In Reference to Murder

FFB: The President's Mystery Plot

This is a rather timely nod to a "forgotten book," considering former president, Bill Clinton, has partnered with crime author James Patterson for a couple of thrillers to date.

Long before Elliott Roosevelt wrote murder mysteries featuring his mother Eleanor Roosevelt as a super sleuth, and even before first daughter Margaret Truman penned her crime fiction (despite rumblings of ghostwriting), President Franklin Delano Roosevelt came up with his own idea for a mystery novel. When he was Governor of New York he once said of detective stories, "Hundreds of such novels are published every year, but only a few are really worth the time and attention of intelligent readers. Even in the good ones there is often a sameness. Some one finds the corpse and then the detective tracks down the murderer. I do not believe that such stories have to follow an inevitable pattern or formula."

Apparently, even after he became President, FDR couldn't stop thinking about detective novels. He discussed with his friend, magazine editor Fulton Oursler, his thoughts that such stories appealed to the detective instinct in all of us and were a literary game, an intellectual recreation less purely intellectual than chess but more dramatic. He also told Oursler he'd been carrying around in his mind the plot for a mystery novel for years. His idea? "How can a man disappear with five million dollars in any negotiable form and not be traced?" Oursler suggested they ask the leading writers in the U.S. to collaborate on such a story, to which FDR replied, "Go ahead. See what you can all do with it."

Oursler did just that, contacting various authors and challenging them to take "the President's mystery plot" and contribute a chapter to the story by plonking the protagonist, Jim Blake, in a dire situation and then leaving him for the next author in line. The work of the first authors, Rupert Hughes, Samuel Hopkins Adams, Anthony Abbot, Rita Weiman, S. S. Van Dyne, and John Erskine, were serialized in Oursler's Liberty Magazine in 1935, and the book was published in 1936. However, poor Jim Blake was left hanging for thirty years until Erle Stanley Gardner (creator of Perry Mason) came along and tied everything up in a final chapter when the book was reprinted in 1967 and retitled The President's Mystery Plot.

More a literary curiosity than high literature, the book has a bit of camp and zaniness, and true mystery fans may be disappointed in the thin, zigzagging plot and weak characterizations that sometimes accompany collaborative ventures. Still, it was popular enough that a movie was made of the story in 1936, directed by Phil Rosen and starring Henry Wilcoxon as hapless Jim Blake (Marc Antony in Cecil B. DeMille's Cleopatra). It's an interesting period piece, if you can get past the first chapter. Writer Rupert Hughes gave Blake a scheming Russian wife and writes out her dialogue with "phoenetic precision," as Arthur Schlesinger, Jr., aptly notes in his introduction ("Jeem, how you can't see it is beecose I loaf you so dear I cannot deevide your loaf with even some babies?").

More telling may be what the book reveals about Roosevelt himself. When he proposed the idea to Oursler, the hero was conceived as "hating the falsity of his existence, the meaninglessness of his career, the sameness of his middle-aged routine, the absence of purpose and the boredom with his marriage."

Mystery Melange

Chris Whitaker’s We Begin at the End was crowned Theakston Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year 2021 at the recent Theakston Old Peculier Crime Writing Festival – presented by Harrogate International Festivals at the Old Swan Hotel. Brian McGilloway's The Last Crossing was also given a "Highly Recommended" commendation.

Also at the Theakston convention, Scottish author Ian Rankin was presented with the festival's outstanding contribution to crime fiction award. Rankin said, "It’s such a privilege and an honour to receive this award, and especially to be in Harrogate to receive it in person. I’ve been a published writer for over 30 years but this past year has been uniquely challenging – for writers, readers and booksellers." He was awarded the prize on the opening night of the festival, for which he was also this year's festival programming chair.

The Private Eye Writers of America announced the Shamus Award Winners for 2021 (for works published in 2020). Best Private Eye Novel went to Blind Vigil by Matt Coyle (Oceanview); Best Original Private Eye Paperback was won by Brittle Karma by Richard Helms (Black Arch Books); Best First Private Eye Novel was The Missing American by Kwei Quartey (Soho); and Best Private Eye Short Story, was "Mustang Sally" by John M. Floyd (in Black Cat Mystery Magazine). In addition, "The Eye," the PWA Life Achievement Award, was given to Michael Z. Lewin.

Open Road Integrated Media announced that it’s acquiring the United Kingdom’s Bloodhound Books, based in Cambridge. Bloodhound Books specializes in ebooks and print-on-demand for paper lovers with a focus on crime fiction. Bloodhound is a submissions house, actively welcoming authors’ queries, agented or not, in "crime fiction, women’s fiction, suspense, mystery, romantic comedies, historical fiction, cozy crime, domestic noir, psychological thrillers, romance, and chillers."

Sadly, we lost a couple of crime authors this week. George Weir, author of the Bill Travis Mystery series, passed away from cancer (here's an interview with the Mystery People from 2016), and Clare Dunkel, a/k/a Mo Hayder, has died from a motor neurone disease. Hayder's novel, Gone, won the Edgar Award for Best Novel in 2012.

