Crime Fiction Links of the Week for December 26, 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 the best mysteries and thrillers of 2020, Enola Holmes and much more.

Crime fiction in general:

• Peter Swanson shares his ten favourite Christmas crime stories.
  
• Paul French takes a look at crime novels set in Cape Town, South Africa. 
• Jo Walton recommends books that grabbed her. 
  
• James Davis Nicoll discusses the strange experience of reading a book series in the wrong order.  
• Paul Vidich explains how the late John Le Carré reinvented the spy novel.
  
• Molly Fisher wonders whatever happened to J.K. Rowling a.k.a. Robert Galbraith. 
  
• Deuce Richardson remembers adventure fiction writer Arthur D. Howden Smith. 
• Alison Flood reports that The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman is the first debut novel ever to occupy the top spot of the UK bestseller list at Christmas.
  
• Mike Ripley remembers the late mystery writer Alanna Knight.
• Mystery writer Parnell Hall a.k.a. J.P, Bailey died aged 76.
  

 

Best of 2020:

• Criminal Element share their favourite crime novels of 2020. 
• Joy Kluver shares her favourite crime novels of 2020.
• Vicki Weisfeld shares her five favourite crime novels of 2020.
• Sandra Mangan shares her five favourite crime novels of 2020.
  
• Crime Fiction Lover shares the five best debut crime novels of 2020. 
• Crime Reads shares the best traditional mysteries of 2020.
  
• Crime Reads shares the best international crime novels of 2020. 
• Molly Odintz shares the best historical crime novels of 2020.
  
• Crime Reads shares the best crime and mystery criticism of 2020.
• Crime writers share their favourite crime dramas of 2020.
  

 

Film and TV:

• Leslie Felperin calls Seized a standard cross-border action thriller.
  
• Paul Levinson calls the Danish crime drama Darkness: Those Who Kill brutal and riveting. 
• Paul Levinson calls the Spanish crime drama The Mess You Leave Behind a rich and deep mystery. 
  
• Martin Edwards is not quite sure what to make of the thriller Repression. 
• Paul Levinson shares his thoughts on the latest episode of Your Honor. 
• Gwen Ihnat shares her thoughts on the season finale of Next.  
• Olivia Rutigliano shares the most iconic crime movies that take place at Christmas
  
• Patrick Gomez reports that Die Hard director John McTiernan has confirmed that Die Hard is a holiday movie.  
• Curtis Evens revisits the 1970 gay murder mystery Something For Everyone.
  
• Michael Kambasha explains why people are still watching The Sopranos in 2020.
• Paul Hirons reports that a Swedish TV series loosely based on Sven Hjerson, a Scandinavian detective created by Agatha Christie, is in the works.
• Paul Hirons reports that ITV is planning to adapt the spy novel The Ipcress File by Len Deighton as a TV series.

 

Comments on Enola Holmes:

•  Carrie Vaughn shares her thoughts on Enola Holmes and For All Mankind.  
• Alison Flood reports that the lawsuit of the Arthur Conan Doyle estate about the depiction of Sherlock Holmes in the movie Enola Holmes has been dismissed.
  

 

Awards:

• The 2020 Reprint of the Year Awards are open for voting.
  

Writing, publishing and promotion:

• Samuel R. Delany explains why he writes. 
• Elizabeth A. Harris and Nicole Perlroth report about a mysterious phishing scam where the scammer is stealing unpublished manuscripts.  
• Victoria Strauss also reports about the manuscript phishing scam. 
• Kristine Kathryn Rusch discusses the issues facing traditional publishers in 2020.
  
• B.V. Lawson reports that the mystery bookshop Clues Unlimited in Tuscon, Arizona, is closing down because of the covid pandemic, one of the many independent bookstores in the US to shut down because of the pandemic.
  

 

Interviews:

• Nancie Clare interviews Nev March. 
• Robin Agnew interviews Susan Cox.
• Alan Petersen interviews Les Edgerton.
• John Wisniewski interviews Dan Flanigan.
  

Reviews:

• For Winter Nights reviews One by One by Ruth Ware.
  
• Sonja van der Westhuizen reviews Snowdrift by Helene Tursten, translated by Marlaine Delargy. 
• BOLO Books reviews Bloodline by Jess Lourey. 
• No More Grumpy Bookseller reviews The Tenant by Katrine Engberg.
  
• Lesa Holstine reviews Steal Away by V.M. Burns. 
• Scott Montgomery reviews Hard Times by Les Edgerton. 
• Mike Parker reviews Smoke Screen by Jörn Lier Horst and Thomas Enger, translated by Megan Turney.
  
• No More Grumpy Bookseller reviews Evil Things by Katja Ivar.
• Blue Book Balloon reviews Fortune Favours the Dead by Stephen Spotwood.
• Sandie Herron reviews Some Like It Hawk by Donna Andrews. 
• Lesa Holstine reviews Mrs. Morris and the Ghost of Christmas Past by Traci Wilton.
  
• Doreen Sheridan reviews Have Yourself a Fudgy Little Christmas by Nancy Coco and tries a recipe from the book.
  

Classics reviews:

• Only Detect revisits the 1907 locked room mystery The Mystery of the Yellow Room by Gaston Leroux.
  
• Crossexamining Crime revisits the 1940 noir novel The Bridge Wore Black by Cornell Woolrich. 
• Crossexamining Crime revisits the 1941 mystery The Black Paw by Constance and Gwenyth Little.
  
• Curtis Evans revisits the 1947 holiday crime novel The Inn Closes at Christmas a.k.a. He Dared Not Look Behind by Cledwyn Hughes.
• Joe Kenney revisits the 2002 true crime book Loaded a.k.a. Snowblind.
  

Con and event reports:

• Ayo Onatade announces "Crime Fiction and Legal Truth", an online event by the University of Swansea in Swansea, Wales.
  

 

Research:

• Sharon Doering points out that the potential for violence is disturbingly universal.
  
• Stephanie Graves reports how homing pigeons were used during WWI and WWII to delivery messages behind the lines.
  

 
Free online fiction:

• "The Naughty List" by J.B. Stevens in Shotgun Honey. 
• "Outsourcing" by James Blakey in Shotgun Honey. 
• "Lady Barbara's Christmas Miracle" by Connie Berry in Kings River Life. 
• "A Christmas Near Miss: Santa Fairy and the Tooth Claus" by Tammy Euliano in Writers Who Kill. 
• "Beijingle All the Way" by Fei Wu in Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine.
  
• "Dog's Only Son" by Neil Plakcy in Mysteryrat's Maze Podcast.
  
• "The Hunter" by Sebnem E. Sanders in Punk Noir Magazine.
  
• "Man Bites Trap" by John Bowie in Punk Noir Magazine.
• "The Man Who Died" by Mehmet Akgönül in Punk Noir Magazine.
• "And the Bells Were Ringing Out" by L.A. Sykes in Punk Noir Magazine.
• "A Night Out" by Scott Weisser in Flash Bang Mysteries.
• "Murder to Qd1" by J.J. Counsilman and Mark Sashine in Mystery Tribune.