Crime Fiction Links of the Week for May 27, 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 Poker Face, Barry, Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny, Yellowjackets, Fast X, the ongoing WGA strike, the debate about AI writing and art programs, tributes to Ray Stevenson, Martin Amis and Tina Turner and much more:

Crime fiction in general:  

• Crime Reads shares ten new crime novels coming out this week, 
• Molly Odintz lists the most anticipated crime novels coming out this summer.
  
• Criminal Element shares new cozy mysteries to enjoy this summer. 
• Alan Parks shares his ten favourite fictional police officers.
  
• Liv Constantine talks about the origin of the red herring.
  
• Paul French shares crime novels set in San Diego, California. 
• Crime Reads shares the best recent non-fiction crime books. 
• Victoria Helen Stone shares her favourite thrillers about women getting revenge.
  
• Jonathan Payne explains why bewildered protagonists in crime fiction are so much fun.
  
• Naoise Dolan points out that happily ever after doesn't necessarily have to mean marriage. 
• Jaclyn Goldis shares six thrillers featuring old houses with a sinister past. 
• Matthew Wills notes that hardboiled detectives frequently took on the Klu Klux Klan in the pages of Black Mask in the 1920s.
  
• All About Agatha discusses ableism in Agatha Christie's mysteries. 
• Curtis Evans discusses the remarkably plagiarism case of the 1931 mystery novel Cat and Feather by Don Basil a.k.a. Maurice E. Balk.
  
• John Lantigua talks about writing a Cuban American detective novel.
  
• Judith Tarr shares her appreciation for the Tiger Eye paranormal mysteries by Alyssa Day.  
• Molly Templeton discusses two types of unforgettable reading experiences. 
  
• Michael Bond explains why fandom is good for you. 
• British writer Martin Amis has died aged 73.  
• Locus remembers Martin Amis. 
  

 

Film and TV:

• Martin Edwards shares his thoughts on Glass Onion. 
• Stuart Jeffries calls Fubar an unstoppably daft crime drama and praises the comedic performance of Arnold Schwarzenegger.
  
• Chris Jenkins shares his thoughts on the season 2 finale of Astrid: Murder in Paris. 
• Lucy Mangan calls Maryland an affecting crime drama.
  
• Peter Bradshaw calls Anatomy of a Fall a chillingly high-minded thriller. 
  
• Peter Bradshaw calls Killers of the Flower Moon a macabre western about a serial killer preying on indigenous people in Oklahoma in the 1920s 
• Luke Y. Thompson calls The Machine a mediocre kidnapping comedy elevated by the performance of Mark Hamill.
  
• Phil Hoad calls Influencer a smart thriller from Thailand.
  
• Ellen E. Jones declares that the thriller To Catch a Killer feels more like an average episode of CSI.
  
• Cath Clarke calls Full Time a high stakes thriller about the problems of single motherhood. 
• Leslie Felperin calls The Resurrection of Charles Manson a horror thriller that's not really about Charles Manson and a tital mess besides. 
  
• Adrian Horton calls Victim/Suspect a documentary about the Kafka-esque nightmare women face when reporting a rape.
• Jack Seale calls Once Upon a Time in Nortthern Ireland a grim documentary.
  
• Rebecca Nicholson calls the documentary Depp vs. Heard profoundly depressing television. 
• Germain Lussier revisits the 1981 adventure film Raiders of the Lost Ark. 
  
• Martin Edwards revisits the 2019 thriller Disappearance at Clifton Hill. 
• Abby Aguirre interviews Margot Robbie, star of The Suicide Squad, Birds of Prey, Barbie and I, Tonya.  
• Terri White interviews Shane Meadows, creator of the historical crime drama The Gallows Pole.
  
• Ian Spelling shares twenty-two blockbusters which made a lot of money and yet are completely forgotten. 
  
