Sinister Cinema

A novel that really blew me away back in 2001, and that coincided with a change of genre--and name--for its author, was The Straw Men, by Michael Marshall (Smith). That book went on to spawn two sequels, 2004’s The Lonely Dead (aka The Upright Man) and 2005’s Blood of Angels. So I was pleased to read this report in Variety:

Benderspink has acquired film rights to “The Straw Men,” a crime thriller by Brit author Michael Marshall Smith, along with rights to the comic adaptation by Zenescope Comics head Joe Brusha.

The book, the first in a trilogy, follows a detective brought out of retirement to solve a series of bizarre murders connected by dark conspiracy.

“Straw Men” will be produced by Chris Bender and JC Spink. Zenescope’s Brusha and Ralph Tedesco exec produce.

Smith’s novel “Spares” is set up with Vertigo producing, and his short story “One of Us” has been in development at Warner Bros.

Meanwhile, MTV adds:

“Straw Men” is the first novel in a trilogy by British author Smith, and follows a detective brought out of retirement to solve a series of murders involving his own abducted daughter and a dark conspiracy.

Benderspink previously produced the Academy Award-nominated adaptation of John Wagner and Vince Locke’s graphic novel “A History of Violence,” and is also attached to New Line’s much-anticipated adaptation of the Vertigo series “Y: The Last Man.”

The first three issues of Zenescope’s “Straw Men” adaptation are currently available, featuring a script by Brusha, interior art by Brett Weldele and cover art by David Seidman.

This is great news about a novel that I chose as one of January Magazine’s favorite books of 2002. At that time, I wrote that “This isn’t just another conventional serial-killer novel. Marshall uses the Internet to the advantage of his plot, without too much dependence on techno-terror, and there’s a ‘grassy knoll’ sort of conspiracy at the story’s dark heart. The ideas explored in The Straw Men will remain embedded in your mind like broken glass.”

By the way, Marshall has a new standalone thriller, Bad Things, due out in the UK in January and in the States in May 2009.