. for Season 6 and Chicago Med for Season 4.

One NBC shocker was the decision not to move forward with the Bad Boys offshoot pilot, LA’s Finest, starring the films’ Gabrielle Union and fellow movie star Jessica Alba. However, the producers are already fielding interest in the property from other networks for the drama that features two diverse female leads.

Fox has picked up the thriller The Passage, based on Justin Cronin’s trilogy of the same name, which follows a secret government medical facility experimenting with a dangerous virus. The series focuses on a 10-year-old girl named Amy Bellafonte (Saniyya Sidney), who is chosen to be a test subject for this experiment and Brad Wolgast (Mark-Paul Gosselaar), the federal agent who becomes her surrogate father as he tries to protect her.

Fox broke the hearts of Lucifer fans, however, not only by cancelling the show after three seasons but showrunner Joe Henderson says his team created a season finale "with a huge cliffhanger that’s going to "frustrate the hell" out of the show's supporters.

The CW has axed another show, announcing that Valor will not receive a Season 2 renewal. Valor told the story of two elite military helicopter pilots Leland Gallo (Matt Barr) and Nora Madani (Christina Ochoa) caught up in a government conspiracy after a botched rescue mission in Somalia. 
 

PODCASTS/VIDEO/RADIO

Suspense Radio welcomed authors Jon Land (A Date With Murder: A Murder She, Wrote mystery book), Matt Ginsberg (Factor Man) and Seamus Hefferman (Napalm Hearts) to discuss their new novels.

Crime Friction hosted S.J. Rozan, Alex Segura, Jedidiah Ayres, and Josh Stallings to offer readings from their latest novels.

Read or Dead hosts Katie and Rincey discussed the latest crime fiction news including award winners and all of the adaptations, plus chatted about their experiences reading funny mystery books.

The latest Spybrary guest was author, spy fan and political editor of the Sunday Times, Tim Shipman.

THEATER

Peaky Blinders creator Steven Knight has revealed plans for a ballet version of the hit Birmingham gangster TV show. The Oscar-nominated screenwriter said the Rambert dance company had approached him with plans for a ballet based on the Shelby crime family. Knight also told the Birmingham Press Club he is planning three more series of the drama and is lobbying the BBC to film more of the show in his home city.

Sunday Music Treat

Today is Mother's Day, and Mozart was my Mom's very favorite composer. So, I thought it appropriate that today's Sunday Music Treat would be a little something she would have thoroughly enjoyed, the Andante movement from the  Piano Concerto No. 21 played by Alicia De Larrocha with the English Chamber Orchestra and Sir Colin Davis, conducting:

 

Quote of the Week

FFB: Uncle Abner, Master of Mysteries

Melville Davisson Post (1869-1930) was born into a prosperous family in West Virginia and practiced criminal and corporate law for several years. However, after the success of his first novel series, he promptly dropped his law career to write full time. He was a prolific writer, penning numerous stories in national magazines like The Saturday Evening Post and The Ladies Home Journal.

He wrote a couple of series and some standalone novels, but it may have been his twenty-plus stories featuring the mystery-solving and justice dispensing West Virginian backwoodsman, Uncle Abner, which helped make Post popular. Ellery Queen called the stories "an out-of-this-world target for future detective-story writers," and the 1941 review of the mystery genre, Murder for Pleasure, declared that Uncle Abner was, after Edgar Allan Poe's Arsène Dupin, "the greatest American contribution" to the cast of fictional detectives.

Uncle Abner is described as "a big, broad-shouldered, deep-chested Saxon, with all those marked characteristics of a race living out of doors and hardened by wind and sun. His powerful frame carried no ounce of surplus weight. It was the frame of an empire builder on the frontier of the empire. The face reminded one of Cromwell, the craggy features in repose seemed molded over iron but the fine gray eyes had a calm serenity, like remote spaces in the summer sky. The man's clothes were plain and somber. And he gave the impression of things big and vast."

Abner is also a Puritan at heart who always carries a Bible in his pocket and has a knack for finding out the truth. As his nephew, Martin, who frequently narrates the stories, says, “for all his iron ways, Abner was a man who saw justice in its large and human aspect, and he stood for the spirit, above the letter, of the truth.” He is a stern authoritarian figure but equally so a kind and compassionate philosopher.

