In Reference to Murder

Quote of the Week

Friday's "Forgotten" Books: Murder Sails at Midnight

Marian Babson (1929-2017) is a pseudonym for Ruth Stenstreem, who was born in Salem, Massachusetts, but spent most of her adult life in London. She worked a variety of jobs as a librarian, as a den mother to a firm of commercial artists, as a campaign headquarters manager, and as coeditor of a knitting machine magazine despite the fact she can't knit. Eventually, she turned to writing mysteries, penning over 30 novels (the last in 1999) and served for ten years as secretary of the Crime Writers Association, from 1976 to 1986.

The publisher's tagline for her books is "Murder Most British," which indicates the "cozy" or traditional tone of her writing. Babson re-used some characters in her novels, including aging actresses Trixie Dolan and Evangeline Sinclair and the publicity firm of Douglas Perkins & Gerry Tate, although even the series books can be read in any order. Many of her novels, especially the Perkins & Tate series, involve cats, with such titles as Canapes For The Kitties and Miss Petunia's Last Case.

But Babson also wrote standalone suspense novels like Murder Sails at Midnight (1975), a closed-setting-style plot, in which the action all takes place aboard a cruise ship. Four wealthy women sail from New York to Genoa aboard the luxury liner Beatrice Cenci in first-class. We learn early on that another passenger, "Mr. Butler," has been hired to make sure one of the women doesn't finish the voyage. The book thus becomes not a "who dunnit," but a "who will get it," because we don't know the identity of the intended victim, although each woman has secrets and also individuals in their lives who would benefit from their deaths.

Babson's writing has been described as possessing a coolly amused, ironic voice, much in evidence in Murder Sails at Midnight, which has a more serious tone than her Dolan/Sinclair and Perkins/Tate books. As to how she came up with the idea for the book, Babson wrote in an essay for Mystery Readers Journal that she was an avid traveler and had freqently taken cruises:

"Death, if not murder, is part of shipboard life. Sadly, by the very nature of things quite a few passengers tend to be elderly and not always in the best of health. Two of them died on one of my recent voyages."

She also experienced ship bomb threats, as well as sailing through the tag-end of a hurricane and "man overboard" scenarios. She added,

"A friend of mine once told me, 'I love to listen to your travel stories -- but I never want to travel with you.' I don't blame her. There are times when I don't want to travel with me, either, but what choice do I have? On the other hand, look at all the material I collect."

Mystery Melange

St. Edmund Hall’s Centre for the Creative Brain will present an evening of mystery and crime tonight, March 11th, exploring what drives people to commit crime, the makeup of a criminal mind, and why we are so fascinated by it. This free online event will feature G.M. Malliet, Agatha Award-winning author of the acclaimed St Just mysteries, the Max Tudor mysteries, and the novel, Weycombe; and Dr. Julia Shaw, a psychological scientist and science communicator whose work focuses on criminal psychology and areas of memory.

The Romantic Novelists' Association handed out their annual Romantic Novel Awards, including the Jackie Collins Romantic Thriller Award (for the best romantic novel with thriller, mystery, crime, or suspense elements), which was won by Louise Douglas for The House by the Sea. The other finalists in that category include The Forgotten Sister by Nicola Cornick; Death Comes to Cornwall by Kate Johnson; The Twins by Jane Lark; and Escape to the Little Chateau by Marie Laval.

On her Mystery Fanfare blog, Janet Rudolph reported on the passing of mystery author Judith Van Gieson. She wrote the Neil Hamel series and the Claire Reynier series, as well as a stand-alone novel, children's books, short stories, non-fiction, and poetry. She was awarded the Literary Spirit of Magnifico Award and the Zia Award for Best Fiction Work by a female writer from New Mexico. She was also shortlisted for the Shamus Award.

Mystery Scene Magazine released its first issue of the year, which includes Art Taylor reading all the Edgar short story winners from the founding of Mystery Writers of America to the present; interviews with authors J.T. Ellison, Charles Finch, and Edwin Hill; a look at composer Miklós Rózsa’s work, the maestro behind a slew of noir film scores; contributors' "Faves Raves of 2020"; Jon L. Breen's survey of current legal thrillers in "Disorder in the Court," and much more.

The latest issue of Mystery Weekly Magazine is also out, with new short fiction by Chris Preston, Jeff Soloway, Brandon Barrows, Jack Clark, Roger Johns, Mark Thielman, and Jeffrey A. Lockood. [Disclaimer: there's also a story in this edition by yours truly, BV Lawson.]

The bestselling British author Ken Follett is donating the proceeds from his book about the Notre-Dame fire to help restore a cathedral in Brittany. Follet is giving €148,000 ($176,000) towards a multimillion euro project to save Saint-Samson de Dol-de-Bretagne cathedral.

