Crime Fiction Links of the Week for August 12, 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 3 of Only Murders in the Building, Wolf, Heart of Stone, They Cloned Tyrone, Gran Turismo, Painkiller, The Meg 2, the WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes, tributes to William Friedkin and Sharon Farrell and much more:

Crime fiction in general:  

• Crime Reads shares ten new crime novels coming out this week.
  
• Alison Flood shares a round-up of the best recent crime novels or thrillers.
• Molly Odintz shares the best psychological thrillers coming out in August. 
• Molly Odintz shares her favourite historical crime novels of 2023 so far. 
• Nancy Bilyeau shares twelve mysteries and crime novels set during the 1920s.
  
• Amor Towles explains how dead bodies moved from the center of a murder mystery to the margins, becoming just another prop.
  
• Will Dean shares his ten favourite locked room mysteries.
• Cayce Osborne shares great mysteries and crime novels featuring reluctant sleuths.
  
• Gillian McAllister shares thrillers about parents protecting children. 
  
• Amber Garza shares five crime novels portraying messy mother and daughter relationships
• Jenny Hamilton discusses her problems with small town witch cozy mysteries.  
• Amber Garza shares ten crime novel portraying toxic religion. 
• Molly Templeton talks about learning to read generously.  
• Keith Roysdon shares a brief introduction to the Wold Newton universe.
  
• Amanda Silberling reports that fanfiction writers are rallying fandom against a controversial US bill supposed to protect minors online.  

 

Film and TV:

• Zack Budryk finds some unexpected parallels between the historical crime dramas Peaky Blinders and Babylon Berlin. 
• Charles Bramesco calls Sound of Freedom a paranoid and QAnon adjacent thriller. 
• Luke Buckmaster calls The Rooster a meandering study of masculinity and praises the performance of Hugo Weaving. 
• Leslie Felperin calls Hunt Club a tacky human hunt horror film and praises the performance of Mena Suvari. 
  
• Jack Seale calls Last Call: When a Serial Killer Stalked Queer NY a masterclass in righteous, savvy TV documentaries.
• Leaf Arbuthnot calls Face Down a true crime documentary that traces trauma of a brutal IRA murder
  
• Rebecca Nicholson calls The Case Against Cosby a revelatory true crime documentary.
  
• Manuel Betancourt shares his thoughts on the latest episode of Reservation Dogs.
  
• Guy Lodge lists his favourite conspiracy thrillers.
• Screewriter Joe Murtagh explains how learning about Magdalene laundries inspired him to write The Woman in the Well. 
• Paul Hirons interviews Nicola Walker, star of the British crime drama Annika.  
• Ian Spelling interviews Andrew Davis, direcotr of the 1993 thriller The Fugitive.
  
• Steve Rose profiles the legendary black stuntwoman Jadie Davis.  
• Joanthan Alexandratos revisits the 1967 dystopian spy thriller The Prisoner.
  
• Peter Bradshaw revisits the 1973 martial arts movie Enter the Dragon.  
• Scott Tobias revisits the 1973 teen movie American Graffiti. 
  
• Martin Edwards revisits the 1980 crime series Breakaway.
  
• Nellie Andreeva reports that Albert Arr, executive producer of the daytime soap opera Days of Our Lives, has been replaced following several allegations of inappropriate conduct on set. 
• Film editor Arthur Schmidt, who worked on Who Framed Roger Rabbit?, Back to the Future, What Lies Beneath, Contact, Ruthless People and many others, has died aged 86.
  
• Actor Robert Swan, who appeared in Somewhere in Time, The Untouchables, Natural Born Killers, The Twilight Zone and many others, has died aged 78.
  

 

Comments on season 3 of Only Murders in the Building: 

• Leila Latif calls season 3 of Only Murders in the Building the best season yet and praises Meryl Streep's guest performance.
• Saloni Gajjar calls the season 3 premiere of Only Murders in the Building a superb return.
  
• Saloni Gajjar discusses the phenomenon of comedic TV murder mysteries like Only Murders in the Building, The Afterparty or Poker Face 
  

 

Comments on Wolf:

• Paul Hirons shares his thoughts on episode 3 of Wolf.
• Paul Hirons shares his thoughts on episode 4 of Wolf.