Uncle Abner, Master of Mysteries was the first anthology (1918), and contained 18 Uncle Abner stories all told by Martin. The crimes primarily deal with murder or robbery and start after the crime has been committed and the killer thinks he's gotten away with it. "The Doomdorf Mystery," is the first story in the collection and also one of Post's best known. It features more than one possible suspect who all admit to being the killer, as well as a locked-room scenario ("the wall of the house is plumb with the sheer face of the rock. It is a hundred feet to the river ... but that is not all. Look at these window frames; they are cemented into their casement with dust").

The stories are most definitely of their pre-Civil War setting, in that they feature the attitudes toward African-Americans prevalent at the time (with the associated language that today's readers might find offensive). If you can get past that, these are entertaining for the shrewd characterizations, tight plots and for the dispensing of frontier justice in an era that predated American police forces and procedures.

Note:  Hat tip to Ron Smyth who pointed out the urban legend that Melville Davisson Post's Strange Schemes of Randolph Mason was what inspired Erle Stanley Gardner to give his iconic Perry Mason that last name, as a tribute to the titular character in Post's novel. Ironically, Randolph Mason was the antithesis of Perry Mason, as an unscrupulous lawyer who found clever ways of helping his clients get away with murder and other crimes.

Mystery Melange

This year's Bouchercon organizers have announced the finalists for the annual Anthony Awards, with winners to be announced at the conference in St. Petersburg, Florida, September 5-9. The nods for Best Novel include The Late Show by Michael Connelly, Magpie Murders by Anthony Horowitz, Bluebird, Bluebird by Attica Locke, Glass Houses by Louise Penny, and The Force by Don Winslow. For all the finalists in the various categories, head on over to the official conference website

Booklist has an annual "Best Crime Fiction Novels" list, but instead of a calendar year, the qualifying books are published from May of the previous year (2017) through April of the current year. You can find the organization's latest list of the top 10 crime novels and also the top 10 debut crime fiction titles via this link.

Kobo announced the finalists for its $10,000 emerging writer prize for Canadian writers, including the genre category. The nods there include the crime fiction titles Our Little Secret by Roz Nay; Full Curl: A Jenny Willson Mystery by Dave Butler; The Lost Ones by Sheena Kamal; Ragged Lake: A Frank Yakabuski Mystery by Ron Corbett; and The Twelve Man Bilbo Choir, by Peter Staadecker.

RT Book Reviews announced the 2017 Reviewers' Choice and Career Achievement Winners, which include a career award to Catherine Coulter for Suspense novels, Christina Dodd for Romantic Suspense, and F. Paul Wilson for Thrillers. The winners of the this year's Mystery/Thriller/Suspense Reviewers' Choice Awards are The Guests on South Battery by Karen White (Mystery); The Daughter of Sherlock Holmes by Leonard Goldberg (Historical Mystery); A Room with a Brew by Joyce Tremel (Amateur Sleuth); Shattered by Allison Brennan (Suspense); and The Lost Order by Steve Berry (Thriller). The award ceremony will take place at the RT Booklovers Convention in Reno on Friday, May 18.

I missed this news tidbit back in March, but Friends of Mystery announced that the 2018 Spotted Owl Award Winner is Ingrid Thoft for her novel, Duplicity. The honor is handed out annually to an author whose primary residence in the states of Alaska, Washington, Oregon, Idaho or the Province of British Columbia. For the list of the 10 other finalists, check out the FOM awards page. (HT to Mystery Fanfare.)

The Daily Mail and Penguin Random House have launched the third year of their nationwide competition to search for a new writing talent. Submissions can be of any adult genre except for saga, science fiction and fantasy, and entrants must not have had a novel published before. The winner will receive a £20,000 advance and publishing contract with PRH imprint Century and the services of literary agent Luigi Bonomi. The inaugural winner was Amy Lloyd for her psychological thriller, The Innocent Wife.

Festival organizers announced last week that the second edition of the Mediterranean Book Festival, to be held in Croatia's Adriatic city of Split on May 9-13, will offer a number of workshops and panels and feature Norway's crime fiction superstar Jo Nesbø as a special guest.

Following controversy, scandal, and allegations of sexual misconduct against the husband of a Swedish Academy member, the Nobel Prize committee has decided not to award a Nobel for Literature this year. It will be the first time that the academy has declined to give out a literature prize since World War II.

