Crime Fiction Links of the Week for January 23, 2021

 

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 Patricia Highsmith at 100, Lupin, season 3 of Cobra Kai, season 2 of Batwoman, Outside the Wire, The Watch, yet another James Bond delay and much more.

Crime fiction in general:

• Laura Wilson shares the best recent crime novels and thrillers.
  
• Crime Reads shares ten new crime novels and thrillers coming out this week. 
• Crime Reads shares the best non-fiction crime books coming out this January.
• Allie Reynolds shares her favourite wintery thrillers and mysteries.
• Laura Jensen Walker shares her favourite priestly sleuths. 
• Edwin Hill shares six alluring academic mysteries.
  
• Josh Stallings explains why crime fiction needs neurodiversity. 
• John Burley explains where thrillers and medicine intersect. 
• Kate Mosse explains what writing about the St. Bartholomew's Day massacre in Paris in 1572 taught her about the madness of crowds.
  
• Olivia Rutigliano chronicles how Edgar Allan Poe invented the detective story and changed literature forever.
• Timothy Miller wonders why we return to Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes stories over and over again. 
• Sebastian Beck and Dominique Jeannerod take a look at the settings of Agatha Christie's mysteries. 
• Neil Nyren shares his appreciation for the works of Swedish crime fiction writers Maj Sjöwall and Per Wahlöö. 
• Peter Handell profiles Russell James, the godfather of British noir.
  
• Chris Harding Thornton explains why Iago from Shakespeare's Othello is the ultimate thriller character.
  

 

Patricia Highsmith at 100:

• Carmen Maria Machado talks about the twisted brilliance of Patricia Highsmith for her 100th birthday. 
• K.A. Laity remembers Patricia Highsmith.
  
• Richard Bradford talks about the women who inspired Patricia Highsmith. 
• Richard Bradford also talks about Patricia Highsmith's time at the writers' retreat Yaddo in Upstate New York. 
• Kathryn Hughes reviews Devils, Lusts and Strange Desires: The Life of Patricia Highsmith by Richard Bradford.
  
• Book Marks shares classic reviews of several of Patricia Highsmith's thrillers. 
• Guy Lodge shares the best Patricia Highsmith adaptations for the author's 100th birthday.  

 

Film and TV:

• Roxana Hadadi calls the first episode of Walker bland.
  
• Cath Clarke calls The Exception a lazy psychological thriller foiled by sexism. 
• Leslie Felperin calls Tokyo Dragon Chef an overblown, overcooked and oddly endearing gangster comedy.
  
• Luke Buckmaster calls The Furnace a compelling crime drama that discusses Australian identity without being polemical. 
• Carlos Aguilar calls Identifying Feature a devastating movie about the Mexican drug war.
  
• Peter Bradshaw calls The Rental a predictable horror mystery.  
  
• James Donaghy shares his thoughts on the latest episodes of the French crime drama Spiral.
• Paul Levinson shares his thoughts on the latest episode of Your Honor.
• Martin Edwards shares his thoughts on Finding Alice.
  
• Tobias Lindholm explains why his true crime drama The Investigation does not name the kliller of journalist Kim Wall. 
• Garrick Webster looks ahead at the Finnish crime drama All the Sins. 
  
• Harald Gilbers shares his appreciation for the films of Fritz Lang.
  
• Sandy Ferber revisits the 1963 TV series The Fugitive, which he calls one of the finest TV dramas of all time.
• Cora Buhlert rewatches the 1965 Edgar Wallace thriller The Sinister Monk.
• Peter Bradshaw revisits the 1975 Moroccan crime drama About Some Meaningless Events, which was banned and considered lost for more than forty years and only recently resurfaced.
• Claire Armitstead interviews Phoebe Dynevor, who plays Daphne Bridgerton in Bridgerton. 
• Actor Macaulay Culkin has joined calls to digitally remove Donald Trump's cameo from Home Alone 2. 
• Ben Child hopes that we will eventually see Charlie Cox as Daredevil in the Marvel cinematic universe. 
  
• Rebecca Rubin reports that the release date for the upcoming James Bond film No Time To Die has been delayed yet again.  
• Peter Bradshaw finds something hopeful about the renewed delay of the upcoming James Bond film.
  
• Actor and playwright Peter Mark Richman, who appeared in The Twilight Zone, The Outer Limits, Star Trek; The Next Generation, Murder She Wrote and many others, has died aged 93.
  