 

Comments on Heart of Stone: 

• Benjamin Lee calls Heart of Stone a rock-solid thriller. 
• Courtney Howard calls Heart of Stone a derivative spy thriller with ample spying but few thrills
• Alex Welch calls Heart of Stone the rare worthwhile Netflix blockbuster
  

 

Comments on They Cloned Tyrone: 

• Arturo Serrano finds They Cloned Tyrone remarkably close to life.
  
• Alasdair Stuart shares his thoughts on They Cloned Tyrone.
• Arley Sorg and Josh Pearce discuss They Cloned Tyrone

 

Comments on Gran Turismo:

•  Ryan Gilbey calls the car racing film Gran Turismo a bland simulation of cinema. 
• Eric Francisco declares that Gran Turismo veers off course. 
• A.A. Dowd calls Gran Turismo a very long Playstation commercial.
  

 

Comments on Painkiller:

• Lucy Mangan calls Painkiller furious, unflinching TV.
• Saloni Gajjar calls Painkiller too offbeat for its own good.
  
• Xan Brooks interviews Matthew Broderick, star of Painkiller, War Games, Ladyhawke, Ferris Bueller's Day Off, Family Business, Dopesick and many others. 
• The AV-Club interviews Matthew Broderick. 
  

 

Comments on The Meg 2:

• Ryan Gilbey calls The Meg 2 a busy but flavourless bouillabaisse of ideas nicked from Jaws, Jurassic Park, Alien and Sharknado
• Germain Lussier declares that The Meg 2 tries and fails to be big dumb fun.
• Mark Keizer calls The Meg 2 awfully fun and awfully bad. 
  
• Inspired by The Meg 2, Cheryl Eddy shares ten shark or sea monster movies to enjoy. 
• Also inspired by The Meg 2, Robert DeSalvo shares twenty-one shark or sea monster movies to enjoy.  

 

Tributes to William Friedkin: 

• William Friedkin, director of The Exorcist, The French Connection, Sorcerer, Cruising and many others, has died aged 87.
• Peter Bradshaw remembers William Friedkin. 
• Ellen Burstyn, star of The Exorcist, remembers William Friedkin. 
• Horror producer Jason Blum remembers William Friedkin. 
• Germain Lussier shares tributes to William Friedkin from other directors and actors.
  
• Ryan Gilbey shares an obituary for William Friedkin.
  
• Olivia Rutigliano remembers William Friedkin.
  
• Germain Lussier remembers William Friedkin.
  
• Greg Whitmore shares photos from William Friedkin's lengthy career.
  

 

Tributes to Sharon Farrell:

• Actress Sharon Farrell, star of It's Alive, L.A. 2017, Hawaii Five-O, The Stunt Man, Marlowe, Lone Wolf McQuade and many others has died aged 82. 
• Mike Barnes shares an obituary for Sharon Farrell.
  
• J. Kingston Pierce remembers Sharon Farrell's many appearance in US TV crime dramas in the 1960s and 1970s.
  

 

Comments on the ongoing WGA and SAG-AFTRA strike:

• Mary Kate Carr reports that actor Zachary Levi has come under fire for allegedly criticisng the SAG-AFTRA strike and the related rules.
• Gavia Baker-Whitelaw reports that actor Robert Beltran, who played Commander Chakotay on Star Trek Voyager, has come under fire for violating the SAG-AFTRA strike rules as well as homophobic remarks.
  
• Gavia Baker-Whitelaw reports about a backlash against actress Rachel Zegler, who will play Snow White in an upcoming live action adaptation of the classic 1937 animated film, for her comments in favour of the SAG-AFTRA strike.  
• Adrian Horton reports that actor Billy Porter had to sell his house due to the ongoing SAG-AFTRA strike.
  
• Andrew Pulver reports that the vidual effects artists working for Marvel Studios are planning to unionise.

 

Awards:

• The finalists for the 2023 Ned Kelly Awards have been announced. 
• The shortlist for the 2023 Ngaio Marsh Awards has been announced. 
• The shortlist for the 2023 Lindisfarne Prize for Crime Fiction has been announced.
  
• The longlist for the 2023 Petrona Award for the Best Scandinavian Crime Novel of the Year has been announced.
• The winner of the 2023 Barker Book Award has been announced. 
• The winner of the 2023 Munsey Award has been announced. 
• Ayo Onatade reports that a new crime writing prize named Criminal Lines has been launched and is open for submissions.
  

Writing, publishing and promotion:

• Shannon Hollinger talks about leveraging fear in your fiction.
  
