Crime Fiction Links of the Week for May 25, 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 new Rebus, series 2 of Blue Lights, Sugar, Hit Man and much more:

Crime fiction in general:  

• Molly Odintz shares the most anticipated crime novels for summer 2024
• Crime Reads shares ten new crime novels coming out this week,
• Jaclyn Goldie shares six mysteries set in luxurious holiday destinations.
  
• Paul French shares crime novels set in Adelaide and South Australia. 
• Fiona McPhillips talks about the aesthetics and popularity of Dark Academia.
  
• Michael Bennett shares crime novels and films where dead characters show up to tell their story.
  
• Martin Edwards discusses how some Agatha Christie novels justify murder as the only solution to a graver problem. 
• Alexander Boldizar explains how his experiences as a refugee from former Czecheslovakia inspired his time travel thriller The Man Who Saw Seconds. 
  
• Reginald L. Reed Jr. points out that true crime all too often erases or minimises black victims of crime and their families. 
• Lucy Knight shares Anthony Horowitz's comments about diversity in literature.
  
• Crime fiction writer Harriet Tyce talks about giving up drinking. 
• Lauren Larson profiles romance writer Colleen Hoover, who is currently dealing with a massive case of writer's block. 
• Paul Weimer explains why the aggressive trolls that harrass Patrick Tomlinson also harrass him.
• Brazilian writer R.F. Lucchetti, who wrote books, comics, radio plays, TV and movie scripts in many genre, has died aged 94.  
  

 

Film and TV: 

• Jack Seale calls Insomnia a thriller whose protagonist spends a lot of time looking anguished in sweat-soaked pyjamas
• Catherine Bray calls 5 lbs of Pressure a low-key crime drama
  
• Xan Brooks calls The Surfer a barmy, low-budget thriller  
• Peter Bradshaw calls Motel Destino a terrifically acted Brazilian erotic noir thriller
  
• Lucy Mangan calls Imposter: The Man Who Came Back from the Dead the absolute zenith of true-crime TV 
• Rebecca Nicholson calls Cold Case Investigations: Solving Britain’s Sex Crimes a remarkably true criem documentary. 
• Lara Rosales shares her thoughts on the season 25 finale of Law and Order: Special Victims Unit. 
• Lara Rosales shares her thoughts on the season 2 finale of The Equalizer.
  
• Tom Philip shares his thoughts on the latest episode of The Sympathizer.
• Halley Sutton talks about noir cinemas eternal fascination with swimming pools. 
  
• Ben Zimmer explains how the B-movie got its name.
• Martin Edwards revisits the 1964 heist movie Topkapi.
  
• Martin Edwards revisits the 1984 Sherlock Holmes movie Sherlock Holmes and the Masks of Death
  
• Nicholas Russell revisits David Fincher's 2011 adaptation of Stig Larson's The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo. 
  
• Elisabeth Egan reports that actress Reese Witherspoon has specialised in producing adaptations of women's fiction and also hosts a book club focussing on such books.
  
• David Smith looks back on the WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes and their impact one year later. 
• Documentary film maker Morgan Spurlock, best known for Super Size Me, has died aged 53.  
• Vance Kotrla shares a tribute to Roger Corman.
   

Comments on Rebus: 

• Jack Seale declares that Richard Rankin is the most irresistible incarnation of Rebus yet 
• Paul Hirons shares his thoughts on the series premiere of the new Rebus. 
  

 

Comments on series 2 of Blue Lights: 

• Michael Hogan shares his thoughts on the series 2 finale of Blue Lights. 
• Paul Hirons shares his thoughts on episode 4 of series 2 of Blue Lights. 
  
• Paul Hirons shares his thoughts on the penultimate episode of series 2 of Blue Lights. 

 

Comments on Sugar: 

• Tobias Carroll talks about Sugar and the challenging art of genre hybrids 
  
• Paul Hirons shares his thoughts on Sugar and finds the show just puzzling.
  

 

Comments on Hit Man: 

• Peter Bradshaw calls Hit Man thoroughly entertaining fake-killer caper 
• Olivia Rutigliano calls Hit Man a surefire delight. 
  

 

Awards:

• The winners of the 2024 RNA Romantic Novel of the Year Awards have been announced.
• The finalists for the 2024 Lambda Literary Awards have been announced.
  

 

Writing, publishing and promotion:

• Hart Hanson discusses the differences between writing novels and screenplays. 
• Baron Birtcher talks about the intersection of writing and music.
  
• Ronald Kelly explains what the Toy Story movies can teach us about the relationship between old and new writers.
  
• Kate White shares thirteen weird or fascinating things she learned while researching her novels.
• Wrath James White explains under what circumstances it is okay for a non-black author to use the N-word in fiction. 
• Elizabeth Reed Aden recounts how she discovered several unpublished manuscripts by her godmother, golden age mystery writer Eunice Mays Boyd, and her quest to publish them and how it inspired her to writer her own mysteries. 
• Alexandra Alter and Elizabeth A. Harris report that Penguin Random House has dismissed the publishers of their Alfred J. Knopf and Pantheon and Schocken imprints.

 

Interviews: 

• John Valeri interviews Harlan Coben.
  
• Alan Petersen interviews Ajay Chowdhury
  
• Paul Burke interviews William Shaw.
  
• Stephen J. Golds interviews Cindy Rosmus.
• Deborah Kalb interviews James H. Lewis.
• Lisa Haselton interviews Raemi A, Ray.
  
