Crime Fiction Links of the Week for January 31, 2026

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 Send Help, Mercy, The Wrecking Crew, Lynley, tributes to James Sallis, the still unsolved Black Dahlia murder case and much more.
 

Crime fiction in general: 

• CrimeReads shares ten new crime novels coming out this week.
• CrimeReads shares the best reviewed crime books of January 2026 
• Molly Odintz shares psychological thrillers coming out in February. 
• Michael Idov recommends five spy thrillers that are also good literature.
• Rhys Bowen shares her favourite novels about female spies.
• Nalini Singh talks about the perfect protagonists for each mystery and crime fiction subgenre 
• Sophie Hannah recommends five crime novels with perfectly unsympathetic protagonists 
• Adriane Leigh explains why we are living in the age of the unreliable narrator  
• Karen Winn lists eight novels about secret societies. 

 

Tributes to James Sallis:

• Science fiction and mystery writer, editor and reviewer James Sallis has died aged 81. 
• J. Kingston Pierce remembers James Sallis. 

 

Film and TV:  

• Olivia Rutigliano lists new crime TV series to watch this weekend. 
• Lucy Mangan calls Under Salt Marsh a thrilling Welsh crime drama and clever, gripping TV
• Peter Hammond calls The Weight a Depression-era adventure that is pure gold  
• Saloni Gajjar calls Vanished a hollow thriller. 
• Matt Larkin calls the Indian film Aranyak well worth a watch for those who enjoy gritty mysteries with potential supernatural angles  
• Jacob Oller calls Shelter a schlocky B-movie and bargain-bin Jason Bourne.
• Paul Hirons shares his thoughts on the latest episode of The Night Manager.
• Brian Tallerico shares his thoughts on the latest episode of Hijack.  
• Garrick Webster shares his thoughts on the Irish crime drama Blackshore.
• Garrick Webster shares his thoughts on the Finnish crime drama Arctic Circle. 
• Michael Hogan lists ten TV characters who died and came back.  
• Rich Pelley interviews Nick Frost, star of Shaun of the Dead, Hot Fuzz, Attack the Block and many others.  
• Kali Wallace revisits the 1987 science fiction satire RoboCop.  
• Paul Hirons revisits the 2010 crime drama Rizzoli and Isles. 
• Yvonne Lime, star of I Was A Teenage Werewolf, High School Hellcats, Speed Crazy, Dragstrip Riot, Father Knows Best and many other has died aged 90.
• Actress Catherine O'Hara, best known for her roles in A Nightmare Before Christmas, Beetlejuice, Home Alone, The Last of Us, Schitt's Creek and The Studio, has died aged 71.

 

Comments on The Wrecking Crew:

• Leslie Felperin calls The Wrecking Crew an enjoyable action-comedy throwback
• Jacob Oller calls The Wrecking Crew a laborious and forgettable action-comedy 

 

Comments on Send Help: 

• Peter Bradshaw calls Send Help a gore-laced plane-crash survival face-off thriller. 
• Jesse Hassenger calls Send Help a loopy desert-island mess
• George Wolfington calls Send Help a cathartic revenge on terrible bosses

 

Comments on Lynley: 

• Paul Hirons shares his thoughts on the third episode of Lynley. 
• Paul Hirons shares his thoughts on the fourth episode of Lynley. 

 

Comments on Mercy:

• Arturo Serrano declares that if you had to endure ninety minutes of garbage like Mercy, you’d legalize summary executions too  
• Alasdair Stuart declares that Mercy might have been fun as a B-movie made thirty years ago, but times have changed.  

 

Writing, publishing and promotion: 

• Val McDermid talks about her writing rituals and routines. 
• L.A. Stratton talks about being a crossgenre writer. 
• The Authors Guild share their concerns about the Amazon Kindle’s new “Ask This Book” AI feature
• Mike Glyer reports that a video of Greg Ketter, founder of Dreamhaven Books in Minneapolis, Minnesota, standing amidst teargar clouds and cursing ICE agents after the murder of nurse Alex Pretti by ICE agents.  
• Nick Lunemann and Erin Hassanzadeh interview Greg Ketter and report that Dreamhaven Books has seen an uptick of sales after its owner went viral on social media.
• Carson Hartzog also profiles Greg Ketter. 
• Greg Ketter shares a statement about the viral video and his anger at ICE agents murdering Alex Pretti. 
• Claire Kirch reports that both Dreamhaven Books and Comma Bookshop in Minneapolis, Minnesota, have seen sales spike after they made their opposition to ICE operations in Minneapolis public.  
• Publisher and anti-racism activist Eric Huntley has died aged 96. 

 

Awards: 

• The finalists for the 2026 Agatha Awards have been announced.
• The winner of the 2026 CWA Diamond Dagger Award has been announced. 
• The finalists for the 2026 Audie Awards have been announced. 
• The finalists for the 2026 Bafta Film Awards have been announced. 
• The finalists for the 2026 Saturn Awards have been announced. 
• The finalists for the 2026 Writers Guild Awards have been announced.
• The finalists for the 2026 Eddie Awards have been announced. 

