Crime Fiction Links of the Week for November 15, 202

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 best crime novels of 2025, Now You See Me, Now You Don't, Down Cemetery Road, Malice, The Beast in Me, Adulthood, the latest version of The Running Man, tributes to Lee Tamahori and much more.
 

Crime fiction in general: 

• CrimeReads shares ten new crime novels coming out this week.   
• Laura Wilson shares her favourite recent crime novels and thrillers. 
• Adreina Cordani explains why the golden age of detective fiction still influences mystery fiction today 
• Paul French talks about crime novels set in County Derry, Ireland. 
• Courtney Psak explains why seemingly idyllic locations make great thriller settings. 
• Leigh Dunlap explains how Southern crime fiction became a publishing powerhouse
• Elizabeth Broadbent shares five southern gothic books about generational trauma  
• J.H. Markert discusses the fascination with twins and doppelgangers in thrillers and horror novels. 
• Lorna Wallace shares five stories set in terrifying science fiction prisons  
• Adrian McKinty shares his appreciation for the works of Cornell Woolrich. 
• Jonny Diamond reports that Joyce Carol Oates roasted Elon Musk on Twitter for his lack of normal human interests, which infuriated Musk.  
• British Ukrainian writer Marina Lewycka has died aged 79.  

 

Best of 2025: 

• Kirkus share theur favourite mysteries and thrillers of 2025. 
• Waterstone's share their favourite crime novels and thrillers of 2025. 
• Amazon share their favourite mystery, thriller and suspense books of 2025. 
• Adrienne Gaffney shares her favourite mysteries and thrillers of 2025. 

 

 

Film and TV:  

• Zoe Williams calls Prisoner 951 the shocking drama about one woman’s six-year ordeal in an Iranian jail
• Jacob Oller calls The Things You Kill a twisty, tense thriller from Canada.  
• Matt Donato calls Playdate an atomically awful action-comedy 
• Jim Vorel calls Trap House a loopy action film. 
• Paul Hirons shares his thoughts on the second episode of season 10 of Shetland.    
• Paul Hirons shares his thoughts on Death by Lightning.  
• Catherine Bray calls Trapped a rough and ready abuse story that piles bleakness upon bleakness 
• Mark Walsh discusses the use of mobile phones in A House of Dynamite.  
• Kate Mailer shares six British mystery TV series for fans of Vera.  
• Olivia Rutigliano lists her five favourite pregnant women in crime movies and TV shows.  
• Martin Edwards revisits the 1966 thriller The Psychopath. 
• Peter Bradshaw revisits the 1978 action film The Wild Geese. 
• Paul Hirons revisits the 1980 British police procedural Juliet Bravo. 
• Peter Bradshaw revisits the 1980 action thriller Night of the Juggler. 
• Steve Rose revisits the 1987 Hong Kong thriller City on Fire. 
• Matthew Acton reports that the writers tasked with writing a new James Bond movie for Amazon are having problems figuring out how to resurrect James Bond after he died in No Time to Die.  
• Etan Shanfeld reports that the detective series Poker Face has been cancelled by Peacock, but that creator Rian Johnson hopes for a revival elsewhere, this time starring Peter Dinklage. 
• Rebecca Rubin reports that both Predator Badlands and the Thomas Pynchon adaptation One Battle After Another are doing well at the box office. 
• Actress Sally Kirkland died aged 84.  

 

Tributes to Lee Tamahori: 

• Lee Tamahori, director of Once Were Warriors, Mullholland Falls, Along Came a Spider and the James Bond movie Die Another Day, has died aged 75
• Peter Bradshaw remembers Lee Tamahori. 

 

Comments on Now You See Me, Now You Don't: 

• Germain Lussier declared that Now You See Me: Now You Don’t works, but can’t natch the magic of its predecessors 
• Caroline Siede declares that the greatest trick of the heist movie Now You See Me: Now You Don't is that its cast actually seems to like these movies  

   

Comments on Down Cemetery Road: 

• Paul Hirons shares his thoughts on episode 3 of Down Cemetery Road. 
• Paul Hirons shares his thoughts on episode 4 of Down Cemetery Road.  

 

Comments on Malice:  

• Lucy Mangan calls Malice a thriller you'll be binging until Christmas.  
• Tim Lowery calls Malice an imposter thriller with almost no subtlety. 

 

Comments on Adulthood: 

• Leslie Felperin calls Adulthood a nastily comic noir crime film.
• Adrian Horton interviews Alex Winter, co-star of the Bill and Ted movies and director of Adulthood.  

 

Comments on The Beast in Me: 

• Lucy Mangan calls The Beast in Me an astonishing new thriller and instant top–tier TV 
• Saloni Gajjar calls The Beast In Me a disturbing thriller about a conflict between neighbours.  
• Paul Hirons shares his thoughts on The Beast Inside Me.

 

Comments on the new The Running Man:  

• Peter Bradshaw calls the new The Running Man a fun update of the 1987 original.
• Jarrod Jones calls the new The Running Man a crackling yet conflicted update 
• Germain Lussier declares that the new The Running Man is a fun, fast-paced ride with an unfortunate stumble 
• Jesse Hassenger declares that  the new The Running Man is more faithful to the book than the 1987 version, but it still feels caught between action thrills and attempts at commentary. 
• Germain Lussier interviews Edgar Wright, director of the new The Running Man. 
• Germain Lussier lists six other Stephen King movies he'd love to see remade. 

