Crime Fiction Links of the Week for May 11, 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 Responder, The Fall Guy, Bodkin, Dark Matter, La Chimera, Hollywood Con Queen, Baby Reindeer, tributes to Bernard Hill, Jeannie Epper and Shirley Conran and much more:

Crime fiction in general:  

• Crime Reads shares ten new crime novels coming out this week.
• Molly Odintz shares psychological thrillers coming out in May 2024. 
• Molly Odintz shares international crime novels coming out in May 2024.
  
• Stephen Hundley shares five crime novels and mysteries with wilderness settings. 
• Debbie Babbitt explains why trains are the perfect setting for murder mysteries. 
• Marjorie McCown talks about Los Angeles as both a setting and a character. 
• Julie Mae Cohen shares six crime novels featuring killer women.
  
• Sarina Bowen talks about domestic thrillers where the heroine saves herself.
  
• Mailan Doquang talks about morally ambiguous antiheroes in mysteries and thrillers
• Elka Ray shares crime and suspense novels about friendships.
  
• Leah Blaine shares her appreciation for the Sunfire line of historical YA romances of the 1980s and how revolutionary those books really were.  
• Curtis Evans profiles Nedra Tyre.
  
• Jack DuBrul looks back on his collaborations with Clive Cussler. 
• Pulp scholar Rick Lai died aged 68.
• Mystery writer Camille Minichino has died. 
• Crime fiction writer Frederick Zackel has died aged 77.
  
• British writer Shirley Conran, best known for her novel Lace, has died aged 91.
• Veronica Horwell shares an obituary of Shirley Conran.

 

Film and TV:

• Leah Schnelbach declares that Dead Boy Detectives makes a case for a cute gay afterlife
  
• Alex Wallace calls Boy Kills World a gleefully demented action movie that turns what would be horrific in any other context into something funny.  
• Jesse Hassenger calls The Last Stop In Yuma County a crime drama is more than its influences
  
• Leslie Felperin calls The Image of You a schlocky erotic thriller 
• Emma Keates declares that Poolman is as bad as everybody said it was. 
•  Michael Hogan shares his thoughts on the latest episode of Blue Lights.
  
• Chris Jenkins shares his thoughts on the season 3 finale of Astrid: Murder in Paris.
• 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.
  
• Tom Philip shares his thoughts on the latest episode of The Sympathizer.
  
• Jack Seale calls Spacey Unmasked far more than a did-he-didn’t-he exposé 
  
• Rosy Cordero interviews Shemar Moore, star of Criminal Minds and SWAT.
• Aaron Hicklin interviews Jennifer Connelly, star of Labyrinth, Dark City, Once Upon a Time in America, Dark Matter and many others. 
• Drew Gillis revisits the 1944 suspense thriller Gaslight. 
  
• Charles Bramesco takes a look at the 1960s trend for movies about mental breakdowns.  
• Gideon Marcus shares his favourite TV shows of the later 1960s.   
• Peter Bradshaw revisits the 1987 thriller Hidden City. 
• Peter Bradshaw revisits the 1994 noir comedy Shallow Grave.
  
• In Search of the Classic Mystery Novel revisits season 2 of Monk, which aired in 2003/2004.
  
• Justin Carter revisits the 2019 movie Detective Pikachu.
   

Comments on series 2 of The Responder: 

• Lucy Mangan calls series 2 of The Responder another total TV triumph
• Paul Hirons shares his thoughts on the first episode of series 2 of The Responder.
  

 

Comments on The Fall Guy: 

• Joshua M. Patton calls The Fall Guy part romantic-comedy, part action-thriller and whole celebration of cinema and the stunt performers who make the spectacle happen.
• William Hughes finds the end credits stunt reel the coolest thing about The Fall Guy. 
• Catherine Shoard wonders how The Fall Guy could flop and what this means for Hollywood.
  

 

Comments on Bodkin: 

• Lucy Mangan calls Bodkin a funny Irish thriller for fans of Only Murders in the Building. 
• Jarrod Jones calls Bodkin an off-kilter, darkly funny riff on true-crime hackery
  

 

Comments on Dark Matter: 

• Cheryl Eddy calls Dark Matter a twisty science fiction thriller with a very human heart
• Lucy Mangan calls Dark Matter a fun multiverse thriller
  
• Tom Philip declares that Dark Matter lays out some very heady metaphysical concepts 
• Paul Levinson shares his thoughts on the first two episodes of Dark Matter.