This is a promising development in forensic science.

This week's crime poem at the 5-2 is "Teeter Totter" by Tom Barlow.

In the Q&A roundup, LJ Ross shared her experiences with The Bookseller of engaging readers in the northeast region of the UK, and of weaving its settings and sights into her novels; and Author Interviews chatted with Hilary Davidson about her new standalone thriller, Her Last Breath.

Ned Kelly Awards

The Ned Kelly Awards, Australia’s oldest and most prestigious recognition honoring published crime fiction and true crime writing, announced the 2021 shortlists today. Australian Crime Writers Association chair Robert Goodman noted there was a record number of entries this year and added, "The large increase in entries this year demonstrates that Australian crime writing and reading has never been stronger...This is not just evident in the number of submissions but in the diversity and quality of the entries. Congratulations to all our entry authors." The winners will be announced at an award ceremony next month.

BEST CRIME FICTION

• Consolation by Garry Disher (Text) (on my TBR!)

• Gathering Dark by Candice Fox (Penguin Random House)

• A Testament of Character by Sulari Gentill (Pantera Press)

• The Survivors by Jane Haepwe(Pan Macmillan)

• The Good Turn by Dervla McTiernan (Harper Collins) (on my TBR!)

• Tell Me Lies by J.P. Pomare (Hachette) (on my TBR!)

• When She Was Good by Michael Robotham (Hachette)

• White Throat by Sarah Thornton (Text) (on my TBR!)

BEST DEBUT CRIME FICTION

• The Good Mother by Rae Cairns (Bandrui Publishing)

• The Second Son by Loraine Peck (Text)

• The Bluffs by Kyle Perry (Penguin Random House) (abandoned this one)

• The Night Whistler by Greg Woodland (Text)

BEST TRUE CRIME

• The Husband Poisoner by Tanya Bretherton (Hachette)

• Stalking Claremont: Inside the hunt for a serial killer by Bret Christian (Harper Collins) (on my TBR!)

• Public Enemies by Mark Dapin (Allen and Unwin)

• Hazelwood by Tom Doig (Penguin Random House)

• Witness by Louise Milligan (Hachette)

BEST INTERNATIONAL CRIME FICTION

• The Guest List by Lucy Foley (Harper Collins)

• The Secrets of Strangers by Charity Norman (Allen and Unwin)

• Take Me Apart by Sara Sligar (Text)

• We Begin at the End by Chris Whittaker (Allen and Unwin)

• Broken by Don Winslow (Harper Collins)

 

Davitt Delights

Sisters in Crime Australia has announced a rather long shortlist – 25 – for its 21st Davitt Awards for the best crime and mystery books by Australian women: nine adult novels, five young adult (YA) novels, six children’s novels and five non-fiction books. Twelve books from all categories are competing for the debut award. Altogether, 127 books have been in contention. Here are all this year's finalists:

Best Adult Crime Novel:

• B M Allsopp, Death Beyond the Limit (Fiji Islands Mysteries #3) (Coconut Press)
• Sarah Barrie, Deadman’s Track (Calico Mountain #3) (HQ Fiction, an imprint of Harlequin Australia)
• Candice Fox, Gathering Dark (Penguin Random House Australia)
• Sulari Gentill, A Testament of Character (Rowland Sinclair #10) (Pantera Press)
• Sally Hepworth, The Good Sister (Pan Macmillan Australia)
• Karina Kilmore, Where the Truth Lies (Simon & Schuster Australia) Debut
• Suzanne Leal, The Deceptions (Allen & Unwin) Debut
• Mirandi Riwoe, Stone Sky Gold Mountain (University of Queensland Press)
• Kimberley Starr, Torched (Pantera Press)

Best Young Adult Crime Novel:

• Davina Bell, The End of the World Is Bigger than Love (Text Publishing) Debut
• Sarah Epstein, Deep Water (Allen & Unwin Children’s)
• Ellie Marney, None Shall Sleep (Allen & Unwin Children’s)
• Christie Nieman, Where We Begin (Pan Macmillan Australia) Debut
• Lisa Walker, The Girl with the Gold Bikini (Wakefield Press) Debut

Best Children’s Crime Novel:

• Jackie French, The Ghost of Howlers Beach (Butter O’Bryan Mysteries #1) (HarperCollins Publishers Australia) Debut
• Amelia Mellor, The Grandest Bookshop in the World (Affirm Press) Debut
• Julianne Negri, The Secret Library of Hummingbird House (Affirm Press) Debut
• Pamela Rushby, The Mummy Smugglers of Crumblin Castle (Walker Books Australia)
• Lian Tanner, A Clue for Clara (Allen & Unwin Children’s) Debut
• Sue Whiting, The Book of Chance (Walker Books Australia)

Bet Non-fiction Crime Book:

