Crime Fiction Links of the Week for November 11, 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 Anatomy of a Fall, Killers of the Flower Moon, The Curse, 007: Road to Millions, the SAG-AFTRA strike, the debate about AI generated art and writing, tributes to Peter S. Fisher and much more:

Crime fiction in general:  

• Publishers Weekly share their favourite crime novels, mysteries and thrillers of 2023.
  
• Crime Reads shares ten new crime novels coming out this week, 
• Adriana Cordani explains why privilege and wealth have always been at the heart of the whodunnit
  
• Paul French shares crime novels set in Monte Carlo, Monaco. 
• S.K. Golden shares six great mystery novels set in hotels.
  
• Vanessa Lillie shares indigenous novels recommended by indigenous booksellers. 
• Peggy Townsend shares wilderness thrillers featuring fearless women.
  
• Lee Goldberg talks about westerns, crime novels and writing a genre mash-up. 
• Lindsay Hunter explains why she loves true crime. 
• Jordyn Taylor talks about fighting toxic masculinity via YA fiction. 
• Olive Laing shares her appreciation for the works of Jilly Cooper. 
  
• Elise Hart Kipness explains how she went from sports reporter to crime writer.
  
• Tom Gauld shares a cartoon about the work week of crime novel cover models. 
• Lucy Knight reports that Nicholas Cornwell a.k.a. Nick Harkaway will write a new George Smiley novel, continuing the work of his father John Le Carré.
  

 

Film and TV:

• Lucy Mangan calls Lawmen: Bass Reeves an utterly distinctive western and rare treat 
• Rebecca Nicholson calls Culprits a slick heist thriller.
  
• Cath Clarke calls Showdown at the Grand an ode to 1980s action films and praises the performances of Terrence Howard and Dolph Lundgren. 
• Catherine Bray calls the Tamil action film Leo: Bloody Sweet wildly enjoyable, packed full of hyenas, car chases, fight scenes and, of course, song and dance.
• Catherine Bray calls Wickedly Evil an Irish heist-gone-wrong comedy-horror film.
• Alex Wallace calls Sisu a Finnish action movie that happens to be set during the Lapland War-
• Leslie Felperin calls Gurkha Warrior a cliched film based true story of a daring rescue in the Malay jungle
• Martin Edwards shares his thoughts on Don't Worry, Darling.  
• Joel Golby isn't quite sure how to describe the TV drama The Curse, but finds it excellent. 
  
• Jack Seale calls the documentary Kennedy, Sinatra and the Mafia a barely believable tale of corruption and betrayal
• J. Kingston Pierce shares his doubts about the new The Fall Guy. 
• Ryan Gilbey interviews Nicholas Cage, star of many things. 
• Josh Ocampo interviews film critic Erik Piepenburg.
  
• Michael Hogan interviews several TV trailblazers. 
• Aneesa Ahmed reports that younger viewers are no longer interested in sex scenes on screen - much to the annoyance of The Guardian.  
• Paul Morton recounts how director William Friedkin was planning to adapt Will Eisner's The Spirit in the 1970s.
• Benjamin Lee reports that Warner Bros is shelving another completed movie, Coyote vs. Acme, to save taxes.
  
• Stuntman Taraja Ramsess, who worked on Black Panther, the Avengers films and The Hunger Games among many others, was killed in a car crash aged 41 along with two of his children. 
• Actor Evan Ellingson, who played Horatio Caine's son Kyle in CSI Miami and Josh Bauer in 24 among others, has died aged 35.
  

 

Comments on Anatomy of a Fall: 

• Julia Sirmons declares that Anatomy of a Fall begins as a murder mystery, but turns into a riveting and chilling courtroom drama.
• Peter Bradshaw calls Anatomy of a Fall a bracing and chilly psychothriller about a suspicious death whose only reliable witness happens to be blind

 

Comments on Killers of the Flower Moon:

• Alex Wallace calls Killers of the Flower Moon a bloody, brutal, sprawling dive into the core of America
• Steve Rose interviews Chief Standing Bear of the Osage nation, who worked as a consultant on Killers of the Flower Moon, since the film recounts the history of his people.
  

