In Reference to Murder

FFB: Spence At Marlby Manor

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

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

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

Although Publishers Weekly was a little critical of the book's "awfully implausible murderer-catching traps to snare the culprit," the publication's reviewer ultimately deemed it "comfortable, mildly beguiling entertainment in the traditional style." It deviates a bit from the traditional police procedural into more of the classic whodunit format. Michael Allen was also behind the book blog, the Grumpy Old Bookman, listed by The Guardian as one of the top 10 literary blogs worldwide in 2005, which unfortunately appears to be inactive.

Mystery Melange

Crime Writers of Canada announced the winners of the 2020 Arthur Ellis Awards. The awards, established in 1984, are named after the nom de travail of Canada's official hangman and celebrate excellence in Canadian crime writing. The winners are listed below, and you can find all this year's finalists via this link.

Best Crime Novel: Michael Christie, Greenwood
Best Crime First Novel: Philip Elliott, Nobody Move
Best Novella: Wayne Arthurson, The Red Chesterfield
Best Short Story: Peter Sellers, "Closing Doors," Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine
Best French Book: Andrée Michaud, Tempêtes
Best Juvenile or YA Book: Tom Ryan, Keep This to Yourself
Best Nonfiction Book: Charlotte Gray, Murdered Midas: A Millionaire, His Gold Mine, and a Strange Death on an Island
Unhanged Arthur Award for Best Unpublished Manuscript: Liz Rachel Walker, The Dieppe Letters

This evening, May 28, from 7-8 p.m. Eastern, Michael Connelly and CNN's Jake Tapper are teaming up for an online conversation that will benefit independent bookstores. The conversation will cover both authors' new books, the craft of writing, their move from journalism to fiction writing, how journalism informs fiction, and the importance of supporting independent bookstores now and always. Viewers will be encouraged to donate to the Book Industry Charitable Foundation (Binc). For more information about the free event on Crowdcast and to register, click here. (HT to Shelf Awareness.

The coronavirus is a crime for health and business, but one of its aspects, quarantine/lockdown, might wind up being the ideal setting for crime fiction. The Maine Writers & Publishers Alliance is presenting the Two Minutes in Quarantine Flash Fiction contest which opens today for submissions from Maine writers. Author Julia Spencer-Fleming (of the Clare Fergusson and Russ Van Alstyne series) has provided the opening line, and you provide the rest of the story in only 500 words. The submissions deadline for the fee-free competition is June 15. The winning story will be published in the Maine Sunday Telegram, plus included in a reading with a stellar group of crime writers on 6/25 for Maine Crime Online.

Authors are finding ways to help promote their books and bookstores during the pandemic. Following proper safety guidelines, the Seminary Co-op in Chicago, Ill., welcomed local author Sara Paretsky into the store lobby last week to sign copies of her new V.I. Warshawsky novel, Dead Land, while Paretsky's beloved golden, Chiara, kept an eye out. The Seminary Co-op remains closed to the public, but is filling online orders.

Another convention has fallen to the coronavirus. This, from Mike Chomko, PulpFest Marketing & Programming Director: "Throughout the latter months of 2019, PulpFest was planning for a banner year. From our vivacious Guest of Honor — Eva Lynd — to a significant estate auction and our the plethora of 'B’s' in our theme — 'Bradbury, BLACK MASK, and Brundage,' with a touch of 'Burroughs, Brackett, Baum, and a couple of 'B' movies,' PulpFest 2020 was going to be one 'B'eautiful convention. Alas, it was not meant to be. Or should we say, 'B?' Or maybe it should be 'C'  for coronavirus. We regret to announce that PulpFest is being postponed until August 2021...it will now take place August 5 - 8, 2021 at the DoubleTree in Mars, PA."

Holland House Books has launched a new digital crime imprint, PM Press. Editors Phaidra Robinson and Mia Skevington are seeking most types of crime and thriller fiction, "from the classic English whodunit through to police procedurals, or classic noir through to mind-bending psychological thrillers." You can read more about submission guidelines here or via Holland's website.

It's nice to know NASA has a sense of humor and a bit of an interest in crime fiction. Mars is a long way from 221B Baker Street, but one of fiction's best-known detectives will be represented on the Red Planet after NASA's Perseverance rover touches down on Feb. 18, 2021. An instrument called SHERLOC (Scanning Habitable Environments with Raman & Luminescence for Organics & Chemicals) will, with the help of its partner-camera WATSON, hunt for signs of ancient life by detecting organic molecules and minerals. Together, they will study rock surfaces, mapping out the presence of certain minerals and organic molecules, which are the carbon-based building blocks of life on Earth.

Author and director of the Bloody Scotland crime writing festival and the Bute Noir fest, Craig Robertson, was asked to pick the ten best Scottish crime novels of all time for The Guardian, coming up with books that deliver all the gut-punch thrills of crime without forgetting its human cost.

The latest crime poem at the 5-2 Weekly is "I Gave You Diamonds, You Gave Me Disease" by Charles Rammelkamp.

In the Q&A roundup, Michael Connelly stopped by the Los Angeles Times (reprinted in part here) to talk about "fake news"; Bosch; his newspaper reporter protagonist, Jack McEvoy; and the coronavirus. Over at the Writers Who Kill blog, E.B. Davis chatted with Bernard Schaffer about his Santero and Rein Thriller series which focuses on the crimes of those lost in criminal psychosis; Books & Beyond spoke with Paul Matthews, author of two comedy thriller-mystery series; and Jessica Riley Miller sat down with The Stiletto Gang's Paula Gail Benson to discuss her supernatural mysteries that are in the tradition of Charlaine Harris’s True Blood series.