• Stephanie Convery, After the Count: The death of Davey Browne (Viking, an imprint of Penguin Random House Australia) Debut
• Melissa Davey, The Case of George Pell: Reckoning with child sexual abuse (Scribe Publications) Debut
• Louise Milligan, Witness: An investigation into the brutal cost of seeking justice (Hachette Australia)
• Caroline Overington, Missing William Tyrrell (HarperCollins Publishers Australia)
• Angela Williams, Snakes and Ladders: A memoir (Affirm Press) Debut

Best Debut Crime Novel:

• Sonya Bates, Inheritance of Secrets (HarperCollins Publishers Australia)
• Davina Bell, The End of the World Is Bigger than Love (Text Publishing)
• Melissa Davey, The Case of George Pell: Reckoning with child sexual abuse (Scribe Publications)
• Anna Downes, The Safe Place (Affirm Press)
• Mary Jones, Troubled Waters (Green Olive Press)
• Karina Kilmore, Where the Truth Lies (Simon & Schuster Australia)
• Amelia Mellor, The Grandest Bookshop in the World (Affirm Press)
• Kate Mildenhall, The Mother Fault (Simon & Schuster Australia)
• Julianne Negri, The Secret Library of Hummingbird House (Affirm Press)
• Leah Swann, Sheerwater (4th Estate, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers Australia)
• Lian Tanner, A Clue for Clara (Allen & Unwin Children’s)
• Lisa Walker, The Girl with the Gold Bikini (Wakefield Press)

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

A sequel to the 1996 TV movie, Gotti, about mobster John Gotti, is in the works, with Nick Vallelonga and George Gallo signed on to write the script. Armand Assante, who won an Emmy for a Lead Actor in a Miniseries or a Special for his portrayal in the original, is set to reprise his title role in Gotti 2: The Final Chapter, Facts Undisputed. (FYI, the 1996 film Gotti is not to be confused with the 2018 John Travolta film of the same name which famously scored a 0% on Rotten Tomatoes and stands as one of the review aggregator's worst reviewed movies of all time.)

Cory Hardrict is set to star in the indie thriller, Die Like a Man. Eric Nazarian is writing and directing the pic which is the first part of a street trilogy revolving around themes of masculinity, violence, and gentrification in 21st century America. Hardrict portrays a recently paroled west side gangster who, after serving a decade behind bars, returns to his old west LA neighborhood, now gentrified and redeveloped. All his friends are dead or have moved on, and his only anchor is training his best friend’s son in the ill-fated codes of masculinity on the street that lead to devastating consequences.

Succession star, Brian Cox, is set to star opposite Kate Beckinsale in the Catherine Hardwicke-helmed family drama, Prisoner’s Daughter. The film tells the story of a tough but proud ex-con who’s struggling to find a way to reconnect with his only daughter and grandson; once he begins an attempt at reconciliation, his violent past once again catches up to him.

TELEVISION/STREAMING SERVICE

Netflix has greenlighted The Night Agent, a political conspiracy thriller series based on author Matthew Quirk’s 2019 New York Times bestseller. The Night Agent is described as "a sophisticated, character-based action-thriller" centering on a low-level FBI agent who works in the basement of the White House, manning a phone that never rings — until the night that it does, propelling him into a fast moving and dangerous conspiracy that ultimately leads all the way to the Oval Office.

Natalie Chaidez (The Flight Attendant; Queen of the South) has acquired the film and TV rights to Oscar "Zeta" Acosta's novels, Autobiography of a Brown Buffalo and The Revolt of the Cockroach People, and will executive produce and supervise writing for an upcoming TV series. Acosta was a Mexican-American attorney, politician, novelist, and activist in the Chicano Civil Rights Movement who disappeared in Mexico in 1974—a year after his second novel was released—and is presumed dead. He's also famously known for his friendship with Hunter S. Thompson, who characterized Acosta as being like "Samoan attorney Dr. Gonzo in Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas."

Michelle Monaghan has been cast in the dual lead role in Netflix's upcoming thriller series, Echoes. Described as a mystery thriller, the seven-episode series centers on two identical twins, Leni and Gina, who have secretly swapped lives since they were children. They share two homes, two husbands, and a child but everything in their perfectly choreographed world is thrown into disarray when one of the sisters goes missing.

Danielle Deadwyler and Whoopi Goldberg are set to star in Till, a drama about the aftermath of the murder of Emmett Till, from Clemency director Chinonye Chukwu. Till centers on Mamie Till-Mobley, who led a pursuit for justice for her 14-year-old son Emmett Louis Till, choosing to have an open casket at her son's funeral following his gruesome murder in 1955 after he was accused of offending a white woman in a grocery store. Mamie chose to have Jet magazine publish the horrific photos at the funeral, which became a galvanizing moment that helped lead to the creation of the civil rights movement. Deadwyler in the film will play Mamie, while Goldberg will portray Emmett's grandmother, Alma Carthan.