Alex Michaelides’ novel, The Silent Patient, has reached 50 foreign sales for publication and translation rights in other countries, described as "a record-breaker" for a thriller debut.

Mike Ripley's latest "Getting Away with Murder" column for Shots Magazine has tidbits and reviews from new releases by Russ Thomas, Chris Brookmyre, Mick Herron, Kevin Sullivan, Alan Parks, Robert Goddard, Michael Ridpath, Alex Finlay, Peter Swanson, Paul Vidich, Marcello Fois, and Alan Judd. Ripley also shares a remembrance of the late Margaret Maron.

Crime author, Peter James, is auctioning off the custom-made desk he's used for nearly seventeen years to write his Detective Roy Grace novels. James said he first got the desk in about 2003, and said it even contained secret compartments to protect his research and work.

The latest crime poem at the 5-2 Weekly is "And Her Eyes Made Love to Him" by Catfish McDaris.

In the Q&A roundup, Donna Leon stopped by CrimeReads for a look back on thirty years of writing her Inspector Guido Brunetti novel series; Sarah Pearse, author of the debut novel, The Sanatorium, was interviewed for the Shots Magazine blog by Ayo Onatade; and Harlan Coben was featured in conversation with the New York Times about publishing his 33rd novel, deals with Netflix, Amazon and Apple, and writing in Ubers, at Stop & Shop and just about anywhere else he can.

Author R&R with Mark Edward Langley

Mark Edward Langley was instilled with a love for the American West by his father. After many visits, his connection to the land and its people became irrevocable, but he was appalled at the way he saw Native Americans being treated. After spending almost thirty years working in the corporate world, he retired at the end of 2016 and began to focus on realizing his goal of becoming an author. He created a strong Navajo protagonist, a U.S. veteran who fights for his people and their land. Langley’s first novel, Path of the Dead, was released in August of 2018, and the follow-up, Death Waits in the Dark, was the recipient of the 2021 Gold Medal for Best Mystery of the Year in the Feathered Quill Book Awards.

Here's the description of the book:

In Death Waits in the Dark, as Arthur Nakai is attending the wake for a man he considered a brother while serving in the U.S. Marines, he receives a call from an old girlfriend whose sons have just been murdered. Feeling a deep and responsible obligation, Arthur investigates and soon finds himself embroiled in the multi-billion dollar world of oil and gas, coming face-to-face with an old adversary, Elias Dayton. Their paths crossed when Arthur was a member of the Shadow Wolves, an elite tactical unit within U.S. Customs and Border Protection. Now Dayton runs Patriot Security, a Blackwater clone that keeps the oil rigs, gas wells, and "man camps" secure from the Water Protectors, protesters pushing to stop the fracking and poisoning of Native lands.

While Arthur works through the case from his end, Navajo police chief Jake Bilagody tackles it from another angle, looking into the strained relationship between the oil company and the Navajo people, all while searching for a missing Navajo man who may have become an unwilling pawn on the reservation chess board. But when Arthur learns the identity of the boys' killer, he struggles to make sense of it—because if the clues are right, he will be forced to make a decision that will haunt him for the rest of his life.

Today, Mark stops by In Reference to Murder to take some Author R&R about writing and researching his novels:

 

I’ve been told by other authors that I do things a little bit backward. I start with a title, then create a story that fits it. Once I decide what the novel will be about, I begin by researching online anything that might fit the narrative. As with Death Waits in the Dark, I looked up everything I could about fracking because there are over 2,500 wells in the ninety-mile stretch of Highway 550 between Bloomfield, NM and Cuba, NM. I thought that would be a great backdrop for the story. Then, since I don’t live out there yet, I researched the pros and cons of it, followed by the native reactions given during meetings at local Chapter Houses to discuss the issue. I don’t like beating people over the head with viewpoints; I give all viewpoints and let the reader make up their own mind.

My reaction from the Navajo people concerning my writing is that they like the fact that I am bringing to light things that affect them on a daily basis—the alcoholism, the drugs, and poverty and the resulting and lingering affect the oil and gas industry is having on their beloved sacred land. With each book, I end up with a large four-inch binder of research to draw from. Since my stories represent life on and off the reservation, I have been lucky enough to develop a contact with the Navajo Nation Police Department, which is headquartered in Window Rock, AZ. They have been very helpful.

It wasn’t until researching my third book in the Arthur Nakai series, When Silence Screams, that my research began to affect me. The novel concerns itself with a fictional 19-year-old girl, April Manygoats, who was befriended by someone online with whom she arranged a meeting in Santa Fe. She was never heard from again. Then a 15-year-old girl goes missing, leaving behind nothing but her bicycle hidden under a bridge over an empty desert wash. To make matters even worse, a 22-year-old woman has been fished out of a power plant cooling lake on the reservation, missing something unthinkable.