Media Murder for Monday

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

THE BIG SCREEN/MOVIES

Sony Pictures has acquired Armored, a film adaptation of the new audio book written by Mark Greaney (co-author of Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan novels), with Michael Bay producing. The novel focuses on a high-risk security contractor suffering from old physical and mental wounds who reluctantly takes a job working on a heavily armed convoy shuttling UN delegates through Mexico’s "cartel country." But the mission turns into a desperate struggle for survival as corrupt police, rival gangs, and an enemy within all try to destroy the tiny motorcade before the peace talks bear fruit.

Paramount Pictures has boarded Flight, a film based on a spec script by Miles Chapman, the screenwriter behind the Sylvester Stallone-led Escape Plan movies. Piloted by producer Weed Road Pictures (Star Trek: Picard) and director Johannes Roberts (47 Meters Down), the story is described as "a contained thriller set on an international flight."

Nick Jonas (Jumanji) and Laurence Fishburne (Matrix) have signed on to star in the Pierre Morel-directed action-thriller, The Blacksmith. Actor-singer Jonas will play Wes Loomis, a "Blacksmith," the intelligence community’s go-to weapons expert. When his clandestine lab is destroyed and his colleagues are murdered, he must go on the run with only his unique set of technological skills and the help of a brilliant, young CIA analyst to keep him alive. The duo seek out Mather (Fishburne), a retired blacksmith and Wes’s mentor, to help guide them.

Esai Morales will replace Nicholas Hoult as the villain in Mission: Impossible 7, which is due to start production in late summer or early fall. When the coronavirus shut down the original production schedules on the film, it conflicted with another commitment for Hoult, and thus Morales had to be brought on board instead. The project, which sees Tom Cruise reprising his Ethan Hunt spy character, was set to be released in July 2021 but has since been rescheduled for November of next year.

After the wild success of Netflix's Tiger King documentary series, based on the exploits of convicted felon, Joe Exotic, several follow-on scripted projects about the same story and characters are being eyed by various TV and film producers. Although most of these are in the early stages, one such production is eyeing Sharknado star Tara Reid to play Carole Baskin, the big cat conservationist with whom Exotic had a bitter feud.

The mysterious Tenet film from Christopher Nolan has a new trailer that may reveal more about the project. The sci-fi crime drama stars John David Washington as the protagonist who is leading a group to track down Kenneth Branagh’s character, a Russian national who’s able to communicate with the future and appears to be a formidable opponent

TELEVISION/STREAMING SERVICES

Deadline is reporting that Left Bank Pictures (The Crown) is closing a deal to adapt Louise Penny’s Chief Inspector Gamache crime novels for a series. However, the author herself on Facebook had this to say about the report:  "To be honest, that was premature. The discussions are ongoing and as I've learned, all sorts of things can go wrong." According to Deadline, the project's title is Three Pines, which would be a reference to the fictional French Canadian village in which Chief Inspector Gamache operates. The lead character is a French-speaking detective, but I'm assuming the production would look to hire a bilingual actor since Gamache also has English fluency (thanks to his Cambridge education). Chief Inspector Gamache has been reimagined for the screen previously: Canada’s CBC adapted Still Life for the 2013 television movie Still Life: A Three Pines Mystery, with Nathaniel Parker playing the fictional detective.

CBS announced its fall TV lineup, which includes most of its regular crime drama offerings as well as the new crime shows, The Equalizer and Clarice (in a mid-season slot TBA). CBS is planning to bring back the shows despite the ongoing production shutdown caused by the coronavirus pandemic. However, CBS Entertainment president, Kelly Kahl, did not rule out the possibility that CBS could make changes should the network’s shows fail to restart production in time for fall launches. Fox and The CW are changing up their lineups with acquired series and other stopgaps in the event full-scale production is unable to resume any time soon.

ABC also announced a slew of renewals including The Rookie (starring Nathan Fillion as the titular rookie cop) and Stumptown (starring Cobie Smulders as a military intelligence veteran turned private eye). The network also picked up the new detective drama, Big Sky, from the prolific David E. Kelley, and a drama based on Erin Brockovich, Rebel, may also go forward at a later day. One show that was canceled is Emergence. The supernatural police drama starred Allison Tollman as a police chief who takes in a young child that she finds near the site of a mysterious accident who has no memory of what has happened.

Fox picked up the serial killer thriller, Prodigal Son, for a second season. The project, which stars Michael Sheen and Tom Payne, is likely to be scheduled for a midseason slot as a result of the COVID-19 production shutdown. Prodigal Son follows Tom Payne’s Malcolm Bright, son of "The Surgeon" (played by Sheen), who as a child was responsible for enabling the police to arrest his serial-killer father. Now a profiler, formerly with the FBI and currently consulting for the New York Police Department, Bright is forced to confront his father after a copycat serial killer uses his methods of killing.

TNT has set the premiere date (July 26) and released a trailer for its follow-up to The Alienist, which will officially be titled The Alienist: Angel of Darkness. The initial series and the follow-on are based on Caleb Carr's series about a turn-of-the-century criminal psychologist (known as “alienists” in those days). The entire lead cast from the first project will return, including Daniel Brühl, Luke Evans, and Dakota Fanning.

