Crime Fiction Links of the Week for May 16, 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 The Sheep Detectives, The Punisher: One Last Kill, Is God Is, Top Gun at forty and much more.
 

Crime fiction in general: 

• CrimeReads shares ten new crime novels coming out this week.
• CrimeReads shares crime novels coming out in paperback this month, 
• CrimeReads shares the best reviewed crime books of spring 2026 
• Molly Odintz shares her favourite psychological thrillers coming out in May. 
• Paul French shares crime novels set in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.
• Kristen Perrin shares five brilliant, lesser-known cozy mysteries (plus one new novel)
• Lacey Moone shares her five favourite messy amateur sleuths
• Dirk Schweigert shares his five favourite fictional crime bosses. 
• Lynn Slaughter shares five great mysteries for sports fans 
• Lucy Andrews explains how Jane Austen influenced modern detective fiction
• David Bergen shares his appreciation for Patricia Highsmith's Ripley novels. 
• Charlie Jane Anders talks about ephemeral art.  
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Film and TV:  

• Radha Vatsal shares new crime shows to watch. 
• Jack Seale calls Nemesis a ridiculously entertaining cop show 
• Peter Bradshaw calls Normal a cheerfully weird Bob Odenkirk small-town thriller  
• Benjamin Lee calls In the Grey a sly and surprisingly serious thriller  
• Jack Seale calls MIA a Florida-set revenge thriller that swings between being boring and ludicrous and is riddled with awkward dialogue and convenient plotting
• Mike McCahill calls LifeHack an old-school heist movie updated for the meme age 
• Phil Hoad calls Killer on the Air a radio call-in hostage thriller 
• Martin Edwards shares his thoughts on the thriller Dead of Winter. 
• Nick Kolakowski wonders whether another Miami Vice remake will have anything new to say. 
• Jacob Oller revisits the 1949 crime thriller Stray Dog 
• Jessica Dickinson Goodman revisits the 1971 counterculture action film Billy Jack. 
• Cora Buhlert revisits the 1971 spy thriller cum melodrama And Jimmy Went to the Rainbow.     
• Radha Vatsal reviews the 1997 crime movie Jackie Brown.  
• Nick Romano interviews Chris Mundy, showrunner of Lanterns.   
• Nick Romano interview Oren Uziel, co-showrunner of Spider-Noir. 
• Radheyan Simonpillai interviews Asia Argento, star of Death Has No Master. 
• Jessica M. Goldstein asks if movies really are getting darker.  
• David Burke, who played Doctor John Watson in the Jeremy Brett Sherlock Holmes adaptations, has died aged 92.  

 

Comments on The Sheep Detectives:

• Arturo Serrano calls The Sheep Detectives a lovely whodunit that could have gone farther with its material
• Watch a behind the scenes featurette about The Sheep Detectives.  

 

 Comments on Is God Is:

• Andrew Lawrence calls Is God Is a fiery revenge thriller 
• Monica Castillo declares that Is God Is rages against domestic violence.

 

Comments on The Punisher: One Last Kill:

• Emmet Asher-Perrin declares that The Punisher: One Last Kill is a baffling, purge-like foray into… nothing much 
• Jarrod Jones declares that The Punisher: One Last Kill trades continuity for bloodshed and the promise of carnage yet to come. 
• Germain Lussier calls The Punisher: One Last Kill solid, but a little confusing  

 

 Comments on Top Gun at forty:

• Peter Bradshaw revisits the 1986 action movie Top Gun. 
• David Smith looks back at how Top Gun was made.  

 

Writing, publishing and promotion: 

• The Authors Guild shares their AI best practices for authors 
• Micah Nathan talks about realising that the students in his writing workshop used AI and how he responded to this.
• Emma Loffhagen reports that UK Children's Poet Laureate Frank Cottrell-Boyce has called for children’s reading to be treated as a right. 

 

Awards: 

• The winners of the 2026 ITW Thriller Awards have been announced. 
• The finalists for the 2026 Anthony Awards have been announced. 
• The shortlist for the 2026 Fingerprint Awards has been announced. 
• The winners of the 2026 British Book Awards have been announced.  
• The winners of the 2026 Bafta TV Awards have been announced.