Emmy Award nominee Phillipa Soo has joined the cast of the AppleTV+ time traveling murder mystery series, Shining Girls, based on the 2013 best-selling novel by Lauren Beukes. Soo will portray the intelligent and sure-footed Jin-Sook who works in the research department at the Adler planetarium. She will star opposite Elisabeth Moss, who portrays a Chicago reporter who survived a brutal assault only to find her reality shifting as she hunts down her attacker. The star-studded cast also includes Wagner Moura (Narcos) as a veteran journalist breaking the widening story of a copycat attack, and Jamie Bell as a mysterious loner with a surprising connection to Kirby.

Michael Chernus is set as a lead opposite Rachel Weisz in Amazon’s Dead Ringers series, a reimagining with a gender swap of David Cronenberg’s cult classic 1980s film. Dead Ringers is a modern take on Cronenberg’s thriller (which starred Jeremy Irons), featuring Weisz playing the double lead role of Elliot and Beverly Mantle, twins who share everything: drugs, lovers, and an unapologetic desire to do whatever it takes, including pushing the boundaries on medical ethics in an effort to challenge antiquated practices and bring women’s healthcare to the forefront. Chernus will play the series regular role of Tom, a brilliant scientist, working with Elliot (Weisz) on a groundbreaking but perilous new project.

ITV’s adaptation of Louise Candlish’s Sunday Times best-selling novel, Our House, has cast Martin Compston (Line Of Duty), Tuppence Middleton (Downton Abbey), and Rupert Penry-Jones (The Drowning) in headline roles. Our House tells the four-part story of Fi Lawson (Middleton), who arrives home one day to find a family of strangers moving into her house and her husband, Bram (Compston), has vanished. As the nightmare takes grip, both Bram and Fi try to make sense of the events that led to a devastating crime and how they each are going to survive the chilling truth.

Corbin Bernsen and Alexis Valdés have been tapped for roles opposite Woody Harrelson and Justin Theroux in The White House Plumbers, HBO’s five-part limited series that revisits Watergate, one of the biggest political scandals in American history. White House Plumbers is based in part on public records and the book, Integrity, by Egil "Bud" Krogh and Matthew Krogh. It tells the true story of how Nixon’s own political saboteurs and Watergate masterminds, E. Howard Hunt (Harrelson) and G. Gordon Liddy (Theroux), accidentally toppled the presidency they were zealously trying to protect. Bernsen will play Richard Kleindienst, the Harvard-educated attorney general that is tainted by the ITT scandal and a contentious confirmation process. He refuses to use his power to shield the Plumbers from investigators. Valdés plays Felipe De Diego, a Cuban-American real estate broker and yachtsman who participates in every Plumbers operation except the one which ends in their arrest.

German actress Christiane Paul (Counterpart) and Carter Redwood (The Long Road Home) round out the series regular cast of FBI: International, the upcoming third series in Dick Wolf’s hit FBI drama franchise on CBS. FBI: International follows the elite operatives of the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s International Fly Team. Headquartered in Budapest, they travel the world with the mission of tracking and neutralizing threats against American citizens wherever they may be. Not allowed to carry guns, the Fly Team relies on intelligence, quick thinking and pure brawn as they put their lives on the line to protect the U.S. and its people. Paul will play a Europol agent, while Redwood plays a member of the FBI Fly Team in Budapest.

CBS has dropped a first-look teaser for CSI: Vegas, a sequel to the mothership CSI series, CSI: Crime Scene Investigation. The sequel features returning CSI stars William Petersen, Jorja Fox, and Wallace Langham, who are joined by new series regulars Paula Newsome, Matt Lauria, Mel Rodriguez and Mandeep Dhillon. CSI: Vegas opens a new chapter in the city where it all began. Facing an existential threat that could bring down the Crime Lab, a brilliant team of forensic investigators must welcome back old friends and deploy new techniques to preserve and serve justice in Sin City.

Showtime has released the first trailer for American Rust, the upcoming series adaptation of the acclaimed novel by Philipp Meyer starring Jeff Daniels and Maura Tierney. Set to premiere on Sept. 12, the series is described as a "story of survival and transcendence" centered on Del Harris (Daniels), the chief of police of a Pennsylvania Rust Belt town. When news of a murder rips through the town, Harris must decide what lengths he is willing to take to protect the son of the woman he loves. Tierney stars opposite Daniels as Grace Poe, whose son is accused of murder. The cast also includes Bill Camp, David Alvarez, Alex Neustaedter, Julia Mayorga, Mark Pellegrino, and Rob Yang.

PODCASTS/VIDEO/RADIO/AUDIO

Writer Types host, Eric Beetner, chatted with mega-bestsellers Karin Slaughter (False Witness), Brad Parks (Unthinkable), and Glen Erik Hamilton (Island of Thieves).

Meet the Thriller Author welcomed M. J. Polelle, who is a Harvard Law School graduate, an emeritus professor of the John Marshall Law School in Chicago, and an award-winning legal writer. The Mithras Conspiracy was his first novel, and his latest, American Conspiracy, will be published on July 27.

The latest guest on Queer Writers of Crime was Chris Holcombe, an author of LGBTQ+ historical crime fiction. The Double Vice is the first novel in his Hidden Gotham series, which showcases New York’s lively but criminally under-represented queer world of the 1920s.

