Crime Fiction Links of the Week for August 23 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 new The Thursday Murder Club, Hostage, Honey Don't!, Eenie Meanie, Lurker, tributes tio Greg Iles and Terence Stamp and much more.
 

Crime fiction in general: 

• CrimeReads shares ten new crime novels coming out this week,    
• Molly Odintz shares her favourite psychological thrillers for August 2025 
• Kate Jackson shares her favourite mysteries from the 1920s. 
• Vaseem Khan shares five crime novels set in American small towns. 
• Paul French talks about crime fiction set in Austin, Texas. 
• Tess Sharpe declares that we need more queer women characters in rural noir. 
• Tonya Mitchell shares eight historical thrillers with macabre medical themes  
• Charlie Jane Anders discusses Possession by A.S. Byatt as a precursor to the dark academia subgenre. 
• Science fiction and thriller writer Greg Iles has died aged 65.  
• The Guardian remembers Greg Iles 

 

Film and TV:  

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• Paul Hirons calls Inspector Gerri the new face of Italian noir crime drama 
• Alex Wallace calls Americana a thrilling, somewhat pulpy crime drama that is both great fun and deeply thought-provoking.
• Rory Doherty calls Relay a sharp but shallow thriller.
• Chris Jenkins shares his thoughts on the latest episode of Beck. 
• Paul Levinson shares his thoughts on the latest episode of Dexter: Resurrection 
• Lucy Mangan calls The Twisted Tale of Amanda Knox shockingly tense TV
• Chloe Walker revisits the 1950 crime movie No Way Out.
• Martin Edwards revisits the 1990 true crime movie Reversal of Fortune 
• Jesse Hassenger revisits the 2000 virtual reality thriller The Cell. 
• Paul Hirons revisits the 2011 crime drama Scott & Bailey 
• Olivia Rutigliano revisits the 2018 crime movie The Old Man and the Gun 
• Sian Cain shares Quentin Tarantino's ranking of his own movies.  
• Lauren Cochrane wonders whether set photos are ruining movies. 
• The Guardian reports that child actor Jeffrey Vorhees is still getting residuals for a single brief scene in Jaws, where he is eaten by the shark. 
• Joe Caroff, designer of the James Bond logo and countless movie posters, has died aged 103. 
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Tributes to Terence Stamp:

• British actor Terence Stamp, best known for his appearances in Superman, The Phantom Menace, Modesty Blaise, The Limey, Smallville, Last Night in Soho, His Dark Material, Alien Nation, The Hit, The Collector and many others, has died aged 87. 
• Director Neil Jordan remembers Terence Stamp. 
• Director Stephan Elliott remembers Terence Stamp 
• Xan Brooks remembers Terence Stamp. 
• Andrew Pulver remembers Terence Stamp. 
• Paul Andrew Williams remembers Terence Stamp. 
• Justin Carter remembers Terence Stamp's many genre roles. 
• Ronald Bergan shares an obituary for Terence Stamp. 
• Greg Whitmore shares photos from Terence Stamp's lengthy career. 

 

Comments on The Thursday Murder Club: 

• Lacy Baugher Milas calls The Thursday Murder Club a delightful cozy mystery elevated by its stacked cast.
• Peter Bradshaw calls The Thursday Murder Club solid, star-stuffed entertainment 
• Caroline Siede declares that the phenomenal cast of The Thursday Murder Club keeps the sprawling plot affable and the comedy on the right side of warm. 

 

Comments in Hostage: 

• Lucy Mangan calls Hostage five hours of fast, furious fun, featuring Suranne Jones as the prime minister
• Brian Tallerico calls Hostage a shallow crime mini-series.  
• Paul Hirons ranks his favourite crime roles of Suranne Jones.  

 

Comments on Honey Don't:

• Radheyan Simonpillai calls Honey Dont! an easy-going noir that might not amount to much but provides diversion on the way  
• Jesse Hassenger declares that Honey Don’t! is delightful, but doesn’t quite come together as a mystery 

 

Comments on Eenie Meanie:

• Benjamin Lee calls Eenie Meanie a middling comedy thriller has its moments  
• Brianna Zigler calls Eenie Meanie an otherwise competent heist movie marred by a regressive script.  
• Jim Vorel calls Eenie Meanie a scattershot crime comedy. 

 

 Comments on Lurker:

• Jim Vorel calls Lurker a parasocial thriller that finds the nexus of exploitation and necessity
• Jacob Oller calls Lurker a slick, slimy social-engineering thriller that anyone could relate to.  

