In Reference to Murder

Mystery Melange - Halloween Edition

Looking for some great mystery reads? Janet Rudolph has a running list of "Halloween Crime Fiction" over at the Mystery Fanfare blog (look for the latest edition soon), and CBC offers up "13 spine-tingling Canadian reads to check out for Halloween."

This year's virtual Bloody Scotland conference is in the record books, but you still have a chance to join in the fun. Most of the panels and interviews, which streamed live from September 18-20, are available on YouTube until October 30.

Publishers Weekly is already out with its "best books of 2020" list, including those in the Mystery/Thriller category. The titles include And Now She’s Gone by Rachel Howzell Hall, Black Sun Rising by Matthew Carr, The Cabinets of Barnaby Mayne by Elsa Hart, and ten others. You can check out the full listing here.

The annual Dead Good Books Reader Awards is on hiatus this year, but they asked readers to pick the 100 best crime and thriller books ever. From iconic classic mysteries to contemporary bestsellers, from Golden Age classics to modern detective novels and game-changing psychological thrillers, the list covers the gamut.

Meanwhile, the Goodreads Choice Awards are open for voting. The first round of the 12th annual Awards, which are decided by readers, runs now through November 8. Check out the 15 titles in the Best Mystery/Thriller category here and cast your vote for your favorite.

Suspense Magazine is also soliciting readers' favorite crime fiction books of the year as they begin the process of building the December "Best of" issue. Over the next two weeks, they'll be seeking readers to send a list of favorites for 2020 in various categories including Cozy, Thriller/Suspense, Debut Author, Romantic Suspense, Horror, Urban Fantasy/Paranormal, Historical Fiction, Anthology, YA/Teen, and True Crime. Votes should be returned to [email protected] by November 15th.

Congratulations to Mystery Lovers Bookshop in Oakmont, Pennsylvania, which is celebrating its 30th birthday this Saturday. The store noted that "This year has been trying for everyone, including retailers. When we temporarily closed our doors in March we did not know what would happen. However, with you all by our side, we have been able to reopen. We plan to be here another 30 years and continue to be a destination for book lovers." As part of the celebration, the store is hosting a Zoom event tonight at 7:30 with Richard Goldman, who founded the store with his late wife, Mary Alice Gorman. (Tara Goldberg-DeLeo and Kristy Bodnar bought the store in 2018). Register for the free event here. (HT to Shelf Awareness)

NPR's Scott Simon spoke with historian Elizabeth Bradley about the 200th anniversary of the publication of "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow," featuring Washington Irving's iconic headless horseman and Ichabod Crane.

Mysteryrat's Maze Podcast from King's River Life Magazine has a bonus episode up just for Halloween. The mystery short story with a supernatural twist, titled "The Takeover," is written by Kaye George and read by actor Ariel Linn.

Kings River Life Magazine also has some free seasonal stories for you, including "The Caldera: A Halloween Ghost Story," by Margaret Mendel and "Liver Man: A Halloween Mystery Short Story" by Ang Pompano, as well as reviews of a few other mystery titles.

Tales from a Moonlit Path's Halloween issue also has some spooky stories to keep you up at night.

The Mystery Lovers Kitchen authors are back with some Halloween suggestions, including Cleo Coyle's Virgin Candy Appletini; Krista Davis's "Spooky Fun with Fruit"; Maddie Day's "Soul Cakes"; Mary Jane Maffini's Homemade Pumpkin Peanut Butter Dog Biscuits; Daryl Wood Gerber's Halloween Ghost Cupcakes; Leslie Budewitz's Puff Pastry Rattlers; and Leslie Karst's Sauteed Pumpkin with Garlic and Mint.
 

The Rap Sheet blog has a listing of many of the crime fiction books being released from publishers this fall through December, in both the U.S. and the UK., which means (as editor Jeff Pierce notes in his apt headline) that if you're "Trapped Inside with Books? No Problem!"

Have you somehow never read any Agatha Christie novels or just don't know where to start? The New York Times has an overview with a promise that "whether you want to be scared, shocked or stumped, we will help you pick your poison."

Radio Dramas were king of the airwaves prior to the advent of television and CrimeReads offers up some good suggestions for the Halloween season that you find through streaming apps or on YouTube.

Inspired by The Great British Baking Show, Book Riot's Annika Barranti Klein noted that horror baking books are actually a thing, and she rounded up eighteen horror-themed baking books just in time for Halloween.

Just because the coronavirus pandemic is keeping you home this year doesn't mean you can't have a little Halloween spirit with some "Bookish Halloween Shirts."

The latest crime poem at the 5-2 Weekly is "What Do You Know About Love?" by Stephen J. Golds.

In the Q&A roundup, Jeffery Deaver spoke with The Guardian about the influence of Ian Fleming, learning from Saul Bellow, and crying over Annie Proulx; the Los Angeles Times interviewed Rachel Howzell Hall and Attica Locke about how crime writers of color reconcile their fictional good cops with reality (subscription required); and Deborah Kahl chatted with Nicci French (the pen name for the wife-and-husband writing team of journalists Nicci Gerrard and Sean French) about their new novel, House of Correction.