• Jen Lennon and Cindy White share the ten worst TV series finales of all time.
• Alex Zalben laments the impending end of the CW network and its stable of popular shows with a diverse cast for mostly younger and geeky audiences. 
• Nellie Andreeva reports that Disney is removing dozens of TV series and movies from Disney Plus, including Willow, Y: The Last Man, Turner and Hooch, Pistol and many others. 
• Screewriter Jake Thornton, who co-wrote The Princess, one of the movies being pulled from Disney Plus, weighs in on the decision. 
• Gavia Baker-Whitelaw points out that everybody hates the rebranded HBO Max streaming service.
• CBC News reports that the beloved Pic-a-Flic video store in Vancouver, Canada, is about to close and that its collection of rare movies on videotape is endangered.  
  
• Director, writer and Hollywood historian Kenneth Anger has died aged 96.
  
• Irish actor Ray Stevenson, who appeared in the Thor movies, Punisher: War Zone, the Divergent series, Dexter, Ahsoka, Rome, RRR and many others, has died aged 58. 
  

 

Tributes to Tina Turner: 

• Singer and actress Tina Turner, who appeared in Mad Max 3: Beyond the Thunderdome and Tommy and sang the theme song for the James Bond movie Golden Eye, has died aged 83. 
• William Grimes shares an obituary for Tina Turner. 
• Alexis Petridis remembers Tina Turner.

 

Comments on Poker Face: 

• Joel Golby calls Poker Face a perfect detective show that turns up the fun-o-meter until it explodes 
• Lucy Mangan calls Poker Face a superfun detective show and praises the performance of Natasha Lyonne.

 

Comments on Fast X:

• Alasdair Stuart declares that with Fast X, the Fast and Furious series has fully entered superhero territory.
  
• Phil Pirello shares a guide to the characters of Fast X.
  
• Linda Codega shares ten tabletop games for fans of the Fast & Furious series.
• Pamela McClintock reports that Fast X has done very well at the box office, particularly outside the US.
  

 

Comments on Barry: 

• Matt Schimkovitz shares his thoughts on the latest episode of Barry.
  
• Saloni Gajjar praises Sarah Goldberg's performance as Sally Reed in Barry.
• The AV-Club wonders what will happen in the series finale of Barry.
  

 

Comments on Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny: 

• Owen Gleiberman calls Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny a joyless piece of nostalgic hokum.
  
• Garth Franklin shares some early reviews of Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny.

 

Comments on Yellowjackets: 

• Hattie Lindert shares her thoughts on the latest episode of Yellowjackets. 
• Maggie Tokuda-Hall recommends some books for the characters of Yellowjackets.

 

Comments on the strike of the Writers Guild of America:

• Linda Codega reports that ChatGPT and similar AI chatbots will not save Hollywood studios from the WGA strike. 
• Trek Movie reports that several Star Trek actors have been spotted on the WGA picket lines, supporting Star Trek writers.
  
• Catherine Shoard reports that actor and director Sean Penn has expressed his solidarity with the striking WGA writers.
• Gavia Baker-Whitelaw wonders whether Ryan Reynolds can still improvise and ad-lib lines for Deadpool 3, which is currently filming, or whether that would be considered a violation of the WGA strike. 
• The MWA has issued a statement in support of the WGA.
  
• Justin Carter reports that college graduates have heckled Warner Discovery CEO David Zaslay during a graduation ceremony at Boston University in Boston, Massachussetts. 
• James Grebey remembers how the 2007/2008 WGA strike affected the TV show Heroes.

 

Awards:

• The winners of the 2023 Crime Writers of Canada Awards of Excellence in Canadian Crime Writing have been announced.
  
• Sarah Shaffi reports that the British coffeeshop chain Caffè Nero is launching a book award. 
• TikTok announces the TikTok Book Awards UK and Ireland.

 

Writing, publishing and promotion:

• E.J. Cooperman explains that in order to write compelling characters, you need to find the source of their pain.
  
• Melissa Yi explains how to write better Asian characters. 
• M.P. Woodward explains what creating war games taught him about writing. 
• Kristine Kathryn Rusch talks about the importance of rest for creatives.
  
