In Reference to Murder

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

Steven Spielberg is attached to direct a new original story centered on Frank Bullitt, the iconic character played by Steve McQueen in the 1968 thriller, Bullitt. Spielberg will also produce the pic along with Kristie Macosko Krieger, with Josh Singer on board to pen the script. Apparently, this is not a remake of the original film but a new idea centered on the character. In the original, Frank Bullitt is a no-nonsense San Francisco cop on the hunt for the mob kingpin that killed his witness. Considered one of McQueen’s more iconic roles, the film delivers one of the most famous car-chase scenes in cinema history.

Sharon Stone has optioned the rights to Lisa Barr’s upcoming novel, Woman on Fire, inking a deal to produce and star in a film adaptation. In the novel, a savvy, young journalist gets embroiled in a major international art scandal centered around a Nazi-looted masterpiece, and must contemplate whether finding the painting and exposing its dark history is worth her life. The thriller—laced with sex, art, and history— forces readers to question where the line should be drawn between the pursuit of justice and the hunt for revenge.

Robert Downey Jr. will be reuniting with Iron Man 3 filmmaker, Shane Black, on a new film for Amazon Studios based on the character Parker, created by author Donald E. Westlake (writing under the pseudonym Richard Stark). The character of Parker first appeared in the 1962 novel, The Hunter, where he’s introduced as a professional thief who’s left for dead by a past associate and spends the rest of the novel trying to track down his former accomplice. The Parker novels have been adapted before, notably in 1967’s Point Blank starring Lee Marvin, 1999’s Payback starring Mel Gibson, and 2013's Parker with Jason Statham playing the title character.

Rob Kirkland, Nick Cassavetes, Dajana Gudić, Paul Johansson, and Lou Ferrigno Jr. have signed on to star in the feature thriller, Dyad, written by Will Hirschfeld and directed by Patrick Flaherty (Rule of Thirds). Dyad follows Sofia (Gudić), a journalist eager to make her mark but consumed by conspiracy theories and her struggles with dissociative identity disorder. As she connects a couple of seemingly isolated high-profile deaths, she is pulled into the orbit of Zane (Cassavetes), the mercurial leader of a global cabal that counts media moguls (Johansson), politicians (Kirkland), and Hollywood elites amongst its members. Once Sofia discovers how deep the ties of this shadow government run, she sets her sights on the impossible task of taking them down.

Frank Grillo has signed on to star opposite Harvey Keitel in Justin Price’s action-thriller, Hard Matter, for Wonderfilm Media, which is currently in production in Biloxi, Mississippi. The film is set in a new America divided by quadrants, in which a power-hungry corporation has taken over the conventional prison system and replaced it with a system of deadly vigilante watches. In this version of America, criminals are the new law enforcers that carry out all forms of capital punishment in order to regain their place in society.

Bollywood star Elnaaz Norouzi has been added to the cast of Kandahar, the action movie starring Gerard Butler that has been shooting in Saudi Arabia. Ric Roman Waugh is directing the film, which stars Butler as Tom Harris, an undercover CIA operative, stuck deep in hostile territory in Afghanistan. He must fight his way out, alongside his Afghan translator, to an extraction point in Kandahar, all while avoiding the elite special forces tasked with hunting them down.


TELEVISION/STREAMING SERVICES

Dave E. Kelly has scored a straight-to-series order at ABC for Avalon, a drama based on Michael Connelly’s short story. Avalon, which is ABC’s first straight-to-series order for its 2022-23 programming slate, takes place in the city of Avalon on Catalina Island, where L.A. Sheriff’s Department Detective Nicole "Nic" Searcy heads up a small office. Catalina has a local population that serves more than 1 million tourists a year, and each day when the ferries arrive, hundreds of potential new stories enter the island. Detective Searcy is pulled into a career-defining mystery that will challenge everything she knows about herself and the island.

Deadline reported that Quentin Tarantino is in early talks to direct one or two episodes of Justified: City Primeval, the FX limited series that has Timothy Olyphant reprising his role as U.S. Marshal Raylan Givens. Tarantino and Olyphant worked together on the director’s most recent film, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood. The filmmaker is quite a fan of author Elmore Leonard, who created the Givens character, adapting the Leonard novel, Rum Punch. into Jackie Brown, as well as optioning several Leonard titles during his career.

In a competitive situation, John Wells Productions landed the rights to Danya Kukafka’s recently published suspense thriller, Notes on an Execution. The novel tells the story of a serial killer in his last hours on death row through the eyes of the women in his life. Per the description, Notes on an Execution "presents a chilling portrait of womanhood as it simultaneously unravels the familiar narrative of the American serial killer, interrogating our system of justice, our cultural obsession with crime stories, and challenges audiences to consider the false promise of looking for meaning in the psyches of violent men."

The Blacklist has been handed an early renewal with NBC picking up the crime drama for Season 10 while Season 9 is still on the air. Star/executive producer James Spader is set to return for the 10th season, which will be the second following the departure of both its female lead Megan Boone, who exited at the end of Season 8, and its creator, Jon Bokenkamp. Also back for Season 10 as executive producer/showrunner is John Eisendrath, who has been on the series from the start, co-showrunning with Bokenkamp for the first eight seasons and serving as sole showrunner since the start of Season 9.

