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:

AWARDS

The Screen Actors Guild (SAG) unveiled the winners of their annual SAG Awards for both movies and television last night. Among the crime drama honorees were The Trial of the Chicago 7 which won the award for Best Cast in a Motion Picture (the equivalent of Best Picture), and Daniel Kaluuya won the Best Actor in a Motion Picture prize for his role in Judas and the Black Messiah. On the TV side, Jason Bateman was named Best Actor in a Drama for his role in Ozark.

THE BIG SCREEN/MOVIES

Netflix will buy the rights to produce two sequels to Knives Out, with director, Rian Johnson, and star, Daniel Craig, set to return to the franchise. The Knives Out sequels have casting underway, and the production team hopes to begin filming in Greece in late June. The original Knives Out was a murder mystery that starred Craig as detective Benoit Blanc investigating the death of the wealthy author, Harlan Thrombey (played by the late Christopher Plummer in one of his last roles).

Salma Hayek has joined the cast of House of Gucci, Ridley Scott’s next film that also stars Lady Gaga, Adam Driver, Jeremy Irons, Al Pacino, Jack Huston, and Jared Leto. The film tells the story of how Gaga’s character, Patrizia Reggiani, infamously carried out a hit on her ex-husband, Maurizio Gucci, after he sold the Gucci fashion empire to an investment group. Hayek will play Pina Auriemma, a friend of Reggiani and a clairvoyant who was sentenced to 25 years in prison for allegedly organizing the killing for a fee.

Armie Hammer has been dropped from another film following accusations of sexual assault against him, this time the Cold War thriller, The Billion Dollar Spy. Based on a real-life story, The Billion Dollar Spy was to have starred Hammer as Brad Reid, a fresh arrival at the Moscow station of the CIA, where he’s approached by Soviet engineer, Adolf Tolkachev (Mads Mikkelsen). No re-casting details have been released just yet.

TELEVISION/STREAMING SERVICES

CBS has given a formal order for the revival series, CSI: Vegas, the first new installment in the "CSI" franchise since CSI: Cyber was canceled in 2016. "Vegas" will see original CSI: Crime Scene Investigation stars Wallace Langham, William Petersen, and Jorja Fox reprise their roles alongside new cast members Paula Newsome, Matt Lauria, Mel Rodriguez, and Mandeep Dhillon. Per CBS, the new series "opens a brand new chapter in Las Vegas, the city where it all began. Facing an existential threat that could bring down the Crime Lab, a brilliant new team of forensic investigators must welcome back old friends and deploy new techniques to preserve and serve justice in Sin City."

HBO Max is adapting the true-crime docuseries, The Staircase, into a limited scripted series that will star Colin Firth as American novelist, Michael Peterson, who was on trial in 2001 for killing his wife. The writer claimed his wife died at their home after falling down the stairs, but a medical examiner determined she'd been bludgeoned to death. Peterson was convicted in 2003 for the murder and spent eight years in prison. In 2011, he was granted a new trial, but before it could start, he submitted to an Alford plea to the reduced charge of manslaughter. He was sentenced to time served and set free.

Nicky Torchia, Michael Rivera, and Ibrahim Renno are set for recurring roles opposite Christopher Meloni, Dylan McDermott, Tamara Taylor, and Danielle Moné Truitt in NBC’s Law & Order: SVU spinoff series, Law & Order: Organized Crime. The new series follows Elliot Stabler's (Meloni) return to the NYPD to battle organized crime after a devastating personal loss. Stabler will aim to rebuild his life as part of a new elite task force that is taking apart the city’s most powerful criminal syndicates one by one.

Netflix revealed that Lucifer will return in May for the second half of Season 5. The supernatural procedural series, which initially aired on Fox for three seasons before moving to Netflix, follows Tom Ellis’s Lucifer, who is bored and unhappy as the Lord of Hell. He resigns his throne and abandons his kingdom for Los Angeles, where he gets his kicks helping LAPD detective, Chloe Decker. Lucifer began airing season 5 in August and will come to an end with an upcoming sixth season.

Shout! Studios has acquired worldwide rights to Emmy-winning director Nancy Buirski’s documentary, A Crime on the Bayou, the third in her trilogy of films that explore vital stories from the Civil Rights era. The project revisits the case of Gary Duncan, who as a Black teenager in 1966 was arrested in Louisiana in a racially-charged incident. Duncan’s "crime" was to break up a fight between white and Black youths outside a newly-integrated school, during which he "gently [laid] his hand on a white boy’s arm," setting in motion a prosecution for assault on a minor. Duncan was defended by Richard Sobol, a young Jewish attorney, and the two developed a friendship as they took their fight for Duncan’s exoneration all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court.

PODCASTS/VIDEO/RADIO/AUDIO

Debbi Mack interviewed crime writer, Daniella Bernett, on the Crime Cafe podcast, discussing Bernett's latest novel, Old Sins Never Die.

Writer Types welcomed Peter Robinson, author of the long-running DCI Banks novels series, and also spoke with debut author, Robyn Gigl (By Way Of Sorrow), and French author, Johana Gustawsson (Blood Song).

The latest Mysteryrats Maze podcast featured the mystery short story, "Sweet Tea and Deviled Eggs" by Sandra Murphy, as read by actor, Donna Beavers.

Meet the Thriller Author chatted with bestselling author Peter May, who was born in Glasgow, but now lives in France. His latest book, The Night Gate, brings back forensics expert, Enzo Macleod, and spans two murders across three generations: from war-torn London to the deadly enemy facing the world in 2020, the coronavirus. And Enzo's investigations reveal an unexpected link between the murders - the Mona Lisa.

Wrong Place, Write Crime had a Q&A with Michael Poo‪l‬, talking about his episode of A Grifter's Song, "Rocky Mountain Lie."

Karen Dionne was the latest guest on My Favorite Detective Stories. Karen is the USA Today and internationally bestselling author of the award-winning psychological suspense novel, The Marsh King’s Daughter.

It Was a Dark and Stormy Book Club celebrated Woman's History Month by featuring four fiction books that include real women of history.

Queer Writers of Crime spoke with Marco Carocari, who grew up in Switzerland and worked in a hardware store before traveling the globe working for the airlines and later as an internationally published photographer. His debut crime novel is Blackout.

Lynda LaPlante's Listening to the Dead forensic podcast tackled the topic, "Cause of Death – Poisoning."

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 French murder mystery film, Anatomy of a Fall, took the top prize at this year's Cannes Film Festival. Director Justine Triet won the Palme d'Or for her tense courtroom drama, which tells the story of a writer accused of her husband's murder. Triet becomes the third female director ever to win the prestigious prize, which was first awarded in 1955. Her thriller stars German actress Sandra Hüller, who also stars in the Cannes runner-up, The Zone of Interest.

Oscar-winner Mira Sorvino (American Crime Story: Impeachment) and Geza Rohrig (Son of Saul) have joined the spy thriller, Fog of War, which Michael Day is directing from a screenplay by Luke Langsdale. Also starring are Jake Abel (Walker), Briana Hildebrand (Lucifer), and John Cusack (Love & Mercy). Set during WWII, the story follows an injured American pilot Gene (Abel), and his OSS agent fiancée Penny (Hildebrand), who retreat to a remote estate in Massachusetts to visit her extended family (Cusack and Sorvino). Unbeknownst to Penny, the OSS has recruited Gene to spy on the family and the surrounding community, including Belgian immigrant Viktor (Rohrig), as top-secret documents related to the D-Day Invasion have been stolen, and an enemy mole is somewhere nearby preparing to turn these plans over to the Axis Powers.

TELEVISION/STREAMING

On June 24 at the Billy Wilder Theater, the UCLA Film & Television Archive will salute Ida Lupino's directing contributions to TV mystery and horror through the program "Directed by Ida Lupino: Macabre Television," showing the episodes "A Crime for Mothers" (Alfred Hitchcock Presents), "Guillotine" (Thriller; screenplay by Charles Beaumont, based on a story by Cornell Woolrich), and "The Masks" (Twilight Zone). One of the few women directors working in TV in the 1950s and 1960s, and the most prolific in primetime, Lupino defied barriers to helm over fifty network episodes in a wide variety of series across genres, from rugged westerns to the fantasy-themed sitcom Bewitched. But Lupino’s artistic mark on the medium is perhaps best illustrated by her directorial work in a trio of iconic crime/horror-tinged television series: Alfred Hitchcock Presents, Thriller and The Twilight Zone. (HT to Elizabeth Foxwell)

Amazon Prime Video has ordered the spy thriller, Butterfly, to series, with Daniel Dae Kim set to star and executive produce. Amazon has given the show a six-episode order, but production will not commence until all guild negotiations have been resolved. The show is based on the graphic novel of the same name created by Arash Amel, written by Amel and Marguerite Bennett, and illustrated by Antonio Fuso and Stefano Simeone. Per the official logline, the series centers on David Jung (Kim), "an enigmatic, highly unpredictable former US intelligence operative living in South Korea, whose life is blown to pieces when the consequences of an impossible decision from his past come back to haunt him, and he finds himself pursued by Rebecca, a deadly, sociopathic young agent assigned to kill him.”