 

Comments on La Chimera: 

• Peter Bradshaw calls La Chimera an uproarious adventure teeming with life 
• Xan Brooks interviews Alice Rohrwacher, director of La Chimera. 
  

 

Comments on Hollywood Con Queen: 

• Lucy Mangan calls Hollywood Con Queen a truly boring journey through an astonishing scam
• Leila Latif shares her thoughts on the true crime documentary Hollywood Con Queen  
  

 

Comments on Baby Reindeer:

• Piers Morgan interviews the woman who is believed to be the real world model for the character of Martha in Baby Reindeer and she has nothing good to say about writer/director/star Rchard Gadd.
• Stuart Heritage finds that the Piers Morgan interview with the real world model for Martha reeks of grubby exploitation.
  
• Jake Kanter reports that Richard Gadd, writer and star of Baby Reindeer, has been questioned by Netflix for dating an actress who auditioned for the series. 

 

Tributes to Bernard Hill:

• British actor Bernard Hill, who played King Théoden in Lord of the Rings, Captain Edward Smith in Titanic and also appeared in The Responder, Wolf Hall, The Scorpion King, The Boys from the Black Stuff and many others, has died aged 79.
• Ryan Gilbey shares an obituary for Bernard Hill. 
• Mark Lawson remembers Bernard Hill's performance in The Boys from the Black Stuff. 
• James Whitbrook remembers Bernard Hill's performance as King Théoden in the Lord of the Rings movies.
  

 

 Tributes to Jeannie Epper:

• Stuntwoman Jeannie Epper, who worked on Wonder Woman, Charlie's Angels, Total Recall, Minority Report, Demolition Man, Foxy Brown and many others, has died aged 83.  
• Jeremy Dick looks back on Jeannie Epper's career. 
• Mike Barnes remembers Jeannie Epper.

 

Awards:

• The finalists for the 2024 Anthony Awards have been announced.
• The finalists for the 2024 Maine Literary Awards have been announced. 
  

 

Writing, publishing and promotion:

• Amy Berg talks about writing inside a box.
  
• May Haddad shares a writer's guide to sailor's knots.
• Philip Athans explains why friends might not be the best source of writing feedback.
  
• Lincoln Michel shares more publishing facts you may not know.
  
• Madeline Ashby reports that romance writer K. Renee was locked out of her Google Docs account for supposedly inappropriate content and lost access to her works in progress. 
• Ella Creamer and Lucy Knight report that audiobook downloads in the UK have risen by seventeen percent in 2023. 
• Ella Creamer reports that BookTok Bookshelves will be placed in youth centers in deprived parts of the UK.
  
• Francesca Mancino talks about the complicated ethics of rare book collecting.
  
• PEN America reports that a record number of writers have been jailed worldwide in 2023.
  
• David Barnett reports that the UK Society of Authors is in uproar again, because members voted against a resolution on the war in Gaza and in favour of a resolution to boycott the investment firm Baillie Gifford for the sin of investing in fossil fuels.

 

Interviews: 

• Nancie Clare interviews Abir Mukherjee
  
• Debbi Mack interviews Charles Salzberg. 
• E.B. Davis interviews Annette Dashofy.
  
• Paul Burke interviews Chris Harding Thornton.
• Lesa Haselton interviews Kevin R. Doyle.
• The Guardian interviews Leila Slimani.
  
  

Reviews:

• Jen Lucas reviews The Kill List by Nadine Matheson
  
• The Quick and the Read reviews The Kill List by Nadine Matheson 
  
• Jen Lucas reviews The Life Sentence by Jackie Kabler
• Sharon Richardson reviews Hunted by Abir Mukherjee   
  
• In Search of the Classic Mystery Novel reviews Hunted by Abir Mukherjee   
• Jen Lucas reviews Hunted by Abir Mukherjee   
  
• Sonja van der Westhuizen reviews Return to Blood by Michael Bennett
  
• Mary Picken reviews The Hollow Mountain by Douglas Skelton 
• Lesa Holstine reviews A Lonesome Place for Dying by Nolan Chase
• Jen Lucas reviews Thirty Days of Darkness by Jenny Lund Madsen, translated by Megan Turney 
• Mandie Griffiths reviews Thirty Days of Darkness by Jenny Lund Madsen, translated by Megan Turney
• Tzer Island reviews The Instruments of Darkness by John Connolly 
• In Search of the Classic Mystery Novel reviews The Brutal Tide by Kate Rhodes 
  
• Kirkus reviews The Return of Ellie Black by Emiko Jean.
  