• Kristine Kathryn Rusch shares another example of niche marketing.
• Kristine Kathryn Rusch talks about the problem of skimping on business expenses.
  
• David Barnett reports about the so-called BookTok phenomenon.
• Ella Creamer reports that YouTube is more popular for book recommendations than TikTok. 
• Jim Milliot and Andrew Albanese report that the publishing company Simon & Schuster has been sold to the infamous investment firm KKR, who destroyed Toys R Us among many others.  
• The Guardian also reports about the sale of Simon & Schuster to KKR. 
• Elizabeth Blair also weighs in on the sale of Simon & Schuster to KKR.
  
• Helen Pidd profiles the Northern English small press Bluemoose Books. 
  
• Victoria Strauss reports that a publishing scammer has no attempted to impersonate her. 
• Karawynn Long talks about the coming enshittification of public libraries now that the e-book library service OverDrive has been sold to the infamous locust investment firm KKR. 
  
• Martin Pengelly reports about the fight against rightwing book bans in the US. 
• Andrew Albanese reports that the textbook distributor Follett School Solutions has asked publishers to rate their own books in order to comply with a new Texas law.
  
• Locus reports that Sheila Gilbert has retired from her position as publisher of DAW.
• Locus reports that art director and vice president Irene Gallo is leaving Tor after thirty years.
  
• Nell McShane Wulfhart profiles influential children't book editor Ursula Nordstrom. 
• Adrienne Vaughan, president of Bloomsbury USA, has died aged 45 after a speedboat collision in Italy.
  
• Editor John R. Douglas has died. 
• Locus remembers John R. Douglas. 
  

 

Comments on the AI controversy: 

• Lincoln Michel report about the startup Prosecraft, which claims to use AI to analyse novels - without their authors' consent.
• Linda Codega reports that Prosecraft was shut down after a backlash by authors furious that their works were uploaded without their consent. 
• Mack DeGeurin reports that Amazon finally took down several AI-generated books that falsely exploited the name of author Jane Friedman. 
• Ella Creamer also reports about Amazon taking down AI-generated books using the byline of Jane Friedman.

 

Interviews: 

• The Guardian interviews Lisa Jewell.
  
• Brigid Bergin interviews Laura Lippman.
• The Red Hot Chilli Writers interviews Sarah Hilary. 
• Deborah Kalb interviews Rhys Bowen.
  
• Nancie Clare interviews Lynn Hightower.
• Paul Burke interviews Sam Lloyd. 
• Lesa Haselton interviews Allen Wyler. 
  
• Kevin Canfield interviews Yepoka Yeebo.
  

Reviews:

• Becky LeJeune reviews Zero Days by Ruth Ware. 
• Marlene Harris reviews Secrets in the Dark by Heather Graham
• Garrick Webster reviews Beware the Woman by Megan Abbott
  
• Paul Burke reviews The Trap by Catherine Ryan Howard
• Doreen Sheridan reviews Fearless by M. W. Craven
  
• Mary Picken reviews The Wild Coast by Lin Anderson
• Paul Burke reviews Deadly Autumn Harvest by Tony Mott, translated by Marina Sofia.
  
• BOLO Books reviews An Honest Man by Michael Koryta. 
• Mary Picken reviews To Die For by Lisa Gray
  
• Jen Lucas reviews Don’t Look Away by Rachel Abbott
• Mary Picken reviews Mirror Image by Gunnar Staalesen, translated by Don Bartlett
  
• BOLO Books reviews Good Bad Girl by Alice Feeney 
• Mary Picken reviews Just Another Missing Person by Gillian McAllister
• Doreen Sheridan reviews A Likeable Woman by May Cobb
  
• Mandie Griffiths reviews The Keeper of Stories by Sally Page 
• Jen Lucas reviews The Associate by Victoria Goldman
• Jeff Ayers reviews The Ninth Man by Steve Berry and Grant Blackwood
  
• Doreen Sheridan reviews Dead Eleven by Jimmy Juliano
• Sandra Mangan reviews Case Sensitive by A.K. Turner
  
• Vicki Weisfeld reviews Like Printing Money by R.A. Cramblitt
• Doreen Sheridan reviews The Centre by Ayesha Manazir Siddiqi
  