Emmy winner Michael Chiklis is set to headline the premiere episode of Fox’s straight-to-series crime anthology drama, Accused, with fellow Emmy winner, Michael Cuesta (Homeland) directing the premiere. Accused is based on the BBC’s BAFTA-winning crime anthology, with each episode opening in a courtroom on the accused, where viewers know nothing about their crime or how they ended up on trial. Told from the defendant’s point of view through flashbacks, Accused depicts how an ordinary person gets caught up in an extraordinary situation, ultimately revealing how one wrong turn leads to another, until it’s too late to turn back. Chiklis will play Dr. Scott Corbett, a successful brain surgeon who faces the limits of unconditional love when he discovers his teenage son may be planning a violent attack at school.

Ashley Reyes has been tapped as a lead opposite Jared Padalecki in the CW’s Walker. Reyes will first appear in the next episode, Nudge, slated to premiere March 3. She succeeds Lindsay Morgan who exited Walker earlier this season for personal reasons after playing Walker’s (Padalecki) partner, Micki Ramirez, since the pilot. Reyes will play a new character, Cassie, a "spirited, uncensored, strong Texas Ranger based in Dallas who served as a Texas state trooper for eight years before that." The CW’s reimagining of the popular CBS drama Walker, Texas Ranger centers on Cordell Walker (Padalecki), a widower and father of two with his own moral code who returns home to Austin after being undercover for two years.

Meanwhile, Matt Barr, who played 2020s Hoyt Rawlins on the CW’s Walker, will also play 1800s Hoyt Rawlins in the network’s spin-off pilot, Walker: Independence. Barr has been been tapped as the male lead in the project, executive produced by Walker's Jared Padalecki. Walker: Independence, a Walker origin story, is set in the late 1800s and follows Abby Walker, an affluent Bostonian whose husband is murdered before her eyes while on their journey out West. On her quest for revenge, Abby crosses paths with Hoyt Rawlins (Barr), a lovable rogue in search of purpose. Abby and Hoyt’s journey takes them to Independence, Texas, where they encounter diverse, eclectic residents running from their own troubled pasts and chasing their dreams. The CW also announced that Justin Johnson Cortez is set as a series regular.

Arrow's Juliana Harkavy has been cast as a lead in the ABC drama pilot, L.A. Law, a revival of the iconic Steven Bochco legal drama. She joins original cast members Blair Underwood and Corbin Bernsen, who are reprising their roles as Jonathan Rollins, and Arnie Becker, respectively, as well as fellow new series regulars Hari Nef, Toks Olagundoye, Ian Duff, and John Harlan Kim. In the pilot, the venerable law firm of McKenzie Brackman — now named Becker Rollins — reinvents itself as a litigation firm specializing in only the most high-profile, boundary-pushing and incendiary cases.

Anthony Boyle and Lovie Simone have joined the cast of AppleTV+’s upcoming limited series, Manhunt, which follows the hunt for John Wilkes Booth after he assassinated Abraham Lincoln. Boyle will star as Booth, while Simone will play Mary Simms, a former slave of the doctor who treated Booth’s injury and gave him safe harbor after his crime. The pair join series lead Tobias Menzies, playing Lincoln’s War Secretary, Edwin Stanton, who was nearly driven to madness by a desire to catch the president’s killer. The limited series is based on the book Manhunt: The 12-Day Chase for Lincoln’s Killer by James Swanson.

PODCASTS/VIDEO/RADIO/AUDIO

In honor of Black History Month, It Was a Dark And Stormy Book Club featured three books by black female mystery authors.

Read or Dead also joined in the annual February celebration, as hosts Katie and Nusrah talked about mystery and suspense reads by Black authors.

Hannah King chatted with CrimeTime FM's Paul Burke about her debut novel, She and I; her characters Keeley and Jude; class; being post troubles generation; judging others; and how much is up to the reader to complete the novel.

A new Mysteryrat's Maze Podcast is up featuring the mystery short story "Pisan Zapra," written by Josh Pachter and read by actor Amelia Ryan.

The Queer Writers of Crime podcast took a look at Joseph Hansen's landmark novel, Fadeout, which launched his twelve-book series featuring Dave Brandstetter, an insurance investigator and gay man. Crime and mystery fiction publisher Syndicate Books is republishing all twelve novels throughout 2022.

Spybrary Spy Book podcast chatted with Paul Vidich about his latest, The Matchmaker, a chilling Cold War spy story set in West Berlin where an American woman targeted by the Stasi must confront the truth behind her German husband's mysterious disappearance.

Wrong Place, Write Crime interviewed Bryan Collins about his books and his podcast.

My Favorite Detective Stories spoke with James Ziskin, author of the Anthony and Macavity Award-winning Ellie Stone Mysteries.

Listening to the Dead was joined by Pippa Gregory, one of only three criminal profilers working in the UK today, to discuss the infamous cases of Yvonne Killian and Rachel Nickell, two investigations where criminal profiling was tested and found wanting.

Killer Thrillers

The International Thriller Writers organizations announced the finalists for the 2022 ITW Thriller Awards today. Winners will be presented at ThrillerFest XVII on Saturday, June 4, 2022 at the Sheraton New York Times Square Hotel, New York City.