Mystery Readers Journal editor, Janet Rudolph, has issued a call for articles for the next issue, which is themed around spies and secret agents. If you'd like to contribute a review, article, or Author! Author! essay, Janet has all the details on her Mystery Fanfare blog. The deadline is June 20.

May is Short Story Month, and to celebrate, the Short Mystery Fiction Society is highlighting one or more members' online stories per day. Check them out here.

"Listicles" - blog posts with lists of one kind or another - are all the rage right now, but some can be fun and serve as a bit of an overview or introduction to a particular book genre or sub-category of crime fiction. So, I give you Crime Fiction Lover's list of Five Nigerian Noir Books; Portside's "Radical Noir: 26 Activist Crime Novels"; Book Riot's "50 Must-Read Young Adult Mysteries" and "10 Murder Mystery Comics"; and Barnes and Noble's "10 of the Best Political Thrillers Ever." Enjoy!

Some unhappy magazine news: unless Crime Syndicate editor Michael Pool can find someone else to take over the editorial duties, the magazine will be closing its virtual doors, and the fourth issue won't be published. Pool is leaving the post to focus more on his own writing but also continue to produce the Crime Syndicate Podcast.

NPR reported on "The Right to Browse": what happened when one library put its books into storage and made the readers cry foul.

Did you ever notice that there's one thing most serial killers seem to have in common?

They do say truth is stranger than fiction, as some FBI agents may have recently discovered. Let's just say that the title of a new movie coming soon could well be "The Drone Wars."

I am truly awed and inspired by this - and something for all of us to aspire to in life.

The latest poem at the 5-2 crime poetry weekly is "Grime" by Patricia Lacy.

In the Q&A roundup, Elena Hartwell interviewed Jenny Milchman, the author of Cover of Snow which won the Mary Higgins Clark Award, and As Night Falls, the recipient of the 2015 Silver Falchion award for best novel, about her latest work, Wicked River, which was inspired by the author's aborted honeymoon in 1994; Hot Press quizzed David Baldacci about his latest novel, The Fallen, and tackling Trump's America; and the New Zealand Herald chatted with Jane Harper, author of the award-winning and critically-acclaimed novel, The Dry.

Media Murder for Monday

As we start another new week, it's time to tackle a new roundup of the latest crime drama news, from screen to stage:

MOVIES

Imagine Entertainment won a bidding competition for screen rights to the upcoming Rob Hart novel, The Warehouse, as a directing vehicle for Ron Howard. The story is set  in a near-future America ravaged by political strife and climate change, where an online retail giant named Cloud brands itself a global savior but hides a dark truth. Two of its employees, one in security and the other a spy, meet and fall in love, but their relationship is threatened by the deadly nature of the spy’s mission and the all-powerful mega-corporation they both work for. Hart is the author of the Ash McKenna private detective series and is also the publisher of Mysterious Press.com.

One of the hot properties at Cannes next week, which is also expected to grab a rights bidding competition, is the large-scale espionage film 355 that Simon Kinberg will direct with an all-star international cast of Jessica Chastain, Marion Cotillard, Penelope Cruz, Fan Bingbing, and Lupita Nyong’o. They’ll play international agents in a grounded, edgy action thriller that aims to alter a male-dominated genre with a true female ensemble, in the style of spy franchises The Bourne Identity, Mission: Impossible, and James Bond. 

IFC Films has acquired the U.S. rights to The Catcher Was a Spy, starring Paul Rudd, Sienna Miller, Jeff Daniels, Guy Pearce, and Paul Giamatti. Directed by Ben Lewin and written by Robert Rodat, the film is adapted from the WWII-set non-fiction bestseller by Nicholas Davidoff and is based on the true story of Major League Baseball player Moe Berg, who joined the U.S. in its wartime efforts to defeat the Nazis. But once he ascertains how close the Nazis are to building an atomic bomb, he has to make the life-or-death decision that will impact the rest of humanity.

Number 37, described as a Hitchcockian South African crime thriller, is heading to theaters in the U.S. after Dark Star Pictures picked up all North American rights. The film is the directorial debut of Nosipho Dumisa and is an homage to Hitchcock’s Rear Window, centering on Randall, a low-level criminal recently crippled in an illicit deal gone wrong. Cooped up in his apartment in a rough Cape Town neighborhood, he is heavily indebted to a loan shark named Emmie with the clock ticking for him and his girlfriend Pam to pay the money back. A gift of a pair of binoculars presents him with an opportunity to get his hands on the cash, but at great risk.

