Crime Fiction Links of the Week for November 27, 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 best mysteries, crime novels and thriller of 2021, Dexter: New Blood, The Unforgiveable, True Story, House of Gucci, Hawkeye and much more.

Crime fiction in general: 

• Laura Wilson shares the best recent crime novels and thrillers.
  
• Crime Reads shares ten new crime novels, mysteries and thrillers coming out this week. 
• Crime Reads shares the best nonfiction crime books for November. 
• Cynthia Chow and Sandra Murphy share food-themed cozy mysteries for Thanksgiving.
  
• Daisy Waugh declares that crime fiction is inherently ridiculous, so we might as well have fun with it. 
• Colleen Cambridge explains why housekeepers and domestic servants make excellent sleuths for historical mysteries. 
• Christina Lane shares crime novels for fans of Alfred Hitchcock films.
  
• Alex Clark explains why 2021 is a great year for African writing.
• Martin Edwards and Jennifer Morag Henderson discuss the mystery of Josephine Tey and the Detection Club. 

 

Best of 2021:

• NPR share their favourite mysteries and thrillers of 2021.
  
• Barry Forshaw shares his favourite crime novels of 2021. 
• Murder by the Book share their favourite crime novels of 2021.
• Adam LeBoer shares his favourite thrillers of 2021.
• The Book Decoder shares their favourite mysteries and crime novels of 2021.
• Woman & Home share their favourite mysteries and thrillers of 2021.
  

 

Film and TV: 

• Aurora Amidon calls Red Notice bad for Hollywood and probably bad for humanity as well. 
• Laura Bogart declares that season 3 of Hanna fails to smash through tired action thriller tropes. 
• Jason Shawhan calls Bruised an unconventional martial arts melodrama.
• Saloni Gajjar calls Hot Zone: Anthrax a formulaic bioterrorism true crime drama. 
  
• Peter Bradshaw declares that the documentary JFK Revisited: Through the Looking Glass still delivers no answers.
  
• Paul Levinson shares his thoughts on the season 2 finale of Baptiste. 
• Paul Hirons shares his thoughts on the latest episode of Shetland. 
• Paul Hirons shares his thoughts on the latest episode of Dalgliesh.
  
• Leila Latif shares her thoughts on the latest episode of Yellowjackets.
• Martin Edwards revisits the 1964 crime comedy A Jolly Bad Fellow a.k.a. They All Died Laughing.
  
• Andrew Nette lists ten underappreciated noir movies from the late 1950s and 1960s. 
• Nick Kolakowski shares heist movies where everything goes according to plan.
  
• Celia Mattison shares the best crime movies and dramas to watch this weekend. 
• Mark Sweeney reports that the revenue of the UK cinema chain CineWorld has surpassed pre-covid level due to No Time to Die, Dune and Venom: Let There Be Carnage. 

 

Comments on The Unforgiveable:

•  Peter Bradshaw calls The Unforgiveable a compressed and contrived adaptation of the much superior British TV miniseries of the same name. 
• Mike D'Angelo calls Sandra Bullock's performance in The Unforgiveable tediously stoic and declares that whatever made the original miniseries good must have been lost in translation.
  

 

Comments on True Story:

• Lucy Mangan calls True Story a ludicrous crime drama that even good performances by Wesley Snipes and Kevin Hart cannot salvage.  
• Joshua Alston calls True Story a dramedy of errors.

 

Comments on Dexter: New Blood:

• Joshua Alston shares his thoughts on the latest episode of Dexter: New Blood.
• Paul Levinson shares his thoughts on the latest episode of Dexter: New Blood.
  

  

Comments on House of Gucci:

• Peter Bradshaw calls House of Gucci a stylish true crime drama. 
• Katie Rife declares that House of Gucci has its moments, but not enough of them.
• Tara Brady calls House of Gucci a plodding and pointless movie. 
• Mae Abdulbaki calls House of Gucci an underwhelming melodrama.
  
• Marah Eakin interviews Ridley Scott, director of Alien, Blade Runner, The Last Duel, House of Gucci and many others.  
• Kyle Buchanan interviews Lady Gaga, star of House of Gucci.
  