BEST HARDCOVER NOVEL
 
Megan Abbott – THE TURNOUT (Penguin/Putnam)
S. A. Cosby – RAZORBLADE TEARS (Flatiron Books)
Alice Feeney – ROCK PAPER SCISSORS (Flatiron Books)
Rachel Howzell Hall – THESE TOXIC THINGS (Thomas & Mercer)
Alma Katsu – RED WIDOW (Penguin/Putnam)
Eric Rickstad – I AM NOT WHO YOU THINK I AM (Blackstone Publishing)

BEST AUDIOBOOK
 
S. A. Cosby – RAZORBLADE TEARS (Macmillan), Narrated by Adam Lazarre-White
Samantha Downing – SLEEPING DOG LIE (Audible Originals), Narrated by Melanie Nicholls-King and Lindsey Dorcus
Rachel Howzell Hall – HOW IT ENDS (Audible Originals), Narrated by Joniece Abbott-Pratt
Gregg Hurwitz – PRODIGAL SON (Macmillan), Narrated by Scott Brick
Nadine Matheson – THE JIGSAW MAN (HarperCollins), Narrated by Davine Henry

BEST FIRST NOVEL
 
Abigail Dean – GIRL A (HarperCollins)
Eloísa Díaz – REPENTANCE (Agora Books)
Amanda Jayatissa – MY SWEET GIRL (Berkley)
David McCloskey – DAMASCUS STATION (W.W. Norton & Company)
Eric Redman – BONES OF HILO (Crooked Lane Books)
 
BEST PAPERBACK ORIGINAL NOVEL
 
Joy Castro – FLIGHT RISK (Lake Union)
Aaron Philip Clark – UNDER COLOR OF LAW (Thomas & Mercer)
C. J. Cooke – THE LIGHTHOUSE WITCHES (Berkley)
Jess Lourey – BLOODLINE (Thomas & Mercer)
Terry Roberts – MY MISTRESS' EYES ARE RAVEN BLACK (Turner Publishing Company)
 
BEST SHORT STORY
 
S.A. Cosby – "Not My Cross to Bear" (Down & Out Books)
William Burton McCormick – "Demon in the Depths" (Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine)
Scott Loring Sanders – "The Lemonade Stand" (Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine)
Jeff Soloway – "The Interpreter and the Killer" (Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine)
John Wimer – "Bad Chemistry" (Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine)

BEST YOUNG ADULT NOVEL
 
Maureen Johnson – THE BOX IN THE WOODS (HarperCollins)
Nova McBee – CALCULATED (Wolfpack Publishing LLC)
Ginny Myers Sain – DARK AND SHALLOW LIES (Penguin Young Readers)
Courtney Summers – THE PROJECT (Wednesday Books)
Krystal Sutherland – HOUSE OF HOLLOW (Penguin Young Readers)
 
BEST E-BOOK ORIGINAL NOVEL
 
Greig Beck – THE DARK SIDE: ALEX HUNTER 9 (Pan Macmillan)
John Connell – WHERE THE WICKED TREAD (John Connell)
Wendy Dranfield – LITTLE GIRL TAKEN (Bookouture)
E.J. Findorff – BLOOD PARISH (E.J. Findorff)
S. E. Green – MOTHER MAY I (S. E. Green)
Andrew Kaplan – BLUE MADAGASCAR (Andrew Kaplan)
Karin Nordin – LAST ONE ALIVE (HarperCollins)

Friday's "Forgotten" Books: The Crimson Blind

Frederick Merrick White (1859-1935) was an English author who wrote a number of novels and short stories under the name Fred M. White, including the six "Doom of London" science fiction stories about various catastrophes that afflict the British capital. Although he apparently didn't start publishing his work until the age of 43, over the next 30+ years, he wrote approxiately 90 novels and short-story collections and is considered by some to be a pioneer of spy stories.

In 1905's The Crimson Blind, set primarily in the coastal city of Brighton, bestselling detective novelist David Steel finds himself in dire financial straits. He's contacted by a mysterious young woman who tells him she will pay his debt in exchange for helping her concoct a plan to get out of a sticky situation. After a late-night meeting to seal the deal, with the woman's identity kept hidden from Steel, the author returns to his home to find it's been broken into, and a near-dead man has been left bleeding on the floor of his conservatory.

The police suspect Steel, thanks to an incriminating cigarette case that points to Steel as the culprit. As Steel battles to clear his name, he falls in with Dr. Hatherly Bell, "a small, misshapen figure, with the face of a Byron—Apollo on the bust of a Satyr," a man possessed of marvelous intellectual powers and a secret past, who also happens to have a personal connection to the mysterious woman and offers to help Steel.

The investigation soon leads to the benevolent millionaire philanthropist Gilead Gates and his right-hand man, the villainous Reginald Henson, who aspires to become a member of Parliament. The myriad subplots and plot twists involve a faked death, a missing ring, blackmail, dog attacks, a decaying country estate and a stolen Rembrandt. White pens some passages of evocative writing, such as the opening lines:

David Steel dropped his eyes from the mirror and shuddered as a man who sees his own soul bared for the first time. And yet the mirror was in itself a thing of artistic beauty—engraved Florentine glass in a frame of deep old Flemish oak. The novelist had purchased it in Bruges, and now it stood as a joy and a thing of beauty against the full red wall over the fireplace. And Steel had glanced at himself therein and seen murder in his eyes.

