Crime Fiction Links of the Week for March 9, 2024
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 The Completely Made-up Adventures of
Dick Turpin, The Gentlemen, Shogun and much
more:
Crime fiction in general:
- Crime Reads shares ten new crime novels coming out this week.
- Paul French talks about crime fiction set in the Bahamas.
- Sophie Wan shares crime novels featuring badly behaving women.
- Paulette Kennedy shares seven gothic novels with a feminist perspective.
- Amy Tintera talks about amnesia as a plot device in psychological thrillers.
- Caroline Frost shares her favourite murder ballads.
- Lucinda Berry explains how she went from trauma psychologist to thriller writer.
- Ben H. Winters talks about reading John Le Carré's books in order.
- Katherine Reay talks about the inspiration for her spy novel The Berlin Letters.
- Joanna Briscoe remembers the late children's and mystery author Kate Saunders.
Film and TV:
- John DeVore calls Monsieur Spade the perfect vehicle for Clive Owen.
- Camestros Felapton calls Criminal Record very compelling.
- Manuel Betancourt calls Manhunt a historical thriller that's dead on arrival.
- Olivia Rutigliano calls Love Lies Bleeding is an eerie, electric body-horror thriller
- Peter Bradshaw calls Dogman a bizarre and macabre tale of canines, crime and drag
- Paul Hirons shares his thoughts on the first two episodes of The Marlow Murder Club.
- Melody McCune shares her thoughts on the season finale of Death and Other Details.
- Paul Hirons shares his thoughts on the series 2 finale of Trigger Point.
- Lara Rosales shares her thoughts on the latest episode of The Equalizer.
- Lara Rosales shares her thoughts on the latest episode of Law and Order: Special Victims Unit.
- Rachel Aroesti calls Sarah Everard: The Search for Justice a stomach-churning true crime documentary.
- Lucy Mangan calls The Push: Murder on the Cliff a an extraordinary documentary about unbearable relationship horrors
- Claire Armitstead interviews Ethan Coen, director of Drive-Away Dolls, and his wife, film editor Tricia Cooke
- Rich Pelley interviews Sir Ben Kingsley, who appeared in Sexy Beast, Jules, Iron Man 3 and many others.
- Martin Edwards revisits the 1978 horror thriller The Eyes of Laura Mars.
- Keith Roysdon revisits the 1984 adventure film Romancing the Stone.
- Julia Sirmons revisits the 1992 crime comedy Once Upon a Crime.
- Nellie Andreeva reports that the NCIS franchise is getting another spin-off focussed on fan favourite characters Tony DiNozzo and Ziva David.
- James Whitbrook reports that director Zack Snyder considers a Batman who won't kill irrelevant.
- Morgan Lee reports that armourer Hannah Gutierrez-Reed has been convicted of involuntary manslaughter for the fatal shooting of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins on the set of Rust.
- Gabriella Paiella traces how Anatomy of a Fall became an unlikely source of online memes.
- David
Bauder reports that many US TV networks have becomes ghost stations,
which are steadily losing viewers to streaming services.
- Gary Baum and Katie Kilkenny report that the film crew union IATSE is threatening to go on strike only months after the WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes shut down film and TV productions.
- Actress Ann Whitfield who appeared in White Christmas, The Thin Man, Perry Mason, 77 Sunset Strip, Hawaiian Eye, Kolchak - The Night Stalker and many others has died aged 85.
- Actor Charles Dierkop, who appeared in Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, The Sting, The St. Valentine's Day Massacre, Police Woman, Star Trek and many others, has died aged 87.
- British actress Pamela Salem, who appeared in Doctor Who, Blake's 7, Never Say Never Again and The Great Train Robbery, has died aged 80.
Comments on The Completely Made-Up Adventures of Dick Turpin:
Comments on The Gentlemen:
Awards:
Writing, publishing and promotion:
- Jaq Evans talks about writing settings that crawl under the skin.
- Elizabeth Minkel notes that quite a few people actually do make money from fan fiction, just not the authors.
- Elizabeth Minkel reports about the emerging art of fanbinding, i.e. fan fiction being bound as hardcover books.
- Brandon Sanderson reports about how he is trying to persuade Audible to offer terms more favourable to authors.