Are the cases related? Or are they simply part of a bigger, more horrifying picture plaguing his beloved Dinétah? But—more importantly—will Arthur be able to piece together enough of the sadistic puzzle that will locate April . . . or is he already too late?

This story was sparked by the 5,712 missing and murdered indigenous girls and women who disappeared during 2016 alone on the reservations in the US and Canada. I listened to many interviews with family members, watched news reports, read stories, and printed out all of the fliers created during 2017 for the girls and women who were reported missing. My research then led me to the dark worlds of human trafficking, prostitution, and BDSM torture, all things I knew nothing about and wished to convey accurately.

As you can imagine, a great deal of time is spent plowing through anything that could be used in my novels. In fact, I am always collecting ideas for stories. I have an entire file drawer in my office filled with possible ideas. Since my subject matter is the land that I love, I feel a kinship with the people and the land itself, so my take on things is personal as far as where the stories take place, who is involved, and what the outcome will be.

To me, you can never have enough research. In fact, the next book I’m working on took me to a Zoom meeting with the Deputy Director of the New Mexico Livestock Board. I had emailed him explaining that I am a writer and was looking to develop a new series that would be built around some of their case files I had requested. He answered my initial questions and we set up a time to meet virtually. When I received the detailed case files, I read through them and began shaping how the story would play out and which characters would inhabit this particular world. The Deputy Director even invited me to take ride-a-longs with some of his inspectors so I could experience their daily duties first-hand. I am looking forward to that aspect.

Research is the backbone of your story; it's what drives your characters to do what they do and how they might react. I outline each chapter, but once I begin writing, the characters take over, and no matter how well I plan, they always lead me to a new level of dialogue, action, or outcome.

 

You can find out more about the author and his books via his website and follow him on Facebook, Twitter, and Bookbub. Death Waits in the Dark is now available via all major booksellers and Blackstone Publishing.

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

Robert Duvall and Garret Hedlund are set to star in The Ploughmen, the third film to be directed by actor Ed Harris, who also wrote the screenplay adaptation of Kim Zupan’s 2014 debut novel of the same name. The Ploughmen centers on a killer, John Gload, awaiting trial in Montana, and a troubled young deputy, Valentine Millimaki, sitting across from each other during the nightshift, talking through the bars of a county jail cell. With a disintegrating marriage further collapsing under the strain of his night duty, Millimaki finds himself seeking counsel from Gload, whose troubled past shares something essential with his own. Their uneasy friendship takes a startling turn with a brazen act of violence that yokes together two haunted souls by the secrets they share.

Dermot Mulroney, Katherine McNamara, Rhys Coiro, Annie Ilonzeh, and Oscar-winner Mel Gibson have signed on for the indie spy thriller, Agent Game, which is being directed by Grant S. Johnson (Nighthawks). The plot follows Harris (Mulroney), a CIA officer involved in missions to detain and relocate foreign nationals for interrogation. When a political shift in Washington turns his allies into enemies, Harris finds himself the scapegoat for a detainee’s murder and must run from a team of operatives sent to bring him in (McNamara and Coiro), led by a ruthless double agent (Ilonzeh). Gibson plays an intelligence official running the unsanctioned covert operation to hunt down the disgraced spy.

Aisha Tyler (Criminal Minds) is set to direct a psychological thriller called Silent John that will begin filming this summer. The film follows a young couple who visit a rustic B&B in County Galway, Ireland, ahead of the birth of their first child, only to discover that their host and his mute groundskeeper share a viciously harrowing secret. Emmett Hughes wrote the script for the socially conscious thriller, which focuses on the historic abuses of the Catholic church against unwed mothers, and explores how a man gets lost between his faith, the church, and his own sanity.

Paul Mescal (Normal People) and Tom Burke (Mank) have been set to lead the Irish thriller, Bring Them Down. Set in the wild landscape of the West of Ireland, the film follows an Irish shepherd who is drawn into violent conflict with a neighboring farm when his sheep are massacred by unknown men.

Magic Mike star Alex Pettyfer is attached to star in The Chelsea Cowboy, based on the colorful life of British actor, tough guy, and lothario, John Bindon. The project will chart the rise and fall of underworld hard-man-turned-actor Bindon, who, despite a successful acting career and passionate romantic liaisons with various socialites, was unable to leave his criminal past behind.

Billy Bob Thornton, Alfre Woodard, and Regé-Jean Page have rounded out the cast of the Russo Brothers’ The Gray Man starring Ryan Gosling, Chris Evans and Ana De Armas. The Gray Man is based on the debut novel by Mark Greaney, published in 2009 by Jove Books, the first novel to feature the Gray Man, freelance assassin and former CIA operative Court Gentry. The action thriller will follow Gentry (Gosling) as he’s hunted across the globe by Lloyd Hansen (Evans), a former cohort at the CIA.

