Crime Fiction Links of the Week for December 6, 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, Wake Up, Dead Man, Netflix buying Warner Bros, tributes to Tom Stoppard and much more.
 

Crime fiction in general: 

• CrimeReads shares ten new crime novels coming out this week.   
• Molly Odintz shares new crime novels coming out in December. 
• Queer Crime Writers share ten new LGBTQ+ crime novels coming out this winter. 
• Erin Britton shares her favourite recent holiday mysteries. 
• Paul French shares crime novels set in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. 
• Christina Kovac explains why Washington DC is the perfect setting for a psychological thriller. 
• Tracy Clark talks about writing a black female detective 
• Margot Harrison talks about writing a murder mystery set in her former workplace. 
• Lee Kelly and Jennifer Thorne share six novels and movies about spectacular historical heists.
• Andromeda Romano-Lax notes that the wave of thrillers with "girl" in the title seems to have given way to a wave of thriller with "boy" in the title.
• Charles Beaumont explains why so many former intelligence officers write espionage fiction  
• Chris Hauty talks abotu the American pop cultural obsession with the assassination of John F. Kennedy. 
• Camestros Felapton shares his appreciation for the Elijah Baley and R. Daneel Olivaw science fiction mysteries by Isaac Asimov. 
• Mystery writer Diana Stuckart has died aged 68. 

 

Best of 2025: 

• Crime Reads share their favourite mysteries, crime novels and thrillers of 2025. 
• Laura Wilson shares her favourite crime novels and thrillers of 2025. 
• Katie Russell and Joanne Finney share their favourite crime novels of 2025.
• The Toronto Globe and Mail shares their favourite thrillers of 2025. 
• The Daily Mail shares their favourite crime novels of 2025.
• Joan Smith and Mark Sanderson shares their favourite crime novels of 2025.  

 

 

Film and TV:  

• Katie Rife declares that Kill Bill: The Whole Bloody Affair is the best and the worst of Quentin Tarantino  
• Phil Hoad calls Son of the Soil a scrappy gangland action film from Nigaeria, mixing Nollywood energy with bloody set pieces and a dash of 1980s-style grit
• Paul Hirons shares his thoughts on the latest episode of Shetland.  
• Paul Hirons shares his thoughts on the latest episode of Cooper and Fry.  
• Paul Hirons shares his thoughts on the latest episode of Down Cemetery Road. 
• Michael Ledwidge shares ten thrilling mystery films that feature trains
• Martin Edwards revisits the 1973 thriller The Mackintosh Man  
• Paul Hirons revisits the 1974 detective series The Rockford Files. 
• Sabina Graves interviews Bryan Fuller, creator of Hannibal, Pushing Daisies and Dust Bunny 
• Actor Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa, best known for his roles in the Mortal Kombat series, James Bond: Licence to Kill, The Last Emperor and many others, has died aged 75. 

 

Tributes to Tom Stoppard:

• Playwright and screenwriter Tom Stoppard has died aged 88. 
• Locus remembers Tom Stoppard 
• Eric Grode points out that the late Tom Stoppard worked as a script doctor on the Indiana Jones and Star Wars movies among others. 
• Olivia Rutigliano also takes a look at Tom Stoppard's uncredited rewrites of Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. 
• Joe Wright remembers Tom Stoppard. 

 

Comments on Wake Up, Dead Man.

• Louis Bayman calls Wake Up Dead Man an enjoyable slice of murderous Christmassy fun  
• Watch Forks Out: A Beignet Blanc Sesame Street Mystery

 

Comments on Netflix buying Warner Bros and HBO Max:

• Todd Spangler reports that Netflix will buy Warner Bros and HBO Max in a multi-billion dollar deal. 
• Benjamin Lee reports that the proposed merger between Netflix and Warner Bros is facing backlash from various Hollywood guilds and unions as well as US politicians. 
• Justin Carter declares that no one is happy about Netflix buying Warner Bros. 
• Andrew Pulver wonders what precisely Netflix is hoping to achieve by buying Warner Bros.  

 

Writing, publishing and promotion: 

• Tod Goldberg explains how to create a fictional crime scene out of familiar places

 

Awards: 

• The winners of the 2025 Goodreads Choice Awards have been announced.

 

Interviews: 

• Victoria Selman interviews A.A. Dhand and Alex Dahl.
• Deborah Kalb interviews Tod Goldberg. 
• Dana Isaacson interviews Paula Munier. 
• Barbara Peters interviews T. Jefferson Parker.
• Tracey Devlyn interviews Simon Gervais and Ryan Steck
• Debbi Mack interviews James Polkinghorn 
• Alan Petersen interviews Brian Andrews. 

 

Reviews:

• Sonja van der Westhuizen reviews The Shadow of the Northern Lights by Satu Rämö, translated by Kristian London. 
• Jen Lucas reviews Blackwater by Sarah Sultoon 
• Mary Picken reviews Scars of Silence by Johana Gustawsson, translated by David Warriner 
• Vicki Weisfeld reviews Come and Get Her by Bruce Conord  
• Jen Lucas reviews The Children of Eve by John Connolly 
• Pippa MacAllister reviews Petty Lies by Sulmi Bak  
• Lesa Holstine reviews Dark Humor by Matt Goldman  
• Lesa Holstine reviews The Curious Poisoning of Jewel Barnes by Terry Shames  
• In Search of the Classic Mystery Novel reviews The Meadows Of Murder by Paul Doherty 
• Vicki Kondelik reviews Murder at Cottonwood Creek by Clara McKenna.
• Paul Burke reviews Estella’s Fury by Barbara Havelocke
• Marlene Harris reviews A Season for Spies by Iona Whishaw 
• Joseph B. Hoyos reviews And to All a Good Bite by David Rosenfelt 
• In Search of the Classic Mystery Novel reviews The Christmas Candle Murders by Benedict Brown  
• Kate Jackson reviews The Christmas Clue by Nicola Upson 
• Lesa Holstine reviews The Snow Lies Deep by Paula Munier 
• Jen Lucas reviews The Nancys And The Case Of The Missing Necklace by R.W.R. McDonald
• Julia Kitvaria Sarene reviews Murder in Absentia by Assaph Mehr   

 

Classics reviews: 

• Martin Edwards revisits the 1968 mystery The Sleeping Tiger by D.M. Devine. 
• B.V. Lawson revisits the 1975 Dave Brandstetter mystery Troublemaker by Joseph Hansen. 
• Lesa Holstine revisits the 2009 Sheriff Dan Rhodes mystery Murder in Four Parts by Bill Crider
•  

 

Con and event reports:

• Nadia Khomani reports that the play Punch by James Graham has gripped young audiences and will tour schools in the UK.

 

Research: 

• Corey Mead talks about the stalking of Ruth Finley, a middle-aged woman from Wichita, Kansas, in 1978.
• Gianni Russo talks about the mafia, unions and why no one will ever find Jimmy Hoffa's remains 
• Famous architect Frank Gehry has died aged 96. 

 

Free online fiction: 

• "Redemption Gorge" by Kenneth M. Gray in Punk Noir Magazine 
• "One in a Million" by Wilson Koewing in Punk Noir Magazine 
• "Open and Shut" by Gregory Meece in Gumshoe Review.
• "Bedding Enemies" by A.C. Perri in The Five-Two. 
   

Trailers and videos: 

• Watch a trailer for Mother Mary. 
• Watch a trailer for Ready or Not 2: Here I Come.