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

Derek Kolstad, creator of the John Wick franchise, is teaming up with Swiss producer-distributor, Ascot Elite Entertainment, director Claudio Faeh, and producer Christopher Milburn on the action-thriller, Acolyte. The project centers on a rogue government agency that’s using blackmail to coerce everyday citizens into committing acts of domestic terror. The agency mistakenly kidnaps the wife of a retired operative who responds by recruiting a disbanded group of trained "associates" to exact revenge and rescue his wife. Casting is underway in London, and Ascot Elite is aiming for the film to become the first in a series of related features.

Taylor Kitsch has been set as the new male lead in Wash Me in the River, after Colson "Machine Gun Kelly" Baker dropped out due to scheduling. Kitsch joins Robert De Niro and John Malkovich in the drama that will be directed by Randall Emmett. The action-thriller, which shoots early next month in Georgia and Puerto Rico, is said to be in the vein of No Country for Old Men. Kitsch will play a recovering addict who starts a violent vendetta against the dealers responsible for selling the drugs that resulted in his fiancée’s death.

Aaron Taylor-Johnson is set to join the ensemble cast of the Sony action-thriller, Bullet Train, also starring Brad Pitt and the recently added Joey King and Andrew Koji. The film is based on the Japanese novel, Maria Beetle, by best-selling author Kotaro Isaka. Plot details are vague though Taylor-Johnson is expected to play one of the four assassins in the film along with Pitt and King.

Toby Huss has joined the action-thriller, CopShop, in a supporting role. Gerard Butler, Frank Grillo, and Alexis Louder lead the cast in the film, which is being written and directed by Joe Carnahan. The plot centers on a small-town police station that becomes the unlikely battleground between a professional hitman (Butler), a smart rookie female cop (Louder), and a double-crossing con man (Grillo) who, with no place left to run, seeks refuge behind bars.

Sony has given a new release date (November 20) and released a trailer for the crime drama, The Last Vermeer. Based on the book, The Man Who Made Vermeers, by Jonathan Lopez, the story follows Joseph Piller (played by Claes Bang), a Dutch Jew who fought in the Resistance during the Second World War. Following the war, Piller becomes an investigator assigned the task of identifying and redistributing stolen art. He zeroes in on the flamboyant Han van Meegeren (Guy Pearce) who hosted hedonistic soirées and allegedly sold Dutch art treasures to Hermann Goring and other top Nazis. Van Meegeren is arrested for collaboration, punishable by death, but, despite mounting evidence, Piller, with the aid of his assistant (Vicky Krieps), becomes increasingly convinced of Han’s innocence and finds himself in the unlikely position of fighting to save his life.

The first trailer was released for Dreamland, the Margot Robbie-led story of a fugitive bank robber during the Great Depression. Finn Cole (Peaky Blinders) also stars, playing a young man who dreams of escaping his small Texas town. When he encounters Robbie’s character, wounded and on the run, he is torn between claiming her bounty and his growing attraction to her. Vertical Entertainment will release the film in more than 100 theaters beginning November 13 before the film heads to video-on-demand starting November 17.


TELEVISION/STREAMING SERVICES

Dick Wolf’s groundbreaking 1990s cop drama, New York Undercover, is making a return. NBCUniversal’s streaming platform, Peacock, is in negotiations for a new incarnation of the project, which is expected to receive a series commitment. Written by Ayanna Floyd Davis, the new project is described as a re-examination of the original, reflecting the current times, and will pick up twenty years later. The original 1994 program starred Malik Yoba and Michael DeLorenzo as undercover detectives, marking the first police drama on U.S. television to feature two people of color in the lead roles. The reimagining is still in very early stages, and it's not known whether it would feature characters from the original series.

Jake Gyllenhaal will star in and executive produce the HBO crime series, The Son. Based on Jo Nesbø’s novel of the same name, the story follows an electrifying tale of vengeance set amid Oslo’s brutal hierarchy of corruption. Denis Villeneuve will direct, and writer Lenore Zion will serve as showrunner. (Nesbø himself will also serve as one of the executive producers.)

Actor Bertie Carvel (Dr. Foster) will take the lead in a six-episode UK series based on P.D. James’s stories featuring Detective Chief Inspector Adam Dalgliesh. The series will trace Dalgliesh’s crime-fighting career from 1970s England to the present day, with each story featuring him solving an unusual murder. Each case will offer its own unique setting and guest cast. The new series, titled Dalgliesh, will include adaptations of Shroud for a Nightingale, featuring the murder of a student nurse; Dorset-set The Black Tower, an investigation into a strange home for the disabled; and A Taste for Death, in which a homeless pensioner and a Minister of the Crown are found dead in a church. Roy Marsden played Dalgliesh across several series in the 1980s and 1990s.

David Gordon Green is developing a series adaptation of Smokey and the Bandit for the NBC-affiliated production company, UCP. The project, based on the 1977 film starring Burt Reynolds and Sally Field, is described as "an epic adventure of family, small-town crime, unlikely heroes, legend and legacy. Inspired by the genre of 70s and 80s drive-in double-features, the series explores the crossroads where humble realities meet those larger-than-life, all in a blast of tailpipe exhaust." Green will direct the pilot and co-write with Brian Sides, while Seth MacFarlane and Erica Huggins of Fuzzy Door will executive produce.

