Crime Fiction Links of the Week for April 4, 2020

It's time again for Crime Fiction Links of the Week, our weekly round-up of interesting links about crime fiction from around the web, this week with season 8 of Homeland, Home Before Dark, The Plot Against America, the proposed revival of Life on Mars and Ashes to Ashes, the latest event cancellations due to the corona virus and much more.

Crime fiction in general:

• Crime Reads shares ten crime novels to read this April. 
• Crime Reads also offers personalised crime fiction recommendations for everybody stuck at home. 
• Lyndsay Faye discusses how mystery fiction can help people through difficult times.
• Connie Berry talks about the allure of the English country house mystery. 
• Elle Marr shares five thriller set in Paris to read. 
• Jim Thomsen lists sixteen crime novels set during the 1970s.
• Lincoln Michel shares eight great novels where things or people disappear.
• Laura Hilgers explains how reading mysteries helped her deal with her divorce.
• Amy Engel shares her favourite crime and suspense novels featuring mothers and daughters.
• Ruth Gilligan shares her top ten Irish gothic novels. 
• Anthony Avina ranks the ten scariest Stephen King novels.
• Bruce Riordan profiles Don Winslow.
• Rick Pullen profiles Lee Child and explains how Jack Reacher was born. 
• Olivia Rutigliano looks back on 100 years of Agatha Christie novels.
• Andrew Wilson muses about the differences between Agatha Christie and Patricia Highsmith.
• Simon Caldwell reports that Overroads, the former home of mystery writer G.K. Chesterton in Beaconsfield, UK, was saved from demolition. 
• Mystery bookshop owner Kate Mattes has died aged 73.

Film and TV:

• Dwyer Murphy lists all the crime and mystery movies and shows streaming in April. 
• Guy Lodge shares the best country house mysteries to stream right now. 
• Rebecca Nicholson calls Save Me Too a gripping thriller with emotional heft. 
• Jesse Hassenger calls Coffee and Kareem a lazy cop comedy.
• Paul Levinson shares his thoughts on the season 3 premiere of Ozark.
  
• Donna Bowman shares her thoughts on the latest episode of Better Call Saul. 
• Swapna Krishna shares her thoughts on the latest episode of Devs.
• Kayla Kumari Upadhyaya shares her thoughts on the latest episode of How to Get Away With Murder.  
• LaToya Ferguson shares her thoughts on the latest episode of Brooklyn Nine-Nine.
• Jack Bernhardt reports about watching all twelve seasons of Bones in one week. 
• Ellen E. Jones reports how the Spanish show Money Heist a.k.a. La Casa del Papel became Netflix's biggest global hit. 
• Katie Rife declares that the Chilean crime movie Nona, If They Soak Me, I’ll Burn Them is dull in spite of its intriguing title.
• Lucy Mangan calls the current Batwoman series heroically bad. 
• Torrey Crim talks about Peaky Blinders and the rise of fascism. 
• Rebecca Nicholson watches the 1954 suspense thriller Rear Window for the first time.
• Otto Penzler revisits the 1958 suspense thriller Vertigo. 
• Jesse Hassenger revisits the 1939 crime movie Nancy Drew, Reporter. 
• Guy Lodge revisits the 1997 thriller Breakdown.
• Gwen Ihnat revisits the 1983 YA drama The Outsiders.
• Olivia Rutigliano revisits the 1964 spy series The Man from U.N.C.L.E. and finds that it was pretty crazy. 
• Hadley Freeman has never watched any James Bond film and unwisely decides to start with the 1977 installment The Spy Who Loved Me.  
• Michael Hann revisits the 1968 war movie When Eagles Dare, his favourite film aged 12. 
• Olivia Rutigliano reports that Raymond Chandler initially wanted Cary Grant to play Philip Marlowe. 
• Sara Foster discusses the rise of Australian true crime podcasts.

Comments on season 8 of Homeland:

• Scott von Doviak shares his thoughts on the latest episode of Homeland.
• Paul Levinson shares his thoughts on the latest episode of Homeland.
  

Comments on Home Before Dark:

• Jesse Hassenger calls Home Before Dark a small town noir for pre-teens. 
• Lucy Mangan has issues with the premise of Home Before Dark, because she doesn't know how a nine-year-old can possibly solve a murder.

Comments on The Plot Against America:

• Paul Levinson shares his thoughts on the latest episode of The Plot Against America.
• Noel Murray shares his thoughts about the latest episode of The Plot Against America.
  

