Crime Fiction Links of the Week for August 7, 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 the return of The Shadow, Black Widow, Stillwater, The Last Mercenary, Jungle Cruise, The Suicide Squad, an uproar involving the 2021 Vivian Awards, the cancellation of the 2021 Bouchercon, tributes to Mo Hayder and much more.

Crime fiction in general:

• Crime Reads shares eleven crime novels to read this August.
• Crime by the Book shares the most anticipated crime novels for August 2021.
  
• Crime Reads shares ten new mysteries, crime novels and thrillers coming out this week.
  
• Crime Reads shares the best reviewed crime novels of the month.
• Crime Reads shares the best crime novels out in paperback. 
• Manning Wolfe shares a brief history of the legal thriller. 
• Chevy Stevens shares a primer to survival thrillers.
  
• Kate Myles shares some ultra dark noir novels. 
• Tessa Lunney shares her love for spy fiction.
  
• Andrea Bartz declares that in today's psychological thrillers, women are not just victims but also perpetrators. 
• Melanie Gideon shares four novels that explore the dark side of female friendships.
  
• Chandler Baker wonders why there are so many wives in the titles of crime novels, but no husbands.
  
• Sandie Jones shares six mysteries featuring large casts of characters. 
• Claire Douglas shares five novels about journalists returning to their hometowns to investigate crimes.
  
• Louise Candlish talks about thrillers set on trains, ships and other means of transportation.
  
• David M. Olsen talks about surf noir. 
• Grady Hendrix talks about the origins of the true crime genre.
  
• Bob Byrne talks about Carroll John Daly as the father of hardboiled fiction.
• Bob Byrne talks about bounty hunters and bail bondsmen in hardboiled and noir fiction.
• Kevin Mims declares 1975 the greatest year in the history of crime fiction.
  
• Sophie Hannah dissects the writing style of Agatha Christie.
  
• Lisa Lutz shares her appreciation for 1930s mystery writer Craig Rice. 
• Francis M. Nevins shares his appreciation for the mysteries of F. Van Wyck Mason.
• Mark Simmons discusses the wartime service of Ian Fleming and how it influenced the James Bond series.  
• Megan Abbott talks about the photographers who inspire her. 
  
• Glenda Young explains why she went from writing historical novels to cozy mysteries. 
• S.D. Sykes shares the inspiration for her crime novel The Good Death. 
• Nicole Trope talks about the inspiration for her thriller Home, Sweet Home.
  
• Anna Kent talks about writing The House of Whispers.
  
• Venezuelan journalist Moisés Naím explains why he wrote a thriller to illuminate the problems of his country.
• Dan Sheehan shares Raymond Chandler's most iconic lines. 
• Katie Rife and A.A. Dowd discuss the art and ethics of writing bad reviews.
  
• Molly Templeton wonders whether it is possible to have too many books on your to be read pile. 
  

Tributes to Mo Hayder:

• Ayo Onatade remembers Mo Hayder.
• Mark Billingham shares an obituary for Mo Hayder.
• Heloise Wood reports about the funeral arrangement for Mo Hayder.
  

 

Comments on the return of The Shadow: 

• Steven Thompson reviews The Shadow by James Patterson and Brian Sitts.
  
• Don Herron declares that James Patterson's and Brian Sitts' take on the classic pulp hero The Shadow has nothing in common with the character we all know and love.
• William Lampkin laments that the new Shadow proves that Condé Nast neither understands nor values the Shadow and the other pulp heroes they hold the right for.
  

 

Film and TV:

• Luke Buckmaster calls The Dry a gripping, tough and psychologically intense thriller. 
• Lucy Mangan calls the Queen Latifah version of The Equalizer farcical fun. 
• A.A. Dowd calls John and the Hole a spooky portrait of budding teenage socoiopathy.
  
• Peter Bradshaw calls Profile a silly, but effective thriller about women being lured to Syria by the IS via social media. 
• Peter Bradshaw calls Zola a slick urban thriller based on a series of viral tweets. 
• Lucy Mangan calls Cruel Summer a dark teen thriller.
  
• Erin Mitchell shares her thoughts on season 4 of Unforgotten. 
• Radheyan Simonpillai shares his thoughts about the true crime documentary Cocaine Cowboys: The Kings of Miami. 
  
• Keith Roysdon argues that 1980s noir films are better than 1940s noir films. 
• David Vineyard revisits the 1960 episodes of the US TV shows The Case of the Dangerous Robin and The Chevy Mystery Show and probably uncovers the secret origin of Inspector Columbo.
  
