In Reference to Murder

Mystery Melange - New Year's Eve Edition

 

The winners have been announced for this year's German Mystery Prize. In the German language category, Die Experten by Merle Kröger took top honors. This is the second such nod for Kröger, who previously won in 2013, and he was also runner-up in 2016. In the International category, Tokyo Redux, the final volume in David Peace's trilogy, took the top prize. (HT to The Literary Saloon.)

The recent Hugo Awards for science fiction and fantasy were dominated once again by women, with Martha Wells taking the best novel prize for Network Effect. That work is the latest in her "Murderbot Diaries" series, which also won the Hugo for Best Series this year. The Murderbot Diaries follow "Murderbot," the self-chosen name of a particular SecUnit, an intelligent partly-organic robot rented out by the company that owns it for security purposes. Murderbot has secretly hacked its governor module, but none of the members of the planetary survey team it’s working for have any idea.

Award-winning novelist Walter Mosley has been named the recipient of the 2022 Sankofa Freedom Award, presented by Tulsa City-County Library’s African-American Resource Center and the Tulsa Library Trust. Mosley has published more than 60 works of fiction and non-fiction and is best known among the crime fiction community for his Easy Rawlins mysteries, the Fearless Jones mysteries, the Leonid McGill mysteries, and the Socrates Fortlow novels. Along the way, he's also tried "to help readers understand and appreciate Black life in America, particularly segregated inner-city experiences." The Sankofa Freedom Award is handed out biennially in February during Black History Month to a nationally acclaimed individual who has dedicated his or her life to educating and improving the greater African-American community.

On January 21, 2022, the exhibition "Sherlock Holmes in 221 Objects" opens at New York's Grolier Club. It features items from the collection of Cathy and Glen Miranker, including artwork, books, correspondence, and manuscripts about the iconic literary detective. The items include letters and an "idea book" from Arthur Conan Doyle; a handwritten speech with Conan Doyle's explanation for killing off Holmes; original artwork of Holmes by British and US illustrators; and a pirated edition of The Sign of the Four. (HT to Elizabeth Foxwell at The Bunburyist blog)

Janet Rudolph has an updated list via her Mystery Fanfare blog of mysteries, crime fiction, thrillers, and movies that take place at the New Year.

And you can enjoy reading those titles with help from the libation recipes via the authors at Mystery Lovers Kitchen including an Eggnog Kahlúa Cocktail, courtesy of Cleo Coyle, and Rosemary Metal Press Gin Fizz by Mia P. Manansala.

A new detective culture periodical has launched in Turkey. 221B Crime Culture Magazine will cover the fields of detective literature, TV series, cinema, academic research, and comics every two months in both print and digital. The first issue can be downloaded from e-magazine platforms such as Mazgter, Amazon, Zinio, PressReader.

Suspense Magazine is out with its Best of 2021 issue, which is apparently going to be its last magazine edition. The editors announced they will no longer be producing a digital magazine, instead using the website to post all reviews, interviews, stories and much more. "Everything you see in the magazine will now be online, with the website being updated once a week."

CrimeFest is offering a bursary (scholarship) for a writer of color to attend the festival in May 2022 and appear on a panel. The deadline to apply for the bursary is January 30, 2022. To be eligible, authors must have had at least one English language book in traditional print published by a British commercial publisher. The winning entry will be chosen in collaboration with CrimeFest organizers and judges Vaseem Khan and critic Ayo Onatade. Hosted in Bristol, CrimeFest is one of the biggest crime fiction events in Europe, with around 60 panel events and 150 authors over four days. (HT to Shots Magazine)

It's common for horror, science fiction, and romance writers to make the novella the bulk of their output, but crime fiction authors are far more hesitant to embrace the form. Mystery and Suspense hosted a panel discussion about the crime fiction novella where six experts—Michael Bracken, Martin Edwards, Christina Hoag, Linda Landrigan, Steve Liskow, and Christoffer Peterson—discussed the form's creativity, craft, and market with moderator, William Burton McCormick.

Writing for Aeon, Vera Tobin, an associate professor of cognitive science at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio, discussed the art of the plot twist. Tobin is also the author of Elements of Surprise: Our Mental Limits and the Satisfactions of Plot.

This week's crime poem at the 5-2 is "Case Closed" by Tony Dawson.

