Crime Fiction Links of the Week for September 13, 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 5 of Only Murders in the Building, The Rainmaker, Task, The Girlfriend, the Anthropic AI settlement and much more.
 

Crime fiction in general: 

• CrimeReads shares ten new crime novels coming out this week,    
• Paul French lists crime novels set in Bath, UK. 
• Laura Shepherd-Robinson shares six historical crime novels (and one contemporary work) that perfectly capture the eighteenth century
• Carmela Dutra talks about culinary mysteries. 
• Archer Sullivan talks about legends, tall tales and the art of storytelling 
• Molly Templeton notes that criticism is apparently dying once again.  
• Meg Gardiner looks back on writing her first crime novel 
• Jack de Brul talks about continuing Clive Cussler's work. 

 

Film and TV:  

• Trace Sauveur declares that Rian Johnson takes his Knives Out murder-mystery series to exhausting ends in Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery 
• Tara Bennett declares that Kaitlin Olson continues to charm in season 2 of High Potential 
• Brian Tallerico declares that Dexter: Resurrection repairs a once-great franchise's legacy 
• Benjamin Lee calls Roofman an intermittently effective comedy crime drama about a deceitful prison escapee
• Natalia Keogan calls The Secret Agent a fantastic thriller about politics, espionage and Jaws
• Cath Clarke calls Sovereign a rage-fuelled anti-government crime drama 
• Catherine Bray calls Brave the Dark a delinquent teen drama that comes off as if James Dean met Mr Chips
• Natalia Keogan calls Adulthood a dragging crime comedy. 
• Benjamin Lee calls the wildfire docudrama The Lost Bus as stressful as you’d expect
• Rachel Aroesti calls Death of a Showjumper a bleak true-crime drama 
• Lois Beckett shares Steven Spielberg's reminiscences about the making of Jaws.  
• Paul Hirons revisits the 1955 police procedural Dixon of Dock Green. 
• Diana Keng pays a visit to Twede's Café in North Bend, Washington, which was the real life filming location for the Double R Diner in Twin Peaks. 

  

Comments in The Rainmaker: 

• Diana Keng shares her thoughts on episode 4 of The Rainmaker.
• Diana Keng shares her thoughts on episode 5 of The Rainmaker.

 

Comments on Only Murders in the Building:

• Lucy Mangan still finds many things to love about season 5 of Only Murders in the Building, but the cracks are well and truly appearing.  
• Whitney Friedlander finds season 5 of Only Murders in the Building overstuffed with celebrity guest stars. 
• Saloni Gajjar shares her thoughts on the season 5 premiere of Only Murders in the Building.
• Melody McCune shares her thoughts on episode 1 of season 5 of Only Murders in the Building. 
• Melody McCune shares her thoughts on episode 2 of season 5 of Only Murders in the Building. 
• Melody McCune shares her thoughts on episode 3 of season 5 of Only Murders in the Building.  

 

Comments on Task: 

• Caroline Siede calls Task a crime drama about fatherhood, faith, and grief   
• Lucy Mangan calls Task a druggy kidnap drama so bleak it’s downright manipulative 
• Paul Hirons shares his thoughts on the first episode of Task. 

 

Comments on The Girlfriend: 

• Christina Izzo calls The Girlfriend a juicy thriller told from two points of view.   
• Lucy Mangan calls The Girlfriend a slippery thriller with strong invest vibes. 
• Lacy Baugher Milas calls The Girlfriend a messy melodramatic thriller. 

 

 

Writing, publishing and promotion: 

• Lauren Oliver talks about collective narrators. 
• Hannah Mary McKinnon explains how her corporate job made her a better writer of mysteries
• Elizabeth Bear points out that networking is just making friends
• Hank Phillippi Ryan talks about book tours. 
• P.A. Cornell reports how she walked away from a story sale to Analog, after Analog's new owners refused to budge on inacceptable contract terms, 
• Ted Johnson reports that Anthropic AI has agreed to pay 1.5 billion US dollar to settle the AI class action lawsuit brought forward to several authors.
• Jason Sanford dissects the Anthropic AI settlement and finds it not nearly as favourable as initially presented, especially since many authors are shut out altogether due to not having a US copyright registration.
• Jason Sanford shares an update about the Anthropic AI settlement. 
• Ashley Belanger reports that US District Judge William Alsup has refused to approve the Anthropic AI settlement.  
• Ed Nawotka reports that Apple is also being sued by authors for copyright infringement over the training of its AI system. 