Harry Potter producer, David Barron, is adapting Manda Scott's thriller novel, Treachery of Spies, for the small screen. The historical thriller starts with a murder in WWII France and unfurls its mysteries into the present day with a brilliant but haunted female detective as the lead. A Treachery of Spies is the second of Scott’s espionage thrillers to feature Detective Inspector Inès Picaut and the first to be adapted.

Olivia Holt (of Marvel’s Cloak & Dagger) is returning to Freeform as a lead in Cruel Summer, the network’s upcoming thriller drama series, taking over a role originally played in the pilot by Mika Abdalla. Cruel Summer (previously titled Last Summer) is described as an unconventional thriller that takes place over three summers in the '90s in a small Texas town when a beautiful popular teen, Kate (Holt), is abducted.

While you're waiting for your favorite crime dramas to return, TV Guide has spoilers, premiere dates, photos, trailers, and casting news for season 18 of NCIS and season 7 of NCIS: New Orleans.

PODCASTS/VIDEO/RADIO

The Poisoned Pen Bookstore's Barbara Peters has regular conversations with authors, linked on the store's website. Among the latest are the sisters Liz and Valerie Constantine who write as Liv Constantine; Kate White; Ian Rankin; Hank Phillipi Ryan; Angie Kim; Scott Turow; and C.J. Box.

Crime Cafe host, Debbi Mack, chatted with Jeffery Deaver, bestselling author of thirty-five novels, including the Lincoln Rhyme series.

Writer Types host, Eric Beetner, spoke with authors Kimberly McCreight (A Good Marriage); Tom Pitts (Cold Water); and Mary Keliikoa (Derailed).

The hosts of the Read or Dead podcast, Katie McClean Horner and Rincey Abraham, talked about Jane Harper’s new novel; the French serial killer expert who apparently isn’t an expert; and books featuring religious elements that are not by Dan Brown.

Suspense Radio's Beyond the Cover welcomed back physician and author, Dr. D.P. Lyle, about his writing and his latest book, Rigged.

Meet the Thriller Author welcomed Andrews & Wilson, the bestselling co-author team of several covert ops and action-adventure thriller books in the Tier One series and other books. Brian Andrews is a US Navy veteran and former submarine officer, and fellow Navy vet Jeffrey Wilson has worked as an actor, firefighter, paramedic, jet pilot, and diving instructor, as well as a vascular and trauma surgeon.

Robin Burcell stopped by Wrong Place, Write Crime to discuss being the first female cop in her department; her experiences as a hostage negotiator and a forensic artist; her early novels; her collaboration with Clive Cussler; and what's next for her.

Writers Detective Bureau talked about who investigates the murder when the victim is a police officer of your own agency; how to best secure realistic props for filming; and tips for creating realistic testimony dialogue.

It Was a Dark and Stormy Book Club chatted with Sara Paretsky, best known for her groundbreaking series with female private eye, V.I. Warshawski.

The Tartan Noir Show sat down with Abir Mukherjee, recently nominated for the Theakston’s Old Peculiar Crime Novel of the Year for his third Sam Wyndham novel, Smoke and Ashes, set in the Raj era of India.

FFB: She Shall Have Murder

Delano Ames (1906-1987) was born in Ohio to a newspaperman father. In 1929 Ames married Maysie Grieg, who later became a highly successful author of lighthearted romances, and the duo settled in Greenwich Village where Ames published his first novel, a philosophical look at the Greek gods entitled A Double Bed on Olympus. When the couple divorced, Ames moved to England where he remarried and worked for British intelligence during the second World War.

After the war, according to his tongue-in-cheek autobiography, he "translated an erudite history of keyboard instruments from the French, and believes that at least 100 copies were sold." Fortunately, his later efforts were more successful, beginning with in 1948 with She Shall Have Murder, the first in what was to become a 12-book series featuring the British husband-and-wife sleuthing team of Jane and Dagobert Brown. Ames produced a Brown book every year until 1959 when he moved to Spain and switched to writing a four-bookseries featuring Juan Llorca of the Spanish Civil Guard.

She Shall Have Murder, made into a movie on British television in 1950, introduces Jane Hamish, a pretty young executive in the law firm Daniel Playfair and Son, and Dagobert Brown, Jane's lover and a researcher/writer who is so absorbed in the thriller he and Jane are concocting around the law firm's staff, that he is astonished when the wrong victim dies. Said victim is Mrs. Robjohn, the least favorite client of the firm, thanks to her frequent calls, letters and visits and unwavering paranoid belief that the mysterious "they" are out to get her.

She Shall Have Murder was labeled as "Detection with Wit" when first published in 1948, an apt description of the characters of Jane, always the common-sense, down-to-earth narrator, and her other half Dagobert, whose eccentricities and passing fads often leave Jane alternatively delighted and driven to despair ("Dagobert is my hero, but he persistently refuses to behave like one.") One of Dagobert's primary pursuits is amateur sleuthing that he puts to good use as he resorts to bluffs, disguises, charm and insightful detection in his efforts to prove Mrs. Robjohn was murdered.

