The launch date for my new thriller Beyond All Doubt (under the pen name Hilton Reed) is March 19, 2024, but my publisher—Crooked Lane Books—is giving away five free physical copies through a promotion on Goodreads that runs through November 5. You can register for the drawing here, and if you do win one, I’d be delighted to personalize it for you, and send it back at my expense. Same thing goes for any BunzelGram readers who preorder Beyond All Doubt.

— Reed Bunzel

Are Thrillers About True Crime Stories

Becoming The Next Sub-Genre?

The popularity of the true crime genre has sparked numerous "think pieces" about how to distinguish diverting entertainment from harmful voyeurism. Recently, several novelists—some of them former journalists—have raised questions about what happens and who gets hurt when violence is sensationalized and crime becomes content. In these books, podcasters, reporters, and vigilante internet sleuths get their day in the sun, with sometimes deadly results. Kate Brody’s Rabbit Hole (Soho Crime, Jan. 2024) is one of several forthcoming books in which an amateur detective sets out to solve a cold case or beat law enforcement to the answer. “There are passionate true crime communities working together collaboratively to try to solve old crimes, sometimes infringing on the privacy of living people who’ve been affected by tragedies,” Brody says. “I thought about what it would mean to be the subject of that kind of discussion, the feeling of exposure in finding these posts years later.” Elle Marr’s The Alone Time (Thomas & Mercer, Mar. 2024) is another true crime-oriented novel, which sees long-buried truths coming to light 25 years after Fiona and Violet Seng survived a private plane crash that killed their parents and left the girls orphaned. Amazon Publishing's Gracie Doyle says she understands the appeal of amateur sleuthing, both in true crime shows and mystery novels. “I can’t be the only kid who wanted to be a detective,” she says. “And with all of us home for a couple of years, there’s a Rear Window element. We all love a good mystery.”

Some Of The Best French Noir

Films Ever To Hit The Screen

Back in the mid-20th century, there were a few traces of dark and gritty films, but it wasn’t long before filmmakers broke their creative boundaries and introduced the world to a new cinematic style – film noir. Emerging from the dark alleys of crime dramas, the genre baked existential dread and moral dilemmas into a potentially captivating storyline and blessed us with moody films that stayed long after they ended. Shadowy streets and troubled individuals were the aesthetics of these films, and French cinema was blossoming into an art form of its own by using bold experimentation and social commentary in films and on stage. Whether it was a melancholic post-war drama or a unique crime-tinged mystery, the industry took cues from America’s gritty noir genre and fashioned incredible stories. Such directors as Jean-Pierre Melville and Jacques Becker were particularly responsible for adapting great novels into pieces of visual art. Politics and philosophy came together in these complex and atmospheric movies. This list, compiled by Soniya Hinduja for Movie Web, celebrates some of the excellent works that not only twisted the noir style to their advantage but also expressed how much potential the genre held. All these films appeared on the screen at least five decades ago, but they are enduring classics that still hold up as masterpieces.

DNA COLD CASE

Trucker Charged In Two KC Murders;

Police Say There May Be More Victims

After nearly three decades, two 1990s Kansas City cold cases have finally been solved. Last month, the Wyandotte County District Attorney charged Gary Dion Davis, Sr. with two counts of second-degree murder in the brutal homicides of Pearl Davis (left), who was also known as Sameemah Mussawir, and Christina King (right). The 26-year-old King was brutally beaten in December of 1998, and her remains were found behind an abandoned building in Kansas City on Christmas Day. Nearly two years earlier, in November 1996, the body of Pearl Davis, who was 46 when she was killed, was found in a vacant house on Lafayette Avenue in northeast KC. Authorities do not believe Davis, who worked as a long-haul truck driver at the time of the murders, knew either woman prior to the fatal encounters, despite sharing a last name with one of the victims. He previously had been questioned by police when his DNA was initially matched with one of the homicides nearly two decades ago, but it wasn’t until detectives from the Kansas City Cold Cases Unit recently took a fresh look at the case that they were able to match evidence from both crimes. Davis currently is being held on a $500,000 bond; if convicted of either murder, he could face a maximum of life in prison.

