Crime Fiction Links of the Week for January 25, 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 Lee Child quitting Jack Reacher, the suspension of Courtney Milan from RWA and the subsequent implosion of the organisation, a backlash against American Dirt by Jeanine Cummins, the nominations for the 2020 Edgar and Agatha Awards, The Gentleman, Once Upon a Time... In Hollywood, Joker and much more.

Crime fiction in general:

• Lisa Levy talks about workplace thrillers featuring woman protagonists.
• Tiffany Tsao shares five novels about murderous families. 
• Lisa Levy shares seven true crime books fans of domestic suspense will enjoy. 
• Crime Reads shares six true crime books to read this January. 
• Tobias Caroll talks about books that feel like true crime, but aren't.
• Nathan Nance takes a look at the master thieves of 1970s crime fiction.
• Luke Geddes shares ten mysteries about music connoisseurs 
• Chad Dundas explains why Montana inspires so many crime fiction writers.
• Lee Goldberg explains why he chose to write a police procedural set in Los Angeles.
• Maureen Johnson offers a not entirely serious guide to not getting murdered in a quaint English village.
• Burt Solomon praises richly detailed historical crime novels.
• Ali Karim shares his appreciation for the Inspector Ghote mysteries by H.R.F. Keating.
• Emily Heller reports that a new comic celebrates the 90th anniversary of Nancy Drew by killing her off and having the Hardy Boys solve her murder.
  
• It's an Indie Book Blog share their appreciation for the novella form. 
• Alison Flood reports about a cultural appropriation backlash against American Dirt by Jeanine Cummins.
• Ritu Prassad also reports about the backlash against American Dirt by Jeanine Cummins.
  
• PEN America reports about a problematic bill in Missouri, which would allow citizen panels to ban library books and might lead to the imprisonment of librarians for circumventing such bans. 
• Emily Temple shares pulpy covers of classic literature.

Comments on Lee Child quitting Jack Reacher:

• Kevin Rawlinson reports that Lee Child will retire and hand the Jack Reacher series over to his brother Andrew Grant.
• Inspired by the announcement of Lee Child's retirement, Alison Flood takes a look at how other authors have dealth with a similar situation.
  

Comments on the suspension of Courtney Milan from RWA and the cancellation of the 2020 Rita Awards:

• Mike Glyer offers a round-up of the latest events in the ongoing RWA drama. 
• Christine Larson discusses the RWA drama and also complains about the fact that so many mainstream news outlets reporting about the situation still fail to take romance seriously.
• A.J. Willingham reports about the RWA drama.
• Sarah Wendell asks where the RWA can go from here.
  

Film and TV:

• Mark Kermode calls Just Mercy a death row drama with quiet power. 
• Mike McCahill calls The Rescue a turbulent Chinese helicopter adventure. 
• Peter Bradshaw calls Detective Chinatown 3 a majestically madcap buddy cop whodunnit
• Peter Bradshaw shares his thoughts on the David Lynch short What Did Jack Do?
• Martin Edwards shares his thoughts on the British crime drama White House Farm.
• Paul Levinson shares his thoughts on the season 7 finale of Ray Donovan. 
• Allison Shoemaker shares her thoughts on the latest episode of The Outsider.  
• Torrey Crim finds some unexpected parallels between the psychological thriller drama You and the writings of Andrea Dworkin. 
• Tom Duggins finds some unexpected parallels between the movies Parasite and Us. 
• Amber Troska asks what makes an adaptation good or bad.
• Luke Holland talks about the rise of the bleakquel, depressing sequels to popular movies and TV shows.  
• Alison Flood shares her concerns about The Watch, an upcoming adaptation of Terry Pratchett’s books about the Ankh-Morpork City Watch. 
• K.A. Laity revisits the 1950 noir film No Way Out.
  
• Martin Edwards revisits the 1970 suspense thriller The Man Who Haunted Himself.
  
• Noah Gittel revisits the 1970 war comedy M*A*S*H and finds that it is terribly misogynist and not funny.
  
• Mike Brooks revisits the 1985 James Bond movie A View to a Kill.
  