• Crime Book Girl reviews The Kitchen by Simone Buchholz, translated by Rachel Ward.
  
• Marlene Harris reviews Lost Birds by Anne Hillerman 
• Mark Yon reviews Extinction by Douglas Preston.  
• Sharon Mensing reviews The Rush by Michelle Prak.
  
• Joseph B. Hoyos reviews Betrayal by Phillip Margolin
• Monica Germana reviews A Spy Like Me by Kim Sherwood 
• Vicki Weisfeld reviews The Debt Collector by Steven Max Russo
  
• Raven Crime Reads reviews Step Inside My Soul by Nick Curran. 
• Doreen Sheridan reviews A Better World by Sarah Langan 
• Bookanon reviews Safe and Sound by Laura McHugh 
  
• Mary Picken reviews Murder under the Midnight Sun by Stella Blómkvist, translated by Quentin Bates 
• Paul Burke reviews Murder under the Midnight Sun by Stella Blómkvist, translated by Quentin Bates 
  
• Kevin Tipple reviews The General’s Gold by LynDee Walker and Bruce Robert Coffin
  
• Aunt Agatha's reviews The Deepest Lake by Andromeda Romano-Lax.
• Aunt Agatha's reviews A Nest of Vipers by Harini Negendra. 
• Crossexamining Crime reviews The Mystery of Treefall Manor by J. S. Savage  
• Aubrey's Nye Hamilton reviews The Witching Hour by Catriona McPherson
  
• BOLO Books reviews The Bootlegger’s Daughter by Nadine Nettmann. 
• James Davis Nicoll reviews The Mimosa Tree Mystery by Ovidia Yu
  
• Lucy Popescu reviews The Lost Love Songs of Boysie Singh by Ingrid Persaud 
• Aunt Agatha's reviews A Fatal Reception by Kathleen Marple Kalb.
• Jen Lucas reviews The List of Suspicious Things by Jennie Godfrey
• Aunt Agatha's reviews A Murder Most French by Colleen Cambridge.  
• Doreen Sheridan reviews A High Tide Murder by Emily George and tries a recipe from the book.
  
• Doreen Sheridan reviews You’d Look Better As A Ghost by Joanna Wallace
• John Mauro reviews Murder at Spindle Manor by Morgan Stang  
• Erin Britton reviews Murder Under the Sun, edited by Cecily Gayford
  
• Crossexamining Crime reviews The Book Forger: The True Story of a Literary Crime that Fooled the World by Joseph Hone
  

 

Classics reviews:

• Happiness is a Book revisits the 1937 crime novel Murder in the WPA by Alexander Williams
  
• Crossexamining Crime revisits the 1954 mystery Impact of Evidence by Carol Carnac 
• Bruce Riordan revisits the 1957 crime novel A Rage in Harlem by Chester Himes.
  
• Paperback Warrior revisits the 1962 sleaze crime novel Bait by George Cassidy a.k.a. William Vance 
• B.V. Lawson revisits the 1967 mystery Shroud of Canvas by Isobel Lambot. 
  
• James Davis Nicoll revisits the 1980 speculative thriller The Devil's Game by Poul Anderson.
   
  

Con and event reports:

• For Eternia reports about the 2024 Chiller Theater event in Parsippany, New Jersey.
• Mur Lafferty talks about attending conventions and generating confidence. 
  
• Patrick S. Tomlinson reports how PenguiCon in Ann Arbor, Michigan, disinvited him, giving in to the trolls relentlessly stalking him.

 

Research: 

• Vikram Dodd and Rajeev Syal report that the UK government has instigated crisis measures to ease prison overcrowding.
  

 

Free online fiction: 

• "Family Business" by Dan Crosby in Mystery Tribune.
• "No Mystery Here" by George Wilhite in Mystery Tribune.
• "Semper Fidelis" by Joe Badalamente in Shotgun Honey.
  
• "Recipe for Betrayal" by Debra Bliss Saenger in Punk Noir Magazine  
• "Two Acts" by Ailsa Cawley in Punk Noir Magazine 
  
• "About 10:45 Just Outside of Steelville" by P.J. McAvoy in Punk Noir Magazine 
  
• "Flying South" by James Maxwell in Punk Noir Magazine
• "Gone Fishing" by G.A. Rivers in Punk Noir Magazine 
• "The Changing Room" by Sheila Kohler in Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine's Fiction Podcast  
• "Three Faces of a Beheading" by Arkady Martine in Uncanny Magazine.   

 

Trailers and videos:

• Watch a trailer for Presumed Innocent.