Crime Fiction Links of the Week for April 19, 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 Leverage: Redemption, Government Cheese, The Stolen Girl, Dead Mail, Daredevil: Born Again, season 3 of Yellowjackets, tributes to Mario Vargas Llosa, Jean Marsh and Ted Kotcheff and much more.
 

Crime fiction in general: 

• CrimeReads shares ten new crime novels coming out this week,   
• Alison Flood shares her favourite recent crime novels and thrillers.
• Laura Wilson shares her favourite recent crime novels and thrillers.
  
• CrimeReads shares their five favourite debut crime novels for April 2025.
  
• In Search of the Classic Mystery Novel shares his ten favourite mysteries of the 1940s.
• Bailey Seibolt shares ten mysteries set in the bleak midwinter
  
• Molly Odintz shares thrillers fans of The White Lotus should read. 
• C.L. Montblanc notes that YA novels are full of kids committing crimes.
  
• Robert Jackson Bennett talks about writing a fantasy murder mystery.  
• Max Allan Collins talks about continuing the work of Dashiell Hammett
• Abbi Waxman explains how being the daughter of crime writer Paula Gosling made her become  a crime writer herself.
  

 

Tributes to Mario Vargas Llosa:

• Peruvian writer and Nobel laureate Mario Vargas Llosa has died aged 89.
• Alberto Manguel remembers Mario Vargas Llosa. 
• Nick Caistor shares an obituary for Mario Vargas Llosa.

 

Film and TV:  

• Jarrod Jones calls Sherlock & Daughter a charming new historical mystery series. 
• Caroline Siede calls Drop a loving homage to the underrated thriller Red Eye
  
• Lucy Mangan calls The Diamond Heist a thrilling documentary about the failed Millennium Dome jewel robbery
• Luke Buckmaster calls The Correspondent an important and powerfully told movie about a jounalist jailed in Egypt. 
• Paul Hirons shares his thoughts on the Swedish crime drama The Glass Dome
  
• Lara Rosales shares her thoughts on the latest episode of The Equalizer. 
• Paul Hirons shares his thoughts on the final two episodes of Reunion.
• Olivia Rutigliano discusses the visible and invisible women of Killing Eve. 
• Kaiya Shunyata praises the performance of Zahn McClarnon in Dark Winds.
• Jesse Pasternak revisits the 1983 remake of the French New Wave classic Breathless. 
• Paul Hirons revisits the 2012 historical crime drama Ripper Street.
  
• Tom Gauld shares a cartoon about creating an action movie.
• The Guardian shares more details about the deaths of Gene Hachman and his wife Betsy Arakawa.
  
• Actor Nicky Katt, best known for his appearances in Insomnia, The Dark Knight, Batman and Robin, Dazed and Confused, Sin City, Planet Terror, The Limey and many others, has died aged 54.
  
• Ted Kotcheff, director of  First Blood, Weekend at Bernie’s and Fun With Dick and Jane, has died aged 94.
• Andrew Pulver remembers Ted Kotcheff. 
• Jean Marsh, star of Willow, Return to Oz, Doctor Who, Upstairs Downstairs, Frenzy, The Eagle Has Landed, Fatherland and many others, has died aged 90.  
• Aneesa Ahmed remembers Jean Marsh.

 

Comments on Leverage: Redemption:

• Rachel Ayers declares that Leverage: Redemption manages to recapture the magic of the original Leverage. 
• LaToya Ferguson calls the latest season of Leverage: Redemption the leanest one yet. 
• Diana Keng shares a primer to Leverage: Redemption. 
• Diana Keng also shares episode by episode reviews of Leverage: Redemption.

 

Comments on The Stolen Girl: 

•  Lucy Mangan calls The Stolen Girl an enjoyably preposterous thriller that you will forget within five seconds of finishing it 
• Tom Philip calls The Stolen Girl fresher and fleeter than your average crime miniseries

 

Comments on Government Cheese:

• Jack Seale calls Government Cheese a beautiful-looking, zany, 1960s-set show about a former criminal, that's also incoherent.
• Brian Tallerico finds Government Cheese clever and compares the series to the works of the Coen Brothers. 
• Elijah Gonzales calls Government Cheese a strange dramedy.
  