The short-form streaming series, Quibi, is shutting down as of December 1 after less than a year in operation. Launched in April in the early weeks of pandemic shutdowns, the subscription service targeting teenagers and young adults never gained any traction for shows told in under-10-minute "quick bites" meant to be consumed on smartphones — despite the involvement of big stars like Kevin Hart, Anna Kendrick, and Liam Hemsworth. The service raised nearly $2 billion and included such programs as the thrillers, Most Dangerous Game, Survive, The Fugitive, and Wireless; the crime drama, #FreeRayshawn; and the psychological thriller, The Stranger.

Netflix has put a third season of Mindhunter on "indefinite hold." Created by Joe Penhall, Mindhunter is based on the true-crime book Mindhunter: Inside the FBI’s Elite Serial Crime Unit, written by John E. Douglas and Mark Olshaker, and stars Jonathan Groff, Holt McCallany, and Anna Torv.

James Cusati-Moyer has booked a recurring role on Netflix’s upcoming limited series, Inventing Anna. The ten-episode series from Scandal creator, Shonda Rhimes, adapts the New York Magazine article by Jessica Pressler about Anna Sorokin, a.k.a. Anna Delvey, the 28-year-old who faked being a German heiress to swindle New York elite out of more than $200,000. Cusati-Moyer will play Val, a stylist and fashion director who experiences firsthand the whiplash of a whirlwind friendship with Anna.

Maura Tierney (The Affair) is set to recur on Showtime's Your Honor, the limited legal drama. Bryan Cranston stars as Michael Desiato, a respected judge whose son is involved in a hit-and-run in New Orleans that leads to a high-stakes game of lies, deceit, and impossible choices. Tierney plays Fiona McKee, a fearless prosecutor trying a major case in Desiato’s courtroom in four episodes of the show.

A trailer has been released for The Flight Attendant, based on Chris Bohjalian's novel. HBO Max will premiere the eight-episode limited series, starring and produced by Kaley Cuoco (The Big Bang Theory), November 26. The cast also includes Michiel Huisman, Rosie Perez, Zosia Mamet, Michelle Gomez, T.R. Knight, and Colin Woode.

PODCASTS/VIDEO/RADIO/AUDIO

Read or Dead hosts, Katie McClean Horner and Rincey Abraham, mourned the ending of The President is Missing adaptation, celebrated some revivals and reboots, and talked about their love of audiobooks.

Debbi Mack interviewed crime and suspense writer, A.C. Frieden, on the Crime Cafe podcast. A native of Switzerland, he's earned undergraduate and graduate degrees in molecular biology, two law degrees, and got his pilot's certificate and scuba instructor license.

A new Mysteryrat's Maze Podcast is up featuring part of the first chapter of the Halloween-appropriate, Lipstick, Lies & Dead Guys by Jennifer Fischetto, as read by actor Teya Juarez.

The latest edition of Criminal Mischief: The Art and Science of Crime Fiction, hosted by Dr. DP Lyle, tackled the subject of "Nasty Deadly Poisons."

Suspense Radio spoke with John Gilstrap about book twelve in the Jonathan Grave series, Hellfire.

Meet the Thriller Author welcomed Rick Mofina, a former journalist who has interviewed murderers on death row, flown over Los Angeles with the LAPD and patrolled with the Royal Canadian Mounted Police near the Arctic. Rick’s novel, Missing Daughter, just won the 2020 Barry Award for Best Paperback Original Mystery/Crime Novel.

The Gay Mystery Podcast's featured guest was Frank W. Butterfield, the Amazon best-selling author of over sixty novels, novellas, and short stories, including the Nick Williams Mystery Series.

Wrong Place, Write Crime host, Frank Zafiro, spoke with Beau Johnson about his short story collection, All of Them to Burn.

The Tartan Noir Show's guest this week was Graeme Macrae Burnet, whose second novel, His Bloody Project, was shorted-listed for the Booker Prize.

Writer's Detective Bureau host, veteran Police Detective Adam Richardson, answered questions about running partial license plates; manner/cause/mechanism of death; and using the Peter Principle in your character creation.

It Was a Dark and Stormy Book Club chatted with Michelle Cox, author of the multiple award-winning Henrietta and Inspector Howard series as well as "Novel Notes of Local Lore," a weekly blog dedicated to Chicago's forgotten residents.

Quote of the Week

Dagger Delights

This Crime Writers' Association's Dagger Awards, which celebrate the best in crime writing, were announced during a live virtual ceremony yesterday, hosted by writer and critic Barry Forshaw, and featuring Richard Osman. You can see all the winners below (click on the image to make it larger) and also check out the finalists via this link:

FFB: Good Cop, Bad Cop

Barbara D'Amato is the author of two Chicago-based series, one with freelance reporter, Cat Marsala, and the other being what she calls her "Chicago police series." The second title in the latter group was 1998's Good Cop, Bad Cop, based on the real-life notorious 1969 Chicago police raid on the Black Panthers, which killed Fred Hampton. D'Amato uses that as a jumping off point to tell a modern-day Cain and Abel story, featuring two sons of a bullying cop father:  Nick Bertolucci, who was part of the Black Panther raid and years later is now Chicago's superintendent of police, and his brother Aldo, the "bad cop" who hates his brother enough to try and sabotage his career after finding evidence that links Nick to one of the deaths in the assault. D'Amato throws in an interesting cast of supporting characters, including Suze Figueroa, the detective who's brought back from D'Amato's first Chicago Police Series novel, Killer.App (1996).

