Crime Fiction Links of the Week for February 14, 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 Crime 101, Betrayal, How to Get From Heaven to Belfast, Good Luck, Have Fun, Don't Die, tributes to James Van Der Beek and Bud Cort and much more.
 

Crime fiction in general: 

• CrimeReads shares ten new crime novels coming out this week.
• Jennifer K. Breedlove discusses why we read mysteries when the world is on fire 
• Michelle Maryk shares nine speculative thrillers. 
• Johnny Compton shares Johnny four great supernatural noir novels 
• Paul French shares crime novels set in Reno, Nevada.
• Mollie Ann Cox shares five clever and compelling heroines in historical mystery series
• Katherine Greene talks about the rise of female rage and the evolution of nasculinity in nodern fiction 
• Yosha Gunasekera talks about ethics, erasure and the human cost of true crime 
• James Davis Nicoll discusses what lures readers into picking up an unfamiliar book  
• Natalie Zutter shares five signs you might be crushing on a book 
• Ella Risberger discusses how tropes took over romance, having apparently never noticed any tropes in romance novel (or read any romance novels) before.  
• Janie Chang shares her experiences writing a gothic novel  
• Zack Budryk shares his appreciation for Stephen King's investigator character Holly Gibney. 
• Brian Rafftery explain how Thomas Harris came to create Hannibal Lecter. 
• The Guardian reports that US judges have dismissed lawsuits accusing Neil Gaiman of sexual assault of his former nanny, declaring that this case falls into the jurisdiction of New Zealand. 
• Meredith G. White shares an obituary for James Sallis.  

 

Film and TV:  

• Olivia Rutigliano lists new crime TV series to watch this weekend. 
• Ryan Hefferman lists ten action thriller TV shows that blow any movie out of the water  
• Sarah Dempster declares that series 2 of The Artful Dodger lacks the wit and warmth of the first series. 
• Phil Hoad calls What We Hide an opioid-crisis thriller which sees two sisters picking up the pieces and hiding their mother’s dead body 
• Chris Jenkins shares his thoughts on episode 3 of season 5 of Astrid: Murder in Paris. 
• Paul Hirons shares his thoughts on episode 3 of Under the Salt Marsh. 
• Brian Tallerico shares his thoughts on the latest episode of Hijack. 
• Paul Hirons shares his thoughts on the German spy drama Unfamiliar. 
• Cheryl Eddy declares that the documentary The Last Sacrifice explores the (maybe?) occult crime that inspired The Wicker Man.   
• Cheryl Eddy lists everything to remember about the post-apocalypse of Paradise before season 2 .
• Anthony Breznican looks ahead at the Spider-Noir TV-series.  
• Jacob Oller revisits the 2001 noir film The Man Who Wasn’t There   
• Paul Hirons revisits the 2011 historical thriller The Hour. 
• Drew Gillies reports that David Zucker is not a fan of what Paramount did with the Naked Gun reboot 

 

Tributes to James Van Der Beek:

• James Van Der Beek, best known for his roles in Dawson's Creek, Rules of Attraction, Scary Movie, Labor Day, Don't Trust the B-- in Apartment 23, Varsity Blues and many others, has died aged 48.
• Stuart Heritage declares that James Van Der Beek was so much more than just Dawson 
• Michaela Zee shares tributes from several co-stars to James Van Der Beek. 
• Armando Tinoco shares the tribute of Krysten Ritter, who co-starred with James Van Der Beek in Don't Trust the B-- in Apartment 23, to the late actor.  
• The Guardian shares photos from James Van Der Beek's career. 
• Emily Longeretta reports that friends have launched a GoFundMe to support James Van Der Beek's family after his untimely death. 

  

Tributes to Bud Cort: 

•  Actor Bud Cort, best known for his appearances in Harold and Maude, Brewster McCloud, Heat Dogma, The Life Aquatic as well as the voice of Toyman in several animated DC series, has died aged 77. 
• William Hughes remembers Bud Cort.  

 

Comments on Betrayal:

• Jack Seale calls Betrayal an espionage thriller that's so drab and downbeat it’s like a different genre 
• Paul Hirons shares his thoughts on episode 1 of Betrayal. 
• Paul Hirons shares his thoughts on episode 2 of Betrayal. 

 

Comments on Crime 101: 

• Peter Bradshaw calls Crime 101 the bracing tale of a master thief that lifts a trick or two from Michael Mann  
• Jarrod Jones calls Crime 101 a refreshingly mature genre exercise that is more than a cops-and-robbers intro course 
• Clint Gage calls Crime 101 is proficient in all the right elements of a heist movie. 

 

Comments on How to Get From Heaven to Belfast: 

• Paul Hirons calls How To Get To Heaven From Belfast a riotous mystery that balances laughs with genuine emotional weight.
• Saloni Gajjar calls How To Get To Heaven From Belfast an entertaining, albeit bumpy, ride 
• Róisín Lanigan interviews Lisa McGee, creator of How to Get to Heaven from Belfast   

 

Comments on Good Luck. Have Fun. Don't Die: 

• Luke Hicks calls Good Luck, Have Fun, Don't Die a science fiction film as annoyingly quirky as its title. 
• Benjamin Lee calls Good Luck, Have Fun, Don’t Die review a lively yet overstuffed caper

 

Writing, publishing and promotion: 

• Max Gladstone points out that writing doesn't always look the way you think 
• Walt Boyes talks about worldbuilding. 
• Jennifer van der Kleut talks about finding inspiration in Reddit's "Am I The Asshole" forum 
• Adele Parks talks about the intellectual challenge of revisiting her first characters 
• Elizabeth A. Harris bids good-bye to the mass market paperback.
• Matthew Byrd reports that Harlequin are ending their historical romance line after almost forty years. 
• Lisa Varga reports that federal funding for US libraries prevails 
• Susan Swavely reports that The Grim Reader bookstore in Atlanta, Georgia, which originally operated out of a hearse, is now getting a regular brick and mortar location.  
• Imran Qureshi profiles Anke Gowda, a retired factory worker who built a library of two million books in Pandavapura, Karnataka, India. 

