Crime Fiction Links of the Week for February 15, 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 Virdee, the final season of Cobra Kai, Apple Cider Vinegar, the latest on the sexual abuse allegations against Neil Gaiman, tributes to Amer Anwar and much more.
 

Crime fiction in general: 

• CrimeReads shares ten new crime novels coming out this week,  
• Laura Wilson shares her favourite recent crime novels and thrillers.
  
• CrimeReads shares the best debut crime novels for February 2025  
• Molly Odintz shares speculative murder mysteries and thrillers coming out in 2025.
  
• Marie Benedict shares her favourite novels from the so-called queens of mystery and crime fiction.
• Kirsten Sundberg Lunstrum explains why reading mysteries and crime novels offers people a safe way to confront their fears. 
  
• Ande Pliego talk about the power of humor in horror and thrillers.  
• Orlando Murrin explains why posh London neighbourhoods like Belgravia or Mayfair make as good settings for mysteries and crime novels as grittier neighbourhoods.
  
• Kate Alice Marshall explains how she turned her nightmares into her latest thriller. 
• Emily J. Smith explains how she turned her autobiographical novel into a thriller.
  
• Natalie Zutter shares five signs you might be crushing on a book. 
  

 

Tributes to Amer Anwar:

• British crime fiction writer Amer Anwer has died.
• Joy Kluver remembers Amer Anwar.

 

Comments on the sexual abuse allegations against Neil Gaiman:

• Jacqueline Howard reports that Amanda Palmer, former wife of Neil Gaiman, has denied the hum trafficking allegations against herself.
• Ella Creamer also reports that Amanda Palmer, former wife of Neil Gaiman, has denied the hum trafficking allegations against herself.

 

Film and TV: 

• Ellen E. Jones calls Get Millie Black a thrilling Caribbean crime drama that is shaking up TV
  
• Rebecca Nicholson declares that series 6 of Unforgotten still has the same dry sense of humour, but that its tackling of politics is starting to feel very ham-fisted 
• Mary Kate Carr calls Good Cop/Bad Cop a warm comedy mystery.  
• Saloni Gajjar shares her thoughts on the season 1 finale of High Potential. 
• Lacy Baugher Milas praises the performance of Lucy Boynton in A Cruel Love: The Ruth Ellis Story
  
• Phil Hoad declares that the horror film Mom does its best to keep things feeling supernatural as woman faced with impossible parenting demands slides into psychosis  
• Catherine Bray declares that Cara attempts to blend psychological drama and extreme horror, but ultimately falls between two stools
  
• Paul Hirons shares his thoughts on the Swedish crime drama The Åre Murders
  
• Chris Jenkins shares his thoughts on the latest episode of Astrid: Murder in Paris. 
• Garrick Webster shares his thoughts on the Gaelic language crime drama An t-Eilean 
• Paul Levinson shares his thoughts on the French/British spy thriller Liaison.
  
• Melody McCune shares her thoughts on the latest episode of Harley Quinn.   
• Paul Levinson shares his thoughts on the latest episode of Dexter: Original Sin.
• Lucy Mangan calls 26.2 to Life: Inside the San Quentin Prison Marathon deeply moving
• Lara Rosales shares her appreciation for the character of Viola Marsette from The Equalizer. 
• Rich Pelley interviews Ke Huy Quan, star of Everything Everywhere All At Once, The Goonies, Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, Love Hurts, Loki and many others.   
• Olivia Rutigliano revisits the 1959 gangster comedy Some Like It Hot.
  
• Martin Edwards revisits the 1964 horror thriller Nightmare. 
• Michael John Petty remembers the 1970 neo-western crime drama McCloud. 
  
• Martin Edwards revisits the 1990 psychological horror film Misery. 
• Jim Vorel revisits the 1995 western The Quick and the Dead.
  
• Rebecca Liu shares her experiences watching the supposedly worst movies of all times, which have a 0% rating on Rotten Tomatoes. 
  
• Kate Lloyd reports about how fake but realistic looking drugs are made for movies and TV shows.  
• Mark Sweeney reports that Austrian property developer Josef Kleindienst is challenging various trademarks associated with James Bond. 
  
• Benjamin Lee reports that the top-grossing films of 2024 were led by female protagonists as much as by men, buoyed by the success of Wicked and The Substance
• Cheryl Eddy reports that Disney is the latest company to cave in to Donald Trump's anti-DEI policies.  
• Dominic Patten reports that Disney employees are angry about the company caving to Donald Trump's anti-DEI policies.
• British actor P.H. Moriarty, best known for his roles in The Long Good Friday and Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels, has died aged 86.
  

 

Comments on Virdee:

• Lucy Mangan calls Virdee tremendous, tantalising, action-packed fun 
• Paul Hirons shares his thoughts on the first episode of Virdee.
  

 

Comments on season 6 of Cobra Kai:

• Christina Izzo declares that Cobra Kai bows out with a substantial and satisfying run of episodes
  
• Jack Seale calls the final season of Cobra Kai an emotional farewell.
• Tara Bennett declares that Cobra Kai comes to a satisfying series finale. 
• Germain Lussier shares eight things he loved and four he didn’t about Cobra Kai‘s final episodes 
• Germain Lussier explains why Cobra Kai never brought back one character from the original Karate Kid movies. 
• Germain Lussier talks about a deleted scene in Cobra Kai that would have changed everything.
  

 

Comments on Apple Cider Vinegar:

• Paul Hirons shares his thoughts on Apple Cider Vinegar.
• Monica Mercuri reports about the inspiration for the character of Milla Blake in Apple Cider Vinegar.
  

