Crime Fiction Links of the Week for February 20, 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, Big Sky, I Care a Lot, the season 1 finale of Your Honor, Judas and the Black Messiah, The Mauritanian, The Unted States versus Billie Holiday, Silence of the Lambs at 30, Charisma Carpenter's abuse allegations against Joss Whedon, Shelley Duval's abuse allegations against Stanley Kubrick and much more.

Crime fiction in general:

• Laura Wilson offers a round-up of the best recent crime novels and thrillers.
  
• Crime Reads shares ten new crime novels coming out this week. 
• Crime Reads shares the best international crime fiction for February (well, and Sebastian Fitzek).
  
• Lisa Levy hosts a roundtable featuring women writers of spy fiction. 
• Abby Collette shares four own voices cozy authors you can read now.
  
• G.P. Gottlieb explains how she discovered her love for culinary cozies. 
• Crime by the Book recommends some locked room mysteries. 
  
• Amy Gentry offers a guide to the new wave of campus thrillers. 
• Elle Cosimano shares a list of crime fiction writers who started out in YA.
  
• Olivia Blacke explains how social media can be useful to provide clues to solving a mystery.
  
• Crossexamining Crime shares their appreciation for the Lily Wu mysteries by Juanita Sheridan. 
• Steve Powell explores James Ellroy's ties to Wisconsin.  
• Crime fiction writer Ian Rankin, father of a disabled son, wonders why it takes the voices of celebrities like him for the disabled to be heard.
  
• Helen Cooper calls the 1891 novel Tess of the D'Urbervilles by Thomas Hardy a masterclass in suspense. 
• Joshua Hood explains what it feels like to write authorised novels set in the thriller universe created by the late Robert Ludlum.
  
• Lucy Atkins shares the real world locations of her new mystery Magpie Lane. 
• Lucy Atkins also explains why Oxford is such a great setting for crime novels and fantasy.
• Susan Lewis talks about the joy of reading and writing outside your chosen genre. 
• Mark Pratt celebrates pulp artist Gloria Stoll Karn.
  

 

Film and TV:

• Leslie Felperin calls The Owners a clever thriller and praises the performances of Sylvester McCoy and Rita Tushingham.
  
• Leslie Felparin calls Archenemy a colourful parallel universe thriller. 
  
• Leslie Felperin calls Shook a social media slasher film. 
• Ellen E. Jones calls the horror thriller The Sinners a crime against cinema.  
• Phuong Lee calls Butchers a worn out horror thriller with some good performances. 
  
• Leah Schnelbach argues that the John Wick movies are portal fantasies.  
• Gwen Ihnat is not impressed by Tell Me Your Secrets.
  
• Paul Levinson shares his thoughts on the true crime documentary Crime Scene: The Vanishing at the Cecil Hotel. 
• Stephen Robinson shares his thoughts on the latest episode of the new Equalizer. 
• Kayla Kumari Upadhyaya shares her thoughts on the latest episode of Snowpiercer.
• James Oswalt shares his appreciation for the Welsh TV drama Hinterland.
  
• Keith Roysdon praises the parallel world spy thriller series Counterpart.
  
• Cate Quinn shares her favourite documentaries, movies and novels about cults. 
• Martin Edwards revisits the 1971 Ellery Queen TV adpatation Don't Look Behind You. 
• Jason Shawhan revisits the 1986 spy comedy Jumpin' Jack Flash. 
• Cheryl Eddy discusses the sixty year evolution of Norman Bates from Psycho. 
  
• Simon Hattenstone interviews Kim Novak, star of Vertigo and The Man with the Golden Arm.
• Emma Bullimore interviews Tala Gouveia, one of the stars of the UK crime drama McDonald and Dodds.
  
• Chancellor Agard interviews Javicia Leslie, star of Batwoman.  
• Dwyer Murphy reports about the feud between Raymond Chandler and Alfred Hitchcock over the adaptation of Patricia Highsmith's Strangers on a Train, for which Chandler wrote the script.
• Olivia Rutigliano shares movies in which the villains allow themselves to be captured as part of the plan, many of which are superhero movies.
• David Alexander shares the ten best movies that are more than a century old.
  
• The Guardian reports that Phoebe Waller-Bridges and Donald Glover will star in a remake of the 2005 romantic suspense movie Mr. and Mrs. Smith.
• Nellie Andreeva reports that the original CSI will get a sequel called CSI: Las Vegas.
  

 

Comments on Big Sky:

• Paul Levinson shares his thoughts on the latest episode of Big Sky.
• Allison Shoemaker shares her thoughts on the latest episode of Big Sky.
  

