Crime Fiction Links of the Week for May 24, 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 season 2 of Poker Face, Code of Silence, Mission Improssible: The Final Reckoning, Highest 2 Lowest, The Phoenician Scheme and much more.
 

Crime fiction in general: 

• CrimeReads shares ten new crime novels coming out this week,   
• Molly Odintz shares the most anticipated crime fiction of summer 2025
• Chris Pavone talks about crime novels set in New York City. 
• Jaclyn Goldis shares six mysteries set in international locaations 
• Alison Bucolla shares seven novels featuring imposters and shifting identities
  
• Sarah Pinborough explains why marriages are such a good breeding ground for thrillers  
• Helen Monks Takhar explains why couples committing fictional crimes are so compelling. 
• Adam Oyebanji talks about the difficulties of classifying genre-bending fiction.
  
• Paz Pardo shares five upcoming speculative mysteries and thrillers 
• James Davis Nicoll shares five SFF books about imposters, swindlers and con artists   
• James Davis Nicoll shares five SFF works about meddling, mystery-solving kids 
  
• Catharina Steel shares middle grade adventure and mystery novels set in fantasy worlds 
  
• Julia Bartz explains why she wrote a thriller about cults and soulmates 
• Arvind Ethan David discovers a secret link between Raymond Chandler and P.G. Wodehouse
  
• Lisa Allardice ranks her ten favourite books by Margaret Atwood.
  

 

Film and TV:  

• Olivia Rutigliano shares new crime series to enjoy.
  
• Peter Bradshaw calls The Mastermind an unlikely heist movie
  
• Peter Bradshaw calls A Private Life a French-language Hitchcockian mystery
• Jack Seale calls The Bombing of Pan Am 103 a cheesy true crime show that just doesn’t work as TV 
  
• Diana Keng shares her thoughts on the latest episode of Leverage: Redemption.
• Caroline Siede shares her thoughts on the latest episode of Duster. 
• Paul Hirons shares his thoughts on Long Bright River.
• Paul Hirons shares his thoughts on the British crime drama The Game.
• Zoe Williams interviews Ralph Macchio, star of the Karate Kid movies and Cobra Kai. 
• Ryan Gilbey interviews Timothy Spall, star of Death Valley.
• Paul Hirons revisits the 1992 crime drama A Touch Of Frost
• Olivia Rutigliano revisits the 2006 crime drama The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada
• Philip Oltermann reports that director Wes Anderson has criticised Donald Trump's plans of tariffs on films made outside the US and notes that cinema doesn’t ship that way  
  
• James Foley, director of At Close Range, House of Cards, Who's That Girl?, Fear and many others, has died aged 72. 
  

 

Comments on season 2 of Poker Face: 

• Noel Murray shares his thoughts on the latest episode of Poker Face. 
• Melody McCune shares her thoughts on the latest episode of Poker Face. 
  
• Louis Chilton interviews Rian Johnson, director of The Last Jedi, Knives Out, Glass Onion and Poker Face.
  

 

Comments on Code of Silence: 

• Lucy Mangan calls Code of Silence a fun, fascinating crime show 
• Paul Hirons shares his thoughts on Code of Silence.
  

 

Comments on Highest 2 Lowest:

• Peter Bradshaw calls Highest 2 Lowest a stylish Kurosawa remake. 
• Rory Doherty calls Highest 2 Lowest a worthy thriller with a slow start.
  

 

Comments on Mission Impossible: The Final Reckoning: 

• Germain Lussier shares fifteen questions he still has about Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning 
  
• Jesse Hassenger declares that Tom Cruise found his creative soulmate in Mission Impossible director Christopher McQuarrie, then bent him to his will
• Jesse Hassenger revisits the 2000 movie Mission Impossible II.
  
• Stuart Heritage discusses Mission Impossible star Tom Cruise's announcement that he plans to continue making films until he is in his 100s.

 

Comments on The Phoenician Scheme:

• Ignatiy Vishnevetsky calls The Phoenician Scheme a minor mid-century adventure
• Peter Bradshaw calls The Phoenician Scheme an enjoyable yet airless ensemble romp  

 

Writing, publishing and promotion: 

• Linwood Barclay explains how to make everyday things terrifying
  
• Erin Dunn talks about the art of writing genre mash-ups.
  
• Debbie Urbanski explains why writers shouldn't feel obligated to share too much about their lives.
  
• Chris Fox explains why he doesn't use AI in his writing. 
• Matthew Gault reports that Lena McDonald left an AI prompt in her novel Darkhollow Academy: Year 2
• Maia Snow reports that the tech industry has urged the UK parliament to declare that copyright protections do not apply to AI training, against the protests by British creatives and the House of Lords. 
• Jennifer McKiernan reports that the House of Lords demands more protection from AI for British creatives
  
• Dan Gilmo reports that Sir Elton John has spoken out against plans of the UK govenrment to allow tech companies to use copyrighted works for training AI systems without compensation or permission.  
• Clare Duffy reports that more than one hundred organisations are pushing back against the US Republican Party attempting to pass a bill that would ban any kind of AI regulation for ten years.
  