Writer's Detective Bureau host, veteran Police Detective Adam Richardson, tackled the topics of who investigates money laundering and gun trafficking; proving your main character's innocence; and the parallels between the courtroom and show business.

In the latest episode of Red Hot Chili Writers, Vaseem Khan discussed his new book, The Dying Day; there was a discussion of racism in sports films; and Tracy Fenton of TBC (The Book Club) talked about her favorite novels of the year so far.

FFB: Poison for the Prince

Historical myseries have been around for awhile, but really began to grace the bestseller lists in the 1980s and 90s with the books of Anne Perry (Victorian England), Elizabeth Peters (Victorian and Edwardian England and Egypt) and Ellis Peters (Brother Cadfael in Norman England). Around that era, two women who were former classmates, Jill Staynes and Margaret Storey, decided to pen their own historical mystery series under the pen name Elizabeth Eyre.

There were a total of six books, published once per year from 1991 to 1996:

Death of the Duchess 
Curtains for the Cardinal 
Poison for the Prince 
Bravo for the Bride 
Axe for an Abbot 
Dirge for a Doge 

Poison for the Prince (1993) is a middle installment in this series set in the Italian Renaissance. Like the other books, it features courtier and sleuth Sigismondo, assisted by his shrewd half-wit servant Benno and a dog named Biondello. In this outing, Sigismondo and Benno are in the city of Viverra, where its weak and near-penniless ruler Prince Scipione is kept in power by high-priced mercenary Ridolfo Rodolfi. Scipione suffers from a chronic illness that the prince's wife and his alchemist attribute to fumes from the laboratory where the Prince works to replenish his supply of gold. Sigismondo, however, suspects poison and has a host of suspects including Scipione's cheating wife, his playboy son, the mysteroius alchemist and a charismatic monk who preaches against alchemy.

Publishers Weekly noted that "Trailing after Eyre's sleuths is like making one's way through crowded fairgrounds -not much character development, but plenty of entertaining distractions." Kirkus was more complimentary, adding, "Less earnestly didactic than Sigismondo's earlier adventures, but still aswirl in enough Machiavellian plots, moonlit assignations, treacherous hirelings, and summary beheadings to keep you bedazzled in a perpetual haze of Renaissance chiaroscuro."

Sigismondo is an appealing character, once described as a brilliant deductionist who is bald like a monk but who fights like a soldier, while his slack-jawed manservant, Benno, is someone who has an air of amiable idiocy. Although London's publication The Mail on Sunday trumpeted that Sigismondo could well be starting a career to equal Ellis Peter's Brother Cadfael, unfortunately the series never quite took off, and the books are mostly out of print now.

Mystery Melange

David Joy’s When These Mountains Burn (Putnam) has won the 2020 Hammett Prize from the North American Branch of the International Association of Crime Writers. The award is handed out annually to a book originally published in the English language in the U.S. or Canada, "That best represents the conception of literary excellence in crime writing." The other finalists included: Murder in Old Bombay, by Nev March (Minotaur); The Mountains Wild, by Sarah Stewart Taylor (Minotaur); Three Hours in Paris, by Cara Black (Soho Crime); and Winter Counts, by David Heska Wanbli Weiden (Ecco).

Craig Sisterson, founder of the Ngaio Marsh Award for excellence in crime writing by New Zealand authors, announced on Facebook the longlist for 2021. This year there will also be an inagural commendation presented to a novel written specifically for younger readers. The finalists for Best Novel, Best First Novel, and Best Non-fiction are scheduled to be announced on Saturday, August 28, during the WORD Christchurch Festival, with winners to be revealed during a special WORD Christchurch event in October. (HT to The Rap Sheet and Craig Sisterson)
 

Submissions are open through August 3 for the Capital Crime and Amazon Publishing contest to discover new voices in the crime and thriller fiction community, and to further their writing careers. The competition is open to unpublished mystery, thriller, and crime fiction manuscripts in English from writers around the world. The winner will receive £1000, complimentary registration to the next Capital Crime Festival, a trophy, and a potential offer of publication from Thomas & Mercer, the mystery and thriller imprint of Amazon Publishing.

On Wednesday, August 4th at 7pm ET both live and online, the Mystery Writers of America's reading series returns to the KGB Bar (85 E 4th St, New York, NY 10003). Authors currently scheduled to participate in readings include Annamaria Alfieri, Ann Aptaker, D.M. Barr, Carole Bugge, Philip Cioffari, R.L. Crossland, Jeff Markowitz, and James McCrone.

The U.S. Postal Service issued a "Mystery Message" stamp at the International Spy Museum in Washington. According to the USPS, this Forever stamp has been designed by Antonio Alcalá to "put your sleuthing skills to the test!" If you want try your hand at solving the riddle, follow this link.

This week's crime poem at the 5-2 is "Stegosaurus swallows man! Read all about it!!" by Tony Dawson.

