In Reference to Murder

Audio Accolades

The annual Audie Awards from the Audio Publishers Association announced their 2024 finalists in some 27 categories. Winners will be honored at a March 4 announcement ceremony set for Los Angeles. I've listed the shortlists for the Mystery and Thriller/Suspense categories below, as well as a few other crime fiction-related nominees.

 

BEST MYSTERY AUDIOBOOK

• The Golden Gate By Amy Chua; Narrated by Robb Moreira, Tim Campbell, and Suzanne Toren (published by Macmillan Audio)
• A Line in the Sand By Kevin Powers; Narrated by Christine Lakin (published by Hachette Audio)
• Murder Your Employer By Rupert Holmes; Narrated by Neil Patrick Harris and Simon Vance (published by Simon & Schuster Audio)
• Vera Wong’s Unsolicited Advice for Murderers By Jesse Q. Sutanto; Narrated by Eunice Wong (published by Penguin Random House Audio)
• A World of Curiosities By Louise Penny; Narrated by Robert Bathurst (published by Macmillan Audio)

BEST THRILLER/SUSPENSE

• All the Sinners Bleed By S.A. Cosby; Narrated by Adam Lazarre-White (published by Macmillan Audio)
• Bad Cree By Jessica Johns; Narrated by Tanis Parenteau (published by Penguin Random House Audio)
• I Will Find You By Harlan Coben; Narrated by Steven Weber (published by Brilliance Publishing
• None of This Is True By Lisa Jewell; Narrated by Nicola Walker, Louise Brealey, and a full cast including Kristin Atherton, Ayesha Antoine, Alix Dunmore, Elliot Fitzpatrick, Lisa Jewell, Thomas Judd, Dominic Thorburn, and Jenny Walser (published by Simon & Schuster Audio)
• The Woodkin By Alexander James; Narrated by Alex Knox (published by CamCat Books)

AUDIOBOOK OF THE YEAR

• All the Sinners Bleed By S.A. Cosby; Narrated by Adam Lazarre-White (published by Macmillan Audio)

BEST AUDIO DRAMA

• None of This Is True By Lisa Jewell; Narrated by Nicola Walker, Louise Brealey, and a full cast including Kristin Atherton, Ayesha Antoine, Alix Dunmore, Elliot Fitzpatrick, Lisa Jewell, Thomas Judd, Dominic Thorburn, and Jenny Walser (published by Simon & Schuster Audio)

BEST SHORT STORY ANTHOLOGY/COLLECTION

• Obsession Collection By Nita Prose, B.A. Paris, Minka Kent, Julie Clark, Chris Bohjalian, and Alyssa Cole; Narrated by Susan Dalian, Kimberly Woods, Jess Nahikian, Will Watt, Grace Experience, Frankie Corzo, Carly Robins, Susan Ericksen, Amy McFadden, and Susannah Jones (published by Brilliance Publishing)

BEST YOUNG ADULT

• Beholder By Ryan La Sala; Narrated by Vikas Adam (published by Scholastic Audio)

Author R&R with Kirby Ann

Kirby Ann has always been captivated by the world of literature. From a young age, her love for reading laid the foundation for a lifelong passion for storytelling. It wasn't until her twenties that she took up writing seriously, embarking on a journey of self-expression. Away from writing, she finds joy on trips with friends and family, drawing inspiration from the new landscapes and cultures she encounters. When in need of a break, she immerses herself in the world of online gaming, finding both relaxation and creativity in the virtual realms. In 2023, she took a bold step forward, deciding to share her works on a larger scale. As her professional writing career takes its first steps, she is filled with optimism and high hopes for the future. With a unique blend of Texas spirit, a love for storytelling, and a supportive network, she looks forward to weaving more tales that resonate with readers and leave a lasting impact

Power In Justice is the third book in her DeLaney Mob Series, in which Andrea de Laney, embarks on a mission to restore order to her tumultuous world. Determined to seek justice for herself, Berkland, and the people she holds dear, Andrea navigates a treacherous path toward the truth. With a breakthrough in her pursuit of the F.A.D.F. fund, Andrea unleashes her skills to settle unfinished business. As the tension escalates between the DeLaney Mob and the O'Hare Mafia, the long-awaited confrontation looms on the horizon. Simultaneously, the most significant event of the year approaches, adding urgency to Andrea's already relentless race against the clock. Struggling to find equilibrium between her high-stakes endeavors and her blossoming relationship with Valerie, Andrea must strike a delicate balance to safeguard both her personal and professional life. A new fiancée and baby on the way bring new perspective to her world. Determination fuels her relentless pursuit of truth, justice, and redemption. As alliances are tested, secrets unravel, and loyalties are put to the ultimate test, she faces her biggest challenges yet. Andrea must summon every ounce of her strength, intellect, and resourcefulness to ensure her world doesn't come apart.

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

 

I’m always afraid that the things I find myself researching for the books in my DeLaney Mob Series are going to put me on a watchlist of some kind. All the time, I’m searching about guns, drugs, and other things that probably throw up red flags somewhere in the deep reaches of the servers of the internet. I won’t lie, though—a lot of my research has been years in the making with the hundreds of hours of crime and police procedural TV shows I’ve watched. Some of those shows could’ve done with a little more research, in my opinion. But that’s the 'entertainment factor' at work. Viewers care less about the details of how DNA profiling actually works than the neat charts showing who the killer is.

Taking that into account, it’s easy to let my mind run wild when writing a scene. It’s more fun to add in an explosion or a gunfight than to sit around describing how a gun actually fires a bullet. In fact, that’s usually what I do. Other authors and professionals would say that I’m a pantser because I don’t sit down and plan anything out, not even the title. To me, plotting is a barrier, and to some extent, I feel the same thing about research. If I learn all I can about a subject by researching for days and weeks at a time, I burn out on it. It just doesn’t work for me. In my genre, unlike historical fiction or legal thrillers, I don’t feel the need to do tons of research. With suspense and thriller, even in romance, it seems as though readers are looking for more of an immersive experience.

