• While we’re on the subject of small-screen mysteries, let me tell you that Season 2 of Professor T, the UK adaptation of a popular Belgian program of the same name, will also debut as part of Masterpiece on September 3 (one hour earlier than Van der Valk, at 8 p.m. ET/PT). Ben Miller, formerly of Death in Paradise, stars as Professor Jasper Tempest, “a genius University of Cambridge criminologist with obsessive–compulsive personality disorder,” to quote from Wikipedia. Mystery Fanfare’s Janet Rudolph gives us the scoop on what to expect from this season: “Across six episodes, the Professor and the team untangle a series of knotty crimes ranging from an unexplained fire in a student block to the mystery of an entire family found dead in their home. From the blossoming affair between the two young detectives, Lisa and Dan, to the start of an exciting new liaison for Police chief DCI Christina Brand, nothing is quite what it seems. Meanwhile, Professor T is dominated and perplexed by the women in his life. As he attempts to improve his relationships with everyone from his mother to the love of his life Christina, he takes the monumental step of seeing a therapist. His sessions with Dr. Helena are painful for the Professor and his mother as they delve deep into his past and chip away at the secrets of his childhood.”
• And I’ve never listened to the BBC Radio 4 comedy-mystery series Mrs. Sidhu Investigates, but I may just have to tune in for the Acorn-TV adaptation of that series, which presents the first of four episodes on Monday, September 18. According to a press release, this show features English comedian Meera Syal (The Kumars at No. 42, The Split, The Devil’s Hour), who also voiced Mrs. Sidhu on the radio airwaves, as “a high-end caterer with a taste for crime. Recently widowed, she juggles her new catering business with encouraging her wayward son Tez (Gurjeet Singh, Ackley Bridge) to find his passion, all while serving up justice to those who believe they are above the law. Her forays into sleuthing see her form unofficial partnership with long-suffering divorcee DCI Burton [Craig Parkinson, familiar from Line of Duty and Grace] who reluctantly accepts that together they’re an unbeatable crime-fighting duo, much to the bemusement of his partner, DS Mint (Naana Agyei-Ampadu, Industry).”
• Another interesting note, this one from a recent post of B.V. Lawson’s In Reference to Murder:
Paramount+ released the first teaser trailer for Taylor Sheridan’s Lawmen: Bass Reeves, which stars David Oyelowo as the titular character. Reeves (Oyelowo), a former slave, was known as the greatest frontier hero in American history, working in the post-Reconstruction era as a federal peace officer in the Indian Territory and capturing over 3,000 of the most dangerous criminals without ever being wounded. Future iterations will follow other iconic lawmen and outlaws who have had an impact on history.Wikipedia offers more of Reeves’s story here.
• Please excuse the tardiness of my mentioning this news, but the recent brutal summer heat here in Seattle seemed to steal away all of my energy. Anyway, I want to note that author Sara Paretsky has been chosen to receive the 2023 David Thompson Special Service Award, a commendation recognizing “extraordinary efforts to develop and promote the crime fiction field.” She will be given that prize during the coming Bouchercon in San Diego (August 30-September 3). Thompson was a “beloved” Houston, Texas, bookseller who passed away in 2010. Previous winners of the award include Les and Leslie Blatt, Janet Rudolph, and The Rap Sheet’s own Ali Karim.
• Paretsky talks about that new award, as well as her overdue return to Bouchercon, in this 11.5-minute YouTube video.
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