AMC Networks’ Acorn TV and UK's Channel 5 are serving up a third season of The Madame Blanc Mysteries, including a Christmas special and six regular episodes. Filming is currently underway, with the Christmas special set to air on Acorn TV and Channel 5 in 2023, while the rest of the season will continue in 2024. Starring and created by Sally Lindsay, The Madame Blanc Mysteries see renowned and respected antiques dealer Jean White (Lindsay) return with her expertise in the world of antiquities, proving to be the key to solving a series of murders and mysteries against the backdrop of the beautiful French village of Sainte Victoire. Also reprising their roles are Sue Vincent, who returns as Gloria Beaushaw and as series co-writer, as well as Steve Edge, Robin Askwith, Sue Holderness, Alex Gaumond, and Tony Robinson.

Apple TV+ unveiled the trailer for Hijack, the upcoming thriller starring and executive produced by Idris Elba (Luther). Created by George Kay (Lupin; Criminal), who penned the script, and Jim Field Smith (Criminal; Truth Seekers), who will direct, the seven-part series also stars Archie Panjabi (The Good Wife; Blindspot). Told in real time, Hijack follows the journey of a hijacked plane as it makes its way to London over a seven-hour flight, and authorities on the ground scramble for answers. Elba stars as an accomplished negotiator in the business world who needs to step up and use all his guile to try and save the lives of the passengers—but, his high-risk strategy could be his undoing. Panjabi will play the role of a counter-terrorism officer who is on the ground when the plane is hijacked and becomes part of the investigation.

PODCASTS/VIDEO/RADIO/AUDIO

The 100th episode of the Red Hot Chili Writers podcast featured a chat with crime writer, Robert Dugoni; a reflection on the British Book Awards; and a discussion of appropriate behavior at literary festivals.

Speaking of Mysteries welcomed Jordan Harper to talk about his latest crime novel, Everybody Knows, featuring black-bag publicist Mae Pruett, who doesn’t worry about the truth, only "The Story."

The Books & Looks podcast spoke with debut author Mary Ann Miller, who at age 63 has penned the enthralling murder mystery, Bones Under the Ice, set in a small Indiana town

On Crime Time FM, Paul Burke reviewed a selection of the April and May crime fiction releases.

Pick Your Poison tackled the topics of "what to know about the dangers of black-market butt lifts," and "what hotels and hardware stores have to do with health care."

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

Isla Gie (The Sandman) will star alongside Martin Freeman (Sherlock) in the upcoming feature film adaptation of Alan Bradley's bestselling novel, The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie: A Flavia de Luce Mystery. Adapted by Susan Coyne, the story follows the adventures of 11-year-old Flavia de Luce (Gie), who is both an amateur detective and an aspiring chemist with a passion for poison. When she discovers a dead body in her family’s decaying British manor house and her father is accused of the murder, Flavia launches her own investigation to uncover family secrets and bring the true murderer to justice. The film will be directed by Emmy and BAFTA-nominated director, Bharat Nalluri (Miss Pettigrew Lives For A Day).

American Beauty and The Walking Dead actress, Thora Birch, will make her feature directorial debut on an adaptation of Elmore Leonard’s 2004 crime novel, Mr. Paradise. The works of Leonard (1925-2013), one of the masters of the hard-boiled crime novel, have previously been the inspiration for movies such as Jackie Brown, Get Shorty, Out of Sight, 3:10 to Yuma and the TV series, Justified. The story for Mr. Paradise centers on Kelly, an aspiring model, who witnesses a murder and gets caught in a web of intrigue.

Shia LaBeouf has joined the action thriller, Mace, directed by Jon Amiel from a script by David Chisholm. Mace is the harrowing story of two very different types of cops—a veteran officer Mace (LaBeouf), dangerous and corrupt, and Virgil Woods (Trevor Jackson), a young rookie who believes that he can change the system that fosters cops like Mace from within. It’s inspired by the recent racial injustice on the streets of America, with Woods refusing to be bullied and pitting his principles against the amoral Mace—risking everything to stop Mace from destroying the city by unleashing a gang war to cover up his crimes.

Martin Scorsese and the cast of Killers of the Flower Moon, which is based on David Grann's book of the same name, received a golden reception and enthusiastic standing ovation at the film's premiere at Cannes. The real-life story chronicles members of the Osage Native American tribe in Oklahoma in the 1920s, who are murdered after oil is found on their land, prompting the FBI to investigate.

TELEVISION/STREAMING

The story of the horrific murders of four students in the Idaho college town of Moscow in November 2022 is in the works for the page and the small screen. Bestselling author, James Patterson, and award-winning journalist, Vicky Ward, are teaming up on a nonfiction book about the crime, and Skydance Television is optioning the rights to the book for development as a docuseries. The book, which does not yet have a title or release date, will be published by Little Brown and Company, which stated that Patterson and Ward will give a dramatic account of the murders and the investigation of suspect, Bryan Kohberger. Patterson and Ward will draw from dozens of exclusive interviews, extensive on-the-ground reporting, upcoming court transcripts, and also will attend Kohberger’s trial. Kohberger was indicted last week on burglary and four counts of first-degree murder in the deaths of Xana Kernodle, Ethan Chapin, Madison Mogen, and Kaylee Goncalves.

ABC has handed a series order to Drew Goddard’s pilot, High Potential, starring Kaitlin Olson. The drama is based on the popular French detective series HIP (High Intellectual Potential) and follows Morgan (Olson), a single mom with three kids and an exceptional mind, who helps solve an unsolvable crime when she rearranges some evidence during her shift as a cleaner for the police department. When they discover she has a knack for putting things in order because of her high intellectual potential, she is brought on as a consultant to work with a by-the-book seasoned detective Karadec (Daniel Sunjata), and together they form an unusual and unstoppable team. The series also stars Javicia Leslie as Daphne, Deniz Akdeniz as Lev "Oz" Osman, Amirah J as Ava, Matthew Lamb as Elliot, and Judy Reyes as Selena.

FX has announced the summer premiere dates for some of its most critically-beloved shows including the return of Justified: City Primeval on July 18, with Timothy Olyphant returning as Rayland Givens. Having left the hollers of Kentucky fifteen years ago, Givens now lives in Miami, a walking anachronism balancing his life as a U.S. marshal and part-time father of a 15-year-old girl. A chance encounter on a desolate Florida highway sends him to Detroit where he crosses paths with Clement Mansell, a/k/a The Oklahoma Wildman, a violent, sociopathic desperado who’s already slipped through the fingers of Detroit’s finest once and aims to do so again. Mansell’s lawyer, formidable Motor City native, Carolyn Wilder, has every intention of representing her client, even as she finds herself caught between cop and criminal, with her own game afoot as well. These three characters set out on a collision course in classic Elmore Leonard fashion, to see who makes it out of the City Primeval alive.

PODCASTS/VIDEO/RADIO/AUDIO

A new Mysteryrat's Maze Podcast is up featuring the prologue and first chapter of Last Liar Standing by Danielle Wong, as read by actor Molly Heng.

Read or Dead regular host, Kendra Winchester, and special guest Liberty Hardy, discussed mysteries and thrillers for Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander (AANHPI) Heritage Month 2023.

On the Crime Writers of Color podcast, Robert Justice interviewed Cheryl Head, author of the Charlie Mack Motown Mysteries and her new standalone novel, Time’s Undoing.

On the All About Agatha podcast, co-hosts Jenni Bishop, Tina Hodgkinson, and Emma (last name withheld) stopped by for a discussion about ableism in Agatha Christie's novels.

On Crime Time FM, Tim Weaver (the David Raker series) and Heather Critchlow (Unsolved) joined Victoria Sellman to discuss the topics of missing persons in crime fiction and going off the grid.


There's a new podcast titled Pick Your Poison, hosted by "JP," an ER doctor and toxicologist with a passion for poisons. She’s been interviewed as a toxicology expert for television, online, radio, and print media. Her work ranges from cocaine, sports supplements, internal concealment of drugs for smuggling, to suicide, and has been recognized both nationally and internationally.