We’re living in 2024. Life is hard, things are expensive, people are struggling. They need an escape. That’s what I try to provide for them. With my novel, Power In Betrayal, I try to give the reader a labyrinth of cityscape to navigate alongside the main protagonist, Andrea. They get to go down in the tunnels, ride around the city streets, and drive up the mountain to the lodge. Berkland, the city, is an escape all on its own. But to build that sort of complex landscape, I had to research different details to make it more realistic, where the reader could see it the same way Andrea does. Most of that research came from looking at pictures of different cities, landscapes, and mountains.

Moving past that, I did some research on how a port and port security work because, of course, mafias need to move product through some sort of major shipping lane. I didn’t let it take over, though. For me, it’s about finding the balance of enough detail and procedure to give the reader the picture without it becoming boring. I like to build an experience without bogging down in the details because I know when I read a book, if it's just description after description, detail after detail, I skim through it to get to the part where the story starts moving again.

Outside of online research and watching television, my other method of research is from books. Reading about the 'real' mob and learning how they operated, the things that were important to them, how family is everything—those are key factors that gave me a sense I was moving in the right direction. In my novel, Power In Justice, Andrea’s fighting enemies on multiple fronts with an end goal in mind that she has to save the family she’s trying to build and save the city she loves. Her character isn’t based on one particular mobster but a culmination of multiple people from history.

In the end, research is necessary for pretty much all novels, but I don’t like to let myself get bogged down in it. If I wrote for a different genre, then maybe I would feel the need to dive deeper. For now, I prefer to go just deep enough to make my point and let the story keep flowing. And for those of you that have to roll up your sleeves and dig into pits unknown to bring the story of what’s important to you to light for all the rest of us, I applaud your dedication and perseverance. There’s no right or wrong answer to how much research is enough research. When the author has what they need to tell their story, then that’s when the real work begins.

 

You can learn more about Kirby Ann and her books via her website and follow her on TikTok, Goodreads, and Instagram. Power In Justice is now available in print and digital versions via Amazon.

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

Following the success of Air, Matt Damon and Ben Affleck are reuniting on the kidnapping thriller, Animals, with Damon starring and Affleck directing. Connor McIntyre penned the script with revisions by Billy Ray. Plot details are vague outside the fact that it is said to involve a kidnapping.

Actor Glen Powell (Top Gun: Maverick) has found his next project with the thriller, Huntington, from writer-director John Patton Ford (Emily The Criminal). Producers are aiming for an early summer shoot on the movie, which is described as a "raucous revenge thriller" about Becket Redfellow (Powell), the heir to a multi-billion-dollar fortune who will stop at nothing to get what he deserves…or what he thinks he deserves. Patton Ford’s original screenplay is inspired by Studiocanal’s 1949 Ealing Comedy, Kind Hearts and Coronets, starring Alec Guinness.

Diego Boneta (Luis Miguel: The Series) and Martha Higareda (Queens on the Run) are set to star and produce the new erotic thriller film, Follow, for Amazon Studios. Gonzalo Tobal (Accused) will direct the film from a screenplay by Hipatia Argüero Mendoza. The film follows Sebastián (Boneta) a young, handsome, and incredibly charming guy with an impeccable sense of style. He has used these weapons to become a master scammer, who preys on some of the richest and most famous women in Mexico. Alongside his faithful henchman Maclo (Alejandro Speitzer), Sebastián carries out his plans with great cunning. Before he can put an end to his bright career as a scammer, Carolina (Higareda), an enigmatic woman, crosses his path. Captivated by her, Sebastián puts his retirement plans on hold to carry out one last scam.

Vertical has acquired U.S. rights to the spy thriller, Chief of Station, starring Aaron Eckhart, Olga Kurylenko, and Alex Pettyfer. The Bee Holder Productions and Concourse Media film is being lined up for a May 2024 domestic release. Eckhart plays Ben, a former CIA European Station Chief whose world comes crumbling down after his wife, a former operative, dies in a terrible accident. After receiving cryptic information that his wife’s death might not have been an accident, Ben heads back into the shadowy underworld of Eastern Europe, teaming up with a former adversary to unravel a conspiracy that challenges everything he thought he knew about his wife and the agency he worked at for more than 20 years.

Amazon MGM Studios has landed U.S. theatrical rights to Levon’s Trade, a film helmed by David Ayer (Suicide Squad) and starring Jason Statham (Fast & Furious franchise). The screenplay was adapted by Sylvester Stallone (Creed), with revisions by Ayer, and is based on prolific comic author Chuck Dixon’s first novel in the "Levon" series. The movie will chart how Levon Cade (Statham) left his "profession" behind him to go straight and work in construction. He wants to live a simple life and be a good father to his daughter. But when his boss’s teenage daughter vanishes, he’s called upon to re-employ the skills that made him a legendary figure in the shadowy world of black ops.

Amazon MGM Studios has also launched development of Razzlekhan, a new film inspired by a 2022 article in the New York Times, which Hannah Marks (Don’t Make Me Go) will direct from her own script. The project is based on the true story of Ilya Lichtenstein and Heather Morgan, a millennial couple who stole over $3 billion in cryptocurrency before being caught by the Department of Justice. The film takes its name from the rapper stage name of the latter, who alongside Lichtenstein, was charged by the FBI with conspiracy to launder the stolen bitcoin in February 2022.

It looks like director Rian Johnson will begin filming on the currently-untitled Knives Out 3 later this year, with actor Daniel Craig tapped to reprise his role as the drawling detective Benoit Blanc. Currently, very little is known about Knives Out 3, which has no other cast members announced except for Craig. However, back in October, Johnson told The Wrap that progress was being made on the sequel following the conclusion of the WGA strike.