• BOLO Books reviews Sun Damage by Sabine Durrant 
• In Search of the Classic Mystery Novel reviews Death Of A Lesser God by Vaseem Khan 
• Jen Lucas reviews Death Of A Lesser God by Vaseem Khan 
  
• Mandie Griffiths reviews A Thief’s Justice by Douglas Skelton
  
• Lesa Holstine reviews The Paris Mystery by Kirsty Manning. 
• Mike Parker reviews The Continental Affair by Christine Mangan
  
• Marlene Harris reviews Sherlock Holmes and the Silver Cord by M.K. Wiseman
  
• Mary Picken reviews Killer Bodies by Heleen Kist
  
• Joseph B. Hoyos reviews The Body in the Back Garden by Mark Waddell
• Doreen Sheridan reviews A Shimmer of Red by Valerie Wilson Wesley and tries a recipe from the book.
  
• Doreen Sheridan reviews Flop Dead Gorgeous by David Rosenfelt
  
• Bill Capossere reviews Shigidi and The Brass Head of Obalufon by Wole Talabi
• Blue Book Balloon reviews Winter's Gifts by Ben Aaronovitch  
• Mahvesh Murad reviews Bridge by Lauren Beukes.  
• Ainslie Hogarth reviews Bridge by Lauren Beukes. 
  
• In Search of the Classic Mystery Novel reviews How To Survive A Classic Crime Novel by Kate Jackson.
  

 

Classics reviews:

• In Search of the Classic Mystery Novel revisits the 1928 mystery The Death Of Laurence Vining by Alan Thomas
  
• In Search of the Classic Mystery Novel revisits the 1947 Gideon Hazel and Abercrombie Lewker mystery Kidnap Castle by Showell Styles a.k.a. Glyn Carr.
• Martin Edwards revisits the 1950 Gervase Fen mystery Frequent Hearses by Edmund Crispin.
  
• Paperback Warrior revisits the 1954 heist novel Five Against the House by Jack Finney.
  
• Erin Britton revisits the 1959 psychological thriller Uncle Paul by Celia Fremlin
• Paperback Warrior revisits the 1966 Commander Shaw spy novel Skyprobe by Philip McCutchan. 
• Happiness Is a Book revisits the 1998 historical crime fiction collection Renowned Be Thy Grave or the Murderous Miss Mooney by P.A. Carlson.

Con and event reports:

• Janet Rudolph reports about the 2023 HitchCon in Dobbs Ferry, New York.
  
• Justin Carter reports that 300000 US-dollars worth of collectible cards were stolen from a vendor at the 2023 GenCon in Indianapolis, Indiana. 
• Linda Codega shares more information about the GenCon card heist.  
• Lucy Knight reports that more than fifty authors have threatened to boycott the Edinburgh Book Festival in Edinburgh, Scotland, because the sponsor investment firm Baillie Gifford also invests in fossile energy.

 

Research: 

• Catherine Ryan Howard discusses how eight young women vanished without a trace in Ireland in the 1990s and how those cases were never resolved. 
• James Wolff wonders whether there is any truth to the saying "Once a spy, always a spy".
  
• Thomas Germain reports that the Reddit protest ended with a victory for Reddit.
  
  

Free online fiction: 

• "The Knight Wizard" by Janice Law in Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine's Fiction Podcast 
• "Headhunting" by Rich Larson in Tor.com 
  
• "The Poisoned Lifeguard" by James P. Hanley in Mystery Tribune.
• "Murder for Beginners" by Milkana N. Mingels in Guilty.
  
• "A Path Taken" by M.E. Proctor in Shotgun Honey.
• "Deeper Than the Grave" by L.P. Ring in Shotgun Honey.
• "Pele’s Prerogative – Part Three" by Albert Tucher in Shotgun Honey.
• "Proper Disposal" by Margaret Karmazin in Tough.
  
• "Wait a Minute" by Kaye George in Punk Noir Magazine.
• "The Medicine Show" by John M. Floyd in Punk Noir Magazine.
• "Role Play" by Cliff Hightower in Punk Noir Magazine.
  
• "Town Ain't What It Used To Be" by Jay Butkowski in Punk Noir Magazine.
• "L.A. Nocturne" by Libby Cudmore in The Five-Two.
  
• "Scars" by Kristine Kathryn Rusch. 
  

 

Trailer and videos: 

• Watch a trailer for season 2 of The Chelsea Detective.
• Watch a trailer for the final season of Archer.  
• Watch a trailer for The Continental.