• Bloomberg reports that Google decided against allowing web publishers to opt out of their AI search overview project, because it would have been too complicated.  
• Ed Nawotka reports that Shira Perlmutter, fired former head of the US Copyright Office, is sueing in a Federal Court to get her job back  
• Publishers Weekly reports that the Authors Guild has delivered a petition against Shira Perlmutter's dismissal to the US Congress

 

Awards:

• The winners of the 2025 CrimeFest Awards have been announced.
• The winner of the 2025 Evêché Prize for Crime Fiction has been announced.
  
• The winners of the 2025 Romantic Novel Awards have been announced. 
  

 

Interviews: 

• Vaseem Khan and Abir Mukherjee interview Tariq Ashkanani  
• Alan Petersen interviews Joshua Moehling.
• Garrick Webster interviews James Comey. 
• Lisa Haselton interviews Mike Martin.
  
• Alex Dueben interviews Shaina Steiberg.

 

Reviews:

• BOLO Books reviews The Girl in Cell A by Vaseem Khan. 
• Lesa Holstine reviews Making a Killing by Cara Hunter 
• Sandra Mangan reviews Nightshade by Michael Connelly 
  
• Raven Crime Reads reviews Shatter Creek by Rod Reynolds.
• Blue Book Balloon reviews Shatter Creek by Rod Reynolds.
  
• Mary Picken reviews Shatter Creek by Rod Reynolds. 
• Jeff Murdock reviews Fever Beach by Carl Hiaasen  
• Runalong the Shelves reviews Red Water by Jurica Pavicic, translated by Matt Robinson
  
• Jen Lucas reviews Dead Water by Simon Toyne 
• Sandra Mangan reviews The Putney Bridge Killer by Biba Pearce
  
• Jen Lucas reviews Westport by James Comey
  
• She Reads Softly reviews Smoke and Embers by John Lawton 
• Jen Lucas reviews After The Storm by G.D. Wright
• Jen Lucas reviews Last Orders by Denzil Meyrick
• Fully Booked reviews Innocent Guilt by Remi Kone. 
• Janet Webb reviews The Maid’s Secret by Nita Prose
  
• Vicki Weisfeld reviews The Lizard by Domenic Stansberry
  
• Joseph B. Hoyos reviews The Mailman by Andrew Welsh-Huggins
• Runalong the Shelves reviews The Darkest Winter by Carlo Lucarelli translated by Joseph Farrell 
• Jen Lucas reviews The Darkest Winter by Carlo Lucarelli translated by Joseph Farrell  
  
• Robin Agnew reviews The Silversmith’s Puzzle by Nev March.
• Kirkus reviews The Silversmith’s Puzzle by Nev March. 
• Janet Webb reviews A Death on Corfu by Emily Sullivan
  
• Lesa Holstine reviews Death at a Highland Wedding by Kelley Armstrong
  
• Robin Agnew reviews Marble Hall Murders by Anthony Horowitz. 
• Lesa Holstine reviews Murder in the Grotto by Amy Myers 
• Doreen Sheridan reviews Fatal Brouhaha by Emmeline Duncan and tries a recipe from the book,
  
• In Search of the Classic Mystery Novel reviews The Suspect by Robert Rinder  
• Melissa A. Watkins reviews Esperance by Adam Oyebanji  
  
• Alexandra Pierce reviews The Potency of Ungovernable Impulses by Malka Older
  
• Gravetapping reviews Skin and Bones and Other Mike Bowditch Short Stories by Paul Doiron
• Kevin Tipple reviews A Killing at the Copa: Crime Fiction Inspired by the Music of Barry Manilow, edited by J. Alan Hartman
  

 

Classics reviews:

• Kate Jackson revisits the 1933 thriller Other Man’s Danger a.k.a. The Man of Dangerous Secrets by Maxwell March a.k.a. Margery Allingham  
• Martin Edwards revisits the 1935 mystery Death in the Wheelbarrow by William Gore.
• In Search of the Classic Mystery Novel revisits the 1950 mystery Cat And Mouse by Christianna Brand
• Kate Jackson revisits the 1957 mystery Fatal Harvest by Alan Amos a.k.a. Kathleen Moore Knight 
• Kate Jackson revisits the 1960 mystery Scandalize My Name by Fiona Sinclair
  
• Kate Jackson revisits the 1965 Detective Inspector George Felse mystery A Nice Derangement of Epitaphs by Ellis Peters
  
• Paperback Warrior revisits the 1973 The Revenger man's adventure novel Vendetta Contract by Jon Messman. 
• B.V. Lawson revisits the 1977 mystery Final Proof by Marie R. Reno.
  
• Paperback Warrior revisits the 1982 Dirty Harry man's adventure novel The Mexico Kill by Dane Hartman.
  
• Lesa Holstine revisits the 1990 Mrs. Pargeter mystery Mrs. Pargeter’s Package by Simon Brett

 

Con and event reports:

• Martin Edwards shares his experiences at the 2025 and final CrimeFest in Bristol, UK.

 

Research: 

• Kate Payne reports about a lawsuit in Florida where a family sued an AI company after an AI character chatbot allegedly caused a teenager to commit suicide.
  

 

Free online fiction: 

• "The Execution" by Stephen J. Golds in Punk Noir Magazine 
  
• "Pierce the Darkness" by Nannette Potter in Mysteryrat's Maze Podcast.
• "(F)ELON" by Charles Rammelkamp in The Five-Two.
  

 

Trailers and videos: 

• Watch a trailer for season 2 of Fubar.