Crime Fiction Links of the Week for February 19, 2022

 

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 Death on the Nile, The Batman, Inventing Anna 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 debut crime novels of February 2022.
  
• Michael Ledwidge talks about the evolution of the American noir and the rebellious irreverence at the heart of the genre.
  
• Rob Ostler talks about queer cozy mysteries or "quozies". 
• Judges and winners of the Eleanor Taylor Bland Award for women crime writers of colour discuss the state of publishing for writers of colour.
  
• Erin Flanagan wonders whether the backlash against domestic thrillers is also a backlash against women, who primarily read those books. 
• Elizabeth Macneal shares five crime novels which explore the dark side of belonging.
  
• Deanna Raybourn talks about mysteries and thrillers whose characters assume a false identity. 
• L.V. Matthews talks about twins in thrillers.
  
• Jon Land shares the ten best thrillers set in Washington DC. 
  
• Bonnie Kistler shares her favourite workplace thrillers. 
• Frederick Weisel talks about classroom mysteries. 
• T.I. Mogford shares his love for adventure novels.
  
• Mandy McHugh explains how the early Internet inspired her thriller Chloe Cates is Missing. 
• Emilya Naymark talks about the inspiration for her crime novels.
  
• John Powers shares his appreciation for the Dave Brandstetter mysteries by Joseph Hansen and their pioneering gay detective. 
• Andrew Nette shares his appreciation for the psychological noir novels of Georges Simenon. 
  
• Deuce Richardson profiles thriller author Edgar Wallace and reminds us that he was much more than just the author of King Kong.
• Michelle Hillen Klump wonders whether Dashiell Hammett's 1934 mystery The Thin Man and its film adaptation can serve as a gateway to cozy mysteries for fans of hardboiled mysteries. 
• Frieda Toth wonders whether James Bond is the worst spy in the world. 
  
• Paperback Warrior profiles John M. Sitan who wrote crime stories for Manhunt magazine in the 1950s.  
• J. Kingston Pierce shares a largely imaginary tale from the 1950s men's adventure magazine about an 18th century female pirate.
  
• Paul Kincaid shares a taxonomy of reviewing. 
  

 

Film and TV: 

• Alex McLevy shares his appreciation for Alen Ritchson's performance as Jack Reacher in Reacher.
  
• Mike D'Angelo calls Uncharted an overly familiar action film.
  
• Paul Levinson calls Kimi a high-tech update of Rear Window. 
• Peter Bradshaw calls The Outfit a tight gangster drama.
  
• Martin Edwards shares his thoughts on the TV adaptation of The Magpie Murders by Anthony Horowitz. 
• Kyle Fowle calls season 5 of the crime drama Snowfall gripping. 
• Zack Budryk calls Claws one of the best crime shows of the last five years.
  
• Cath Clarke calls the German film Human Factors an unnerving break-in drama. 
• Anadi Mishra explains how the Swedish crime drama Anxious People helped her through difficult times.
  
• A.A. Dowd calls Playground a harrowing drama about school bullying. 
• Lucy Mangan calls Devil's Advocate a mind-boggling true crime documentary. 
• Paul Levinson shares his thoughts on the latest episode of Suspicion.
  
• Lisa Weidenfeld shares her thoughts on the latest episode of The Afterparty.
  
• Lisa O'Carroll shares the reactions of residents of Belfast to Kenneth Branagh's movie Belfast.
• Henry Wong wonders why teen dramas on TV are so miserable and depressing these days. 
• Olivia Rutigliano revisits the 1974 thriller The Taking of Pelham One Two Three.
  
• Martin Edwards revisits the 2008 romantic thriller Passengers. 
• Ben Travis interviews Michael Bay, director of countless action movies. 
  

 

Comments on Death on the Nile:

• Ah, Sweet Mystery tries to dispell the reservations of Agatha Christie purists about the latest version of Death on the Nile.
• Meilan Solly explains how Agatha Christie's interest in archaeology found its way into Death on the Nile.
  

 

Comments on The Batman:

• Germain Lussier interviews Matt Reeves, director of The Batman. 
• Germain Lussier interviews Zoe Kravitz who plays Selina Kyle a.k.a. Catwoman in The Batman. 
• The Guardian reports that Robert Pattinson was told to change his voice for The Batman. 
  