TELEVISION/SMALL SCREEN

Netflix has greenlit another two adaptations of Harlan Coben novels after Fool Me Once became a global hit for the streaming service. Netflix will bring Missing You and Run Away to the screen as limited series over the coming years, with the former going into production in spring 2024. Missing You tells the story of detective Kat Donovan stumbling across her estranged fiancé on a dating app, forcing her to delve back into the mystery surrounding her father’s murder. Run Away centers on Simon, whose perfect life is shattered when his oldest daughter, Paige, runs away and is found vulnerable and strung out on drugs in a city park. Simon’s search takes him into a dangerous underworld, where a shocking act of violence further rocks his life.

Prime Video has revealed that Season 3 of Reacher will be based on the book Persuader, the seventh installment in the Jack Reacher series written by Lee Child. The streamer also confirmed today that Maria Sten (Swamp Thing) will return for Season 3, reprising the role of Frances Neagley, alongside Alan Ritchson. In Season 3, Reacher (Ritchson) must go undercover to rescue an informant held by a haunting foe from his past. The third season of Reacher is currently filming in Toronto.

Amanda Seyfried has been cast in Long Bright River, a limited series thriller that’s coming to Peacock. The upcoming project is an adaptation of Liz Moore’s novel of the same name. A New York Times bestseller and listed as one of Barack Obama’s favorite books of 2020, Long Bright River is set in a Philadelphia neighborhood that’s in the grips of the opioid crisis and follows two once-inseparable sisters. Kacey lives on the streets in the throes of addiction, while Mickey patrols those same streets as a police officer. Though the sisters have been torn apart by life, Mickey can’t stop worrying about her sibling. When Kacey disappears in the midst of a series of murders, that worry reaches new heights. Seyfried will star as Mickey.

David Duchovny, Jack Whitehall, and Carice van Houten are set to star in the psychological thriller, Malice, for Amazon Prime Video. James Wood (The Great) is the writer and executive producer. The show is understood to be following a young man, played by British comic and Bad Education star Whitehall, who tries to infiltrate the world of a wealthy family. X-Files star Duchovny and van Houten, who played Melisandre in Game of Thrones, will play the heads of the family.

Netflix has set an April 4 premiere date and unveiled the first trailer for the psychological thriller series, Ripley, starring Andrew Scott as the iconic character from Patricia Highsmith novels. Ripley revolves around Scott’s Tom Ripley, a grifter scraping by in early 1960s New York, who is hired by a wealthy man to travel to Italy to try to convince his vagabond son to return home. Tom’s acceptance of the job is the first step into a complex life of deceit, fraud, and murder.

Peacock‘s limited series Apples Never Fall, starring Annette Bening and Sam Neill, has set a release date of March 14, and unveiled a first-look teaser. The seven-episode drama is based on Liane Moriarty’s bestselling novel and centers on the seemingly picture-perfect Delaney family. Former tennis coaches Stan (Neill) and Joy (Bening) have sold their successful tennis academy and are ready to start what should be the golden years of their lives. While they look forward to spending time with their four adult children (Jake Lacy, Alison Brie, Conor Merrigan-Turner, Essie Randles), everything changes when a wounded young woman knocks on Joy and Stan’s door, bringing the excitement they’ve been missing. But when Joy suddenly disappears, her children are forced to reexamine their parents’ so-called perfect marriage as their family’s darkest secrets begin to surface.

PODCASTS/VIDEO/RADIO/AUDIO

On CBC's Ideas: Radio for the Mind program, professors Rohan Maitzen (King's-Dalhousie University) and Andrew Mangham (University of Reading), along with mystery author Radha Vatsal and biographer Andrew Lycett, discussed Wilkie Collins's contributions to the sensation genre. (HT to The Bunburyist)

Crime Cafe featured Debbi Mack's interview with crime writer Laurie Buchanan about her planned nine-book Sean McPherson series.

It Was a Dark and Stormy Book Club spoke with Edwin Hill about his recent release, Who To Believe, set in New England.

On Crime Time FM, Barry Forshaw, Victoria Selman, and Paul Burke chatted about January books and other titles to look forward to later in the year, as well as crime and thriller TV for 2024, and a new "seductive Miss Marple."

Mystery Melange

The 2024 Diamond Dagger for lifetime contribution to crime writing has been awarded jointly to two authors, Lynda La Plante and James Lee Burke. The award, which is administered by the Crime Writers’ Association (CWA), recognizes sustained excellence in the genre. CWA Daggers’ committee chair, Maxim Jakubowsk, explained that, "By an extraordinary quirk of fate, due to our new voting process, this year’s Diamond Dagger is, for the first time in seven decades, being awarded to two authors." La Plante is best known for writing the Prime Suspect and Widows television and novel series. Her other series include Lorraine Page, Anna Travis and Trial And Retribution. In 2008, she received a CBE for services to literature, drama and charity. James Lee Burke is best known for his series about detective Dave Robicheaux, which spans more than 20 novels. This year’s choices were decided by a panel of previous winners including Lee Child, Ian Rankin and Val McDermid. Other past winners include Ruth Rendell, PD James and John le Carré.

David Baldacci has been named PEN/Faulkner’s 2024 Literary Champion. This annual honor from the D.C.-based nonprofit celebrates a "lifetime of devoted literary advocacy and a commitment to inspiring new generations of readers and writers." In addition to selling more than 150 million copies of his thrillers, Baldacci has created the Wish You Well literacy foundation and generously supported the Mark Twain House & Museum in Hartford, Connecticut. Baldacci’s 50th novel for adults, A Calamity of Souls, will be released in April. Baldacci will accept his award, along with the other 2024 PEN/Faulkner Awards winners and finalists, in a celebration to be held at the Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial Library in Washington, DC on May 2, 2024.

Murderous March 2024 is an all-virtual mystery conference hosted by the Upper Hudson chapter of Sisters in Crime March 8-9 featuring some of the industry's best writers and publishing professionals. Curl up in your flannel pants and cozy slippers and listen to panel discussions, join in on master classes and agent/editor pitches, and enjoy a conversation with Guest of Honor, award-winning author Naomi Hirahara. A portion of the proceeds benefits South End Children's Cafe and their tireless efforts to provide free, healthy meals along with homework help, academic enrichment, mentoring, exercise, and the arts to at-risk youth in the Albany, NY area.

