• This seemed rather inevitable, didn’t it? Following the success of TNT-TV’s 10-part adaptation of The Alienist, Caleb Carr’s 1995 Victorian thriller, the same U.S. network has decided to bring Carr’s sequel, The Angel of Darkness (1997), to the small screen. There’s no word yet on when the finished product might be broadcast, but The Killing Times offers this plot synopsis:
It is June 1897. A year has passed since Dr. Laszlo Kreizler, a pioneer in forensic psychiatry, tracked down the brutal serial killer John Beecham with the help of a team of trusted companions and a revolutionary application of the principles of his discipline. Kreizler and his friends—high-living crime reporter Schuyler Moore; indomitable, derringer-toting Sara Howard; the brilliant (and bickering) detective brothers Marcus and Lucius Isaacson; powerful and compassionate Cyrus Montrose; and Stevie Taggert, the boy Kreizler saved from a life of street crime—have returned to their former pursuits and tried to forget the horror of the Beecham case. But when the distraught wife of a Spanish diplomat begs Sara’s aid, the team reunites to help her find her kidnapped infant daughter. It is a case fraught with danger, since Spain and the United States are on the verge of war. Their investigation leads the team to a shocking suspect: a woman who appears to the world to be a heroic nurse and a loving mother, but who may in reality be a ruthless murderer of children.• By the way, I see that Carr’s long-promised third novel in the Laszlo Kreizler series is now being offered for “pre-order” by Amazon. Titled The Alienist at Armageddon, it appears set for a U.S. release in September of next year (from Mulholland Books).
• In a fine article for CrimeReads, Christopher Huang, Montreal-based author of the new novel A Gentleman’s Murder, reflects on how World War I gave rise to the traditional mystery story.
• This past August 4 marked the 126th anniversary of the infamous Fall River, Massachusetts, ax murders supposedly committed by Lizzie Borden and resulting in the demise of her father and stepmother. But it won’t be until September 14 that Lizzie, the latest film from director Craig William Macneill, premieres in U.S. theaters. Judging from a trailer posted in Slate, the movie suggests a sexual relationship between Lizzie (portrayed by Chloë Sevigny) and the Bordens’ live-in maid, Bridget Sullivan (Kristen Stewart), precipitated the violence—a theory previously explored in Evan Hunter’s 1984 novel, Lizzie.
• Would you like to attend next year’s Left Coast Crime convention—to take place in Vancouver, British Columbia, from March 28 to 31—but can’t afford the $300 (Canadian) registration fee? Well, it seems the convention’s organizing committee is offering three financial-assistance scholarships, which include the registration payment as well as $200 (U.S.) in expense money. All you have to do is apply by November 30. Click here for more information.
• The New York-born jazz singer and actress Morgana King, who played Vito Corleone’s wife in The Godfather and The Godfather, Part II, has died at age 87. She actually passed away in Palm Springs, California, on March 22 of this year, but as Star magazine explains, “Her death had gone unreported until a friend, [entertainment writer] John Hoglund, wrote about her this week … on Facebook.”
• In case you were wondering what became of Morven Christie, the Scottish actress who played Anglican vicar Sidney Chambers’ on-and-off love interest, Amanda Kendall, in the UK mystery drama Grantchester, she’s now set to star in a modern ITV-TV crime series called The Bay. As Radio Times notes, that six-part program is likely to be compared with the surprisingly popular Broadchurch. “Like the Dorset-set Broadchurch,” Radio Times writes, “The Bay takes place in a coastal town—in this case Morecambe—and is described by ITV’s drama boss Polly Hill as ‘a very real crime story about family and community … compelling and beautifully crafted,’ all of which will also strike a chord with Broadchurch fans.” Christie has been cast as Detective Sergeant Lisa Armstrong, “a fierce and hard-working Family Liaison Officer,” to quote from Killing Times, which goes on to provide these clues as to the show’s storyline:
When Detective Sergeant Lisa Armstrong is assigned to a missing persons investigation, at first it seems like any other—tragic, but all too familiar. As a Family Liaison Officer, she’s trained never to get emotionally involved. Her job is to support families during the worst time of their lives whilst also to be the eyes and ears of the police investigation; a cuckoo in the nest. But there’s something very different about this particular case. With horror Lisa realizes she’s got a personal connection with this frightened family; one that could compromise her and the investigation. As she grapples to get justice for the grieving family, Lisa discovers it could come at a cost.• While writing recently about the 36th birthday of Yvonne Strahovski, who co-starred in the 2007-2012 NBC-TV spy series Chuck, I happened across this dream sequence spoofing the start of Hart to Hart, ABC’s older mystery starring Robert Wagner and Stefanie Powers. I thought others might enjoy watching that video, too.
• Needless to say, I already own a copy of John le Carré’s 1963 novel, The Spy Who Came in from the Cold. However, I may need to add to my collection The Folio Society’s beautiful new edition of that “breakthrough work that redefined the spy story.” It features interior illustrations by British artist Matt Taylor, whose cover for Penguin’s most recent paperback version of Le Carré’s Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy won The Rap Sheet’s 2011 Best Crime Novel Cover contest.
• “So how was the wife of the professional police detective portrayed in most Golden Age police procedurals?” short-story writer Carol Westron asks in Lizzie Hayes’ blog. “On the whole, she was hardly portrayed at all. She was mentioned as part of his background but played no part in the intellectual or emotional process that leads to the resolution of the case.”
• For the MysteryPeople blog, Scott Montgomery interviews author Max Allan Collins on the subject of his new non-fiction book, Scarface and the Untouchable: Al Capone, Eliot Ness, and the Battle for Chicago (Morrow), which he penned with A. Brad Schwartz.
• And I long ago added to The Rap Sheet’s YouTube page the original opening from the NBC Mystery Movie series McMillan & Wife, starring Rock Hudson and Susan Saint James. But only yesterday did I realize that I never followed up by posting the main title sequence from Once Upon a Dead Man, the pilot film that gave birth to that beloved, 1971-1977 mystery drama. So here it is. Once Upon a Dead Man was directed by Leonard B. Stern and was first broadcast on September 17, 1971. Jerry Fielding composed the theme music.
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