In Reference to Murder

Quote of the Week

FFB: The House at Balnesmoor, a/k/a A Few Small Bones

Scottish writer Hugh C(rauford) Rae was born in 1935 (d. 2014) and brought up in Glasgow, where he spent fourteen years working in a bookshop before turning to writing books rather than selling them. Between 1965 and 1992, he published over seventy novels in various genres under several pseudonyms, including Robert Crawford, James Albany, R B Houston, Stuart Stern (with S. Ungar), and Jessica Stirling (with Margaret M. Coghlan). He also served as past president of the Scottish Association of Writers.

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

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

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

Mystery Melange

On February 8, the Dallas Museum of Art will be hosting a virtual event with Walter Mosley in connection with his new novel, Blood Grove, the latest Easy Rawlins installment set among the sun-soaked streets of Southern California.

On Friday, March 5, NoirCon and The Projection Booth Podcast are teaming up to celebrate the birthday of noir icon David Goodis with a virtual watch party, celebrating the cinematic legacy of Goodis with a selection of films adapted from his books (and maybe a few TV shows, too).

On Tuesday, March 9, New York Times bestselling and award-winning author, C.J. Box, heads to The Music Hall Loft's virtual stage as part of the Writers on in The Loft series, now being presented in an intimate, online format. Box will discuss his new mystery novel, Dark Sky, the latest adventure for Wyoming game warden, Joe Pickett.

As part of the virtual SleuthFest conference this year, there will be a Noir at the Bar on March 19. Co-hosts E.A. Aymar and Raquel V. Reyes will be joined by authors JD Allen, Kellye Garrett, Catriona McPherson, and Alex Segura who will share readings from their works.

As we celebrate the 100th anniversary of the birth of Patricia Highsmith at 100 (1921-1995), several essays and articles have been pouring in, including Crime Reads's look at Highsmith and the women who inspired The Talented Mr. Ripley; LitHub's take on Patricia Highsmith’s confessions and rebellions at Yaddo, the legendary writers' retreat; and Bookmarks' study of classic and contemporary reviews of five iconic thrillers by Highsmith. The Guardian had three different articles, the first on the author's "twisted brilliance," the second on the best film adaptations of Highsmith's works, and the third, a review of the new biography, Devils, Lusts and Strange Desires: The Life of Patricia Highsmith, by Richard Bradford.

Do you know what really happens inside a crime lab? In "Blood, Powder, and Residue," Beth A. Bechky offers an ethnography of the world of criminalists, who sort through the evidence from crime scenes.

Author Jeannie Mobley took the "Page 69 Test" for her novel, The Jewel Thief, which centers on the only daughter of the King's crown jeweler, Juliette, who is accused by Louis XIV of stealing his most precious diamond, the large blue stone known as The French Blue.

Kings River Life Magazine featured "Crime writers of color coming attractions," a list of new releases from January through March.

America Reads profiled "Top 10 Female Assassin Books," while Book Riot compiled a list of "15 of the best feminist mystery novels."

Several bloggers are participating in "Short Story Wednesday"; this week, they include Jerry House's take on "The Red Face of Feerish Ali" by James Francis Dwyer (from Collier's, March 9, 1912; and Patti Abbott's feature of "A Short Guide to the City" by Peter Straub. Award-winning short author and editor, Art Taylor, also put together a list of recommended short-story collections (which includes several crime fiction titles) for a new course he's teaching at George Mason University.

Meet the book club that's helping to vaccinate its town.

As Lesa Holstein reported, last week we lost Sharon Kay Penman, bestselling historical novelist and mystery author, after a bout with cancer. She's perhaps best known as the author of nine critically acclaimed historical novels, but she also penned four medieval mysteries including The Queen’s Man, a finalist for an Edgar Award for Best First Mystery from the Mystery Writers of America.

The latest crime poem at the 5-2 Weekly is "Taserman" by Robert Cooperman.

In the Q&A roundup, Author Interviews chatted with British-born Allie Reynolds, a former freestyle snowboarder and English teacher, about her debut crime novel, Shiver; and 5 thriller and mystery writers — Michael Connelly, John Lescroart, Lee Goldberg, Penny Warner, and Catriona McPherson — weighed in California’s murderous appeal.

Enter the Edgars

The Mystery Writers of America announced the nominees for the 2021 Edgar Allan Poe Awards, honoring the best in mystery fiction, non-fiction and television published or produced in 2020. The 75th Annual Edgar® Awards will be celebrated on April 29, 2021.