TELEVISION/STREAMING SERVICES

The Wire's David Simon and George Pelecanos are returning to Baltimore for a new series based on the book, We Own This City: A True Story of Crime, Cops and Corruption, by investigative journalist Justin Fenton. The story takes place in 2015 against the backdrop of rising crime rates and riots as citizens demand justice for a 25-year-old Black man who died under suspicious circumstances in police custody. Facing pressure from the mayor’s office and a federal investigation, Baltimore police commanders turn to a rank-and-file hero, Sergeant Wayne Jenkins, and his elite plainclothes unit to help get guns and drugs off the street. Instead, Jenkins and his team skimmed from drug busts, pocketed thousands in cash found in private homes, and planted fake evidence to throw Internal Affairs off their scent.

After Amazon announced the end to the Bosch series following its seventh season, IMDb-TV has scooped up the rights and the show's creative team for a spinoff. Based on Michael Connelly's novels, the untitled series follows Harry Bosch, once again played by Titus Welliver, as he embarks on the next chapter of his career and finds himself working with his one-time enemy and top-notch attorney Honey "Money" Chandler (Mimi Rogers). With a deep and complicated history between this unlikely pair, they must work together to do what they can to find justice.

Ray Liotta will return to series television as a lead opposite Taron Egerton and Paul Walter Hauser in Apple’s limited series, In With The Devil, an adaptation of James Keene and Hillel Levin’s 2010 novel titled In With The Devil: A Fallen Hero, A Serial Killer, and A Dangerous Bargain for Redemption. The six-episode series, written by bestselling author Dennis Lehane and directed by Michael R. Roskam, is told through the lens of an intimate relationship between two prisoners (Egerton, Hauser), exploring the lengths that people will go to in order to seek redemption, if true absolution is ever really possible. Liotta will play the father of one of the prisoners, a popular former ranking officer in the Kankakee police and fire departments who had influential friends in the highest reaches of state and local government.

Emmy-nominated David Oyelowo has signed on to star alongside Gugu Mbatha-Raw in The Girl Before, a four-episode limited series for HBO-Max and the BBC based on JP Delaney’s best-selling psychological thriller. Created, written and executive produced by Delaney, The Girl Before tells the story of Jane (Mbatha-Raw), who gets the chance to move into a beautiful, ultra-minimalist house designed by an enigmatic architect (Oyelowo). There’s just one catch: occupants have to abide by his list of exacting rules. Jane starts to feel the house changing her in unexpected ways but, when she makes the shocking discovery that her predecessor Emma died in the house, she’s forced to confront unnerving similarities. As the two women’s timelines interweave, Jane begins to question if her fate will be the same as the girl before.

The Good Fight is getting a high-profile new cast addition for Season 5. Emmy and Tony winner Mandy Patinkin is joining the Paramount+ drama series as a regular with a one-year deal. Patinkin will play Hal Wackner, a layman with no legal training who spontaneously decides to open a court in the back of a copy shop. Against all odds, the court catches on, and the team at Reddick, Boseman & Lockhart find themselves contending with judgements that mean nothing legally, but are honored by much of the entertained public.

Paul Marquess and Susanne Farrell, who worked together on long-running British cop drama, The Bill, have teamed up on a new British crime drama for the BBC and BritBox North America. Hope Street, set in the fictional town of Port Devine on the Northern Ireland coast, stars Amara Khan as English Detective Constable Alimah Kahn, the first Muslim police officer in the town’s history. Combining a long-running serial narrative with self-contained crime stories in each episode, the cast also includes Brid Brennan, Des McAleer, and Ciaran McMenamin.

Constance Wu is returning to series television as the female lead opposite Chris Pratt in Amazon’s conspiracy-thriller series, The Terminal List, based on Jack Carr’s bestselling novel. The show follows James Reece (Pratt) after his entire platoon of Navy SEALs is ambushed during a high-stakes covert mission. Reece returns home to his family with conflicting memories of the event and questions about his culpability. However, as new evidence comes to light, Reece discovers dark forces working against him, endangering not only his life but the lives of those he loves. Wu will play Katie Buranek, a risk-seeking war correspondent who uses her byline to speak truth to power.

PODCASTS/VIDEO/RADIO/AUDIO

The Poisoned Pen podcast featured Barbara Peters in conversation with C.J. Box, author of the Joe Pickett series.

On the latest Writer's Detective Bureau, veteran Police Detective Adam Richardson tackled the topics of when double jeopardy attaches to an investigation; forensic artists; search patterns; and he finally shared "that bloodhound story."

Crime Cafe's Debbi Mack interviewed Frank Zafiro, author of more than 30 novels, including the River City series and the Charlie-316 series. He also hosts his own podcast, Wrong Place, Write Crime.

On Writer Types, Eric Beetner was joined by TV writer Lindsey Allen, winner of the show's co-host for a day contest. They chatted with authors JA Jance and Steve Berry, as well as novelist and screenwriter Daniel Pyne.