 

 

Writing, publishing and promotion: 

• Martin Edwards talks about writing short stories. 
• Amie Schaumberg talks about writing neurodivergence in crime fiction. 
• Victoria Strauss explains how writers can determine if they can join the class action lawsuit against Anthropic AI.
• Camestros Felapton talks about an experiment conducted by Mark Lawrence comparing AI-written and human written stories. 
• Rich Johnston shares the terms of the legal settlement between Image Comics and the bankrupt Diamond Comics Distributors. 
• Benjamin Lee reports that according to a recent study, reading for pleasure has fallen by twenty percent in the US in the past twenty years. 
• Jim Milliot also reports about the study confirming the decline of reading for pleasure in the US in the past twenty years. 
• Miranda Bryant reports that Denmark is abolishing VAT on books in an effort to get more people reading 
• Sarah Butler reports that young people are embracing reading, which benefits Waterstones and other bookstores. 

 

 

Awards:

• The shortlist for the 2025 Spymasters Book Prize has been announced. 
• Ella Creamer reports that the Polari Book Prize was cancelled this year, following an uproar about TERF writer John Boyne making the longlist. 

 

Interviews: 

• John B. Valeri interviews Linda Castillo 
• Mary Louise Kelly interviews Karin Slaughter.  
• Vaseem Khan and Abir Mukherjee interview Heidi Amsinck
• Authors on the Air interviews Katie Bishop. 
• Lisa Haselton interviews Brian Brady. 

 

Reviews:

• Jeff Ayers reviews We Are All Guilty Here by Karin Slaughter
• Sonja van der Westhuizen reviews A Twist of Fate by Se-Ah Jang, translated by S.K. Park. 
• In Search of the Classic Mystery Novel reviews Human Remains by Jo Callaghan  
• Kerry Hood reviews Dead To Me by Gytha Lodge  
• Jen Lucas reviews Kiss Her Goodbye by Lisa Gardner
• Mary Picken reviews The Sleepwalker by Lars Kepler 
• Jeff Ayers reviews High Season by Katie Bishop 
• Jen Lucas reviews Five by Five by Claire Wilson 
• In Search of the Classic Mystery Novel reviews Ship Of Thieves by Douglas Skelton 
• In Search of the Classic Mystery Novel reviews A Measure Of Justice by Mark Sherry 
• Robin Agnew reviews The Heir by Darcie Wilde. 
• Kate Jackson reviews Death at Chelsea by Anna Sayburn Lane  
• Carla Schantz reviews Murder at Cape Costumers by Maddie Day.
• Lesa Holstine reviews The Marigold Cottages Murder Collective by Jo Nichols 
• In Search of the Classic Mystery Novel reviews The Mysterious Case Of The Missing Crime Writer by Ragnar Jonasson
• Jen Lucas reviews The Mysterious Case Of The Missing Crime Writer by Ragnar Jonasson 
• Carla Schantz reviews Just Another Dead Author by Katarina Bivald.
• Joseph B. Hoyos reviews Dogged Pursuit by David Rosenfelt
• Jen Lucas reviews The Burning Stones by Antti Tuomainen, translated by David Hackston

 

Classics reviews:

• Happiness is a Book revisits the 1929 Inspector Kilby mystery The Tunnel Mystery by J. C. Lenehan  
• B.V. Lawson revisits the 1946 mystery Murder Among Friends by Elizabeth Ferrars. 
• Randal S. Brandt revisits the 1949 crime novel Plunder of the Sun by David Dodge and its 1953 film adaptation.
• Kate Jackson revisits the 1953 mystery Murder as a Fine Art by Carol Carnac 
• Kate Jackson revisits the 1956 Inspector Bonaparte mystery The Battling Prophet by Arthur Upfield  
• Martin Edwards revisits the 1966 suspense novel Dream of Fair Woman by Charlotte Armstrong. 
• Lesa Holstine revisits the 2008 Sheriff Dan Rhodes mystery Of All Sad Words by Bill Crider.. 

 

Con and event reports:

• Lesa Holstine reports about the launch event for Five Found Dead by Sulari Gentill in Scottsdale, Arizona.

 

Research: 

• Morgan Richter talks about the many connections between the performing arts and organized crime 
• Pete Mann talks about the mysterious disappearance of adventurer Richard Halliburton.
• Sulari Gentill shares the history of the Orient Express. 

 

Free online fiction: 

• "The Dream Tourists" by Sarah Langan in Lightspeed. 
• "Cold Dish" by Gary D. Rhodes in The Five-Two. 
  
  
  

Trailers and videos: 

• Watch a trailer for Inspector Gerri.
• Watch a trailer for Dead of Winter. 
• Watch a trailer for Anniversary.