Comments on Dead Mail:

• Jim Vorel calls Dead Mail an utterly unique, disorienting analog thriller  
• Natalia Keogan calls Dead Mail an innovative investigative thriller 
• Cheryl Eddy calls Dead Mail a grimy retro horror thriller well worth seeking out
  

 

Comments on Daredevil: Born Again:

• Leah Schnelbach shares her thoughts on “Straight To Hell”, the season finale of Daredevil: Born Again. 
• Jarrod Jones shares his thoughts on  “Straight To Hell”, the season finaleof Daredevil: Born Again. 
• Justin Carter shares his thoughts on “Straight To Hell”, the season finale of Daredevil: Born Again.  
• Meagan Navarro discusses a shocking death in the Daredevil: Born Again season finale.
  
• Justin Carter notes that Daredevil: Born Again and Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man gave us bad guys who are jerks first, and it's a great change of pace. 

 

Comments on Black Mirror:

• Cheryl Eddy ranks the episodes of season 7 of Black Mirror.
• Cheryl Eddy lists eight Black Mirror episodes that deserves sequels. 
• Natalie Zutter finds some parallels between the Black Mirror episode "Eulogy" and the science fiction series Severance. 
• Leila Latif discusses how Black Mirror learned to stop worrying about the future and deal with the present
  
• Jackie Strause interviews Toby Haynes, director of the Black Mirror episode “USS Callister: Into Infinity" 
• Jackie Strause interviews Cristin Milioti who plays Nanette Cole in “USS Callister: Into Infinity"
• Abbey White interviews Haolu Wang, director of the Black Mirror episode "Hotel Reverie" as well as stars Issa Rae and Awkwafina

 

  Comments on season 3 of Yellowjackets:

• Jen Lennon shares her thoughts on the latest episode of Yellowjackets.
• Melody McCune shares her thoughts on the latest episode of Yellowjackets.
• Natalie Zutter shares her thoughts on the latest episode of Yellowjackets. 
• Claire Lustig interviews Sophie Nélisse, who plays Shauna Shipman in Yellowjackets.

 

Writing, publishing and promotion: 

• Ira Nayman talks about taking humor writing seriously 
• Jake Lynch recounts how he went from journalism via academia to crime writing. 
• Rhys Thomas reports about the rise of book subscription services and book boxes.
  
• Vauhini Vara reports about Inkitt, an online publishing start-up that gobbles up the right for popular works published on its free platform to create AI generated sequels, screen adaptations, etc... 
• John Ismay takes a look at which books were removed from the library of the US Naval Academy, following edicts of the Trump government, and which still remain. 
• Ella Creamer reports that demands to remove certain books from libraries are on the rise in the UK as well due to US pressure groups crossing the Atlantic. 
• The Guardian reports how citizens in Chelsea, Michigan, came together to help a local bookstore move from one location to another.

 

Awards:

• The longlist for the 2025 CWA Dagger Awards has been announced.
• The winners of the 2024 Florida Book Awards have been announced 
  

 

Interviews: 

• Tom Nolan interviews Jonathan Ames.
• Authors on the Air interviews Matt Goldman. 
• Tracey Devlyn interviews Nita Prose.
  
• Paul Burke interviews Raymond Benson.
• Frank Zafiro interviews Cindy Goyette. 
• Lisa Haselton interviews Laury A. Egan. 
  

 

Reviews:

• Kevin Tipple reviews The Reluctant Sheriff by Chris Offutt 
  
• Mary Picken reviews Burying Jericho by William Hussey  
• Kevin Tipple reviews Bitterfrost by Bryan Gruley 
• Sandra Mangan reviews Black Water Rising by Sean Watkin
  
• Jen Lucas reviews The Midnight King by Tariq Ashkanani
  
• Mary Picken reviews The Midnight King by Tariq Ashkanani
• Runalong the Shelves reviews  The Invisible Woman by James P. Blaylock
• Mary Picken reviews Burn After Reading by Catherine Ryan Howard 
• Gwen Moffat reviews Red Water by Jurica Pavicic 
• Kevin Tipple reviews The Big Empty by Robert Crais 
• Vicki Weisfeld reviews Hunkeler’s Secret by Hansjörg Schneider, translated by Astrid Freuler. 
• Jen Lucas reviews The Liar by Louise Jensen 
  
• Mary Picken reviews Nobody’s Fool by Harlan Coben
• BOLO Books reviews The Murder Show by Matt Goldman. 
• Vicki Weisfeld reviews The Murder Show by Matt Goldman. 
  