THEATRE

A Nancy Drew musical adaptation, Nancy Drew and the Mystery at Spotlight Manor, is in development, featuring music by Tony, Emmy, Grammy, and Oscar winner Alan Menken, lyrics by Tony nominee Nell Benjamin (Legally Blonde; Mean Girls), and a book by two-time Oscar winner Sarah Kernocha. Three-time Tony winner and Pulitzer Prize recipient, James Lapine, will direct. Lapine said, "After 175 Nancy Drew mysteries that span from her small town of River Heights to exotic locales around the world, the teen detective is about to tackle perhaps the most exotic locale of all to her: a musical theatre camp, Spotlight Manor. Alan, Nell, Sarah, and I have been having a ball letting Nancy and her pals take to the stage and sing for the first time." (HT to Shelf Awareness)

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

Nicolas Cage and writer-director, Andrew Niccol, are set to re-team with Vendôme Pictures (the Academy Award winning studio behind CODA), on Lords of War, a sequel to the 2005 crime thriller, Lord of War, which starred Cage as Yuri Orlov, a composite character based on numerous arms dealers. In Lords of War, Yuri Orlov (Cage), the world’s most notorious gunrunner, discovers he has a son, Anton (Bill Skarsgård), who isn’t trying to right his father’s wrongs — he’s trying to top them. Not only selling guns but the "trigger pullers" too, Anton is amassing a mercenary army to fight America’s Middle East conflicts. This is the story of Yuri and Anton’s bitter rivalry — even at odds over the same woman. Who will prevail when father and son go to war?

Idris Elba is set to star in, produce, and direct the action-thriller, Infernus. Elba will play Donovan Kamara, a U.N. human rights activist sent to investigate reports of refugees being illegally detained inside a U.S. black site prison. A seemingly simple task turns deadly when the world’s most dangerous inmates break free. Kamara must work to safely extricate the refugees, all while going head-to-head with a brilliant criminal mastermind. Based on a story by Tom Boyle and screenplay by Robert Mark Kamen, the film is due to go into production on October 9th in London. While most filming will be done in London, additional principal photography will take place in the new TD Akuna Studios in Ghana,

Star Wars actor, Daisy Ridley, is set to star in the action-thriller, Cleaner, from Casino Royale and Golden Eye filmmaker, Martin Campbell. The timely action-thriller, set in present-day London, will see radical activists take over an energy company’s annual gala at the Shard – the tallest skyscraper in Western Europe – seizing 300 hostages in order to expose the corruption of the hosts. Their just cause is hijacked by a zealous extremist within their ranks, who is ready to murder everyone in the building to send his anarchic message to the world. It falls to an ex-soldier turned window cleaner, Joey Locke (Daisy Ridley) – suspended 90 stories up on the outside of the building – to save those trapped inside and take down the killers, whilst also finding a way to bring the corrupt energy moguls to justice.

Mel Gibson is returning to the director’s chair for the first time since 2016 Oscar winner Hacksaw Ridge with Flight Risk, which will star Oscar nominee, Mark Wahlberg. Based on Jared Rosenberg’s 2020 Blacklist script, the film will see Wahlberg play a pilot transporting a dangerous criminal for trial. Additional casting is underway. 

TELEVISION/STREAMING

CBS has ordered three new series from this year’s crop of pilots, including two crime dramas, Elspeth and Matlock, the latter of which is a reboot of the classic series that starred Andy Griffith. In the new Matlock project, Kathy Bates stars as brilliant septuagenarian Madeline Matlock, who after achieving success in her younger years, rejoins the work force at a prestigious law firm where she uses her unassuming demeanor and wily tactics to win cases and expose corruption from within. The cast also includes Skye P. Marshall as Olympia, Jason Ritter as Julian, David Del Rio as Billy, and Leah Lewis as Sarah. In Elsbeth, Carrie Preston returns as Elsbeth Tascioni (The Good Wife). After her successful career in Chicago, the astute but unconventional attorney utilizes her singular point of view to make unique observations and corner brilliant criminals alongside the NYPD. Wendell Pierce also stars as Captain CW Wagner, with Carra Patterson as Officer Kaya.

Fans of Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan will be happy to hear the premiere date was announced for the fourth season of the popular Prime Video series starring John Krasinski, although season 4 will be the shortest, consisting of six episodes to be released two at a time starting on June 30, leading to the series finale on July 14. The fourth and final season of Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan finds the titular character on his most dangerous mission yet: facing an enemy both foreign and domestic. As the new CIA Acting Deputy Director, Jack Ryan is tasked with unearthing internal corruption, and in doing so, uncovers a series of suspicious black ops that could expose the vulnerability of the country. The series also stars Wendell Pierce as James Greer, Michael Kelly as Mike November, and Betty Gabriel as CIA Acting Director Elizabeth Wright, with Abbie Cornish returning as Cathy Mueller. Joining the cast this season are Michael Peña as Domingo Chavez and Louis Ozawa as Chao Fah.

There's good news and bad news for Walker fans: The CW has given a 13-episode Season 4 order to Walker, starring Jared Padalecki, to air in 2023-24 broadcast season. However, the network also canceled the Walker prequel, Walker Independence after only one season. The former is a re-imagining of the popular CBS drama Walker, Texas Ranger, and 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, only to discover there’s harder work to be done at home. The prequel is set in the late 1800s and follows an affluent Bostonian named Abby Walker (Katherine McNamara), whose husband is murdered in front of her while on their trek out West. Consumed by a need for vengeance, Abby crosses paths with Hoyt Rawlins (Matt Barr), described as a "lovable rogue in search of a purpose," and the pair soon find themselves in Independence, Texas, where they encounter a diverse and eclectic cohort of citizens hiding from their demons and chasing their dreams, all while becoming agents of change themselves in the small town.

CBS cancelled S.W.A.T., and then, after a successful social media campaign by lead actor, Shemar Moore, CBS un-cancelled the show. Moore expressed frustration via his IG account that CBS had promised the show would "have time to say goodbye." The drama was then picked up for 13 more episodes, which will give Moore’s Hondo and crew a chance to say farewell to their devoted fans.

CBS is axing freshmen crime dramas East New York and True Lies after one season. The CBS dramas’ Season 1 finales will now mark the end of both shows, airing Sunday, May 14, and Wednesday, May 17, respectively. East New York followed the officers and detectives of the NYPD’s 74th precinct in Brooklyn, headed up by Deputy Inspector Regina Haywood, the newly promoted commanding officer. True Lies, a reboot of the successful film from James Cameron, revolved around a suburban housewife who discovers her computer consultant husband is an international spy, a discovery that sets them on a path to save the world and their marriage.

The CW has picked up both seasons of 61st Street, the dramatic thriller starring Courtney B. Vance and Aunjanue Ellis, in partnership with AMC Networks, which canceled the series amid the company’s cost-cutting drive in January. Season 1 will air at its new home this fall followed by its sophomore season in 2024. 61st Street tells the story of Moses Johnson (Tosin Cole), a promising Black high school athlete who is swept up into the infamously corrupt Chicago criminal justice system. Taken by the police as a supposed gang member, he finds himself in the eye of the storm as cops and prosecutors seek revenge for the death of an officer during a drug bust gone wrong. The AMC Studios series also stars Mark O’Brien, Holt McCallany, Tosin Cole, Andrene Ward-Hammond, and Bentley Green.

A trailer was released for the popular PBS crime drama, Grantchester, which is set to return for an eighth season on MASTERPIECE PBS, premiering Sunday night, July 9th at 9/8c. The six new episodes of Grantchester will range from Speedway to spies, exploring the lives of invisible women and the very visible problems caused by Leonard's new vocation which may, once again, find him battling the law. Exploring faith, forgiveness, and redemption – this explosive series tests Will and Geordie to the limit.

AMC has released a teaser trailer for the second season of Dark Winds, based on the Leaphorn & Chee crime fiction series by Tony Hillerman. In the new season, Lt. Joe Leaphorn (Zahn McClarnon) reunites with Jim Chee (Kiowa Gordon), his former deputy turned private eye when their separate cases bring them together in pursuit of the same suspect. Jessica Matten returns as Sgt. Manuelito. Guest stars include Jeri Ryan (Star Trek: Picard) and Nicholas Logan (Dopesick). 