• Leslie Felperin revisits the 1977 giallo thriller The Psychic.
• David Masciotra revisits the 1991 crime film The Indian Runner.
• Rich Pelley interviews Edgar Wright, director of Shaun of the Dead, Hot Fuzz, Paul, The World's End and others. 
  
• Justin Kroll reports that actor Regé-Jean Page will star in the latest version of The Saint.
• Selome Hailu reports that the planned Criminal Minds revival isn't happening.
• Steve Vertlieb celebrates the 102nd birthday of actor Nehemiah Persoff who appeared in The Untouchables, Some Like It Hot, On the Waterfront, Naked City and many others.
• Actor Saginaw Grant, who appeared in Breaking Bad and The Lone Ranger among others, has died aged 85.
  

 

Comments on Stillwater: 

• Amanda Knox, the American university student who was convicted of the murder of her British roommate Meredith Kercher in Bologna, Italy, and later had her conviction overturned, is not pleased that Stillwater is loosely based on her case, because she feels the movie makes her look even worse.
• Sam Barsanti also reports about Amanda Knox's complaints against Stillwater.
  

 

Comments on The Last Mercenary:

• Charles Bramesco calls The Last Mercenary a forgettable action film. 
• Owen Gleiberman is not pleased with The Last Mercenary. 

 

Comments on Black Widow:

• Arley Sorg and Josh Pearce share their thoughts on Black Widow and The Tomorrow War.
  
• Benjamin Lee calls Scarlett Johansson's lawsuit against Disney over Black Widow debuting simultaneously in theatres and on streaming the latest round in a difficult battle.
• Germain Lussier shares the latest updates and escalations on Scarlett Johansson's lawsuit against Disney.
• Pat Saperstein reports that Women in Film, Los Angeles, ReFrame and Time’s Up have issued a joint statement calling Disney’s characterization of Scarlett Johansson a “gendered character attack.”
• Gavia Baker-Whitelaw reports that Scarlett Johansson's lawsuit against Disney illuminates a larger problem regarding the fair compensation of actors.  

 

Comments on The Suicide Squad:

• James Brogan wonders whether The Suicide Squad is the beginning of the end for superhero movies.
  
• Cameron Scheetz interviews David Dastmalchian who plays Polka-Dot Man in The Suicide Squad.
  
• William Hughes reports that David Ayer, director of the 2016 Suicide Squad movie, is still not happy with how Warner Bros handled his film.
• Valerie Complex declares that David Ayer has every right to be upset, since Warner Bros edited his version of Suicide Squad without his approval.

 

Comments on Jungle Cruise:

• Inspired by Jungle Cruise, Caroline Siede revisits earlier adventure romances.
• Germain Lussier reports that Jungle Cruise sits at the top of the US box office.
  

 

Awards: 

• The winners of the 2021 Barry Awards have been announced.
  
• The finalists for the 2021 Silver Falchion and Killer Nashville Readers Choice Awards have been announced. 
• The finalists for the 2021 Claymore Award have been announced.
• The shortlist for the 2021 Goldboro Books Glass Bell Award has been announced.
• The winners of the 2021 Vivian Awards have been announced, again to controversy.
• Sarah Nicolas reports about the 2021 Vivian Award controversy. 
• Mike Glyer reports about the 2021 Vivian Award controversy.
  
• Romance author Sara Whitney returns her Vivian Award in protest of the controversy.
  
• The RWA shares a statement on a problematic 2021 Vivian Award winner.
• The RWA has withdrawn the Vivian Award win and no awarded the religious and spiritual romance category.

 

Writing, publishing and promotion:

• Lincoln Michel talks about plotting.
  
• Adam Simcox discusses the differences between writing scripts and writing novels. 
• Kristine Kathryn Rusch talks about writing streaks and the ground effect.
  
• Scott Oden discusses his process for writing pastiches (Conan pastiches in this case).
  
• Kameron Hurley explains how to evaluate editorial feedback and when to compromise. 
• Gavia Baker-Whitelaw reports that erotica author Romilly King has been caught plagiarizing a Supernatural fanfic.
  
• Katie Sehl reports that Twitter is artificially throttling tweets with links or images, which disproportionately affects writers and artists. 
• Alex Hern reports that Twitter accidentally verified a fake Twitter account of Cormac McCarthy.
  
