John le Carré, The Master Of

Espionage Genre, Dies At 89

Lovers of espionage thrillers worldwide were saddened to learn over the weekend that the master of the genre, John le Carré, had died at the age of 89. Le Carré’s elegant and intricate stories gave definition to Cold War spy novels, and in such classics as The Spy Who Came in from the Cold, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, and The Honourable Schoolboy, he combined what the Associated Press described as “terse but lyrical prose with the kind of complexity expected in literary fiction. His books grappled with betrayal, moral compromise and the psychological toll of a secret life. In the quiet, watchful spymaster George Smiley, he created one of 20th-century fiction’s iconic characters — a decent man at the heart of a web of deceit.” Born David John Moore Cornwell in Poole, England, he wrote his first three novels while he was a spy, and his employers required him to publish under a pseudonym. He said he chose the name le Carré — square in French — simply because he liked the vaguely mysterious, European sound of it. Author Stephen King said of le Carré’s death, “This terrible year has claimed a literary giant and a humanitarian spirit,” while novelist Margaret Atwood wrote, “Very sorry to hear this. His Smiley novels are key to understanding the mid-20th century.”

Crime Fiction That

Takes Place During Chanukah

Today marks the halfway point of the eight-day Jewish festival Chanukah (also spelled Hanukah, Chanuka, and Hanuka), which commemorates the rededication of the Second Temple in Jerusalem at the time of the Maccabean revolt against the Seleucid Empire. The Seleucids (Syrian-Greeks) had tried to force the people of Israel to accept Greek culture and religious beliefs, but a small band of faithful but poorly armed Jews, led by Judah the Maccabee, defeated them and reclaimed the Holy Temple in Jerusalem. When they sought to light the its Menorah, they found only a single cruse of olive oil that had escaped contamination by the Greeks. Miraculously, they lit the menorah and the one-day supply of oil lasted for eight days, until new oil could be prepared under conditions of ritual purity. To commemorate the annual “Festival of Lights,” author Janet Rudolph has compiled this list of mysteries and crime novels that either take place during Chanukah, or use the celebration as part of its plot.

Coppola’s New Godfather, Coda

Aims To Correct Sins Of Part III

This month marks the release of Godfather, Coda: The Death of Michael Corleone, Francis Ford Coppola’s re-cut version of Godfather III that premiered—to vitriolic reviews—thirty years ago on Christmas Day. Back then, the Washington Post offered perhaps the most scathing comments, declaring “[It] isn’t just a disappointment, it’s a failure of heartbreaking proportions … it also sullies what came before. It makes you wish it had never been made.” Now the legendary director hopes to correct the errors of the original Part III and tell the story of the final fate of Michael Corleone the way he always intended to. As Air Mail’s Alex Oliveira wrote last week, “The film features a new beginning that aims to clarify previously confusing plot points, a critically modified conclusion that refocuses the intended power of the entire film, along with nips and tucks here and there, and a rich audio and visual remastering … Whether there is redemption for the wayward third film is up to the viewer. At the very least, just as all the Godfathers have before, the film provides a beautiful opportunity to consider the sins, shadows, and light of the past, the purgatory of the present, and what, if anything, it all means.”

TRUE CRIME

The Appalachian Preacher Who Tried

To Murder His Wife via Snake Bite

As debate rages over the credibility of Ron Howard’s Hillbilly Elegy, the new HBO documentary Alabama Snake is an authentic portrait of messy, volatile Appalachian true-crime saga brimming with crazy. The film is based on an incident that occurred Oct. 4, 1991, in the sleepy town of Scottsboro, Alabama, when paramedics were called to the home of Glenn Summerford, where his second wife Darlene was suffering from a snakebite wound to her hand. Recognizing that she was in severe distress, they eventually raced her 90 miles to a Birmingham facility that had the anti-venom she desperately needed. Darlene survived this ordeal and, once recuperated, she pointed the finger at her Pentecostal-preacher husband. As The Daily Beast’s Nick Schager observes, director Theo Love "outlines a decidedly unique and outlandish tale, gussied up with a surplus of style, employing a flashy non-fiction approach that doesn’t always jibe with the material at hand, but certainly keeps things lively."

The Best Legal Thrillers Of The

21st Century, Ranked

We’re now one-fifth of the way through the 21st century, long enough to have amassed a sizeable collection of books in almost every category imaginable. Today we’re going to take a look at legal thrillers, one of the most popular genres being published today. As Rick Treon of Best Thrillers writes, these are the stories about conflicted, flawed lawyers; twisted crimes; and ninth-hour evidence discoveries. “Few things in American culture create as much tension as our legal system, which is why courtrooms, law offices, and even the Supreme Court can make perfect backdrops for thrillers,” he says. “The masters of the legal thriller—a genre that routinely tops the bestsellers lists—have been doing it for decades, but the 21st century has produced many of the best.” And, of course, this list of the best so far since the turn of the millennium.

Meet The World’s Most Prolific

Female Serial Killer

Serial killers seem to hold a special fascination among true crime fans, but we usually think of them in terms of such psychopaths as Ted Bundy, Jeffrey Dahmer, Jack the Ripper, and John Wayne Gacy. Rarely do we think of them as women, and only a handful of female serial killers have ever mentioned throughout history. Most people have never heard of Countess Elizabeth Báthory, Belle Gunness, Juana Barraza, or Jane Toppan, all of whom were guilty of taking the lives of countless victims over the years. No one compares, however, to Italy’s infamous 17th-century poisoner, Giulia Tofana, who was born in 1620 in Palermo and spent a lot of her free time with apothecaries, where she learned all about different kinds of medicines, potions, and poisons. Some historians say it was around this time that Tofana developed her own brand of deadly toxin; others say she learned it from a recipe left behind by her mother. Either way, by her early teens, she had a successful product called Aqua Tofana, a slow-acting poison with no color or discernible taste that she prescribed to women who were terrorized by abusive husbands—leading to the deaths of more than 600 men over a decade, before a contrite widow turned her in.

10 More Crime Movies You Probably Forgot Take Place At Christmas

Several weeks ago (11/16), BunzelGram included a list of holiday crime films that, once and for all, settled the dispute of whether Die Hard is a Christmas movie (it is). For the record, so are Lethal Weapon, Reindeer Games, and Kiss Kiss Bang Bang. There are other flicks, however, that sometimes slip between the cracks of our collective memory because the holidays aren’t an obvious feature, or even an essential aspect, of their cinematic identities. Rather, these movies have yuletide themes or nuances that may or may not play a central role in the action, but provide “seasoning” to the storyline. In any event, Crime Reads’ Olivia Rutigliano compiled this list of ten crime movies you might not remember take place at Christmas. (One film mentioned—The Long Kiss Goodnight—was on the previous list from last month.)

COMING IN FEBRUARY

“Raw, irreverent, and witty, Reed Bunzel’s story of a tattooed war vet turned temporary private eye snaps, crackles, and pops with authenticity. War-tested, street smart, and sassy, Jack Connor is someone you want with you in a foxhole or the bloody back roads of South Carolina.”

—Former Secretary of Defense William S. Cohen, bestselling author of Blink Of An Eye and Dragon Fire