Crime Fiction Links of the Week for April 22, 2023

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 season 4 of Barry, Blue Lights, Ghosted, The Hunt for Raoul Moat, Dead Ringers, season 2 of Yellowjackets, tributes to Anne Perry and Murray Melvin and much more:

Crime fiction in general:  

• Crime Reads shares ten new crime novels coming out this week. 
• Alison Flood offers a round-up of the best recent crime novels and thrillers.
  
• John Lawton talks about the figure of the expat in spy fiction.
  
• David Barnett explains why spies and sorcerers are a perfect fit in fiction. 
• Kim Sherwood discusses how to make the James Bond novels more inclusive.
  
• Paul French talks about crime fiction set in Lhasa, Tibet. 
• Taylor Moore talks about environmental thrillers set in the US West.
  
• Kim Hays wonders what modern mystery novels and medieval mystery plays have in common. 
• Erica Wright talks about the enduring appeal of country music murder ballads.
  
• Heather Graham talks about her second career as a musician. 
• Jake Lamar shares his appreciation for the hardboiled fiction of Chester Himes. 
  
• Martin Edwards shares his appreciation for mystery writer Jack Griffiths 
• Chris Wyatt shares his appreciation for the Nancy Drew YA mysteries. 
• Adam Sternbergh argues that the story of Adam and Eve is also the first ever crime story.
  
• Lizzy Steiner shares eight true crime podcasts to listen to this spring.
  

 

Tributes to Anne Perry:

• Michael Carlson shares an obituary for Anne Perry. 
  
• Martin Edwards remembers Anne Perry and also focusses on her writing and his meetings with her as a person.
  
• Beth Kanell recalls a meeting with Anne Perry.
• Charles Fergus recalls some writing advice he received from Anne Perry.
  

 

Film and TV:

• Jack Seale calls Will Trent a breezy and very watchable detective show based on the popular novels by Karin Slaughter. 
• Matt Schimkovitz shares his thoughts on the latest episode of Perry Mason.
  
• Chris Jenkins shares his thoughts on the latest episode of Astrid: Murder in Paris.
• Leslie Felperin calls The Locksmith a straight-ahead noir thriller.
• Benjamin Lee calls Missing an inventive, if increasingly far-fetched and overly sentimental mystery.
• Soleil Ho taalks about a controversy surrounding the revenge drama Beef.
  
• Leaf Arbuthnot calls Over My Dead Body a goofy crime comedy from Hongkong. 
• Murtada Elfadi calls The Covenant an Afghan war drama with no new insights and only marginal entertainment value. 
• Alasdair Stuart shares his appreciation for Slow Horses and what the Star Trek spin-off Section 31 can learn from it. 
  
• Lauren Mechling calls the documentary Judy Blume Forever and inspiring portrait of a fearless author
• Liam Mathews shares the eleven best spy shows to watch right now. 
  
• Morgan Jeffery interviews Debbie McWilliams, casting director for the James Bond movies. 
• Kathryn VanArendonk explains that there is no such thing as a faithful adaptation.   
• Molly Templeton wonders if there is a better way to think about adaptations.
• Simon Osborne reports about a secret cinema in the backroom of the shop Ümit & Sons in Clapton, London, UK. 
• Sian Cain reports that actors Matthew McConaughy and Woody Harrelson might be half-brothers.  
• Rosy Cordero reports that actress Kelli Giddish will return to Law & Order: SVU and Law & Order: Organized Crime, after her character was written out last year.
  
• Cinematographer Bill Butler, who worked on Jaws, Grease and One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest among many others, has died aged 101. 
• Actor, director and archivist Murray Melvin, who appeared in Torchwood, The Phantom of the Opera and A Taste of Honey among others, has died aged 90. 
• Michael Billingham shares an obituary for Murray Melvin.

 

Comments on season 4 of Barry: 

• Matt Schimkovitz shares his thoughts on the season 4 premiere of Barry. 
• Matt Schimkovitz shares his thoughts on the second episode of season 4 of Barry.
  
• Stuart Heritage calls Barry one of the most brilliant and overlooked shows on TV. 

 

Comments on Blue Lights: 

• Paul Hirons shares his thoughts on the latest episode of Blue Lights, 
• Paul Hirons reports that Blue Lights has been renewed for a second series.
  

 

Comments on Ghosted: 

• Gavia Baker-Whitelaw calls Ghosted a bland and unfunny action romantic comedy which wastes the talents of Chris Evans and Ana de Armas.  
• Luke Y. Thompson calls Ghosted an underwhelming romantic action comedy.
  