• Brent Lang interviews Barbara Broccoli and Michael G. Wilson, producers of the James Bond movies. 
• Andrew Pulver reports that Jordan Belfort, author of The Wolf of Wall Street, has sued the producers of the eponymous movie.
• The Guardian reports that the Corona virus crisis in China led to cinemas closing down and film releases being cancelled on what would have been China's biggst box office weekend of the year. 
• Steve Rose remembers pioneering filmmaker Alice Guy-Blaché.
• Actor Jack Kehoe, who appeared in Serpico, The Sting and The Untouchables, has died aged 85.
  

Comments on Once Upon a Time... in Hollywood:

• Katie Rife and A.A. Dowd discuss Once Upon a Time... in Hollywood. 
• Mike Fleming Jr. interviews Quentin Tarantino, director of Pulp Fiction, Jackie Brown, Once Upon a Time... in Hollywood and others.

Comments on The Gentleman:

• Vikram Murthi calls The Gentleman a nostalgic crime movie that feels like a rerun of director Guy Ritchie's greatest hits.
• Karen Han declares that The Gentleman turns Guy Ritchie into his own worst enemy.
• Marah Eakin interviews Matthew McConaughey, Michelle Dockery and Henry Goldin, the stars of The Gentleman.
• Marah Eakin interviews Hugh Grant and Charlie Hunman, two more stars of The Gentleman.
  

Comments on Joker:

• Keith R.A. DeCandido shares his thoughts on Joker. 
• Katie Rife and A.A. Dowd declare that Joker's greatest trick is that we are still talking about the bloody film.
• Phil Hoad talks about the problematic portrayal of mental illness in Daniel Isn't Real and Joker.

Awards:

• The nominations for the 2020 Edgar Awards have been announced. 
• The nominations for the 2020 Agatha Awards have been announced. 
• The longlist for the 2020 Petrona Award has been announced.
• The winners of the 2020 Screen Actors Guild Awards have been announced with some love for genre works.
  

Writing, publishing and promotion:

• Raymond Fleischmann talks about making historical mysteries feel true to their time period.
• L.A. Villafane talks about writing a character with dissociative disorder, when she has the same condition.
• Sarah Megibow asks writers to make a list of personal influencers. 
• Janice Hardy shares a trick for finding overused words in your manuscript. 
• Betsy Miller talks about collaborating and co-authoring. 
• Kristine Kathryn Rusch talks about contracts and power relationships.
• Nicholas C. Rossis talks about the Goodreads troll problem. 
• Nick Kolakowski reports about rampant e-book piracy on Slide Share. 
• Steven Morris reports how the Petersfield Bookshop in Petersfield, UK, experienced a windfall of orders, after one of their tweets was retweeted by Neil Gaiman and went viral.

Interviews:

• Alex Spencer interviews Sophie Hannah.
• Claire Armitstead intevriews Jeanine Cummins. 
• Chip Scanlan interviews Bryan Gruley. 
• Fiona McVie interviews Craig Russell.
• Verge Le Noir interviews Richie Navaraez.
• Rudy Rucker interviews William Gibson.
  

Reviews:

• For Winter Nights reviews All the Rage by Cara Hunter.
• Carrie O'Grady reviews Pine by Francine Toon. 
• Mike Parker reviews Plender by Ted Lewis.
• Angie Barry reviews The Wife and the Widow by Christian White. 
• Jenny Maloney reviews How Quickly She Disappears by Raymond Fleischmann. 
• For Winer Nights reviews Six Wicked Reasons by Jo Spain. 
• BOLO Books reviews Perfect Little Children by Sophie Hannah. 
• The Belgian Reviewer reviews Haven't They Grown by Sophie Hannah. 
• Janet Webb reviews Many Rivers To Cross by Peter Robinson. 
• Susan Amper reviews Into the Fire by Gregg Hurwitz. 
• BOLO Books reviews Mr. Nobody by Catherine Steadman.
• Paperback Writer reviews Killing Quarry by Max Allan Collins.
• Vicki Weisfeld reviews The Dead Don't Sleep by Steven Max Russo.
• Sandra Mangan reviews A Dark Matter by Doug Johnstone. 
• Sarah Hardy reviews A Dark Matter by Doug Johnstone.
• David Bowles reviews American Dirt by Jeanine Cummins.
• Parul Seghal reviews American Dirt by Jeanine Cummins.
• Angie Barry reviews The Mitford Scandal by Jessica Fellowes. 
• Lesa Holstine reviews Careless Whiskers by Miranda James.
• Doreen Sheridan reviews Thread and Buried by Lea Wait and tries a recipe from the book.
• Runalong the Shelves reviews The Manifestations of Sherlock Holmes by James Lovegrove.
• Jason Sheehan reviews Agency by William Gibson. 
• M. John Harrison reviews Agency by William Gibson. 
• For Winter Nights reviews Hitler's Secret by Rory Clements.
• Doreen Sheridan reviews The Anatomy of a Spy by Michael Smith. 
• Rachel Veroff reviews The Third Rainbow Girl by Emma Copley Eisenberg. 
• Melissa del Bosque reviews The Third Rainbow Girl by Emma Copley Eisenberg. 
• Runalong the Shelves reviews All That Remains - A Life in Death by Sue Black.
• Crossexamining Crime reviews The Life and Writing of Anthony Berkeley Cox by Malcolm J. Turnbull.
  