Nonpareil Nonfiction

In keeping with the original primary theme of this blog, namely a focus on research and reference in crime fiction, I thought I'd take note of the nonfiction titles that are the cream of the crop according to the various 2021 awards organizations. Just in case you missed these fascinating books, here they are, in alphabetical order, with information from the publishers:

Black Hands: Inside the Bain family murders by Martin Van Beynen, which won the Ngaio Marsh Award for Best Nonfiction. This is the story of a mass-murder that divided a nation, which began in a rickety old home on a cold June morning in 1994, where five members of a seemingly ordinary New Zealand family were gunned down. There were two suspects. One lay dead from a single bullet to the head. The other was the only survivor: David Bain. Since then the country has asked: Who killed the Bain family? David, or his father Robin? And why? Award-winning journalist Martin van Beynen has covered the Bain story closely for decades. His 2017 Stuff podcast, Black Hands - based on the manuscript for this book - was a runaway success in New Zealand and overseas, downloaded more than 4 million times and topping the charts in New Zealand and around the world. Now, van Beynen brings the story up to date for 2020, exploring the case from start to finish, picking through evidence old and new, plumbing the mysteries and motives, interviewing never-before-spoken-to witnesses and laying out the complex police investigation and judicial processes, seeking to finally answer the question: Who was the killer?

H R.F. Keating: A Life of Crime, by Sheila Mitchell, which won the Macavity Award for Best Critical/Biographical. Henry Reymond Fitzwalter "Harry" Keating, known to his many readers as H.R.F. Keating, was the author of more than 50 books, favorite among them his series featuring Indian Inspector Ganesh Ghote. In H.R.F. Keating: A Life of Crime, his wife Sheila Mitchell offers an intimate view into the life and writings of one of the most revered authors of British crime fiction in the second half of the twentieth century. With honest reflection, Mitchell brings readers behind the scenes, through the highs and lows of the enduring literary career of her husband, who along with his many writing accolades and achievements was a devoted family man. Rich in detail, H.R.F. Keating: A Life of Crime is the definitive portrait of the artist and man. With an Introduction from Len Deighton.

Missing from the Village: The Story of Serial Killer Bruce McArthur, the Search for Justice, and the System That Failed Toronto’s Queer Community, by Justin Ling, which won the Crime Writers of Canada Award for Best Nonfiction Book. In 2013, the Toronto Police Service announced that the disappearances of three men—Skandaraj Navaratnam, Abdulbasir Faizi, and Majeed Kayhan—from Toronto's gay village were, perhaps, linked. When the leads ran dry, the investigation was shut down, on paper classified as "open but suspended." By 2015, investigative journalist Justin Ling had begun to retrace investigators' steps, convinced there was evidence of a serial killer. Meanwhile, more men would go missing, and police would continue to deny that there was a threat to the community. On January 18, 2018, Bruce McArthur, a landscaper, would be arrested on suspicion of first-degree murder. In February 2019, he was sentenced to life in prison for the murders of eight men. This extraordinary book tells the complete story of the McArthur murders. Based on more than five years of in-depth reporting, this is also a story of police failure, of how the queer community responded, and the story of the eight men who went missing and the lives they left behind. In telling that story, Justin Ling uncovers the latent homophobia and racism that kept this case unsolved and unseen. This gripping book reveals how police agencies across the country fail to treat missing persons cases seriously, and how policies and laws, written at every level of government, pushed McArthur's victims out of the light and into the shadows. 

Phantom Lady: Hollywood Producer Joan Harrison, the Forgotten Woman Behind Hitchcock by Christina Lane, which won both the Agatha Award for Best Nonfiction and the Edgar Award for Best Critical/Biographical. In 1933, Joan Harrison was a twenty-six-year-old former salesgirl with a dream of escaping both her stodgy London suburb and the dreadful prospect of settling down with one of the local boys. A few short years later, she was Alfred Hitchcock’s confidante and one of the Oscar-nominated screenwriters of his first American film, Rebecca. Harrison had quickly grown from being the worst secretary Hitchcock ever had to one of his closest collaborators, critically shaping his brand as the “Master of Suspense.” Harrison went on to produce numerous Hollywood features before becoming a television pioneer as the producer of Alfred Hitchcock Presents. A respected powerhouse, she acquired a singular reputation for running amazingly smooth productions— and defying anyone who posed an obstacle. She built most of her films and series from the ground up. She waged rough-and-tumble battles against executives and censors, and even helped to break the Hollywood blacklist. She teamed up with many of the most respected, well-known directors, writers, and actors of the twentieth century. And she did it all on her own terms

Unspeakable Acts: True Tales of Crime, Murder, Deceit, and Obsession (Sarah Weinman, editor), which won the Anthony Award for Best Critical or Nonfiction Work (and was also an NPR Best Book of the Year). Acclaimed author ofThe Real Lolita and editor of Women Crime Writers: Eight Suspense Novels of the 1940s & 50s (Library of America) and Troubled Daughters, Twisted Wives (Penguin), Sarah Weinman brings together an exemplary collection of recent true crime tales. She culls together some of the most refreshing and exciting contemporary journalists and chroniclers of crime working today.  Michelle Dean’s “Dee Dee Wanted Her Daughter To Be Sick” went viral when it first published and is the basis for the TV showThe Act and Pamela Colloff’s “The Reckoning,” is the gold standard for forensic journalism.  There are 13 pieces in all and as a collection, they showcase writing about true crime across the broadest possible spectrum, while also reflecting what makes crime stories so transfixing and irresistible to the modern reader.