 

Interviews: 

• D.P. Lyle and Kathleen Antrim interview Allison Brennan
• Ali Karim interviews Dean Koontz 
• Debbi Mack interviews Ryan Steck.  
• J. Kingston Pierce interviews Max Allan Collins. 
• Paul Burke interviews Malcolm Kempt. 
• Tim Shipman interviews David McCloskey 
• Grace Topping interviews Tammy Barker 
• Marshal Zeringue interviews Kelli Stanley. 

 

Reviews:

• Kerry Hood reviews The Living and the Dead by Christoffer Carlsson   
• Paul Burke reviews On the Trail by Kerry J. Donovan 
• Raven Crime Reads reviews Into The Dark by Orjan Karlsson, translated by Ian Giles 
• Kevin Tipple reviews Illusion of Truth by James L’Etoile  
• Chris Connor reviews A Spy in the Blood by Paul Warner 
• Marlene Harris reviews The Cyclist by Tim Sullivan 
• Jen Lucas reviews The Good Patient by Nilesha Chauvet 
• Sara Townsend reviews Darling Mine by Romy Hausmann  
• Vicki Weisfeld reviews The Burning Library by Gilly Macmillan 
• Robin Agnew reviews The Case of the Murdered Muckraker by Rob Osler. 
• Kate Jackson reviews My Grandfather: The Master Detective by Masateru Konishi, translated by Louise Heal Kawai 
• Margaret Agnew reviews The Carver Affair by Pam Lecky. 
• Mike Parker reviews Blood Vengeance by Douglas Jackson 
• Mandie Griffiths reviews Muse Of Fire by Howard Linskey 
• Pippa McAllister reviews Death of a Diplomat by Eliza Reid  
• Joseph B. Hoyos reviews Murder Most Haunted by Emma Mason.
• In Search of the Classic Mystery Novel reviews Beattie Cavendish And The Highland Hideaway by Mary-Jane Riley 
• Jen Lucas reviews And The Corpse Wore Tartan by Stuart MacBride  
• John Valeri reviews No One Would Do What the Lamberts Have Done by Sophie Hannah 
• Carla Schantz reviews Tell-Tale Treats by Jennifer J. Chow. 
• Joseph B. Hoyos reviews A Tour to Die For by Michelle Chouinard. 
• In Search of the Classic Mystery Novel reviews The Dog Sitter Detective Takes The Lead by Antony Johnston  
• Lesa Holstine reviews Murder She Wrote: The Body in the Trees by Jessica Fletcher and Terrie Farley Moran 
• Sandra Mangan reviews Vivian Dies Again by C.E. Hulse 

 

Classics reviews: 

• John Curran revisits the 1926 Hercule Poirot mystery The Murder of Roger Ackroyd by Agatha Christie.
• B.V. Lawson revisits the 1937 mystery The Hand in the Glove by Rex Stout. 
• Happiness is a Book revisits the 1953 mystery Death Walked in Kashmir by M. M. Kaye 
• In Search of the Classic Mystery Novel revisits the 1955 mystery Sky High by Michael Gilbert. 
• Happiness is a Book revisits the 1977 Flaxborough Chronicles mystery One Man’s Meat a.k.a. It Shouldn’t Happen to a Dog by Colin Watson  
• Martin Edwards revisits the 1988 suspense novel House Arrest by Martin Russell. 
• Chris Connor revisits the 1993 spy thriller The Night Manager by John Le Carré.  
• Jen Lucas revisits the 1996 Jack Parlabane thriller Quite Ugly One Morning by Chris Brookmyre  

 

Con and event reports:

• Ayo Onatade announces the special guests for the 2026 Theakston Old Peculier Crime Writing Festival in Harrogate, Yorkshire.
• The guests for the 2026 CrimeScene Mystery Bookfest in Pittsboro, North Carolina, have been announced.
• Ayo Onatade shares a call for papers for a true crime and ethics symposium at the University of Portsmouth in Portsmouth, UK.

 

Research: 

• Rob Osler talks about the greatest investigative journalists of the so-called Progressive era. 
• Pat Kelly talks about the murder of alleged kidnapper and sexual abuser Jeffrey Doucet by the father of one of his victims in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, in 1984. 
• Salvador Hernandez reports that California has been hit by a wave of Pokémon card thefts and robberies of collectibles stores, 

 

Discussion of the Black Dahlia murder case: 

• Sarah Weinman notes that the worst thing about the so-called Black Dahlia murder case in Los Angeles, California, in 1947 is that murder victim Elizabeth Short was a real person with hopes and dreams before she was reduced to the Black Dahlia. 
• William J. Mann talks about the many false leads in the so-called Black Dahlia murder case. 
• Elon Green criticises crime fiction writer Michael Connelly for his new true crime podcast Killer in the Code, where he features a crank who claims to have solved both the Black Dahlia case and the Zodiac murders, and declares that Connelly should stick to fictional crimes.  

 

Free online fiction: 

• "Holiday Hack" by John Tures in Yellow Mama. 
• "Gingerbread Boy" by Cindy Rosmus in Yellow Mama.
• "Standard Police Procedure" by G. Emil Reutter in The Five-Two.
    

Trailers and videos: 

• Watch a trailer for Jo Nesbo's Detective Hole 
• Watch a trailer for season 3 of The Night Agent. 
• Watch a trailer for season 2 of Paradise.   
• Watch a trailer for Berlin and the Lady with an Ermine  
• Watch a trailer for The Investigation of Lucy Letby.