• Walker Caplan reports that the legendary independent bookstore Powell's Books in Portland, Oregon, is celebrating its fiftieth anniversary.
  

 

Interviews:

• Ashish Ghadiali interviews S.A. Cosby.
  
• The Guardian interviews David Peace. 
• Dave Davies interviews T.J. Newman.
• The Everybody Counts podcast interviews Michael Connelly.
• Crime Time FM interviews Chris Whitaker and Dom Nolan. 
• Stephen J. Golds interviews Scott von Doviak.
  
• Alan Petersen interviews Eva Lesko Natiello.
• Brad Shreve interviews Garrick Jones.
• The Cozy Ink Podcast interviews Martha Geaney.
• E.B. Davis interviews Sherry Harris. 
• Lisa Haselton interviews Elizabeth Price.
  
• John A. Hoda interviews Mark Langley.
• Marshal Zeringue interviews Richard Lange.
• The Real Book Spy interviews Landon Beach.
• Sophia June interviews Alexandra Kleeman.
  

Reviews:

• Lesa Holstine reviews The Forbidden by Heather Graham.
• Doreen Sheridan reviews The Turnout by Megan Abbott.
  
• BOLO Books reviews The Turnout by Megan Abbott. 
• Vicki Weisfeld reviews False Witness by Karin Slaughter.
  
• Neil McRobert reviews Billy Summers by Stephen King.
  
• Crime by the Book reviews In My Dreams I Hold a Knife by Ashley Winstead. 
• Sandra Mangan reviews The Devil's Advocate by Steve Cavanagh. 
• Becky LeJeune reviews The Great Silence by Doug Johnstone. 
• BOLO Books reviews Lightning Strikes by William Kent Krueger.
  
• John Valeri reviews Island of Thieves by Glen Erik Hamilton. 
• The Real Book Spy reviews Sleeping Bear by Connor Sullivan.
  
• The Real Book Spy reviews The Hike by Landon Beach.
  
• Vicki Weisfeld reviews Suburban Dicks by Fabian Nicieza. 
• Doreen Sheridan reviews Bullet Train by Kotaro Isaka, translated by Sam Malissa.
  
• Becky LeJeune reviews The Other Black Girl by Zakiya Dalila Harris.
  
• Sonja van der Westhuizen reviews Tokyo Redux by David Peace.
  
• Louis Bravos reviews The Basel Killings by Hansjörg Schneider, translated by Mike Mitchell. 
• Doreen Sheridan reviews Death of an Italian Chef by Lee Hollis and tries a recipe from the book. 
  
• Doreen Sheridan reviews Murder, She Edited by Kaitlyn Dunnett.
• Doreen Sheridan reviews A Time to Swill by Sherry Harris.
• For Winter Nights reviews The Appeal by Janice Hallett.
• Brandon Crilly reviews Never Say You Can't Survive: How to Get Through Hard Times by Making Up Stories by Charlie Jane Anders.
• Veronica Esposito reviews The Letters of Shirley Jackson, edited by Laurence Jackson Hyman.
  

 

Classics reviews:

• Sandy Ferber revisits the 1925 science fiction thriller Thus Far by J.C. Snaith. 
  
• Crossexamining Crime revisits the 1926 suspense novella The Thing Beyond Reason by Elisabeth Sanxay Holding. 
• Crossexamining Crime also revisits the 1926 mystery Blotted Out by Elisabeth Sanxay Holding.
  
• B.V. Lawson revisits the 1935 serial mystery The President's Mystery Plot by Rupert Hughes, Samuel Hopkins Adams, Anthony Abbot, Rita Weiman, S. S. Van Dyne and John Erskine, based on an idea by Franklin Delano Roosevelt.  
• Crossexamining Crime revisits the 1938 mystery Well Dressed for Murder by Laverne Rice.
  
• Crossexamining Crime revisits the 1938 suspense novel Echo of a Careless Voice by Elisabeth Sanxay Holding.
  
• Crossexamining Crime revisits the 1939 mystery The Cat Saw Murder by Dolores Hitchens. 
• Happiness is a Book revisits the 1949 mystery What a Body! by Alan Green.
  
• Maryell Cleary reviews the 1950 mystery Cinderella Goes to the Morgue by Nancy Spain.
  
• Happiness is a Book revisits the 1955 police procedural Gideon's Day by J.J. Maric a.k.a. John Creasey.
  