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

Guy Ritchie’s next project is a big-budget, untitled action movie (that he wrote in addition to taking on directing duties), which will star Henry Cavill (Man Of Steel), Oscar nominee Jake Gyllenhaal (Spider-Man: Far From Home) and Eiza González (Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw). Plot details and title are mostly unknown at this time, but it will allegedly revolve around two extraction specialists who must plan an escape path for a high-level female negotiator. The new project is due to begin filming in Spain this summer.

New Regency is adapting Pulitzer Prize winner Cormac McCarthy’s Blood Meridian as a feature film, with John Hillcoat set to direct. McCarthy and his son, John Francis McCarthy, will serve as executive producers. Published in 1985, the novel is an epic tale of the violence and depravity that attended America’s westward expansion. Based on historical events that took place on the Texas-Mexico border in the 1850s, it traces the fortunes of the Kid, a 14-year-old Tennessean who stumbles into a nightmarish world where Indians are being murdered and the market for their scalps is thriving.

Sylvester Stallone is set to return for a sequel to the 1993 action thriller, Cliffhanger, which Ric Roman Waugh (Angel Has Fallen) will direct from a script by Mark Bianculli (Hunters). Although the plot is unknown, Stallone will reprise his character of Ranger Gabriel "Gabe" Walker from the original film, where he looked to help rescue a band of stranded hikers, only to discover they were actually a gang of violent criminals looking to recover their missing $100M following a plane crash.

Christina Hendricks (Mad Men) has signed on to lead the psychological thriller, Reckoner, written and directed by Nissar Modi (Z for Zachariah) in his feature directorial debut. The project is based on a short story by American author Rachel Ingalls about an affluent woman whose carefully constructed life is disrupted by a young man connected to a tightly-held secret from her past.

Liev Schreiber (Ray Donovan) is in negotiations for the lead role in the action-thriller, The Guns Of Christmas Past, which will be directed by Xavier Gens (Gangs Of London). In the genre mash-up, described as "A Christmas Carol meets John Wick," Ebb is a former hitman for the mob, brought out from hiding when his former best friend and partner is killed. Ebb penetrates the compound of his enemy to exact revenge but the ghosts of past, present, and future all arrive to thwart his plans.

TELEVISION/STREAMING

Ahead of the Season 2 premiere this fall, Bosch: Legacy, the spinoff of the longrunning Amazon crime series based on Michael Connelly's novels, has been renewed for a third season on Amazon Freevee. Bosch: Legacy follows Harry Bosch (Titus Welliver), a retired homicide detective turned private investigator, as he embarks on the next chapter of his career; attorney Honey "Money" Chandler (Mimi Rogers), who struggles to maintain her faith in the justice system after surviving an attempted murder; and Maddie Bosch (Madison Lintz), as she discovers the possibilities and challenges of being a rookie patrol cop on the streets of Los Angeles.

Paramount+ is producing a new series titled The Castaways, which follows sisters Lori (Sheridan Smith) and Erin (Celine Buckens) on the holiday of a lifetime in Fiji. After a huge fight, Erin never boards the island-hopping flight to their tropical resort – and the plane, with Lori on board, never arrives at its destination. Months later, no wreckage has been found, no survivors discovered. Suddenly, Lori’s credit card is used in a corner shop in a remote village in Fiji. On the CCTV, Erin recognizes the plane’s pilot, back from the dead. She immediately sets out from the UK to find him and discover the mystery of her sister’s fate. As dark secrets are revealed both in the past and present day, each shocking twist and turn slowly reveals the truth about what happened to Lori and her fellow passengers – a truth that someone on the island will kill to keep secret.

Robert Patrick (The Night Agent) is playing a major role opposite lead Alan Ritchson in the upcoming second season of Prime Video’s Reacher, based on the books by Lee Child. He took over the series regular role of Shane Langston from Rory Cochrane, who was originally cast in September before exiting at the end of last year due to scheduling conflicts as the production schedule changed. Cochrane had not filmed any scenes, so the recasting did not require re-shoots. Langston is a streetwise former NYPD detective with a questionable track record who is now head of security for a private defense contractor.

Paramount+ also ordered the six-part documentary series, Mafia Spies, adapted from the book, Mafia Spies: The Inside Story of the CIA, Gangsters, JFK, and Castro by Thomas Maier. Based on never-before-released JFK files, the series tells the shocking connections between the CIA, the mob, and Sinatra’s Rat Pack from Vegas to Miami to Havana. It explores America’s most remarkable espionage plots ever—with CIA agents, mob hitmen, "kompromat" sex, presidential indiscretion, and James Bond-like killing devices together in a top-secret mystery full of surprise twists and deadly intrigue.

PODCASTS/VIDEO/RADIO/AUDIO

A new Mysteryrat's Maze Podcast is up featuring the fun mystery short story, "The Rabbi's Wife Stayed Home," written by Debra Goldstein and read by actor Donna Beavers.

The Who’s Here in the Hamptons podcast chatted with Carrie Doyle, author of multiple novels and screenplays that span many genres, ranging from cozy mysteries to chick lit to comedies to young adult.

The Spybrary Spy Book Podcast welcomed Andy Onyx, the author of the cold war espionage novel, Like Dolphins.

On Crime Time FM, Ashley Kalagian Blunt chatted with Paul Burke about her latest novel, Dark Mode; the Armenian Genocide; screaming plants; the dark web; stalking; and living in Australia.

The latest episode of It Was a Dark and Stormy Book Club featured Cynthia Surrisi, a successful middle school novel author, talking about her latest book, The Bones of Birka: Unraveling the Mystery of A Female Viking Warrior.

Read or Dead hosts, Katie McLain Horner and Kendra Winchester, talked about books perfect for reading on road trips.

On the Writer's Detective Bureau, Detective Adam Richardson discussed what happens when a federal inmate escapes from prison; a body in Hawaiian waters; who handles the investigation if a murder victim is found in a visiting world leader’s hotel room.

The Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine podcast included a reading of "Rise" by Ashley-Ruth M. Bernier:  Alana's grandmother Mavis was a fantastic cook whose johnnycakes may have been the best in the Virgin Islands. But did an old family housekeeper steal Grandma Mavis's recipe?

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

QC Entertainment, the production company behind recent Best Picture Oscar contenders BlacKkKlansman and Get Out, has snapped up rights to J.D. Barker’s forthcoming erotic thriller novel, Behind a Closed Door, with plans to adapt it for film. Billed as "50 Shades of Grey meets David Fincher’s The Game," Behind a Closed Door introduces readers to Sugar & Spice, the latest app craze taking the world by storm, which leads downloaders Abby and Brendan Hollander into a dangerous game of life and death. When the app assigns the pair a series of increasingly taboo tasks, they soon find themselves caught up in a twisted web of seduction and violence.

Arnold Schwarzenegger is set for a movie comeback, after a four-year hiatus, in the action-thriller, Breakout, directed by The Expendables 4 filmmaker, Scott Waugh. Schwarzenegger plays Terry Reynolds, whose stepson is framed and sentenced to 25 years in prison in a foreign country. Reynolds makes a daring jailbreak to save him and must overcome an overzealous prison warden in a race against time to avoid capture and flee the country. Richard D’Ovidio wrote the screenplay based on a story he co-created with Nicole D’Ovidio.

James McAvoy is set to star in Control, a high-concept action thriller that will be directed by Red helmer, Robert Schwentke. Control is adapted from the award-winning podcast, Shipworm by Zack Akers and Skip Bronkie, and is described as "a tense ticking-clock thriller revolving around a doctor who awakens one morning with an untraceable device planted in his head. He must follow a mysterious voice’s instructions or devastating consequences will unfold." The script was written by Akers, with the latest revision by Andrew Baldwin.

Signature Entertainment has acquired UK and Irish rights to the J.K. Simmons thriller, You Can’t Run Forever, from Voltage Pictures. The movie follows a teenage girl (Isabelle Anaya) struggling with a tragic past who is hunted through the woods by a sociopath (Oscar winner Simmons) on a murderous rampage. The project is directed by Michelle Schumacher (I’m Not Here) from a script co-written with Carolyn Carpenter, and also stars Allen Leech and Fernanda Urrejola

TELEVISION/STREAMING

MGM+ is moving forward with its series adaptation of the suspense thriller, Emperor of Ocean Park, based on Stephen L. Carter’s best-selling novel. The 10-episode series is set in the worlds of politics, Ivy League academia, and the beaches of Martha’s Vineyard, and centers on Talcott Garland, an Ivy League law professor whose quiet life is shattered when his father, Judge Oliver Garland, dies of an apparent heart attack. The nature of the judge’s death is questioned by Tal’s sister, Mariah, a former journalist and inveterate conspiracy theorist, who believes that the judge, a failed Black nominee to the Supreme Court, met with foul play.