Jane makes a delightful narrator, as in this bit about her thoughts on her potential novel-writing career at the start of the story:

"On the other hand, thrillers have nowadays become an accepted art-forom; bishops and minor poets read practically nothing else, and the New Statesman reviews them....The beginning of a book is always the tricky part. It should arrest. A shot should ring out in the night, or if you prefer, a rod should cough or a Roscoe belch forth destruction. Personally, I like to meeet my corpse on page one, and I like him (or her) to be very dead."

In Peter Walker's foreword to the Black Dagger edition of She Shall Have Murder, he notes that the novel is a time capsule of post-World War II life, with utility clothing, conscription, rationing, listening to the wireless, putting lavender in the clothes closet, feeding gas meters with shillings and girls who resemble Rita Hayworth. But the writing sparkles over 60 years later and is far from dated in its ability to entertain.

Mystery Melange

The coronavirus pandemic continues to hit many of the crime fiction conventions, conferences, and festivals. One of the latest is St Hilda's Crime in the UK, although organizers announced that a virtual event will still go on with live broadcasts, Q&As, lectures, entertainment, and a packed Crime Fiction Festival on August 15. Participating authors already confirmed include: Val McDermid, Mick Herron, Sarah Hilary, Jill Dawson, Tom Wood, Mary Paulson Ellis, Anna Mazzola, Andrew Wilson, Sara Sheridan, Vassem Khan,
and Andrew Taylor.

Over the past few years, independent publishers have won prizes, engaged readers, and published innovative and important books. But a survey on the impact of Covid-19 on small presses, carried out by the Bookseller and writer development charity Spread the Word, reveals that 60% of the small presses polled fear they could be out of business by the autumn, 75% don’t know if they will make it beyond March next year, while 85% of the publishers have seen sales drop by more than half. A key takeaway here is: shop your local indie bookstores! Many have online ordering and home delivery or curbside pickup.


Not all bookselling news is bad during the coronavirus: Unit sales of print books continue to defy expectations that the coronavirus crisis will lead to a plunge in sales. Last week, unit sales of print books had their second consecutive week of double-digit growth over the previous week at outlets that report to NPD BookScan. For the week ended May 9, 2020, print units were up 10.5% over the prior week, and rose 9.9% over the week ended May 11, 2019. (This, despite a downturn in overall brick-and-mortar bookstore sales due to partial shutdowns.)

Even better, according to a study in the UK, reading books has surged in lockdown. The survey reported that time spent with books has almost doubled, with thrillers and crime the favorite genres. More than half (52%) of the respondents said they were reading more because they had more spare time, 51% said it was because they wanted to stay entertained, and 35% felt books were providing “an escape from the crisis."

In more UK book news, Lee Child's The Midnight Line is the UK's most often loaned library book of 2018/19. Child dominated the ten most loaned print books, with fellow Jack Reacher novels Night School – the previous year's most borrowed book – at number seven and Past Tense at number five. NYPD Red by James Patterson, Dead if You Don’t by Peter James, Wild Fire by Ann Cleeves, Two Kinds of Truth by Michael Connelly, and Dan Brown's Origin rounded out the top ten in the list.

Edinburgh-based crime writer Val McDermid is offering readers the chance to have a character named after them in her upcoming new novel. The author has teamed up with her hometown football club Raith Rovers for an auction, with the chance to appear in her upcoming Karen Pirie thriller, Still Life, up for grabs. The football club will share the proceeds from the auction evenly with the Homeless World Cup Foundation.

Did Agatha Christie "borrow" the plot for her novel, The Murder of Roger Ackroyd? Lucy Moffatt, a British translator living in Norway, has found a likely source for the famous solution to the murder in an early English magazine translation of a Stein Riverton story.

The latest crime poem at the 5-2 Weekly is "Ca" by Ron Riekki.

In the Q&A roundup, Criminal Element's Book Series Binge chats continued with Archer Mayor on the Joe Gunther Series; E. B. Davis interviewed James M. Jackson about his new Seamus McCree novella for the Writers Who Kill blog; Book Savvy Reviews spoke with Merry Jones about her latest domestic suspense novel, What You Don't Know; and Kathy Reichs sat down with the CBC to talk about how Montreal shaped her approach to writing bestselling crime fiction, including her Bones series.

Author R&R with Michael C. Bland

MICHAEL C. BLAND is a founding member and the secretary of BookPod, an invitation-only, online group of professional writers. He pens the monthly BookPod newsletter where he celebrates the success of their members, which include award-winning writers, filmmakers, journalists, and bestselling authors. One of Michael’s short stories, "Elizabeth," won Honorable Mention in the Writer’s Digest 2015 Popular Fiction Awards contest. Three short stories he edited have been nominated for the Pushcart Prize, while another was adapted into an award-winning film.

Bland's debut novel, The Price of Safety, takes on the dark side of surveillance and the dangers of data mining. By 2047, no crime in the U.S. goes unsolved. No wrongdoing goes unseen. All because of the security systems that Dray Quintero helped build. Yet when Dray learns his 19-year-old daughter Raven committed a heinous act, he covers it up to save her life.

This pits him against the police he's respected since he was a child and places him in the crosshairs of Kieran, a ruthless federal agent searching for justice. Forced to turn to a domestic terrorist group to protect his family, Dray soon realizes the sheer level of control of his adversaries. Hunted and betrayed, with time running out, will Dray choose his family or the near-perfect society he helped create?