 

Interviews: 

• Frank Zafiro interviews Brian Brady.
• House of Mystery interviews Royce Wilson. 
• Gabrielle Bellot interviews Tiffany Hanssen. 
• The Dark Phantom interviews Tucker May,  
• Victoria Selman interviews Jack Butler and Barbara Poelle. 

 

Reviews:

• Mary Picken reviews Quite Ugly One Evening by Chris Brookmyre. 
• Blue Book Ballon reviews Quite Ugly One Evening by Chris Brookmyre.
• In Search of the Classic Mystery Novel reviews Murder By Design by Lee Goldberg 
• Joseph B. Hoyos reviews The Last Hitman by Robin Yocum
• BOLO Books reviews The Last Mandarin by Louise Penny and Melissa Fung. 
• Lesa Holstine reviews The Last Mandarin by Louise Penny and Mellissa Fung 
• Jen Lucas reviews The Bone Mother by Suzy Aspley  
• Mary Picken reviews The Bone Mother by Suzy Aspley 
• Lesa Holstine reviews The Teacher by Tim Sullivan 
• Jen Lucas reviews The Hollow Boys by Tariq Ashkanani 
• Jen Lucas reviews Count the Dead by T.M. Payne
• Jen Lucas reviews Let The Dead Sleep by Michael Wood
• Lesa Holstine reviews Liar’s Creek by Matt Goldman 
• Chris Connor reviews Shadows on Sidewalks by James Grady  
• Mary Picken reviews 138 Main Street by Gavin Bell  
• Doreen Sheridan reviews We Were Never Friends by Kaira Rouda 
• Mary Picken reviews Rat Race by Callum McSorley
• Robin Agnew reviews Deadly Force by Cynthia Harrod-Eagles.
• Mary Picken reviews Dissection of A Murder by Jo Murray
• Marlene Harris reviews For Better or Murder by Simon R. Green  
• Marlene Harris reviews The Vampyre Client by Jeri Westerson
• Lesa Holstine reviews The Silent House of Sleep by Allan Gaw 
• Janet Webb reviews When the Wolves Are Silent by C. S. Harris 
• Denise Webb reviews The Legend of Hereward by Mike Ripley  
• Cathy Akers-Jordan reviews The Diva Hosts a Murderer by Krista Davis. 
• Erin Britton reviews Marked for Death by R.O. Thorp 
• In Search of the Classic Mystery Novel reviews Death At The Lighthouse by Alasdair Beckett-King
• Kate Jackson reviews Story of a Murder: The Wives, the Mistress and Doctor Crippen by Hallie Rubenhold  

 

Classics reviews: 

• Martin Edwards revisits the 1937 Sergeant Beef mystery Case Without a Corpse by Leo Bruce 
• Happiness is a Book revisits the 1946 Sir Henry Merrivale mystery My Late Wives by Carter Dickson 
• Erin Britton revisits the 1960 Carolus Deene mystery Jack on the Gallows Tree by Leo Bruce
• Kate Jackson revisits the 1966 Cat Who... cozy mystery The Cat Who Could Read Backwards by Lilian Jackson Braun 
• B.V. Lawson revisits the 1975 suspense novel The Long Shadow by Celia Fremlin. 
• Happiness is a Book revisits the 1982 crime thriller Angel Without Mercy by Anthea Cohen  
• Mandie Griffiths revisits the 2016 Kim Stone mystery Blood Lines by Angela Marsons 

 

Con and event reports:

• Ali Karim reports about the 2026 Zaffre Crime & Thriller Showcase event in London, UK.

 

Research: 

• Marina Dunbar reports that Richard Werstine, wanted in connection with killing of Cold as Life singer Rodney Barger in 1993, was arrested in Panama 
• Andrew Gumbel reportsw about the legel battle to protect Marilyn Monroe's former home in Los Angeles, California, where she died in 1962. 

 

Free online fiction: 

• "Peaches & Bees" by Brandon Doughty in Punk Noir Magazine. 
• "Nolo Contendere" by Ed Robson in The Five Two. 
  
  

Trailers and videos: 

• Watch a trailer for Focker-in-Law.