Anyone who’s a professional writer or editor—or just a stickler for spelling and punctuation—knows it’s impossible to go even a day without finding an error on a sign or a typo on a menu. They’re everywhere, and at some point—in order to preserve our sanity (and not constantly irritate those we're with)—we learn to just let them go. Or try to. Still, given that Mother’s Day was yesterday (hats off to all you fine moms out there) and the changing times in which we live, I had to chuckle at this cartoon (left).

Reed Bunzel

Discovery+ Greenlights Curtis Jackson

True Crime Anthology Series

Discovery+ last week gave a straight-to-series order to Confessions of a Crime Queen, a true crime anthology series from Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson and his G-Unit Film & Television banner. Confessions of a Crime Queen is described as a first-of-its-kind anthology series that, according to Deadline, “Brings to life riveting, headline-making stories by combining documentary and scripted genres.” Each season will focus on the true story of one larger-than-life woman who created and led a multi-million-dollar criminal empire before a dramatic fall from power. The subject will be portrayed by an A-list actress who will also interview the real-life female crime lord at the center of the story. Casting is underway for the first season, expected to debut next year. “As G-Unit Film & Television continues its rapid growth, we have to think outside the box and challenge ourselves to tell entertaining and important stories in new ways,” Jackson said in a statement.”

The 15 Creepiest Stalkers In Film

Let’s face it: stalkers are creepy. We all have either known someone who has been stalked, or have been stalked ourselves. (Or…maybe stalked someone? Really creepy.) Sometimes this kind of behavior is just a mild case of infatuation that goes away and the stalker gives up, but often it escalates to the point of needing a restraining order—or worse. As Jennifer Lind-Westbrook notes in this article in Screen Rant, numerous movies on the big and small screen explore the dynamic of those trying to evade or combat the obsessive behavior of others, and those whose disturbed conduct seemingly knows no bounds. Many predators follow a recognizable and even predictable formula—hence the presence of FBI profilers in so many thrillers—but some stand out in movie history more than others. “Whether male or female, each cinematic stalker has made a memorable impact due to their depraved crimes, inability to comprehend the nature of their crimes, or the unsettling ways they carried out their stalking,” she says. Here’s her ranked list of the scariest movie stalkers ever.

10 Mystery/Suspense Novels

With Truly Tortured Heroines

If bestseller lists are any indication, suspense readers are starved for books with female characters who are authentic, edgy, and sometimes unhinged. Whether it’s a heroine hiding deep family secrets, a desperate woman trying to get away from her overpowering husband, or an unreliable narrator who’s covering a sordid past and disturbing behavior, a good page-turner that keeps us guessing—and repeatedly checking the lock on the front door—is a terrifying yet absorbing way to pass the time. (And guarantee a poor night’s sleep.) Courtesy of broadcaster/author S.L. McInnis, here’s a list of ten great novels with tortured heroines in atmospheric settings.

Denzel Washington’s Out Of Time

Is Florida Crime Noir At Its Best

In my opinion, Denzel Washington can do no wrong. From Man On Fire to The Taking Of Pelham 123 to The Equalizer, his cinematic presence captures every square inch of whatever screen he’s on. Take his 2003 potboiler Out Of Time, a largely forgotten Florida film noir set on a small island with plenty of sleaze, deception, adultery, and a very elaborate framing for murder. As David Masciotra wrote in a recent Crime Reads article, “When the camera pans onto the quiet, neon-lit, and palm tree lined main street of Banyan Key—a fictional Florida Keys town—it is impossible not to feel an overwhelming urge to crawl inside the screen, light a cigarette in the doorway of the Scuttlebutt, and step inside for the first buzz in a new life. You might make a big drug bust. You might have an affair with a beautiful but married woman. Or you might find yourself deceiving and misdirecting all of your colleagues in local law enforcement, along with your soon-to-be ex-wife, when you realize that you’ve been expertly framed for murder. If you are Denzel Washington’s character, Banyan Key Chief of Police Matthias Whitlock, you are going to do all of the above.”

Yes, Crime Writers: You Can

Kill The Dog…Even The Rabbit

Back in March (3/22/2021) BunzelGram ran a story declaring that, no matter how bloody or macabre a thriller might be, the author (or director) cannot kill the dog. Never. Crime writer Carter Wilson took great umbrage with that position, insisting last week in a Crime Reads article that nothing is off-limits—as long as it serves the story. “Most readers willingly accept the murder of a person as long as the only anguish felt by that person’s dog is conveyed by its licking of the face of its bludgeoned guardian on the living-room floor,” he writes. “But I say yes, you can kill the dog, too. Let’s consider just a few examples of theriocide in popular fiction and film:

• Old Yeller: Perhaps the pinnacle of canine sacrifice for plot cohesion, this book guarantees no one walks away with dry eyes (except you sociopaths out there).
• John Wick. The entire fuel for this 2014 Keanu Reeves movie is a dead dog. Not even a dog…a puppy!
• Fatal Attraction. This 1987 thriller about infidelity brought no harm to any dog, but a family rabbit got boiled.
• Tons of Stephen King books! Under the Dome, The Stand, Salem’s Lot, IT, Pet Sematary, and many others all feature the deaths of animals. Then there’s Cujo, where the reader hopes the dog gets it.

Murder Mystery Movies That

Will Satisfy Your Inner Detective

From cable documentaries to podcasts, TV shows to books, the constantly expanding nature of media has led to a resurging popularity of true crime and murder mysteries. Tales about death and dying have broadened from the typical Christie-esque structure of a detective solving a closed-room homicide (Knives Out being a marvelous recent exception), to new narratives involving unique characters, settings, twists, and nuances that tweak what we have come to know as traditional form and function. As Katherine Igoe recently wrote in Marie Claire magazine, “From Alfred Hitchcock to the Coen brothers to David Fincher to Rian Johnson, some of the best directors in history have tried their hand at this iconic genre. The one thing these movies have in common? A killer mystery—pun absolutely intended.” With that in mind, she has compiled a list of some of the best murder mystery movies “that will have you on the edge of your seat from start to finish. No major spoilers lie ahead for any of these mind-bending films, particularly the whodunit part. But if you don't want to know anything about the plot, go watch before you read.”

     “Reed Bunzel hits all the right notes in Seven-Thirty Thursday (Suspense Publishing), an intensely personal tale that has echoes of both Greg Isles and John Hart. 

     "Rick Devlin is living proof of the old Thomas Wolfe adage that you can’t go home again, especially in the wake of his mother’s murder at his father’s hand in his once-beloved Charleston, South Carolina. That is, until new evidence surfaces suggesting that his father may be innocent, leading Devlin to launch his own investigation. It turns out pretty much everyone involved is hiding something, and it’s up to him to sort through the grisly morass to get to the truth.

     “This is Southern gothic writing extraordinaire, establishing Bunzel as a kind of William Faulkner of the thriller-writing world. His effortless prose crackles with color and authenticity as the brooding Charleston skies set the stage for the storm that’s coming.”

—Providence Journal