Crime Fiction Links of the Week for December 14, 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 best crime books of 2024, Black Doves, The Equalizer and much more.
 

Crime fiction in general:  

• Crime Reads shares five new crime novels coming out this week.  
• John Valeri shares a round-up of holiday mysteries.
  
• Sharon Short talks about the appeal of closed circle mysteries. 
• Jennifer K. Morita shares crime fiction by Hawaiian authors. 
• Darby Kane shares seven thrillers about dysfunctional couples who don't get or deserve a happy ending.
  
• Conor Dougherty talks about Walter Mosley's Easy Rawlins crime novels and how Easy Rawlins created a small real estate empire on the side, while solving crimes.
• Ginger Bolton wonders why there are so many characters named Hannah in mystery novels. 
• Olivia Worley explains how New Orleans' tradition of debutante balls inspired her latest mystery.
  

  

Best of 2024:

• Alison Flood shares her favourite crime novels and thrillers of 2024. 
• Crime Reads share their favourite crime novels of 2024. 
• Mystery Tribune share their favourite crime and mystery books of 2024. 
• Craig Sisterson shares his favourite crime novels and thrillers of 2024.
  
• Tom Nolan shares his favourite mysteries of 2024.  
• Steve Donoghue shares his favourite mysteries of 2024. 
• Steve Donoghue shares his favourite thrillers of 2024.  
• Crime Reads share their favourite debut crime novels of 2024.
  
• Crime Reads shares their favourite spy novels of 2024.
  
• Aunt Agatha's shares their favourite historical and cozy mysteries of 2024.
• Molly Odintz shares her favourite historical crime novels of 2024. 
• Molly Odintz shares her favourite international crime fiction of 2024. 
  
• Ayo Onatade shares her favourite non-fiction crime books of 2024.
  

 

 Film and TV: 

• Leah Schnelbach calls Interior Chinatown a fun and heartfelt adaptation of Charles Yu’s amazing novel  
• Brian Tallerico calls Dexter: Original Sin not a killer prequel.
  
• Tomris Laffly calls The Nickel Boys a stunning and inventive adaptation
  
• In Search of the Classic Mystery Novel shares his thoughts on series 1 of Return to Paradise.
• Martin Edwards shares his thoughts on the latest adaptation of The Day of the Jackal. 
• Paul Hirons shares his thoughts on the Italian crime drama Dostoyevsky
  
• The AV-Club shares their favourite filmic heists.
• Denise Petski and Nellie Andreeva report that Matthew Gray Gubler will reprise his role as Spencer Reid in Criminal Minds Evolution.
  
• Actor Mark Withers, best remembered for his roles in Dynasty, Hart to Hart, Criminal Minds, Sense8, Stranger Things and many other, has died aged 77.
• Actor Michael Cole, best remembered for starring in The Mod Squad, has died aged 84. 
  

 

Comments on Black Doves: 

• Paul Hirons calls Black Doves big, bold, cinematic, heaps of fun and a real Christmas treat.
• Paul Levinson calls Black Doves a snow white thriller
  

 

Comments on The Equalizer:

• Lara Rosales shares her thoughts on the latest episode of The Equalizer. 
  
• Lara Rosales shares her appreciation for the character of Melody Bayani in The Equalizer.
  

 

Writing, publishing and promotion: 

• Tracy Clark explains how she creates villainous characters. 
• Ella Creamer reports that the UK Society of Authors calls for celebrity memoir ghostwriters to be credited 
  
• David Brand and Ramsey Khalifeh report that employees at the famous Strand bookstore in New York City have gone on strike to demand higher wages.
• John Maher reports that the strike at the Strand bookstore in New York City has ended, because the management and the union came to a tentative agreement.

 

Awards:

• The winners of the 2024 Crime Fiction Lover Awards have been announced.
• The finalists for the 2024 Golden Globes have been announced.  
• The film nominations for the 2024 Critics Choice Awards have been announced. 
  
• Ella Creamer reports that many literary awards are under fire by pressure groups for the supposed moral failings of their sponsors. 
  

 

Interviews: 

• Alan Petersen interviews Marcia Clark. 
• Suspense Magazine interviews Charlaine Harris.
  
• Paul Burke interviews Chris McGinley.
  
• Kevin Canfield interviews William Boyd.
• Suspense Magazine interviews Emma Kenny. 
  