Classics reviews:

• Paperback Warrior revisits the 1927 Continental Op novel Blood Money by Dashiell Hammett. 
• Crossexamining Crime revisits Murder En Route, a 1930 Anthony Bathurst mystery by Brian Flynn. 
• Crossexamining Crime revisits the 1936 suspense novel The Wheel Spins a.k.a. The Lady Vanishes by Ethel Lina White. 
• Cora Buhlert revisits the 1944 horror story "The Man Who Wouldn't Hang" by Stanton A. Coblentz.  
• Martin Edwards revisits the 1945 suspense novel Dread Journey by Dorothy B. Hughes.
• Bitter Tea and Mystery revisits the 1953 suspense novel A Kiss Before Dying by Ira Levin. 
• Paperback Warrior revisits the 1954 adventure novel Hell Ship to Kuma by Calvin Clements.
• Crossexamining Crime revisits the 1958 suspense novel No Known Grave by Evelyn Berckman.  
• Crossexamining Crime revisits the 1964 mystery A Caribbean Mystery by Agatha Christie.
• B.V. Lawson revisits the 1980 anthology The Edgar Winners: 33rd Annual Anthology of the Mystery Writers of America, edited by Bill Pronzini
• Joe Kenney revisits Zaitech Sting, a 1990 novel in the Book of Justice men's adventure series by Jack Arnett a.k.a. Mike McQuay. 
• Bitter Tea and Mystery revisits the 1991 spy novel The Last Defector by Tony Cape.
• Danielle Prielipp revisits Down River by John Hart, winner of the 2008 Edgar Award for Best Novel.
• Anthony Franze revisits Blue Heaven, winner of the 2009 Edgar Award for Best Novel.
  

Con and event reports:

• Ayo Onatade shares a call for papers for the conference Murder and True Crime in the Media at St. Mary's University in Twickenham, UK.
• Aaron Mondry reports that a RoboCop statue is finally ready to be installed at the Michigan Science Center in Detroit, Michigan.   
• KABC Los Angeles reports that two furries in full costume came to the aid of a woman who was being assaulted in San José, California, and stopped her attacker.

Research:

• Rhiannon Williams reports that in the future prisoners could serve thousand year sentences in a couple of hours due to modern technology messing with their minds.
• The BBC tells the story of Ba, a human trafficking survivor from Vietnam.
• Jamie Grierson reports that the British government plans to subject terrorists released from prison to lie detector tests.
• Steven Poole discusses the history of the polygraph.
• The BBC reports that Twitter has demanded that a company called Clearview stop collecting photos from the site for a facial recognition system.

Free online fiction:

• "The Guardian" by Andre DeCuir in Shotgun Honey. 
• "Pulling" by R.D. Sullivan in Tough.
• "The Six-Year-Old Serial Killer" by Chris Chan at Akashic Books.
• "Smoking in Jail" by Richard Spillman in The Five-Two. 
• "I Am the Resurrection" by John Bowie in Punk Noir Magazine. 
• "If I Could Be With You Tonight" by Graham Wynd in Punk Noir Magazine.
• "Dicks and Jars and a Third World War" by Beau Johnson in Punk Noir Magazine. 
• "Dim Waghorn" by Paul Matts in Punk Noir Magazine.
• "Don't Call Me Thunder Slut" by Judge Santiago Burton in Punk Noir Magazine.
• "Extrication" by Wes Blalock in Over My Dead Body.
  

Odds and ends: 

• Watch a trailer for Spenser Confidential.