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

Rosa Salazar (Captain America: Brave New World) has signed on for the female lead in Play Dirty, Shane Black’s crime thriller for Amazon MGM Studios, also starring Mark Wahlberg and LaKeith Stanfield. Details as to her role have not yet been disclosed. In Play Dirty, Wahlberg plays professional thief Parker, who after being double-crossed and left for dead, sees his hunt for revenge bring with it a shot at the biggest heist of his career. But even with the help of his partner, actor-slash-con-artist Grofield (Stanfield), he’ll still need to outsmart a South American dictator, the New York mob, and the world’s richest man if he hopes to stay alive. Based on Donald E. Westlake’s Parker crime fiction novels (written under the pseudonym Richard Stark), the film is the first project in a forthcoming Amazon MGM slate based on Westlake’s work, following a pact between the studio and Team Downey in 2022, which will also see titles adapted for TV.

TELEVISION/SMALL SCREEN

The iconic 1960s television series, The Avengers, is getting a remake. StudioCanal, which owns the rights to The Avengers catalog, has been quietly plotting a reboot for some time, and a pilot has been written by Mickey Down and Konrad Kay (the writing team behind hit HBO/BBC series, Industry). Ben Taylor is a co-creator and will also direct the series and executive produce. Launching in 1961, the cult TV series ran for six seasons on ITV and later ABC in the U.S., where it was one of the first British shows to be acquired for primetime by an American network. Patrick Macnee starred as Steed, who fought off diabolical plots against the state with his trademark bowler hat and umbrella. He was aided by a succession of high-fashion assistants played by the likes of Diana Rigg and Honor Blackman, who broke ground for being Steed’s equal, holding their own in brawls and delivering playful quips.

Nathan Lane, Javier Bardem, and Chloë Sevigny have signed on to star in the second season of the Netflix anthology series, Monster, which will tackle the story of convicted murderers Lyle and Erik Menendez and debut on Netflix sometime in 2024. Lane will play investigative journalist Dominick Dunne, whose coverage of the trial was particularly influential, including his celebrated "Nightmare on Elm Drive" article for Vanity Fair. Nicholas Chavez and Cooper Koch will play Lyle and Erik, respectively, with Bardem and Sevigny recently added to portray their parents.

Prime Video‘s previously untitled The Terminal List prequel/Ben Edwards origin series, headlined and executive produced by Taylor Kitsch, has been given a name. The Terminal List star/executive producer Chris Pratt will reprise his character James Reece in The Terminal List: Dark Wolf, with production beginning early this year. Co-created by The Terminal List author Jack Carr and Season 1 creator-showrunner David DiGilio, the prequel is an espionage thriller that takes viewers on Edwards’s journey from Navy SEAL to CIA paramilitary operator, exploring the darker side of warfare and the human cost that comes with it. In addition to James Reece (Pratt), other characters who will be featured in the offshoot opposite Kitsch’s Ben include Raife Hastings, Mohammed Farooq, and Ernest "Boozer" Vickers, played in Season 1 by former Navy SEAL and series producer Jared Shaw.


Guy Ritchie has expanded his 2019 film, The Gentlemen, into a Netflix series, with the streamer dropping the first teaser. The drama is set "in the world" of the film but doesn't have any of the original characters. The White Lotus's Theo James leads the TV show as Eddie Horniman, who inherits his father's enormous country estate — with strings. Eddie soon learns it's connected to a rather sizeable crime empire and all the rivals that go with it, so he's pulled into the game.

Production has officially begun on Netflix's The Lincoln Lawyer Season 3. Stars Manuel Garcia-Rulfo, Becki Newton, Jazz Raycole, Angus Sampson, and Yaya DaCosta will reprise their roles. Neve Campbell, Elliott Gould, Krista Warner, and Fiona Rene are also back with Devon Graye, who appeared briefly in Season 2, bumped up to recurring this season. Season 3 will consist of ten episodes and will be based on the fifth book in The Lincoln Lawyer series by Michael Connelly, The Gods of Guilt. (Seasons 1 and 2 of The Lincoln Lawyer are available to stream now via Netflix.)

The Flight Attendant will not be returning for a third season on Max. The first season, which premiered in November 2020, followed Kaley Cuoco’s alcoholic, globe-trotting flight attendant, Cassie Bowden, who became embroiled in an espionage plot following her affair with a first class passenger, who winds up murdered after their night together. The second season saw Bowden return with a fresh start in Los Angeles, sober and moonlighting as a CIA asset in her spare time. But when an overseas assignment leads her to inadvertently witness a murder, she becomes entangled in another international intrigue. The Flight Attendant, based on Chris Bohjalian’s eponymous novel, also starred Zosia Mamet, Griffin Matthews, Deniz Akdeniz, and Rosie Perez.

PODCASTS/VIDEO/RADIO/AUDIO

On NPR's All Things Considered, Mary Louise Kelly talked to author Alex Michaelides about his new murder mystery, The Fury, in which he tries to "turn the murder mystery genre on its head."

The Red Hot Chili Writers spoke with Australian crime writer, Chris Hammer, and discussed the TV adaptation of his novel, Scrublands; they also talked about deadly funnel-web spiders; and presented secrets for superior gut health in the new year.

Garry Discher chatted with Craig Sisterson on Crime Time FM about his new novel, Day's End; right wing extremism; stories ripped from the news; rural noir; backpackers; and blue biro.

It Was a Dark and Stormy Book Club discussed their top five crime fiction books for 2023.

Edgar Excellence

Mystery Writers of America announced the nominees for the 2024 Edgar Allan Poe Awards, honoring the best in mystery fiction, nonfiction, and television published or produced in 2023. The 78th Annual Edgar® Awards will be celebrated on May 1, 2024, at the New York Marriott Marquis Times Square. Congrats to all the finalists!