BEST NOVEL

Djinn Patrol on the Purple Line by Deepa Anappara
Before She Was Helen by Caroline B. Cooney 
Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman
These Women by Ivy Pochoda 
The Missing American by Kwei Quartey
The Distant Dead by Heather Young 

BEST FIRST NOVEL

Murder in Old Bombay by Nev March 
Please See Us by Caitlin Mullen 
Catherine House by Elisabeth Thomas 
Winter Counts by David Heska Wanbli Weiden 
Darling Rose Gold by Stephanie Wrobel 

BEST PAPERBACK ORIGINAL

When No One is Watching by Alyssa Cole
The Deep, Deep Snow by Brian Freeman 
Unspeakable Things by Jess Lourey 
The Keeper by Jessica Moor 
East of Hounslow by Khurrum Rahman 

BEST FACT CRIME

Blood Runs Coal: The Yablonski Murders and the Battle for the United Mine Workers of America by Mark A. Bradley 
The Third Rainbow Girl: The Long Life of a Double Murder in Appalachia by Emma Copley Eisenberg 
Death in Mud Lick: A Coal Country Fight Against the Drug Companies that Delivered the Opioid Epidemic by Eric Eyre 
Yellow Bird: Oil, Murder, and a Woman's Search for Justice in Indian Country by Sierra Crane Murdoch 
Veritas: A Harvard Professor, a Con Man, and the Gospel of Jesus's Wifeby Ariel Sabar

BEST CRITICAL/BIOGRAPHICAL

Howdunit: A Masterclass in Crime Writing by Members of the Detection Club by Martin Edwards 
Phantom Lady: Hollywood Producer Joan Harrison, the Forgotten Woman Behind Hitchcock by Christina Lane 
Ian Rankin: A Companion to the Mystery & Fiction by Erin E. MacDonald (McFarland)
Guilt Rules All:  Irish Mystery, Detective, and Crime Fiction by Elizabeth Mannion & Brian Cliff 
This Time Next Year We'll be Laughing by Jacqueline Winspear 

BEST SHORT STORY

"The Summer Uncle Cat Came to Stay," Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine by Leslie Elman 
"Dust, Ash, Flight," Addis Ababa Noir by Maaza Mengiste 
"Fearless," California Schemin' by Walter Mosley (
"Etta at the End of the World," Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine by Joseph S. Walker 
“The Twenty-Five Year Engagement,” In League with Sherlock Holmes by James W. Ziskin 

BEST JUVENILE

Premeditated Myrtle by Elizabeth C. Bunce 
Me and Banksy by Tanya Lloyd Kyi
From the Desk of Zoe Washington by Janae Marks 
Ikenga by Nnedi Okorafor 
Nessie Quest by Melissa Savage 
Coop Knows the Scoop by Taryn Souders

BEST YOUNG ADULT

The Companion by Katie Alender 
The Inheritance Games by Jennifer Lynn Barnes 
They Went Left by Monica Hesse 
Silence of Bones by June Hur
The Cousins by Karen M. McManus

TV EPISODE/TELEPLAY

“Episode 1, The Stranger” – Harlan Coben’s The Stranger, Written by Danny Brocklehurst (Netflix)
“Episode 1, Open Water” – The Sounds, Written by Sarah-Kate Lynch (Acorn TV)
“Episode 1, Photochemistry” – Dead Still, Written by John Morton (Acorn TV)
“Episode 1” – Des, Written by Luke Neal (Sundance Now)
“What I Know” – The Boys, Written by Rebecca Sonnenshine, based on the comic by Garth Ennis and Darick Robertson (Amazon)

ROBERT L. FISH MEMORIAL

"The Bite,” Tampa Bay Noir by Colette Bancroft 

SIMON & SCHUSTER MARY HIGGINS CLARK AWARD

Death of an American Beauty by Mariah Fredericks 
The Cabinets of Barnaby Mayne by Elsa Hart 
The Lucky One by Lori Rader-Day 
The First to Lie by Hank Phillippi Ryan 
Cold Wind by Paige Shelton 

G.P. PUTNAM'S SONS SUE GRAFTON MEMORIAL AWARD

The Burn by Kathleen Kent 
Riviera Gold by Laurie R. King
Vera Kelly is Not a Mystery by Rosalie Knecht
Dead Land by Sara Paretsky
The Sleeping Nymph by Ilaria Tuti 
Turn to Stone by James W. Ziskin

