Crime Fiction Links of the Week for July 25, 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 Dark, Furious, the proposed merger between Paramount and Warner Bros, tributes to Sam Neill, Brenda Fricker, Kaylee Hottle and Curtis Russell and much more.
 

Crime fiction in general: 

• CrimeReads shares ten new crime novels coming out this week. 
• Molly Odintz shares her favourite debut crime novels coming out in June and July 2026. 
• CrimeReads shares a round-up of recent reprints of classic crime novels. 
• Olivia Rutigliano shares several guides to golden age mysteries. 
• CrimeReads shares several new LGBTQ+ crime novels coming out this summer. 
• Hannah Morrissey and Elle Cosimano share twelve killer Christmas mysteries.
• Carinn Jade lists five thrilling and chilling supernatural mysteries  
• Ellis Blake shares his five favourite missing-persons novels 
• M.J. Soni explains why clothing matters in mysteries
• Jason M. Hough shares his favourite protagonists with niche skills. 
• Carol Goodman shares five mysteries set at literary events, conferences and retreats 
• Sarah Lotz talks about the catharsis of transforming grief into crime fiction 
• David McTiernan explains how AI deepfakes are changing the rules of crime fiction 
• Emma Southon takes a look at romances and other popular fiction of the Roman Empire.  

 

Film and TV:  

• Jesse Hassenger calls Motor City a self-consciously pulpy revenge thriller with no dialogue.  
• Jakc Seale calls The Undeclared War a cyber-attack thriller that fails to push any of the right buttons 
• Leslia Felperin calls The Fires an impressive and plausible disaster film from Iceland.  
• John Walker calls Citizen Vigilante a racist movie about murdering immigrants that is a whole new level of dreadful  
• Paul Hirons shares his thoughts on series 2 of The Crow Girl. 
• Ben Rosenstock shares his thoughts on the latest episode of Cape Fear.  
• Vivian Ho calls My Grandfather Charles Manson a difficult documentary. 
• Sandra Mangan calls A Toxic Love Story an astonishing true crime documentary.  
• Paul Hirons shares his favourite historical and period crime dramas. 
• Olivia Rutigliano shares her five favourite crime movies set aboard submarines. 
• Radha Vatsal interviews Carolina Cavalli, director of The Kidnapping of Arabella. 
• Emma Loffhagen interviews Gugu Mbatha-Raw, star of Possession.  
• Matthew Allan revisits the 1986 serial killer film Manhunter. 
• Caroline Siede revisits the 2001 action movie Lara Croft: Tomb Raider.  
• Paul Hirons revisits the 2003 crime drama New Tricks. 
• Paul Hirons revisits the 2014 cozy mystery series Agatha Raisin.  
• Jen Julian explains what Twin Peaks taught her about subverting genre. 
• Set decorator Mary Kate Golding, who worked on Gotham, Hawkeye, Goosebumps, Mr and Mrs. Smith, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel and many others, had been murdered aged 34. 
• Hal Williams, best known for his roles in Sanford and Son, The Waltons, Knots Landing and Private Benjamin, has died aged 91. 
• Joe Caldwell, writer and co-creator of the horror soap opera Dark Shadows, has died aged 97. 

 

Tributes to Sam Neill, Brenda Fricker, Kaylee Hottle and Chuck Russell:

• Tara Fitzgerald shares a poem as a tribute to Sam Neill.
• Eva Corlett reports that sales of the wine produced by Sam Neill have soared since his death. 
• Irish actress Brenda Fricker, best known for her roles in My Left Foot, Coronation Street, Home Alone 2, Casualty, A Time to Kill and many others, has died aged 81.  
• Drew Gillis remembers Brenda Fricker 
• Actress Kaylee Hottle, best known for her roles in Magnum PI; Godzilla vs. Kong and Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire, has died in a car crash aged only 18. 
• Benjamin Lee remembers Kaylee Hottles.  
• Chuck Russell, director of The Mask, The Blob and A Nightmare on Elm Street 2, has died aged 74
• Justin Carter remembers Chuck Russell.  

 

Comments on The Dark:

• Martin Edwards calls The Dark a dark, Gothicky crime drama about a serial killer, 
• Paul Hirons shares his thoughts on the episodes 3 and 4 of The Dark. 

 

Comments on Furious:  

• Saloni Gajjar calls Furious a taut thriller and a dark, disturbing character study.  
• Rhik Samadder calls Furious a must-see for Killing Eve fans and the most staggeringly feminist crime drama you'll ever see. 
• Erik Adams interviews Elizabeth Meriweather, creator and showrunner of Furious.

 

Comments on the proposed merger between Paramount and Warner Bros:

• Justin Carter reports that there are sev2026 N3F Laureate Award eral lawsuits against the planned merger between Paramount and Warner Bros.  
• Gene Maddaus reports that a US federal judge has paused the proposed merger between Paramount and Warner Bros.  

