Wednesday, 30 November 2011
Tnt Appeals to Mystery Fans

Hide_TNTLisaGardner.jpgxx
Once upon a time, years, maybe decades ago, there used to be the TV Movie of the Week.

Every channel had one and, if I remember correctly, a lot of them were pretty good.

Movies that excited us and entertained us, even if many of them didn't make us think too much.

But as quick as they came, those TV Movies of the Week disappeared. Of course, back then channels were limited and the vast number of cable networks, many of which now have their own original films, didn't exist.

But the TNT Network not only is reviving the movie of the week, but the upcoming program should appeal to many mystery fiction lovers.

Scott Turow's Innocent launched TNT’s “Mystery Movie Night,” which will be weekly adaptations of novels by Sandra Brown, Lisa Gardner, Richard North Patterson, April Smith, Mary Higgins Clark and Carol Higgins Clark, and Patricia Cornwell.

silentwitness_jamesnorthpattersonAnd judging by the advance screenings, these are first-rate productions with good scripts. TNT also has landed some intriguing actors such as Dermot Mulroney, Anne Heche, Judd Hirsch, and Jane Alexander.

Although Innocent first aired Nov. 29, it will have frequent encores. Innocent picks up years after Turow's breakout 1990 novel Presumed Innocent ended.

Presumed Innocent made it to the big screen with Harrison Ford as Chicago attorney Rusty Sabich who was accused of killing a colleague with whom he'd had an affair.

On the small screen, Bill Pullman aptly takes over as Rusty who's now accused of killing his wife, played by Marcia Gay Harden.

No spoilers, but if you are the 10 people who have never read Presumed Innocent, do so before you see the TNT version of Innocent. Of course, I recommend reading the books first anyway.

I guess technically these aren't movies of the week because Ricochet, based on the novel by Sandra Brown premieres at 9 p.m. Nov. 30. Ricochet follows two homicide detectives whose careers – and lives – are on the line during a case of murder and betrayal in high-society Savannah. (I actually saw the crew filming portions of Richochet when I was last in Savannah.)

Emmy nominee John Corbett (Sex and the City, Northern Exposure) stars as Det. Sgt. Duncan Hatcher, who is investigating a corrupt judge, played by Gary Cole. Hatcher also becomes romantically involved with the judge’s wife, played by Julie Benz (Dexter).

I am especially looking forward to Hide, based on Lisa Gardner's novel airing at 9 pm, Dec. 6. (I loved the novel). Hide stars the ever-reliable Carla Gugino as Boston Police Detective D.D. Warren, who is called to the grounds of an abandoned mental hospital where a buried chamber with the remains of six young women is discovered. The case leads D.D. to Annabelle (Bridget Regan), who spent her childhood moving from city to city in hiding. Mark-Paul Gosselaar (TNT’s Franklin & Bash, NYPD Blue) plays Alex Wilson, and Kevin Alejandro (True Blood, TNT’s Southland) is Det. Bobby Dodge.

Richard North Patterson's Silent Witness airs at 9 pm, Dec. 7, starring Dermot Mulroney as defense attorney Tony Lord, who returns to his hometown to defend his friend (Michael Cudlitz of TNT’s Southland), a teacher accused of murdering one of his students. The case will force Tony to relive his past when, as a high school student, he was accused of murdering his first love. Silent Witness also stars Anne Heche and Judd Hirsch.

goodmorningkiller_aprilsmithApril Smith's Good Morning, Killer airs at 9 pm, Dec. 13, starring Catherine Bell, Cole Hauser, William Devane, Titus Welliver and Suleka Mathew. (Loved that novel, too)

And, appropriately, Mary Higgins Clark and Carol Higgins Clark will take us to the holidays with Deck the Halls, airing 9 pm, Dec. 20 with Kathy Najimy, Scottie Thompson, Jane Alexander and Larry Miller.

TNT also is looking ahead toward next Spring with an adaptation of Patricia Cornwell's Hornet’s Nest. This novel is not part of Cornwell's Kay Scarpetta series but was the first in her mini-series featuring reporter Andy Brazil (Robbie Amell), Police Chief Judy Hammer (Virginia Madsen) and her top deputy, Virginia West (Sherry Stringfield). Set in Charlotte, N.C., Hornet's Nest follows the investigation of a serial killer who targets out-of-town businessmen.

Leave it to the channel that gives us Leverage, Rizzoli & Isles, The Closer and Southland to find new ways to entertain us.

And don't forget, reading these novels will make seeing the movie version even better.

Photos: Top, Hide with Mark Gosselaar, Carla Gugino and Kevin Alejandro; Center, Silent Witness with Dermot Mulroney and Judd Hisch; Bottom photo, Good Morning Killer with Catherine Bell and Cole Hauser. Photos courtesy TNT.

Tnt Appeals to Mystery Fans
Oline Cogdill
tnt-appeals-to-mystery-fans

Hide_TNTLisaGardner.jpgxx
Once upon a time, years, maybe decades ago, there used to be the TV Movie of the Week.

Every channel had one and, if I remember correctly, a lot of them were pretty good.

Movies that excited us and entertained us, even if many of them didn't make us think too much.

But as quick as they came, those TV Movies of the Week disappeared. Of course, back then channels were limited and the vast number of cable networks, many of which now have their own original films, didn't exist.

But the TNT Network not only is reviving the movie of the week, but the upcoming program should appeal to many mystery fiction lovers.