 

Writing, publishing and promotion: 

• David Baldacci talks about the challenge of starting a new series. 
• Ian Chorão explains what the human desire to be scared can teach writers
• Cheryl Isaacs talks about cliffhanger endings and keeping readers invested until the last page
• P.J. Tracy talks about creating believably warped characters in crime fiction 
• Joe Stech explains how he puts an anthology together. 

 

Awards:

• The nominees for the opening round of the 2025 Goodsreads Choice Awards have been announced.  
• The winners of the 2025 Will Rogers Medallion Awards have been announced. 
• The winners of the 2025 Christy Awards have been announced.  
• The winner of the 2025 Booker Prize has been announced.  
• The shortlist for the 2025 Diagram Prize for the Oddest Book Title of the Year has been announced. 

 

Interviews: 

• Barbara Peters interviews Jesse Kellerman. 
• Craig Sisterson interviews R.W.R. McDonald.
• Barbara Peters interviews Alex DeMille. 
• Authors on the Air interviews Sylvia Mercedes.  
• Tim Shipman interviews Sam Guthrie. 
• Brian Greene interviews Jason Starr. 
• Alex Dueben interviews Eric Heisserer. 
• E.B. Davis interviews James M. Jackson. 
• Marshal Zeringue interviews Allison Brook.  
• Deborah Kalb interviews Courtney Psak. 

 

Reviews:

• Sandra Mangan reviews The Black Wolf by Louise Penny  
• Marlene Harris reviews The Black Wolf by Louise Penny 
• In Search of the Classic Mystery Novel reviews Buried In A Shetland Tomb by Marsali Taylor
• Kevin Tipple reviews The Proving Ground by Michael Connelly 
• Lesa Holstine reviews The Deepest Cut by P.J. Tracy 
• Lesa Holstine reviews Desperate Spies by Mark de Castrique 
• Vicki Weisfeld reviews Little Secrets by Victoria Goldman
• Doreen Sheridan reviews Guilty By Definition by Susie Dent 
• Gayle Surette reviews A Botanist's Guide to Society and Secrets by Kate Khavari
• Vicki Kondelik reviews Revenge, Served Royal by Celeste Connally. 
• Mandie Griffiths reviews A Backstage Betrayal by Michael Ball 
• Erin Britton reviews The Last Death of the Year by Sophie Hannah 
• Erin Britton reviews Murder at Mistletoe Manor by F.L. Everett 
• Jen Lucas reviews The Night Before Christmas by Alex Pine  
• Jen Lucas reviews The Christmas Clue by Nicola Upson 
• Jen Lucas reviews The Christmas Cracker Killer by Alexandra Benedict  
• In Search of the Classic Mystery Novel reviews The Dog Sitter Detective’s Christmas Tail by Antony Johnston  
• Lesa Holstine reviews Crescent City Christmas Chaos by Ellen Byron 
• Doreen Sheridan reviews Sugar And Spite by Carol J. Perry and tries a recipe from the book. 
• Joseph B. Hoyos reviews Death on a Scottish Train by Lucy Connelly 
• Marion Deeds reviews What Abigail Did That Summer by Ben Aaronovitch  
• Kate Jackson reviews The Murder Game: Play, Puzzles, & the Golden Age by John Curran
• Ali Karim reviews A History of Modern Britain in Twenty Murders by David Wilson  

 

Classics reviews: 

• Happiness is a Book revisits the 1937 crime novel Death by Two Hands by Peter Drax 
• B.V. Lawson revisits the 1948 Jane and Dagobert Brown mystery She Shall Have Murder by Delano Ames  
• Martin Edwards revisits the 1960 mystery Hall of Death by Nedra Tyre.
• Happiness is a Book revisits the 1971 Tessa Crichton and Robin Price mystery Death of a Gay Dog by Anne Morice 
• Kate Jackson revisits the 2004 Beatrix Potter historical mystery The Tale of Hill Top Farm by Susan Wittig Albert 

 

Con and event reports:

• Joy Kluver reports about the Only Murders in the Library event in Basingstoke, UK, and the Murder in the Mountains event in Merton, UK.

 

Research: 

• Eli Frankel shares some new insights into the still unsolved 1947 murder of Elizabeth Short a.k.a. the Black Dahlia in Los Angeles, California, based on interviewing the woman who found the body.
• Eva Corlett reports about a far-reaching sex scandal in the New Zealand Police. 
• Douglas Stewart shares an insight into how casinos operate.  

 

Free online fiction: 

• "Never Wear Heels on a Date" by Emily J. Edwards in Punk Noir Magazine  
• "Soulless Bug" by Eric Richer in Punk Noir Magazine 
• "Where’s Paul?" by Jen Conley in Shotgun Honey. 
• "Get Out" by F.I. Goldhaber in The Five-Two.
  
  
  

Trailers and videos: 

• Watch a trailer for Agatha Christie's Seven Dials.
• Watch a trailer for Under Salt Marsh.
• Watch a trailer for the new Wuthering Heights.