Witness: An investigation into the brutal cost of seeking justice by Louise Milligan, which won the Davitt Award from Sisters in Crime Australia for Best Nonfiction Crime Book. A masterful and deeply troubling exposé, Witness is the culmination of almost five years' work for award-winning investigative journalist Louise Milligan. Charting the experiences of those who have the courage to come forward and face their abusers in high-profile child abuse and sexual assault cases, Milligan was profoundly shocked by what she found.  During this time, the #MeToo movement changed the zeitgeist, but time and again during her investigations Milligan watched how witnesses were treated in the courtroom and listened to them afterwards as they relived the associated trauma. Then she was a witness herself in the trial of the decade, R v George Pell. Through these experiences, interviews with high-profile members of the legal profession, including judges, prosecutors and the defence lawyers who have worked in these cases, along with never-before-published court transcripts, Milligan lays bare the flaws that are ignored and exposes a court system that is sexist, unfeeling and weighted towards the rich and powerful. In Witness, Milligan reveals the devastating reality that within the Australian legal system truth is never guaranteed and, for victims, justice is often elusive. And even when they get justice, the process is so bruising, they wish they had never tried.

Words Whispered in Water by Sandy Rosenthal, which won the Killer Nashville Silver Falchion Award for Best Nonfiction. In the aftermath of one of the worst disasters in U.S. history, Words Whispered in Water tells the story of one woman’s fight—against all odds—to expose a mammoth federal agency—and win. It’s a horror story, a mystery, and David and Goliath story all in one. In 2005, the entire world watched as a major U.S. city was nearly wiped off the map. The levees ruptured and New Orleans drowned. But while newscasters attributed the New Orleans flood to “natural catastrophes” and other types of disasters, citizen investigator Sandy Rosenthal set out to expose the true culprit and compel the media and government to tell the truth. This is her story. When the protective steel flood-walls broke, the Army Corps of Engineers—with cooperation from big media—turned the blame on natural types of disasters. In the chaotic aftermath, Rosenthal uncovers the U.S. corruption, and big media at root. Follow this New Orleans hero as she exposes the federal agency’s egregious design errors and eventually changes the narrative surrounding the New Orleans flood. In this engaging and revealing tale of man versus nature and man versus man, Words Whispered in Water proves that the power of a single individual is alive and well.

Written in Bone: Hidden Stories in What We Leave Behind by Sue Black, which won the Crime Writers’ Association ALCS Gold Dagger for Nonfiction. internationally renowned forensic anthropologist and human anatomist Dame Sue Black taking us on a guided tour of the human skeleton and explaining how each person's life history is revealed in their bones, which she calls "the last sentinels of our mortal life to bear witness to the way we lived it." Her narrative follows the skeleton from the top of the skull to the small bones in the foot. Each step of the journey includes an explanation of the biology—how the bone is formed in a person's development, how it changes as we age, the secrets it may hold—and is illustrated with anecdotes from the author's career helping solve crimes and identifying human remains, whether recent or historical. Written in Bone is full of entertaining stories that read like sce

 

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

Oliver Trevena has signed on to star in and executive produce the indie feature film, Wire Room, which recently began principal photography in Birmingham, Alabama. Written by Brandon Stiefer and to be directed by Matt Eskandari, Wire Room features Trevena as Eddie Flynn, an infamous Irish arms dealer who smuggled high-powered Russian-made weapons for South American rebels. He ends up on the run after a bloody gang war and winds up in the U.S. where he’s a middleman for the Baja cartel. The film also stars Bruce Willis and Kevin Dillon.

After Paramount recently scheduled Tom Cruise’s long-awaited sequel, Top Gun: Maverick, for Memorial Day weekend this coming year, Lionsgate posted a teaser-video indicating it was moving John Wick: Chapter 4 from that same weekend to March 24 the following year (2023). However, the real reason may be due to shooting setbacks. Although principal photography wrapped up this summer in France, Germany, and Japan, production was recently halted due to unspecified reasons. John Wick: Chapter 4 stars Keanu Reeves, Donnie Yen, Laurence Fishburne, Bill Skarsgård, and Ian McShane.

A new trailer dropped for the Agatha Christie adaptation, Death on the Nile, Kenneth Branagh’s follow-up to Murder on the Orient Express. The project sees Branagh reprising his role as detective Hercule Poirot, this time investigating a murder aboard a glamorous river steamer boat in 1930s Egypt where Gal Gadot and her new husband, played by Armie Hammer, embark on an exotic honeymoon voyage. The current opening for the film is February 11, 2022.