Best Novel:

• Flags on the Bayou by James Lee Burke (Grove Atlantic)
• All the Sinners Bleed by S.A. Cosby (Flatiron Books)
• The Madwomen of Paris by Jennifer Cody Epstein (Penguin Random House – Ballantine Books)
• Bright Young Women by Jessica Knoll (Simon & Schuster – Simon Element – Marysue Rucci Books)
• An Honest Man by Michael Koryta (Hachette Book Group – Little, Brown and Company – Mulholland Books)
• The River We Remember by William Kent Krueger (Simon & Schuster – Atria Books)
• Crook Manifesto by Colson Whitehead (Penguin Random House – Doubleday)

Best First Novel by an American Author:

• The Peacock and the Sparrow by I.S. Berry (Simon & Schuster – Atria Books)
• The Golden Gate by Amy Chua (Macmillan Publishing – Minotaur Books)
• Small Town Sins by Ken Jaworowski (Macmillan Publishing – Henry Holt and Co.)
• The Last Russian Doll by Kristen Loesch (Penguin Random House – Berkley)
• Murder by Degrees by Ritu Mukerji (Simon & Schuster)

Best Paperback Original:

• Boomtown by A.F. Carter (Penzler Publishers – Mysterious Press)
• Hide by Tracy Clark (Amazon Publishing – Thomas & Mercer)
• The Taken Ones by Jess Lourey (Amazon Publishing – Thomas & Mercer)
• Vera Wong’s Unsolicited Advice for Murderers by Jesse Q. Sutanto (Penguin Random House – Berkley)
• Lowdown Road by Scott Von Doviak (Hard Case Crime)

Best Fact Crime:

• In Light of All Darkness: Inside the Polly Klaas Kidnapping and the Search for America’s Child by Kim Cross (Hachette Book Group – Grand Central Publishing)
• Number Go Up: Inside Crypto’s Wild Rise and Staggering Fall by Zeke Faux (Penguin Random House – Crown Currency)
• Tangled Vines: Power, Privilege, and the Murdaugh Family Murders by John Glatt (Macmillan Publishers – St. Martin’s Press)
• Crooked: The Roaring ’20s Tale of a Corrupt Attorney General, a Crusading Senator, and the Birth of the American Political Scandal by Nathan Masters (Hachette Book Group – Hachette Books)
• I Know Who You Are: How an Amateur DNA Sleuth Unmasked the Golden State Killer and Changed Crime Fighting Forever by Barbara Rae-Venter (Penguin Random House – Ballantine Books)
• The Lost Sons of Omaha: Two Young Men in an American Tragedy by Joe Sexton (Simon & Schuster – Scribner)

Best Critical/Biographical:

• Perplexing Plots: Popular Storytelling and the Poetics of Murder by David Bordwell (Columbia University Press)
• Spillane: King of Pulp Fiction by Max Allan Collins & James L. Traylor (Penzler Publishers – Mysterious Press)
• A Mystery of Mysteries: The Death and Life of Edgar Allan Poe by Mark Dawidziak (Macmillan Publishing – St. Martin’s Press)
• Fallen Angel: The Life of Edgar Allan Poe by Robert Morgan (LSU Press)
• Love Me Fierce in Danger – The Life of James Ellroy by Steven Powell (Bloomsbury Publishing – Bloomsbury Academic)

Best Short Story:

• “Hallowed Ground,” by Linda Castillo (Macmillan Publishers – Minotaur Books)
• “Thriller,” Thriller by Heather Graham (Blackstone Publishing)
• “Miss Direction,” Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine, September-October 2023 by Rob Osler (Dell Magazines)
• “The Rise,” Amazon Original Stories by Ian Rankin (Amazon Publishing)
• “Pigeon Tony’s Last Stand,” Amazon Original Stories by Lisa Scottoline (Amazon Publishing)

Best Juvenile:

• Myrtle, Means, and Opportunity by Elizabeth C. Bunce (Hachette Book Group – Workman Publishing – Algonquin Young Readers)
• The Ghosts of Rancho Espanto by Adrianna Cuevas (Macmillan Publishers – Farrar, Straus and Giroux BFYR)
• Epic Ellisons: Cosmos Camp by Lamar Giles (HarperCollins Publishers – Versify)
• The Jules Verne Prophecy by Larry Schwarz & Iva-Marie Palmer (Hachette Book Group – Little, Brown Books for Young Readers)
• What Happened to Rachel Riley? by Claire Swinarski (HarperCollins Publishers – Quill Tree Books)

Best Young Adult:

• Girl Forgotten by April Henry (Hachette Book Group – Little, Brown Books for Young Readers)
• Star Splitter by Matthew J. Kirby (Penguin Young Readers – Dutton Books for Young Readers)
• The Sharp Edge of Silence by Cameron Kelly Rosenblum (HarperCollins Publishers – Quill Tree Books)
• My Flawless Life by Yvonne Woon (HarperCollins Publishers – Katherine Tegen Books)
• Just Do This One Thing for Me by Laura Zimmerman (Penguin Young Readers – Dutton Books for Young Readers)

Best Television Episode Teleplay:

• “Time of the Monkey” – Poker Face, Written by Wyatt Cain & Charlie Peppers (Peacock)
• “I’m a Pretty Observant Guy” – Will Trent, Written by Liz Heldens (ABC)
• “Dead Man’s Hand” – Poker Face, Written by Rian Johnson (Peacock)
• “Hózhó Náhásdlii (Beauty is Restore)” – Dark Winds, Written by Graham Roland & John Wirth (AMC)
• “Escape from Shit Mountain” – Poker Face, Written by Nora Zuckerman & Lilla Zuckerman (Peacock)

Robert L. Fish Memorial Award:

• “Errand for a Neighbor,” Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine, January-February 2023 by Bill Bassman (Dell Magazines)
• “The Body in Cell Two,” Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine, May-June 2023 by Kate Hohl (Dell Magazines)
• “The Soiled Dove of Shallow Hollow,” Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine, January-February 2023 by Sean McCluskey (Dell Magazines)
• “It’s Half Your Fault,” Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine, July-August 2023 by Meghan Leigh Paulk (Dell Magazines)
• “Two Hours West of Nothing,” Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine, September-October 2023 by Gabriela Stiteler (Dell Magazines)