In the Q&A roundup, Lisa Haselton interviewed mystery author, Michael Devendorf; and over at Writers Who Kill, Grace Topping chatted with Ginger Bolton about her Deputy Donut mystery series.

Media Murder for Monday

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

THE BIG SCREEN/MOVIES

John Slattery, Ayden Mayeri, Lorenza Izzo, and Annie Mumolo have joined the cast of Confess, Fletch, starring Jon Hamm. The reboot closely follows the plot of the classic Gregory McDonald mystery novel series that inspired the 1980’s Chevy Chase films. Hamm stars as I.M.Fletcher, the hotshot investigative reporter played by Chase in the 1985 neo-noir comedy of the same name. Mcdonald’s eleven mystery books, the first of which was published in 1974, center on Fletcher as he juggles writing exposés while avoiding headaches caused by his two ex-wives.

Oscar nominee, Anna Kendrick, is reteaming with Lionsgate for the psychological thriller, Alice, Darling, currently in production in Canada. The project sees the feature directorial debut of Mary Nighy and follows Alice (Kendrick) who is behaving strangely and keeping secrets about her mercurial boyfriend (Charlie Carrick) from her two best friends (Wunmi Mosaku and Kaniehtiio Horn). When the three friends take a girl’s trip out of town, all secrets are revealed when a local girl goes missing and Alice’s boyfriend arrives unannounced.

Ian McShane is set to reprise his role as Winston opposite Keanu Reeves in the Chad Stahelski-directed John Wick: Chapter 4. Marko Zaror is also in negotiations to play one of the film's villains, joining the ensemble cast of Donnie Yen, Rina Sawayama, Scott Adkins, Lance Reddick, and Shamier Anderson.

Chris Gray is set to play young Ray in Showtime’s follow-up feature-length movie, Ray Donovan. The film picks up where Season 7 of the popular series left off following its surprise cancellation last year, with Mickey (Jon Voight) in the wind and Ray (Liev Schreiber) determined to find and stop him before he can cause any more carnage. Gray plays the younger version of Schreiber’s Ray Donovan, and like his older self, he is a physically imposing young man who can convey much with only a few words and is decisive and calm in times of crisis.

TELEVISION/STREAMING SERVICE

The recently announced Emmy Award nominees were fairly bereft of crime drama nods but did have a couple for Perry Mason, including Matthew Rhys for Lead Actor and John Lithgow for Best Supporting Actor. Mare of Easttown was also nominated for Best Limited Series; Best Actress, Limited Series (Kate Winslet); Supporting Actress, Limited Series (Julianne Nicholson and Jean Smart); and Best Supporting Actor, Limited Series (Evan Peter). Hugh Grant (The Undoing) was also nominated for Lead Actor, Limited Series, Movie or Anthology. For all the nominees, follow this link.

AMC Networks has greenlighted the Western noir thriller series, Dark Winds, based on the popular Leaphorn & Chee book series by Tony Hillerman. Created and executive produced by Graham Roland (Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan), the series stars Zahn McClarnon (Westworld) and Kiowa Gordon (Roswell, New Mexico) as Navajo Tribal Police Officers Joe Leaphorn and Jim Chee, respectively. Dark Winds, which has received a six-episode order, is a psychological thriller that follows the two officers in the 1970s Southwest as their search for clues in a grisly double murder case forces them to challenge their own spiritual beliefs and come to terms with the trauma of their pasts.

The Last Police, an adaptation of Ben Winters’ sci-fi mystery novel The Last Policeman, has received a pilot order at Fox. The hour-long project, which has a slightly different title from the book, will be written, directed, and executive produced by Kyle Killen (Lone Star). The Last Police follows a small-town police detective, who, as an asteroid races toward an apocalyptic collision with Earth, believes she’s been chosen to save humanity, while her cynical partner can’t decide what he’ll enjoy more: her delusional failure, or the end of the world itself. The book was first published in 2012 and won the Edgar Award in the category of best original paperback before being followed up by two subsequent books – Countdown City and World of Trouble.

Law & Order: For the Defense, which had been slated for a fall 2021 launch with a straight-to-series order, has been scrapped by NBC. The legal drama, which was supposed to be part of an all-Law & Order Thursday lineup alongside Law & Order: SVU and Law & Order: Organized Crime, will be replaced on the schedule by veteran The Blacklist, which will relocate from Fridays to the Thursday 8 PM berth for its ninth season. For the Defense, which took an inside look at a criminal defense firm, had progressed to the casting stage, with offers made to name actors over the past two months.

Starz has found its lead director for the upcoming TV spinoff of John Wick, titled The Continental. Albert Hughes will direct the first and third episodes of the drama, which focuses on the origin of the hotel for assassins from the Keanu Reeves-led film franchise. Starz had initially developed the project as an ongoing series, but it was recently reported that it will now be a three-part TV event across three nights.