He dropped into a chair with a groan for his own helplessness. Men have done that kind of thing before when the cartridges are all gone and the bayonets are twisted and broken and the brown waves of the foe come snarling over the breastworks. And then they die doggedly with the stones in their hands, and cursing the tardy supports that brought this black shame upon them.

Overall, The Crimson Blind is a decent and entertaining Victorian mystery, which just happens to be available free via Project Gutenberg.

Mystery Melange

 

The Los Angeles Times announced the finalists of the 42nd annual Book Prizes. Honorees in the Mystery/Thriller category include The Turnout: A Novel by Megan Abbott; The Dark Hours by Michael Connelly; Razorblade Tears: A Novel by S.A. Cosby; The Collective: A Novel by Alison Gaylin; and Velvet Was the Night by Silvia Moreno-Garcia. Winners in the various categories will be announced at USC’s Bovard Auditorium on Friday, April 22, in a prologue to the annual Los Angeles Times Festival of Books. The festival, which is the nation’s largest in-person literary event, will return to the USC campus during the weekend of April 23-24.

Mystery Writers of America announced the first two recipients of the Barbara Neely Grants, Jonathan Brown and Necole Ryse. Barbara Neely was the author of the "Blanche" series, one of the first crime fiction series to feature a Black woman as the protagonist. Mystery Writers of America named her a Grand Master in November of 2019 to recognize her enormous contributions to the genre as well as her impact on the crime fiction community. After her passing, MWA created a scholarship program for Black crime fiction writers in her name; one for an already published author, and another for one just getting started in publishing. The grant comes with a $2,000 award to assist each recipient with any aspect of their career as they see fit.

More incredibly sad bookstore news: After 25 Years in South Florida, Murder on the Beach Mystery Bookstore will be going out of business as of April 15, 2022. As the owners posted, "Although we have tried our best to keep the store alive, Covid and its aftermath have done us in." In 2018, travel site Atlas Obscura declared it one of the World’s Best Independent Bookstores. James Patterson, Carl Hiaasen, Randy Wayne White, Michael Connelly, Stuart Woods, Tim Dorsey, and other nationally touring mystery-thriller-crime authors drew customers through special events at the store through the years.

Scotland's Granite Noir conference starts today, and if you can't make it in person, you're still covered via livestreaming. Following on from the 2021 digital Granite Noir, which saw audiences tune in from 52 countries including Norway, Sweden, Iceland, Greece, Canada, Mexico, Bangladesh and the US, streamed events this year will include panels today through Sunday. Special guests for those online panels include authors Louise Welsh, Ann Cleves, Lin Anderson, Alex Gray, Oyinkan Braithwaite, LV Matthews, Lexie Elliot, Anders de la Motte, Kjell Ola Dahl, Silje Ulstein, Stuart MacBride, Alan Parks, and Marion Todd. For more details and ticket info, click on over here.

Crime Writers of Canada announced that 21 stories have been selected for inclusion in Cold Canadian Crime, the 40th anniversary anthology, scheduled for release in May 2022. The anthology will include crime stories in a variety of sub-genres, both fiction and true crime. In all, 46 stories were submitted for consideration, and all submissions were anonymously read and selected by three independent judges.

Over at CrimeReads, Valerie Wilson Wesley discussed "Crime Fiction's Pioneering Women of Color," and racism in publishing.

The Baltimore Sun reported on the Johns Hopkins curators who investigated a musical mystery linked to Edgar Allan Poe.

Mystery Scene Spring Issue #171 is here, with profiles of CJ Box, Kellye Garrett, Leslie Meier, and Candice Fox; a look at celebrities turned mystery writers; Fave Raves of the Past Year (2021); the Capitol Crimes column; essays by Lucy Burdette and Catherine Maiorisi, and the usual reviews sections.

Ever wonder how a print book was made? Although this is behind a paywall, if you have a New York Times subscription, you should check out this article to learn how vats of ink and 800-pound rolls of paper become a printed book.

This week's crime poem at the 5-2 weekly is "The Dating Game" by Peter Mladinic.

Rob Hart, author of the Ash McKenna crime series and The Warehouse (which sold in more than 20 languages and was optioned for film by Ron Howard), applied the Page 69 Test to his new novel, The Paradox Hotel.

In the Q&A roundup, Terry Korth Fischer chatted with Lisa Haselton about her new novel, Gone Before, featuring Small-town detective, Rory Naysmith; Friday Magazine interviewed attorney-turned-bestselling-author David Baldacci about how thrillers are born, why writers should always be afraid, and what aspiring writers need to keep in mind when crafting a book; and CrimeReads chatted with David Lagercrantz about his new thriller, Dark Music, inspired by Sherlock Holmes.

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

The indie production company, Madison Wells, is developing a feature adaptation of State of Terror, the best-selling novel by former Secretary of State, U.S. Senator, and First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton, and New York Times best-selling novelist, Louise Penny. The high-stakes thriller of international intrigue follows novice Secretary of State Ellen Adams, who is unexpectedly brought into the administration by a newly-elected President, her political and personal adversary. Events soon erupt that sweep her into a world of global intrigue and diplomacy where the stakes could not be higher and the potential consequences, both personal and global, could not be greater. Both Clinton and Penny will serve as Executive Producers as well as consultants on the film, and HiddenLight Productions (founded by Hillary Clinton, Sam Branson and Chelsea Clinton) will produce.