TELEVISION/STREAMING SERVICES

A team that includes Academy Award-nominated Chocolat producer, Kit Golden, has secured the rights to Giles Milton’s non-fiction work, Churchill’s Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare: The Mavericks Who Plotted Hitler’s Defeat. Netflix will air the 10-episode adaptation which follows the work of an international group of soldiers, spies, and saboteurs from all walks of life who devised unconventional new weapons and tactics to "set Europe ablaze" per Churchill’s orders. From their base in the Scottish Highlands, these resistance forces from across Europe led daring yet largely unknown missions throughout Europe that hastened the end of World War II. (Note that this project is different from Paramount Pictures’ forthcoming pic The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare, which has Guy Ritchie attached to write and direct and is based on a different book by Damian Lewis.)

Author John Scalzi's The Dispatcher, which started life as an Audible original audiobook narrated by Zachary Quinto, is now being adapted for the small screen by producer Uri Singer, who's also behind Netflix’s feature film adaptation of Don DeLillo’s Underworld. The Dispatcher takes place in Chicago in a distant future in which it becomes almost impossible to murder anyone – 999 times out of a thousand, anyone who is intentionally killed comes back. The ongoing series follows Tony Valdez, a Dispatcher – "a licensed, bonded professional whose job is to humanely dispatch those about to die, so they can have a second chance to avoid the reaper. He teams up with Chicago PD detective, Nona Langdon, to help save those in death’s crosshairs and solve the crimes that put them there."

PODCASTS/VIDEO/RADIO/AUDIO

The latest episode of the Crime Cafe podcast featured Debbi Mack's interview with Rod Sadler, who had a 30-year career in law enforcement before turning his hand to writing true crime.

The Pune International Literary Festival featured Dr. Mark Aldridge, an Agatha Christie historian and author, in conversation with Helen Smith about his "journey" with Dame Agatha.

On the most recent episode of Spybrary, Le Carré Cast host Jeff Quest tackled some of the most serious and silly questions faced by spy fans. He was joined by an all-star panel of guests – Jeremy Duns, Hannah Cooper and Spybrary host Shane Whaley – as they tackled a wide range of espionage enigmas.

Wrong Place, Write Crime welcomed Michael Penncavage to discuss his short stories and new novel, Person Unknown.

Crimetime FM had their season-ending show with a yearly wrap-up with Paul Burke, Victoria Selman, and Barry Forshaw.

The Red Hot Chili Writers chatted with Finnish crime writing superstar, Antti Tuomainen; spoke with Tracy Fenton of the Facebook group, The Book Club, about her five favorite recent reads; discussed the world pillow fighting championships, and more.

Mystery Melange - Christmas Edition

Over at the Mystery Fanfare blog, Janet Rudolph has added to her annual roundup of Christmas Crime Fiction lists, which has grown so large, it has to be divided into segments. You can check out Authors A-E here; F-L here; and M-Z here. Plus, there's a separate listing for Christmas Mystery Short Story Anthologies and Novellas A-Z and another for Winter Solstice Mysteries.

The December issue of Mystery Magazine has several holiday themed stories including "Cajun State" by O’Neil De Noux, where there is not much crime at Cajun State University … until someone steals the big Christmas tree from campus; "The Christmas Caper" by Sharon Hart Addy, where even a Grinch’s best laid plans get tripped up; "A Hungarian Christmas" by Vicki Weisfeld, in which Veronika convinces her young fiancé, Bert, that every Hungarian girl must have a present on Hungarian Christmas; "Santa Walks Into A Bar" by Frank Oreto, where wearing the Santa suit to Drake's Bar and Grill had been a joke, but after that night Officer Paul Drazdzinski wouldn't laugh for years; "The X In Xmas" by Robert Jeschonek, in which to solve the murder of a Mafia boss at Christmastime, Detective Charlie Collins joins forces with a female detective who has plenty of mob connections; plus more from Maura Yzmore, Brandon Barrows, Joseph Goodrich, Steve Beresford, and Eric B Ruark.

Also out with their Christmas issue is The Strand, where it's the holiday season for ghosts, small town rivalries, Holmes on the hunt, and suspense in Amish country, with stories by Meg Gardiner, Linda Castillo, Joe Giordano, Carla Kaessinger Coupe, and John Floyd.

Kings River Life has a free online Christmas story for you, "Aunt Jewel and the Christmas Spirits: A Christmas Mystery Short Story," by Bobbi A. Chukran. The magazine's Mysteryrat's Maze Podcast also featured the Christmas mystery short story, "Lady Barbara's Christmas Miracle," written by Connie Berry, read by local actor Ariel Linn, plus an excerpt from the mystery novel, Ghosts of Painting Past, by Sybil Johnson as read by actor Karina C Balfour.

The pandemic led to the delay of the online mystery ezine, Mysterical-E, but they're back with a holiday-themed issue that includes some great features, reviews, and stories, including one by the prolific, award-winning short story master, John M. Floyd.

On the Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine podcast, former radio worker Bonnie Hearn Hill, who is also author of sixteen suspense novels, read her seasonally appropriate story "Feliz Navidead," from the January/February 2020 issue of EQMM and first-place winner of Writer's Digest Magazine's genre short story award.

