Crime Fiction Links of the Week for January 4, 2025

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, Missing You, season 2 of Squid Game, tributes to Olivia Hussey and much more.
 

Crime fiction in general: 

• Crime Fiction Lover share their most anticipated crime novels of 2025.
• Paul French takes a look at crime novels set in Houston, Texas. 
• Katherine Greene shares five crime novels about fictional true crime podcasts.
  
• Curtis Evans profiles Fredric Brown and his affinity for circusses.
• Neil Nyren shares his appreciation for the works of Robert Crais.
  
• Elizabeth Minkel reports that in 2024, lots of companies tried to profit of fanfiction, usually unethically. 

  

Best of 2024:

• Lesa Holstine shares her favourite mysteries and crime novels of 2024.
• Mandie Griffiths shares her favourite mysteries and crime novels of 2024. 
• In Search of the Classic Mystery Novel shares her favourite mysteries and crime novels of 2024. 
  
• The Toronto Star shares their favourite mysteries, crime novels and thrillers of 2024. 
  
• Mike Parker shares his five favourite crime novels of 2024. 
• Vicki Weisfeld shares her five favourite crime novels of 2024. 
• George Easter shares his favourite crime novels of 2024. 
• Hank Wagner shares his favourite crime novels of 2024.  
• Kevin Tipple shares his favourite crime novels of 2024.   
• Steven Nester shares his favourite crime novels of 2024. 
• Happiness is a Book shares her favourite crime novels of 2024.
  
• The Killing Times share their favourite crime dramas of 2024 in a fourt part post. 
• Paste Magazine share their favourite action movies of 2024. 
  
• Brian Lindemuth shares his favourite crime comics of 2024.
  

 

 Film and TV: 

• Martin Edwards is not thrilled with the Agatha Christie adaptation A Haunting in Venice. 
• Cath Clarke notes that the historical crime movie Stockholm Bloodbath feels like Game of Thrones scripted by Guy Ritchie  
• Jack Seale calls season 2 of SAS Rogue Heroes air-punchingly good
  
• Saloni Gajjar calls Lockerbie: A Search For Truth a poignant true crime series.
  
• Paul Levinson shares his thoughts on the latest episode of Dexter: Original Sin. 
• The Killing Times looks ahead at crime TV series coming out in 2025. 
• Michael Cannell wonders whether we are experiencing the twilight of the mob movie.
  
• Will Tavlin talks about the rise and fall of Netflix and why so many of its movies and TV shows feel so generic. 
  
• Olivia Hussey, star of Death on the Nile, Romeo and Juliet and Black Christmas, has died aged 73. 
• David Thompson shares an obituary for Olivia Hussey.

 

Comments on Missing You:

• Jay Snow declares that Missing You misses the usual charm of Netflix’s Harlan Coben adaptations 
  
• Sarah Shaffi calls Missing You bingeable but overstuffed
• Rachel Sigee interviews Rosalind Eleazar, star of Missing You.
  

 

Comments on season 2 of Squid Game:

• William Hughes shares episode by episode reviews of season 2 of Squid Game.
• Jennifer Maas shares a guide to the new characters of season 2 of Squid Game.
  
• Jennifer Maas interviews Hwang Dong-hyuk, creator of Squid Game. 
  
• Cheryl Eddy interviews Lee Byung-hun, who plays the Front Man in Squid Game. 
• Emma Keates reports that season 2 of Squid Game supposedly broke several viewership records on Netflix.

 

Writing, publishing and promotion: 

• Alexandra Alter reports about the fashion for elaborately designed deluxe hardcover editions of romantasy books.
• Alec Scott profiles bookbinder Dominic Riley.

 

Awards:

• The winners of the 2024 Crime Reprint of the Year Awards have been announced.
• The winners of the 2024 Darth Vader Parenthood Award for Oustandingly Horrible Fictional Parents have been announced.
• The winner of the 2024 Jonathan and Martha Kent Fictional Parent of the Year Award has been announced.

 

Interviews: 

• Elisabeth Held interviews Jane Pek.
• Peter Handel interviews Christopher Bollen.
• Authors on the Air interviews Andromeda Romano-Lax 

 

Reviews:

• Blue Book Balloon reviews The Broken River by Chris Hammer 
• Mandie Griffiths reviews Living Is A Problem by Doug Johnstone
  
• Joseph B. Hoyos reviews Burn This Night by Alex Kenna  
• Matt Pechey reviews The Deep Dark Descending by Allen Eskens
  
• Joseph B. Hoyos reviews An Insignificant Case by Phillip Margolin 
• In Search of the Classic Mystery Novel reviews Murder For Busy People by Tony Parsons
  
• Jen Lucas reviews Murder For Busy People by Tony Parsons
  
• Aubrey Nye Hamilton reviews Kingpin by Mike Lawson 
• James Smart reviews Lazarus Man by Richard Price
  
• Matt Pechey reviews The Coalition by Samuel Marquis
  
• In Search of the Classic Mystery Novel reviews Death Comes In Threes by Michael Jecks  
• Runalong the Shelves reviews Sherlock Holmes And The Twelve Thefts of Christmas by Tim Major 
  
• Garrick Webster reviews Big Breath In by John Straley
  

 

Classics reviews:

• Paperback Warrior revisits the 1887 Sherlock Holmes mystery A Study in Scarlet by Arthur Conan Doyle.
  
• Happiness is a Book revisits the 1932 Asey Mayo mystery Death Lights a Candle by Phoebe Atwood Taylor 
• In Search of the Classic Mystery Novel revisits the 1942 mystery The Yellow Taxi a.k.a. Call A Hearse by Jonathan Stagge 
• Martin Edwards revisits the 1953 Nigel Strangeways mystery The Dreadful Hollow by Nicholas Blake

 

Con and event reports:

• Mark Sweeney reports that stage producer Cameron Mackintosh, who operates several theatres and successful show in London's West End, has reported a dip in profits amidst rising costs in 2024.

 

Research: 

• Jane Clinton reports that Sheila Fox from Coventry who went missing in 1972 aged 16 has been found alive and well.
• The Guardian reports that the FBI has seized one of the largest stockpiles of homemade explosives in its history in Virginia.
  

 

Free online fiction: 

• "You’re a Mean One" by Casey Stegman in Shotgun Honey.
• "Murder Santa" by S.T. Schorey in Shotgun Honey.
• "Supply and Demand" by K. A. Roy in Shotgun Honey.
• "When Life Gives You the Slip" by Curtis Ippolito in Shotgun Honey.
  
• "The Gift Horse" by Ken Derry in Mystery Tribune.
• "Meeting Madness" by Atlas Lee in Mystery Tribune
  

 

Trailers and videos: 

• Watch a trailer for season 2 of The Night Agent.
  
• Watch a trailer for Zero Day.
• Watch a teaser for season 2 of Dark Winds.