 

Writing, publishing and promotion: 

• Eimear McBride explains how studying method acting taught her how to write 
• Laura McCluskey explains how to believably isolate characters in the twenty-first century.
  
• Emily Temple explains how to write a good sex scene.
  
• Imogen West-Knights reports about book blurbs and why they may be on their way out.
• Elisabeth Egan asks whether book blurbs even matter and whether they actually sell books. 
• Christopher Buckley welcomes the end of the blurb. 
• Rebecca Makkai explains why blurbs matter and laments that they take up a lot of time. 
• Kate Knibbs reports that Thomson Reuters has won the first major AI copyright infringement lawsuit in the US.

 

Awards:

• The finalists for the 2025 Pulp Factory Awards have been announced.
  
• The winners of the 2025 Critics Choice Awards have been announced
• The winners of the 2025 Producers Guild Awards have been announced.  
• The winners of the 2025 DGA Awards have been announced. 
• The winners of the 2025 SCL Awards have been announced. 
  

 

Interviews: 

• Rafa de Miguel interviews Kate Atkinson.
  
• Craig Sisterson interviews Anna Sharpe. 
• Garrick Webster interviews Sergio Olguín
  
• Garrick Webster interviews Nick Boreham.
• E.B. Davis interviews Debra H. Goldstein
  
• Authors on the Air interviews Kate Alice Marshall 
• Lisa Haselton interviews Marlene M. Bell.
  

 

Reviews:

• Lesa Holstine reviews The Wolf Tree by Laura McCluskey 
• Mandie Griffiths reviews Jericho’s Dead by William Hussey 
• Jen Lucas reviews Last One Left Alive by Michael Wood
  
• Jen Lucas reviews Nemesis by Gregg Hurwitz
• Doreen Sheridan reviews Deep Fury by David Freed
• Paul Weimer reviews The Sentence by Gautam Bhatia   
  
• Sharon Richardson reviews The Inheritance by Trisha Sakhlecha
  
• John Self reviews Money to Burn by Asta Olivia Nordenhof 
• Vicki Weisfeld reviews Pele’s Prerogative by Albert Tucher
  
• Mary Picken reviews The Day of the Roaring by Nina Bhadreshwar
  
• Blue Book Balloon reviews Lie of the Land by Kerry Hadley-Pryce
• Mary Picken reviews Finding Rosie by Louisa Scarr 
• Jen Lucas reviews You Are Fatally Invited by Ande Pliego 
  
• Stephen Smith reviews Empty Wigs by Jonathan Meades  
• Steven Poole reviews Perspectives by Laurent Binet, translated by Sam Taylor
  
• BOLO Books reviews The Betrayal of Thomas True by A.J. West. 
• Marlene Harris reviews Dead in the Frame by Stephen Spotswood
• Doreen Sheridan reviews The Wagtail Murder Club by Krista Davis and tries a recipe from the book, 
• In Search of the Classic Mystery Novel reviews The Garden Club Murders by Jonathan Whitelaw
  
• Joseph B. Hoyos reviews Haunting and Homicide by Ava Burke
• Lesa Holstine reviews Death by Dumpling by Vivien Chien.
  
• Joseph B. Hoyos reviews  A Pie to Die For by Gretchen Rue
   
  

 Classics reviews:

• Paperback Warrior revisits the 1902 Sherlock Holmes mystery The Hound of the Baskervilles by Arthur Conan Doyle. 
• Martin Edwards revisits the 1927 Dr. Priestley mystery The Ellerby Case by John Rhode 
  
• Crossexamining Crime revisits the 1931 Hermann Glide mystery The Night of Fear by Moray Dalton 
• Happiness is a Book revisits the 1934 mystery The Unfinished Clue by Georgette Heyer 
  
• Crossexamining Crime revisits the 1934 Dr. Gideon Fell mystery The Blind Barber by John Dickson Carr 
  
• James Davis Nicoll revisits the 1970 Lord Darcy fantasy mystery Murder and Magic by Randall Garrett 
  
• Lesa Holstine revisits the 2003 Sheriff Dan Rhodes mystery Red, White & Blue Murder by Bill Crider 
• Kevin Tipple revisits the 2007 crime fiction anthology Murder New York Style, edited by Randy Kandel.
  

 

Con and event reports:

• In Search of the Classic Mystery Novel shares their experiences at the 2025 Stockport Noir crime fiction festival in Stockport, UK.
  
• Joy Kluver reports about an author event at the West Barnes Library in Merton, UK, featuring herself and Barbara Nadel.
• Nadeem Badshah reports that there have been several homophobic incidents at performances of the Dolly Parton musical Here You Come Again in London and Manchester, UK. 
  

 

Research: 

• John Valeri and Marcia Clark explain how they researched the case of Barbara Graham, who was executed in 1955 for a murder she may or may not have been involved in. 
• Michael Cannell profiles George Metesky, who committed a series of bombings in the 1950s to protest the insufficient compensation he received after being infured in an industrial explosion.
  
• Nathan Ward reports about a con artist who claimed to be a survivor of the massacre at Little Big Horn.
• Margarita Montimore shares eight bizarre pop culture conspiracy theories. 
• Clara Harter reports that an eighteen-year-old from Lancaster. California, has been sentenced to four years in prison after making 375 swatting calls
  

 

Free online fiction: 

• "Death is a Box of Chocolates" by Jon Gluckman in Punk Noir Magazine.
• "Better Than Chocolate" by Kenneth M. Gray in Punk Noir Magazine 
• "Sleeping with the Fishes in the Belly of a Gull" by Timaeus Bloom in Shotgun Honey.  
• "Exposure" by Colin Alexander in Shotgun Honey.

 

Trailers and videos: 

• Watch a trailer for Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning