Crime Fiction Links of the Week for July 26, 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 Bookish, The Thursday Murder Club, The Assassin, Untamed, The Hunting Wives, the new I Know What You Did Last Summer, tributes to Martin Cruz Smith and much more.
 

Crime fiction in general: 

• CrimeReads shares ten new crime novels coming out this week,    
• Tom Nolan shares his favourite crime novels of the twenty-first century to date.
• Molly Odintz shares her favourite international crime novels coming out in July. 
• Ryan Pote shares five thrillers that grab you from page one
• Paul Bradley Carr explains what rising mystery sales can reveal about the state of the world
• Victoria Helen Stone shares nine crime novels with true crime vibes  
• David Gordon talks about the connection between crime fiction and sex work. 
• Christina Dotson shares five crime novels that feature toxic friendships 
• Lauren Wilson shares her favorite crime books featuring cults 
• Simon Spurrier shares his favourite crime comics and explains why we need more crossover readers 
• Hazell Ward explains how she came to write her immersive mystery The Game Is Murder. 
• Anna Sayburn Lane shares ten reasons she writes classic 1920s-set nurder nysteries 
• Naomi Kaye talks about boats in the mysteries of Agatha Christie. 
• Cora Buhlert discusses the remarkable one hundred year career of the body-hopping German supervillain Dr. Mabuse. 

 

Film and TV:  

• Paul Levinson calls Ballard new and compelling. 
• Paul Levinson calls The Waterfront a hardhitting crime drama. 
• Lucy Mangan calls Under the Bridge a true-crime drama that just doesn’t feel right
• Peter Bradshaw calls Gazer an ineffably creepy and unbearably tense noir chiller 
• Leslie Felperin calls Zero a propulsive and strikingly shot action thriller from Senegal.
• Cath Clarke calls Reputation a brawling portrait of British male rage 
• Chris Jenkins shares his thoughts on the first episode of season 2 of Karen Pirie. 
• Paul Levinson shares his thoughts on the latest episode of Dexter: Resurrection. 
• Cath Clarke calls the animated heist film The Bad Guys 2 snappier, funnier and more relaxed than the first film.   
• Silvia Moreno-Garcia shares five suspense movies that writers should watch. 
• Olivia Rutigliano shares her favourite crime movies about friends hanging out in the summer 
• Paul Hirons revisits the 1993 police procedural TV series NYPD Blue. 
• Jay Snow revisits the 2010 assassin thriller Nikita 
• Martin Edwards revisits the 2022 crime film Emily the Criminal 
• Martin Edwards revisits the 2023 thriller Dangerous Waters 

 

Comments on Bookish:

• Lucy Mangan calls Bookish a cosy crime drama that is a tasty nugget of absolute delight  
• Paul Hirons shares his thoughts on episodes 1 and 2 of Bookish. 
• Paul Hirons shares his thoughts on episodes 3 and 4 of Bookish.  
• The Radio Times interviews actor and writer Mark Gatiss, best known for his work on Sherlock, Doctor Who, Bookish and League of Gentlemen.  
• BAFTA interviews Mark Gatiss and Polly Walker, stars of Bookish. 

 

 Comments on The Thursday Murder Club:

• Ben Travis interviews Richard Osman, author of The Thursday Murder Club, about a controversial casting choice for the upcoming adaptation. 
• Olivia Rutigliano defends the casting of Pierce Brosnan as Ron Ritchie in The Thursday Murder Club. 

 

Comments on The Assassin:

• Lucy Mangan calls The Assassin perfectly crafted TV  
• Rhik Samadder calls The Assassin an action thriller like nothing else.  
• Inspired by The Assassin, Paul Hirons shares his favourite TV roles of Keeley Hawse. 

 

Comments on Untamed: 

• Paul Hirons calls Untamed a gripping thriller with stunning scenery and emotional depth
• Paul Levinson declares that the biggest takeaway of Untamed is the spectacular scenery and cinematography
• Lara Rosales shares her appreciation for the character of Naya Vasquez in Untamed. 

 

Comments on The Hunting Wives:

• Lacy Baugher Milas calls The Hunting Wives a frothy thriller about rich people being awful  
• Saloni Gajjar calls The Hunting Wives this summer's guiltiest TV pleasure 
• Lacy Baugher Milas interviews Malin Akerman and Brittany Snow, stars of The Hunting Wives.   

 

Comments on the new I Know What You Did Last Summer:

• Germain Lussier declares that the new I Know What You Did Last Summer betrays itself from the very start 
• Jim Vorel declares that the new version of I Know What You Did Last Summer highlights that there was never anything particularly interesting about I Know What You Did Last Summer in the first place. 
• Drew Gillis declares that the new I Know What You Did Last Summer knows exactly why it exists 
• Natalie Zutter declares that the new I Know What You Did Last Summer will hook you  
• Kimberly Pierce shares her thoughts on the new I Know What You Did Last Summer
• Brian Davids interviews Madelyn Cline, one of the stars of the new I Know What You Did Last Summer. 