  

Comments on The Curse: 

• Joel Golby isn't quite sure how to describe the TV drama The Curse, but finds it excellent. 
• Manuel Betancourt calls The Curse a satire that's as biting as it is absurd

 

Comments on 007: Road to a Million: 

• Joel Golby calls 007: Road to a Million a James Bond themed reality show that's a lot of fun.
• Lucy Mangan finds 007: Road to a Million shoddy, boring and soulless.
  

 

Tributes to Peter S. Fisher:

• Peter S. Fisher, co-creator of Murder She Wrote and screenwriter on Columbo and many other murder mystery shows, has died aged 88.
• J. Kingston Pierce remembers Peter S. Fisher.
  

 

Comments on the SAG-AFTRA strike:

• Anthony D'Alessandro and Dominic Patten report that SAG-AFTRA and the studios have finally reached a tentative agreement. 
• Sabina Graves reports that the reason the SAG-AFTRA strike is still going on is that the studios insist on a horrifying AI clause granting them rights to an actor's likeness in perpetuity.
• Lesley Goldberg and Katie Kilkenny also report that the sticking point in the negotiations between the studios and SAG-AFTRA are AI protections for actors.

 

Awards:

• The finalists for the 2023 Crime Fiction Lover Awards have been announced and voting is open.
  

 

Writing, publishing and promotion:

• Jeremy T. Wilson declares that psychology is important for motivation, but that your characters need more than diagnoses
  
• Mur Lafferty explains how she approached writing a science fiction mystery.
  
• Lincoln Michel declares that more novels should be written like Moby Dick, full of weird digressions and detours. 
• Frank Zafiro explains how he edited the multi-author novella series A Grifter's Song.
  
• Andrew Albanese reports that Goodreads is now asking users to combat review bombing. 
• Jim Millot reports that the Wall Street Journal has dropped its bestseller list.
  
• Therese Anne Fowler asks if traditional fiction publishing is broken.
• The Economist reports that the business of mining literary estates for new editions, translations and film adaptations is booming. 
• Kelly Jensen reports about two new studies about the book reading and book ownership of Americans. 
• Rachel Rogers reports about the opening of the Criminally Good Books specialty bookstore in York, Pennsylvania. 
  
• Alex Marshall reports that the British Library in London, UK, experienced a cyberattack. 
• Alex Blasdel profiles literary agent Andrew Wylie.
  

 

Comments on the AI controversy:

• SFWA has sent a letter about AI to the US Copyright Office.
• Eric Ofgang discusses the impact of AI art programs on illustrators. 

 

Interviews: 

• It Was a Dark and Stormy Book Club interviews Lou Berney. 
• Nancie Clare interviews Tess Gerritsen. 
• Elizabeth Held interviews Tess Gerritsen.
  
• Paul Burke interviews Femi Kayode.
  
• Debbi Mack interviews David Bushman and Mark T. Givens 
• Jacqueline Seewald interviews Daniella Bernett. 
• Lisa Haselton interviews Catherine C. Hall.
  
• Michael Hogan interviews Jilly Cooper.
  

Reviews:

• Mary Picken reviews Calico by Lee Goldberg 
• Mike Ripley reviews Calico by Lee Goldberg 
• Lesa Holstine reviews Calico by Lee Goldberg  
• Vicki Weisfeld reviews Past Lying by Val McDermid
  
• Doreen Sheridan reviews And Don’t Look Back by Rebecca Barrow
• Mandie Griffiths reviews Pulpit Rock by Kate Rhodes
• The Quick and the Dead reviews Good Friday by Lynda La Plante
• Vicki Weisfeld reviews Gideon Resurrection by Grant Rosenberg 
  
• Mary Picken reviews Resurrection Walk by Michael Connelly
• Janet Webb reviews The Traitor by Ava Glass
• Sandra Mangan reviews The Sixth Lie by Sarah Ward
  
• Aunt Agatha's reviews Blood Betrayal by Ausma Zehanat Khan.
• Sue Lord reviews White As Snow by Lilja Sigurðardóttir, translated by Quentin Bates.
• Jen Lucas reviews His Favourite Graves by Paul Cleave 
  
• Jen Lucas reviews The First 48 Hours by Simon Kernick 
  
• Tony R. Cox reviews Gaslight by Femi Ayode. 
• Jen Lucas reviews Gaslight by Femi Ayode.  
• Aunt Agatha's reviews Deus X by Stephen Mack Jones
• Lesa Holstine reviews Deus X by Stephen Mack Jones
• Doreen Sheridan reviews My Darling Girl by Jennifer McMahon
  
• Janet Webb reviews The Exchange by John Grisham
  
• P.D. Viner reviews The Murmurs by Michael J. Malone.
  