The Dark and Stormy Book Club podcast featured an episode on "What We Are Reading: Christmas Cozy Mysteries."

A Christmas Carol’s lesser-known successor is getting its moment in the spotlight thanks to the Charles Dickens Museum, which is hoping to attract new attention to the festive story, "The Cricket on the Hearth," with the first display of some of its illustrations. The tale, which was published in 1846, is the third of Dickens’ five Christmas books and tells the story of John Peerybingle and his wife Dot, who have a cricket in their home that brings happiness to the family. The toy-maker Tackleton, a malicious old man who "despised all toys [and] wouldn’t have bought one for the world," convinces Peerybingle that Dot has cheated on him, but all finally ends well.

Mystery Lover's Kitchen has an array of holiday recipes for you, including Gingerbread Cookie Sticks via Cleo Coyle; Armenian White Christmas Cookies from Tina Kashian; Lucy Burdette's Peanut Butter & Jelly Cookies; and many more.

If you've been wondering what is the most-searched Christmas cookie in your state, look no further.

How well do you know Dr. Seuss's "How the Grinch Stole Christmas?" Sarah S. Davis created a trivia quiz over at Bookriot so you can find out.

This week's crime poem at the 5-2 is "White Christmas" by Joseph Donato.

Media Murder for Monday

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

THE BIG SCREEN/MOVIES

Sony has picked up film rights to the Gabino Iglesias novel, The Devil Takes You Home, which Cuban filmmaker, Alejandro Brugués, will adapt and direct. While the project and its storyline are still in early development, the Iglesias novel follows Mario, who has to be a hitman to cover his family’s bills, especially his daughter’s medical tab. He’s presented with an offer: One last score that will either pull him out of poverty forever or put a bullet in the back of his skull. A man named Juanca needs help stealing $2 million dollars from a drug cartel. Together, they begin a journey to an underworld where unspeakable horrors happen every day.

Lionsgate is developing the thriller, Prey, with John Glenn and Alex Davidson co-writing the script. Although details on the plot are a bit limited, Deadline notes that "In the film, a man is dropped off, naked, at the Dodger Stadium parking lot with a $2 million open bounty on his head. He has to make it to Long Beach on foot by dawn, or his family will be killed."

Tom Sizemore has boarded Bruce Bellocchi’s female revenge thriller, The Legend of Jack and Diane. The story is set in motion when Diane (Lydia Zelmac) decides to leave Indiana for a new life in Los Angeles. But after she and her friend, Jack (David Tomlinson), discover secrets about the death of Diane’s mother, they are forced on the run as they create a hit list to exact revenge on everyone involved. While the story and screenplay are original, the film’s title is inspired by John Mellencamp’s song "Jack & Diane." Although there aren't any details about Sizemore's role, he'll be joining other additions to the cast including Robert LaSardo and Alvaro Orlando.

Chaley Rose, Pete Ploszek, and Heather Morris have been set to star in the indie thriller, The Bodyguard. The plot centers on pop star Eden Chase (Rose), who is almost kidnapped by a crazed fan. She enlists the help of handsome, brooding bodyguard, Jackson Reed (Ploszek), to move into her home and become her full-time security. When Jackson develops an unhealthy attachment to Eden, she soon realizes the one person with access to her life and the man she’d called her protector, has now become a predator harboring a dark secret from the past. With the help of her tenacious best friend (Morris), Eden realizes she must outwit him or become prey. Bayardo De Murguia, Malaya Rivera Drew, James C. Burns, Nikki Tuazon, and Rafael Molina also star.

TELEVISION/STREAMING SERVICES

Wilmer Valderrama is developing a TV series based on the Disney western, Zorro, for Disney Branded Television. Valderrama is set to executive produce and star as Don Diego de la Vega and his alter ego, the titular masked horseman. "We’re reimagining this Disney classic as a compelling period piece, set in Pueblo de Los Angeles, but told in a very modern telenovela style — with richly drawn contemporary characters and relationships set against the action, drama, suspense, and humor of the original, iconic Zorro," said Ayo Davis, President of Disney Branded Television.

A series adaptation of TJ Middleton’s quirky English novel, Cliffhanger, is in the works at Fox. The book follows Al Greenwood, a maverick taxi driver, who decides to kill his wife and has planned the perfect murder. But things don’t turn out quite the way he hoped and Al finds himself committing more crimes to cover his tracks. The series will gender swap the main character and will follow the exploits of rideshare driver, Audrey Greenwood, who emerges from the pandemic with a startling realization: she never wants to see her husband Al’s face again. So, one dark and stormy night, fueled by rage and tequila, she tries to kill him.