 

Writing, publishing and promotion: 

• Gwynne Garfinkle talks about using pop culture as poetic inspiration.
• Cherie Priest talks about her journey as a writer and how the writing business has changed in the past 25 years. 
• Kristine Kathryn Rusch alerts writers to problems with the contracts of the new owners of Analog, Asimov's, The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine and Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine. 
• The SFWA shares a press release regarding recommendations they made to Must Read Publishing, the new owners of Analog, Asimov's, The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine and Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine.about contract language
• Natalie op de Beek reports that an organisation called EveryLibrary has released a report detailing the legal challenges facing libraries in the US 
• Lucy Knight reports about services that sell books by the meter for interior design purposes. 
• WSAW TV reports about a TARDIS shaped little free library in Wausau, Wisconsin. 

 

Awards:

• The finalists for the 2025 Scribe Awards have been announced. 
• The longlist for the 2025 Spymasters Book Prize has been announced. 

 

Interviews: 

• Abir Mukherjee and Vaseem Khan interview Gordon Brown. 
• John B. Valeri interviews Julie Clark. 
• Ali Karim interviews Travis Kennedy. 
• Debbi Mack interviews Harper Kincaid. 
• Garrick Webster interviews David Secular.
• Sunday Tea interviews Skye Alexander. 
• Ayo Onatade interviews Olivia Isaac-Henry  
• Victoria Selman interviews Asia Mackay and Sam Holland 

 

Reviews:

• Mike Parker reviews King of Ashes by S.A. Cosby 
• Jen Lucas reviews Hangman’s Gap by Rachel Amphlett 
• Kevin Tipple reviews Return to Sender by Craig Johnson 
• Mary Picken reviews Into The Fire by M.J. Arlidge  
• Jen Lucas review The Man With A Thousand Faces by Lex Noteboom, translated by Ida Blom 
• Mary Picken reviews Her Many Faces by Nicci Cloke  
• Ali Karim reviews Broken by Jon Atli Jonasson  
• John Valeri reviews Don’t Open Your Eyes by Liv Constantine 
• Raven Crime Reads reviews Murder Tide by Stella Blómkvist, translated by Quentin Bates.  
• Blue Book Balloon reviews Home Before Dark by Eva Björg Ægisdóttir, translated by Victoria Cribb 
• Mandie Griffiths reviews The Poison Tree by Erin Kelly 
• Adam Colclough reviews A Quiet Place by Seicho Matsumoto, translated by Louise Heal Kawai. 
• Jen Lucas reviews Chapter One by Michael Wood 
• Joseph B. Hoyos reviews The Ten Worst People in New York by Matt Plass 
• Raven Crime Reads reviews The Betrayal of Thomas True by A.J. West   
• In Search of the Classic Mystery Novel reviews A Divine Fury by D.V. Bishop 
• Paul Burke reviews Gunner by Alan Parks 
• Mary Picken reviews Gunner by Alan Parks 
• Janet Webb reviews The World’s Greatest Detective and Her Just Okay Assistant by Liza Tully 
• Erin Britton reviews Poppy Plays Fair by Leigh Russell 
• Lesa Holstine reviews Writers and Liars by Carol Goodman 
• In Search of the Classic Mystery Novel reviews A Case Of Life And Limb by Sally Smith 
• Marlene Harris reviews A Case of Mice and Murder by Sally Smith  
• Lesa Holstine reviews Something Whiskered by Miranda James 
• Lesa Holstine reviews Lavender Lies Bleeding by Leslie Budewitz  
• Doreen Sheridan reviews Hitchcocktails by Laurence Maslon and tries a recipe from the book. 
• Francis Hamit reviews Spying For Empire: The Great Game In Central And South Asia, 1757 to 1947 by Robert Johnson. 

 

Classics reviews:

• Kate Jackson revisits the 1925 mystery Death of a Millionaire by G. D. H. and Margaret Cole  
• B.V. Lawson revisits the 1936 Philip Trent mystery Trent's Own Case by E.C. Bentley and H. Warner Allen. 
• Kate Jackson revisits the 1954 Inspector Littlejohn mystery Corpses in Enderby by George Bellairs 
• Martin Edwards revisits the 1962 Dr William Blow mystery Body Blow by Kenneth Hopkins  
• Happiness is a Book revisits the 1963 Inspector Steven Mitchell mystery A Flat Tyre in Fulham by Josephine Bell 
• Kate Jackson revisits the 1964 mystery A Legal Fiction a.k.a. The Decaying Gentlewoman by Elizabeth Ferrars  
• Kate Jackson revisits the 1964 Nigel Strangeways mystery The Sad Variety by Nicholas Blake 
• Lesa Holstine revisits the 2008 cozy mystery Bruno, Chief of Police by Martin Walker

 

Con and event reports:

• Sandra Mangan reports about the 2025 Theakston Old Peculier Crime Writing Festival in Harrogate, Yorkshire.

 

Research: 

• Jay S. Bell talks about the CIA resettling former spies and defectors in small towns. 
• Sarah Kuta reports that a man has been arrested for trying to break the glass protecting the Stone of Destiny in a museum in Perth, Scotland.

 

Free online fiction: 

• "Ocean Wave" by Fred Shrum III in Mystery Tribune.
• "From Nothing in the Dark…" by Fred Muratori in Mystery Tribune. 
• "A Pride That Blinds" by Gavin Kent in Punk Noir Magazine  
• "Seven Deadly Toppings" by David Milner in Punk Noir Magazine  
• "Perfect Partner" by Vinnie Hansen in Mysteryrat's Maze Podcast.
• "Stayin’ Alive" by Christopher O’Halloran in Shotgun Honey. 
• "Political Discourse" by Jerry House in The Five-Two.