Stampede Ventures has acquired the rights to Nick Schenk’s action spec script, Galahad, and is eyeing A-list directors for the first feature in a potential new franchise. The film will follow a badass ex-American special forces soldier who goes on a berserker, come-hell-or-high-water mission to avenge the death of an innocent woman. The quest will take him into the depths of modern American military supremacy and its sometimes awful shadow.

Jonathan Rhys Meyers and MyAnna Buring have signed on to star alongside Alec Baldwin in the hijacking action-thriller, 97 Minutes, from director, Timo Vuorensola (Iron Sky). The story centers on a hijacked 767 that will crash in ninety-seven minutes when its fuel runs out. Against the objections of NSA Deputy Toyin, NSA Director Hawkins (Baldwin) prepares to have the plane shot down before it does any catastrophic damage on the ground. The decision leaves the fate of the innocent passengers in the hands of one of the alleged hijackers on board who is an undercover Interpol agent — or is he? Meyers and Buring are playing passengers on the transatlantic flight, with Jo Martin, Michael Sirow, Pavan Grover, Anjul Nigam, Davor Tomic, Slavko Sobin, Luke J I Smith and Kasia Koleczek rounding out the cast.

Showtime and Paramount Pictures Home Entertainment have acquired U.S. distribution rights to the Tarik Saleh-directed action movie, The Contractor, starring Chris Pine and Ben Foster. The deal will see The Contractor released in a limited number of theaters in the U.S. by Paramount with a simultaneous PVOD release across platforms. Pine plays Special Forces Sgt. James Harper, who is involuntarily discharged from the Army and cut off from his pension. In debt, out of options, and desperate to provide for his family, Harper contracts with a private underground military force. When the very first assignment goes awry, the elite soldier finds himself caught in a dangerous conspiracy and on the run for his life.

TELEVISION/STREAMING SERVICES

20th Television has optioned Steve Almond’s forthcoming novel, All the Secrets of the World, to adapt as a television series. Jon Feldman (Monarch; Designated Survivor) will pen the adaptation and serve as showrunner. The book, described as "a sweeping social novel," opens in 1981 in Sacramento, where 13-year-old Lorena Saenz has just been paired with Jenny Stallworth for the science fair by a teacher hoping to unite two girls from starkly different worlds. The unlikely friendship they form will draw their families into a web of secrets and lies, one that sends Lorena on an unforgiving odyssey through the desert, past the gates of a religious cult in Mexico, and into the dark heart of America’s criminal justice system.

Hulu has acquired the rights to develop Adrian McKinty’s upcoming novel, The Island, as a limited series. The Island is described as an intense thriller that tells the story of a family trip that turns into a living nightmare. After a tragic accident, a young wife with her new husband and his two children find themselves being hunted by locals in harsh bushland. Her husband doesn’t really believe in her, the kids don’t trust her, and the locals want to kill her. But Heather has been underestimated most of her life and she knows she is capable of bringing this family together and becoming the mother her children need, even if it means doing terrible things to keep them all alive.

FX, Lee Daniels, and 20th Television are taking another stab at adapting Sam Greenlee’s spy novel, The Spook Who Sat By The Door, as a TV series after a pilot, written by Leigh Dana Jackson and directed by Gerard McMurray, did not go forward at the network. "We are working on a redeveloping of it," FX Entertainment President Eric Schrier told Deadline. The Spook Who Sat By The Door tells the fictional story of Dan Freeman, a patriot and Vietnam vet, who is recruited as the only Black operative in the CIA as part of an affirmative-action program in the late 1960s. After a very competitive selection process, he trains in high-level combat and espionage. However, following this arduous training, this model recruit is rewarded with a post in the reprographics (aka photocopying) department, "left by the door" as a token of the CIA’s "racial equality." The FX pilot starred Y’lan Noel, Christina Jackson, Lucas Till, Nafessa Williams, Nathan Darrow, and Tom Irwin.

Siân Brooke is set to lead the BBC One police thriller, Blue Lights, from the creators of The Salisbury Poisonings, with filming kicking off in Belfast. Brooke will play Grace and be joined by The Dig’s Katherine Devlin and newcomer Nathan Braniff as three rookie police officers in the Northern Irish capital. Grace made the decision in her 40s to leave her steady job and join the force, but just a few weeks into her role, she’s making so many mistakes, her decision no longer looks like a winning bet. Brooke is best known for her roles as Sherlock Holmes’s evil sister, Eurus, in the BBC’s Sherlock, and as disgraced Metropolitan Police Commissioner Cressida Dick in ITV’s Stephen.

Gemma Arterton has joined the cast of J Blakeson’s upcoming Disney+ heist series, Culprits, alongside Eddie Izzard, Kirby Howell-Baptiste, Niamh Algar, Kamel El Basha, Tara Abboud, Ned Dennehy, and Kevin Vidal. Arterton will play Dianne, a member of a heist crew which is being targeted one-by-one by a killer after each went their separate ways. Nathan Stewart-Jarrett was revealed in the lead role of Joe when the show was announced as one of Disney/Star’s debut UK originals last year.