 

Writing, publishing and promotion: 

• April Dávila talks about the neuroscience behind writer’s block and what we can do to conquer it
• Rowan Beaird explains what romance novels taught her about writing literary fiction
• Christopher Golden shares tips for writing great horror novels. 
• Max Doty explains how he became a horror writer and what he learned along the way. 
• Z.B. Steele talks about the art of the framed narrative 
• Ada Palmer talks about the history of censorship. 
• Dean Wesley Smith explains why he is so negative about traditional book publishing. 
• John Van Stry reports that he received a scam e-mail claiming to be from Baen Books offering to buy his novel - which Baen already published.  
• Apex Magazine reports that they have removed a story for suspicion of AI use.   
• Alexandra Alter reports that Hachette Book Group employees have voted to unionize  
• The settlement in the Anthropic AI class action lawsuit has received its final approval.   
• James Bartlett reports about a visit to the art deco Central Library in Los Angeles, California. 
• Ella Creamer reports that writer Matt Haig is opening a bookshop in Brighton, UK.
• Ella Creamer reports that every child in year 6 in the UK will receive a copy of Impossible Creatures by Katherine Rundell as part of an initiative by Queen Carmilla to promote reading. 
• The Guardian reports that Chinese authorities have raided two independent bookstore in Hong Kong and arrested five employees in a crackdown on allegedly seditious material.  
• Katherine T. Carroll, publicity director of Titan Books, has died aged 68.  

 

Awards: 

• The winner of the 2026 Theakston Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year Award has been announced and it's a science fiction mystery.  
• The winners of the 2026 Imadjinn Awards have been announced. 

 

Interviews: 

• Ayo Onatade interviews Ajay Chowdhury. 
• Ayo Onatade interviews Martin Edwards. 
• Abir Mukherjee and Vaseem Khan interview Otto Penzler. 
• John Valeri interviews Luanne Rice.
• Garrick Webster interviews Philip Swan. 
• Garrick Webster interviews Kate Kaminski. 
• Ayo Onatade interviews Andrew Taylor. 
• Alan Peterson interviews Tom Towslee. 
• Lisa Black interviews Elaine Viets and Neil Plakcy. 

 

Reviews:

• Mike Parker reviews Wisdom Corner by David Heska Wanbli Weiden 
• Mary Picken reviews The Burning Tide by William Shaw 
• Jen Lucas reviews The Depths by Yrsa Sigurðrdóttir, translated by Victoria Cribb 
• Joseph B. Hoyos reviews Murder by Design by Lee Goldberg 
• In Search of the Classic Mystery Novel reviews The Killer’s Mark by M.W. Craven 
• Doreen Sheridan reviews Two Kinds of Stranger by Steve Cavanagh 
• Vicki Weisfeld reviews The Tailor by Tim Sullivan 
• Jen Lucas reviews The Kill Switch by Robert Peston 
• Mary Picken reviews Buyer Beware by Catherine Ryan Howard 
• Jen Lucas reviews Please Help Me by Gytha Lodge 
• Mary Picken reviews Everything She Didn’t Say by Jane Casey
• In Search of the Classic Mystery Novel reviews The Woman Who Wasn’t There by William Hussey
• Jen Lucas reviews One Bad Deed by T.M. Payne 
• Marlene Harris reviews A Pair of Aces by Marie Benedict and Victoria Christopher Murray 
• In Search of the Classic Mystery Novel reviews Desperate Undertaking by Lindsey Davis
• Ali Karim reviews The Lost Diary of Samuel Pepys by Jack Jewers   
• Joseph B. Hoyos reviews A Field Guide to Murder by Michelle L. Cullen
• Lesa Holstine reviews A Murderer’s Guide to Mardi Gras by Ellen Byron 
• Kate Jackson reviews A Killer Plot by E.C. Nevin  
• Sharon Richardson reviews The Corpse with the Steely Gaze by Cathy Ace  
• Runalong the Shelves reviews Murder by Memory by Olivia Waite   
• Doreen Sheridan reviews Savvy Summers And The Po’Boy Perils by Sandra Jackson-Opoku and tries a recipe from the book. 
• Oline Cogdill reviews Savvy Summers And The Po’Boy Perils by Sandra Jackson-Opoku. 

 

Classics reviews: 

• Olivia Rutigliano revisits the 1862 suspense novel No Name by Wilkie Collins. 
• James Davis Nicoll revisits the 1930 Nancy Drew YA mystery The Secret Of The Old Clock by Caroline Keene a.k.a. Mildred Wirt Benson
• In Search of the Classic Mystery Novel revisits the 1937 mystery The Magic-Lantern Murders by Carter Dickson  
• Martin Edwards revisits the 1950 mystery The Singing Masons by Francis Vivian 
• B.V, Lawson revisits the 1963 Luis Mendoza police procedural Death of a Busybody by Dell Shannon. 
• James Davis Nicoll revisits the 1976 thriller The Tangent Objective by Lawrence Sanders  
• Mandie Griffiths revisits the 2007 Tom Thorne crime novel Death Message by Mark Billingham  

 

Con and event reports:

• Lesa Holstine reports about an author event featuring Linda Castillo in Dover, Ohio.
• Watch the Lanterns panel at San Diego Comic Con in San Diego, California. 
• Germain Lussier reports about the Lanterns panel at San Diego Comic Con.  
• Liv Facey reports that the Children's Literature Festival in Bath, UK, has come under fire after the festival director e-mailed participants asking them to take down social media posts criticising the lack of diversity in the festival's line.up.   

 

Research: 

• Rene Denfield explains what writers often get wrong about death row,
• Robert McCaw talks about one hundred years of Russian espionage in the US. 
• Sarah Lotz talks about several murders and other crimes that occurred at a mansion around the corner from where she lives.  

 

Free online fiction: 

•  "Forever Chemicals" by J.K. Miller in The Five-Two.
  
  

Trailers and videos: 

• Watch a trailer for season 4 of Reacher.  
• Watch a trailer for Lanterns. 
• Watch a trailer for Blade Runner 2099.  
• Watch a trailer for Matchbox - The Movie.