Crime Fiction Links of the Week for September 9, 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, The Killer, the final season of Top Boy, Special Ops: Lioness, Justified: City Primeval, season 3 of Reservation Dogs, the WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes, the debate about AI-generated writing and art and much more:

Crime fiction in general:  

• Alison Flood shares a round-up of the best recent crime novels and thrillers. 
• Crime Reads shares ten new crime novels and mysteries coming out this week. 
• Crime Reads lists the most anticipated crime novels of fall 2023.
  
• Kaira Rouda shares five great thrillers set on islands. 
• Molly Templeton talks about using fiction as a travel guide. 
  
• Jilly Gagnon talks about toxic friendships in psychological thrillers.
• Sarah Bonner explains why in-laws make such excellent villains for psychological thrillers. 
• Jamie Lee Soon shares mysteries and thrillers set in the wellness industry.
  
• James R. Benn wonders about the inspiration for Dorothy L. Sayers' Lord Peter Wimsey.
  
• Howard Andrew Jones profiles Harold Lamb. 
• Pete Chapman recounts how he helped to publish his husband Christopher Fowler's posthumous memoir Word Monkey.  
• Translator Edith Grossman has died aged 87.   

 

Film and TV:

• Leslie Felperin calls Sympathy for the Devil a kooky thriller with a top-tier unhinged Nicolas Cage performance
  
• Xan Brooks calls Hit Man a true crime movie that mixes philosphy and fun. 
• Phil Hoad calls Outpost a claustrophobic thriller.
  
• Lucy Mangan finds Love & Death a clunky true crime drama, but praises the performance of Elizabeth Olsen.
  
• Camestros Felapton shares his thoughts on Fast X.  
• Xan Brooks calls The Caine Mutiny Court-Martial a valuable last effort by the late William Friedkin and the late Lance Reddick.  
• Paul Hirons shares his thoughts on the latest episode of The Woman in the Wall.
  
• Noetta Harjo shares her thoughts on the latest episode of Dark Winds.
• Paul Hirons shares his thoughts on the latest episodes of DNA. 
• Adrian Horton calls Scouts Honor: the Secret Files of the Boy Scouts of America a harrowing documentary about sexual abuse in the Boy Scouts of America. 
• Martin Edwards rewatches the 1946 noir film The Black Angel. 
• Cindy White revisits the 1993 paranormal mystery show The X-Files for its thirtieth anniversary and recounts how the show changed television.  
• Readers of the Guardian list their favourite TV shows that were cancelled before their time.  
   

Comments on season 3 of Only Murders in the Building: 

• Saloni Gajjar shares her thoughts on "Ghost Light", the latest episode of Only Murders in the Building. 
• Melody McCune shares her thoughts on "Ghost Light".
  
• Melody McCune shares her list of suspects for the murder of Ben Glenroy in season 3 of Only Murders in the Building.
• The AV-Club shares their theories about the murder in season 3 of Only Murders in the Building,
  

 

Comments on The Killer: 

• Peter Bradshaw calls The Killer a terrific David Fincher thriller about a philosophising hitman 
• Ellise Shafer interviews David Fincher, director of The Killer. 
• Watch a trailer for The Killer.
  

 

Comments on Justified: City Primeval: 

• Emma John calls Justified: City Primeval a triumphant return for the inexcusably overlooked crime drama
  
• Alan Sepinwall interviews Timothy Olyphant, star of Justified: City Primeval.

 

Comments on Special Ops Lioness:

• Paul Levinson calls Special Ops: Lioness an action thriller series that focusses on women.  
• Brian Davids interviews Zoe Saldana, star of Special Ops Lioness and the Guardians and the Galaxy movies.
  

 

Comments on Reservation Dogs: 

• Manuel Betancourt shares his thoughts on the latest episode of Reservation Dogs.
• Noetta Harjo shares her thoughts on the latest episode of Reservation Dogs. 
  

 

Comments on the final season of Top Boy:

• Leila Latif calls the final season of Top Boy a potent ending that rivals the very best television. 
• Ellen E. Jones declares that Top Boy changed British television forever.
  

 

Comments on the ongoing WGA and SAG-AFTRA strike:

• Leila Latif wonders whether the onging WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes and the resulting postponements of movie launches mean that Hollywood is self-destructing. 
• Etan Vlessing reports that director David Fincher has said that he can understand both sides in the ongoing WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes. 
• Mary Kate Carr reports that director Booth Riley has criticised David Fincher's remarks. 
• Katie Campione interviews Supernatural creator and showrunner Eric Kripke about the WGA and SAG-AFTRA strike. 
• Anthony d'Alessandro reports that late night show host and comedian Bill Maher has criticised the demands of the WGA.
  