 

Comments on Lupin: 

• Paul Levinson calls Lupin the perfect caper revenge story.
• Gavia Baker-Whitelaw calls Lupin France's answer to Sherlock. 
• Camestros Felapton also draws the Lupin and Sherlock comparison.
  
• Adrian Horton explains how Lupin became a surprise hit. 
• Olivia Rutigliano revisits Maurice Leblanc original Arséne Lupin. 
• Olivia Rutigliano also reminds us that a very thinly disguised Sherlock Holmes appeared in an Arséne Lupin story in 1906.  
  

 

Comments on season 3 of Cobra Kai: 

• Edward Tew chronicles the tangled history of Cobra Kai. 
• Germain Lussier calls season 3 of Cobra Kai emotional and hostalgic in the best way. 
• Germain Lussier also speculates about season 4 of Cobra Kai.
  

 

Comments on season 2 of Batwoman: 

• Alani Vargas shares her thoughts on "What Happened to Kate Kane?", the season 2 premiere of Batwoman.
• Alex Cranz shares his thoughts on "What Happened to Kate Kane?" 
• Tony Maglia reports that the ratings of the season 2 premiere of Batwoman have dropped by eighty percent compared to season 1.
  

 

Comments on Outside the Wire:

• Benjamin Lee calls Outside the Wire a competent thriller that toys with big ideas.
  
• Mike D'Angelo calls Outside the Wire Training Day meets The Terminator, but less fun than either.
• Watch a clip from Outside the Wire.
  

Comments on The Watch: 

• Alana Joli Abbott shares her thoughts on the latest episode of The Watch.
• Jonathan Wilson shares his thoughts on the latest episode of The Watch.

Awards: 

• The finalists for the 2021 Lefty Awards have been announced.
• The nominations for the 2021 Critics Choice Series Awards have been announced. 
  

 

Writing, publishing and promotion:

• P.J. Tracy declares that a novel is more than the sum of its parts. 
• Kate Mosse talks about her writing process.
  
• Ellery Lloyd explains how to incorporate modern technology into thrillers without looking dated.
• Cherie Jones explains how she came to write her crime novel How the One-Armed Sister Sweeps Her House.
• Mike Glyer reports that more than 300 publishing professionals have signed an open letter to the publishing industry asking them not to give book deals to Donald Trump and members of his administration. 
• Alison Flood also reports about the open letter from publishing professionals asking the publishing industry not to give book deals to Trump and members of his administration. 
• Kristine Kathryn Rusch shares her thoughts on the woes facing bookshops and BookExpo.
  
• Julia Webster Ayuso reports that the iconic French bookstore Gilbert Jeune is closing its doors, another victim of the corona pandemic. 
• Helga Weyhe, owner of Buchhandlung H. Weyhe in Salzwedel, Germany, and Germany's oldest bookseller, has died aged 98. 
• Rebecca Klar reports that the state of Connecticut is probing whether Amazon's e-book business is guilty of anticompetitive behaviour.
• Sian Cain also reports that class action lawsuit has been filed against Amazon and the so-called Big Five publishers because of alleged price fixing.
  

 

Interviews:

• Alan Petersen interviews Edwin Hill.
• Robert Justice interviews David Heska Wanbli Weiden.
• Book Marks interviews Camilla Bruce.
• Emine Saner interviews Kate Mosse.
  
• Suspense Magazine interviews Brad Taylor.
• Murder Books interviews Gabriel Valjan.
• Lisa Haselton interviews G.P. Gottlieb.
• Lawrence Specker interviews Ace Atkins.
  

Reviews:

• Lesa Holstine reviews The Blood is Still by Douglas Skelton.
• Pam Guynn reviews Bloodline by Jess Lourey.
  
• Craig Sisterson reviews The Last Thing to Burn by Will Dean. 
• Doreen Sheridan reviews Before She Disappeared by Lisa Gardner. 
• Sandra Mangan reviews Before She Disappeared by Lisa Gardner.
  
• Gumshoe Reviews reviews Bone Canyon by Lee Goldberg. 
• Ray Palen reviews Pickard County Atlas by Chris Harding Thornton. 
• Vicki Weisfeld reviews New Jersey Noir: Cape May by William Baer.
  
• Raven Crime Reads reviews Winterkill by Ragnar Jónasson, translated by David Warriner. 
• Kirkus reviews Shiver by Allie Reynolds. 
• BOLO Books reviews Slow Horses by Mick Herron.
• Vicki Weisfeld reviews The Survivors by Jane Harper.
  
• Beth Kannell reviews Sleep Well, My Lady by Kwei Quartey. 
• Janet Webb reviews The Perfect Guests by Emma Rous.
  