  

Reviews:

• Mary Picken reviews The Kill List by Nadine Matheson  
• Doreen Sheridan reviews Granite Harbor by Peter Nichols 
• Craig Sisterson reviews City in Ruins by Don Winslow 
  
• Ali Karim reviews Small Mercies by Dennis Lehane   
• Jen Lucas reviews A Burning Question by Rachel Amphlett 
• Janet Webb reviews Double Tap by Cindy Dees
  
• Adam Colclough reviews Think Twice by Harlan Coben 
• In Search of the Classic Mystery Novel reviews Think Twice by Harlan Coben 
  
• Gwen Moffat reviews One Perfect Couple by Ruth Ware 
  
• Sandra Mangan reviews Missing White Woman by Kellye Garrett 
• Doreen Sheridan reviews Not Like Other Girls by Meredith Adamo
  
• Joseph B. Hoyos reviews She Left by Stacie Grey 
  
• Joseph B. Hoyos reviews Leave No Trace by A.J. Landau
• Doreen Sheridan reviews The Return of Ellie Black by Emiko Jean
  
• Jen Lucas reviews The Estate by Denzil Meyrick
  
• Heather Fitt reviews The Guests by Nikki Smith  
• Mandie Griffiths reviews Upstairs At The Beresford by Will Carver  
• John Valeri reviews The Accidental Joe by Tom Straw 
  
• Kevin Tipple reviews All the Rage in Texas by Russ Hall 
• Vicki Weisfeld reviews The Translator by Harriet Crawley
  
• Aunt Agatha's reviews The Last Hope by Susan Elia MacNeal 
• Doreen Sheridan reviews Disturbing the Dead by Kelley Armstrong
  
• Garrick Webster reviews Close to Death by Anthony Horowitz
  
• Aunt Agatha's reviews A Cyclist’s Guide to Crime & Croissants by Ann Claire.
• Doreen Sheridan reviews Death Unfiltered by Emmeline Duncan and tries a recipe from the book.
  
• Aunt Agatha's reviews A Twinkle of Trouble by Daryl Wood Gerber.
  
• Kevin Tipple reviews To Serve, Protect, and Write: Cops Writing Crime Fiction, edited by A.B. Patterson. 
  

 

Classics reviews:

• In Search of the Classic Mystery Novel revisits the 1938 Albert Campion mystery The Fashion In Shrouds by Margery Allingham 
• Crossexamining Crime revisits the 1938 Albert Campion mystery The Fashion In Shrouds by Margery Allingham 
• Martin Edwards revisits the 1939 Eustace Hailey mystery Door Nails Never Die by Anthony Wynne.
  
• Stephen J. Golds and Zeena Schreck revisit the 1946 noir novel Nightmare Alley by William Lindsay Gresham. 
  
• Paperback Warrior revisits the 1959 crime novel Return to Vikki by John Tomerlin.
• Steven Nester revisits the 1966 The Man from O.R.G.Y. spy spoof novel Dr. Nyet by Ted Mark. 
• Happiness is a Book revisits the 1967 Inspector Littlejohn mystery Death in Desolation by George Bellairs
  
• Joe Kenney revisits the 1974 Adrano For Hire men's adventure novel The Blood Bargain by Michael Bradley
  
• Crossexamining Crime revisits the 1975 Hercule Poirot mystery Curtain: Poirot’s Last Case  by Agatha Christie 
• Crossexamining Crime revisits the 2009 Mr Monk mystery Mr Monk and the Dirty Cop by Lee Goldberg  
  
• In Search of the Classic Mystery Novel revisits the 2011 Jack Haldean historical mystery Off The Record by Dolores Gordon-Smith
   
  

Con and event reports:

• Tim Adams shares his experiences at the 2024 CrimeFest in Bristol.
  
• Joy Kluver shares the full line-up for the 2024 Theakston Old Peculier Crime Writing Festival in Harrogate, Yorkshire
  
• Joy Kluver looks ahead at the historical crime fiction panel at Capital Crime in London, UK.
• Lesa Holstine reports about an author event with Lisa Scottoline in Columbus, Ohio. 
• Ella Creamer reports that two more guests have withdrawn from the Hay Literary Festival in Hay-on-Wye, Wales, because they disagree with one of the sponsors, investment firm Baillie Gifford.  
• Lucy Knight reports that the Hay Literary Festival in Hay-on-Wye, Wales, has dropped its sponsor, investment firm Baillie Gifford, following cancellations and protests by participants.
  

 

Research: 

• Olivia Rutigliano shares the most bizarre and shocking real life heists. 
• Jesse Fink reports about Dick Ellis, the Australian born British WWII spy who is believed to have been the real life model for James Bond and who may have been a double agent.
  
• Rachel Aviv casts some doubts on the conviction of British nurse Lucy Letby for allegedly murdering seven babies. 
• August Graham reports that Rachel Aviv's article about the Lucy Letby case is not available in the UK for legal reasons.
  

 

Free online fiction: 

• "Friday Night Lights" by Bond Elam in Mystery Tribune.
• "Wide Awake" by Victor De Anda in Punk Noir Magazine
• "She Sings a Tune You Cannot Follow" by Stephen Howard in Punk Noir Magazine 
• "The Show Off" by Joel Nedecky in Punk Noir Magazine  
• " Voices" by Nick Andreychuk in Mysteryrat’s Maze Podcast
  

 

Trailers and videos: 

• Watch a trailer for The Marlow Murder Club.
• Watch a trailer for Beverly Hills Club: Axel F.