Crime Fiction Links of the Week for June 8, 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 Hit Man, Bad Boys: Ride or Die, Streets on Fire at forty, the ongoing controversy about the stalking drama Baby Reindeer, the 2024 Bodies from the Library conference, the investment firm Baillie Gifford pulling out of multiple UK literary festivals following pressure from activists and much more:

Crime fiction in general:  

• Crime Reads shares ten new crime novels coming out this week. 
• Sarah Weinman shares new mysteries and crime novels coming out this summer. 
• Victoria Helen Stone shares eight cold weather thrillers to enjoy this summer.
  
• Nolan Chase talks about crime novels set along the US Canadian border. 
• Joanna Pearson shares eight crime novels haunted by a central absence. 
• Erika Robuck discusses the fascination of anti-heroes. 
• Lori Roy talks about crime fiction's fascination with fame.
  
• Curtis Evans profiles the golden age mystery writer Q. Patrick a.k.a. Richard Wilson Webb and Martha Mott Kelley.
  
• Charlie Higson wonders how to update James Bond for the twenty-first century. 
• K.A. Cobell explains how the epidemic of missing and murdered indigenous women in North America inspired her new thriller Looking for Smoke. 
  
• Gary Phillips looks back on writing his 1994 Ivan Monk hardboiled mystery Violent Night in the wake of the Los Angeles riots of 1992. 
• Alejandro Nodarse talks about writing a thriller set in the "real" Miami.
  
• Lily Sampson explains how Roald Dahl’s Switch Bitch inspired her debut thriller The Switch 
  
• Leisha Chi-Santorelli reports that James Patterson is finishing Michael Crichton's unfinished novel Eruption.  
• Olivia Rutigliano shares a quiz about identifying classic detectives based on their descriptions. 
• Zack Budryck remembers Caleb Carr.
  
• Crime fiction writer and scholar Peter Lewis has died.
  

 

Film and TV: 

• Jack Seale calls Alaska Daily the Hallmark version of True Detective: Night Country 
• Garrick Webster shares his thoughts on the Swedish crime drama Jana: Marked for Life.
  
• Rachel Aroesti calls The Wrong Man: 17 Years Behind Bars a dignified and devastating documentary. 
  
• Lucy Mangan wonders why the true crime documentary Confessions of a Teenage Fraudster was dragged out to three hours. 
• Luke Y. Thompson shares his thoughts on the true crime documentary How To Rob A Bank
  
• Xan Brooks interviews Griffin Dunne, who appeared in An American Werewolf in London, Who's That Girl?, Me and Him, After Hours and many other and who is also the brother of actress Dominique Dunne who was murdered by her boyfriend iu 1982. 
  
• Scott Tobias revisits tthe 1984 adventure film Indiana Jones and tthe Temple of Doom for its fortieth anniversary.  
• Scott Tobias revisits the 1984 gangster film Once Upon a Time in America for its fortieth anniversary.
• Adam Fleet revisits the 1989 action film Road House. 
• Matt Schimkowitz reports that Disney will cease distributing DVDs in Australia and New Zealand.  
• Francisco Garcia remembers Dennis Potter, writer of Pennies From Heaven, The Singing Detective and many others.
  
• Actor and film producer Zack Norman, who starred in Romancing the Stone and produced and starred in Chief Zabu among many others, has died aged 83.  
• Actor Alan Scarfe, who appeared in Seven Days, Star Trek: The Next Generation, Star Trek: Voyager, Lethal Weapon III, Double Impact and many others, has died aged 77.
  

 

Comments on Hit Man:

• Natalia Keogan calls Hit Man a  sexy film noir-comedy
• Natalia Keogan interviews Richard Linklater, director of Hit Man.
  
• Adrian Horton wonders if Hit Man heralds the rebirth of the erotic thriller, which sex-obsessed film critics of The Guardian are depserate for. 
  

 

Comments on Bad Boys: Ride or Die : 

• Peter Bradshaw calls Bad Boys: Ride or Die a bromance full of pointless action explosions 
• Jesse Hassenger notes that after almost thirty years, the bad boys of Bad Boys: Ride Or Die are middle-aged, but that the movie is still dumb fun.
  