 

Comments on I Care a Lot: 

• Peter Bradshaw calls I Care a Lot a toxic thriller with an exquisitely nasty performance by Rosamund Pike.
• Noel Murray calls I Care a Lot a wicked neo-noir movie.
• Marah Eakin interviews Rosamund Pike, star of I Care a Lot. 
  

 

Comments on the seaon 1 finale of Your Honor: 

• Dennis Perkins shares his thoughts on the season 1 finale of Your Honor. 
• Paul Levinson shares his thoughts on the season 1 finale of Your Honor.
  

 

Comments on The Mauritanian: 

• Ignatiy Vishnevetsky declares that The Mauritanian transforms a memoir about unlawful detention into just another shouty courtroom drama.   
• Cameron Scheetz interviews Tahar Rahim, star of The Mauritanian.
  
• Cameron Scheetz interviews Jodie Foster, one of the stars of The Mauritanian. 

 

Comments on Judas and the Black Messiah:

• Marah Eakin interviews Daniel Kaluuya, one of the stars of Judah and the Black Messiah.
• Marah Eakin interviews LaKeith Stanfield, one of the stars of Judah and the Black Messiah.
  

Comments on The United States versus Billie Holiday:

• Peter Bradshaw calls The United States versus Billie Holiday a misguided biopic. 
• Ignatiy Vishnevetsky declares that it's the audience that loses in The United States versus Billie Holiday.
  

 

Comments on The Silence of the Lambs at thirty: 

• Scott Tobias revisits the 1991 serial killer thriller The Silence of the Lambs for its 30th anniversary.
• Harmony Colangelo takes issue with the portrayal of a transgender character in The Silence of the Lanbs. 

 

Comments on the abuse allegations against Joss Whedon:

• Joan Summers reports that Joss Whedon was not allowed to be alone in a room with then 15-year-old actress Michelle Trachtenberg, who played Dawn Summers in Buffy, the Vampire Slayer.
• Louise Griffith interviews Buffy stunt coordinator Jeff Pruitt and stunt double Sophia Crawford about Joss Whedon's unprofessional behaviour on set.
• Abbie Bray shares the reaction of actor Anthony Stewart Head, who played Ruper Giles in Buffy, the Vampire Slayer, to the allegations against Joss Whedon.
• Patrick Gomez reports that David Boreanaz, who played Angel on Buffy and Angel, has also issued a statement in support of Charisma Carpenter.
  

 

Comments on the abuse allegations of Shelley Duvall against Stanley Kubrick:

• Seth Abramovitch interviews Shelley Duvall about Stanley Kubrick's problematic behaviour on the set of The Shining and her generally troubled life.
• Courtney Enlow also reports about the treatment of Shelley Duvall on the set of The Shining and asks why so many male directors are allowed to get away with mistreating actresses.
  

 

Awards: 

• The finalists for the 2020 Australian Romance Readers Awards have been announced. 
  
• The winners of the 2020 Will Rogers Medallion Awards have been announced.
  

 

Writing, publishing and promotion:

• Melinda Snodgrass explains why it is important that stories make the reader feel.
  
• Ellery Kane talks about her writing process. 
• Rio Youers explains how to transfer Hollywood style action and fight scenes to the page.
  
• Molly Odintz notes how many women started their writing careers while on maternity leave.
  
• Angus Fletcher explains why AIs will never write good novels.
• Jacqui Lipton talks about writing work for hire.
• Anna Kramer talks about the popular library app Libby and its issues with publishers.
  

 

Interviews:

• Kate Kellaway interviews Val McDermid.
• Alan Petersen interviews Paul Vidich.
• Queer Writers of Crime interview Steve Neil Johnson.
• Ayo Onatade interviews Laura Shepherd-Robinson.
• John Valeri interviews Dana Stabenow.
  
• Marshal Zeringue interviews Allison Epstein. 
• Marshal Zeringue interviews Gwen Florio. 
• Grace Topping interviews Lida Sideris.
  
• Terry Gross interviews Rosa Brooks.
  

Reviews:

• Rafe McGregor reviews Blood Grove by Walter Mosley. 
• Lesa Holstine reviews Symphony Road by Gabriel Valjan. 
• For Winter Nights reviews Cut to the Bone by Roz Watkins.
  
• Ray Palen reviews A Crooked Tree by Una Mannion.
• Adam Colclough reviews Serpentine by Jonathan Kellerman.  
• Gwen Moffat reviews The Whispers by Heidi Perks.
  
• Sandra Mangan reviews The Little Lies by Valerie Keogh.
• Mike Parker reviews Children of Chicago by Cynthia Pelayo.
  