D'Amato has prided herself on her research, spending time with cops and walking her mysteries through Chicago's neighborhoods to figure out the timing of crimes. Although she says her favorite author is Agatha Christie ("no wasted words, and plots like steel traps"), she uses a punchy, staccato style better suited to the gritty day-to-day details from cops on the beat, and ratchets up the page-turning quotient with short sentences, paragraphs and chapters. She even adds some dark humor into the mix—not surprising she's worked as carpenter for stage magic illusions, assistant tiger handler, and written musical comedies—as with this scene after a body is found on the rail tracks:

 

Fiddleman got up the el stairs faster than Reilly, who was a fat, pink-colored white man of forty-five.

Fiddleman approached the stock-still el train, on which a few dazed night workers sat. He guessed there were maybe six people on the train, at what was now 1:17.

Three of the passengers, as well as the train's engineer, had got out. A middle-aged man in a camel hair jacket was throwing up at the far end of the station, which was only fifteen feet away, not nearly far enough.

An elderly woman, easily seventy-five, wearing carpet slippers with slits cut for her corns despite the cold weather, was looking down at the tracks. Fiddleman was about to take her gently by the shoulders and move her away from the horrible scene when she said, "Christ, and I just had liver for dinner."

Fiddleman hoped she was speaking from some sort of civilian shock. Then he thought in an instant's flash of remorse, who do I know what sort of life she's had, she's here on the el at this hour, this weather? At her age.

Then he looked down at the track and understood what she meant.

When asked once what Chicago has to offer mystery writers, she replied, "Chicago has absolutely everything. It's a beautiful city. It has architecture you'll never see anywhere else. And it has a lot of places to hide. There are a lot of old tunnels in Chicago—there are old freight tunnels, abandoned subway tunnels. You can hide here. You can also blend in. Chicago has every ethnic neighborhood known to man. There are so many neighborhoods where you can blend in, depending on how you dress."

Good Cop Bad Cop won the 1998 Carl Sandburg Award for Excellence in Fiction and the Readers Choice Award Lovey Award at the 1999 Love is Murder Conference. D'Amato is also is a past president of the Mystery Writers of America and of Sisters in Crime International.

Mystery Melange

The finalists for the An Post Irish Book Awards were announced this week. Readers and fans will be able to vote online for their favorites through November 16, with the category winners to be announced in a virtual awards ceremony on November 25th. Those vying for Best Crime Fiction include The Nothing Man by Catherine Ryan Howard; The Cutting Place by Jane Casey; Our Little Cruelties by Liz Nugent; After the Silence by Louise O'Neill; The Guest List by Lucy Foley; and Fifty Fifty by Steve Cavanagh.

Crime fiction authors Hank Phillippi Ryan and Karen Dionne are hosting a project called The Back Room, a series of online events that start with a short introduction to a panel of 4 authors. The audience is then divided into 4 breakout rooms where they remain for the rest of the program while the authors visit each room in turn. Everyone’s video is turned on and their mics are unmuted, allowing for informal, face-to-face discussion. The next event is October 29, 7 PM ET, with guest authors Brian Andrews, William Kent Krueger, Paula Munier, and Julia Spencer-Fleming.

Penguin Random House has announced its new partnership with PEN America, Out Of Print, and When We All Vote for a collaborative effort called Book the Vote, a joint effort to "help you feel empowered, get active, and make your voice heard." The site includes videos, featured topical books, and merchandise, with a portion of sales donated to PEN America and their Free Speech 2020 campaign.

The NYT featured an article on how indie bookstores are faring during the pandemic, and it isn't all that great. According to the American Booksellers Association, more than one independent bookstore has closed each week since the pandemic began. Many of those still standing are staring down the crucial holiday season and seeing a toxic mix of higher expenses, lower sales and enormous uncertainty. This is why it's important to remember to shop your local indie stores, many of which have online sales, curbside pickup, and even delivery in some areas. Or you can shop via BookShop for ebooks and prints and Libro.Fm for audiobooks, both of which share profits with local bookstores.

Sad news this week: Jill Paton Walsh passed away at the age of 83. Jill was an accomplished author in several fields, including her short series of novels set in Cambridge and featuring Imogen Quy. She also was tasked with completing the unfinished Dorothy L. Sayers novel, Thrones, Dominations, and went on to publish three more books featuring Sayers's iconic Lord Peter Wimsey. (HT to Martin Edwards)

Little, Brown has made changes to its Jimmy Patterson Books imprint, the children’s publishing unit created by the company and mega-selling author James Patterson five years ago. Under the reorganization, the imprint will focus almost exclusively on publishing Patterson’s children’s books as well as looking for collaborations and partnerships. No new outside authors will be acquired for the imprint.