 

Comments on Streets on Fire at forty:

• Craig D. Lindsey revisits the 1984 neo-noir fantasy musical Streets of Fire and praises its soundtrack.  
• Emine Saner interviews Diane Lane, star of Streets on Fire, Cotton Club, The Full Monty, Rumble Fish and many others.  
  

Comments on the Baby Reindeer controversy: 

• Maya Young reports that Fiona Harvey, the woman believed to be the model for the character of Martha in the stalking drama Baby Reindeer, is sueing Netflix for defamation for 170 million US-dollar. 
• Dominic Patten reports about Fiona Harvey's lawsuit against Netflix and Netflix's statement in response.
  
• Stuart Heritage wonders what the Baby Reindeer lawsuit means for other television shows based more or less loosely on true events. 
• Jake Kanter posts a recording of actress Jessica Gunning auditioning for the role of Martha in Baby Reindeer.
  

 

Awards:

• The winners of the 2024 ITW Thriller Awards have been announced.
• The winners of the 2024 Fingerprint Awards have been announced.
• The finalists for the 2024 Bloody Scotland Debut Prize have been announced.
  
• The winners of the 2024 Maine Literary Awards have been announced.
  

 

Writing, publishing and promotion:

• Kanishk Tantia talks about using culture as more than just set dressing. 
  
• Lincoln Michel discusses MFA programs. 
• Jason Sanford weighs in on the bankruptcy of the Romance Writers of America.
  
• Elizabeth A. Harris and Alexandra Alter report that the US retailer Costco will only stock books during the holiday season, citing too much work stocking them.
  
• Lucy Knight reports that according to a recent study, children and teenagers in the UK and Ireland are reading fewer and "less challenging" books.

 

Interviews: 

• Crime Time interviews Mark Billingham.
  
• John Parker interviews John Connolly.
• Matthew Turbeville interviews Greg Iles.
  
• Paul Burke interviews Simon Toyne and Jane Casey.
  
• Nancie Clare interviews Susan Elia MacNeal.  
• Alan Petersen interviews Susan Elia MacNeal.   
• Kate Brody interviews Kat Davis.
  
• Craig Sisterson interviews Tom Baragwanath. 
• Deborah Kalb interviews Lori Roy. 
• The New Zealand Herald interviews Paul Cleave.
  
• Jill Amadio interviews Michael Finkel  
• Lisa Haselton interviews Angela van Breemen.
  
• Kevin Canfield interviews Frank Figliuzzi
  
  

Reviews:

• Jen Lucas reviews The Mercy Chair by M.W. Craven
• Jen Lucas and Mandie Griffiths review The Chamber by Will Dean
  
• Sandra Mangan reviews The Death Watcher by Chris Carter
  
• Mandie Griffiths reviews Taste of Blood by Lynda La Plante
  
• BOLO Books reviews If Something Happens To Me by Alex Finlay.
• Joseph B. Hoyos reviews Burn It All by Maggie Auffarth 
• Mike Parker reviews Holy City by Henry Wise 
• Doreen Sheridan reviews The Seminarian by Hart Hanson 
• Russell James reviewsw Kalman and the Sleeping Mountain by Joachim B. Schmidt
  
• Marlene Harris reviews Fatal Enquiry by Will Thomas 
• Lesa Holstine reviews The Last Note of Warning by Katharine Schellman
  
• Aunt Agatha's reviews The Missing Diamond by Lynn Morrison and Anne Radcliffe. 
• Lesa Holstine reviews Hall of Mirrors by John Copenhaver 
• Aunt Agatha's reviews Smoke and Mirrors by M.E. Hilliard. 
• Lesa Holstine reviews Smoke and Mirrors by M.E. Hilliard.  
• Mandie Griffiths reviews The Fascination by Essie Fox
  
• Vicki Weisfeld reviews French Windows by Antoine Laurain, translated by Louise Rogers Lalaurie. 
• Marlene Harris reviews The Bodies in the Library by Marty Wingate  
• Doreen Sheridan reviews Three Fudges and a Baby by Nancy Coco and tries a recipe from the book.
  