• Victoria Strauss shares editing clauses in publishing contracts to watch out for. 
• Robert Dahlin notes that book banning in the US has never been worse. 
• Hannah Natanson reports that the rise in book banning attempts particularly targets LGBTQ books. 
• Austin Bailey reports about a fight about book banning attempts in Saline County, Arkansas.
  
• Sarah Shaffi reports that a book has been returned to a public library in St. Helena, California, 96 years late. 
• Rick Kogan reports that the owners of the Centuries & Sleuths crime and mystery bookstore in Chicago, Illinois, are planning to retire and are looking for new owners. 
  
• Peter Beaumont report that Masha Gessen has resigned from the PEN America board after some Ukrainian writers complained about Russian anti-government writers being allowed to take part in a festival.
  

 

Comments on the AI controversy: 

• Jason Sanford reports about a controversy surrounding the AI writing program Sudowrite.
  
• Mike Glyer reports that science fiction writer S.B. Divya is promoting the AI writing bot Sudowrite and received a lot of backlash for it.
  
• Rose Eveleth reports how Sudowrite, yet another AI writing bot, was caught out having illegally scraped fanfiction sites by using the term "knotting" in the way writers of so-called Omegaverse fanfic would use it. 
• Jack Bandy shares the dirty secrets of BookCorpus, a corpus created from books illegally scraped from Smashwords, etc... that was used to train AI programs like ChatGPT. 
• The UK Society of Authors releases a statement on artificial intelligence.
• The US Authors Guild also releases a statement on artificial intelligence.
  
• Sarah Shaffi reports about an uproar when it turned out that the cover art for the novel House of Earth and Blood by Sarah J. Maas was AI generated.

 

Interviews: 

• Jonathan Soroff interviews Dennis Lehane.
  
• Lesa Holstine interviews Bridget Walsh.
• Garrick Webster interviews Robert McCaw. 
• Garrick Webster interviews Elle Marr.
  
• Robert Justice interviews Cheryl Head. 
• Marshal Zeringue interviews Samatha Jayne Allen.
  
• Victoria Selman interviws Heather Critchlow and Tim Weaver.
  

Reviews:

• Doreen Sheridan reviews The Last Remains by Elly Griffiths. 
• Jen Lucas reviews The Last Dance by Mark Billingham.
  
• Becky LeJeune reviews Thirty Days of Darkness by Jenny Lund Madsen, translated by Megan Turney. 
• Sonja van der Westhuizen reviews Thirty Days of Darkness by Jenny Lund Madsen, translated by Megan Turney. 
  
• Jen Lucas reviews Black Summer by M.W. Craven
• Doreen Sheridan reviews Warrior Girl Unearthed by Angeline Boulley.
  
• BOLO Books reviews Beware the Woman by Megan Abbott.
• BOLO Books reviews Killing Me by Michelle Gagnon. 
• Sharon Richardson reviews The Revenge List by Hannah Mary McKinnon
  
• Damp Pebbles reviews Eleven Liars by Robert Gold.
  
• The Quick and the Read reviews Fatal Witness by Robert Bryndza. 
• Mary Picken reviews The One That Got Away by J.D. Kirk. 
• Jen Lucas reviews The One That Got Away by J.D. Kirk. 
• Paul Burke reviews The Fall by Gilly Macmillan. 
• Janet Webb reviews Deep Tide by Laura Griffin.
  
• Jen Lucas reviews Deadly Fate by Angela Marsons. 
• Janet Webb reviews Snakebit by Paul Doiron.
  
• Arin Keeble reviews The Guest by Emma Cline.
  
• Sukhdev Sandhu reviews Mister, Mister by Guy Gunaratne.
  
• Jen Lucas reviews The Doctor by Annie Payne.
  
• Mary Picken reviews Skin Deep by Antonia Lassa, translated by Jacky Collins. 
• Janet Webb reviews Moscow Exile by John Lawton. 
• Sonja van der Westhuizen reviews The Lock-Up by John Banville.
  
• Mary Picken reviews A Thief's Justice by Douglas Skelton
  
• Becky LeJeune reviews The Medici Murders by David Hewson.
• Nick Duerden reviews The Ghost Theatre by Mat Osman. 
• Lesa Holstine reviews The Tumbling Girl by Bridget Walsh. 
• Vicky Weisfeld reviews The Tumbling Girl by Bridget Walsh. 
  