- Jim Milliot reports about the results of the latest Lee & Low study about diversity in the publishing industry.
- Ella
Creamer reports that a recent study in the UK has found that many
children feel judges for the reading choices and are put off reading for
pleasure.
- Colby Sharp wonders if author visits to schools are worth it.
Interviews:
Reviews:
- Kevin Tipple reviews Calculated in Death by J.D. Robb.
- Mary Picken reviews Jericho’s Dead by William Hussey
- P.D. Viner reviews City On Fire by Graham Bartlett
- Kevin Tipple reviews Three-Inch Teeth by C.J. Box
- Jen Lucas reviews Double Proof by Martin Stewart
- Lesa Holstine reviews Twice the Trouble by Ash Clifton
- John Valeri reviews One Wrong Word by Hank Phillippi Ryan
- Lesa Holstine reviews The Unquiet Bones by Loreth Anne White
- Jen Lucas reviews To Kill A Shadow by Julia Castleton
- Vicki Weisfeld reviews Geisha Confidential by Mark Coggins
- Sonja van der Westhuizen reviews The Lagos Wife by Vanessa Walters
- Joy Kluver reviews The Dream Home by T.M. Logan.
- Sara Eslami reviews The Resort by Sara Ochs
- Jen Lucas reviews Rodolfo Walsh’s Last Case by Elsa Drucaroff, translated by Slava Faybysh
- Lesa Holstine reviews Murder at the College Library by Con Lehane
- Joseph B. Hoyos reviews A Cryptic Clue by Victoria Gilbert
- Aunt Agatha's reviews Hanging with Hugo by Katherine Bolger Hyde
- Marlene Harris reviews Mastering the Art of French Murder by Colleen Cambridge
- BOLO Books reviews Cirque Du Slay by Rob Osler.
- In Search of the Classic Mystery Novel reviews Everyone On This Train Is A Suspect by Benjamin Stevenson
- Doreen Sheridan reviews Murder in the Tea Leaves by Laura Childs and tries a recipe from the book.
- BOLO Books reviews The Sasquatch of Harriman Lake by K.B. Jackson.
- Cheryl Morgan reviews The Imposition of Unnecessary Obstacles by Malka Older.
- Lesa Holstine reviews In True Face: A Woman’s Life in the CIA, Unmasked by Jonna Mendez and Wyndham Wood
- Crossexamining Crime reviews Penning Poison: A History of the Anonymous Letter by Emily Cockayne
Classics reviews:
- Alex Hortis revisits the 1842 Auguste Dupin mystery "The Mystery of Marie Roget" by Edgar Allan Poe and the real life 1841 murder case it was based upon.
- Olivia Rutigliano revisits the 1896 mystery Tom Sawyer, Detective by Mark Twain.
- Crossexamining Crime revisits the 1932 Michael Lord mystery Obelists at Sea by C. Daly King
- Martin Edwards revisits the 1938 true crime book File on Fenton and Farr by Q. Patrick a.k.a. Richard Webb and Hugh Wheeler
- Crossexamining Crime revisits the 1954 mystery story "The Way Up to Heaven" by Roald Dahl
- In Search of the Classic Mystery Novel revisits the 1954 mystery Impact Of Evidence by Carol Carnac a.k.a. E.C.R. Lorac.
- Martin Edwards revisits the 1956 Carolus Deene mystery Death of Cold by Leo Bruce.
- Happiness is a Book revisits the 1959 Hercule Poirot mystery Cat Among the Pigeons by Agatha Christie
- Paperback Warrior revisits the 1962 sleaze crime novel Flesh Parade by Andrew Shaw a.k.a. Lawrence Block.
- B.V. Lawson revisits the 1963 Luiz Mendoza police procedural Death of a Busybody by Dell Shannon.
Con and event reports:
- Matthew Jackson looks ahead at the movies debuting at the 2024 South by Southwest festival in Austin, Texas.
- Steven Morris reports about a controversy regarding plans to set up a statue of Jane Austen outside Winchester cathedral in Winchester, UK, where Jane Austen lies buried.
- Ella
Creamer reports that British schools have stopped asking kids to dress
up as favourite characters for World Book Day, because of costumes can
be a huge expense for many families.