The Simon & Schuster Mary HIggins Clark Award:

• Play the Fool by Lina Chern (Penguin Random House – Bantam)
• The Bones of the Story by Carol Goodman (HarperCollins Publishers – William Morrow)
• Of Manners and Murder by Anastasia Hastings (Macmillan Publishers – Minotaur Books)
• The Three Deaths of Willa Stannard by Kate Robards (Crooked Lane Books)
• Murder in Postscript by Mary Winters (Penguin Random House – Berkley)

The G.P. Putman's Sons Sue Grafton Memorial Award:

• Hard Rain by Samantha Jayne Allen (Macmillan Publishers – Minotaur Books)
• An Evil Heart by Linda Castillo (Macmillan Publishers – Minotaur Books)
• Bad, Bad Seymour Brown by Susan Isaacs (Grove Atlantic – Atlantic Monthly Press)
• Past Lying by Val McDermid (Grove Atlantic – Atlantic Monthly Press)
• A Stolen Child by Sarah Stewart Taylor (Macmillan Publishers – Minotaur Books)

The Lilian Jackson Braun Memorial Award:

• Glory Be by Danielle Arceneaux (Pegasus Books – Pegasus Crime)
• Misfortune Cookie by Vivien Chien (Macmillan – St. Martin’s Paperbacks)
• Hot Pot Murder by Jennifer J. Chow (Penguin Random House – Berkley)
• Murder of an Amish Bridegroom by Patricia Johns (Crooked Lane Books)
• The Body in the Back Garden by Mark Waddell (Crooked Lane Books)

SPECIAL AWARDS – PREVIOUSLY ANNOUNCED IN JANUARY 2024 

Grand Master

• Katherine Hall Page
• R.L. Stine

Ellery Queen Award

• Michaela Hamilton, Kensington Books

Mystery Melange

The Baker Street Irregulars just marked their 90th anniversary with the BSI Weekend in New York City, filled with events for Sherlockians of all kinds. At this year's event, Otto Penzler was given the Two-Shilling Award for his continued support of the Baker Street Irregulars and general Sherlockianism. As Penzler explained on Twitter, in the Holmes canon, the detective employed a group of street urchins whom he called The Baker Street Irregulars, giving each a shilling. When someone is accepted into the BSI, they are given a shilling, and if they are chosen to be honored for their service to that community, they are given a second shilling, hence the name.

Each year the Writers’ Police Academy hosts the Golden Donut Short Story Contest. It’s a fun contest with two major but simple rules—the focus of the story must be based on the photo they provide, and the story must contain EXACTLY 200 words. The panel of judges consisted of associate and commissioning editors of the UK publishing company, Bookouture. This year's winner was announced as "Adam-13" by Sally Milliken; second place went to "Law and Molder" by Marcia Adair; third place was won by Pat Remick's "Cemetery Justice."

New York Times best-selling author, Tess Gerritsen, will talk with the "Queen of Scottish Crime," Val McDermid, at Aberdeen’s Music Hall on Friday, January 26 about her career as a physician and novelist and her newest novel, Listen To Me. This is a special prologue to Granite Noir, which will take place with events across the city from February 20-25. Gerritsen is well known for creating compelling protagonist, homicide detective Jane Rizzoli and medical examiner Maura Isles which inspired the hit TV series, Rizzoli and Isles.

Suspense Magazine has been on hiatus since fall of 2022 but this week announced they're back after they "needed to take a little break, to see how the best way to give the fans what they wanted." They will no longer be doing a PDF of the magazine, instead using the website as a repository for information (reviews, interviews, podcasts). They've also partnered with Outliers Writing University, where authors such as Jeffery Deaver, Hank Phillippi Ryan, Heather Graham, Don Bentley, Steven James, and Boyd Morrison to help authors get past writing blocks and put their manuscript in the publishing pile and out of the slush pile. There's no word yet on whether the site will continue to publish original short fiction online or in anthology format as they have done in the past.

Jeff Pierce over at The Rap Sheet blog has compiled a list of crime fiction titles published in the first three months of 2024 deserving of particular notice, including novels, anthologies, and a few nonfiction books. As he aptly notes, "Who Could Get Through So Many Titles?"

The BBC looked at the Indian hotel murder that possibly inspired Agatha Christie's very first novel, The Mysterious Affair at Styles, a story which also introduced one of Christie's most iconic characters, the eccentric detective, Hercule Poirot.

In the Q&A roundup, Crime Fiction Lover chatted with Gregory Dowling, translator of the upcoming publication in English of The Lover of No Fixed Abode, a novel originally written by Carlo Fruttero and Franco Lucentini in 1986, which is set in Venice; Paul Durston talked to Crime Time about his second PC Charlie Quinlan novel, If We Were One; and Deborah Kalb interviewed Otho Eskin, the author of the new novel, Firetrap, the third in his series featuring his character Marko Zorn.

Lionizing the Lefties

The "Lefty" lists are out! The annual Left Coast Crime "Lefty" Awards are chosen by registered members of each Left Coast Crime convention, this year to be held in April in Bellevue, Washington. During the first two weeks of January, nominations for awards to be presented at the annual convention are made by people registered for that convention and also the one immediately prior. Final voting takes place during the event, and winners are presented at the Awards Celebration, which will take place Saturday, April 13, at the Hyatt Regency in Bellevue. (To be eligible, titles must have been published for the first time in the United States or Canada during the calendar year preceding the convention.) Congrats to all the nominees!