 

Comments on Hawkeye (spoilers): 

• Caroline Siede calls Hawkeye a Christmas treat and praises the performance of Hailee Steinfeld as Kate Bishop.
  
• Lucy Mangan also praises the performance of Hailee Steinfeld as Kate Bishop in Hawkeye. 
• Gavia Baker-Whitelaw calls Hawkeye a bland show for a bland superhero, but also praises the performance of Hailee Steinfeld as Kate Bishop.
• Germain Lussier declares that Hawkeye hits the bullseye of character development. 
  
• Richard Newby declares that Hawkeye finally gives the most underused Avenger his due.
  
• Annika Rollock notes that Hawkeye is inspired by Matt Fraction's run on the comic.
  
• Germain Lussier interviews Trinh Tran, executive producer of Hawkeye. 
• Aaron Couch interviews Jonathan Igla, writer of Hawkeye. 
• Marah Eakin interviews Rhys Thomas, director of Hawkeye. 
• Germain Lussier explains a callback to Avengers in Hawkeye. 
• Charles Pulliam Moore discusses Rogers: The Musical, the fake Avengers Broadway musical briefly glimpsed in Hawkeye.

 

Awards:

• The winners of the An Post Irish Book Awards have been announced.
  
• Bill Selnes reports that the Harper Lee Prize for Legal Fiction has been put on hold indefinitely.
  

 

Writing, publishing and promotion:

• Robert Reuland implores crime writers to respect the dead and write more realistic fiction.
• Jacqueline Carey talks about using food in fiction. 
• Alison Flood reports that there is a spike in organised attempts to ban books in school libraries in the US.
  
• The BBC reports that the used book store Berwyn Books in Buckley, Wales, has been destroyed by a fire and that four hundred thousand valuable books were lost.
• Claire Kirch reports that bookshops in Minneapolis and St. Paul, Minnesota, are recovering after the twin blows of the covid pandemic and the riots following the death of George Floyd due to police violence.
  

 

Interviews:

• Nancie Clare interviews Abir Mukherjee. 
• Alan Petersen interviews Yasmin Angoe. 
• Alison Flood interviews Diana Gabaldon. 
  
• Wrong Place, Write Crime interviews Dana Stabenow.
  
• Kate Kellaway interviews Janice Hallett. 
• Paul Burke interviews Heather Young. 
• Marshal Zeringue interviews Joy Castro.
  
• John A. Hoda interviews Colin Conway.
• All About Agatha interviews John Copenhaver.
• Dave Davies interviews Ryan Busse.
• Punk Noir Magazine interviews Jimmy Doom.
  

Reviews:

• Becky LeJeune reviews The Dark Hours by Michael Connelly.
  
• Becky LeJeune reviews These Silent Woods by Kimi Cunningham. 
• Runalong the Shelves reviews A Walk in the Dark by Gianrico Carofiglio, translated by Howard Curtis. 
• Janet Webb reviews The Dangers of an Ordinary Night by Lynne Reeves. 
• Lesa Holstine reviews At First Light by Barbara Nickless.
  
• The Book Decoder reviews Stalker on the Levels by David Hodges. 
• Fiona Sturges reviews The Fortune Men by Nadifa Mohamed.
  
• Doreen Sheridan reviews Brooklyn Supreme by Robert Reuland.
  
• Becky LeJeune reviews The Quiet People by Paul Cleave. 
• Paul Burke reviews Fear No Evil by James Patterson.
  
• Lesa Holstine reviews Hello, Transcriber by Hannah Morrissey. 
• Vicki Weisfeld reviews KGB Banker by William Burton McCormick and John Christmas. 
• Edward Docx reviews Harsh Times by Mario Vargas Llosa.
  
• Adam Colclough reviews The Long Weekend by Gilly Macmillan. 
• Sonja van der Westhuizen reviews Turf Wars by Olivier Norek, translated by Nick Caistor.
  
• For Winter Nights reviews Commander by Paul Fraser Collard.
• Paraic O'Donnell reviews Lily by Rose Tremain.
  