• Linda Codega reports about a live Dungeons & Dragons event outside Universal Studios in Los Angeles, California, as part of the WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes.  
  
• Alex Weprin reports that the US film and TV industry has lost 17000 jobs in August due to the ongoing WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes. 
  
• Caitlin Huston reports that according to a recent poll, more than seventy percent of Americans support the WGA and SAG-AFTRA in their labour dispute with the Hollywood studios. 
• Justin Carter reports that SAG-AFTRA is voting the authorise a potential strike of actors working in video games as well.

 

Awards:

• The winners of the 2023 Anthony Awards have been announced.
• The winners of the 2023 Barry Awards have been announced. 
• The winners of the 2023 Shamus Awards have been announced. 
• The winners of the 2023 Fingerprint Awards have been announced.
  
• The shortlist for the 2023 McIlvanney Prize has been announced.
• The shortlist for the 2023 Petronas Awards has been announced.
  
• The winners of the 2023 Edinburgh TV Festival Awards have been announced with some love for genre TV.
  

 

Writing, publishing and promotion:

• James Ellroy explains why he writes.
  
• Lucy Burdette explains where crime fiction and mystery writers find inspiration. 
• Poet Maggie Smith discusses how her writing career ended her marriage. 
• Kristine Kathryn Rusch shares her experiences at The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction after the uproar about the magazine accidentally purchasing a story by a white supremacist.
  
• The magazine Cossmass Infinities is closing down. 
• Locus reports that the French publisher ActuSF has been put into compulsory liquidation
  
• Ella Creamer reports that the UK Society of Authors has complained about the unethical practice of taking quotes from negative reviews out of context and using them as endorsements. 
• Lincoln Michel debunks the claim that most books only sell twelve copies once again.
  
• Garth Nix talks about his time as a bookseller.
• Ella Creamer reports that according to a recent survey, more than half of all children in the UK do not read in their spare time. 
• Barbara Krasnoff reports about the end of Amazon's magazine subscription program and its impact on SFF magazines. 
  
• Jim Milliot reports that profit margins at the Big Five publishers have shrunken due to rising costs. 
  
• Blake Brittain reports that Valancourt Books has won a lawsuit against the US Copyright Office about its mandatory deposit policy.
• Kelly Jensen reports that there have been several bomb threats against public libraries across the US as part of the ongoing culture war about LGBTQ books. 
• Chris Atkins reports how he organised Bang Up Books, an organisation that provides donated books to prisons in the UK.
  

 

Comments on the AI controversy: 

• Emilia David reports that Gizmodo fired its Spanish staff in favour of bad AI translations.
  
• Chris Wallace reports about calls to regulate the use of AI in the UK.

 

Interviews: 

• Brenna Ehrlich interviews Stephen King. 
  
• Paul Burke interviews Victoria Selman.
• Ella Creamer interviews Karin Smirnoff. 
• Debbi Mack interviews Naomi Hirahara. 
• Marshal Zeringue interviews Deborah J. Ledford.
  
• Marshal Zeringue interviews Nancy Bilyeau.
  
• Marshal Zeringue interviews James R. Benn.
  

Reviews:

• Lesa Holstine reviews Payback in Death by J.D. Robb  
• Nicholas Wroe reviews The Secret Hours by Mick Herron 
• Janet Webb reviews Beneath Dark Waters by Karen Rose
  
• Mary Picken reviews The Confession Room by Lia Middleton
• Janet Webb reviews The Raging Storm by Ann Cleeves
  
• Lesa Holstine reviews The Raging Storm by Ann Cleeves
• Mandie Griffiths reviews Ruin Beach by Kate Rhodes
  
• The Quick and the Read reviews Tennison by Lynda La Plante
• Catriona Ward reviews Holly by Stephen King
  
• Mandie Griffiths reviews A Conspiracy of Bones by Kathy Reichs
• Jen Lucas reviews The Devil Stone by Caro Ramsay
• Vicki Weisfeld reviews Deep Roots by Sung J. Woo
  
• Steven Powell reviews The Enchanters by James Ellroy. 
• Sonja van der Westhuizen reviews Cult by Camilla Lackberg and Henrik Fexeus, translated by Ian Giles.
  