Benedict Cumberbatch is set to play Cold War spy Greville Wynne in Ironbark, which is based on the true story of the British businessman who helped the CIA penetrate the Soviet nuclear program during the Cold War. Wynne and his Russian source, Oleg Penkovsky (codenamed Ironbark), provided crucial intelligence that ended the Cuban Missile Crisis. 

Cumberbatch's partner-in-crime in the BBC Sherlock series, Martin Freeman, will star opposite Diane Kruger in the espionage-thriller, The Operative, from director Yuval Adler. The film follows Rachel (Kruger), a rogue spy from Israel’s feared national intelligence force Mossad, who vanishes without a trace while attending her father’s funeral in London. The only clue to her whereabouts is a cryptic phone call she places to her former handler Thomas (Freeman), who is then summoned from Germany to Israel by Mossad. Adler adapted the screenplay from the Israeli best-seller, The English Teacher, written by former Israeli intelligence officer Yiftach Reicher Atir.

Liam Neeson will take the leading role and Tarik Saleh will direct in the film Charlie Johnson in the Flames, an adaptation of the Michael Ignatieff thriller novel. Neeson will play the title character, a peerless BBC war correspondent covering civil unrest in the Congo. When the death of an innocent woman shakes him to his core, he risks everything to expose the truth, only to find himself embroiled in a network of murder, corruption, and violence that forces him to question his humanity.

John Woo's remake of his 1989 classic, The Killer, is in negotiations to snag Academy Award winner Lupita Nyong'o as its lead. The original version of The Killer told the story of an assassin protecting the life of an innocent bystander after accidentally blinding them during a botched hit. Nyong’o would take on the role of the assassin, played by Chow Yun-fat in the 1989 version.

Gravitas Ventures has acquired the feature thriller Broken Star which stars Analeigh Tipton (Crazy, Stupid, Love) for theatrical release this summer. The film is a psychological thriller that follows a young actress who goes to great lengths in order to ensure everlasting fame. Directed by first-time feature film director Dave Schwep and written by David Brant, the film also stars Tyler Labine, Monique Coleman, and Lauren Bowles. 

John Cena is set to replace fellow WWE star Dwayne Johnson in an adaptation of The Janson Directive. Written by Jason Bourne author Robert Ludlum, The Janson Directive novel focused on Paul Janson, an ex-Navy SEAL and former member of a covert government agency Consular Operations who becomes a corporate security consultant and takes a job rescuing an important man. When the mission goes awry, Janson is targeted for a "beyond salvage" termination order and has no choice but to follow the clues that lead him to a massive scandal.

An official trailer was released for Gotti, starring John Travolta in the title role as the Italian-American gangster who became boss of the powerful Gambino crime family in New York City.

TELEVISION/STREAMING SERVICES

An adaptation of the work of novelist Paulo Coelho (The Alchemist) is headed to the small screen, the first-ever TV drama series based on his books. Exploring themes and characters from Coelho’s novels The Devil and Miss Prym, Brida, and The Witch of Portobello, the yet-untitled crime drama follows a young priest who embarks on a journey of self-discovery and redemption – ostracized by his church, a fugitive from the law, and hunted by a powerful crime family. Meanwhile, the CIA agent chasing him discovers mysterious powers, and a more profound connection to the priest than she ever thought possible. 

HBO is turning late crime author Michelle McNamara's book on the Golden State Killer into a docu-series. The adaptation of I'll Be Gone in the Dark: One Woman's Obsessive Search for the Golden State Killer was announced just a month after purchasing the rights and mere days after former police officer Joseph James DeAngelo was arrested on eight counts of first-degree murder based on DNA evidence. The book chronicled McNamara's obsessive journey to find the man responsible for committing over 50 sexual assaults, at least 12 murders and over 100 burglaries in California during the '70s and '80s. The case had gone unsolved for more than 30 years until DNA evidence connected DeAngelo to the crimes, leading to his arrest by the Sacramento Sheriff's Office on April 24. McNamara, who dubbed the serial killer behind these crimes as the Golden State Killer in her book, died suddenly in her sleep in 2016 before she could finish it. The book was completed by those closest to her including longtime researcher Paul Haynes, colleague Billy Jensen, writer Gillian Flynn, who penned the introduction, and her husband Patton Oswalt, who wrote the afterword.

Sony Pictures Television Networks has ordered Reckoning, a 10-episode straight-to-series psychological thriller drama, from writer David Hubbard (Noel) and veteran showrunner David Eick (Battlestar Galactica, Falling Skies). Written by Hubbard, who serves as showrunner with David Eick, Reckoning explores the darkest corners of the male psyche through the eyes of two fathers, one of whom is a serial-killer. Like most men, Leo and Mike try to do what’s best for the people they love, the families they protect. But as both struggle to suppress their inner demons, the murder of a local teenager sets them on a course of mutual destruction that will emanate through every facet of their quiet, suburban community.

The Scandinavian terror thriller Greyzone is heading to the UK after Walter Presents acquired the ten-part series from distributor ITV Studios Global Entertainment. The show, set in Copenhagen, Stockholm, and Frankfurt, stars Birgitte Hjort Sørensen as Victoria, a drone engineer who is taken hostage by terrorists in her own home but manages to get a message to the secret services, who desperately try to prevent an attack on Scandinavian soil. 

Roseanne star John Goodman and Chewing Gum creator Michaela Coel are joining the Netflix and BBC drama Black Earth Rising. The story, which is set across the UK, Europe, Africa and the U.S., centers on Kate Ashby (Coel), who was rescued as a young child during the Rwandan genocide and adopted by Eve Ashby (Harriet Walter), a world-class British prosecutor in international criminal law. Kate was raised in Britain and, now in her late 20s, she works as a legal investigator in the law chambers of Michael Ennis (Goodman). When Eve takes on a case at the International Criminal Court, prosecuting an African militia leader, the story pulls Michael and Kate into a journey that will upend their lives forever.

Australian broadcaster ABC has confirmed a second season of the crime drama Harrow, which stars Ioan Bruffudd as Dr. Daniel Harrow (Gruffudd), a brilliant but highly unorthodox forensic pathologist. When a terrible secret from his past threatens his family, his career and himself, Harrow needs all his wit, wile and forensic genius not to solve a crime but to keep it buried.

Ahead of The Good Fight's Season 2 finale on May 27, the legal drama series has been renewed for a third season by CBS All Access. A spinoff from CBS' acclaimed drama The Good Wife, the follow-on drama has been well received by critics and tackled current events, including the Donald Trump presidency. The show stars Christine Baranski, Cush Jumbo, Rose Leslie, Audra McDonald, Sarah Steele, Justin Bartha, Michael Boatman, Nyambi Nyambi, and Delroy Lindo.

BBC One has ordered an eight-episode second season of Russian crime drama McMafia. The series airs on AMC in the U.S, but the network has not yet made a decision on a renewal. The series charts the journey of Alex Godman, played by James Norton, as he plunges deeper and deeper into the world of organized crime, eventually finding himself unable to resist the lures of corruption. The project was created by Hossein Amini and James Watkins and is based on the book by Misha Glenny.

Fans of the medical examiner "Ducky" on NCIS will be pleased to hear that actor David McCallum, who's played the iconic character for the past 15 seasons of the show, is returning for the 16th season, as well. With Pauley Perrette leaving the crime procedural at the end of the current fifteenth season, McCallum and NCIS star Mark Harmon are now the only remaining original cast members.

John Hoogenakker, who recurs in Season 1 of Amazon’s drama series Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan, has been promoted to series regular for Season 2. Hoogenakker plays Matice, a tough and salty American who works black ops for the CIA. At first skeptical of what appears to be a desk-jockey, he quickly develops a new respect for Jack Ryan (John Krasinski) after seeing him handle himself in the field.

Carrie Coon (Gone Girl) has been tapped as the female lead opposite Bill Pullman for the second installment of USA Network’s breakout drama series The Sinner. Season 2 lures Detective Harry Ambrose (Pullman) back to his hometown in rural New York to assess an unsettling and heart wrenching crime — parents murdered by their 11-year-old son, with no apparent motive. As Ambrose realizes there’s nothing ordinary about the boy or where he came from, the investigation pulls him into the hidden darkness of his hometown, and he’s pitted against those who’ll stop at nothing to protect its secrets.