Hallmark Movies & Mysteries has cancelled the Mystery 101 TV movie series. The films, which debuted in January 2019, were created by Robin Bernheim and Lee Goldberg and starred Kristoffer Polaha, Jill Wagner, and Robin Thomas. Wagner plays Amy Winslow, a professor of English literature at Elmstead College, in the fictional small coastal town of Garrison, Washington, specializing in mystery and crime fiction. Amy assists Travis Burke, a big city police detective who has recently moved to Garrison, abetted by Amy's widower father, Graham Winslow, himself the author of a bestselling series of detective novels. Unlike most Hallmark movies, the seventh Mystery 101 film ended on a large cliffhanger with an 11-month time jump that will apparently go unresolved, to the dismay of fans.

Netflix has acquired the rights to adapt the Danish novel series Department Q, which it plans to turn into a series adaptation, with one twist: it's going to be filmed in Edinburgh, Scotland, not Denmark. Department Q is based on a best-selling series of crime novels by Danish author Jussi Adler-Olsen and centers on guilt-wracked Copenhagen detective Carl Mørck, demoted to a cold case unit after a botched raid in which his partner is paralyzed and another police officer killed. Scott Frank, whose adaptation of The Queen’s Gambit was a smash hit for Netflix in 2020, will direct. The script is by Chandni Lakhani, who worked on The Dublin Murders and the BBC Scotland hit, Vigil.

Netflix has put Bandidos, a thriller series about an underwater heist, into production. The drama follows the story of Miguel (Alfonso Dosal) and accomplice Lilí (Ester Expósito), who are joined by a group of bandits as they attempt to retrieve treasure from the underwater grave of a Spanish galleon that sank in the Gulf of Mexico during the War of Independence. However, they’re not the only ones after the bounty. The series is set to launch in 2024 and marks one of Netflix’s biggest bets out of Mexico since it shot drug drama, Narcos: Mexico, in the country.

The crime heist drama series, Vanda, is headed to Hulu. Created by Patricia Müller (Madre Paula) and written by Muller and Carmen Jimenez (Adiós), Vanda is based on the true story of a hair stylist in Lisbon, who, in the middle of the 2008 financial crisis—after finding herself alone, broke, and with two children to raise—embarks on a string of bank heists using a blonde wig and a toy gun. When Vanda was finally caught, she was sentenced to seven years in prison and had stolen a grand total of €17,000. Gabriela Barros stars as the title character with João Baptista, Pedro Casablanc, Raúl Prieto, and Joana de Verona rounding out the cast.

PODCASTS/VIDEO/RADIO/AUDIO

The Tonight Show host Jimmy Fallon spoke with crime fiction author S.A. Cosby and musician Questlove, who teamed up for the Y.A. time-travel thriller, The Rhythm of Time

The Red Hot Chili Writers chatted with Sophie Hannah about her new Hercule Poirot novel, and also talked about other authors whose iconic characters have been taken up after their death.

Crime Time FM, the official podcast of the Gwyl Crime Cymru Festival in Wales, offered up the second installment of their series interviewing writers taking part in the event's crime fiction conference panels.

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

Amazon Studios has acquired Brian Otting’s script, Never Too Old to Die, as a starring vehicle for Sylvester Stallone. The action comedy features a mysterious murder within a retirement home for spies that sparks a Cold War hero’s personal mission to find the assassin living among them. This will be the first project falling under Stallone’s multi-year, first-look deal with Amazon Studios, an agreement that will have Stallone write, direct, produce and star in both scripted and unscripted TV and film projects for the studio.

When Justin Lin was unable to return to direct the penultimate installment, Fast X, in the long-running Fast & Furious action franchise, Louis Leterrier came aboard for directing duties. Now it appears he will also helm the franchise's 11th and final installment in that series. Although not much is known about the script for the final film, the franchise is known for pitting street racers and spies against assorted criminal elements, and the tenth film will pick up with globe-trotting street racer Dominic Toretto (Vin Diesel) and his crew, as they look to fend off the pair of big bads that are out for them — the cyberterrorist Cipher (Charlize Theron) and her mysterious cohort, Dante (Jason Momoa) — with the help of new friend, Tess (Brie Larson).

Scottish actor James McAvoy and Blumhouse Productions are re-teaming for a remake of the Danish thriller, Speak No Evil, with James Watkins (The Woman in Black) set to direct from his script. Universal has set a theatrical release of Aug. 9, 2024. In the original 2022 movie, a Danish family visits a Dutch family they met on a holiday, but what was supposed to be an idyllic weekend slowly starts unraveling as the Danes try to stay polite in the face of unpleasantness.

Cassady McClincy, Dempsey Bryk, Lucy Walters, and Royce Johnson are set to lead The Snare, an indie dramatic thriller marking the feature directorial debut of Merlin Camozzi. The film centers around Dani (McClincy), a straight-A student from the wrong side of the tracks, who has worked toward an academic scholarship for years. When she’s busted with a small amount of drugs, the police pressure her to become an informant, forcing her to choose between the people she most loves and the future she’s worked so hard to create.

Patriot Pictures and XYZ Films have tapped Wayward Entertainment to release the action-thriller, God Is A Bullet from director Nick Cassavetes, in June of this year. The film follows detective Bob Hightower (Nikolaj Coster-Waldau), who finds his ex-wife murdered and his daughter kidnapped by an insidious cult. Hightower takes matters into his own hands and infiltrates the secretive cult to try to save his daughter. With the help of the cult’s only female victim escapee, Case Hardin (Maika Monroe), Hightower and Hardin go down the rabbit hole with The Ferryman (Jamie Foxx) to save his child and find closure for Hardin from the cult – and its maniacal leader (Karl Glusman). The project is inspired by true events and based on the novel of the same name written by Boston Teran.

TELEVISION/STREAMING

Bret Easton Ellis’s The Shards, which is both a podcast and novel, is in the works at HBO as a drama series. The Shards is set in 1981 and tracks a group of privileged Los Angeles high school friends as a serial killer strikes across the city. The podcast dropped last year on Ellis’s Patreon, and Knopf published the book in January of this year.

A teaser trailer and poster were unveiled for the eight-part psychological thriller, The Clearing, the first scripted Australian Original series from Disney+. The project is based on the best-selling crime thriller, In The Clearing by author J.P. Pomare, and follows the nightmares of a cult and a woman who’s forced to face the demons from her past in order to stop the kidnapping and coercion of innocent children in the future. Teresa Palmer, Miranda Otto, and Guy Pearce lead the cast.

ABC has renewed the drama series, Will Trent, which is based on the novels by Karin Slaughter, for a second season. The series follows Special Agent Will Trent (Ramón Rodríguez) of the Georgia Bureau of Investigations. As a child, Trent was abandoned and was forced to endure a harsh coming-of-age in Atlanta's overwhelmed foster care system. Now that he is in a position to make a difference, Trent is determined to use his unique point of view to make sure no one is abandoned like he was.

Foxtel has announced a new eight-part mystery thriller, High Country, in partnership with Screen Australia, VicScreen, and Curio Pictures. The series will be headlined by Leah Purcell, with Aaron Penderson, Sara Wiseman, and Ian McElhinney also in the cast. Purcell will play Andrea Whitford, a detective who is transferred to the Victorian High Country. Once there, she is thrust into the baffling mystery of five missing persons who have vanished into the wilderness, and she discovers a complex web involving murder, deceit, and revenge.

As expected, ABC has renewed The Rookie for its sixth season, during which the series will reach its 100th episode. The Rookie is a police procedural crime drama created by Alexi Hawley and follows John Nolan (Nathan Fillion), a man in his forties, who becomes the oldest rookie at the Los Angeles Police Department.

PODCASTS/VIDEO/RADIO/AUDIO

The latest Mysteryrat's Maze Podcast episode features the prologue and first chapter of With a Twist by Cathi Stoler, as read by actors Ariel Linn and Sean Hopper.

NPR's Steve Inskeep interviewed David Grann about his retelling of the dramatic Wager Mutiny of 1741, The Wager, which Grann calls "a parable for our own turbulent modern times." The book is being adapted into a movie by Leonardo DiCaprio and Martin Scorsese, the same team who are also bringing another of Grann's historical mysteries to the screen, Killers of the Flower Moon: The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI.