• Beth Kanell reviews War Women by Martin Limón.
• Beth Kanell reviews Farewell Blues by Maggie Robinson.
• Erin Britton reviews The Crystal Crypt by Fiona Veitch Smith. 
  
• In Search of the Classic Mystery Novel reviews The World Cup Mystery by Peter Bartram. 
• Bitter Tea and Mystery reviews Montalbano's First Case by Andrea Camilleri, translated by Stephen Sartarelli. 
  
• In Search of the Classic Mystery Novel reviews Bodies From The Library 4, edited by Tony Medawar. 
• Crossexamining Crime reviews Bodies From The Library 4, edited by Tony Medawar. 
  
• Peter Conrad reviews Diaries and Notebooks by Patricia Highsmith 
  

 

Classics reviews:

• B.V. Lawson revisits the 1918 collection Uncle Abner: Master of Mysteries by Melville Davisson Post.
• Happiness is a Book revisits the 1931 mystery Murder in Black and White by Evelyn Elder a.k.a. Milward Kennedy.
  
• Paperback Warrior revisits the 1958 crime novel The Mob Says Murder by Albert Conroy a.k.a. Marvin H. Alpert. 
• The Cromcast revisits the 1965 hardboiled novel Cotton Comes to Harlem by Chester Himes. 
• Paperback Warrior revisits the 1966 gothic novel Secret of Canfield House by Florence Hurd.
  
• Paperback Warrior revisits the 1971 action thriller Toll for the Brave by Jack Higgins a.k.a. Harry Patterson.
  
• Paperback Warrior revisits the 1984 spy novel The Girl from Addis by Ted Allbeury. 
• Martin Edwards revisits the 1985 mystery The Criminal Comedy of the Contented Couple by Julian Symons.
  
• Bitter Tea and Mystery revisits the 1990 historical crime novella Carte Blanche by Carlo Lucarelli, translated by Michael Reynolds.
  

 

Con reports:

• See a virtual version of the exhibition Invastigating Detectives at  The Word, the National Centre for the Written Word in South Shields, UK.

 

Research:

• Adam Selzer discusses the slow birth of modern criminology and forensics. 
• Stephen Speranza explains how Denver, Colorado, experienced a panic about a youth crime wave in the 1990s that was mainly manufactured by the media.
  
• Jordan Todarov reports about British journalist John Peet who defected to East Germany and may or may not have been a Soviet sleeper agent.
  
• Clea Simon talks about predators and how to survive them. 
• M. Steven S. talks about graffiti, rebellion and art.
• Casey Michel explains how anonymous shell companies came to be.
• David Kindy reports that a property developers has found a secret passage behind a bookshelf in a five hundred year old house in Brighton, UK.
• Robert Goldberg discusses the murder of a tourist in Dordogne, France, in 1999 and how it haunted his family who were there on holiday at the time.
• The Washington Post reports that a woman has been sent to prison for trying to hire a hitman via a website called RentAHitman.com.
• The Guardian reports that the man convicted of raping author Alice Sebold in 1981 has had his conviction overturned, because there are serious doubts about his guilt.
  

Free online fiction:

• "Mile 4" by Ken Borsky in Tough. 
• "Call Me Teddy" by Duncan Ros in Shotgun Honey. 
• "In the Style" by Kieran Shea in Shotgun Honey.
  
• "The Honeypot" by Susan Kuchinskas in Guilty.
  
• "Harvey and the Redhead, Part 2" by Debra H. Goldstein in Mysteryrat's Maze Podcast. 
• "The Chicken Pot Pie Fiasco" by Sandra Murphy in Mysteryrat's Maze Podcast.
• "Pudgygate" by Kristine Kathryn Rusch.
• "The Devil Has Gone Home — Spectator at the execution of Paul Ezra Rhoades" by Sharon Waller Knutson in The Five Two.
  

Trailers and videos:

• Watch a trailer for The Responder.
  
• Watch a trailer for Trigger Point.
• Watch a trailer for You Don't Know Me.