Last week, I mentioned the auction of some of Otto Penzler's collection of rare crime fiction titles, and apparently it was a successful venture. Sales of those books helped push Heritage Auctions’ event past $2.2 million. A couple of the standouts included an inscribed first edition of Earl Derr Biggers' 1925 The House Without a Key – the very first entry in the Charlie Chan mystery series – which brought in $50,000, more than 12 times its pre-auction estimate; and signed first editions of Ellery Queen and Rex Stout mysteries that also brought in multiple times their original estimates. If you missed your chance, even more books from Penzler’s shelves will be made available during three online sessions to be held Dec. 5-7, including many titles seldom seen at auction.

In 1847, a financially struggling Edgar Allan Poe wrote a letter to former Philadelphia mayor, dramatist, magazine editor, and lawyer Robert Taylor Conrad asking for $40. The missive, noted as one of the highest quality Poe letters to-date, recently sold at an online auction for more than $125,000.

An arrest has been made in the stabbing death ten years ago of bookseller Sherry Black, owner of B&W Billiards & Books in South Salt Lake City, Utah. Deseret News reported that Adam Antonio Spencer Durborow was arrested Saturday for investigation of aggravated murder and aggravated burglary, but local police "have released few other details about what led them to Durborow or how they were able to crack the high-profile, decade-old cold case." That being said, in 2017, on the seventh anniversary of Black’s death, police announced they had put the DNA through a phenotyping process. Phenotyping predicts a person’s physical appearance and ancestry using genetic codes.

In another real-life mystery that is over a century old, seventy-two human bones uncovered in 2016 in an Ohio home have now been identified as belonging to Hallie Armstrong, an 18-year-old schoolteacher who died in 1881. Although the local police ruled out homicide, another mystery lingers: who really was Hallie Armstrong and how did her remains end up in a barn in New London, a hundred years after her death?

A new set of assessment tools shows promise in capturing how the COVID-19 pandemic affects patterns of criminal activity. Previous research has demonstrated how crime patterns can be affected by regular seasonal factors, such as holidays and hours of darkness. However, few studies have investigated how crime within a community responds to exceptional events that can significantly disrupt everyday life, such as natural disasters, terrorist attacks, the Olympics, or the COVID-19 pandemic. Preliminary evidence has linked the pandemic to increased rates of domestic violence and steep declines in other forms of crime.

The latest crime poem at the 5-2 Weekly is "Policing" by Linda Lerner.

In the Q&A roundup, the creators of the Unlikeable Female Characters Podcast, Wendy Heard and Layne Fargo, discussed the tricky business of fictional murder; Mark Pryor chatted with The Mystery People about the latest Hugo Marston novel, The French Widow; Lisa Haselton spoke with thriller author, John Casey, about his psychological spy thriller trilogy, Devolution, Evolution, and Revelation; Cathi Unsworth stopped by the CrimeTime blog to talk about the re-release of Bad Penny Blues, a fictionalized investigation into the Jack the Stripper murders (1960s London’s biggest unsolved case); and Author Interviews welcomed Antony Johnston, award-winning graphic novelist, author, and games writer, whose graphic spy thriller, The Coldest City, was made into the multi-million-dollar blockbuster, Atomic Blonde, starring Charlize Theron, and James McAvoy.

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

After years in development, a movie (still untitled) based on the '80s male strip club Chippendales scandal is getting closer to the big-screen treatment, with Craig Gillespie hired to direct and Dev Patel to star. The "American Dream gone wrong story" follows Steve Banerjee (Patel), who emigrated from India to Playa del Rey to chase the dream of fame and fortune, eventually presiding over a flesh empire including male exotic dancers that earned $8 million a year. Banerjee was later charged with plotting to murder former Chippendales dancers and choreographers he saw as business rivals and eventually pleaded guilty to attempted arson, racketeering, and murder for hire.

An inaugural screenwriting lab co-founded by Margot Robbie, designed to help women writers break into the action and franchise film market, has seen a stunning 100% sales return on six original pitches. Each of the six women writers marked their first major sale following the workshop, all in the action or genre arena and all with commitments for distribution. Projects include Sue Chung's Sanctuary, which has been acquired for distribution by Universal, a gritty action thriller with an immigration story at the center; Charmaine DeGraté's Protégé, a lethal spy games ensemble thriller; and Maria Sten's Legacy, a high-concept heist drama set in the criminal underbelly of New Orleans (which is being developed as a TV series).

Mindy Kaling, Sir Ben Kingsley, and Lucy Boynton have been added to the already-strong cast of Lockdown, the Doug Liman-directed heist thriller/romantic comedy scripted by Steven Knight. They join Anne Hathaway, Chewitel Eijofor, Ben Stiller, Stephen Merchant, Dulee Hill, Jazmyn Simons, and Mark Gatiss. Hathaway and Ejiofor play a sparring couple who call a truce to attempt a high-risk, high-stakes jewelry heist at one of the world’s most exclusive department stores, Harrods (and the iconic London landmark even granted its glamorous backdrop to the shoot).