• Erica Wagner reviews This Plague of Souls by Mike McCormack
  
• Blue Book Balloon reviews His Favourite Graves by Paul Cleave 
• The Quick and the Read reviews Shot with Crimson by Nicola Upson
• Crossexamining Crime reviews Death and the Conjuror by Tom Mead
• Jen Lucas reviews Murder At Holly House by Denzil Meyrick
  
• Marlene Harris reviews Murder at the Royal Botanic Gardens by Andrea Penrose
  
• Gayle Surrette reviews A Botanist's Guide to Flowers and Fatality by Kate Khavari
  
• Aunt Agatha's reviews The Proof in the Pudding by Rhys Bowen
• Doreen Sheridan reviews Syrup to No Good by Catherine Bruns and tries a recipe from the book, 
• Lesa Holstine reviews Murder Checks Out by Victoria Gilbert
• Lesa Holstine reviews My Cousin Skinny by E.J. Copperman
  
• Raven Crime Reads reviews The Beaver Theory by Antti Tuomainen, translated by David Hackston
• In Search of the Classic Mystery Novel reviews The Christmas Jigsaw Murders by Alexandra Benedict
  
• Mary Picken reviews The Christmas Appeal by Janice Hallett  
• Erin Britton reviews Have Yourself a Deadly Little Christmas by Vicki Delany
  
• Kevin Tipple reviews The Hairy Potter And Other Al Quinn Mystery Stories by Russ Hall
  

 

Classics reviews:

• Crossexamining Crime revisits the 1938 Inspector Charlton mystery The Case of the Michaelmas Goose by Clifford Witting
  
• Crossexamining Crime revisits the 1942 mystery Murder Amonbg Friends by Lange Lewis.
• Rupert Holmes revisits the 1944 supernatural mystery Rim of the Pit by Hake Talbot
  
• Crossexamining Crime revisits the 1949 mystery The Doors Open by Michael Gilbert  
• Crossexamining Crime revisits the 1949 mystery Curiosity Killed the Cat by Joan Cockin  
• Crossexamining Crime revisits the October 1951 issue of Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine. 
• Martin Edwards revisits the 1972 supernatural thriller Greenshards by Marie Buchanan a.k.a. Clare Curzon.
  
• B.V. Lawson revisits the 1975 domestic thriller  A Country Kind of Death by Mary McMullen. 
• Happiness is a Book revisits the 1988 Detective-Inspector Taff Roberts crime novel An Abuse of Justice by Roger Parkes,

 

Con and event reports:

• Lesa Holstine shares her experiences at the 2023 Buckeye Book Fair in Wooster, Ohio.
• David Barnett reports that campaigners and a generous donation have saved the birthplace of the Bronte sisters in Thornton, Bradford, UK. 
  

 

Research: 

• Elizabeth Greenwood talks about the many challenges facing women in romantic relationships with prisoners.
  
• Leyland Cecco reports about the case of Elnaz Hajtamiri, a Canadian woman who was abducted from herhome by false police officers and subsequently murdered.
• Tom Clavin talks about the Dalton Gang's final, doomed heists in the twilight of the Old West
  
• Andy Corbley reports that a new method of analysing cat DNA makes it much easier to place criminals at a crime scene, provided there was a cat involved.
  

 

Free online fiction: 

• "One Cold Moment" by Joel Nedecky in Guilty.
  
• "The Picardy Third" by Jacqueline Freimor in Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine's Fiction Podcast 
• "Last Words Unknown" by Chester Rogalski in Mystery Tribune.
• "Strays" by Kristine Kathryn Rusch.

 

Trailer and videos: 

•  Watch a trailer for season 2 of Reacher.