Carol Mendelsohn, the former showrunner of the original CSI series, has scored a pair of broadcast development sales. Mendelsohn is remaking the Swedish legal drama, Heder, for NBC and also developing the coroner crime drama, Body Farm, for CBS. Heder is being adapted as Honor and follows four brilliant, brash legal minds willing to fight for the underdog. The quartet will be battling a brutal crime, spiraling mystery, and a shocking discovery about the truth that threatens to unravel their very carefully constructed lives. The Body Farm series follows a talented but acerbic New York City forensic pathologist, who after a public fall from grace that renders her nearly unemployable, takes a job with an old-school coroner on his body farm in rural Texas where they covertly investigate mysterious deaths.

CBS is developing Five Point, a drama from Muse Entertainment and FBI co-creator, Craig Turk. When a legendary U.S. marshal goes missing, his committed daughter steps in as head of the service’s most elite team, tackling the toughest law-enforcement assignments across the country—while investigating her father’s disappearance and wrestling with a family legacy more complicated than she ever imagined.

AMC+ has picked up ITV’s big-budget adaptation of Len Deighton’s The Ipcress File. The show is set in the Cold War era, as British army sergeant Harry Palmer (played by Joe Cole) is stationed in Berlin before being sentenced to eight years in a military jail in England. To avoid prison, he becomes a spy, cutting his teeth on the Ipcress File. The Deighton novels achieved worldwide fame when they were turned into a 1965 film starring Michael Caine.

The CW is developing the murder mystery drama, Clubhouse (working title). When a popular podcast features the grisly unsolved murder that took place in their childhood clubhouse, four young women are pulled back into each other’s lives just in time for the killer to strike again. iZombie writer, Christina de Leon, will serve as co-executive producer and also write the series.

It's finally official: Sam Waterston, longtime Law & Order veteran, will be returning for his 17th season as District Attorney Jack McCoy on the famed Dick Wolf show for its revival. Waterston joins previously announced Law & Order alum Anthony Anderson, who will return to the cast as Detective Kevin Bernard, along with new cast members Jeffrey Donovan, as an NYPD detective; Hugh Dancy as an assistant district attorney; Camryn Manheim as Lieutenant Kate Dixon; and Odelya Halevi as Assistant District Attorney Samantha Maroun. Law & Order premieres on NBC on Thursday, Feb. 24 at 8 p.m. ET.

Eva De Dominici has been tapped for a major recurring role opposite Adan Canto on The Cleaning Lady, Fox’s adaptation of the Argentinean drama. The Cleaning Lady stars Elodie Yung as Thony, a whip-smart doctor who comes to the U.S. for a medical treatment to save her ailing son. But when the system fails and pushes her into hiding, she refuses to be beaten down and marginalized. After accidentally witnessing a murder, Thony is recruited by mobster Arman Morales (Canto) to use her medical skills as a "cleaner", erasing evidence of the mob's crimes. Crossing into a world of moral grey, Thony begins to live a double life, keeping secrets from her family while cleaning crime scenes and dodging the law, playing the game by her own rules in a dangerous criminal underworld. De Dominici will play Arman’s (Canto) wife, Nadia Morales, gorgeous and sultry, she manages the exclusive cigar club La Habana with her husband.

CSI: Vegas is returning for a second season. The series saw original CSI castmembers Wallace Langham, William Petersen, and Jorja Fox return alongside new cast members Paula Newsome, Matt Lauria, Mel Rodriguez, and Mandeep Dhillon. Peterson will not return for the second season as Gil Grissom, as he had only signed on for the initial 10-episode revival, but will remain as an executive producer. According to sources, Fox’s contract allows her to continue as Sara Sidle if she chooses to, and the series’ producers are hopeful that she may come back.

Fernando Coimbra (Narcos), Jessica Lowery (Heels), Marialy Rivas (La Jauría) and Nina Lopez-Corrado (A Million Little Things) have been tapped to direct Season 2 of HBO’s Emmy-nominated Perry Mason reboot, starring Matthew Rhys in the titular role. Each will direct two episodes of the eight-episode series. The new season takes place months after the end of the Dodson trial where Perry (Rhys) has moved off the farm, ditched the milk truck, and even traded his leather jacket for a pressed suit. It’s the worst year of the Depression, and Perry and Della (Juliet Rylance) have set the firm on a safer path pursuing civil cases instead of the tumultuous work criminal cases entail. Unfortunately, there isn’t much work for Paul (Chris Chalk) in wills and contracts, so he’s been out on his own. An open-and-closed case overtakes the city of Los Angeles, and Perry’s pursuit of justice reveals that not everything is always as it seems.

PODCASTS/VIDEO/RADIO/AUDIO

Meet the Thriller Author chatted with Vannessa Cronin, who arrived in the U.S. from Ireland over two decades ago and has spent the intervening years working in the book industry as a book buyer, a sales rep, an Amazon Bookstore curator, and now an Amazon Books senior editor. Vannessa came on the podcast to talk about the Amazon Books Editors’ picks for best mysteries and thrillers of 2021.