Following stiff situation, The Safran Company and Hera Pictures have won the film and TV rights to a book about a notorious gang of female thieves who plied their trade on the streets of south London. Brian McDonald’s true crime story, Alice Diamond And The Forty Elephants, examines the travails of Alice Diamond’s all-female crime syndicate, based in the Elephant and Castle region of Britain’s capital city in the 1900s.

A trailer was released for I’m Your Woman, starring Rachel Brosnahan as a mom who finds herself on the lam, which will open the virtual AFI Fest October 22. The story follows suburban housewife Jean (Brosnahan) who lives a seemingly easy life, supported by husband Eddie’s (Bill Heck) career as a thief. But when Eddie betrays his partners, Jean and her baby are forced to go on the run, and Eddie’s old friend Cal (Arinzé Kene) is tasked with the job of keeping them safe. After Cal mysteriously disappears, Jean befriends Teri (Marsha Stephanie Blake), and the two women set out on a perilous journey into the heart of Eddie’s criminal underworld.


TELEVISION/STREAMING SERVICES

Tomorrow Studios, the producer behind apocalyptic drama Snowpiercer, is working on a television adaptation of Dean Koontz’s latest thriller novel, Devoted. The book, which was published by Amazon Publishing in March 2020, tells the story of Woody Bookman, a boy who hasn’t spoken a word in his eleven years of life, and who believes a monstrous evil was behind his father’s death and now threatens him and his mother.

NBC has put in development Always Wright, a drama from For Life executive producer Sonay Hoffman and Sony Pictures TV. Written by Hoffman, Always Wright is set in Los Angeles and revolves around a young, wealthy, and jet-setting African-American couple who solve mysteries, run their own successful empires, and are completely head-over-heels in love with each other.

Amazon has ordered an adaptation based on the Italian original, Everybody Loves Diamonds, a heist series with a comedic twist. The project is inspired by the 2003 real-life "Antwerp Diamond Heist," and will follow a team of small-time Italian thieves who manage to deceive top-level security to steal millions of dollars’ worth of precious stones from the Antwerp Diamond Centre. Stefano Bises (Gomorrah), Michele Astori (The Mafia Only Kills In Summer), Giulio Carrieri, and Bernardo Pellegrini are writing the scripts, with Mario Gianani and Lorenzo Gangarossa producing for Wildside Studios.

After a sojourn in the Pacific Northwest, serial killer Dexter is headed back to Showtime. The premium cable outlet has ordered a 10-episode Dexter limited series that will reunite star Michael C. Hall and original showrunner Clyde Phillips. The show will be a continuation of the original, eight-season series, which ended in 2013 with Hall's Dexter Morgan going on self-imposed exile as a lumberjack and living a solitary life. Production is scheduled to begin early next year for a planned fall 2021 premiere.

NCIS fans can rejoice now that CBS has announced the premiere date for Season 18. The network has slotted the opening episode on Tuesday, Nov. 17, with the milestone 400th episode (which is said to tell the origin story of how Gibbs and Ducky became such great friends and partners) airing not long after the Season 18 premiere.

Showtime is no longer making its drama pilot, The President Is Missing, an adaptation of the novel by President Bill Clinton and James Patterson, from Christopher McQuarrie and Anthony Peckham. The network had ordered the project to pilot, which was fully cast and ready to go when the coronavirus pandemic halted all production in mid-March. In light of the uncertainty surrounding production amid the pandemic, Showtime has opted not to move forward with the pilot.

Spectrum has canceled LA’s Finest after two seasons. A spinoff of the Bad Boys film series, L.A.’s Finest featured Gabrielle Union reprising her role as Syd Burnett from 2003’s Bad Boys II. Now an LAPD detective, Syd is paired with a new partner, Nancy McKenna (Jessica Alba). The show’s second season was originally scheduled to premiere in June, but Spectrum postponed that to September in response to the wave of protests that erupted nationwide in response to the murder of George Floyd at the hands of a Minneapolis police officer on Memorial Day.


PODCASTS/VIDEO/RADIO/AUDIO

Writer Types welcomed three doctor-authors, Dr. Ian K Smith, Dr. Joel Shulkin, and Dr. John Bishop, to talk about their latest novels, and also had a fall book preview featuring recommended books coming out later this year.

My Favorite Detective Stories host, John Hoda, chatted with Stephanie Kane, a lawyer and martial arts enthusiast, about her award-winning crime novels.

The special guest on Suspense Radio was Ruth Ware, the international bestselling author of In a Dark, Dark Wood, The Woman in Cabin 10, The Lying Game, The Death of Mrs Westaway, and The Turn of the Key.

Kim Johnson stopped by the Crime Writers of Color podcast. Kim is the author of This is My America, her debut novel that explores racial injustice against innocent Black men and the families left behind to pick up the pieces.

The Gay Mystery Podcast welcomed Paris-based Dieter Moitzi, book reviewer and author of two short-story collections, three poetry collections, and two murder mystery novels in French, German, and English, the first of which won the French Gay Crime Fiction Award 2019.