 

Awards:

• The winners of the 2025 Anthony Awards have been announced.
• The winners of the 2025 Shamus Awards have been announced.  
• The winners of the 2025 Davitt Awards have been announced. 
• The finalists for the 2025 Mcllvanney Prize have been announced.
• The shortlist for the 2025 Glass Bell Award has been announced. 

 

Interviews: 

• Lisa Allardice interviews Mick Herron.
• Alex Dueben interviews Lou Berney. 
• Alexandra Brown Chang and Olivia Worley interview each other. 
• Ayesha Rascoe interviews Ken Jaworowski 
• Paul Burke interviews Donna Morfett. 

 

Reviews:

• Jen Lucas reviews Clown Town by Mick Herron
• Lesa Holstine reviews Crooks by Lou Berney  
• Doreen Sheridan reviews Five Found Dead by Sulari Gentill 
• Sandra Mangan reviews The Silent Ones by Anna McPartlin 
• Doreen Sheridan reviews The Witch’s Orchard by Archer Sullivan  
• Kevin Tipple reviews A Lonesome Place for Murder by Nolan Chase 
• Lesa Holstine reviews Dark and Deadly Be the Whispers by Heather Graham 
• Jen Lucas reviews To Love A Liar by L.V. Matthews
• Lesa Holstine reviews The Patient by Tim Sullivan 
• Erin Britton reviews The Vanishing Act by Jo Jakeman 
• Joseph B. Hoyos reviews The Blue Horse by Bruce Borgos 
• Jen Lucas reviews Runaway Horses by Carlo Fruttero and Franco Lucentini, translated by Gregory Dowling 
• Sam Leith reviews The Secret of Secrets by Dan Brown  
• Garrick Webster reviews Moscow Underground by Catherine Merridale 
• Cathy Akers-Jordan reviews The Return of Moriarty by Jack Anderson.
• Runalong the Shelves reviews The Crooked Medium's Guide To Murder by Stephen Cox
• In Search of the Classic Mystery Novel reviews Death In The Aviary by Victoria Dowd 
• Joseph B. Boyos reviews Dog Day Afternoon by David Rosenfelt 
• BOLO Books reviews Whiskey Business by Adrian Andover.  
• Doreen Sheridan reviews Tea With Jam And Dread by Vicki Delany and tries a recipe from the book. 
• In Search of the Classic Mystery Novel reviews Miss Winter In The Library With A Knife by Martin Edwards 
• Mary Picken reviews The Mysterious Case of the Missing Crime Writer by Ragnar Jonasson.  
• Kate Jackson reviews Writing the Murder: Essays on Crafting Crime Fiction, edited by Dan Coxon and Richard V. Hirst 

 

Classics reviews:

• B.V. Lawson revisits the 1905 Augustus S. F. X. Van Dusen mystery The Problem of Cell 13 by Jacques Futrelle. 
• Happiness is a Book revisits the 1929 Arthur G. Crook mystery Death at Four Corners by Anthony Gilbert 
• Lesa Holstine revisits the 1930 mystery collection The Mysterious Mr. Quin by Agatha Christie
• Erin Britton revisits the 1947 Kosuke Kindaichi mystery Murder at the Black Cat Cafe by Seishi Yokomizo, translated by Bryan Karetnyk
• Martin Edwards revisits the 1964 crime novel The Safe Secret by Harry Carmichael.

 

Con and event reports:

• Louise Fairbairn reports about the Bloody Scotland crime writing festival in Stirling, Scotland.  
• Christina Rees reports about a tour of Guillermo Del Toro's collection of movie props and other artefacts in Santa Monica, California. 

 

Research: 

• Rebecca Ratcliffe reports about scam centers along the border between Thailand and Myamar, where human trafficking victims are forced to participate in online scams.
• Meg Anderson reports that a whole industry dedicated to preventing school shootings has developed in the US rather than just doing the obvious thing. 
• Maria Malone points out that people go missing all the time for all sorts of reasons. 

 

Free online fiction: 

• "Adam" by Mike Lemieux in Mystery Tribune.
• "Lost His Head" by Abe Margel in Mystery Tribune.
• "Mama’s Good As Gone" by Karen Grose in Punk Noir Magazine. 
  
  

Trailers and videos: 

• Watch a trailer for Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery
• Watch a trailer for season 3 of Blue Lights. 
• Watch a trailer for Murdaugh: Death in the Family