GRAND MASTER

Jeffrey Deaver
Charlaine Harris

RAVEN AWARD

Malice Domestic

ELLERY QUEEN AWARD

Reagan Arthur, Publisher – Alfred A. Knopf

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

Josh Hartnett is set to star opposite Jason Statham, Cary Elwes, and Aubrey Plaza in the latest Miramax/STX feature spy thriller from Guy Ritchie, which originally went by the title Five Eyes. The movie, which is now temporarily untitled, follows MI6 guns-and-steel agent (Statham) who is recruited by a global intelligence agency to track down and stop the sale of a deadly new weapons technology that threatens to disrupt the world order. Reluctantly paired with a CIA high-tech expert, Fortune sets off on a globe-trotting mission where he will have to use all of his charm, ingenuity and stealth to track down and infiltrate a billionaire arms broker's network.

In other "Five Eyes" news, Hugh Grant is also in preliminary talks to join Guy Ritche’s action thriller, although the deal has not been finalized. One would think that would have to happen soon, though, since preliminary filming is already underway in Qatar and Turkey.

Four actors have been added to the cast of the Michael Bay-directed action thriller, Ambulance, with Garret Dillahunt, A Martinez, Keir O’Donnell, and Moses Ingram coming on board. The four join current cast members Jake Gyllenhaal, Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, and Eiza Gonzalez in a feature that’s based off the original Danish film, Ambulancen. While the plot is being kept under wraps, the pic is said to be in the same vein as such 1990s action pictures, Speed and Bad Boys.

This isn't exactly crime drama, but interesting nonetheless; in an interview with People magazine, actor Liam Neeson said he'd been approached by Seth McFarlane and Paramount Studios to maybe resurrect the Naked Gun films, adding "It'll either finish my career or bring it in another direction. I honestly don't know." The original Naked Gun film series was from the late '80s and early '90s (based on the Police Squad! TV show) and followed Detective Frank Drebin (Leslie Nielsen), a bumbling official who always seems to figure out the crime despite wisecracking hijinks.

TELEVISION/STREAMING SERVICES

Sony-backed Eleventh Hour Films has signed up The Crown star Lesley Manville to lead the cast of its PBS/BritBox crime series, Magpie Murders, with Peter Cattaneo (The Full Monty) set as the director. Manville will star as Susan Ryeland, an editor who is given an unfinished manuscript of author Alan Conway’s latest novel but has little idea it will change her life. The six-part series is based on Anthony Horowitz’s bestselling novel of the same name, with the author adapting his own work for the screen.

Don DeLillo’s novel, Libra, a speculative account of the plot to assassinate John F. Kennedy interwoven with the life story of his assassin Lee Harvey Oswald, is being adapted for television. First published in 1988, Libra blends fact and fiction to tell the story of the JFK assassination, one of the most mythologized events in American history, and explores the U.S.’s obsession with and relationship to conspiracy. The book was shortlisted for the National Book Award, and the New York Times called it "DeLillo’s richest novel."

Channel 5 and Acorn TV have jointly commissioned new six part thriller, The Reluctant Madame Blanc (working title), written by Sally Lindsay and Sue Vincent. The new six-part series follows Jean White, a renowned and respected antiques dealer, running a successful business in leafy Cheshire with her husband, Rory. Jean learns that Rory has tragically died on his way home from their vintage treasure-trove stomping grounds in the South of France. Things take a darker turn when she discovers all of their money has disappeared, their shop re-mortgaged to the hilt, and their assets pawned off...except for their cottage in French antiques hub, Saint Victoire. She quickly realizes something is amiss and heads to Saint Victoire, but will Jean get the answers she's seeking?

Swedish crime drama, Bäckström, has been renewed for a second series. The series is based on the books by Leif GW Persso and premiered in Sweden before being picked up by Acorn TV for UK broadcast. It will once again see Kjell Bergqvist play the titular character of homicide detective, Evert Bäckström.

Hit BBC drama, Peaky Blinders, will end after its sixth and final season, but creator and writer Steven Knight has promised the story will "continue in another form." The series follows the story of Tommy Shelby (Cillian Murphy) and his notorious family’s rise to power against the backdrop of working class, post-WWI Birmingham.