Meet the Thriller Author spoke with Noelle Holten, an award-winning blogger at Crime Book Junkie, a PR & Social Media Manager for Bookouture (a leading digital publisher in the UK), and former Senior Probation Officer for eighteen years. Her debut novel is Dead Inside, the start of a new series featuring DC Maggie Jamieson.

The Tartan Noir Show welcomed Susi Holliday, "The Twisted Sister of the Psychological Thriller."

Wrong Place, Write Crime snagged Eric Van Lustbader to chat about his Nicholas Linnear series (The Ninja, etc.), his many Bourne continuation novels, his new novel, The Nemesis Manifesto (launching a new series), the movie biz, the publishing biz, Japanese wood blocks, graphic novels, and his time in music journalism and working for Elektra Records.

Writers Detective Bureau host, veteran Police Detective Adam Richardson, answered questions about how police would handle a missing persons investigation during a blizzard with a serial killer on the loose; NTSB investigations and the use of Rapid DNA; and conducting sexual assault investigations.

Brian Freeman, a New York Times bestselling author of psychological thrillers including the Jonathan Stride and Frost Easton series, was the latest guest on It Was a Dark and Stormy Book Club.

Anthony Admiration

In addition to the Barry Awards and Macavity Awards, this weekend's virtual Bouchercon Conference also saw the announcement of the winners of the annual Anthony Awards, named for Anthony Boucher (1911–1968), American author, critic, editor, and one of the founders of the Mystery Writers of America. The 2020 honorees include:

Best Novel: The Murder List, by Hank Phillippi Ryan (Forge)

Also nominated: Your House Will Pay, by Steph Cha (Ecco); They All Fall Down, by Rachel Howzell Hall (Forge); Lady in the Lake, by Laura Lippman (Morrow); and Miami Midnight, by Alex Segura (Polis)

Best First Novel: One Night Gone, by Tara Laskowski (Graydon House)

Also nominated: The Ninja Daughter, by Tori Eldridge (Agora); Miracle Creek, by Angie Kim (Sarah Crichton); Three-Fifths, by John Vercher (Agora); and American Spy, by Lauren Wilkinson (Random House)

Best Paperback Original: The Alchemist’s Illusion, by Gigi Pandian (Midnight Ink)

Also nominated: The Unrepentant, by E.A. Aymar (Down & Out); Murder Knocks Twice, by Susanna Calkins (Minotaur); The Pearl Dagger, by L.A. Chandlar (Kensington); Scot & Soda, by Catriona McPherson (Midnight Ink); Drowned Under, by Wendall Thomas (Poisoned Pen Press); and The Naming Game, by Gabriel Valjan (Winter Goose Press)

Best Critical Non-fiction Work: The Mutual Admiration Society: How Dorothy L. Sayers and her Oxford Circle Remade the World for Women, by Mo Moulton (Basic)

Also nominated: Hitchcock and the Censors, by John Billheimer (University Press of Kentucky); The Hooded Gunman: An Illustrated History of the Collins Crime Club, by John Curran (Collins Crime Club); The Trail of Lizzie Borden: A True Story, by Cara Robertson (Simon & Schuster); and The Five: The Untold Stories of the Women Killed by Jack the Ripper, by Hallie Rubenhold (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt)

Best Short Story: "The Red Zone," by Alex Segura (from ¡Pa’que Tu Lo Sepas!: Stories to Benefit the People of Puerto Rico, edited by Angel Luis Colón; Down & Out)

Also nominated: "Turistas," by Hector Acosta (from ¡Pa’que Tu Lo Sepas!); "Unforgiven," by Hilary Davidson (from Murder a-Go-Go’s: Crime Fiction Inspired by the Music of the Go-Go’s, edited by Holly West; Down & Out); "Better Days," by Art Taylor (Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine, May/June 2019); and "Hard Return," by Art Taylor (from Crime Travel, edited by Barb Goffman; Wildside Press)

Best Anthology or Collection: Malice Domestic 14: Mystery Most Edible, edited by Verena Rose, Rita Owen, and Shawn Reilly Simmons (Wildside Press)

Also nominated: The Eyes of Texas: Private Eyes from the Panhandle to the Piney Woods, edited by Michael Bracken (Down & Out); ¡Pa’que Tu Lo Sepas!: Stories to Benefit the People of Puerto Rico, edited by Angel Luis Colón (Down & Out); Crime Travel, edited by Barb Goffman (Wildside Press); and Murder A-Go-Go’s: Crime Fiction Inspired by the Music of the Go-Go’s, edited by Holly West (Down & Out)

Best Young Adult: Seven Ways to Get Rid of Harry, by Jen Conley (Down & Out)

Also nominated: Catfishing on CatNet, by Naomi Kritzer (Tor Teen); Killing November, by Adriana Mather (Knopf Books for Young Readers); Patron Saints of Nothing, by Randy Ribay (Kokila); The Deceivers, by Kristen Simmons (Tor Teen); and Wild and Crooked, by Leah Thomas (Bloomsbury YA)