Comments on the proposed revival of Life on Mars/Ashes to Ashes:

• Andrew Liptak reports that a revival of the time travel cop show Life on Mars and its spin-off Ashes to Ashes is in the works.
• Justin Harp also reports about the planned revival of Life on Mars/Ashes to Ashes.
• Hannah J. Davies also reports about the planned revival of Life on Mars/Ashes to Ashes.

Writing, publishing and promotion:

• Emma Komlos-Hrobsky reports about StayHomeWriMo, a corona virus inspired take on NaNoWriMo. 
• Dave Chesson shares some tips for staying a productive and healthy writer in difficult times.
• Janice Hardy shares some tips for setting tone and mood in your stories.
• Kathleen Jennings talks about creating art and prose together. 
• Mark Lawrence explains what it's like to be a writer of aphantasia. 
• Pat McKee talks about researching his novel Ariel's Island. 
• Ren Richards discusses the idea behind his novel The Broken Ones.
• Kristine Kathryn Rusch talks about deadlines. 
• Kristine Kathryn Rusch also shares some tips for writers for dealing with the current crisis.
• Jason Sanford lists COVID-19 resources, information and assistance for SFF writers.
• The SFWA announces three new staff members.
• The Authors Guild reports about the so-called National Emergency Library of the Internet Archive making thousands of books available for free without authorisation.
• Alison Flood also reports about the Internet Archive's so-called National Emergency Library.
• Andrew Albanese also reports about the uproar about the so-called National Emergency Library. 
• Gavia Baker-Whitelaw reports about the uproar surrounding the Internet Archive's so-called National Emergency Library. 
• Colin Dwyer also reports about the uproar about the Internet Archive's so-called National Emergency Library, after first praising the project.
• Camestros Felapton shares his thoughts about the Internet Archive's National Emergency Library and the ethics of book piracy in general.
  

Interviews:

• Mystery Tribune interviews Julia Spencer-Fleming and Suzanne Toren.
• Criminal Element interviews Julia Spencer-Fleming.
• Criminal Element interviews Joanna Schaffhausen.
• Criminal Element interviews Jane K. Cleland.
  
• Criminal Element interviews S.C. Perkins.
• Criminal Element interviews Daniel Friedman.
• Criminal Element interviews Leonard Goldberg.
• Hillary Davidson and Susan Elia MacNeal interview each other.
• Paula Gail Benson interviews the finalists for the 2020 Best Short Story Agatha Award.
  

Reviews:

• Sandra Mangan reviews The Boy from the Woods by Harlan Coben. 
• Raven Crime Reads reviews The Man on the Street by Trevor Wood.
• Blue Book Balloon reviews Untamed Shore by Silvia Moreno-Garcia. 
• Sandra Mangan reviews Bitter Wash Road by Garry Disher.
• Grab This Book reviews Deep Dark Night by Steph Broadribb.
• Grab This Book reviews The Familiar Dark by Amy Engel. 
• Toni V. Sweeney reviews The Return by Rachel Harrison.
• Garrick Webster reviews The Bramble and the Rose by Tom Bouman. 
• Mystery Tribune reviews The Red Lotus by Chris Bohjalian. 
• Angie Barry reviews A Stroke of Malice by Anna Lee Huber. 
• Kevin Tipple reviews The Evil Men Do by John McMahon.
• Dr. Alice Violett reviews Mortmain Hall by Martin Edwards. 
• Emily Gray Tedrowe reviews Beheld by TaraShea Nesbit.
• J.B. Stevens reviews Stone Cross by Marc Cameron.
• Lesa Holstine reviews Jane Goes North by Joe R. Lansdale. 
• Marc Rose reviews A Long Way Off by Pascal Garnier.
• Vicki Weisfeld reviews The Interpreter by A.J. Sidransky.
• Holly Williams reviews My Dark Vanessa by Kate Elizabeth Russell.
• Kirkus reviews Mrs. Mohr Goes Missing by Maryla Szymiczkowa, translated by Antonia Lloyd-Jones.
• Doreen Sheridan reviews Pies Before Guys by Kirsten Weiss and shares a recipe from the book.
• Robin Agnew reviews Hems and Homicide by Elizabeth Penney.
• Ron Fortier reviews Girl Can't Help It by Max Allan Collins.
• Joe Hartlaub reviews Mike Hammer: Masquerade for Murder by Mickey Spillane and Max Allan Collins.
• Paperback Warrior reviews I Watched Them Eat Me Alive, edited by Robert Deis and Wyatt Doyle.
• Jon L. Breen Hitchcock and the Censors by John L. Billheimer.
  