Crime Time FM featured the first of a series of podcast episodes featuring the Gwyl Crime Cymru Festival, with an introduction to the festival and a chat with authors, committee members, and organizers about upcoming events, including a peek at the National Library of Wales tour.

Stuart Neville joined Luca Veste on Two Crime Writers and a Microphone to talk about his early days growing up in a small town in Northern Ireland, becoming passionate about storytelling at a young age, and how music became an important part of his life.

It Was a Dark and Stormy Book Club continued its series featuring Agatha Award Nominees, including Jennifer Chow who is nominated for her book, Death By Bubble Tea, for Best Contemporary Novel; Rob Osler, who is nominated for a Best First Novel for his book, Devil's Chew Toy; and Harini Nagendra who is nominated for a Best First Novel for her book, The Bangladore Detective's Club.

The latest episode of the Crime Cafe podcast featured Debbi Mack's interview with the first female Bond novelist, Kim Sherwood.

Read or Dead hosts, Katie McLain Horner and Kendra Winchester, discussed YA mystery novels.

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

Nonagenarian director Clint Eastwood has set the thriller, Juror #2, as his next film, with Nicholas Hoult and Toni Collette in negotiations to star. While it isn’t official, sources also add that with schedules and budget figured, Warner Bros. (Eastwood’s longtime studio home) is close to officially greenlighting the film. The script hails from Jonathan Abrams and centers on a juror on a murder trial who realizes that he may have caused the victim’s death and must grapple with the dilemma of whether to manipulate the jury to save himself, or reveal the truth and turn himself in. Eastwood has hinted that this may be his last film, although there’s still a small chance that Eastwood decides to tackle another feature.

TELEVISION/STREAMING

Legendary Entertainment and Veritas Entertainment have struck a first-look television deal and set their first project together, an adaptation of a Lee Child short story, Ten Keys, which comes from Child's The Cocaine Chronicles anthology. It tells the story of the most dangerous cartel in Mexico that sends their mysterious enforcer only known by his alias, Octavian, to hunt down those who have stolen from them. When Octavian decides to kill his latest target and steal 10 kilos of cocaine from the cartel, he goes from being the hunter to being hunted for the first time in his life.

A Spy Among Friends, the story of British spies Kim Philby and Nicholas Elliott that stars Damian Lewis and Guy Pearce, recently premiered on MGM+. The series, which is produced by Sony Pictures Television, is based on Ben Macintyre’s eponymous book. Alexander Cary, who exec produced Lewis-fronted Homeland, created the A Spy Among Friends TV series. Cary and Lewis are now turning their attention to more Macintryre books for the small screen, and first up is an adaptation of The Spy and the Traitor: The Greatest Espionage Story of the Cold War. The book tells the story of Oleg Gordievsky, a former KGB colonel who became a bureau chief in London and was a double agent, providing information to the British secret intelligence service MI6.

In a competitive situation, Sherlock producer Hartswood Films has won the rights to adapt the Cold War magic thriller, The Warlock Effect, into a TV series. The debut novel, written by Jeremy Dyson and Andy Nyman, creators of the Ghost Stories theatre production, centers on Ludvik Weinschenk, a boy who escapes tyranny in Germany to become the most famous magician in 1950s Britain under the stage name Louis Warlock. His talent for deception attracts the attention of the British secret service and he is thrown into the world of espionage on a mission across

Warner Bros Television has acquired rights to Jesse Q. Sutanto’s latest novel, Vera Wong’s Unsolicited Advice for Murderers. Oprah Winfrey’s Harpo Films will develop the book for television with Mindy Kaling’s production company Kaling International. The novel follows Vera Wong, a lonely widow living in San Francisco’s Chinatown who wakes up one morning to find a dead body on the floor of her struggling tea shop. No one is more curious than a suspicious Chinese mother with time on her hands, so Vera decides to start her own investigation.

Amazon Studios is ramping up its production projects for both the large and small screens, including a reboot of Robocop, centering on the futuristic adventures of a Detroit police officer fatally wounded in the line of duty and transformed into a powerful cyborg, which is being talked about for both film and TV (with a TV show possibly first). Additionally, Amazon Studios is actively developing a TV series based on The Magnificent Seven, a remake of Akira Kurosawa’s Seven Samurai, and a Thomas Crown Affair reboot, likely a theatrical release.

NBC has renewed all six of its Dick Wolf-produced shows including the One Chicago franchise (Chicago Med; Chicago Fire; and Chicago P.D.) and the trio of Law & Order dramas (the mothership series; Law & Order: SVU; and Law & Order: Organized Crime) for the 2023-2024 season. All shows have received 22-episode orders except for Law & Order: Organized Crime which will be 13 episodes. In addition, Kelli Giddish is set to return as Amanda Rollins in both Law & Order: SVU and Law & Order: Organized Crime.

A trailer was released for True Detective: Night Country, the fourth installment of HBO’s crime anthology series, starring Jodie Foster and Kali Reis. In Night Country, when the long winter night falls in Ennis, Alaska, the eight men who operate the Tsalal Arctic Research Station vanish without a trace. To solve the case, Detectives Liz Danvers (Foster) and Evangeline Navarro (Reis) will have to confront the darkness they carry in themselves and dig into the haunted truths that lie buried under the eternal ice.

PODCASTS/VIDEO/RADIO/AUDIO

The latest episode of the Crime Cafe podcast features Debbi Mack's interview with crime writer Mark Schorr, who has worked as a bookstore manager, private investigator, nightclub bouncer, newspaper reporter, freelance writer, and is currently a licensed psychotherapist. He is an Edgar-nominated author of 11 mysteries, mystery thrillers, including a series about Red Diamond, Private Eye.

It Was a Dark and Stormy Book Club had Part III of their Agatha Nominee Interviews, this time featuring Nina Wachsman, nominated for a Best First Novel for her book, The Gallery of Beauties, and Martin Edwards. nominated for Best Non-Fiction for his book, The Life of Crime: Detecting the History of Mysteries and Their Creators.

On CRIMINAL MISCHIEF: The Art & Science of Crime Fiction, Dr. D.P. Lyle discussed autopsies to examine a corpse for evidence of the cause and manner of death, including toxicological (drugs and poisons), serology (blood), and any other ancillary testing the Medical Examiner deems necessary.

Two Crime Writers and a Microphone host, Luca Veste, welcomed Doug Johnstone to talk about his early days growing up in a small town; going to university to study physics; being a member of various bands; becoming a journalist; and how his love of writing jump-started his author career.

Crime Time FM's Paul Burke chatted with Callum McSorley about his new Glasgow-set crime novel, Squeaky Clean; Glasgow; humor in crime; what it's like when your mum see your novel in a bookshop.

Red Hot Chili Writers interviewed former cop turned crime writer Graham Bartlett; investigated the world's oldest police forces; and walked in the footsteps of Napoleon.

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

In his first star role since his Oscar-nominated turn as Elvis Presley, Austin Butler will lead the cast of City on Fire, an adaptation of Don Winslow’s novel, from Sony 3000 Pictures. Winslow's story takes elements of The Iliad, Odyssey, Aeneid and Greek tragic dramas and places them in a world of contemporary crime, focusing on two criminal empires—one Irish, the other Italian—that control all of New England until a modern-day Helen of Troy event tears them apart and starts a brutal war.

Writer and director Michael Mann's Heat 2 is nearing development with Adam Driver set to star. The original 1995 crime film followed the conflict between an LAPD detective (played by Al Pacino) and a career criminal (played by Robert De Niro) while also depicting its effect on their professional relationships and personal lives. The new project will be an adaptation of Mann's original follow-up novel, Heat 2, which tells both a prequel and sequel story. Written with co-author Meg Gardiner, the book hit the market last August and quickly became a New York Times bestseller. Driver is set to play a younger version of Neil McCauley (De Niro's role) in the movie.

Joseph Baena will star alongside Luke Hemsworth and Morgan Freeman in the action film, Gunner, directed by Dimitri Logothetis (Jiu Jitsu), which is now in production in Alabama. The film follows Special Forces veteran, Lee Gunner (Hemsworth), as he takes his two boys on a camping trip, where the boys stumble upon a fentanyl lab and are kidnapped by drug runners. Unfortunately for the drug runners, Lee will stop at nothing to get his boys back safely, going up against not only the criminal cartel, but the FBI and local police as well, using the full force of his deadly abilities to reunite his family. Baena will portray Wally, a young, wet-behind-the-ears Deputy Sheriff. It was also announced that Grant Feely, Connor DeWolfe, and Mykel Shannon Jenkins have joined the cast.