• Jen Lucas reviews This Is Not A Game by Kelly Mullen
  
• Gayle Surrette reviews The Elias Network by Simon Gervais
• Marlene Harris reviews Hunter Squad: North by Anna Hackett 
• Kevin Tipple reviews The Queen City Detective Agency by Snowden Wright 
  
• Mary Picken reviews Strangers in Time by David Baldacci
  
• Vicki Kondelik reviews Season of Death by Will Thomas.
• Lucy Popescu reviews Greater Sins by Gabrielle Griffiths 
  
• Joseph B. Hoyos reviews Misery Hates Company by Elizabeth Hobbs
• Jen Lucas reviews Marble Hall Murders by Anthony Horowitz
  
• Crossexamining Crime reviews Marble Hall Murders by Anthony Horowitz
• Doreen Sheridan reviews Essence Of Foul Play by Daryl Wood Gerber and tries a recipe from the book.
  
• Paul Du Filippo reviews Murder by Memory by Olivia Waite 
  

 

Classics reviews:

• In Search of the Classic Mystery Novel revisits the 1929 Lieutenant Valcour mystery Murder By The Clock by Rufus King  
  
• Crossexamining Crime revisits the 1936 mystery The Four of Hearts by Ellery Queen
• Martin Edwards revisits the 1937 Simon Spears mystery Death in Budapest by Val Gielgud and Holt Marvell 
• In Search of the Classic Mystery Novel revisits the 1939 Inspector Ryvet mystery When The Devil Was Sick by Carol Carnac a.k.a. E.C.R. Lorac  
• Happiness is a Book revisits the 1946 mystery Creeping Venom by Sheila Pim
  
• Sarah Weinman revisits the 1951 historical mystery The Daughter of Time by Josephine Tey. 
• In Search of the Classic Mystery Novel revisits the 1963 Sir Abercomrbie Lewker mystery  Lewker In Norway by Glyn Carr 
• Martin Edwards revisits the 1987 Inspector Roper mystery Seascape with Dead Figures by Roy Hart,
• In Search of the Classic Mystery Novel revisits the 1993 historical mystery Bertie And The Crime Of Passion by Peter Lovesey  
• In Search of the Classic Mystery Novel revisits the 2008 Hugh Corbett historical mystery Nightshade by Paul Doherty

 

Con and event reports:

•  Martin Edwards reports about the 2025 CWA North Symposium at Ilkley, UK. 
• Matthew Sullivan talks about The Dogs in the Nighttime, a Sherlock Holmes book club in Anacortes, Washington 
  

 

Research: 

• Lizzie Dearden reports that two police officers dressed up as Batman and Robin arrested a con artist scamming tourists on the street in London, UK. 
• Ella Creamer reports that a book about the trial and execution of the 1827 murderer William Corder, that is bound in Corder's skin, will be put on public display in spite of controversies regarding the morality of displaying this artefact.
• Michael Amos Cody looks back on the murder of music journalist Kevin Hughes in Nashville, Tennessee in 1989.
• Simon Hattenstone looks back on the 1985 massacre at White House Farm, UK, where five members of the same family were murdered, and wonders whether the man convicted of the murders is truly guilty. 
  
• Shaun Walker discusses deep cover Soviet spies living as western families, often for decades. 
• Aimee Ortiz explains why rare Lego sets are now a popular target for thieves. 
  

 

Free online fiction: 

• "Bad Weed" by L.C. Gutierrez in Mystery Tribune.
• "All Thumbs" by Colin Alexander in Shotgun Honey.
• "Keep It Simple" by Goody McDonough in Guilty.
  
  

Trailers and videos: 

• Watch a trailer for season 2 of Poker Face.