Circle Network, the country lifestyle streaming outlet best known as the home of the Grand Ole Opry, will air the six seasons of the Western drama, Longmire, starting tomorrow. The crime drama, set in rural Wyoming and based on the novels by Craig Johnson, debuts on Circle at 10 PM ET/PT, 9 CT with season one, and consecutive episodes will air weekdays. Longmire follows the work of recent widower, Sheriff Walt Longmire, who works to investigate crimes in his town, assisted by staff, friends, and his daughter. The series stars Robert Taylor, Katee Sackhoff, Lou Diamond Phillips, Cassidy Freeman, and Adam Bartley.

PODCASTS/VIDEO/RADIO/AUDIO

Listening to the Dead is back with a new season, discussing the forensics behind the Great Train Robbery. In a world first, Listening to the Dead brings together the son of the robbery's mastermind, Bruce Reynolds, with a fingerprint expert who worked on the case back in 1963.

Yasmin Ango was interviewed by Robert Justice on Crime Writers of Color about her debut novel, Her Name is Knight, featuring an elite assassin heroine on a mission to topple a human trafficking ring and avenge her family.

The latest episode of the Crime Cafe podcast featured Debbi Mack's interview with crime writer, Robert McCaw, about his Hawaiian crime thriller series.

On Wrong Place Write Crime, guest host John A. Hoda interviewed the Ghanaian-American former physician-turned crime author, Kwei Quartey, about his award-winning series, one featuring police detective, Darko Dawson, and another with private eye Emma Djan.

My Favorite Detective Stories welcomed Alafair Burke, crime novelist, professor of law, and legal commentator. She is a New York Times bestselling author of 18 crime novels, including a series featuring NYPD Detective Ellie Hatcher, and another with Portland, Oregon, prosecutor Samantha Kincaid.

On the latest Writers Detective Bureau, Detective Adam Richardson explained what DHS Fusion Centers do; discussed what a Brady List is and how to use them in your writing; and went old school tech with Teletypes.

It was a Dark and Storm Book Club spoke with Colleen Cambridge about Murder at Mallowan Hall, part of a new historical series that introduces an unforgettable heroine in Phyllida Bright, fictional housekeeper for none other than famed mystery novelist Agatha Christie.

On CrimeTime FM, host Paul Burke and Tim Shipman, Chief Political Commentator for The Sunday Times, interviewed Paul Vidich about his Cold War spy thriller, The Matchmaker, and all things spy fiction-related, including an exclusive announcement of the highest placed living author on Tim Shipman's 120 top spy writers.

THEATRE

Broadway’s upcoming Macbeth, starring Daniel Craig and Ruth Negga, has rounded out its cast, announcing new additions, Amber Gray, Asia Kate Dillon, and Phillip James Brannon. Directed by Tony Award winner Sam Gold, Macbeth begins performances at Broadway’s Longacre Theatre on Tuesday, March 29, with an official opening on Thursday, April 28.

It's nice to see theatrical performance resuming around the world, as well. Dial 'M' for Murder by Frederick Knot returns with live performances on February 25 to The Mousetrap Theatre in Redcliffe, Australia. The story centers on Tony Wendice, a retired English tennis player, who is married to wealthy socialite Margot, an adulteress who has been having an affair with American crime fiction writer, Mark Halliday. Unbeknownst to them, Tony has discovered their affair and is planning to have Margot killed so he can inherit her fortune. The production runs through March 13.

Sunday Music Treat

Today is the birthday of Australian-born composer, arranger, and pianist, Percy Grainger (1882-1961), who lived in the United States from 1914 and became an American citizen in 1918. One of his more popular compositions was "Molly on the Shore," which is actually an arrangement of two contrasting Irish reels, "Temple Hill" and "Molly on the Shore." It was written in 1907 by Grainger as a birthday gift for his mother, Rose Annie Aldridge. Below is a recording of Grainger himself playing the work in a recording from 1927 (Scott Drayco has also played this a few times):

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Quote of the Week

Friday's "Forgotten" Books - A Thief in the Night

Ernest William Hornung (1866–1921) was an English poet and author who also happened to be the brother-in-law of Arthur Conan Doyle. He also worked as a journalist in England, France, and Australia, and centered many of his stories around Aussie settings and culture. He's perhaps best known for his series featuring gentleman thief, A. J. Raffles, who first appeared in a story in Cassell's Magazine in 1898.

Raffles may have been one of the earliest anti-heroes in crime fiction, spending his days playing cricket and his nights carrying out ingenious burglaries, aided by his sidekick Harry "Bunny" Manders, a man he once saved from suicide and disgrace. Raffles the "Amateur Cracksman" appears in several stories that divide into two periods, one before he was unmasked while plying his trade on board a cruise ship and presumably jumped overboard and drowned, and the other following his return where he and Manders continue their thieving ways in disguise.