 

Comments on Inventing Anna: 

• Gavia Baker-Whitelaw declares that the true crime drama Inventing Anna focusses too little on con artist Anna Sorokin a.k.a. Anna Delvey and too much on less interesting side characters. 
• Adrian Horton calls Inventing Anna overlong and underwhelming.
  
• Sam Barsanti reports that Netflix paid the real Anna Sorokin, whose history of scam and cons is the basis of the true crime drama Inventing Anna, a lot of money for her life story, most of which went to cover Anna Sorokin's legal fees and to reimburse her victims.
  

 

Awards: 

• The finalists for the 2022 Golden Reel Awards have been announced.

 

Writing, publishing and promotion:

• Niamh Campbell discusses what makes a good sex scene. 
• Lincoln Michel explains why literary magazines are important.
  
• Jacqui Lipton talks about publishing contracts in the real world.
• Kristine Kathryn Rusch discusses the pros and cons of exclusivity. 
  
• Lincoln Michel attempts to answer the question if sales blurbs really work. 
• Dalya Alberge reports about cheap and low quality editions of public domain classics.
  
• Pamela Brill reports that school librarians have launched an initiative called #FReadom Fighters in response to book bannings in Texas schools.
• Chris Freeland laments that the publisher of Maus by Art Spiegelman, the holocaust graphic novel banned by a Tennessee school board, has pulled the graphic novel from the Internet Archive's library, depriving those who have no other access of the book.

Interviews: 

• Garrick Webster interviews Sarah Sheridan. 
• All About Agatha interviews Sophie Hannah. 
• Victoria Selman interviews Catherine Ryan Howard and Brian McGilloway.
  
• Wrong Place, Write Crime interviews David Putnam.
• John A. Hoda interviews Bruce Coffin.
• Lisa Haselton interviews Robin Jeffrey. 
• Marshal Zeringue interviews Bonnie Kistler.
  
• James Polchin interviews Wayne Hoffman.
• Scott Adlerberg interviews Charles Ardai.
• Crime Time interviews Jade Chandler.
  

Reviews:

• Janet Webb reviews The Deepest of Secrets by Kelley Armstrong.
  
• Sandra Mangan reviews Five Days Missing by Caroline Corcoran.
• Paul Burke reviews A Good Day to Die by Amen Alonge. 
• Kathy Reel reviews Notes on an Execution by Danya Kukafska.
• Kathy Reel reviews The Stolen Hours by Allen Eskens.
• Vicki Weisfeld reviews The Goodbye Coast by Joe Ide.
  
• Grab This Book reviews Hingston: Smoke and Mispers by Decima Blake.
• Runalong the Shelves reviews Unhinged by Jørn Lier Horst and Thomas Enger. 
• Becky LeJeune reviews Unhinged by Jørn Lier Horst and Thomas Enger. 
  
• Lesa Holstine reviews Beach Wedding by Michael Ledwidge. 
• Ian Mond reviews Devil House by John Darnielle. 
  
• Jenny Maloney reviews Cold by Marika Tamaki. 
• Grab This Book reviews A Loyal Traitor by Tim Glister.
  
• The Quick and the Read reviews Unfaithful by J.L. Butler.
• Garrick Webster reviews The Interview by C.M. Ewan.
  
• Doreen Sheridan reviews The Secret in the Wall by Ann Parker. 
• Mike Parker reviews The Book of the Most Precious Substance by Sara Gran. 
• Lesa Holstine reviews An Impossible Impostor by Deanna Raybourn. 
• Kathy Reel reviews God Rest Ye, Royal Gentlemen by Rhys Bowen. 
• Lesa Holstine reviews Evil Under the Tuscan Sun by Stephanie Cole.
• Kathy Reel reviews Scot Mist by Catriona McPherson. 
• Michael J. McCann reviews Diablo Mesa by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child. 
  
• Miriam Balanescu reviews Toto Among the Murderers by Sally J. Morgan. 
• John Valeri reviews Margaret Truman's Murder at the CDC by Jon Land.
  