AMC has acquired six-part British revenge thriller, The Beast Must Die. Based on the novel by Nicholas Blake (pen name of Poet Laureate Cecil Day-Lewis, CBE), it stars Jared Harris and Cush Jumbo and tells the story of a grieving mother who infiltrates the life of the man she believes killed her son.
 

Matt Hamilton, Paul Campbell, and Cristina Rosato are set for recurring roles in Turner & Hooch, Disney+’s reboot of the classic 1989 buddy-cop comedy feature. The TV series, which has a 12-episode order, centers on Scott Turner (Josh Peck), who now is a U.S. marshal, versus the police detective played by Tom Hanks in the film. When the ambitious, buttoned-up marshal inherits a big, unruly dog, he soon realizes the dog he didn’t want might be the partner he needs.

PODCASTS/VIDEO/RADIO/AUDIO

Crime Cafe host, Debbi Mack, chatted with crime writer Cathi Stoler about her latest novel, Bar None, from the Murder on the Rocks mystery series.

Speaking of Mysteries welcomed Cecilia Ekbäck to discuss her new historical mystery, The Historians. The book is set in a Sweden rife with dangerous crosscurrents that young, well-connected Laura Dalgren gets caught up in when Britta Hallberg—her best friend from university—is found murdered. Did Britta sign her own death warrant with the subject of her post-grad thesis?

Meet the Thriller Author spoke with David Rohlfing about his debut crime novel, Deliberate Duplicity.

Queer Writers of Crime chatted with Timothy Jay Smith, who has turned his thrilling life into thrilling fiction.

Robert McCaw was the featured guest on Wrong Place, Write Crime, discussing his Hawaii-based series starring Detective Koa Kane, including the newest release, Death of a Messenger.

Robert Dugoni stopped by the My Favorite Detective Story podcast. The multiple-award-winning Dugoni is the author of the Tracy Crosswhite police series set in Seattle, the Charles Jenkins espionage series, and the David Sloane legal thriller series, among many more novels.

Quote of the Week

FFB: Mystery on the Queen Mary

Bruce Graeme (1900-1982) is one of the many pen names of British author Graham Montague Jeffries, who also wrote as Peter Bourne, David Graeme, Roderic Hastings, Fielding Hope and Jeffrey Montague. He was born in London and served in the Queen's Westminster Rifles in 1918, as well as working as a reporter and film producer and serving as a founding member of the Crime Writers Association. Along the way, Graeme wrote some 80 novels and several short stories, the most successful of which featured his "gentleman crook" a/k/a wealthy mystery novelist, Blackshirt.

Graeme also created several other series characters such as the team of C.I.D. Superintendent William Stevens and Inspector Pierre Allain of the Surete Nationale, beginning with A Murder of Some Importance in 1931. Twelve more Stevens/Allain novels followed until 1943, including Mystery on the Queen Mary from 1937.

Inspector Pierre Allain is described as a plump, bearded man with dark brown eyes. Although likeable, he possesses a mercurial temperament and claims to be the best detective (and the greatest lover) in France. He dislikes simple cases because they are "beneath" his prodigious talents and don't offer the chance to get his accustomed adulation after solving the affair. Superintendent William Stevens is tall, broad-shouldered and in good shape from exercise that has left his "flesh healthily tinted." Unlike his colleague, he's a family man and less egotistical, but not without his own flights of fancy and the occasional bout of flirting with the ladies.

Robby MacKay, a young shipyard worker who is one of many helping to prepare the Queen Mary get ready for her historic maiden voyage, overhears a scheme to hide something somewhere on the ship, masterminded by a man with a foreign voice. Robby later survives a violent attack and near-drowning to seek the help of the police. Inspector Stevens uses his influence to get Robby a job aboard the ship so he can mingle with passengers and hopefully ID the mystery voice. Meanwhile in France, a dying foreigner with ties to jewel thieves leads Inspector Allain to also snag a ticket aboard the Queen, and soon the detective duo realize the two mysteries are in some way connected.

As Leo Harris notes in his Foreword to a 1992 reprint, though presented as a detective thriller, this is "really a floating Grand Hotel replete with interlocking dramas, romances and comedies, with the msytery element almost secondary. You can enjoy it for its variety of incident and especially for an obliquely revealed view of life in the 30s."