The stories were collected into several volumes, including A Thief in the Night, published in 1905. They include "The Criminologists," about a society of crime experts who invite Raffles and Manders to discuss crime in sport, but have more nefarious purposes in mind, beliving him to be the notorious gentleman thief; "A Trap to Catch a Cracksman," in which Raffles attempts to rob American heavyweight boxing champion Barney Maguire, only to have it backfire on him; and "The Raffles Relics," where Ruffles—now in hiding—hears about an exhibit dedicated to his "work" at Scotland Yard's Black Room, and decides to steal back his trophies.

Raffles is a cynical character, whose philosophy is "we can't all be moralists, and the distribution of wealth is all wrong anyway." Still, he has his own code of honor, once stealing money from a miserly man to make a donation to their former school and volunteering for the Boer War, where he dies in battle after exposing an enemy spy. The stories in A Thief in the Night are actually told from Bunny's point of view, a la Watson and his accounts of Holmes, as Bunny reflects back on their adventures prior to the master thief's demise.

Several of Hornung's stories were later adapted for the theater, television, and film, including protrayals by John Barrymore, David Niven, and as recently as 2001, a production starring Nigel Havers (Dangerfield, Coronation Street, Downton Abbey).

Mystery Melange

 

Submissions to the Lindisfarne Prize for Crime Fiction are now open to all writers who are from (or whose work celebrates) the North East of England. The award is sponsored by the author L J Ross through her publishing imprint, Dark Skies Publishing, in association with the Newcastle Noir Crime Writing Festival and Newcastle Libraries. To be considered, entrants must submit an unpublished short story of no more than ten thousand words or the first two chapters and a synopsis of their work in progress. The winning entry will be awarded a prize of £2500 to support the completion of their work. The deadline for submissions is June 30. (HT to Shots Magazine)

As part of the upcoming Granite Noir conference, you can catch the online panel, Brilliant Women, on February 25, moderated by Jenny Brown. Three brilliant authors share the stage to talk about their books, how they found their place in crime fiction, and their influence in leading the way for women’s voices. Featured authors include Ann Cleeves, author of over thirty critically acclaimed novels including popular detectives Vera Stanhope and Jimmy Perez from TV’s Vera and Shetland series; and Lin Anderson and Alex Gray, best known for the Rhona MacLeod forensic scientist and Detective William Lorimer series respectively, and for co-founding the Bloody Scotland Crime Writing Festival.

On April 27, Barnet Libraries in the UK will present an online evening with Scandinavian authors Anne Mette Hancock (Denmark), Lina Bengtsdotter (Sweden), and Silje Ulstein (Norway) in conversation with Alex Minnis from Nordic Watchlist, a website that supports and showcases Nordic entertainment and culture. Following the discussion, there will be the opportunity for a Q&A session.

Mystery Writers of America announced that the 2022 Edgar Awards Banquet will be held in person on Thursday, April 28, at the New York Marriott Marquis. In compliance with local guidelines, MWA is requiring that all Edgar Awards banquet attendees be fully vaccinated. The evening will begin at 6:30 pm with the main reception/dinner/program. For a list of all of this year's nominees in the various categories, follow this link.

Due to the ongoing COVID pandemic, this year's Suffolk Mystery Festival has been changed to an all-virtual format on Saturday, March 5, 2022. There will also be pre-recorded interviews available for viewing during the festival. The event will showcase 40+ best-selling mystery, suspense, thriller, horror, paranormal, historical, romance, and women's fiction authors. Registration for this free event is now open. You can check out the full schedule via this link.

The UK's CrimeFest 2022 announced the lineup for this year's event to be held in person May 12-15 at the Mercure Bristol Grand Hotel, after a two-year hiatus from Covid. Up to 150 authors will be participating in panels on topics ranging from division in society today to historical crime, and locked room mysteries to police procedurals. Headliner guests include Ann Cleeves, Andrew Child, Martin Edwards, and Robert Goddard, with this year’s Ghost of Honour commemorating Dick Francis.

First Monday is a crime fiction evening held on the first Monday of each month in Central London in association with MA Creative Writing at City, University of London. The next event will be held on March 7 and will feature a panel including authors Janice Hallett, Catherine Ryan Howard, Robert Gold, and Stuart Neville, with Joy Kluver moderating. You can catch an archive of the previous month's panels on the First Monday Facebook page.

The DePaul Pop Culture Conference is an annual fan/academic event at DePaul University, with thoughtful discussions from fans, scholars, and media makers from around the world on the year's particular pop culture theme. The 2022 conference, which will be held May 7, is focused on Sherlock Holmes. In addition to talks from icons such as screenwriters Brannon Braga and Cheryl Cain, as well as authors, journalists, and academics, the Distinguished Contributions Award will be presented to Arwel Wyn Jones, Production designer on Sherlock, Doctor Who, and many other series. Event organizers are also soliciting ideas for papers on the Sherlock Holmes theme.

The Anaheim Public Library Foundation celebrates its 25th year with Sinister Shenanigans, a panel on April 24th of three best-selling authors, Paige Shelton, Mike Befeler, Wendall Thomas, and moderator Matt Coyle. The event is a fundraiser for the library with a silent auction, raffles, and more.

Phyllis M. Betz, editor of Reading the Cozy Mystery: Critical Essays on an Underappreciated Subgenre, is seeking short essays that discuss an author's approach to their work for a companion anthology. The tentative title is Writing the Cozy: Cozy Authors on their Craft, organized into major sections that focus on key aspects of the cozy such as setting, characters, racism, and more.