Michael C. Bland stops by In Reference to Murder to talk about researching and writing the book:

I was familiar with both Los Angeles and San Francisco, having visited both locations. As I wrote The Price of Safety, I drew on those memories as well as Google Earth and Google street view. Of course, the bigger challenge was writing a story set in the future—with both the story and the setting heavily influenced by the technology of that time. The story is about how technology can be used against us if we’re not careful. To make sure the novel wasn’t too tech- heavy, I balanced the technology with Dray and his family’s relationship as the core of the novel.

Even though the technology in the novel doesn’t exist yet, I did a tremendous amount of research to make it as plausible as possible. I researched the latest advancements in science, computing, robotics, and other areas to determine the current state of communication, robotic, and other technologies including Google glass, nanotechnology, tube development, etc. I then tried to determine how much further those technologies will develop over the next thirty years, while making them relatable. As a gauge, I looked back to where we as a society thirty years ago. In 1990, the discman was big, cell phones existed but were clunky bricks, and the internet was in its infancy. Life now is drastically different in terms of technology compared to back then—and advancements are accelerating every year.

I also read articles that predicted the future. These are rarely accurate (I’m so sad we don’t have flying cars!), but they inspired me in terms of what my world of 2047 will look like. I examined the latest research on fusion as that plays a part in my novel. Another area is dark matter. Scientists still do not know for sure what dark matter is, but I studied scientific articles and journals, then crafted my own theory (based on theories of those way smarter than me) of what it is and how it reacts. I used this in my novel as one of Dray’s achievements and incorporated it into his fusion reactor and other inventions.

Lastly, a friend of mine is an engineer. He was generous enough to work though the mechanics of some things that occur in The Price of Safety (at least as much as could be, given the advanced nature of some of the devices I created), as well as helping me make sure an engineer’s thought process and approach to things were accurate.

In writing The Price of Safety, I was inspired by Minority Report and 1984, hoping to bring that kind of feel and threat to the near future—but with a difference. I focused my novel on family, placing them at the heart of the story and driving Dray’s every action.

The structure of The Price of Safety was a challenge due to the laws and logic of the world I created. In fact, the surveillance and technology I wanted to focus on were a major hindrance. I couldn’t pretend a character couldn’t get a hold of another because they’d left the house, as an example. They all have cell phones and other ways of communicating, so I had to find other ways of creating and sustaining tension that made sense. When I was outlining the story, I discovered flaws in my logic over and over, each of which would have caused the story to collapse. I had to go back and rework the story repeatedly to make sure every development made sense, not only from a logic sense but then a narrative sense—and make sure the characters’ actions remain believable. Over the course of a year, I generated sixteen outlines, each one of which fixed a flaw I discovered. Only after I had everything worked out, I began to write the rough draft.

An additional challenge was writing in first person. This was my first time writing in this manner, yet to me it best fit the story. Certain events in the story have the greatest impact via the first- person POV. It also brought intimacy and connection to the main character. To me, that connection and closeness magnified and contrasted the technology that becomes both a gift and hindrance to Dray’s family’s survival.

 

You can learn more about Michael C. Bland and The Price of Safety via the author's website, and you can also follow him on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. The Price of Safety, the first installment of a planned trilogy, is currently available via many booksellers.

Media Murder for Monday

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

THE BIG SCREEN/MOVIES

As the coronavirus pandemic continues to disrupt production around the world, Enderby Entertainment has begun work on a feature film to be produced and shot virtually in six countries. Titled 92, the thriller project is led by Veronica Ferres and Aleks Paunovic in the ensemble cast and follows five characters connected only by their devotion to the late tech titan Finley Hart. Operating from bases around the world, the quintet must work together to shut down Hart’s most secret invention – a machine that is either the solution of mankind’s problems or the end of life on Earth. Producer Rick Dugdale will remotely supervise the virtual shoot in each country with the actors’ own homes serving as the set.

Call Me By Your Name Oscar nominee Luca Guadagnino is set to direct Universal Pictures’s "reimagination" of Scarface. In the original 1932 film, an Italian gangster (Paul Muni) took over Chicago, while in the iconic 1983 movie, Al Pacino starred as a Cuban gangster who cornered the cocaine trade in 1980s Miami. The new movie will be set in Los Angeles, although other project details are still being developed. The project's shooting script will be from Joel Coen and Ethan Coen’s version, who’ve been with the long-simmering project for at least three years (with earlier drafts by Gareth Dunnet-Alcocer, Jonathan Herman, and Paul Attanasio).

Until recently, it was looking like Christopher Nolan's movie, Tenet, was set to be the first film to screen in reopened theaters, but now it seems that Russell Crowe's Unhinged will beat it by two weeks (provided that either one is able to open in July). The psychological thriller centers around a terrifying cat-and-mouse chase between Crowe’s character, an unnamed stranger, and a woman named Rachel (Caren Pistorius), who provokes the stranger’s ire when trying to get around him in a traffic jam.

In more Russell Crowe news, it was announced the actor will headline the mob thriller, American Son. Based on Jacques Audiard’s French movie, A Prophet, American Son will be directed by Andrew "Rapman" Onwubolu, with Dennis Lehane writing the screenplay. The story follows a man who builds a multiracial crime syndicate after falling under the control of a mobster (Crowe). He takes down his mentor and earns a spot alongside the Italian and Russian mafias.