 

Awards: 

• The finalists for the 2026 Libby Book Awards have been announced.

 

Interviews: 

• David Masciotra interviews James Lee Burke. 
• Alan Petersen interviews Jonathan Kellerman
• Paul Burke interviews Louise Welsh. 
• Rick Pullen interviews John Grisham. 
• J. Kingston Pierce interviews Mariah Fredericks. 
• Garrick Webster interviews Jill Amy Rosenblatt.
• Ayo Onatade interviews Pamela Samuels Young and Dwayne Alexander Smith  
• Marshal Zeringue interviews Will Shindler. 
• Scott Simon interviews Brian Raftery. 

 

Reviews:

• Marlene Harris reviews Stolen in Death by J.D. Robb  
• Kevin Tipple reviews The Hadacol Boogie by James Lee Burke 
• Jen Lucas reviews The Shadow Carver by Nadine Matheson 
• Ian Mond reviews Shadow Ticket by Thomas Pynchon 
• In Search of the Classic Mystery Novel reviews Killing In The Shadows by Kate Ellis   
• Sandra Mangan reviews What Happened That Night by Nicci French 
• Mary Picken reviews The Cut Up by Louse Welsh 
• Doreen Sheridan reviews Blade by Wendy Walker
• Doreen Sheridan reviews The Shop On Hidden Lane by Jayne Ann Krentz 
• Robin Agnew reviews The Midnight Taxi by Yosha Gunasekera.
• Marlene Harris reviews No Matter the Cost by Anna Hackett  
• Kerry Hood reviews Anatomy of an Alibi by Ashley Elston  
• Ali Karim reviews The Frenchman by Jack Beaumont  
• Mike Parker reviews Spies and Other Gods by James Wolff 
• Lucy Atkins reviews Good People by Patmeena Sabit 
• BOLO Books reviews The Housewife Next Door by LynDee Walker. 
• Janet Webb reviews Robert B. Parker’s Big Shot by Christopher Farnsworth 
• Mary Picken reviews The Edge of Darkness by Vaseem Khan 
• In Search of the Classic Mystery Novel reviews Carnival Of Lies by D.V. Bishop 
• Sharon Richardson reviews A Bad, Bad Place by Frances Crawford 
• Robin Agnew reviews The Widow Hamilton by Mollie Ann Cox.
• Doreen Sheridan reviews Beth Is Dead by Katie Bernet 
• BOLO Books reviews No One Would Do What the Lamberts Have Done by Sophie Hannah, 
• Joseph B. Hoyos reviews Death on Dickens Island by Allison Brook
• Jen Lucas reviews The Barbecue At No 9. by Jennie Godfrey 
• James Davis Nicoll reviews Arsenic and Adobo by Mia P. Manansala 
• Joseph B. Hoyos reviews A Murder Most Fowl by Carmela Dutra
• Lesa Holstine reviews Mrs. Claus and the Very Vicious Valentine by Liz Ireland 
• Mandie Griffiths reviews A Sociopath’s Guide to a Successful Marriage by M.K. Oliver

 

Classics reviews: 

• Happiness is a Book revisits the 1926 Chief Inspector Pointer mystery The Footsteps That Stopped by A. Fielding 
• Kate Jackson revisits the 1956 Gridley Nelson mystery Bite the Hand by Ruth Fenisong   
• Kate Jackson revisits the 1958 Gridley Nelson mystery Death of the Party by Ruth Fenisong 
• B.V. Lawson revisits the 1962 George Gideon mystery Gideon's Fire by John Creasey. 
• Happiness is a Book revisits the 1966 suspense novel I Start Counting by Audrey Erskine Lindop 
• Martin Edwards revisits the 1974 Jim Larkin mystery Crime Wave by Martin Russell. 
• Paul Burke revisits the 1991 mystery An Enigma by the Sea by Carlo Fruttero and Franco Lucentini 
• Lesa Holstine revisits the 2013 Hugo Marston mystery The Crypt Thief by Mark Pryor

 

Con and event reports:

• Martin Edwards shares his experiences at thet Bloody Barnes crime festival in London, UK.  
• Molly Templeton reports that several authors have signed an open letter expressing their concern about the ties of RELX, parent company of ReedPop, organiser of BookCon in New York City, as well as other conventions, to ICE. 
• Amrit Dhillon wonders why India has more than 100 literary festivals, when most Indians don't read for pleasure. 

 

Research: 

• Christopher Farnsworth declares that we are living in the golden age of grift and scam. 
• Springs Toledo talks about the Boston underworld. 
• Michael Cannell talks about mafia hitman Joey Tests who died aged 71. 
• Kevin Davis reports that a frustrated judge in New York tossed out a case after a lawyer kept submitting documents containing fake AI citations and a lengthy quote from Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury. 
• Rusty Surrette reports that a US woman has been sentenced to federal prison after making false claims that astronaut Anne McClain illegally accessed her bank account while deployed to the International Space Station  

 

Free online fiction: 

• "The Crow and the Rose" by Joshua Michael Stewart in Yellow Mama.
• "In Sickness and Health" by James Blakey in Yellow Mama.
• "Say Her Name" (For Renée Nicole Good) by Jennifer Lagier in The Five-Two..
    

Trailers and videos: 

• Watch a trailer for Scarpetta. 
• Watch a clip from season 4 of Dark Winds 
• Watch a teaser for Imperfect Women. 
• Watch a trailer for Spider-Noir.