• Blue Book Balloon reviews Music of the Night, edited by Martin Edwards.
• Anthony Quinn reviews The Stasi Poetry Circle by Philip Oltermann

 

Classics reviews:

• B.V. Lawson revisits the 1905 Raffles collection of heist stories A Thief in the Night by E.W. Hornung.
  
• Happiness is a Book revisits the 1930 mystery The Beacon Hill Murders by Roger Scarlett.
  
• In Search of the Classic Mystery Novel revisits the 1937 mystery Quickly Dead by Belton Cobb. 
• Crossexamining Crime revisits the 1944 Theodore Terhune mystery Work for the Hangman by Bruce Graeme.
  
• Bitter Tea and Mystery revisits the 1947 noir novel In a Lonely Place by Dorothy B. Hughes.
  
• Vintage Pop Fictions revisits the 1952 noir novel Tears Are For Angels by Paul Connolly a.k.a. Thomas Wicker.  
• Paperback Warrior revisits the 1952 hardboiled crime novel Sin in Their Blood by Ed Lacy a.k.a. Leonard Zinberg,
  
• Vintage Pop Fictions revisits the 1954 spy thriller Counterspy Express by A.S. Fleischman. 
• In Search of the Classic Mystery Novel revisits the 1955 Inspector Cockrill mystery Tour de Force by Christianna Brand. 
• Martin Edwards revisits the 1955 crime novel The Hammersmith Maggot by William Mole. 
• Crossexamining Crime revisits the 1959 suspense novel False Witness by Helen Nielsen.
  
• Paperback Warrior revisits the 1960 crime novel Frisco Flat by Stuart James.
  
• Paperback Warrior revisits the 1966 gothic novel Phantom Manor by Marilyn Ross a.k.a. William Edward David Ross. 
• Paperback Warrior revisits the 1971 western Valdez Is Coming by Elmore Leonard. 
• Joe Kenney revisits Contract for a Killing, a 1974 novel in The Liquidator men's adventure series by R.L. Brent.
  
• James Davis Nicoll revisits the 1980 near future political thriller The Last Caesar by Edward McGhee. 
  
• Bitter Tea and Mystery revisits the 2002 Harry Hole crime novel Nemesis by Jo Nesbø.

 

Con and event reports:

• Ayo Onatade shares the line-up for the 2022 CrimeFest in Bristol, UK. 
• The 2022 Suffolk Mystery Authors Festival is going virtual because of the covid pandemic.
• The MWA reports that the 2022 Edgar Awards banquet will be held in person in New York City.
  

 

Research:

• Rona Epstein reports that several babies born in British prisons have died in recent years and calls for an end to the imprisonment of pregnant women.
  
• Judith Clark talks about sex in women's prisons. 
• Catherine Ostler talks about 18th century socialite, bigamist and con woman Elizabeth Chudleigh. 
• Samantha Greene Woodruff reports about Walter Freeman II, the doctor who popularised lobotomy in the US in the 1940s and 1950s and maimed hundreds of patients.
  
• Stephanie Barron wonders about the potential cause of Jane Austen's early death.  
• Dana Stabenow attempts to rehabilitate Cleopatra from Roman propaganda.
  
• Jen Williams talks about the legend of the Barghest, a black phantom dog that's considered a bad omen.

Free online fiction:

• "Checked Out For Murder" by Allison Brook in Mysteryrat's Maze Podcast. 
  
• "Little Gifts" by Barbara Diggs in Mystery Tribune. 
• "The Masked Man" by Robert Pope in Mystery Tribune. 
• "Reprisals" by Catherine O'Brien in Mystery Tribune.
• "Name Calling (or Murder as a Form of Self-Expression) by Stephen Faulkner in Mystery Tribune. 
  
• "A Place to Rest These Tired Legs" by Veronica Spada in Mystery Tribune.
• "Nothing Gonna Stop Us" by Robert Ragan in Punk Noir Magazine.
• "Seven Vampires: A Judge Dee Mystery" by Lavie Tidhar in Tor.com. 
• "Quicksand" by Browning Mank in The Five-Two.
  

 

Trailers and videos: 

• Watch a trailer for Our House.
• Watch a trailer for a new Beck TV movie.
  

 

Odds and ends:

• Take a quiz of romantic quotes from crime movies.