PODCASTS/VIDEO/RADIO

Sasscer Hill, an author, former thoroughbred breeder, and amateur steeplechase jockey, spoke with the Because Of Horses podcast about her novels that are set against a background of big money, gambling, and horse racing. Her first book in the "Nikki Latrelle" series, Full Mortality, was nominated for both an Agatha and a Macavity award.

Crime writer Baron R. Birtcher was the latest guest on Crime Corner hosted by with Matt Coyle. Birtcher spent a number of years as a professional musician, and founded an independent record label and management company. His crime fiction titles Hard Latitudes, Rain Dogs, and Angels Fall have been nominated for a number of literary awards, including the Nero, Claymore, Left Coast Crime Lefty Award, and Silver Falchion Award in 2016.

On Episode 41 of the Spybrary podcast, the show featured a recorded panel discussion from Spycon 2018 with Spybrary host Shane Whaley joined by authors Mike Brady (Into the Shadows) and C.G.Faulkner (The Edge of Reality).

On the fourth episode of the Crime Syndicate podcast, C.S. DeWildt stopped by to read from and chat about his new novel, Suburban Dick. 

THEATER

The Vertigo Theater's Mystery Series will present the Canadian premiere of Sherlock Holmes and the American Problem from May 12 through June 16. The play is set in 1887 during Queen Victoria’s Jubilee, when American performer Anne Moses (a.k.a. Annie Oakley) needs the help of the World’s Greatest Detective. But the simple case of a missing brother quickly leads to extraordinary inventions, robbery, and murder.

Sunday Music Treat

When former pianist Scott Drayco hurt his right hand, some people pushed him to just perform works written for the left hand only. He refused, not wanting to pursue such a career as an "oddity." Works written just for the left hand you say? Yes, they do exist, including perhaps the most famous such piece, Maurice Ravel's Piano Concerto for the Left Hand, commissioned by the Austrian pianist Paul Wittgenstein, who lost his right arm during World War I. Since tomorrow, May 7, is the anniversary of Ravel's birth in 1875, it seemed fitting to feature his composition today. Here's a recording with soloist Samson François from 1959:

 

Quote of the Week

FFB: Malcolm Sage, Detective

English author Herbert George Jenkins (1876-1923) spent several years as a journalist and then worked for the publishing company The Bodley Head, before founding Herbert Jenkins Ltd., which published many of P. G. Wodehouse's novels. His most popular fictional creation was the Cockney Mr. Joseph Bindle, who first appeared in a humorous novel in 1916.

Jenkins also wrote a number of short stories about Detective Malcolm Sage, which were collected into one book in 1921. The stories feature Sage, with his bald, conical head, "determined" jaw, and protruding ears, who worked first as an account, but after uncovering shady practices at high levels of the British civil service, he was appointed to the mysterious "Department Z." After the end of the First World War, his old chief from division Z (whose life Sage once saved) set Sage up in his own private detective agency.

Sage has been compared to Hercule Poirot and Sherlock Holmes for his style of detective work, with his methods fairly high tech for the time, using such newfangled tools as telephones, photography, and medical evidence. However, as the detective himself notes, he is often more interested in setting traps for the villain, than in detecting his original crime. Jenkins also doesn't necessarily play fair with the reader, introducing clues at the end that weren't shown during the story.

Mike Grost at GA Detection notes that the techniques and traps Sage uses often involve considerable social comedy. Although Sage is also a bit on the haughty side, his staff of a secretary, an assistant, a chauffeur and an office boy (himself a devout reader of detective fiction) also provide comic foil to Sage's overbearing attitude.

Since Malcolm Sage, Detective is in the public domain, it's not easy to find in print, but there are several eBook versions you can read online, including Google Books.

The 'Zine Scene

I haven't done an update on the latest crime magazine offerings lately, so without further ago, here are some great issues to check out (in alphabetical order):

Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine:  The May/June double issue has the usual mystery puzzles, mystery photograph contest, reviews, and new stories from Emily Devenport, John H. Dirckx, Jane K. Cleland, Deborah Lacy, Steve Liskow, Leslie Budewitz, Tara Laskowski, Thomas K. Carpenter, John C. Boland, Neil Schofield, Dayle A. Dermatis, Marianne Wilski Strong, and B.K. Stevens.