Bestselling author Jonathan Kellerman made his debut on Suspense Radio's Beyond the Cover, talking about his latest book, Serpentine, the 36th book in the Alex Delaware series. Like his fictional protagonist, Alex Delaware, Jonathan received a Ph.D. in psychology at the age of 24, with a specialty in the treatment of children.

Meet the Thriller Author welcomed Dana Stabenow, author of science fiction, mystery/crime fiction, suspense/thriller, and historical adventure novels. They discussed the fifth book in her Liam Campbell series that's set in her home state of Alaska.

Wrong Place, Write Crime's Frank Zafiro spoke with Jonathan Brown about his novella, Travel Money, and his latest Lou Crasher novel, Don't Shoot the Drummer.

Jack Dickson was the featured guest on Queer Writers of Crime. Born in a small town on Scotland's West Coast, Dickson is the author of nine novels and a variety of short stories, including the "Jas Anderson Investigates" series of crime thrillers set on the mean streets of Glasgow, his adopted city.

My Favorite Detective Story's latest guest was David Stever, a novelist, screenwriter, and film producer. Stever writes the Johnny Delarosa mystery-thriller series, which pays homage to the great detective fiction of the past and has been called “noir for the 21st Century.”

It Was a Dark and Stormy Book Club chatted with Jennifer Dornbush, a screenwriter, author, international speaker, and forensic specialist. As she says, "I grew up around death," as the daughter of a small town medical examiner whose office was in their home. She created an Amazon top-selling mystery novel series, The Coroner’s Daughter.

As part of EQMM's 80th-year anniversary celebration this year (2021), the magazine's podcast offered a seasonally appropriate history-laden mystery by the multitalented writing team of Ellery Queen: "The President's Half Disme [an American silver coin]," originally published in EQMM in February 1947.

The latest topic on the Listening to the Dead podcast, hosted by Lynda LaPlante, was "Cause of Death – Terrorism & Mass Disaster." The show was joined by former anti-terrorism branch and SO13 officer, David Alexander, as he discussed his extraordinary experiences working on IRA bombings, the 7/7 attacks and investigating war crimes in Kosovo.

Quote of the Week

Friday's "Forgotten" Books: This'll Kill You

British author Dennis John Andrew Phillips (1924-2006) served in the RAF during World War II, then turned to labor relations and worked as a musician—something he continued to do until right before his death, even recording a CD at the age of 80. He also wrote almost 60 novels between 1961 and 1992 under his own name and the pseudonyms Peter Chester, Simon Challis, Philip Daniels and Peter Chambers.

However, it was the last pen name, Peter Chambers that brought the author most success, with 36 books in a series featuring private eye Mark Preston. (As a side note, 'Peter Chambers' is also the name of the fictional P.I. created by the better-known author Henry Kane.) The Mark Preston novels were set in the fictional town of Monkton, California, with its fill of sleazy night clubs, gangsters and racketeers.

In 1964's This'll Kill You, the obligatory attractive young female client appears, a woman named Dana Pallister. She has a mysterious background and two attempts have been made on her life, yet she doesn't want to involve the police. Preston's investigation leads him to an unsolved kidnapping twenty years earlier in which neither the baby girl nor ransom money were ever recovered. When a prisoner with ties to the kidnapping escapes from prison, people begin to die and Preston races against the clock to prevent more deaths, including his own.

From persuing the other Mark Preston titles, I gather most are built more on plot and less on setting and characterization. Many of the plots often sound interchangeable, too, with the damsel in distress leading Preston into trouble with both criminals and the law. This is pretty much what you'd expect from someone cranking out two or three of these a year, but even so, This'll Kill You is a rather breezy, entertaining read.

In the Foreword to the 1994 Black Dagger release of the novel, author Peter N. Walker notes that Chambers' central character, Mark Preston, has been favorably comapred to other giants in the genre, ranking alongside Hammett's Sam Spade and Chandler's Philip Marlowe. I'm not sure I'd go that far, but Preston is a likeable enough protagonist, and Chambers imbues him with a high moral code and a pointed sense of humor.

The author wrote 13 novels under the pen name of Philip Daniels, between 1979 and 1986, and these mostly standalones garner better reviews. Unfortunately, few of the author's works are in print with the exception of one or two reprints in the Black Dagger crime series.

Mystery Melange

The Los Angeles Times Book Prize finalists were announced this week. The nominees in the Mystery/Thriller category include A Beautiful Crime by Christopher Bollen; Blacktop Wasteland by S.A. Cosby; And Now She’s Gone by Rachel Howzell Hall; Little Secrets by Jennifer Hillier; and These Women by Ivy Pochoda. Winners will be announced on April 16 via a live-streamed virtual ceremony on Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter. (The article is sheltered behind a paywall, but HT to Mystery Fanfare’s Janet Rudolph for this report.)