Lefty Nominees for Best Humorous Mystery Novel

• Jennifer J. Chow, Hot Pot Murder (Berkley Prime Crime)
• Lee Matthew Goldberg, The Great Gimmelmans (Level Best Books)
• Leslie Karst, A Sense for Murder (Severn House)
• Catriona McPherson, Hop Scot (Severn House)
• Cindy Sample, Dying for a Decoration (Cindy Sample Books)
• Wendall Thomas, Cheap Trills (Beyond the Page Books)

Lefty Nominees for Best Historical Mystery Novel (Bill Gotttfried Memorial)  

• Cara Black, Night Flight to Paris (Soho Crime)
• Bruce Borgos, The Bitter Past (Minotaur Books)
• Susanna Calkins, Death Among the Ruins (Severn House)
• Dianne Freeman, A Newlywed’s Guide to Fortune and Murder (Kensington)
• Cheryl A. Head, Time’s Undoing (Dutton)
• Naomi Hirahara, Evergreen (Soho Crime )

Lefty Nominees for Best Debut Mystery Novel

• Lina Chern, Play the Fool (Bantam)
• Margot Douaihy, Scorched Grace (Gillian Flynn Books)
• Josh Pachter, Dutch Threat (Genius Book Publishing)
• Ana Reyes, The House in the Pines (Dutton)
• Nina Simon, Mother-Daughter Murder Night (William Morrow)

Lefty Nominees for Best Mystery Novel

• Tracy Clark, Hide (Thomas & Mercer)
• S.A. Cosby, All the Sinners Bleed (Flatiron Books)
• Matt Coyle, Odyssey’s End (Oceanview Publishing)
• Jordan Harper, Everybody Knows (Mulholland Books)
• James L’Etoile, Face of Greed (Oceanview Publishing)
• Gigi Pandian, The Raven Thief (Minotaur Books)

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

Zachary Levi (Shazam!) is set to lead the cast of Hotel Tehran, a new action thriller marking the fourth feature from writer-director Guy Moshe (Bunraku). Levi plays Tucker, who leads a unit of disgraced, war-torn ex-CIA operators into the heart of Tehran to "take down a life-changing score." Moshe wrote the script with Mark Bacci (Prisoner’s Daughter), from an original idea by Bazzel Baz (The Blacklist), a former CIA special operations group officer. In a statement to Deadline, Moshe said, "Can’t wait to collaborate with Zac on this. He’s not only a great actor but also an insightful partner. We both share the same vision for what we hope and believe will be a special film beyond the confines of the genre."

After winning a bidding rights war, Wayfarer Studios, Meralta Films, and Inked Entertainment are teaming on Errands & Espionage, a feature adaptation of the forthcoming action comedy novel by Sam Tschida. Set to be released in November 2024, the book follows an unassuming, recently divorced housewife who is recruited by the CIA to complete a secret mission her doppelganger died attempting, forcing her to balance her roles as a housewife and novice spy. This is the first installment of Tschida’s new Secret Agent Housewife book series, pitched as "The Flight Attendant meets Miss Congeniality."

TELEVISION/SMALL SCREEN

Amazon Prime Video has given a series order to Criminal, a drama based on the award-winning graphic novel series created by writer Ed Brubaker and illustrator Sean Phillips. Brubaker, who also penned the pilot script, will co-showrun the TV series with Edgar Award-winning crime fiction author, Jordan Harper (Hightown). Criminal is described as an interlocking universe of crime stories, a saga of several generations of families tied together by the crimes and murders of the past.

The BBC is developing an as-yet-untitled drama series about Bible John, one of Britain’s most notorious unidentified serial killers. Nicknamed due to his repeatedly quoting from the Bible and condemnation of adultery while in the company of his final victim, Bible John is thought to have murdered three young women between 1968 and 1969 in Glasgow, Scotland. He has never been found, although several suspects have been linked to the case.

Netflix has nabbed Covers, a drama from Girls creator Lena Dunham. Inspired by real events, the heroes of Covers are clandestine officials relying on their day jobs as the 21-year-old elites of Oxford University. Per the logline, "Taking us into the hardest to infiltrate boardrooms and bedrooms, our spies will search not only for answers, but for identity and affirmation in a job where identity switches as quickly as an outfit change from class to club."

Jeremy Renner is back in action on the third season of Mayor of Kingstown a year after a snowplow accident nearly claimed his life. The series follows the McLusky family, power brokers in Kingstown, Michigan, where the business of incarceration is the only thriving industry. Tackling themes of systemic racism, corruption, and inequality, the drama provides a stark look at their attempt to bring order and justice to a town that has neither. The cast also includes Renner, Hugh Dillon, Taylor Handley, Emma Laird, Tobi Bamtefa, Derek Webster, Nishi Munshi, and Hamish Allan-Headley.

A new list of recruits has been added to Netflix's The Night Agent for Season 2, with Berto Colon, Louis Herthum, and Arienne Mandi set as series regulars, and Brittany Snow and Teddy Sears joining in recurring roles. Colon plays Solomon, a former Marine turned right-hand man/fixer for a powerful businessman; Herthum plays Jacob Monroe, an international businessman with powerful global connections that he uses to obtain valuable information; and Mandi plays Noor, a low-level aide in the Iranian mission to the United Nations in New York who is looking to leverage her access to top secret information into a better life for her and her family. Based on the novel by Matthew Quirk, The Night Agent centers on a low-level FBI Agent who works in the basement of the White House, manning a phone that never rings — until the night that it does, propelling him into a fast-moving and dangerous conspiracy that ultimately leads to the Oval Office. Gabriel Basso will reprise his role as Peter Sutherland, and Luciane Buchanan will return in her role as Rose Larkin.

Hulu has released the trailer for the upcoming series, Death and Other Details, which premieres on Jan. 16. The ten-episode murder mystery stars Violett Beane, Mandy Patinkin, Lauren Patten, Rahul Kohli, Angela Zhou, Hugo Diego Garcia, Pardis Saremi, and Linda Emond. Per the series’ description: "Set amidst the glamor of the global elite, Death and Other Details centers on the brilliant and restless Imogene Scott (Beane), who finds herself in the wrong place/wrong time (okay, it was kinda her fault) and becomes the prime suspect in a locked room murder mystery. The setting? A lavishly restored Mediterranean ocean liner. Suspects? Every pampered guest and every exhausted crew member. The problem? To prove her innocence, she must partner with a man she despises—Rufus Cotesworth (Patinkin), the world’s greatest detective."