• The Quick and the Read reviews The Silent Man by David Fennell
• Janet Webb reviews Blind Fear by Brandon Webb and John David Mann
  
• Jen Lucas reviews Trust In Me by Luca Veste 
  
• Robin Marx reviews Looking Glass Sound by Catriona Ward 
  
• Raven Crime Reads reviews Mirror Image by Gunnar Staalesen, translated by Don Bartlett
• Mary Picken reviews Murder at the Residence by Stella Blómkvist, translated by Quentin Bates 
• Paul Burke reviews Murder at the Residence by Stella Blómkvist, translated by Quentin Bates 
• Jen Lucas reviews Murder at the Residence by Stella Blómkvist, translated by Quentin Bates  
• Lesa Holstine reviews Murder Off Stage by Mary Miley
  
• Marlene Harris reviews The Bullet That Missed by Richard Osman
  
• Joseph B. Hoyos reviews Dead on Target by M.C. Beaton and R.W. Green
• Lesa Holstine reviews Death by a Thousand Sips by Gretchen Rue  
• Doreen Sheridan reviews Pink Lemonade Cake Murder by Joanne Fluke and tries a recipe from the book.
• Nina Allan reviews Rouge by Mona Awad 
  
• Jen Lucas reviews Cleaner by Brandi Wells
  
• Kevin Tipple reviews The Best Laid Plans: 21 Stories Of Mystery & Suspense, edited by Judy Penz Sheluk.
• Kevin Tipple reviews Shhhh…Murder: Cozy Crimes in Libraries, edited by Andrew MacRae.
  
• Crossexamining Crime reviews Murdle: Solve 100 Devilishly Devious Murder Logic Puzzles by G. T. Karber
  

 

Classics reviews:

• Crossexamining Crime revisits the 1927 mystery The Mystery of the Ashes by Anthony Wynne
  
• Paperback Warrior revisits the 1933 mystery The Dark Garden a.k.a. Death in the Fog by Mignon G. Eberhart.
• Paperback Warrior revisits the 1951 noir novel Thunderclap by Jack Sheridan
  
• Crossexamining Crime revisits the 1959 inverted mystery Cakes for your Birthday by C. E. Vulliamy. 
• Paperback Warrior revisits the 1960 Steve Bentley detective novel Murder On Her Mind by Robert Dietrich a.k.a. Howard Hunt.
  
• Martin Edwards revisits the 1961 crime novel Message From Sirius by Cecil Jenkins. 
• Paperback Warrior revisits the 1967 crime novel Somebody's Done For by David Goodis. 
• Happiness is a Book revisits the 1976 crime novel Never Pick Up Hitch-Hikers! by Ellis Peters.
  

Con and event reports:

• Fraser Massey reports about the 2023 Capital Crime festival in London, UK.
• Martin Edwards shares his experiences at the 2023 Bouchercon in San Diego, California.
• The Pulp Net shares recording of several panels at the 2023 Pulp Fest in Mars, Pennsylvania. 
  
• Mary Kate Carr reports about the chaos at the 2023 Burning Man festival in Black Rock Desert, Nevada. 
• Cory Doctorow shares his experiences at the troubled 2023 Burning Man festival in Black Rock, Nevada.
  
• Linda Codega reports that the Magic the Gathering cards stolen at the 2023 Gen Con in Indianapolis, Indiana, have been recovered. 
• Linda Codega also reports that two men have been charged or the theft of the Magic the Gathering cards at Gen Con.

 

Crowdfunding:

• Atrium No. 1, an action suspense comic by Steve Bynoe, Peter Van Horne and Lucas Filappi, is looking for funding. 

 

Research: 

• Bonnie Kistler explains how non-disclosure agreements are used to silence the victims of sexual harrassment.
• Nathan Ward writes about Charlie Siringo, Pinkerton detective in the Old West.
  

 

Free online fiction: 

• "Damaged" by David Thomas Peacock in Mystery Tribune.
• "Her Upstairs" by Michael Z. Lewis in  Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine's Fiction Podcast 
• "Pele's Prerogative, Part 5" by Albert Tucher in Shotgun Honey. 
• "Something Fishy" by J.H. Johns in The Five-Two.
  

 

Trailer and videos: 

• Watch a trailer for A Murder at the End of the World.
• Watch a trailer for Thanksgiving.