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
Picture Perfect Federation and Zurich Avenue have teamed to acquire Jeneva Rose’s bestselling psychological thriller debut novel, The Perfect Marriage. The film will be directed by Sigal Avin (Losing Alice), and the script is being penned by Oscar-nominated scribe William Broyles (Apollo 13 and Cast Away). The story follows Sarah Morgan, a successful defense attorney whose life gets flipped upside down when her husband is accused of murdering his mistress. She decides to take her husband’s case and at trial, the couple is pulled into a twisted game of cat and mouse as they re-examine their relationship while dealing with life-changing consequences.
George Gallo is teaming with Green Book Oscar winner Nick Vallelonga to produce The Accidental Gangster, a new thriller based on reformed gangster Orlando "Ori" Spado’s bestselling autobiography of the same name. The former will also direct from a script by the author’s son, Anthony Spado, and David Steenhoek. Prior to leaving the mob, Ori Spado was an associate of NYC Colombo Crime Family underboss Sonny Franzese, as well as Los Angeles Family underboss Jimmy Caci, and Joey Pyle, who led the London-based criminal organization known as The Firm. He worked as a fixer in both Hollywood and New York and went on to pull off numerous jobs and heists during his time with the mafia, after working for a time as an insurance salesman. In 1997, one particular FBI Agent told Spado, “I will see the day you are chained, shackled and put on Con Air and brought to Brooklyn” — and 11 years later, in 2008, he made it happen.
Ron Perlman (Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio), Yolonda Ross (The Chi), and Daniel Diemer (The Midnight Club) have signed on to star opposite Liam Neeson in the mob thriller, Thug. The film revolves around an aging Boston gangster (Neeson) who attempts to reconnect with his children and rectify the mistakes in his past, though the criminal underworld won’t loosen its grip willingly. Tony Gayton (Hell on Wheels) wrote the screenplay.
TELEVISION/STREAMING SERVICES
Showtime is developing All Her Little Secrets, a drama based on Wanda M. Morris’s bestselling novel, starring and executive produced by Emmy winner Uzo Aduba. The project hails from writer Aurin Squire (Evil) who penned the pilot. The limited series centers on Ellice Littlejohn (Aduba), a Black female lawyer rising to the top of the corporate ladder. When she gets caught up in an affair and a mysterious conspiracy that puts her at risk of being the primary suspect and the next target, Ellice’s perfect façade starts to crumble as she scrambles to hold onto all she has earned, protect her family, and stay alive. Timely themes of race, class, gender, and power are explored in this fast-paced, mystery thriller.
Jessica Fellowes’s Mitford Murders series, published by Sphere, has been optioned for television by Endor Productions. While following the fortunes of the real Mitford family over three decades, each installment in the novel series also focused on one of the six Mitford sisters, fusing their lives with crime fiction stories inspired by real events. The project will see Sherry Marsh (Vikings and Pose) serving as executive producer, with Bafta-nominated screenwriter Helen Black adapting the books for the screen.
CBS announced they were giving full-season orders to three shows including East New York, the No. 2 new series on any network, and Sunday’s No. 1 new program with 7.37 million viewers. Regina Haywood stars as the new boss of the 74th Precinct in East New York who uses creative methods to serve and protect during a time of social upheaval.
Hulu unveiled a trailer for Welcome To Chippendales, created by Robert Siegel and inspired by the book, Deadly Dance: The Chippendales Murders by K. Scot Macdonald and Patrick MontesDeOca. It stars Kumail Nanjiani as Somen "Steve" Banerjee, the founder of Chippendales, who rose to fame with his revolutionary adult business venture only to tank it all with shady practices behind the scenes involving not just money, but murder.
HBO took to Twitter to inform fans that the Perry Mason series – starring Matthew Rhys as the titular private eye – has begun filming and that it will return in February 2023. According to Collider, cast member Shea Wigham added that the series will move into 1933 and the end of prohibition. The Perry Mason series is based on the novels written by Erle Stanley Gardner and featured in another TV series (1957-1966) starring Raymond Burr in the title role.
PODCASTS/VIDEO/RADIO/AUDIO
This past week, CBS Saturday featured Lee Child and Andrew Child, authors of No Plan B: A Jack Reacher Novel.
A new Mysteryrat's Maze Podcast is up featuring a mystery short story perfect for your Halloween listening, "The Artists of Chartres Street" by Ellen Byron, as read by actor Amelia Ryan.
Connecticut Public Radio's Colin McEnroe Show featured a panel, including Martin Edwards, Gene Seymour, Alexandra Petri, and Nick Quah, discussing why we're drawn to crime fiction and crime television shows and podcasts.
On It Was a Dark and Stormy Book Club, Bruce Robert Coffin stopped by to discuss his opinion of the accuracy of Police Procedurals. Coffin is a retired police detective sergeant and bestselling author of the Detective Byron Mysteries.
Writers Detective Bureau host, detective Adam Richardson, talked about the differences between UK and US Crime Scene Investigation; the ramifications of a detective lying about immunity to a witness; and how police might obtain Ring doorbell footage.
On the latest Read or Dead, Katie and Kendra discussed novels with villain POV characters.
Zoe Sharp stopped by Crime Time FM to discuss the why and how of self-publishing, the benefits and pitfalls, how to go about marketing your books, what works and what doesn't, snobbery in the publishing industry, Amazon, Ian Rankin, and advertising in a public toilet.
My Favorite Detective Stories chatted with Lori Duffy Foster, a former crime reporter who writes nonfiction and fiction, including her debut novel, A Dead Man’s Eyes, the first in the Lisa Jamison mystery/suspense series.
In the new episode of the Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine podcast, Yorkshire-based author and journalist, Pat Black, read the thrilling murder mystery set in Glasgow, "The Man in the Long Dark Coat," from the May/June 2022 issue.
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