Mystery Melange

The Writers Police Academy is launching an online program with classes and workshops for writers featuring law enforcement and forensic procedures and the craft of storytelling. The first up will be on January 23, "Criminal Investigations: Writing Believable Make-Believe." This daylong live and interactive seminar features detailed instruction in cyber crime and security, crime scene mapping using lasers and drones, and sexual assault investigations. As a bonus, USA Today & Wall Street Journal bestselling author, Lisa Regan, tells how to use the elements of fiction to craft a gripping crime novel. You can register for than and other upcoming courses via this link.

Exactly a 100 years ago, on January 21, 1921, The Mysterious Affair at Styles, the first novel by Agatha Christie was published in the UK. There have been many tributes and essays penned about the centennary, but if you're a fan of Christie and geography, you might check out this article by Sebastian Beck and Dominique Jeannerod on the International Crime Fiction blog. It takes a closer look at the different dimensions of space in the 45 novels featuring Hercule Poirot and Miss Marple and how the places where homicides were committed evolved over the course of Christie’s career.

If you're looking forward to staying inside with some good reading, the Rap Sheet blog has you covered with lists of new releases in the U.S. and UK for the first three months of 2021.

Netflix debuted its chilling true-crime documentary series, Night Stalker, on January 13, which tells the story of the law-enforcement officers who caught and apprehended Richard Ramirez, a serial killer and rapist who was active in California during the 1980s. As an adjunct to the series, The Wrap took a closer look at Frank Salerno, the detective who helped snag Ramirez in 1985.

Amazon.com and the "Big Five" publishers (Penguin Random House, Hachette, HarperCollins, Macmillan and Simon & Schuster) have been accused of colluding to fix ebook prices, in a class action filed by the law firm that successfully sued Apple and the Big Five on the same charge 10 years ago. The lawsuit, filed in district court in New York a week ago by Seattle firm Hagens Berman, on behalf of consumers in several US states, names the retail giant as the sole defendant but labels the publishers "co-conspirators." It alleges Amazon and the publishers use a clause known as "Most Favored Nations" to keep ebook prices artificially high by agreeing to price restraints that force consumers to pay more for ebooks purchased on retail platforms that are not Amazon.com.

A couple of new essays at CrimeReads tackle the topics of mental illness, including Josh Stallings's piece on the need for "neurodiversity" in crime fiction since the human brain works in fascinating, diverse ways; and Frederick Weisel's deep dive into what the intersection of detective fiction and Alzheimer’s can tell us about the paths of mysteries and the course of this tragic disease.

Did you ever wonder where the tradition of bookplates came from? Wonder no more.

A new flash fiction story is up at Shotgun Honey, "Denied," by karen Harrington.

The latest crime poem at the 5-2 Weekly is "January 6, 2021" by Charles Rammelkamp.

In the Q&A roundup, Murder Books welcomed Boston-based crime novelist Gabriel Valjan, author of the Roma Series, The Company Files, and the Shane Cleary mystery series, and a finalist for the Agatha and Anthony Awards; over at CrimeReads, Lee Child and Paraic O'Donnell discussed the history and significance of Jack Reacher in the context of "Moral Codes, Punching Nazis, and Human Evolution"; Lisa Haselton inverviewed cozy mystery author, G.P. Gottlieb, about her new culinary cozy novel, Smothered: A Whipped and Sipped Mystery; and Ace Atkins, the author who has continued Robert B. Parker's series featuring the iconic P.I., Spencer, talked true crime and Spenser’s hidden Auburn connection with Alabama Life & Culture.

Laudable Lefties

 

The Left Coast Crime Conference announced the finalists for the annual "Lefty" Awards. Because of the pandemic, the 2021 Left Coast Crime convention was rescheduled for 2022, but the Lefty Awards will go on, with titles honored in four categories: humorous, historical, debut, and best crime. The awards will be voted on virtually and presented online April 10, 2021. Here are all the nominees and congrats to each (with a HT to Mystery Fanfare):

Lefty for Best Humorous Mystery Novel

Ellen Byron, Murder in the Bayou Boneyard (Crooked Lane Books)
Jennifer J. Chow, Mimi Lee Gets a Clue (Berkley Prime Crime)
Carl Hiaasen, Squeeze Me (Alfred A. Knopf)
Cynthia Kuhn, The Study of Secrets (Henery Press)
J. Michael Orenduff, The Pot Thief Who Studied the Woman at Otowi Crossing (Aakenbaaken & Kent)
Sung J. Woo, Skin Deep (Agora Books)

Lefty for Best Historical Mystery Novel (for books set before 1970)

