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 upcoming Netflix feature adaptation of the epic BAFTA-winning series, Peaky Blinders, keeps adding to its impressive cast. Alongside the previously announced Cillian Murphy, Rebecca Ferguson, Barry Keoghan and Tim Roth are new additions Stephen Graham (Line of Duty) and Jay Lycurgo (The Devil Himself) and returning series stars Sophie Rundle, Ned Dennehy, Packy Lee, and Ian Peck. The film is said to be set later than the series, during the Second World War.
Mary Elizabeth Winstead is in negotiations to star opposite Maika Monroe in 20th Century’s new take on the 1992 thriller, The Hand That Rocks the Cradle. Michelle Garza Cervera will direct the feature, with Micah Bloomberg penning the script. The original film starred Rebecca De Mornay and Annabella Sciorra and followed a woman, played by De Mornay, who after her sex-offender husband gets caught in the act and kills himself, embarks on a mission of vengeance against one of her husband’s victims and the woman’s family. Monroe will step into the role made famous by De Mornay, while Winstead will play the role originated by Sciorra.
TELEVISION/STREAMING
Tom Hardy, Helen Mirren, and Pierce Brosnan are in final negotiations to star in the Paramount+ series, Guy Ritchie's The Associate (working title). The drama follows two generations of gangsters, the businesses they run, the complex relationships they weave, and the man they call upon to fix their problems. Hardy is up for the role of Harry, the fixer, a man who is as dangerous as he is handsome. Mirren and Brosnan would star as the crime family’s matriarch and patriarch, respectively
Reacher, based on the novels by Lee Child, has been renewed for a fourth season at Prime Video, even though Season 3 won’t debut until next year. The news comes a week after the streamer also revealed it had given a series order to a Reacher spinoff starring Maria Sten, reprising her fan-favorite character from the mothership, Frances Neagley. Season 3 is based on Persuader, the seventh book in Child’s series, in which Reacher (Alan Ritchson) must go undercover to rescue an informant held by a haunting foe from his past. It isn't currently scheduled to debut until some time in 2025.
Netflix renewed the action-thriller, The Night Agent, based on the novel by Matthew Quirk, for a 10-episode Season 3 renewal ahead of its Season 2 debut slated to premiere in winter 2025. The second season was delayed from 2024, but it appears Season 3 will not lag as far behind as its predecessor and begin filming soon with a production unit in Istanbul at the end of this year followed by a New York shoot in 2025.
The Killing Times reports that Icelandic author Yrsa Sigurðardóttir's novel DNA is being adapted for TV, retitled Reykjavik 112. Two young women are brutally murdered, and a radio amateur receives a peculiar message that connects him to both victims—although he doesn't know either of them. His curiosity drives him to begin an investigation of his own. Meanwhile, Huldar, the police officer in charge of the investigation, and Freyja, the female psychologist entrusted with the seven-year-old girl who is their key witness, are forced to work together to solve the two cases. Their collaboration is complicated by the fact they recently spent the night together after meeting in a bar where Huldar claimed he was a carpenter from out of town.
Alicia Silverstone is set to play a hot-shot Los Angeles divorce lawyer searching for her father in a new murder mystery series, Irish Blood, for streamer Acorn TV. The series follows Fiona Sharpe (Silverstone), whose path in life is haunted by her father, Declan, who seemingly abandoned her and her mother on her tenth birthday. After years of channeling anger toward him, a message from her father sends her to Ireland. There she learns key truths about her father as well as a family that doesn’t know she exists—and that the story of abandonment was a lie intended to protect her and her mother from her father’s shady business dealings. Fiona resolves to uncover the full truth about her father and reconnect with the parent she only thought she knew.
Boo Killebrew (Mrs. America) is developing a TV series based on Alexandra Andrews’s debut novel, Who Is Maud Dixon? The book is a thriller set in part in Morocco and was compared by the New York Times to The Talented Mr. Ripley, when it was published in 2021. It follows Florence Darrow, who has always felt she was destined for greatness, but after a disastrous affair with her married boss, she starts to doubt herself. All that changes when she sets off for Morocco with her new boss, the celebrated but reclusive author Maud Dixon. Amid the colorful streets of Marrakesh and the wind-swept beaches of the coast, Florence begins to feel she’s leading the sort of interesting, cosmopolitan life she deserves. But when she wakes up in the hospital after a terrible car accident, with no memory of the previous night—and no sign of Maud—a dangerous idea begins to take form.
Rafe Spall will star opposite Kelly Reilly in Sky's upcoming six-part crime thriller series, Under Salt Marsh. As a once-in-a-generation storm begins to gather far out at sea, former detective turned teacher Jackie Ellis (Reilly) discovers the body of her 8-year-old pupil, seemingly drowned. The discovery sends shockwaves through the community, reviving the ghost of an unsolved cold case that rocked the town three years prior—the disappearance of Jackie’s niece, which cost her career. The death summons Jackie’s former partner, Detective Eric Bull (Spall) back to Morfa Halen to lead the investigation into a community he failed once before. Convinced the cases are linked, Jackie and Bull must reconcile and race to uncover long-buried secrets inside Morfa, before the storm breaks and all the evidence is gone for good.
The podcast, My Mom’s Murder, is being adapted into a television series that will star Chloë Grace Moretz. The podcast follows Lauren Malloy, who was just an infant when her mother passed away and who had grown up believing her passing was natural. When she discovers that her mother’s death was actually an unsolved murder, she sets out on a journey to discover the truth. The podcast follows Malloy as she confronts family members, interviews old friends, and unearths hidden evidence about her mother’s life and death. Her investigation leads her to confront shady characters from her mother’s past and navigate conflicting stories and disturbing truths and culminates in potential breakthroughs in the decades-long cold case.
PODCASTS/RADIO
Suspense Magazine spoke with award-winning author, Peter May, about his latest book, The Black Loch.
The Red Hot Chili Writers welcomed bestselling Canadian thriller writer, Shari Lapena, to discuss the fact that Mount Everest is getting taller, and the strange case of the defector who undefects.
Speaking of Mysteries chatted with Margaret Mizushima about Gathering Mist, the ninth installment in Mizushima’s series featuring Deputy Mattie Wray and her K-9 partner, Robo.
The Spybrary Spy Podcast featured an interview with Barry Werth, author of Prisoner of Lies: Jack Downey's Cold War. This remarkable account follows the true cold war spy story of the longest-held prisoner of war in American history, John Downey, Jr., a CIA officer captured in China during the Korean War and imprisoned for twenty-one years.
The latest Mysteryrat's Maze Podcast features a fun mystery ghost short story perfect for Halloween listening, "The Codicil," written by Shannon Taft and read by actor Sean Hopper.
The latest Crime Time FM included a review roundup by host Paul Burke of new books by Paula Hawkins, Patricia Cornwell, Lee Child, and more.
On Tipping My Fedora, Sergio Angelini chatted with James Harrison, co-founder of Film Noir UK and director of its first festival, Film Noir Fest 2024. The event will take place in Weston-Super-Mare November 1-3 with a theme of "Dangerous Divas."
The Pick Your Poison podcast's Dr. Jen Prosser investigated a toxin you can find at a haunted house and how it’s responsible for world-wide outbreaks poisoning thousands, with many of the victims children.
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