Research:
- Doug Kelly shares a brief history of organized crime in the Florida Keys
- Imran Mahmoud points out that a trial and a verdict don't necessarily give the families of the dead or missing closure.
- Katherine Reay reports about the Venona Project, where women code breakers decrypted Soviet messages during the Cold War.
Free online fiction:
- "Thursday Affair" by Paul Ryan O’Connor in Shotgun Honey.
- "Grandpa Dave" by Joel Nedecky in Shotgun Honey.
- "Lose These Locks" by Robert Nazar Arjoyan in Mystery Tribune.
- "There’s a Kid in There" by Abe Margel in Mystery Tribune.
- "Prodigal Son" by J.D. Clapp in Punk Noir Magazine.
- "Baptism" by Steve Stark in Punk Noir Magazine.
- "A World of Pain" by Casey Stegman in Punk Noir Magazine.
- "Eight Ball Fracture(d)" by Bex Peyton in Punk Noir Magazine.
- "Bowie" by Eric Richer in Punk Noir Magazine.
- "Benny" by Lori D’Angelo in Punk Noir Magazine.
- "Patsy" by Joshua Parkes in Punk Noir Magazine.
- "Skin Deep" by Kristine Kathryn Rusch,
Trailers and videos:
If you enjoy reading crime thrillers and fact based espionage thrillers, of which there are only a handful of decent ones, do try reading Bill Fairclough’s Beyond Enkription. It is an enthralling unadulterated fact based autobiographical spy thriller and a super read as long as you don’t expect John le Carré’s delicate diction, sophisticated syntax and placid plots.
ReplyDeleteWhat is interesting is that this book is so different to any other espionage thrillers fact or fiction that I have ever read. It is extraordinarily memorable and unsurprisingly apparently mandatory reading in some countries’ intelligence agencies’ induction programs. Why?
Maybe because the book has been heralded by those who should know as “being up there with My Silent War by Kim Philby and No Other Choice by George Blake”; maybe because Bill Fairclough (the author) deviously dissects unusual topics, for example, by using real situations relating to how much agents are kept in the dark by their spy-masters and (surprisingly) vice versa; and/or maybe because he has survived literally dozens of death defying experiences including 20 plus attempted murders.
The action in Beyond Enkription is set in 1974 about a real maverick British accountant who worked in Coopers & Lybrand (now PwC) in London, Nassau, Miami and Port au Prince. Initially in 1974 he unwittingly worked for MI5 and MI6 based in London infiltrating an organised crime gang. Later he worked knowingly for the CIA in the Americas. In subsequent books yet to be published (when employed by Citicorp, Barclays, Reuters and others) he continued to work for several intelligence agencies. Fairclough has been justifiably likened to a posh version of Harry Palmer aka Michael Caine in the films based on Len Deighton’s spy novels.
Beyond Enkription is a must read for espionage cognoscenti. Whatever you do, you must read some of the latest news articles (since August 2021) in TheBurlingtonFiles website before taking the plunge and getting stuck into Beyond Enkription. You’ll soon be immersed in a whole new world which you won’t want to exit. Intriguingly, the articles were released seven or more years after the book was published. TheBurlingtonFiles website itself is well worth a visit and don’t miss the articles about FaireSansDire. The website is a bit like a virtual espionage museum and refreshingly advert free.
Returning to the intense and electrifying thriller Beyond Enkription, it has had mainly five star reviews so don’t be put off by Chapter 1 if you are squeamish. You can always skip through the squeamish bits and just get the gist of what is going on in the first chapter. Mind you, infiltrating international state sponsored people and body part smuggling mobs isn’t a job for the squeamish! Thereafter don’t skip any of the text or you’ll lose the plots. The book is ever increasingly cerebral albeit pacy and action packed. Indeed, the twists and turns in the interwoven plots kept me guessing beyond the epilogue even on my second reading.
The characters were wholesome, well-developed and beguiling to the extent that you’ll probably end up loving those you hated ab initio, particularly Sara Burlington. The attention to detail added extra layers of authenticity to the narrative and above all else you can’t escape the realism. Unlike reading most spy thrillers, you will soon realise it actually happened but don’t trust a soul.