TELEVISION/STREAMING

Robert De Niro is attached to star in a crime drama series penned by Billy Ray (Captain Phillips; Hunger Games). The two-time Oscar winner will lead Bobby Meritorious, an original series that comes from Paramount Television Studios, with Preet Bharara, who was the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York between 2009 and 2017, as one of the exec producers. As part of the deal, the company has also optioned Bharara’s book, Doing Justice: A Prosecutor’s Thoughts on Crime, Punishment, and the Rule of Law. The series is set amid the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York, which is a sovereign kingdom with seemingly unlimited power and scope. But now an informant in SDNY’s biggest case, Avery "The Sage" Accomando (De Niro), is poised to tear this storied institution apart. Only one man can stop him, a fabled ex-cop-turned-prosecutor affectionately known as Bobby Meritorious.

Netflix has officially ordered Tall Pines, an eight-episode limited series from Mae Martin, Ryan Scott, and Ben Farrell and his Objective Fiction and Sphere Media. Martin serves as creator, co-showrunner and executive producer, and also will play a lead role in the series. Tall Pines is a thriller set in a bucolic but sinister town that explores the insidious underbelly of the "troubled teen industry" and the eternal struggle between one generation and the next.

MGM+ continues to round out the lead cast for Hotel Cocaine, adding Mark Feuerstein as a series regular opposite Danny Pino. In addition to Pino, Feuerstein joins previously announced Michael Chiklis and Yul Vazquez in the streamer’s upcoming crime thriller from creator, Chris Brancato. Hotel Cocaine is the story of Roman Compte (Pino), a Cuban expatriate who fought against Fidel Castro in the Bay of Pigs invasion and re-made his life in Miami. He is general manager of the Mutiny Hotel, the glamorous epicenter of the Miami cocaine scene of late ‘70s and early ‘80s. Feuerstein will play Burton Greenberg, the owner of the hotel, the "Studio 54" of Miami.

This Is Us alums, Sterling K. Brown and Dan Fogelman, are reuniting for a drama that has been ordered to series at Hulu. Although Hulu is not commenting on exact plot details of the untitled series, Variety reported that the show is a thriller and Brown would star as the head of security for a former president.

Thad Luckinbill has been tapped for a recurring role opposite Zoe Saldaña in Taylor Sheridan’s Paramount+ original series, Lioness, headlined and executive produced by Saldaña and also starring Nicole Kidman and Laysla De Oliveira. Lioness is based on a real-life CIA program and follows Cruz Manuelos (De Oliveira), a rough-around-the-edges but passionate young Marine recruited to join the CIA’s Lioness Engagement Team to help bring down a terrorist organization from within. Saldaña will play Joe, the station chief of the Lioness program tasked with training, managing, and leading her female undercover operatives. Thad will play Kyle, an old friend of Joe’s who oversees a trafficking contact.

PODCASTS/VIDEO/RADIO/AUDIO

NPR's All Things Considered spoke with author Leta McCollough Seletzky about the father-daughter memoir, The Kneeling Man, highlighting the complex life of her father's role as a Black spy.

On the latest episode of Two Crime Writers and a Microphone, Luca Veste spoke with SJI (Susi) Holliday about her early years in a small town outside of Edinburgh; her life as the daughter of a newsagent, reading novels taken from the shelves of that shop; and going to university—studying science rather than English—then moving to Dublin and London before finding her calling as a writer of dark psychological thrillers.

It Was a Dark and Stormy Book Club continued with part two of their series interviewing this year's Agatha Award Nominees, including Fleur Bradley, nominated for Best Children or Young Adult Novel for her book Daybreak on Raven Island, and Korina Moss, nominated for Best First Novel for her Cheddar Off Dead.

The latest Mystery Rats Maze Podcast featured the mystery short story, "Easter Spam" (Shotgun Honey, April 2022) by John Weagly, read by actor Sean Hopper.

Read or Dead continued with awards-themed podcasts as Katie McLain Horner and Kendra Winchester discussed novels nominated for the Edgar Awards.

Crime Time FM host, Paul Burke, featured a review of the latest crime titles for March and early April 2023.

Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine's podcast featured Mary Angela Honerman reading her story, "Five Bullet Friday," which centers around the murder of Lucy Bell, an overachieving travel agency manager whose co-workers all have secrets that could drive them to kill. But did any of them do it, or did Lucy have some secrets of her own?

THEATRE

Perry Street Theatricals has announced plans for a new musical, To Catch a Thief, which hopes to arrive on the London or New York stage sometime in the 2026-27 season. The new musical will be composed by Kevin Purcell (Rebecca: The Musical and The Stranger of Seville), with a book and lyrics by Peter Sham (Lend Me A Tenor: The Musical and Sherlock Holmes and the Great Royal Goose Chase!). To Catch a Thief is David Dodge's most famous novel, adapted by Alfred Hitchcock into an Academy Award-winning film starring Cary Grant and Grace Kelly. Set on the French Riviera, the story centers on John Robie, an American expatriate and skilled gymnast, who once upon a time was "Le Chat," the famous and elusive cat burglar who worked the South of France. Following the war, Robie retires to a quiet life in France and vows to leave his past behind. His retirement is shattered when a copycat burglar commits a string of robberies that puts the police on Le Chat's trail again, and Robie must catch the phony Le Chat before the police catch Robie.

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

Samuel L. Jackson and Vincent Cassel are set to lead the action thriller, Damaged, about a Chicago detective who goes to Scotland after an emerging serial killer’s crimes match those he investigated five years earlier—one of which was the crime scene of his murdered girlfriend. Also starring are Gianni Capaldi, Kate Dickie, and John Hannah, with Terry McDonagh (Killing Eve, Better Call Saul and Breaking Bad) taking on directing duties.

The Cannes Film Festival will give Martin Scorsese’s Killers of the Flower Moon its world premiere Saturday, May 20, in the Grand Théâtre Lumière. Based on David Grann’s best-selling book and written for the screen by Eric Roth and Scorsese, Killers of the Flower Moon is set in 1920s Oklahoma and depicts the serial murder of members of the oil-wealthy Osage Nation, a string of brutal crimes that came to be known as the "Reign of Terror."

TELEVISION/STREAMING

Paramount+ has greenlit a UK original drama series based on Sarah Pinborough’s thriller novel, Insomnia. Pinborough will adapt Insomnia for the screen. The story follows successful career woman, Emma Averill, who fears she is losing her mind after suffering from sleep deprivation two weeks before turning 40. Her mother had a similar experience at the same age, suffering a violent psychotic breakdown on the night of her 40th birthday. But even as she relives the experience of her mother, Averill believes other forces may be at work. Her mother is hospitalized with a sudden injury, her estranged sister returns without warning, and she feels as if she is being watched. Only by investigating the truth of her painful past, can she find the answers to her present.

Netflix has found the main cast for its limited series adaptation of the Elin Hilderbrand novel, The Perfect Couple, with headliners Nicole Kidman and Liev Schreiber, and supporting cast Eve Hewson, Billy Howle, Dakota Fanning, Meghann Fahy, Ishaan Khattar, Jack Reynor, Sam Nivola, Mia Issac, Donna Lynne Champlin, and Isabelle Adjani. The story centers on the nuptials of Amelia Sacks (Hewson) who is about to marry into one of the wealthiest families on Nantucket. Her disapproving future mother-in-law, famous novelist Greer Garrison Winbury (Kidman), has spared no expense in planning what promises to be the premiere wedding of the season—until a body turns up on the beach. As secrets come to light, the stage is set for a real-life investigation that feels plucked from the pages of one of Greer’s novels, and suddenly, everyone is a suspect.

Jessica Chastain will star in the Apple eight-part series, The Savant, from Anatomy of a Scandal co-creator, Melissa James Gibson. Chastain plays a top-secret investigator known as the Savant, who infiltrates online hate groups to take down the most violent men in the country. The series is based on a true story published by Cosmopolitan, which was written by Andrea Stanley, who will consult on the series.

Corbin Bernsen is set for a key recurring role opposite Josh Holloway and Rachel Hilson in J.J. Abrams and LaToya Morgan’s HBO Max period drama, Duster. The series is set in 1972, when the first Black female FBI agent (Hilson) heads to the Southwest and recruits a gutsy getaway driver (Holloway) in a bold effort to take down a growing crime syndicate. Bernsen will play Wade Ellis, the father of Holloway’s character. Keith David, Sydney Elisabeth, Greg Grunberg, Camille Guaty, Asivak Koostachin, Adriana Aluna Martinez, and Benjamin Charles Watson also star.