Mystery Mythology: When Gods

And Monsters Turn Into Detectives

The intersection of mystery fiction and mythology feels like a brew simmered in a pot, sprinkled with spice, and served with an unexpected twist. As an article in Mystery and Suspense noted last week, “Mythology has always provided a rich tapestry of narratives, populated with gods, monsters, and everything in between. It’s hardly surprising, then, that when these mighty beings from yore don the cap of a detective, the outcome can be nothing short of intoxicating. Consider Rick Riordan’s Percy Jackson series (pictured left), wherein a boy discovers he’s the son of Poseidon and soon finds himself embroiled in a world of gods and monsters. Sure, it’s primarily an adventure series, but dig a bit deeper and what do you find? Mysteries.” Percy isn’t the only mythological figure playing detective, however. The TV series Lucifer became a sensation by merging Christian lore with crime-solving, while Neil Gaiman’s celebrated novel, American Gods, follows the gods of old — Norse, Egyptian, and more — as they find themselves on the brink of irrelevance in the modern world. Then again, one of the most inventive mash-ups of mythological beings and mystery is the book The Last Wish, introducing the character Geralt of Rivia, a monster hunter who often finds himself in situations where the line between monsters and humans blurs. “What makes this blend of mystery fiction and mythology so riveting is the sheer unpredictability of it,” the M and S article points out. Traditional detective stories have a structure — a crime, a list of suspects, red herrings, and a reveal. But throw in a god or a monster, and the rules change.”

Ten Of The Very Best Bounty

Hunter Movies Of All Time

The bounty hunter is the ultimate outsider in law enforcement. Neither elected as a sheriff might be, nor sworn in like a cop, the bounty hunter gets in harm’s way as much as police officers or private investigators, but with less authority and even lesser respect. [This was part of the reason I made Jack Connor a part-time “bond runner” in Indigo Road, published last month.] Also known as bail enforcement or fugitive recovery, bounty hunting is uniquely American and traces its roots to the days of the pioneers on the Western frontier. If your image of James Stewart is that of George Bailey in It’s A Wonderful Life, brace yourself for the 1953 western The Naked Spur, in which you’ll see a whole new side of the hero of Bedford Falls. Also, long before Quentin Tarantino became the “king of cinematic violence," Sam Peckinpah brought us the 1969 film The Wild Bunch, in which a group of bounty hunters led by Thornton (Robert Ryan) are chasing a gang of aging outlaws after a railroad-office robbery. And one of the best in this genre is the 1988 picture Midnight Run (pictured left), wherein Jack Walsh (Robert De Niro), a former cop turned bounty hunter, easily captures Jonathan Mardukas (Grodin), a mob accountant and embezzler who jumped bail. These are just three of the classics you’ll find on a list recently compiled by author Cindy Razzi for Crime Reads of movies that throw the spotlight on the bounty hunter profession.

Available Now!

INDIGO ROAD

“Indigo Road is a beautifully wrought, hard-biting story with elements of classic noir presented through a prism of modern sensibilities. A fantastic read.” –S.A. Cosby, bestselling author of Razorblade Tears 

While still slinging drinks fulltime at The Sandbar in Folly Beach, Jack Connor works a side gig as a licensed bounty hunter. One afternoon, as he's transporting his latest bail skip named Willis Ronson back to jail, his SUV is ambushed by a team of gunmen, killing Ronson instantly and seriously injuring his court-appointed attorney, Alisha Dupree. Connor can’t help but poke around the edges of the deadly incident and quickly learns that Ronson was a man of many secrets, including a mysterious woman from his past who has caused him to be sucked into a domestic terrorist fringe group.