Susanna Calkins, The Fate of a Flapper (Minotaur Books)
Dianne Freeman, A Lady’s Guide to Mischief and Murder (Kensington Books)
Laurie R. King, Riviera Gold (Bantam Books)
Catriona McPherson, The Turning Tide (Quercus)
Ann Parker, Mortal Music (Poisoned Pen Press)
James W. Ziskin, Turn to Stone (Seventh Street Books)

Lefty for Best Debut Mystery Novel

Daisy Bateman, Murder Goes to Market (Seventh Street Books)
Mary Keliikoa, Derailed (Camel Press)
Erica Ruth Neubauer, Murder at the Mena House (Kensington Books)
Richard Osman, The Thursday Murder Club (Viking)
Halley Sutton, The Lady Upstairs (Putnam)
David Heska Wanbli Weiden, Winter Counts (Ecco)

Lefty for Best Mystery Novel (not in other categories)

Tracy Clark, What You Don’t See (Kensington Books)
S.A. Cosby, Blacktop Wasteland (Flatiron Books)
Matt Coyle, Blind Vigil (Oceanview Publishing)
Rachel Howzell Hall, And Now She’s Gone (Forge)
Louise Penny, All the Devils Are Here (Minotaur Books)

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

In a competitive situation, Paramount Players has won the adaptation rights to the new novel from bestselling author S.A. Cosby. Titled Razorblade Tears, the book is set for release this July and is described as a Southern noir about two men who team up to seek vengeance for their murdered sons in the face of intolerance and prejudice in the rural South, finding redemption along the way. Jerry Bruckheimer and Chad Oman are producing the feature, which has yet to attach a director.

Netflix has prevailed in a competitive auction for worldwide rights on Heart of Stone, the espionage thriller developed by Skydance Media with Gal Gadot starring. Tom Harper, who helmed The Aeronauts and Wild Rose, will direct the film that aspires to hatch a female-centric franchise with the action and global scale of film series like Mission: Impossible and James Bond. The script is by Greg Rucka (The Old Guard) and Allison Schroeder, the latter of whom was Oscar-nominated for Hidden Figures.

British rapper, Bugzy Malone, has joined Jason Statham, Aubrey Plaza, and Cary Elwes in Guy Ritchie’s untitled thriller movie currently filming in Qatar. The story centers on the MI6 "guns-and-steel agent," Orson Fortune (Statham), who is recruited by a global intelligence agency to track down and stop the sale of a deadly new weapons technology that threatens to disrupt the world order. Reluctantly paired with CIA high-tech expert, Sarah Fidel, Fortune sets off on a globe-trotting mission where he will have to use his charm, ingenuity and stealth to track down and infiltrate the network of billionaire arms broker, Greg Simmonds. Ritchie will direct and produce from a screenplay written by Ivan Atkinson and Marn Davies.

Warner Bros is moving The Sopranos prequel, The Many Saints of Newark, from March 12 to September 24. Alan Taylor directs from a script by Sopranos creator David Chase, with James Gandolfini’s son, Michael Gandolfini, playing the younger version of Tony Soprano, the role his father played.

James Bond is also on the move again. No Time to Die appears set to switch from its Easter weekend release of April 2 to some time in the fall, as the world waits for the pandemic to come under control. The film was originally slated for a fall 2019 release but has been moved several times since.

TELEVISION/STREAMING SERVICES

This Is Us star, Justin Hartley, has teamed with the series’ director/executive producer, Ken Olin, to option the rights to Jeffery Deaver’s 2019 thriller novel, The Never Game. The story follows Colter Shaw (Hartley), who travels the country in his old-school RV to help police and private citizens solve crimes and locate missing persons, until his latest case finds him caught in a cat-and-mouse game, risking his own life to save the victims. Hartley’s Shaw is a reward seeker raised by survivalists off the grid and taught the rules of survival, or "The Never Game," as their father called it before he was murdered.

Netflix has given a series order to The Lincoln Lawyer, a drama based on Michael Connelly’s series of bestselling novels, from Big Little Lies and Big Sky creator, David E. Kelley and A+E Studios. This is a new incarnation of the project, which originally was set up at CBS with a series production commitment last season. Manuel Garcia-Rulfo (The Magnificent Seven) has been tapped to play the titular character in the Netflix series as it honors the story’s Hispanic origins. The 10-episode first season is based on the second book in The Lincoln Lawyer series, The Brass Verdict.