 

Comments on The Hunt for Raoul Moat:

• Paul Hirons shares his thoughts on the first episode of the true crime drama The Hunt for Raoul Moat. 
• Paul Hirons shares his thoughts on the second episode of The Hunt for Raoul Moat. 
• Paul Hirons shares his thoughts on the final episode of The Hunt for Raoul Moat.
  
• Leila Latif calls The Hunt for Raoul Moat the only appropriate way to tell this true crime story.
• Mark Brown reports that the residents of Rothbury, UK, where the Raoul Moat case happened, are conflicted about The Hunt for Raoul Moat.
  

 

Comments on season 2 of Yellowjackets:

• Hattie Lindert shares her thoughts on the latest episode of Yellowjackets.
• Gabrielle Paiella interviews Elijah Wood, star of Yellowjackets and the Lord of the Rings movies.
  

 

 Comments on Dead Ringers:

•  David Cote calls Dead Ringers a messy thriller miniseries about fertility and women's health.  
•  Cheryl Eddy shares ten things she liked about Dead Ringers and three things she didn't.
• Cheryl Eddy interviews Jennifer Ehle and Emily Meade, two of the stars of Dead Ringers.

 

Awards:

• The finalists for the 2023 Awards of Excellence in Canadian Crime Writing have been announced.
   

Writing, publishing and promotion:

• John Lawton discusses the importance of supporting characters. 
• Kate Elliott shares five lessons outrigger canoe paddling has taught her about writing. 
• Lincoln Michel talks about the differences between literary and SFF magazines with regard to paying writers.
  
• Victoria Strauss clears up some misconceptions regarding copyright. 
• Emma Bowman reports that Scholastic asked author Maggie Tokuda-Hall to remove references to racism in her children's book Love in the Library. 
• Locus reports about the controversy regarding Scholastic's requested edits to Maggie Tokuda-Hall's children's book Love in the Library. 
• Sarah Shaffi reports that one third of British librarians have reported that they have been asked to censor or remove books.
  
• Sarah Shaffi reports that short fiction writer Lydia Davis is refusing to sell her next collection on Amazon.
  
• Kate Knibbs profiles the online bookstore Bookshop.org. 
• Betsy Groban reports about the book village of Hobart, New York. 
• Gareth L. Powell asks why social media is so difficult for writers right now. 
  
• Jason Sanford talks about the slow implosion of Twitter and what this means for writers.
  
• Adi Robertson reports that the fanfiction site AO3 is being inundated with spam comments accursing writers of having written their fanfic using an AI program. 
• Sarah Shaffi reports that Margaret Busby, Britain's first black female publisher, has been named president of PEN UK.
  
• Sarah Shaffi reports that the British publishing industry experienced a record-breaking year in 2022. 
• Andrew Albanese and Ed Nawotka report that French publisher Ernest Moret was detained for alleged involvement in terrorism, while attempting to visit the London Book Fair in London, UK.
• Matthew Weaver also reports about the arrest of Ernest Moret. 
• Sarah Shaffi reports that Editions La Fabrique, the publishing house Ernest Moret works for, has criticised his arrest.
  
• Julia Eccleshare shares an obituary for children's book publisher Peter Usborne.

 

Interviews: 

• Luca Vesta interviews Doug Johnstone.
• Dwyer Murphy interviews Don Winslow.
• Greg Fleming interviews Don Winslow. 
• Ayo Onatade interviews Teresa Driscoll.
  
• It Was a Dark and Stormy Book Club interviews Nina Wachsman and Martin Edwards. 
• The Red Hot Chilli Writers interview Graham Bartlett.
  
• Paul Burke interviews Callum McSorley.
  
• Debbi Mack interviews Mark Schorr.
• Kevin Canfield interviews Jonathan Rosen.
  

Reviews:

• Jen Lucas reviews My Darkest Prayer by S.A. Cosby.
  
• Ayo Onatade reviews All the Sinners Blood by S.A. Cosby.
  
• Jen Lucas reviews Looking Glass Sound by Catriona Ward. 
• Mandie Griffiths reviews The Pupper Show by M.W. Craven.
• Sonja van der Westhuizen reviews The Acapulco by Simone Buchholz, translated by Rachel Ward. 
  
• Beth Kanell reviews Scratching the Flint by Vern Smith.
• Lesa Holstine reviews Small Mercies by Dennis Lehane.
• Mandie Griffiths reviews All That Lives by James Oswald.
  
• Lesa Holstine reviews The Things We Keep by Janet Dawson.
  
• Lesa Holstine reviews Kindred Crimes by Janet Dawson. 
• Jen Lucas reviews Killing Jericho by William Hussey.
  
• The Quick and the Read reviews The Twenty by Sam Holland.
  