In a seven-figure deal, Netflix has acquired Our Man From Jersey, a star vehicle for Mark Wahlberg to be scripted by writer David Guggenheim (Safe House). Described as "a blue collar 007," the film will be produced by Wahlberg and Stephen Levinson, who hatched the idea.

The Tax Collector, the gritty David Ayer-directed drama, has found a home via the AMC Networks division RLJE, with an expected release date in August. Scripted and directed by Ayer, the project centers on David (Bobby Soto) and Creeper (Shia LaBeouf), who are "tax collectors" for the crime lord, Wizard, collecting his cut from the profits of local gangs’ illicit dealings. But when Wizard’s old rival returns to Los Angeles from Mexico, the business is upended, and David finds himself desperate to protect what matters more to him than anything else: his family.

Vertical Entertainment has acquired the North American distribution rights to the Bella Thorne feature, Infamous, with a virtual cinema and VOD release date of June 12. Written and directed by Joshua Caldwell, the film stars Thorne as Arielle, a young woman who lives in a small Florida town, stuck in a diner job. When she falls for a recently paroled young criminal named Dean (Jake Manley), she drags him back into a life of danger, learning that posting their criminal exploits on social media is an easy way to viral fame. They embark on a dangerous adventure together that leads to robbery, cop chases, and murder.

Bleecker Street has acquired U.S. distribution rights to The Secrets We Keep, the period revenge thriller directed by Yuval Adler that stars Noomi Rapace, Joel Kinnaman, and Chris Messina. Rapace plays Maja, a woman rebuilding her life along with her husband, Lewis (Messina), in America after World War II. One day she encounters an eerily familiar figure (Kinnaman) from her past life – but is he really the man she thinks he is? Convinced he is, Maja takes things into her own hands and kidnaps him, setting in motion a series of memories and events that will change her whole perception of the truth.

TELEVISION/STREAMING SERVICES

BritBox says it is going to house "the most comprehensive" collection of Agatha Christie adaptations in North America after inking a deal with the estate of the British author. The streaming service, which is operated by ITV and the BBC, has acquired further rights to films, TV series, and audio plays—including Seasons 9-12 of David Suchet’s depiction of legendary detective Poirot, meaning BritBox will eventually be the home to all-but-one series of the ITV show. BritBox will also add newly restored versions of ITV’s Marple and Partners In Crime, as well as TV movies such as The Seven Dials Mystery and The Secret Adversary.

The Inspector Ghote Indian detective novels are heading for series treatment through Endemol Shine India. The company has optioned the rights to the much-loved series of 25 novels written by journalist turned novelist H.R.F. Keating over a 45-year period and intends to develop them as a multi-part returnable series. No details are yet available about the series development schedule, talent attachments or broadcast partners. Introduced in the 1964 novel, The Perfect Murder, the books feature Ganesh V. Ghote as a middle-aged, married inspector in the Mumbai police force. A dogged crimefighter who is often under-estimated by society, Ghote spends almost as much time combatting bureaucracy as he does cracking cases.

Amazon Prime Video has secured UK rights to Alex Rider, a new spy thriller series based on Point Blanc, the second novel in Anthony Horowitz's Alex Rider series. Alex Rider will premiere on Prime Video in the UK on June 4, with all eight episodes available for UK Prime members to stream. Otto Farrant will star as Alex Rider, who is a teenager trained since childhood for the world of espionage. Rider is pressured to help investigate he is uncle's death and how it connects to the assassination of two high-profile billionaires.

The CW has given a straight-to-series order for Kung Fu, starring Olivia Liang. A life crisis causes a young Chinese-American woman to drop out of college and go on a life-changing journey to an isolated monastery in China. But when she returns to find her hometown overrun with crime and corruption, she uses her martial arts skills and Shaolin values to protect her community and bring criminals to justice…all while searching for the assassin who killed her Shaolin mentor and is now targeting her.

Fans of Supernatural's Jared Padalecki are going to have to wait a little longer for his new show, a reboot of Walker, Texas Ranger. The show has been officially bumped to midseason as a result of schedule shifting the network had to make in light of recent COVID-19 shutdowns. Padalecki will play Cordell Walker, a widower and father of two. After being undercover for two years, Cordell returns home to Austin in an attempt to reconnect with his children while dodging dust-ups with his conservative family.

USA Network has opted not to proceed with new seasons of two of its high-profile drama series, The Purge and Treadstone. The Purge series revolved around a 12-hour period when all crime, including murder, is legal in an altered America ruled by a totalitarian political party. It was developed as a companion to The Purge film franchise (which is still ongoing and a new installment coming up). Treadstone, based on the Bourne film franchise, explored the origin story and present-day actions of a CIA black ops program known as Operation Treadstone — a covert program that uses behavior-modification protocol to turn recruits into nearly superhuman assassins.

Freeform has passed on Close Up, the suspense drama pilot executive produced by How to Get Away With Murder creator Peter Nowalk and partner Mary Rohlich. Written by Keith Staskiewicz, the series was set in Centreville, NJ, a suburban town just like any other … at least on the surface. Centreville high school student Rachel Guyer is on a mission to expose the truth about her seemingly normal hometown and turn her community inside out.