The Theakston Old Peculier Crime Writing Festival has announced it will go ahead with in-person events later this year, after the UK government unveiled its roadmap out of lockdown. Taking place in Harrogate July 22-25, the Festival will celebrate with a range of author talks, panels, and special guests, as well as some hybrid events to ensure that audiences who are unable to travel can access the Festival. The full author lineup and ticket on-sale dates will be announced in the coming months. More information can be found at the official website which will be updated regularly. (HT to Shots Magazine blog)

The Bloody Scotland Crime Festival is taking a different approach, with a virtual international book club to be broadcast via Facebook Live. The club, being hosted in the absence of most physical literary festivals this spring, will launch on March 31 at 7 p.m. Thereafter, it will take place on the last Wednesday of every month, with rotating hosts from the board of Bloody Scotland and a variety of journalists, bloggers, podcasters, and booksellers.

Two more crime festivals in the UK are also going to be virtual this month and next. Hull Noir has a series of panels and events planned for March 18-21, kicked off by Peter Robinson in Conversation with Nick Quantrill, although the bulk of the activites will take place in a one-day festival on Saturday, March 21. Wales’s First Crime Fiction Festival, Gwyl Crime Cymru, will also hold free online events April 26-May 2, featuring a Q&A with CWA Diamond Dagger winner, Martin Edwards, and more events to be announced soon.

Some good news from the world of books and booksellers, as Bookshop.org announced it had raised one million for UK bookstores (after raising a similar amount for stores in the U.S.). The funds have been a lifeline for many indie shops, so if you're looking to help out your local indies but they don't have their own website, this is a stopgap measure.

More sad news to report from the crime fiction world: author Paul D. Marks has passed away after a brief bout with cancer. His novel White Heat, a mystery-thriller set during the Rodney King riots of 1992, won the first Shamus Award for Independent Private Eye Novel from the Private Eye Writers of America. He also penned numerous short stories that have appeared in dozens of publications and been award finalists. In addition, he served on the boards of the Los Angeles chapters of Sisters in Crime and the Mystery Writers of America and was a blogger for Seven Criminal Minds and SleuthSayers. His passing was reported on Facebook by Josh Pachter.

NPR reported on how Bellingcat's online sleuths are solving global crimes using open source information on the internet.

Here's a real-life literary mystery solved by modern forensic technology.

The Wall Street Journal magazine wondered if it's time to kill the book blurb.

Oops. A Canada spy agency recruiting ad that used a line from a John Le Carré spy thriller probably should have vetted that quote first.

Last weekend's Saturday Night Live program on NBC had a fun little parody that crime fans might find amusing.

The latest flash fiction offering at Pulp Modern Flash is "The Shovel" by Alan Orloff.

The latest crime poem at the 5-2 Weekly is "I Should've Known by Jess Chua."

In the Q&A roundup, CWA Diamond Dagger winner, Robert Goddard, chatted with Shots Magazine's Ali Karim about his latest book, The Fine Art of Invisible Detection, which follows a widowed middle-aged Japanese female detective; Craig Sisterson's latest 9mm Interview featured award-winning the Uruguayan lawyer, journalist, and author, Mercedes Rosende; and E.B. Davis chatted with Maria DiRico (a/k/a Ellen Byron) about her latest Catering Hall Mystery over at the Writers Who Kill blog.

Author R&R with Tammy Euliano

Tammy Euliano, MD, is a practicing anesthesiologist and tenured professor of anesthesiology at the University of Florida. In addition to a prolific list of academic publications, YouTube teaching videos, and numerous teaching awards, she has also written award-winning short fiction. Her debut crime fiction title, Fatal Intent, was just published today.

Elderly patients are dying at home days after minor surgery. Natural causes? Malpractice? Or a serial killer? And why doesn’t anyone care? Anesthesiologist Dr. Kate Downey wants to know why, but her unorthodox investigation threatens her job, her family, and her very life. The stakes escalate to the breaking point when Kate, under violent duress, is forced to choose which of her loved ones to save—and which must be sacrificed.

Tammy stops by In Reference to Murder to take some Author R&R about writing and researching the book:

 

It is not uncommon for a new author to pattern her protagonist after her own life experiences. I couldn’t get much closer than positioning Dr. Kate Downey as an anesthesiologist specializing in obstetric anesthesia in an academic medical center in north central Florida (which is absolutely NOT Shands Hospital at the University of Florida where I work). There she also educates and supervises medical students and residents, and makes use of a full-scale human patient simulator in her teaching. Her job description pretty much matches mine at her age, but in the details, our lives diverge.

Though I, too, have committed a drug error, mine didn’t end in the disastrous consequences described for poor Kate, though her scenario is not far-fetched. And fortunately the series of Chiefs of Staff under whom I have worked during my long career have all been superb, fair and supportive of their physicians. I have not had my job challenged, though I am certain my chair men and woman would have had my back as Kate’s did. Like Kate, I’ve been blessed with amazing colleagues, residents and anesthesia providers (nurse anesthetists and anesthesia assistants) with whom to work.