Crimespree Magazine features a cover story on the late, much-beloved Bill Crider, author of the Sheriff Dan Rhodes series and much more; a celebration of Mickey Spillane’s 100th birthday (did you know the iconic author was also a spokesman for Miller Lite for 18 years? He made over 100 commercials both for TV and radio); two articles from Eryk Pruit, and the regular features.

Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine:  In addition to reviews, Blog Bytes, The Jury Box, and the announcement of the EQMM Readers Award, the May/June issue has new short fiction from Doug Allyn, Gabriel Flores, Peter Sellers, Hollis Seamon, Richard Helms, William Hallstead, Steve Hockensmith, Susan Dunlap, R.t. Raichev, Benjamin Percy, Marjorie Eccles, Bill Pronzini, Hilary Davidson, and Carlos Orsi.

Flash Bang Mysteries shares new short, short crime from featured author Regina Clark and "On and Off," as well as the Editor's Choice, "No Way Out" by Herschel Cozine; and also mini-tales from Robert Petyo with "Don’t Text and Drive," Vy Kava with "No Good Deed Goes Unpunished," and John M. Floyd, with "While You Were Out."

Mystery Readers Journal's latest themed edition is Big Cops II, which continued the two-issue focus on policing in urban environments. There are columns, reviews, and twenty essays from authors on such topics as "How Technology Is Affecting Big City Cops," including two you can read online, "Proof of Procedure" by J.A. Jance and "Big City Perspective, a Greek Island Life" by Jeffrey Siger.

Mystery Scene Magazine: The cover story is an Oline H. Cogdill interview with Anglophile author Elizabeth George; Michael Mallory also takes a look at the versatile writer Henry Slesar, who's penned scores of short stories and TV programs; Jake Hinkson takes a look at true crime docuseries; Jon L. Breen has his annual round-up of recent legal thrillers; and much more.

Mystery Weekly Magazine's May 2018 issue includes stories by Jazz Lawless about a mob hit that didn’t quite "take"; Troy Seate’s take on a 1950s detective who’s haunted by a legend from the deep; Cecily Winter’s near-futuristic look at a terrorist car; Craig Terlson’s look at an unusual couple; Jody Wenner’s unsettling tale of a man who wakes up to find a piece of himself missing; and Edward Musto’s "Armistice."

Sherlock Holmes Mystery Magazine's recent March issue had Holmes features from "John H. Watson, M. D" and "(Mrs) Martha Hudson"; new short stories by Stan Trybulski, Michael Haynes, Dianne Neral Ell, Laird Long, Ellen Wight, Marian McMahon Stanley, Teel James Glenn, Dana Martin Batory, and a classic from Sir Arthur Conan Doyle himself; and new non-fiction articles, poetry, art, and cartoons.

Strand Magazine's spring edition features fiction by Jeffery Deaver (a Lincoln Rhyme story), William Trevor, David Marcum, and Andrew McQuilkin; a feature article by Lisa Gardner on research, inspiration, and fact vs. fiction; and an exclusive interview with Caleb Carr, whose Alienist books have been recently adapted for TV.

Suspense Magazine has its usual author interviews, reviews, and articles including profiles of Jack Carr, Alma Katsu, Jake Tapper, Steena Holmes, Lee Goldberg, and Rhys Bowen; Barry Lancet and Anthony Franze are back with their latest "Articles on Talking Writing." Dennis Palumbo tells us "How not to overwrite." Stepping back in time, there's a great interview that was recently on Crime and Science Radio, hosted by D.P. Lyle and Jan Burke, as they talked with Michael Tabor, a forensic dentist who has stories you won't believe.

Switchblade Magazine's May issue has "fast action gutter" fiction from returning author Court Merrigan and Rob Pierce; Indianapolis crime writer, and managing editor of Pulp Modern, Alec Cizak; Switchblade usual suspects Preston Lang, Jack Bates, Robb T. White, Rick Risemberg, and Lisa Douglass; and also new prospects Tom Andes, Tony Genova, E.F. Sweetman, David Rachels, Danny Sophabmisay, Chris McGinley, Timothy Friend, and Tom Barlow.

Yellow Mama's April issue includes the feature story by "Noir-meister" Jason Butkowski, as well as new crime stories by Jim Farren, Marci McKim, British horror writer Sam Graham, Kenneth James Crist, J. Brook, Jon Park, and Jerry Vilhotti; and the usual kick-ass poetry and illustrations.