• Paperback Warrior revisits the 1956 prison novel The House of Numbers by Jack Finney.
• Martin Edwards revisits the 1956 suspense novel The Diehards by Jean Potts.
• Paperback Warrior revisits the 1959 paranormal spy novel Brain Twister by Mark Phillips a.k.a. Randall Garrett and Laurence M. Janifer. 
  
• Paperback Warrior revisits the 1960 crime novel The Extortioners by Ovid Demaris.
• Joe Kenney revisits the 1963 James Bond novel Doctor No by Ian Fleming. 
• Paperback Warrior revisits the 1963 war novel Sgt. Corbin's War by Robert Crane. 
• Martin Edwards revisits the 1964 suspense novel A Little Less Than Kind by Charlotte Armstrong.
  
• Crossexamining Crime revisits the 1965 Judge Dee mystery The Monkey and the Tiger by Robert Van Gulik.
  
• Joe Kenney revisits Sicilian Slaughter, a 1973 novel in The Executioner men's adventure series by Jim Peterson.
  
• Paperback Warrior revisits the 1975 suspense novel Where Are the Children? by Mary Higgins Clark.
• B.V. Lawson revisits the 1984 non-fiction book Murder Ink: The Mystery Reader's Companion by Dilys Winn.
  

 

Con and event reports:

• Pierce's Picture Palace reports that the 2021 Bouchercon in New Orleans, Louisiana, has been cancelled because of a covid surge in Louisiana. 
• George Easter also reports about the Bouchercon cancellation. 
• Janet Rudolph talks about the Bouchercon cancellation. 
• J. Kingston Pierce talks about the cancellation of the 2021 Bouchercon.
  
• Oline H. Cogdill reports that the 2021 Killer Nashville convention in Franklin, Tennessee, will actually take place in person, with safety measures. 
• Guy Henderson reports that the Agatha Christie Festival in Torbay, Devon, will actually happen in person and will feature the world premiere of a newly discovered play by Agatha Christie.
• Walker Martin shares eight reasons to attend PulpFest in Mars, Pennsylvania. 
• The 2023 Left Coast Crime convention in Tuscon, Arizona, has shares its line-up of guests. 
• Because of the recent surge in covid cases, Sisters in Crime Australia is moving many of its events online.
  
• Terrence McCauley shares some tips for attending conventions in general.  
• Malice Domestic is looking to fill some vacant positions on its board.
  

 

Research:

• James V. Irving explains what life was like for a private investigator in the 1970s.
  
• Harriet Grant reports what happens to families after a family member is arrested for viewing child porn.
• US News wonders whether the use of robot dogs for police purposes is dehumanising or useful.
• Stephen Kurczy talks about life inside the so-called "quiet zone" in West Virginia, where people are not allowed to have cellphones, WiFi and other things which make life tolerable because it might disturb the Green Bank Oberservatory.
• Timothy Schaffert discusses why perfume is such a popular item to shoplift and steal. 
• Michael Knox Beran talks about an epidemic of suicide and mental illness among the elites of New England in the 19th century. 
• John Tresch explains how Edgar Allan Poe exposed scientific hoaxes and perpetrated them.
  

Free online fiction:

• "A Guid Soldier" by Charles Todd in The Strand Magazine. 
• "Ending Things" by Vinnie Hansen in Shotgun Honey.
  
• "The Eighth Button" by Julie Burandt in Shotgun Honey.
  
• "Killer Clue" by Guy Belleranti in Mysteryrat's Maze Podcast. 
• "Virginia Creeper" by Sebnem Sanders in Spelk.
• "Reciprocity" by B.W. Carter in Mystery Tribune.
• "A Bad Place to Be" by Lamont A. Turner in Yellow Mama. 
• "If the World Never Knows Our Names" by Craig Fishbane in Yellow Mama.
  
• "Jury Duty" by Kristine Kathryn Rusch.
• "The Uninvited" by Bruce Robinson in The Five-Two.
  

Trailers and videos:

• Watch a trailer for Kate. 
• Watch a trailer for Only Murders in the Building.
  
• Watch a trailer for season 5 of Money Heist.
• Watch a trailer for House of Gucci.
• Watch a trailer for season 4 of Cobra Kai. 
• Watch a trailer for Dopesick.
  
• Watch a trailer for Cry Macho.
  
• Watch a trailer for Cocaine Cowboys: The Kings of Miami.
  

 Odds and ends: 

• Jean-Paul Garnier shares freeware solutions to build your podcasting studio.