Actor Brian Cox has revealed he will be the new face of Scottish detective Rebus in a new online adaptation. Cox is working closely with author Ian Rankin on the virtual play, which will be performed as part of the National Theatre of Scotland’s "Scenes for Survival" series. It comes more than a decade after Rankin first called on Cox to play the role back in 2008. Scenes for Survival will launch new pieces of work from creative talents online over the next few months, with all proceeds going to a hardship fund set up for artists and those working in the theatre industry who have been hit hard by the Covid-19 crisis.

Bill Skarsgård, the actor who played Pennywise in the 2017 film, has been set to play Swedish criminal Clark Olofsson in a six-part Netflix series. Skarsgård will star in Clark, a Swedish language adaptation of Olofsson’s autobiography in which the convicted drug trafficker and bank robber reflected on his criminal escapades which began in the 1960s. Olofsson's exploits gave rise to the term "Stockholm syndrome," referring to hostages who forge an affinity with their captor.

The fifth season of the Italian crime hit, Gomorrah, is due to shoot at the end of the summer, although that could be the last we see of the mob drama, according to the show’s producer, Cattleya. Marco D’Amore, who plays iconic character Ciro Di Marzio in the drama, will return to direct the first five episodes with series regular Claudio Cupellini helming the other episodes.

CBS All Access has ordered a fifth season of The Good Fight. With the renewal, the series will be able to continue the story of season 4, cut short because of the coronavirus pandemic. Due to the ongoing halt in the production since early March, season 4, intended to be a 10-episode season, will conclude with episode 7 on Thursday, May 28. The season four cast includes Christine Baranski, Cush Jumbo, Sarah Steele, Nyambi Nyambi, Michael Boatman, Zach Grenier, John Larroquette, Audra McDonald and Delroy Lindo. Hugh Dancy also joined season four in a recurring role.

PODCASTS/VIDEO/RADIO

This week on Writer Types, co-host Jennifer Hillier joined Eric Beetner for talks with legendary author Sara Paretsky and thriller writer Reece Hirsch; plus there were staff picks from Left Bank Books and Mysterious Galaxy.

In the latest episode of the Why I Write video series, CBC Books talked to Linwood Barclay about his latest thriller, Elevator Pitch, and his approach to writing crime fiction.

A new Mysteryrat's Maze podcast is up, featuring the mystery short story "Busted at the Book Sale" by Margaret S. Hamilton, read by actor Donna Beavers.

Beyond the Cover featured author Joel Rosenberg. The Jerusalem Assassin is his latest political thriller and the third book in his Marcus Ryker series.

Wrong Place, Write Crime chatted with Kate Anslinger about her Grace McKenna novels.

The My Favorite Detective Series podcast welcomed Joseph Wambaugh, an author known for his fictional and non-fictional accounts of police work in the United States.


Writer's Detective Bureau host, veteran Police Detective Adam Richardson, answered questions about detectives using their cellphones to take evidentiary photographs, whether real-life criminals leave red herrings, and where witnesses wait before testifying.

It Was a Dark and Stormy Book Club was joined by authors Amy Engle (The Familair Dark) and Shauna Holyoak (Kazu Jones and the Denver Dog Nappers).

The Tartan Noir Show spoke with Helen FitzGerald, recently nominated for the Theakston’s Old Peculiar Crime Novel of the year (for the second time); and also heard from David Wilson, Scottish Professor of Criminology, in conversation with author Lin Anderson at last year’s Bloody Scotland International Crime Festival in Stirling.

Quote of the Week

FFB: The Grey Flannel Shroud

Henry Slesar (1927-2002) was an American author, playwright, and copywriter, and I think it's safe to say, he was prolific. Around 1955, he started to write short stories while working as a copywriter and eventually created 500 stories for magazines like Playboy, Imaginative Tales, and Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine. The latter was particularly appropriate, because Slesar went on to become a frequent contributor to the popular Alfred Hitchcock Presents TV series. He also served as head writer for CBS Daytime's The Edge of Night, for which he won an Emmy in 1974, and penned scripts for The Twilight Zone, The Man From U.N.C.L.E., and Batman.

It wasn't until 1959 that he tried his hand at a novel, The Grey Flannel Shroud, an effort that turned out to be as successful as his many other endeavors, receiving the Edgar Award for Best First Novel in 1960. Slesar was an experienced ad man, credited with being the brains behind McGraw-Hill's extremely popular "The Man in the Chair" advertising campaign, as well as coining the phrase "coffee break." Thus it's no surprise that advertising is at the heart of the plot in The Grey Flannel Shroud.

In the novel, Dave Robbins is a a handsome young account manager at a small Madison Avenue agency who is put in charge of the prestigious Burke Baby Food account. He'd only gotten the job due to a colleague's heart attack and now he finds himself fending off the unwelcome attentions of an influential client and the scorn of the head of the Burke empire. Things take a turn for the bizzare when people connected to the Burke Baby account begin to die in strange ways. Dave soon worries he's next, a suspicion given weight by a near-fatal push off a train platform and poisoned medication.

Aided by a reporter friend/drinking buddy and Dave's clever and gutsy girlfriend, an art director at the agency, Dave tries to navigate his complicated love life and the promising Burke account career-booster. This, while trying to figure out why the boss's confidential files include an unexplained and large payment to the mysterious "A.G.," and why being put in charge of the Burke account may end up being the very last thing he ever does.

The Grey Flannel Shroud isn't heavy on the sleuthing, but if you're a fan of Mad Men, you'll see a lot of the essence of that era in the advertising world in this novel. There's plenty of character development and also whimsy—such as the chapter headings, all of which are taken from famous advertising campaigns.