You can check out the free ongoing online exhibition "Books, Bohemians and Baker Street: A Study in Sherlock in Special Collections" at University of Delaware Library. The collection features items in the library collections related to the Arthur Conan Doyle story, "A Scandal in Bohemia," some unusual items pertaining to Sherlock Holmes (such as Julian Symons's speculation, "Did Sherlock Holmes Meet Hercule...?"), and letters from Conan Doyle. (HT to Elizabeth Foxwell)

Crimetime Online sat down with Jade Chandler, publishing director of the new crime imprint from John Murray Press titled Baskerville. Chandler, who has previously served in a similar capacity at Sphere and Harville Secker publishers, talked about the new imprint's philosophy and some of the upcoming titles in the pipeline.

This week's crime poem at the 5-2 weekly is "Quicksand" by Browning Mank.

In the Q&A roundup, Lisa Haselton spoke with author Robin Jeffrey about her new sci-fi mystery novel, exe: A Cadence Turing Mystery; Indie Crime Scene interviewed Simon Marlowe, author of The Dead Hand of Dominique; and Author Interviews chatted with Bonnie Kistler, a former Philadelphia attorney and the author of House on Fire and The Cage.

Author R&R with Emilya Naymark

Photo credit: Lynne Breitfeller

Emilya Naymark's short stories appear in Secrets in the Water, After Midnight: Tales from the Graveyard Shift, River River Journal, Snowbound: Best New England Crime Stories 2017, 1+30: The Best of Mystory, and in the upcoming Harper Collins anthology, A Stranger Comes to Town. She has a degree in fine art, and her artworks have been published in numerous magazines and books, earning her a reputation as a creator of dark, psychological pieces. Being married to an N.Y.P.D. undercover detective compelled her to create the character of Laney Bird, whose occasionally wild and, even more often, terrifying experiences are inspired by real events. When not writing, Emilya works as a visual artist and reads massive quantities of thrillers and crime fiction. She lives in the Hudson Valley with her family.

Behind the Lie is the second installment in Emilya's Sylvan series, in which NYPD detective-turned small town PI, Laney Bird, is in a fight to save lives—including her own—after a neighborhood block party turns deadly and ends with the disappearance of her friend and another woman. As people closest to Laney fall under suspicion, the local authorities and even her colleagues question her own complicity.

Emilya stopped by In Reference to Murder to take some Author R&R about writing and researching Behind the Lie:

 

My novels Hide in Place and Behind the Lie feature an ex-NYPD undercover detective. In my case, the research happened before the ideas for the novels even materialized. Being married to an NYPD undercover detective gave me a lot of my research ahead of time. In fact, it generated the story.

Once I had my novel’s plot, I sat down with my personal detective and asked him hundreds of specific questions—everything from how, exactly, an undercover makes a drug buy on the street (lots of acting), to what happens with the evidence in the precinct (the drugs get tested and whatever was confiscated gets vouchered, including cash), to what happens to an undercover during an arrest (they get arrested).

For those who don’t have a personal detective, I recommend finding one. Police officers are often very pleased to discuss their jobs. Many of them write, and if you know any who belong to the same writing association as you do, reach out! Take him or her out for lunch and ask away. Schedule a zoom. Offer a beta read in exchange for their hard-won wisdom. In addition to my husband, I interviewed three other detectives and one corrections officer.

I read everything I could find on racketeering cases against the Russian mob. The Shulaya gang case in Brighton beach was a treasure trove, and I downloaded the official indictment and referenced it for plot ideas. And really, when it comes to the Russian mob, no ideas were too wild.

My detective’s teenage son is a firebug, and I spent countless hours watching instructional videos on building homemade flamethrowers (it’s super easy), breathing fire, and juggling flaming torches. I downloaded and read elaborate instructions and journals written by people who practice fire breathing for a living.

One of the characters in Behind the Lie is a research scientist, and I’m fortunate to have a research scientist in the family. I needed to know how medical compounds are tested and how drugs get approved for human use. He gave me thorough notes.

Another part of the novel takes place inside a residential facility for at-risk youth. I found a similar establishment near me and read about its troubles. Whatever I put into the novel, no matter how drastic it sounds, came directly from the news. Then I spoke with a psychiatrist who works with residential programs, and she gave me the procedural details I wouldn’t have gotten from just reading articles.

Because my novels and stories revolve around crimes, I downloaded the entire NYPD Patrolman’s Guide, all 1000+ pages of it. It’s been quite useful because my police officer characters have to know procedures and what crimes come with what charges. The Patrolman’s Guide is an exhaustive manual for both.

I bought several handbooks for private investigators, which are a goldmine because they list not just how to run a case, but what tools of the trade to use, down to the brand names and models.

In general, my best sources are the news, legal and judicial websites, and professionals who work in the pertinent fields.

For me, there can never be too much research or too much information. A great deal of what I learn doesn’t make it into the books, but it gives me the confidence I need to write about a subject as if I know it well. Or, more importantly, as if my characters know it well.

 

You can find out more about Emilya Naymark via her website and follow her on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Goodreads. Behind the Lie is available via Crooked Lane Books and can be purchased through all major booksellers in ebook, print, and audio formats.