PODCASTS/VIDEO/RADIO/AUDIO

Criminal Element interviewed author Diane Kelly, whose cozy House-Flipper Mystery series continues with her most recent book, Primer and Punishment.

Two Crime Writers and a Microphone host Luca Vesta welcomed CL (Cally) Taylor to talk about her life and career in Newcastle, London, and Brighton, and her path toward becoming a writer of psychological thrillers.

On the Crime Cafe podcast, Debbi Mack interviewed crime writer, podcaster, and Kings River Life Magazine publisher, Lorie Lewis Ham.

It Was a Dark and Stormy Book Club featured the first of their series of podcasts dedicated to the nominees for Agatha Awards, beginning with Joan Long who is nominated for Best First Novel for her book, The Finalist, and M.A. (Mary) Monin, who is nominated for Best First Novel for her book, Death In The Aegean.

All About Agatha chatted with debut author Kitty Murphy about the first book in her "Dublin Drag Mysteries" series, Death in Heels.

Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine podcast featured the Christmastime story of a woman, her cat, and revenge served with a dash of antifreeze, in Charlotte Hinger's "Lizzie Noel," from the November/December 2022 issue.

Crime Time FM host Paul Burke spoke with three authors about their latest novels, including Sarah Sultoon (Dirt); Ronnie Turner (So Pretty); and Vanda Symon (Expectant).

The latest episode of the Red Hot Chili Writers interviewed crime author Alis Hawkins; discussed Welsh Rebecca Riots, which took place between 1839 and 1843; chatted about Gwyl Crime Cymru, Wales's international crime fiction festival; and profiled some of history's most infamous poisoners.

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

Paramount Pictures has preemptively acquired a remake of the 1958 Alfred Hitchcock-directed psychological thriller, Vertigo, with Robert Downey Jr eyeing the James Stewart lead role of the former police detective forced to retire after a line of duty trauma that leaves him with fear of heights and vertigo. After he’s shelved by his affliction, the detective is hired by an acquaintance to shadow his wife, whom he feels is behaving erratically. The script will be written by Steven Knight, creator of Peaky Blinders. Paramount was the home for the original film, and the Hitchcock Estate favored the studio as the landing spot for the remake. The original was scripted by Alec Coppel and Samuel A. Taylor from the Boileau-Narcejac novel, D’entre les morts (From Among the Dead).

First-look images were revealed for the psychological thriller, My Sister’s Bones, adapted from Nuala Ellwood’s novel of the same name. The film opens in a bleak police station where celebrated war correspondent Kate Rafter (Jenny Seagrove) faces questions from a psychiatrist, Dr. Shaw (Olga Kurylenko), as they work through the painful events of Rafter’s life. A horrific incident in war-torn Iraq and the death of her mother have brought a haunted Rafter home to Herne Bay, a place she believed she had escaped forever. Her resentful sister (Anna Friel) has not made her sister welcome and her forbearing husband Paul (Ben Miles) fails to broker peace. Whilst packing up her mother’s belongings from her childhood home, Rafter comes to believe there is something strange and terrifying happening in the house next door.

Michael Stuhlbarg is set to join Matt Damon and Casey Affleck in The Instigators for Apple Original Films, with Doug Liman aboard to direct. The film follows two thieves who go on the run with the help of one of their therapists after a robbery goes awry. The script was penned by Chuck MacLean and Casey Affleck and developed by Robinov, Graham, and Affleck. Also in the cast are Hong Chau and Paul Walter Hauser.

TELEVISION/STREAMING

James Patterson has inked an exclusive first-look deal with Skydance Television, which is already in production on an adaptation of his Alex Cross series starring Aldis Hodge. As part of the deal, Patterson will develop a slate of series based on his top-selling book series:  Women’s Murder Club, which follows a group of women from different professions who work together to solve murders, and also Michael Bennett, which follows NYPD Detective Michael Bennett as he solves crimes and raises his ten adopted children. Other projects in the pipeline will include Private, which centers on a high-end private investigation agency run by former CIA agent Jack Morgan; Jane Smith, a yet-to-be-published series that follows Jane, a brilliant defense attorney and private investigator who, on the eve of a major homicide trial, learns she has just 14 months to live; and Holmes, Miss Marple and Poe, which follows Brendan Holmes, Margaret Marple and August Poe, who have formed the most in-demand private investigation firm in present-day New York City, with claims to be distantly related to three of the greatest mystery writers of all time—but who are they really?

The BBC is delving into the history of Soho’s criminal underworld for its a six-part drama series, Dope Girls, inspired by Marek Kohn’s non-fiction book Dope Girls: The Birth of the British Drug Underground. The series will mix elements of the fact-based research of Kohn’s book with fictional characters and storylines, exploring all aspects of the criminal world of Soho in the early 20th Century. Deadline reported it’s partly based on the true story of conservative, god-fearing 42-year old single mother Kate Meyrick, who builds a nightclub empire and criminal family enterprise and becomes the most dangerous woman in London as well as a competitor to Brilliant Chang, the baron of Soho’s gritty underworld. Her nightclubs are fueled by drugs and alcohol that allow for a generation of World War I veterans and survivors to forget their trauma and break through the rigid patriarchal structures of the era to allow women to dance, have sex and do drugs with whomever they want.

Amazon is moving forward with its series adaptation of E. Lockhart’s novel, We Were Liars, a "tragic" love story and an amnesia thriller set on a privately owned island off the coast of Massachusetts. Focusing on the theme of consequences of one’s mistakes, the series follows the wealthy, seemingly perfect Sinclair family, who spend every summer sitting gathered on their private island. However, not every year is the same: When something happens to Cadence during the summer of her 15th year, she and the other three "Liars"— Johnny, Gat and Mirren — re-emerge two years later to prompt Cadence to remember the incident.

Oscar-winning Eddie Redmayne will star in The Day of the Jackal series for Peacock and Sky, playing The Jackal, a professional assassin hired by a French paramilitary dissident to kill French President Charles de Gaulle in 1962. The series is based on the Frederick Forsyth novel and 1973 film adaptation from Universal Pictures. However, it has been reimagined as a contemporary story set amidst the current turbulent geo-political landscape and will delve deeper into the chameleon like "anti-hero." Top Boy creator and writer, Ronan Bennett, will pen the script and serve as showrunner.

CBS Studios is developing The Mysterious Mortons, a detective drama series for CBS from Charmed's Amy Rardin and George Northy and Castle's Laurie Zaks. The show follows a homicide detective who enlists his quirky family of mystery writers to assist him in cracking the cases that perplex the authorities.

Emmy winner Michael Chiklis is set to star alongside Danny Pino in Hotel Cocaine, MGM+’s upcoming crime thriller series from creator Chris Brancato. Hotel Cocaine is the story of Roman Compte (Pino), a Cuban expatriate who fought against Fidel Castro in the Bay of Pigs invasion and re-made his life in Miami. He is general manager of the Hotel Mutiny, the glamorous epicenter of the Miami cocaine scene of late ‘70s and early ‘80s. The Hotel Mutiny was Casablanca on cocaine, a glitzy nightclub, restaurant and hotel frequented by Florida businessmen and politicians, international narcos, CIA and FBI agents, models, sports stars and musicians. Chiklis will play Agent Zulio who will stop at nothing to shut down the drug trade, even if it means using innocent civilians to accomplish his ends.

Endeavour, the PBS Masterpiece detective drama that stars Shaun Evans and Roger Allam, will return for its ninth and final season June 18. Inspired by Inspector Morse and based on the novels of Colin Dexter, the spinoff set in the ’70s will wrap with Endeavour Morse (Evans) and his superior officer Fred Thursday (Allam) facing new crimes and an unsolved case from the past. Jack Bannon will return as Sam, while other characters from former seasons are expected to appear in the finale. The ensemble cast includes Anton Lesser as CS Reginald Bright, Sean Rigby as Jim Strange, and James Bradshaw as Dr. Max DeBryn. An hourlong documentary titled Morse and The Last Endeavour is planned for June 11.

PODCASTS/VIDEO/RADIO/AUDIO

On Book Riot's Read or Dead podcast, Katie McLain Horner and Kendra Winchester discussed noir novels.

All About Agatha chatted with debut author Kitty Murphy about the first book in her "Dublin Drag Mysteries" series, Death in Heels.

Crime Time FM's Paul Burke spoke with Alis Hawkins about her new literary historical mystery, A Bitter Remedy; Welsh history; the Teifi Valley Coroner; the Gwyl Crime Cymru Festival; and a strange male affliction.