On a personal level, when I was Kate’s age, my husband was (and is) very much alive, while hers is in a coma. I also had (and still have) three healthy children, while she is childless. Interestingly my husband, who has not read Fatal Intent, complains that “he” is in a coma in the book, while the kids, who have read it, never complain about being miscarried…men!

I had the medical details pretty much down from my career and experiences. Most of the characters are modeled, at least in part, after people I know, except for the mean ones, those are COMPLETELY FICTITIOUS.

One of the challenges for me was naming my characters. Initially I looked up each name I chose to make sure no one famous existed with that name. I’ve since received a note from a Nurse Anesthetist (CRNA) who shares the name of one of my bad guys…oops. Turns out when I named the character, this young man was not yet a CRNA, but still, it’s unfortunate. Or it would be unfortunate if the book became a bestseller and his name became the Voldemort of 2021.

I find researching places fun. I try to use only locations I’ve at least visited, but still I rely on Google Maps and Google Earth and other internet resources to learn about the areas to which my characters must travel. After Covid, I might make it mandatory that I physically visit each site. Coincidentally, Kate will be visiting each site on my bucket list. Did I mention the next one takes place in Finland? Not sure why Kate is there, or staying in one of those unbelievably cool clear igloos watching the northern lights, but I’ll come up with something.

As I write I am forever fighting the urge to go down the Google research rabbit hole. I’m trying to get better at writing “[something about martial arts]” and continuing on with the text, with the intent of later searching for the brackets. But to date I’m not very good at moving on. I convince myself that the next part might be different once I know what happens in the brackets and off I go for a half-hour distraction, which is often interrupted by my dogs’ urgent need for a cuddle or ball throw or walk or nap – oh wait, that’s me not them.

Anyway, to me, research is one of the greatest parts of writing. And this from someone who performed clinical research for a number of years. I found researching what question I wanted to answer, and writing the background and summary sections of the papers much more stimulating than actually collecting data and trying to figure out which @#$%$# statistic to run. But I digress. Asking a question and seeking the answer, and being able to actually FIND an answer, is one of the great joys of life in general! It’s been proven to keep our minds young and nimble, if not our bodies thin, because snacking becomes a really bad habit during research – better take the dogs for another walk!

 

Learn more about Tammy Euliano and the book via her website, and follow her on Facebook, Goodreads, and YouTube. Fatal Intent is out today and now available via all major book retailers.

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:

AWARDS

The winners of the Golden Globe Awards, handed out annually by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, were presented last night via a virtual ceremony. This year's awards have been tempered by both the Covid-19 pandemic and several controversies, including the lack of diversity and antitrust accusations. But the show must go on, apparently. The winners of note for crime drama fans include Best Performance By An Actress In A Motion Picture: Andra Day, The United States vs. Billie Holiday; Best Supporting Actress, Jodie Foster for The Mauritanian; Best Supporting Actor, Daniel Kaluuya for Judas and the Black Messiah; Best Screenplay, Aaron Sorkin for The Trial of the Chicago 7.

THE BIG SCREEN/MOVIES

Director David Fincher and actor Michael Fassbender are teaming up for The Killer, Fincher’s long-gestating assassin drama that may finally go before cameras this year, according to Hollywood Reporter. In a deal that is still coming together, Fassbender would star as an assassin who begins to psychologically crack as he develops a conscience, even while his clients continue to demand his skills. The story is based on a hardboiled-noir French graphic novel of the same name written by Alexis Nolent (under the pen name Matz) and artist Luc Jacamon.

Ryan Gosling is set to star in and produce an upcoming thriller called The Actor from director Duke Johnson. The film is based on Donald Westlake's novel, Memory, with Johnson and Stephen Cooney penning the screenplay. The story centers on New York actor Paul Cole (Gosling), who's beaten and left for dead in 1950s Ohio. Stripped of his memory and stranded in a mysterious small town, Paul struggles to get back home and reclaim what he’s lost.

Sean Penn and Tye Sheridan are set to star in a thriller called Black Flies that will be directed by filmmaker, Jean-Stéphane Sauvaire. The project is based on Shannon Burke’s novel of the same name and follows two paramedics driving the streets of New York in an ambulance — one a young student who dreams of going to medical school and the other a grizzled veteran and one of the city’s best medics. Black Flies is described as "a thriller about the toll that saving lives inflicts on paramedics, and the film aims to give a street-view look at one paramedic’s struggle to feel he’s making a difference."

Christian Bale and director Scott Cooper are set to make their third film together in Cooper’s scripted adaptation of the Louis Bayard novel, The Pale Blue Eye. The thriller revolves around the attempt to solve a series of murders that took place in 1830 at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point. Bale will play a veteran detective who investigates the murders, helped by a detail-oriented young cadet who will later become a world famous author, Edgar Allan Poe.