Classics reviews:

• James Davis Nicoll revisits the 1950 science fiction mystery Needle by Hal Clement. 
• Paperback Warrior revisits the 1952 crime novel Hunt the Killer by Day Keene a.k.a. Gunnar R. Hjerstedt.
• Bitter Tea and Mystery revisits the 1952 Albert Campion mystery Tiger in the Smoke by Margery Allingham.
• Crossexamining Crime revisits the 1954 mystery Exit Laughing by Stuart Palmer. 
• Paperback Warrior revisits The Second Longest Night, a 1955 Chester Drum hardboiled detective novel by Stephen Marlowe a.k.a. Milton Lesser. 
• Crossexamining Crime revisits the 1955 mystery Room for Murder by Doris Miles Disney. 
• Martin Edwards revisits the 1958 suspense novel The Widower by Van Siller.
• Paperback Warrior revisits the 1960 war novel Skip Bomber by Lloyd E. Olson.
• Paperback Warrior revisits the 1962 war novel Ambush Bay by Jack Pearl a.k.a. Jacques Bain Pearl.
• Paperback Warrior revisits the 1962 crime novel Memory of Passion by Gil Brewer.
• Paperback Warrior revisits the 1965 spy novel The Keys of Hell by Martin Fallon a.k.a. Jack Higgins a.k.a. Henry Patterson. 
• Steven Nester revisits the 1972 crime novel Not Dead Yet by Daniel Banko.
• Joe Kenney revisits The Game of Terror, a 1973 novel in the Jefferson Boone, Handman men's adventure series by Jon Messman.
• Bitter Tea and Mystery revisits the 1973 spy novel October Men by Anthony Price. 
• Paperback Warrior revisits the 1974 caper novel The Mexico Run by Lional White.
• Joe Kenney revisits the 1977 men's adventure novel Bad Guy by Nicholas Brady.
• Paperback Warrior revisits the 1977 action adventure novel The Crime Commandos by Peter Cave.
• Paperback Warrior revisits the 1977 action adventure thriller Bomb Squad.
• B.V. Lawson revisits the 1991 mystery I'll Sing You Two-O by Anthea Fraser.
• Paperback Warrior revisits Escape from Loki, a 1991 Doc Savage novel by Philip José Farmer.
• Rich Horton revisits the 2000 supernatural spy novel Declare by Tim Powers.

Con and event reports:

• The Social Distancing Festival offers an overview of art programs streaming online. 
• The upcoming edition of Noir at the Bar in Queens, New York, will go virtual in response to the corona virus.
• Kate Dwyer wonders if virtual online book events will lead to sales. 
• The Independent Bookstore Day in Seattle, Washington, has been postponed due to the corona virus.

Research:

• Nick Kolakowski profiles Eugène-François Vidocq, 19th century French criminal turned detective.
• David Stout reports about a kidnapping epidemic that swept through the US in the early 1930s. 
• Matt McGrath reports how traces of lead and silver found in an alpine glacier shed new light on the murder of Thomas Becket, Archbishop of Canterbury, in 1170 AD.
• Paige Shelton discusses four Scottish monarchs whose reigns were cut suspiciously short.
  

Free online fiction:

• "The Secret Lives of Cats" by Kristine Kathryn Rusch.
• "Liars, Killers and Thieves" by Nikki Dolson in Tough.
• "Gunslinging Bird" by Mike Aaron in Mystery Tribune.
• "Reunion at the Yellow Barn" by Nicky Tomsko in Mystery Tribune.
• "Downashore" by Albert Tucher in Shotgun Honey.
• "Down Like a Hammer" by J. Rohr in The Five-Two.
• "Drunken Charade" by Mark McConville in Punk Noir Magazine. 
• "The Ghost in You" by Graham Wynd in Punk Noir Magazine. 
• "Scream" by Alex Z. Salinas in Punk Noir Magazine.
• "Not That Mean" by Robert Ragan in Punk Noir Magazine.
  

Odds and ends: 

• Watch a trailer for season 3 of Killing Eve.
• Watch a trailer for Deadwater Fell.
• Watch a trailer for Defending Jacob.
• Watch a trailer for Run. 
• Watch a trailer for season 4 of Fargo. 
• Watch a trailer for season 3 of Ozark. 
• Watch a trailer for season 4 of Money Heist a.k.a. La Casa del Papel.
• Watch a trailer for the true crime documentary How to Fix a Drug Scandal.
• Watch the unsold pilot for a 1959 Nero Wolfe TV series starring Kurt Kaznar and a very young William Shatner.