On the Read or Dead podcast, Katie and Nusrah talk about their year-end favorites and reflect on reading goals for 2022.

On the Spybrary podcast, host Shane Whaley learned more about How to Betray Your Country, the latest novel from spy fiction writer, author James Wolff.

In a bonus mini-episode of Crime Writers of Color, Rachel Howzell Hall, author of These Toxic Things, was interviewed by Robert Justice.

H.B. Lyle chatted with Crime Time FM host, Paul Burke, about his latest historical thriller, The Year of the Gun; Sherlock Holmes and the Irregulars; Nabokov; historical accuracy in fiction; and how Lyle's protagonist, Wiggins, narrowly avoids going down with the Titanic.

Sunday Music Treat

You are quite likely to hear J.S. Bach's Christmas Oratorio this time of year, although it requires some planning and scheduling, seeing as how it's in six parts, each part being intended for performance on one of the major feast days of the Christmas period. The total running time for the entire work is nearly three hours. Here's something a little more manageable, an arrangement of the Sinfonia section for piano, as played by Lang Lang:

 

Quote of the Week

Friday's "Forgotten" Books: A Gentleman Called

Dorothy Salisbury Davis (1916-2014) is considered as one of the Grand Dames of crime fiction, but she didn't start out as a writer, working first in advertising and as a librarian. She published her first novel in 1949, The Judas Cat, and went on to author 20 more books and receive seven Edgar Award nominations. She was a big influence on the crime fiction community, serving as Mystery Writers of America Grandmaster in 1985 and served on the initial steering committee for the formation of Sisters in Crime (along with Charlotte MacLeod, Kate Mattes, Betty Francis, Sara Paretsky, Nancy Pickard, and Susan Dunlap).

By her own account, Davis was an "odd fit" in crime fiction, unhappy with her perceived inability to create a memorable series character and uncomfortable with violence and murder. But she was very happy creating villains, and often commented that villains were much more fun to write about than heroes. Her themes trended more toward psychology than out-and-out detection and religious tensions are often found in her work, not surprising considering her own background (as a Roman Catholic who left the church).

A Gentleman Called from 1958 was nominated for an Edgar in 1959 and included in The Essential Mystery Lists by Roger Sobin. It features characters who were to be featured in three books, including attorney Jimmie Jarvis, his housekeeper, Mrs. Norris, and the District Attorney's chief investigator, Jasper Tally.

The story starts off revolving around middle-aged bachelor Theodore Adkins, who is slapped with a paternity suit. Adkins is also from a wealthy family who are old clients of Jarvis's law firm, which prompts Jarvis to take the case. At the same time, Jasper Tally is involved in an investigation into the strangulation of wealthy Arabella Sperling and the theft of her diamond pin. Eventuallly, the two plots converge around several other unsolved murders involving matrimony-minded women, which threatens to ensnare Mrs. Norris and put her own life in danger.

Salisbury is adept at characterization and using dialogue to flesh out her characters. The psychological underpinnings of A Gentleman Called are as important, or really more so, than the whodunnit aspect, but it's entertaining to follow her characters through their interactions or, as Kirkus noted, enjoy the "Insidious indirection which gives the novel a crafty glint."

Mystery Melange

Tonight at 7pm PT (10pm ET), the Mysterious Galaxy bookstore will host a virtual panel featuring Callie Browning, Vera Chan, Tracy Clark, Christopher Chambers, and Faye Snowden, celebrating the new publication, Midnight Hour: A Chilling Anthology of Crime Fiction from 20 Authors of Color. Click here to register for this free event.

Simon Bewick and Victoria Watson, the team behind Virtual Noir at the Bar, have released tickets for their first physical event in Whitley Bay. Bay Tales Live, a one-day crime fiction festival for readers and writers, will be held at Whitley Bay Playhouse on Saturday, February 12, 2022 and will feature several successful UK crime writers, as well as introducing audience members to the brightest rising stars. The program will feature six panels with award-winning authors Louise Candlish, Vaseem Khan, Ann Cleeves, Trevor Wood, and Dr. Richard Shepherd, forensic pathologist and author of the Sunday Times bestseller, Unnatural Causes.

Award-winning crime writer, Martin Edwards, has partnered with editorial consultancy Fiction Feedback to offer a different kind of crime-writing course. Crafting Crime is aimed at serious writers who wish to study independently yet also receive a critique of their work, and will be accessed online with modules mainly drawn from Martin’s extensive experience of conducting writing workshops. The modules will also include podcasts with Dea Parkin, Editor-in-chief at Fiction Feedback and Secretary of the Crime Writers’ Association, as well as tips from crime writers such as Elly Griffiths, Michael Robotham, Steve Cavanagh, Hank Phillippi Ryan, and Soji Shimada.