Ray Donovan fans will finally get a satisfactory ending to their favorite Showtime series. Donovan's fixer character is returning in a feature-length film that will pick up where season seven left off after its surprise cancellation last year. Liev Schreiber will return as Donovan and will co-write the script with series showrunner, David Hollander, who will also direct. Jon Voight will reprise his role as Mickey Donovan, as will Kerris Dorsey as Ray’s daughter, Bridget. Production is tentatively scheduled to begin later this year in New York.

TELEVISION/STREAMING SERVICES

Ezekiel "Easy" Rawlins will be sleuthing his way back to the screen. Steven Spielberg’s Amblin Television has closed a deal to develop and produce a television series adapted from Walter Mosley’s bestselling gritty historical fiction mystery series starring Rawlins, one of literature’s most popular Black investigators. The drama, based on Mosley’s fifteen novels and collection of short stories centered on the WWII army veteran turned hard-boiled private eye, will be set in 1950s Los Angeles. The last time Rawlins fans saw the P.I. off the pages and on the screen was Denzel Washington’s rendition of the protagonist in the 1995 neo-noir crime thriller, Devil in a Blue Dress.

ViacomCBS has several series adapted from Paramount’s library of films in the pipeline for the streaming service Paramount+. The adaptations that Paramount Television Studios will produce include a series based on the psychosexual thriller, Fatal Attraction; another on the heist film, The Italian Job; and a third on the political thriller, The Parallax View. The projects also join a previously announced series based on The Godfather. Most of these are described as "reimagining" storylines, with the Italian Job series going so far as to center on the grandchildren of Michael Caine’s Charlie Croker character in the 1969 film.

Jeremy Renner is set as the lead in Paramount+’s anticipated drama series, Mayor of Kingstown, from Yellowstone co-creator, Taylor Sheridan. Mayor of Kingstown follows the McLusky family – power brokers in Kingstown, Michigan - where the business of incarceration is the only thriving industry. Tackling themes of systemic racism, corruption and inequality, the series provides a stark look at their attempt to bring order and justice to a town that has neither.

Taylor Kitsch has been cast to star alongside Chris Pratt in the Amazon thriller series, The Terminal List. The series, based on the Jack Carr novel of the same name, follows James Reece (Pratt) after his entire platoon of Navy SEALs is ambushed during a high-stakes covert mission. Kitsch will play Ben Edwards, a former SEAL and James Reece’s best friend. Now a member of CIA Ground Branch, Edwards uses his intelligence access and operator skill set to help Reece seek his vengeance.

Last week, it was announced that a Criminal Minds reboot might be in the works, and this week brings word that Paramount+ also has plans for a companion unscripted series. Tentatively titled The Real Criminal Minds, the true-crime docuseries will feature a real former FBI profiler and examine real cases and real criminal behavior, illustrated by clips from the fictional Criminal Minds series.

PODCASTS/VIDEO/RADIO/AUDIO

Colson Whitehead, author of The Nickel Boys, a novel about a reform school in Florida that operated for 111 years and had its history of abuse exposed by a university's investigation, was interviewed on CBS's 60 Minutes program.

It was a Dark and Stormy Book Club featured a tribute to Black mystery authors.

Crime Writers of Color welcomed Bianca Sloane, author of the suspense novels What You Don’t Know, Sweet Little Lies, Every Breath You Take and Killing Me Softly (previously published as Live and Let Die).

A new Mysteryrat's Maze Podcast is up featuring the mystery short story, "Still Life" by Lori Rader-Day, as read by actor Cha Yang.


A second season of Lynda La Plante's Listening to the Dead true crime podcast launched with an episode titled, "Cause of Death - Blunt Force Trauma."

Read or Dead hosts, Katie and Nusrah, talked about mystery and thriller reads featuring romance gone right, and romance gone very wrong.

Meet the Thriller Author spoke with bestselling author Mark Greaney, whose debut international thriller, The Gray Man, was published in 2009 and became a national bestseller and a highly sought-after Hollywood property. Ten subsequent Gray Man novels have been released to date, including his latest, Relentless. Mark is also the author or coauthor of seven Tom Clancy novels and collaborated with Tom Clancy on three Jack Ryan novels before Tom’s death in 2013.

Eliza Lentzski was this week's featured author on Queer Writers of Crime. Eliza is a historian by day who has also authored lesbian fiction and romance novels, including the best-selling series Winter Jacket and Don’t Call Me Hero.

Criminal Mischief took on the topic of "Setting As Character." Can a story be set just anywhere? Some can, but most rely on the location and time period to underpin and amplify the story.

Wrong Place, Write Crime chatted with Martin Roy Hill about his latest book, The Fourth Rising.