Amazon’s Tiger King series, which would have starred Nicolas Cage as Joe Exotic (based on the story of Joe Schreibvogel), has been scrapped. The series was one of two scripted takes on the subject, the other set at Peacock starring Kate McKinnon and John Cameron Mitchell, which is still moving forward. In an interview with Variety, Cage expanded on the decision: "I read two excellent scripts... but I think Amazon ultimately felt that it was material that had become past tense because it took so long for it come together. They felt at one point that it was lighting in the bottle, but that point has since faded into the distance and it’s no longer relevant."

Alexa Davalos has been tapped as a lead opposite Julian McMahon on CBS’s FBI: Most Wanted for the show’s upcoming third season. As a new series regular, she will play an FBI agent who joins Jess’s (McMahon’s) team. From Dick Wolf and the rest of the team behind FBI, spinoff FBI: Most Wanted focuses on the Fugitive Task Force, an elite unit that relentlessly pursues and captures the notorious criminals on the Bureau’s Most Wanted list. In addition to McMahon, Davalos joins fellow series regulars Kellan Lutz, Roxy Sternberg, Keisha Castle-Hughes and Miguel Gomez.

Oliver Hudson has been tapped as a male lead opposite Elodie Yung in Fox’s new drama series, The Cleaning Lady. Hudson is joining as a new series regular in a recasting that also involved a role redevelopment. He will play FBI Agent Garrett Miller, a newly created character that will replace FBI Special Agent Gavin Ross.

The Wrap posted a list of the premiere dates for broadcast TV’s new and returning fall shows. They include the NCIS franchise series (minus the Louisiana version but with the added new Hawaii version); the FBI franchise series (with the added FBI: International); S.W.A.T.; Magnum P.I.; The Equalizer; and SEAL Team.

NBC announced its fall lineup, which includes many of the same returning crime dramas such as the "Chicago" and "Law and Order" franchises.

The new season of Britbox's modern cozy mystery series, McDonald & Dodds, premieres on August 3rd. The series follows newly promoted DCI McDonald and veteran sergeant Dodds as they investigate complex mysteries with a web of clues that has everyone guessing who are the real victims and villains. Ahead of the new season, Britbox dropped a trailer, which you can view here.

PODCASTS/VIDEO/RADIO/AUDIO

A new Mysteryrat's Maze Podcast is up featuring the first chapter of Haunting Dreams by Jan Christensen, read by actor Ariel Linn

Speaking of Mysteries chatted with Jeff Abbott about his aptly-named new crime fiction novel, An Ambush of Widows, (ambush is the collective noun for widows), in which two men with no apparent connection to each other are shot and killed in a warehouse in Austin, Texas.

Meet the Thriller Author spoke with former Hollywood finance exec Lorraine Evanoff about her new thriller, Pinot Noir.

Queer Writers of Crime welcomed Meredith Doench, author of the Luce Hansen thriller series.

Chris Racknor, who has a Ph.D. in physics, was the latest guest on My Favorite Detective Stories. Racknor is author of a series with disgraced physicist turned private eye, Shawn Ronin.

It Was a Dark and Stormy Book Club featured a Beach Reads Roundup.


THEATRE

The Gloucester Stage in Worchester, MA, is presenting an outdoor staging of Ken Ludwig’s Baskerville: A Sherlock Holmes Mystery. In the fast-paced comedy, Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson must crack the mystery of "The Hound of the Baskervilles" before a family curse dooms its newest heir. The timeless duo investigate a dizzying web of clues along with three actors who deftly portray more than 40 characters. Performances run through July 25.

The Ivoryton Playhouse in the town of Essex, Connecticut (believed to be the first continuously operating, self-supporting summer theatre in the United States and listed in the National Register of Historic Places), is staging Murder for Two, a spoof by Kellen Blair and Joe Kinosian, through August 1. The show features one piano, one wannabe detective, one murder (until it’s two), two gifted actors and a lucky baker’s dozen of suspects.

Agatha Accolades

The 2021 Malice Domestic Agatha Awards winners were announced today at More Than Malice, the virtual Malice Domestic festival taking the place of an in-person event this year.  Here are the honorees:

 

Best Contemporary Novel: All the Devils are Here by Louise Penny (Minotaur)

Also nominated: Gift of the Magpie by Donna Andrews; Murder in the Bayou Boneyard by Ellen Byron (Crooked Lane Books); From Beer to Eternity by Sherry Harris (Kensington); The Lucky One by Lori Rader-Day (William Morris) 

Best Historical Novel: The Last Mrs. Summers by Rhys Bowen (Berkeley)

Also nominated: Fate of a Flapper by Susanna Calkins (Griffin); A Lady's Guide to Mischief and Murder by Dianne Freeman (Kensington); Taken Too Soon by Edith Maxwell (Beyond the Page Publishing); The Turning Tide by Catriona McPherson (Quercus) 

Best First Novel: Murder at the Mena House by Erica Ruth Neubauer (Kensington)

Also nominated: A Spell for Trouble by Esme Addison (Crooked Lane Books); Winter Witness by Tina deBelgarde (Level Best Books); Derailed by Mary Keliikoa (Epicenter Press, Inc.); Murder Most Sweet by Laura Jensen Walker (Kensington) 

