CrimeReads Brief: Week of January 26, 2019

THIS WEEK: In 1933, Hannibal Lecter, the fictional character created by Thomas Harris, was born in 1933, in Lithuania.

• • Italy must pay damages to Amanda Knox after a European Court finds fault with the American college student’s initial questioning by Italian police. | NPR
  • “Instead of eschewing exploitation, Trump is precisely and intentionally exploiting victims of horrible crimes for his political purposes.” Don Winslow on violence, politics, and crime. | Vulture
  •  “I say, fly right past the sun. I always push the envelope.” On the ex-cop-turned-Bronx-based-PI whose methods for proving clients innocent may instead be his own undoing. | New York Times
  • Does French crime show Spiral deserve its comparisons to The Wire? Radha Vatsal breaks down the strengths and weaknesses of a problematic television show. | CrimeReads
  • Deadly Pleasures Mystery Magazine has announced the Barry Award nominations for 2019. Congrats to the nominees! | Mystery Readers Inc
  • Doyle Murphy reports on the steady rise and swift demise of Missouri tanning mogul Todd Beckman’s many illicit enterprises. | Riverfront Times
  • “If there is a secular American cathedral, it’s Hollywood.” James Lee Burke talks crime writing, film, art, creation, and Louisiana. | CrimeReads
  • This fantastic series revisiting past Edgar Award winners continues with a look at Charlotte Jay’s Beat Not the Bones. | Criminal Element
  • Chris Hammer guides us through the burgeoning scene of Aussie noir, introducing some new voices and reminding us of old favorites. | CrimeReads
  • A look at the real life cat-and-mouse investigation that inspired Michael Mann’s operatic crime classic, Heat. | Film School Rejects
  • Krysten Kusek Lewis recommends 8 books featuring scandals, secrets, and not-so-nice people, and expounds on the joys of the salacious thriller. | CrimeReads
  • The Rivals of Sherlock Holmes: Nick Rennison on the other eccentric and brilliant sleuths who rose and fell during the Golden Age of detective fiction. | CrimeReads
  • Breaking down the 10 best true crime documentaries streaming on Netflix now, just in time for you to decide how much of your life you want to dedicate to the Fyre Festival. | Vice
  • “Everybody counts or nobody counts.” How Michael Connelly’s Harry Bosch and the city of Los Angeles have evolved together, book-by-book. From Bruce Riordan. | CrimeReads
  • Crime and the City visits New Orleans and explores the grit and grandeur of crime fiction and noir in the Big Easy. | CrimeReads
  • Steph Post looks at the long strange history of carnival gaffs and the confidence games of circus culture, from the Feejee Mermaid to the famous “Man Eating Chicken.” | CrimeReads
  • Neil Nyren guides readers through the work of Nicholas Blake, alter ego of the UK’s poet laureate, Cecil Day-Lewis. | CrimeReads
  • Check in with all the nominees for the 2019 Edgar Awards, as the Mystery Writers of America celebrate the best and brightest in crime fiction, non-fiction, and TV writing. | CrimeReads
  • Criminal Element’s re-reading of past Edgar winners continues with Margaret Millar’s classic suspense novel, Beast in View. | Criminal Element
  • One of our very favorite pastimes: ranking all of David Fincher’s movies. Especially when Zodiac gets its proper due. | Vulture
  • A look inside the Making a Murderer lawsuit and a new wave of disputes arising out of the true crime phenomenon. | Hollywood Reporter

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