• The Quick and the Read reviews All the Dangerous Things by Stacy Willingham. 
• Mary Picken reviews No Place to Hide by J.S. Monroe
  
• Mary Picken reviews Twin Truths by Jacqueline Sutherland
  
• Kevin Tipple reviews Wayward Son by Steve Goble.
  
• Joseph B. Hoyos reviews Hollow Beasts by Alisa Lynn Valdes
• Garrick Webster reviews Dark Mode by Ashley Kalagian Blunt. 
• Michelle Carpenter reviews A Death in Denmark by Amulya Malladi
  
• Mary Picken reviews Death Under a Little Sky by Stig Abell
  
• Blue Book Balloon reviews The Lazarus Solution by Kjell Ola Dahl, translated by Don Bartlett.
  
• Mandie Griffiths reviews The Box by Dan Malakin
• Doreen Sheridan reviews A Tempest At Sea by Sherry Thomas
  
• Gayle Surrette reviews A Sinister Revenge by Deanna Raybourn 
• Lesa Holstine reviews A Wealth of Deception by Trish Esden. 
• Doreen Sheridan reviews Death and Croissants by Ian Moore. 
• Doreen Sheridan reviews Four Charming Spells by Lynn Cahoon and tries a recipe from the book.
  
• Mary Picken reviews The Grief Nurse by Angie Spoto. 
• Bill Capossere reviews Rose/House by Arkady Martine. 
  
• Marlene Harris reviews Midnight Water City by Chris McKinney. 
  
• Kathy Reel reviews A Questionable Death and Other Historical Quaker Midwife Stories by Edith Maxwell.
  

 

Classics reviews:

• In Search of the Classic Mystery Novel revisits the 1935 Thatcher Colt mystery About the Murder of a Startled Lady by Anthony Abbot.
• Bitter Tea and Mystery revisits the 1940 suspense novel The So Blue Marble by Dorothy B. Hughes.
• Bitter Tea and Mystery revisits the 1940 mystery Murder in a Nunnery by Eric Shepherd.
  
• Crossexamining Crime revisits the 1945 mystery I, Said the Fly by Elizabeth Ferrars.
• Ayo Onatade revisits the 1953 James Bond spy novel Casino Royale by Ian Fleming.
• Paperback Warrior revisits the 1954 suspense novel Death of an Intruder and the 1971 suspense novel Twice So Fair by Neda Tyre. 
  
• Paperback Warrior revisits the 1961 sleaze crime novel Brother and Sister by Edwin West a.k.a. Donald Westlake.
  
• Vintage Pop Fictions revisits the 1963 Johnny Fedora spy novel Hammerhead a.k.a. Shockwave by Desmond Cory. 
• Happiness is a Book revisits the 1968 mystery My Foe Outstretch’d Beneath the Tree by V. C. Clinton-Baddeley.
  
• Paperback Warrior revisits the 1971 modern western Steve Douglas of Sleepycat Ranch a.k.a. Man Alone by E.H. Manring.
• Martin Edwards revisits the 1978 mystery The Libertines by Douglas Clark.
  
• Crossexamining Crime revisits the 2009 Mr. Monk mystery Mr. Monk in Trouble by Lee Goldberg.
  

Con and event reports:

• The program for the 2023 CrimeCONN in Stamford, Connecticut, has been announced.
  
• Julia Carmel reports about a sleepover event at The Last Bookstore in Los Angeles, California. 
• Sarah Shaffi looks ahead at the #Merky Books Literature Festival in London, UK. 
• Nicole Saraniero shares the most surprising finds at the New York International Antiquarian Book Fair in New York City. 
  

 

Crowdfunding:

• Wandering Planet Toys is looking for funding for Nancy Drew retro style action figures as well as a new Nancy Drew novella.
• Blue Christmas, a film adaptation of Max Allan Collins' eponymous noir novel, is looking for funding.
  

 

Research: 

• James Tapper reports that the new Orient Express will discontinue the British section of the journey after 41 years due to border hassles due to Brexit.
  

 

Free online fiction: 

• "Evil Eye" by T. Fox Dunham in Guilty. 
• "Death by Heat" by Cindy Fazzi in Tough.
  
• "Dial Emm for..." by Pamela Ebel in Shotgun Honey. 
• "Catch and Release" by Keith Roysdon in Shotgun Honey.
  
• "Cobalt Canyon" by T.K. Howell in Mystery Tribune.
• "Feed the Birds" by Kristen Ray in Mystery Tribune. 
• "Chet Don't Learn Too Good" by Casey Stegman in Mystery Tribune. 
• "An Angry Red Review" by Joe R. Lansdale in Criminal Element. 
• "Two Wrongs, Making a Right" by Eric D. Goodman in The Five-Two.
  

 

Trailers and videos:

• Watch a trailer for Fast X.