Taking the Tour

• I was skeptical when I heard that NBC-TV wanted to remake the highly acclaimed British series Prime Suspect, only this time starring Maria Bello. I was very fond of Bello in the short-lived Mr. and Mrs. Smith, and later in ER. But could she really step into the shoes previously worn by the brilliant Helen Mirren? Well, if the series preview clip here represents what this show will offer, it might just be something to look forward to in the fall. Bello isn’t Mirren, but her protagonist can certainly hold her own amid a cop-shop fraternity.

• I hold out less hope for the sci-fi/cop series Grimm.

• Meanwhile, sneak peaks of this fall’s new ABC shows, including the unnecessary Charlie’s Angels reboot, can be seen here.

• Really, Jessica Fletcher as one of “The 10 Coolest TV Private Investigators”? I don’t think so. But I can go along with Jim Rockford, Joe Mannix, and most of the other characters mentioned.

• Den of Geek brings news about what episodes we can expect from the second series of Sherlock, BBC One’s updated version of Arthur Conan Doyle’s stories, starring Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman. Those three 90-minute installments are slated for broadcasting in the fall on both sides of the Atlantic.

• The anonymous author of Tipping My Fedora has chosen his 10 favorites films noir, a rundown that includes Double Indemnity, Out of the Past, and Touch of Evil.

• British author P.D. James and Catherine Ross Nickerson of Emory University have won the latest George N. Dove Awards for their contributions to the serious study of mystery and crime fiction.

• This is a pretty funny James Bond artwork change.

• For those unfamiliar with the name Anna Katharine Green, Mystery Scene offers an archived profile of this “mother of American mystery.”

• While I’ve long enjoyed watching Law & Order: Criminal Intent, was a regular viewer of the original Law & Order, and have liked what I’ve seen of Law & Order: UK, the series Law & Order: Special Victims Unit has never been among my favorites, principally because a frequent diet of sex crimes is just too much for me to take. However, I am intrigued by the possibility that Jennifer Love Hewitt might be hired to replace Mariska Hargitay as Christopher Meloni’s partner on that show. Hewitt is not the finest actress in the world, but her sex appeal might stimulate the development of an interesting back-story for her cop character.

• Tony Black’s Pulp Pusher is definitely back, with new stories from William Blick, Greg Bardsley, and Eric Beetner, plus a “Push-Ups” interview with Hard Case Crime’s Charles Ardai.

• Just Press Play’s Lee Jutton is less enthusiastic about Marlowe as a whole than she is about James Garner’s performance in that 1969 picture, which has the future Rockford Files star playing Raymond Chandler’s series gumshoe, Philip Marlowe. (The movie itself was adapted from Chandler’s 1949 novel, The Little Sister.) A remastered DVD version of Marlowe--which just happens to be one of my favorite private-eye flicks--is due out from Warner Bros. Archive on May 26. But don’t look for Carroll O’Connor to play Marlowe’s client, innocent Orfamay Quest, in the film. No matter what Jutton says, that part belongs instead to Sharon Farrell; O’Connor plays Lieutenant Christy French. Somebody at Just Press Play ought to have caught this error.

• Interviews worth reading: Publishers Weekly talks with spy chief-turned-spy fictionist Stella Rimington; Jedediah Ayres chats up Lawrence Block; the Web site Bookdagger quizzes Eoin Colfer; and Ed Lynskey turns the hot lights on himself for Sea Minor. If you would prefer to listen to an author being questioned, click here for Art Taylor’s exchange with Alan Orloff, author of Killer Routine.

• Why is Scotland Yard “fighting an extraordinary legal battle to withhold 123-year-old secret files which experts believe could finally provide the identity of Jack the Ripper”? The Daily Telegraph has the story.

• This is one of the stupidest ideas ever proposed by man.

• And Squeezegut Alley’s Nicolas Pillai isn’t betting on the success of Johnny Depp’s plans to remake The Thin Man, the 1934 film based on Dashiell Hammett’s last novel. He seems particularly concerned by the signing of Jerry Stahl as screenwriter, but also doubts that Depp can do justice to the cinematic role of Nick Charles, which originally went to William Powell. Pillai has an excellent alternative actor in mind, but he’s stumped on who might fill the part of Nora Charles, formerly held by Myrna Loy. If you’d like to offer some suggestions, do so here.