• No More Grumpy Bookseller reviews Good Neighbors by Sarah Langan. 
• Ayo Onatade reviews The Disappearance of Stephanie Mailer by Joel Dicker.
  
• Crime By the Book reviews The Sanatorium by Sarah Pearse.
  
• Lesa Holstine reviews A Fatal Lie by Charles Todd.
• Blue Book Balloon reviews The Shape of Darkness by Laura Purcell.
• For Winter Nights reviews Daughters of the Night by Laura Shepherd-Robinson.
  
• Sandra Newman reviews Maxwell's Demon by Steven Hall.
  
• Russell James reviews Spy Game by John Fullerton.
  
• Ali Karim reviews The Fine Art of Invisible Detection by Robert Goddard. 
• Ray Palen reviews The Historians by Cecilia Ekbäck.
  
• Crossexamining Crime reviews Body on the Island by Victoria Dowd. 
• Lesa Holstine reviews A Lady's Guide to Mischief and Mayhem by Manda Collins. 
• Janet Webb reviews Ink and Shadows by Ellery Adams.
  
• Sandie Herron reviews The Hen of the Baskervilles by Donna Andrews.
• Paperback Warrior reviews Later by Stephen King. 
  
• Paperback Warrior reviews Hostesses in Hell and Other Stories by Russell Gray a.k.a. Bruno Fisher. 
  
• Martin Edwards reviews Bowler Hats and Kinky Boots: The Unofficial and Unauthorised Guide to The Avengers by Michael Richardson.
  

 

Classics reviews:

• Martin Edwards revisits the 1927 mystery The Three Taps by Ronald Knox. 
• Crossexamining Crime revisits the 1947 mystery The Condamine Case by Moray Dalton.
  
• Bitter Tea and Mystery revisits the 1952 Hercule Poirot mystery Mrs. McGinty's Dead by Agatha Christie.
  
• Martin Edwards revisits the 1955 mystery The Man Who Didn't Fly by Margot Bennett. 
• Crossexamining Crime revisits the 1956 mystery Framed for Hanging by Guy Collingford. 
• Paperback Warrior revisits the 1965 war novel Strike Force a.k.a. Killer Tank by Norman Daniels a.k.a. Norman Danberg.
  
• Joe Kenney revisits the 1967 Don Miles racing adventure The Devil's Ring by Larry Kenyon.
  
• Paperback Warrior revisits the 1969 thriller The Plastic Nightmare by Richard Neely.
• B.V. Lawson revisits the 1971 adventure thriller A Time for Pirates by Gavin Black.
• Joe Kenney revisits Crossfire Kill, a 1989 novel in the MIA Hunter men's adventure series by Jack Buchanan a.k.a. Arthur Moore.
  

 

Con and event reports:

• Janet Rudolph shares the schedule for the virtual 2021 mini Left Coast Crime convention.
  

 

Research:

• Alison Flood reports about the 1750 confessional autobiography of the executed highwayman Thomas Munn which includes a surprisingly frank account of gay sex.
• Russell Shorto takes a look at organised crime in Johnstown, Pennsylvania, in 1960.
• Tori Telfer reports about Rose Marks, a faux medium who preyed on depressed wealthy women in New York City.
• Inga Kiderra and Beck Lockwood have identified a new counterintuitive approach, which may improve eye witness identification.
• Joe My God reports that federal agents have seized conrflakes frosted with 3 million US-dollar worth of cocaine in Cincinnati, Ohio.
  

Free online fiction:

• "Two Stiffs in Search of a Grave" by Steven Nester in Shotgun Honey.
• "The Patron Saint of Sleeping Dogs" by Trevor Duplessis in Shotgun Honey. 
• "Apprentice Test" by J.M. Taylor in Shotgun Honey. 
• "Puff, Puff, Pass" by Angel Luis Colón in Shotgun Honey. 
• "The Mark of the Butterfly" by Marlin Bressi in Mystery Tribune. 
• "Alabaster New Year" by Jean E. Verthein in Mystery Tribune.
  
• "We All Become Our Mothers" by Kate Felix in Mystery Tribune.
  
• "Leave It to Cleaver" by Victoria Hamilton in Mysteryrat's Maze Podcast. 
• "The Working Week" by Marc McConville in Punk Noir Magazine.
• "Thunders Storm" by Jon Patrick Robbins in Punk Noir Magazine.
• "Wish I Had Known You When I Was Able To Watch Mindhunter" by Kristin Garth in Punk Noir Magazine.
• "I Want a Film Noir Femme Fatale" by Peter M. Gordon in The Five-Two.
  

 

Trailers and videos: 

• Watch a trailer for Cruella.