ABC is moving forward with Sam Esmail’s procedural drama, Acts of Crime, handing the project a pilot pick-up. The network didn’t offer much detail of the project, which is described as a "unique spin" on the crime procedural.

Dawnn Lewis and Jude Elizabeth Mayer are set as series regulars opposite Tate Donovan and Melissa Leo in the Fox drama pilot, Blood Relative, in recastings. The forensic genealogy-themed crime drama is based on James Renner’s 2018 article "Beyond the Jungle of Bad: The True Story of Two Women from California Who Are Solving All the Mysteries." The article featured Dr. Colleen Fitzpatrick and Dr. Margaret Press, who combined their genealogy expertise to push the boundaries of forensic science and help law enforcement identify Joe and Jane Does and track down serial killers.

Slumdog Millionaire star, Freida Pinto, is set to star in and executive produce Spy Princess, a limited series based on Shrabani Basu’s book, Spy Princess: The Life of Noor Inayat Khan. Noor was the first female wireless operator sent into occupied France in 1943 – a role with a life expectancy of just six weeks. She was the most unlikely heroine of World War II, a Sufi mystic who won’t use a gun and the daughter of a long-haired Indian Guru who preaches love and peace.

FX has opted not to move forward with Redeemer, a drama series that was to have reunited True Detective creator Nic Pizzolatto and one of the series’ original stars, Matthew McConaughey. The project had landed a script-to-series commitment at the network in January but was axed after McConaughey decided to exit the project. Created by Pizzolatto and inspired by Patrick Coleman’s debut novel, The Churchgoer, Redeemer was to star McConaughey as a minister-turned-dissolute security guard whose search for a missing woman in Texas leads him through a corruption-steeped criminal conspiracy.

Demetrius "Lil Meech" Flenory Jr. and Da’Vinchi are set to star in Starz’s drama series, Black Mafia Family, from executive producer, Curtis "50 Cent" Jackson. Black Mafia Family is inspired by the true story of two brothers who rose from the decaying streets of southwest Detroit in the late 1980’s and created one of the most influential crime families in this country.

Showtime has set the cast of the upcoming Dexter revival. Julia Jones, Alano Miller, Johnny Sequoyah, and Jack Alcott have joined Michael C. Hall and Clancy Brown in the 10-episode limited series, which begins production next month in Massachusetts. The original series, which ran from 2008-13 and remains one of Showtime’s signature dramas, followed Dexter Morgan (Hall), a complicated and conflicted blood-spatter expert for the Miami Police Department who moonlighted as a serial killer.

CBS has dropped the trailer for Clarice, its Silence of the Lambs sequel series. The drama picks up with Clarice Starling (played by Rebecca Breeds) one year after the events of the 1991 film, in which the FBI agent-in-training (then played by Jodie Foster) seeks the assistance of cannibalistic serial killer, Hannibal Lecter, to catch another killer. As the trailer shows, things only get worse for Agent Starling as she returns to the field.

PODCASTS/VIDEO/RADIO/AUDIO

A new Mysteryrat's Maze Podcast is up featuring the first chapter of Dead to the Last Drop by Tonya Kappes, read by actor Ariel Linn.

Read or Dead looked ahead to the "Most Anticipated Releases of 2021."

Suspense Radio welcomed bestselling author, Brad Taylor, to talk about his latest book, American Traitor, book fifteen in the Logan Pike series.

Meet the Thriller Author chatted with Edwin Hill, the Edgar- and Agatha-award nominated author of Little Comfort, The Missing Ones, and Watch Her.

Wrong Place, Write Crime featured Alan Orloff talking about his books, including his new release, I Know Where You Sleep. Host Frank Zafiro also celebrated reaching the 100-episode milestone with some reminiscing and messages from past guests, including updates on what they're been doing since appearing on the show.

The Crime Writers of Color podcast interviewed David Heska Wanbli Weiden, author of Winter Counts, nominated for Best Debut Novel and Best Mystery & Thriller in the 2020 Goodreads Choice Awards, and also nominated for Book of the Year by the Book of the Month Club.

Writers Detective Bureau host, veteran Police Detective Adam Richardson. talked about how detectives find peoples’ addresses; detective caseloads and what happens during a murder investigation; and the differing responsibilities a detective may have based on duty assignments.

It Was a Dark and Stormy Book Club featured a "What we are reading" show, talking about books by Rosemary Simpson, Louise Penny, Mary Burton, Anna Lee Huber, and Douglas Preston & Lincoln Child.