• Lesa Holstine reviews The Poisoner's Ring by Kelley Armstrong. 
• Lis Carey reviews Lies Sleeping by Ben Aaronovitch. 
  
• Blue Book Balloon reviews Titanium Noir by Nick Harkaway.   
• Joseph B. Hoyos reviews Viviana Valentine Goes up the River by Emily J. Edwards
  
• Lesa Holstine reviews The Diva Delivers on a Promise by Krista Davis.
• Doreen Sheridan reviews The Ghost Goes to the Dogs by Cleo Coyle
  
• Erin Britton reviews The Dog Sitter Detective by Antony Johnston
• In Search of the Classic Mystery Novel reviews The Expectant Detectives by Kat Ailes 
• Erin Britton reviews The Cherrywood Murders by Penny Blackwell.
  
• Doreen Sheridan reviews Hard Dough Homicide by Olivia Matthews and tries a recipe from the book.
  
• Lesa Holstine reviews I Didn't Do It by Jaime Lynn Hendricks.
  

 

Classics reviews:

• B.V. Lawson revisits the 1931 Asey Mayo mystery The Cape Cod Mystery by Phoebe Atwood Taylor.
  
• Happiness is a Book revisits the 1931 Inspector Dan Bratton mystery Murder in the French Room by Helen Joan Hultman.
• Erin Britton revisits the 1935 suspense novel Twice Round the Clock by Billie Houston.
  
• James Reasoner revisits the 1952 noir novel Take Me As I Am by William H. Fielding a.k.a. Darwin Teilhet.
• Crossexamining Crime revisits the 1956 suspense novel The Diehard by Jean Potts. 
  
• Paperback Warrior revisits the 1966 gothic romance The Secret of Mallet Castle by Clarissa Ross a.k.a. William Ross. 
• Martin Edwards revisits the 1967 mystery A Crime Of One's Own by Edward Grierson.
  
• Paperback Warrior revisits the 1974 spy thriller Six Days of the Condor by James Grady.
  
• Joe Kenney revisits the 1977 The Revenger men's adventure novel Angel of Destruction by Joseph Hedges.
  
• Paperback Warrior revisits the 1981 Nolan heist novel Fly Paper by Max Allan Collins. 
• Joe Kenney revisits the 1982 Digger detective novel Smoked Out by Warren Murphy.
  
• In Search of the Classic Mystery Novel revisits the 1996 historical mystery Falconer and the Face of God by Ian Morson.
  
• Crossexamining Crime revisits the 2007 Mr. Monk mystery Mr. Monk in Outer Space by Lee Goldberg.
  

Con and event reports:

• Fraser Massey reports about the 2023 CrimeFest in Bristol, UK.
  
• Joy Kluver shares the schedule for the Murder in Merton events in Merton, UK.
• Jaime Lynn Hendricks shares some tips for not getting murdered at a crime convention.
  

 

Research: 

• Kendall Kulper talks about the many scandals in 1920s, 1930s and 1940s Hollywood and how particularly young women fell victim to predatory men and cover-ups. 
• Michael Gonzales looks back on the sleazy Times Square of the 1970s and 1980s.
  

 

Free online fiction: 

•  "Last Liar Standing" by Danielle Wong in  Mysteryrat's Maze Podcast.
• "Pretty Good Neighbor" by Jeffrey Ford in Tor.com.  
• "The Recipe" by Bethany Paul in Tough.
  
• "Azrael Wears Anne Klein" by Jon Jordan in Shotgun Honey.
  
• "The Jesus Deal" by Charlie Kondek in Mystery Tribune. 
• "Abyssinian Night" by Michael Amos Cody in Mystery Tribune. 
• "Secrets" by Charmaine Arjoonlal in The Five-Two.
  
• "Ghosts" by Kristine Kathryn Rusch.
  

 

Trailer and videos: 

• Watch a trailer for No Exit.