• Lesa Holstine reviews Tricky by Josh Stallings. 
• Michael J. McCann reviews Twenty by James Grippando. 
• Ray Palen reviews Twenty by James Grippando.
  
• Blake Morrison reviews The Unusual Suspect by Ben Machell.
  
• Publishers Weekly reviews At the Edge of the Haight by Katherine Seligman.
  
• Blue Book Balloon reviews The Lost and the Damned by Olivier Norek, translated by Nick Caistor. 
• Toni V. Sweeney reviews Oranges and Lemons by Christopher Fowler. 
• Shelf Awareness reviews The House on Vesper Sands by Paraic O'Donnell. 
• In Search of the Classic Mystery Novel reviews The Marlow Murder Club by Robert Thorogood. 
• Doreen Sheridan reviews Murder with Oolong Tea by Karen Rose Smith and tries a recipe from the book. 
• Sandie Herron reviews Duck the Halls by Donna Andrews. 
• Crossexaming Crime reviews The Anthony Boucher Chronicles: Reviews and Commentary 1942-1947, edited by Francis M. Nevin.
   

Classics reviews:

• B.V. Lawson revisits the 1937 mystery Mystery on the Queen Mary by Bruce Graeme a.k.a. Graham Mintague Jeffries.
  
• Paula Hawkins revisits the 1950 suspense novel Stranger on a Train by Patricia Highsmith. 
• Crossexamining Crime revisits the 1951 mystery Straw Man by Doris Miles Disney. 
• Martin Edwards revisits the 1953 locked room mystery Whistle Up the Devil by Martin Edwards. 
• Paperback Warrior revisits the 1954 crime novel Night Walker by Donald Hamilton.
  
• Paperback Warrior revisits the 1957 historical adventure novel Boon Island by Kenneth Roberts.
• Paperback Warrior revisits the 1957 crime novel Like Mink, Like Murder a.k.a. Passion Hangover by Harry Whittington. 
  
• Crossexamining Crime revisits the 1958 Mother Paul mystery Reservation for Murder by June Wright.
• Alan Cranis revisits the 1959 crime novel The Murder Specialist by Bud Clifton.
• Brian Greene revisits the 1970 political thriller The Parallax View by Loren Singer and its 1974 film adaptation. 
• Paperback Warrior revisits the 1971 vigilante novel The Hunter by Robert Holland. 
• Joe Kenney revisits the 1976 adventure novel Valley of the Assassins by Ian MacAlister a.k.a. Marvin Albert.
  
• Bitter Tea and Mystery revisits the 1976 Black Widowers story "The Cross of Lorraine" by Isaac Asimov. 
• Joe Kenney revisits The Centaur Conspiracy, a 1983 novel in the Dagger crime fiction series by Carl Stevens a.k.a. Raymond Obstfeld.
  
• Kelly Lasiter revisits the 2007 thriller Generation Loss by Elizabeth Hand.
  

 

Con and event reports:

• Andrew Pulver reports that the 2021 Cannes Film Festival has been pushed back to July.
  

 

Research:

• Beth A. Bechky declares that real life forensics work is not as glamorous as what you see on TV.
  
• The Marshall Project asks prisoners what might have kept them out of prison. 
• Camilla Bruce lists six serial killers who found their victims via personal ads. 
• Rosalie Knecht reports how her grandfather, a CIA analyst, got caught up in Joseph McCarthy's communist witch hunts. 
• Denise M. Testa and Tori Telfer talk about Jessie Levy, the female 1930s lawyer who defended the members of John Dillinger's gang. 
• Samson Amore and Beatrice Verhoeven profile Frank Salerno, the Los Angeles police officer who helped to catch serial killer Richard Ramirez.
  
• Phil Spector, legendary pop producer and creature of the "Wall of Sound" who was convicted of murdering actress Lana Clarkson, has died in prison aged 81.
  

Free online fiction:

• "Piss Stop" by George E. Hillstorm in Mystery Tribune. 
• "Snake in the Window - Killer at the Door" by Julie Burandt in Mystery Tribune.
  
• "Dead to the Last Drop" by Tonya Kappes in Mysteryrat's Maze Podcast. 
• "I Remember" by Beau Johnson in Punk Noir Magazine.
• "Imprisonment" by Liz Davinci in Punk Noir Magazine.
• "Denied" by Karen Harrington in Shotgun Honey.
• "Ulterior Motive" by Bruce Harris in Flash Bang Mysteries. 
• "January 6, 2021" by Charles Rammelkamp in The Five-Two.