• Doreen Sheridan reviews The Last Murder At The End Of The World by Stuart Turton
  
• Aunt Agatha's reviews Same Difference by E.J. Copperman. 
• Kevin Tipple reviews Hoods, Hot Rods, and Hellcats, edited by Chad Eagleton.
  
• Aunt Agatha's reviews Long Haul: Hunting the Highway Serial Killers by Frank Figliuzzi.
   
  

Classics reviews:

• In Search of the Classic Mystery Novel revisits the 1931 mystery Murder At School a.k.a. Was It Murder? by James Hilton a.k.a. Glen Trevor 
• Happiness is a Book revisits the 1932 Algernon Vereker mystery The Polo Ground Mystery by Robin Forsythe
  
• Crossexamining Crime revisits the 1935 mystery Bloodshed in Bayswater by John Rowland
• In Search of the Classic Mystery Novel revisits the 1938 Doug Shelby mystery The D.A. Holds A Candle by Erle Stanley Gardner 
• Crossexamining Crime revisits the 1954 Abercrombie Lewker mystery Death Under Snowdon  by Glyn Carr   
• Happiness is a Book reviits the 1954 Inspector Pitt mystery Postman’s Knock by J. F. Straker
  
• Crossexamining Crime revisits the 1956 mystery Midsummer Murder by Cecil M. Wills  
• Joe Kenney revisits the 1968 caper novel Duffy by Harry Joe Brown, Jr. 
• Martin Edwards revisits the 1974 crime novel Saturday Games by Brown Meggs.
  
• James Davis Nicoll revisits the 1975 Joe Karns science fiction mystery Now You See It/Him/Them…  by Robert Coulson and Gene DeWeese 
• Joe Kenney revisits the 1988 Depth Force men'a adventure novel Death Cruise by Irving A. Greenfield
  
• In Search of the Classic Mystery Novel revisits the 2006 historical mystery Holmes On The Range by Steve Hockensmith
  

 

Con and event reports:

• Crossexamining Crime reports about the 2024 Bodies From the Library conference at the British Library in London, UK.
• In Search of the Classic Mystery Novel also reports about the 2024 Bodies From the Library conference. 
• Martin Edwards also reports about the 2024 Bodies From the Library conference.
  
• James Tapper and David Barnett report that the future of several literary festivals in the UK is in question, after protesters complained about the sponsor, investment firm Baillie Gifford.
• Lucy Knight reports that two more UK literary festivals, the Cheltenham literature festival and the Borders book festival, have cut ties with Baillie Gifford in response to protests and pressure. 
• Lucy Knight reports that Baillie Gifford have cancelled all remaining festival sponsorships in response to the attacks on their company. 
• Martha Gill points out that book festivals are easy targets for protesters and pressure groups, leading them to shoot themselves in the foot by rejecting sponsorship money.

 

Research: 

• Claire Longrigg traces Italian poet Maria Grazia Calandrone's quest to find out why her biological parents abandoned her and subsequently committed suicide.
• Joseph Cox chronicles the international operation that brought down the drug smuggle Owen Hanson in 2015. 
• McCraclen Poston Jr. talks about his former client Alvin Ridley, who was put on trial for allegedly imprisoning and killing his wife Virginia Ridley in 1997.
  

 

Free online fiction: 

• "Danny" by Raymond J. Brash in Shotgun Honey.  
• "On a Roll" by Arendse Lund in Shotgun Honey.  
• "The Second Way" by Albert Tucher in Shotgun Honey.  
  
• "The Viewing" by Mike A. Rhodes in Mystery Tribune.
• "Take The Honey and Run" by Jennie Marts in Mysteryrat's Maze Podcast. 
• “Worth It” by Chris L. Robinson in Punk Noir Magazine 
• "Hero Worship" by J.D. Clapp in Punk Noir Magazine
  
• "Manson Boy" by Amanda Dougherty in Punk Noir Magazine
  
• "Damn Stunner" by Devin Misko in Punk Noir Magazine

 

Trailers and videos: 

• Watch a trailer for The Killer's Game.