Netflix has dropped the main trailer for its long-in-the-works mystery series, 3 Body Problem, inspired by the novel of the same name from Chinese author, Liu Cixin. It follows a young woman, whose fateful decision in 1960s China reverberates across space and time into the present day. When the laws of nature inexplicably unravel before their eyes, a close-knit group of brilliant scientists join forces with an unflinching detective to confront the greatest threat in humanity’s history. The series will debut on Netflix on March 21, 2024, nearly four years after first being revealed.

Ansel Elgort’s Jake Adelstein is back to expose new crimes in a trailer for the second season of Tokyo Vice, which will return to the Max streaming service with its first two episodes on Feb. 8. Loosely inspired by American journalist Adelstein's true first-hand account of the Tokyo Metropolitan Police beat, the upcoming 10-episode season, which is filmed on location in Tokyo, will take viewers deeper into the city’s criminal underworld as Adelstein (Elgort) comes to realize that his life, and the lives of those close to him, are in terrible danger.

PODCASTS/VIDEO/RADIO/AUDIO

On Crime Writers of Color, Erin E. Adams, author of Jackal, was interviewed by Robert Justice.

The latest episode of Crime Cafe featured Debbi Mack's interview with crime writer Jason Kapcala, whose latest book is Hungry Town.

The first It Was a Dark and Stormy Book Club podcast of 2024 featured an interview with David Simmons about his book, Ghosts of East Baltimore.

On Crime Time, FM, authors James Naughtie and Shane Whaley chatted with Paul about the Will Flemyng trilogy; spy novels all being about character; James Jesus Angleton's wilderness of mirrors; and Kim Philby's melancholy.

Read or Dead's Katie McLain Horner and Kendra Winchester shared the titles they are most looking forward to in the first half of 2024.

Want to know what medicine is derived from PCP and why its medical use resulted in murder charges and convictions? The Pick Your Poison podcast has the answers.

Friday's "Forgotten Books" - The Long Shadow

Celia Fremlin (1914-2009) was born in Kingsbury, England, the daughter of a doctor and the sister of nuclear physicist John H. Fremlin. She studied classics at Somerville College, Oxford, but after her mother died in 1931, she was expected to look after her father. Instead of being content to just stay at home, she took jobs in domestic service, which was unusual for a middle-class woman at that time. She said it was to "observe the peculiarities of the class structure of our society," and those experiences later found their way into her later writing.

Much later, in her sixties, she began to take long walks at night by herself  all over the back streets of London, partly for research and partly to prove a point. Her conclusion was that to make the dark streets lose their terror, "We don’t need more policemen on the beat. We need more grandmothers." Those experiences were compiled into a TV program about challenging people’s fears of urban streets at night and many observations also wound up in her books.

Her life may have seemed like domestic bliss on the surface, but it was filled with its share of tragedy that would be at home in any crime novel:  Not only did she lose her mother at age 17, but her youngest daughter committed suicide, as did Fremlin's husband rather than live a disabled life after a heart attack. She also outlived her second husband and her other two children, and went slowly blind in her later years, spending her last days in a nursing home, which was a bit ironic, considering she became an advocate for euthanasia late in life.

Fremlin's first mystery novel was The Hours Before Dawn from 1958 which won the Edgar Award for Best Novel and established her style of mystery/horror set mostly around the lives of married women in the 1950s. Some feel that The Long Shadow was an equally fine work, and H.R.F. Keating even included it in his 1987 listing of the 100 best crime and mystery books. It's the story of the Imogen Barnicott, third wife of a celebrated, cruel and egocentric professor, who, despite her unhappy marriage, had never plotted her husband's murder—yet after his supposedly accidental death, she receives a mysterious phone call accusing her of that very thing. Add to that strange happenings like new messages left lying around in his handwriting, work on an unfinished manuscript of his that continues to be written, and shadowy figures seen in the house, and Imogen not only begins to doubt her husband is dead at all, she begins to believe she just might take his place.

Celia Fremlin used to say that she wrote the sort of book she wanted to read, in which a mysterious threat hangs over someone and escalates chapter by chapter; or as, H.R.F. Keating recalled her saying, "to put a plot that is exciting or terrifying against a background that is domestic, very ordinary, humdrum." She used this to great effect in The Long Shadow and others, slowly building an atmosphere of suspense and terror out of the excruciatingly mundane, using the contrasts as a literary canvas like Dali and his surrealistic art.

Her character observations managed to be cutting and yet have a touch of dark humor, as well, as this passage from Imogen's experience at a party a well-wishing friend had encouraged her to attend:

Worst of all, perhaps, was the apparently unending procession of people who, incredibly, still hadn't heard, and had to be clobbered with the news in the first moment of meeting. Had to have the smiles slashed from their faces, the cheery words of greeting rammed back down their gullets as if by a gratuitous blow across the mouth. There they would be, waving from across the road, calling "Hi!" from their garden gates, phoning by chance from Los Angeles, from Aberdeen, from Beckenham...One and all to have their friendly overtures slammed into silence, their kindly voices choked with shock. One after another, day after day, over and over again: sometimes Imogen felt like the Black Death stalking the earth, destroying everything in her path.

Fremlin's books are filled with astute perceptions that no doubt bear the imprint of her first-hand research into human behavior, as Imogen's stepson Robin advises her about taking on boarders:

I'd choose Depressions rather than Anxiety States...From the point of view of a landlady, Depressions are good because they lie in bed until midday and don't eat breakfast. Whereas Anxiety States want grapefruit—All Bran—the lot."

In addition to her 20 novels and nonfiction books, the last dating from 1994, she wrote short stories, poetry and articles and was a member of the Crime Writers Association for many years. The Long Shadow, The Hours Before Dawn, and her other fiction certainly deserves a closer look. Faber & Faber released a reprint edition in 2018, in addition to a few of her other works.