Mystery Melange

 

The University of Alabama School of Law has named the finalists for the 2020 Harper Lee Prize for Legal Fiction. The three books chosen to compete for the prize are: The Satapur Moonstone by Sujata Massey; The Hallows by Victor Methos; and An Equal Justice by Chad Zunker. The prize, previously authorized by Lee, is given annually to a book-length work of fiction that best illuminates the role of lawyers in society and their power to effect change. Candice Robbins, Assistant Dean for Advancement at the Law School, said "The books represent a diverse offering in legal fiction, from a historical mystery series written by Massey, to a sharp legal thriller by Methos, and, finally, a fast-paced novel that explores the crisis of homelessness in the United States by Zunker."

The shortlist was announced for the Glass Key Award. The award, named after the novel, The Glass Key, by American crime writer Dashiell Hammett, is a real glass key given every year by the members of the Crime Writers of Scandinavia to a crime novel written by a Danish, Finnish, Icelandic, Norwegian or Swedish author. Each country's members put forth a candidate novel, making up the shortlist, which this year includes: Dødfunden (Found Dead) by Gretelise Holm (Denmark); Den åttonde tärnan (The Eight Bridesmaid) by Eva Frantz (Finland); Svik (Betrayal) by Lilja sigurðardóttir (Iceland); Kniv (Knife) by Jo Nesbø (Norway); and Skuggjägaren (Shadow Hunter) by Camilla Grebe (Sweden). The winner will be announced in August.

2020 Goldsbsoro Books Glass Bell Award shortlist includes a critically acclaimed debut, Oyinkan Braithwaite’s darkly comic My Sister, the Serial Killer, about a woman who must cover up her younger sister’s habit of killing her boyfriends. Also on the shortlist is Blood & Sugar by Laura Shepherd-Robinson, a historical thriller about the horrors of the slave trade. The prize rewards "compelling storytelling with brilliant characterisation and a distinct voice that is confidently written and assuredly realised" in all genres. The winner will be announced on Thursday, 2nd July and awarded £2,000 and a handmade, engraved glass bell.

The Maine Writers & Publishers Alliance announced finalists for the Maine Literary Awards. This year, the awards will be live-streamed at 7 p.m. May 28 on Zoom. The alliance received more than 150 books and 135 short works, according to executive director Gibson Fay-LeBlanc. The Crime Fiction finalists are: Gerry Boyle, Random Act; Katherine Hall Page, The Body in the Wake; and Joseph Souza, Pray for the Girl.

The CWA have announced the longlist for the 2020 Margery Allingham Competition and will pare it down to the shortlist and the winner over the coming weeks. Their mission is to find the best unpublished short mystery, one that fits into legendary crime writer’s definition of what makes a great story: "The Mystery remains box-shaped, at once a prison and a refuge. Its four walls are, roughly, a Crime, a Mystery, an Enquiry and a Conclusion with an Element of Satisfaction in it."

Due to the pandemic this year, International Thriller Writers canceled the in-person ThrillerFest Conference at the Grand Hyatt in New York City, but they just announced there will be a virtual conference July 6 - July 14. Attendees will be treated to an outstanding array of guests and publishing professionals, including a Free Debut Authors' Presentation, Free ITW Author Videos, and a Free Awards Presentation. The usual Mega CraftFest, Master Class, Pitching Sessions, Consulting Sessions, and CareerFest will also all be offered this July. For more information and to register, follow this link.

The Scottish National Library is lifting the lid on a vast archive donated by crime author Ian Rankin. The collection, which fills 77 boxes in the National Library’s collection centre, includes an unpublished first novel by Rankin, original manuscripts, song lyrics, poems, and more. Highlights from the collection will be showcased in a major exhibition next year. One fun fact: the documents reveal Rankin considered killing his iconic Inspector Rebus in the very first novel.

It's Crime Reading Month in the UK, but it's also Crime Writing Month in Canada. Here's a list of 22 Canadian thrillers and mysteries to read to celebrate.

From the growing ranks of the literary fraud world, we recently learned that a French serial-killer expert whose books about murderers have sold millions, admits serial lies, including the murder of an imaginary wife.

Does lockdown provide the perfect conditions for a murder? Agatha Christie's biographer, Laura Thompson, weighs in.

TV often shows psychopaths as being violent and deadly; but you may have one living next door and never know.

Apparently, virtual murder-mystery dinners during lockdown are a thing.

The Page 69 test this week featured Kate White's Have You Seen Me: A Novel of Suspense.

The latest crime poem at the 5-2 Weekly is "Flawless Conviction" by William L. Domme.

In the Q&A roundup, Author Interviews chatted with Timothy Hallinan, who has been awarded the Lefty for Best Humorous Crime Novel and also nominated for the Edgar, the Macavity, the Nero, and the Shamus, about the ninth and final book in his Bangkok series, Street Music; the Irish Mirror spoke with Val McDermid on how observation is key to her success; Lesa's Book Critiques hosted Arthur Ellis Award winner, A.J. Devlin to chat about his new novel, Rolling Thunder; Abby L. Vandiver, writing as Abby Collette, discussed the first book in her new series, A Deadly Inside Scoop; and On the Bookshelf welcomed Hannah Mary McKinnon to talk about her new thriller, Sister Dear.