The Writers’ Police Academy announced that the 2022 Guest of Honor is to be bestselling author Robert Dugoni, creator of the Tracy Crosswhite police series set in Seattle. He is also the author of The Charles Jenkins espionage series, the David Sloane legal thriller series, and several stand-alone novels. The Special Guest Speaker for next year's event will be Steven Spingola, known to his colleagues as "the sleuth with the proof" and an investigator for Cold Justice, a popular Oxygen Channel true crime program.

News from The Rap Sheet alerts us to a change in the Spencer "universe." Spencer is the wisecracking Boston private eye introduced in 1973’s The Godwulf Manuscript by Robert B. Parker, a series continued after the author's death by Ace Atkins. Atkins announced recently that he's putting aside his Spencer pen to work on his own works, including his series about Mississippi sheriff Quinn Colson. The Spencer books will continue via sportswriter and novelist Mike Lupica, who has already written books featuring one of Parker's other protagonists, the small-town police chief Jesse Stone, as well as another of Parker's characters, the gumshoe Sunny Randall. However, the Sunny Randall series is also getting a change: author Alison Gaylin has been tapped to write a new installment, becoming the first woman to take over a Robert Parker series.

CrimeReads featured an online African Crime Fiction Round Table with authors chatting about their books, what it means to be an "African" crime writer, and indeed whether such a thing should bear a label. The participants also discussed cultural influences and who they write for, and offered some reading recommendations.

The UK's Richard & Judy Book Club announced their picks for this winter, with all the choices written by women. Among those included are Lisa Jewell's psychological thriller, The Night She Disappeared; Karin Slaughter's False Witness; Tana French's The Searcher; and Laura Dave’s The Last Thing He Told Me. WH Smith stores will also make exclusive special editions of the book club titles with bonus content available for purchase.

Writing for The Guardian, S.J. Bennett compiled a listing of Top 10 cozy crime novels. From Agatha Christie to Richard Osman, "these books are not without seriousness but they are all set in warm and human worlds we might prefer to our own."

Bookstores help save the world (again): A bookstore is helping Mosul recover from three years under ISIS. The Mosul Book Forum, which offers concerts and events along with books, opened three months after the city was liberated. Said cofounder Fahad Sabah, "If we have to rebuild our city, we need to rebuild our minds as well as our buildings and streets."

After being sidetracked for 46 years, the famed Orient Express railway, featured in the iconic Agatha Christie novel and subsequent movie adaptations, will return to Italy in 2023 with 6 luxurious new routes.

This week's crime poem at the 5-2 is "Thankful to Survive" by Joseph B. Haggery, Sr.

Give the Gift of Literacy

Literacy programs have always been near and dear to my heart, and the holiday season is a great time to think about the fantastic work literacy organizations do in helping produce lifelong readers among young people. Being able to read isn't just important for the sheer joy of it; reading is important for success in education, which in turn is important in the job world and for career advancement and success. Studies have shown that people who struggle with reading are more likely to drop out of high school, to end up in the criminal justice system, and to live in poverty. Other studies also show that reading helps reduce stress, prevents cognitive decline, and helps make people more compassionate.

So this holiday season, why not consider the gift of literacy to give youngsters a positive leg up in life? There are several organizations that are working hard in this area, but here are three of the most notable:

First Book, the children’s literacy organization, has launched a holiday campaign called Give a Million. From now through Dec. 31, every $1 donated will provide one new book to a child in need. Since its founding in 1992, First Book has distributed more than 200 million books. But as the organization notes, the need is still great since 60 percent of underserved children still don’t own a single book. First Book won the Library of Congress’s $150,000 David M. Rubenstein Prize in recognition of its "outstanding and measurable contribution to increasing literacy." 

Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library is dedicated to inspiring a love of reading by gifting books each month to children from birth to age five, free of charge, through funding shared by Dolly and local community partners in the United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Australia and Republic of Ireland. Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library is a book gifting program that mails free, high-quality books to children from birth to age five, no matter their family’s income. Together, Dolly Parton and her book gifting organization have received honors and awards for their dedication to enriching the lives of children everywhere, including the Good Housekeeping Seal of Approval, Best Practices award from the Library of Congress Literacy Awards and recognition in Reading Psychology. In 2018 the organization's 100th million book was dedicated to the Library of Congress (it's since gone on to give away over 150 million globally).

Reading Is Fundamental is committed to a literate America by inspiring a passion for reading among all children, providing quality content to make an impact, and engaging communities in the solution to give every child the fundamentals for success. As the nation’s largest children’s literacy non-profit, Reading Is Fundamental maximizes every contribution to ensure all children have the ability to read and succeed. RIF believes every child deserves an opportunity to own books, learn how to read, and obtain the fundamental building blocks to achieve their highest potential. Throughout its 55-year history, Reading Is Fundamental (RIF) has been a champion of racial justice and equity through literacy. RIF adds, "During this time of national unrest, we join with many others to lean in and accelerate our commitment through our Race, Equity, and Inclusion initiative to leverage the power of books for positive impact and change."