 

Reviews:

• Jen Lucas reviews Dead If You Don’t by Peter James
  
• Mary Picken reviews The Broken River by Chris Hammer 
• Paul Burke reviews How Not to Kill a Spy by John Fullerton
  
• Matt Pechey reviews Retribution by Robert McCaw 
• Kevin Tipple reviews Echo by Tracy Clark
• Vicki Weisfeld reviews Havoc by Christopher Bollen 
  
• Jen Lucas reviews 36 Hours by Angela Marsons
• Doreen Sheridan reviews The Queen by Nick Cutter
  
• Doreen Sheridan reviews A Very Bad Thing by J. T. Ellison 
• Jen Lucas reviews Stalker by Lars Kepler
  
• Paperback Warrior reviews Quarry’s Return by Max Allan Collins
  
• Marlene Harris reviews The Hero She Deserves by Anna Hackett  
• Marlene Harris reviews A Snake in the Barley by Candace Robb 
• Jen Lucas reviews The Thieftaker’s Trek by Joan Sumner
• Gwen Moffat reviews The Secret of the Three Fates by Jess Armstrong  
• Jen Lucas reviews Paris In The Dark by Robert Olen Butler
• Janet Webb reviews Karla’s Choice: A John le Carré Novel by Nick Harkaway
  
• In Search of the Classic Mystery Novel reviews Hercule Poirot’s Silent Night by Sophie Hannah 
• In Search of the Classic Mystery Novel reviews Death On Ice by R.O. Thorpe
  
• Lesa Holstine reviews Booked for Murder by P.J. Nelson
  
• Lesa Holstine reviews Pretty Dead Things by Lilian West 
• Doreen Sheridan reviews A New Lease On Death by Olivia Blacke 
• Lesa Holstine reviews A Turkey of a Day by Heather Graham 
  
• Joseph B. Hoyos reviews Eight Very Bad Nights, edited by Tod Goldberg
• Martin Edwards reviews Agatha Christie's Marple: Expert in Wickedness by Mark Aldridge.
  
• Gaby Hinsliff reviews Unmasking Lucy Letby: the Untold Story of the Killer Nurse by Jonathan Coffey and Judith Moritz
• Chris Wolak reviews Trial By Ambush: Murder, Injustice, and the Truth about the Case of Barbara Graham by Marcia Clark 

 

Classics reviews:

• Happiness is a Book revisits the 1925 mystery The Witness on the Roof by Annie Haynes
  
• Crossexamining Crime revisits the 1956 mystery Murder in Vienna by E. C. R. Lorac 
• Paperback Warrior revisits the 1959 crime novel Hired Lover by Orrie Hitt. 
• Martin Edwards revisits the 1970 thriller The Disappearance a.k.a. Echoes of Celandine by Derek Marlowe.  
• Joe Kenney revisits the 1974 The Executioner men's adventure novel New Orleans Knockout, by Don Pendleton
  
• B.V. Lawson revisits the 1983 Charlie Salter mystery novel The Night the Gods Smiled by Eric Wright.
  
• Crossexamining Crime revisits the 1985 Professor Andrew Basnett mystery The Crime and the Crystal by Elizabeth Ferrars 
  
• Paperback Warrior revisits the 1989 survival thriller The Wilds by Claude Teweles.
  

 

Con and event reports:

• Lesa Holstine shares a video of an author event with Marcia Clark at The Poisoned Pen bookstore in Scottsdale, Arizona.
  
• Mark Lawson reports about The Housetrap, an Agatha Christie inspired interactive mystery play in West Horsley Place, UK.
• Adrian Horton reports about the Imaginary Books exhibition in Manhattan, New York.  
  

 

Research: 

• Kate McCusker reports about Maria Arbuckle, who had her baby son forcibly taken away by Irish nuns in 1981.
• Joshua Corin explains why AI shouldn't be used to solve crimes. 
  

 

Free online fiction: 

• "McCain Takes a Bullet" by Thomas Burchfield in Mystery Tribune.
• "Turning Fifty" by Alexis Stefanovich-Thomson in Mystery Tribune.
• "List of Contributors" by Twist Phelan in Mystery Tribune.
• "Troy and Me — a Christmas Crime" by Drew Gummerson in Punk Noir Magazine 
• "A Christmas Carole — a Christmas Crime" by Meghan Leigh Paulk in Punk Noir Magazine
  
• "Cancel Christmas — a Christmas Crime" by Keith Roysdons in Punk Noir Magazine 
• "Xmas Time — a Christmas Crime" by Frank Sonderborg in Punk Noir Magazine  
• "The Ho Ho Ho Hit" by John Weagly in Punk Noir Magazine.
• "Ho! Ho! Ho! The Couch Has To Go — a Christmas Crime" by Dennis Smith in Punk Noir Magazine 
• "You Better Not Cry" by S.D.W. Hamilton in Punk Noir Magazine.
• "Let Nothing You Dismay! " by Offer Kuban in Punk Noir Magazine.
  
• "Gnomes For the Holidays" by Margaret S. Hamilton in Mysteryrat's Maze Podcast.
  

 

Trailers and videos: 

• Watch a trailer for season 3 of Reacher. 
  
• Watch a trailer for season 3 of Yellowjackets.