Best Short Story: "Dear Emily Etiquette" by Barb Goffman (Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine Sep/Oct)

Also nominated:  "The Red Herrings at Killington Inn" by Shawn Reilly Simmons Masthead: Best New England Crime Stories (Level Best Books); "The Boy Detective & The Summer of '74" by Art Taylor (Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine Jan/Feb); "Elysian Fields" by Gabriel Valjan California Schemin': The 2020 Bouchercon Anthology (Wildside Press); "The 25 Year Engagement" by James Ziskin In League with Sherlock Holmes: Stories Inspired by the Sherlock Holmes Canon (Pegasus Crime) 

Best Non-Fiction: Phantom Lady: Hollywood Producer Joan Harrison, the Forgotten Woman Behind Hitchcock by Christina Lane (Chicago Review Press)

Also nominated: Sometimes You Have to Lie: The Life and Times of Louise Fitzhugh, Renegade Author of Harriet the Spy by Leslie Brody (Seal Press); American Sherlock: Murder, Forensics, and the Birth of American CSI by Kate Winkler Dawson (G. P. Putnam); Howdunit: A Masterclass in Crime Writing by Members of the Detection Club by Martin Edwards (Collins Crime Club); H. R. F. Keating: A Life of Crime by Sheila Mitchell (Level Best Books) 

Best Children's/Young Adult: Holly Hernandez and the Death of Disco by Richard Narvaez (Piñata Books) 

Also nominated: Midnight at the Barclay Hotel by Fleur Bradley (Viking Books for Young Readers); Premeditated Myrtle by Elizabeth C. Bunce (Algonquin Young Readers); Saltwater Secrets by Cindy Callaghan (Aladdin); From the Desk of Zoe Washington by Janae Marks (Katherine Teagen Books)

FFB: Trouble with Product X

Joan Aiken (1924-2004) began her writing career with YA fiction as a 16-year-old contributor for the BBC Children's Hour. Indeed, one of her most popular creations was her prize-winning Wolves of Willoughby Chase series for children. She also delved into horror and fantasy, which Todd Mason profiled on a previous FFB installment. All told, Aiken published over 90 novels for children and adults, 38 story collections, four plays, several picture books, and dozens of other short stories, many included in anthologies.

Aiken's efforts at mysteries and suspense novels won her an Edgar Award for Best Young Adult Novel (Night Fall) in 1972. The same touch of the quirky, whimsical inventiveness in her writing for young people often found its way into her adult crime fiction. She once said, "Stories are like butterflies, which come fluttering out of nowhere, touch down for a brief instant, may be captured, may not, and then vanish into nowhere again."

Trouble with Product X (aka Beware of the Bouquet) dates from 1966 and is one of the author's earlier novels for adults. Product X is a new perfume to be manufactured by a small company aiming to go upmarket. The ad agency hired to handle the promotion is Salmon & Bucknell, including employee Martha Gilroy, who suggests shooting a television commercial in the same remote Cornish castle where she spent her honeymoon—before her husband had a nervous breakdown and left her.

Another bad idea is to use the beautiful young Italian wife of the client as a model, as it soon becomes clear she's at the heart of a conspiracy regarding the origin of Product X. The remote TV shoot soon turns into a parade of nightmares and intrigue, including the kidnapping of a baby; monks who oppose the filming and one particularly mysterious monk who Martha thinks she recognizes; a venomous spider mailed as a "gift"; exploding soup cans; and an assortment of gothic thrills and chills that will please fans of Mary Stewart.

As The Telegraph said in Aiken's obituary, you could usually count on "slightly scatty but independent-minded young women who end up marrying slightly scatty but charming young men. Mysterious, corridor-ridden Gothic houses figure prominently, along with a variety of curses and enchantments. And there is always a strong sense of right and wrong." Although bits of that formula are present in Product X, so too is Aiken's trademark humor:

I spent a moment or two wondering where the devil I was, who the devil I was, in a weak and lackadaisical way...My mind wobbled about like a half-set jelly, full of unrelated fragments: the address of a man I'd meant to write to about detergents before coming down to Cornwall, lines from Twelfth Night, the fact that my library subscription needed renewing, a series of slogans for Bom which I'd been trying to hatch on the way down. 'Whether you're coming or going, mending or mowing, scything or sewing, reading or rowing...you need Bom, the meat'n milk drink, made from pure fresh milk and lean juicy beef. Bom, tiddly, om BOM!' I can't offhand think of any nastier beverage than Bom, but at that moment, I felt hazily that I might even have accepted a cup of the stuff if someone had offered it to me, hot.

Martha tends to muse on Bom promotions while she's in the midst of danger, but ultimately she proves to be an insightful sleuth, even as she fights her feelings for her ex and for a fellow employee who seems to be taking a suspiciously keen interest in the client's beautiful wife. The plot isn't so much a whodunit as a pleasant modern (albeit 1960s) Gothic romp.