The Barry Best

Deadly Pleasures Mystery Magazine announced the winners of this year’s Barry Awards during the Virtual Bouchercon World Mystery Convention this weekend. The awards are named for fan reviewer Barry Gardner and honor the best works being published in the field of crime fiction each year. The 2020 winners include:

Best Mystery/Crime Novel: The Lost Man, by Jane Harper (Flatiron)

Also nominated: If She Wakes, by Michael Koryta (Little, Brown); Metropolis, by Philip Kerr (Putnam); The Border, by Don Winslow (HarperCollins); Your House Will Pay, by Steph Cha (Ecco); and Thirteen, by Steve Cavanagh (Flatiron)

Best First Mystery/Crime Novel: The Chestnut Man, by Søren Sveistrup (Harper)

Also nominated: The Silent Patient, by Alex Michaelides (Celadon); American Spy, by Lauren Wilkinson (Random House); Save Me from Dangerous Men, by S.A. Lelchuk (Flatiron); Scrublands, Chris Hammer (Atria); and To the Lions, by Holly Watt (Dutton)

Best Paperback Original Mystery/Crime Novel: Missing Daughter, by Rick Mofina (Mira)

Also nominated: The Godmother, by Hannelore Cayre (ECW); Winner Kills All, by R.J. Bailey (Simon & Schuster UK); Killing Quarry, by Max Allan Collins (Hard Case Crime); Fate, by Ian Hamilton (Spiderline); and No Good Deed, by James Swain (Thomas & Mercer)

Best Thriller: The Chain, by Adrian McKinty (Mulholland)

Also nominated: Mission Critical, by Mark Greaney (Berkley); Backlash, by Brad Thor (Atria/Emily Bester); The Burglar, by Thomas Perry (Mysterious Press); True Believer, by Jack Carr (Atria/Emily Bester); and White Hot Silence, by Henry Porter (Mysterious Press)

Best Mystery/Crime Novel of the Decade: Suspect, by Robert Crais (Putnam)

Also nominated: Gone Girl, by Gillian Flynn (Crown); November Road, by Lou Berney (Morrow); The Dry, by Jane Harper (Flatiron); The Blackhouse, by Peter May (Quercus); and The Cartel, by Don Winslow (Knopf)

(HT to The Rap Sheet)

Macavity Magic

The Macavity Awards were handed out at the opening ceremonies of this year's virtual Bouchercon Conference. The awards are named for the "mystery cat" of T.S. Eliot (from Old Possum’s Book of Practical Cats). Each year the members of Mystery Readers International nominate and vote for their favorite mysteries in five categories. The 2020's honorees include:

Best Mystery Novel: Adrian McKinty: The Chain (Mulholland)

Also nominated:  Steph Cha: Your House Will Pay (Ecco); William Kent Krueger: This Tender Land (Atria); Laura Lippman: Lady in the Lake (Wm. Morrow); Hank Philippi Ryan: The Murder List (Forge); James Sallis: Sarah Jane (Soho Crime);

Best First Mystery: Tara Laskowski: One Night Gone (Graydon House);

Also nominated: Tori Eldridge: The Ninja Daughter (Agora Books); Samantha Downing: My Lovely Wife (Penguin); Angie Kim: Miracle Creek (Sarah Crichton Books); J.P. Pomare: Call Me Evie (G.P. Putnam’s Sons); Lauren Wilkinson: American Spy (Random House)

Best Mystery Short Story: Art Taylor: “Better Days” (EQMM, May/June 2019)

Also nominated: Michael Chandos: “West Texas Barbecue” (The Eyes of Texas, edited by Michael Bracken—Down & Out Books); Barb Goffman: “Alex’s Choice” (Crime Travel, edited by Barb Goffman—Wildside Press); Terence Faherty: “The Cardboard Box” (Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine, Jan/Feb 2019); G.M. Malliet: “Whiteout” (EQMM, Jan/Feb 2019); Dave Zeltserman: “Brother’s Keeper” (EQMM, May/June 2019)

Best Mystery Nonfiction/Critical: John Billheimer: Hitchcock and the Censors (University Press of Kentucky)

Also nominated: Laird R. Blackwell: Frederic Dannay, Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine and the Art of the Detective Short Story (McFarland); Ursula Buchan: Beyond the Thirty-Nine Steps: A Life of John Buchan (Bloomsbury); Peter Houlahan: Norco ’80: The True Story of the Most Spectacular Bank Robbery in American History (Counterpoint); Mo Moulton: The Mutual Admiration; Society: How Dorothy L. Sayers and Her Oxford Circle Remade the World for Women (Basic Books); James Polchin: Indecent Advances: A Hidden History of True Crime and Prejudice Before Stonewall (Counterpoint Press)

Sue Feder Memorial Award for Best Historical Mystery: Lara Prescott: The Secrets We Kept (Vintage)

Also nominated: Susanna Calkins: Murder Knocks Twice (Minotaur); L.A. Chandlar: The Pearl Dagger (Kensington); Dianne Freeman: A Lady’s Guide to Gossip and Murder (Kensington); Sujata Massey: The Satapur Moonstone (Soho Crime); Edith Maxwell: Charity’s Burden (Midnight Ink)

(Ht to The Mystery Fanfare blog)