Scott Turow's Innocent launched TNT’s “Mystery Movie Night,” which will be weekly adaptations of novels by Sandra Brown, Lisa Gardner, Richard North Patterson, April Smith, Mary Higgins Clark and Carol Higgins Clark, and Patricia Cornwell.

silentwitness_jamesnorthpattersonAnd judging by the advance screenings, these are first-rate productions with good scripts. TNT also has landed some intriguing actors such as Dermot Mulroney, Anne Heche, Judd Hirsch, and Jane Alexander.

Although Innocent first aired Nov. 29, it will have frequent encores. Innocent picks up years after Turow's breakout 1990 novel Presumed Innocent ended.

Presumed Innocent made it to the big screen with Harrison Ford as Chicago attorney Rusty Sabich who was accused of killing a colleague with whom he'd had an affair.

On the small screen, Bill Pullman aptly takes over as Rusty who's now accused of killing his wife, played by Marcia Gay Harden.

No spoilers, but if you are the 10 people who have never read Presumed Innocent, do so before you see the TNT version of Innocent. Of course, I recommend reading the books first anyway.

I guess technically these aren't movies of the week because Ricochet, based on the novel by Sandra Brown premieres at 9 p.m. Nov. 30. Ricochet follows two homicide detectives whose careers – and lives – are on the line during a case of murder and betrayal in high-society Savannah. (I actually saw the crew filming portions of Richochet when I was last in Savannah.)

Emmy nominee John Corbett (Sex and the City, Northern Exposure) stars as Det. Sgt. Duncan Hatcher, who is investigating a corrupt judge, played by Gary Cole. Hatcher also becomes romantically involved with the judge’s wife, played by Julie Benz (Dexter).

I am especially looking forward to Hide, based on Lisa Gardner's novel airing at 9 pm, Dec. 6. (I loved the novel). Hide stars the ever-reliable Carla Gugino as Boston Police Detective D.D. Warren, who is called to the grounds of an abandoned mental hospital where a buried chamber with the remains of six young women is discovered. The case leads D.D. to Annabelle (Bridget Regan), who spent her childhood moving from city to city in hiding. Mark-Paul Gosselaar (TNT’s Franklin & Bash, NYPD Blue) plays Alex Wilson, and Kevin Alejandro (True Blood, TNT’s Southland) is Det. Bobby Dodge.

Richard North Patterson's Silent Witness airs at 9 pm, Dec. 7, starring Dermot Mulroney as defense attorney Tony Lord, who returns to his hometown to defend his friend (Michael Cudlitz of TNT’s Southland), a teacher accused of murdering one of his students. The case will force Tony to relive his past when, as a high school student, he was accused of murdering his first love. Silent Witness also stars Anne Heche and Judd Hirsch.

goodmorningkiller_aprilsmithApril Smith's Good Morning, Killer airs at 9 pm, Dec. 13, starring Catherine Bell, Cole Hauser, William Devane, Titus Welliver and Suleka Mathew. (Loved that novel, too)

And, appropriately, Mary Higgins Clark and Carol Higgins Clark will take us to the holidays with Deck the Halls, airing 9 pm, Dec. 20 with Kathy Najimy, Scottie Thompson, Jane Alexander and Larry Miller.

TNT also is looking ahead toward next Spring with an adaptation of Patricia Cornwell's Hornet’s Nest. This novel is not part of Cornwell's Kay Scarpetta series but was the first in her mini-series featuring reporter Andy Brazil (Robbie Amell), Police Chief Judy Hammer (Virginia Madsen) and her top deputy, Virginia West (Sherry Stringfield). Set in Charlotte, N.C., Hornet's Nest follows the investigation of a serial killer who targets out-of-town businessmen.

Leave it to the channel that gives us Leverage, Rizzoli & Isles, The Closer and Southland to find new ways to entertain us.

And don't forget, reading these novels will make seeing the movie version even better.

Photos: Top, Hide with Mark Gosselaar, Carla Gugino and Kevin Alejandro; Center, Silent Witness with Dermot Mulroney and Judd Hisch; Bottom photo, Good Morning Killer with Catherine Bell and Cole Hauser. Photos courtesy TNT.

Sunday, 27 November 2011
Get the Drop on Michael Connelly

altA title is just a title, right? A character's name is just a name, right?

Wrong.

The best writers use a book title or a character's name to give a hint about a plot or the nature of a character.

Perhaps this allusion isn't evident right away in a novel, but it will rise up eventually.

Take Michael Connelly, the best-selling author who I believe is one of the best—and most consistent – living crime writers.

Each title of his 24 novels—17 of which are part of the Harry Bosch series—has multiple uses. This is especially true in his latest novel, The Drop.

The Drop has many definition in this fine novel. Here's a link to my review.

Without giving away any spoilers, The Drop means a fall from a high-rise hotel; a retirement program (Deferred Retirement Option Plan); a chokehold; a child lost to the system and, as an adult, lost to society; a case dropped by the cops and even the end of a friendship. It also can mean the end of a period of adjustment for two partners and a new beginning.

A few other meanings of The Drop crop up in Connelly's novel, but that would mean giving away spoilers and that is something we do not do.

Most, if not all, of Connelly's titles have multi-uses.

In Connelly's 2010 novel The Reversal, each character undergoes a reversal, from a convicted murderer’s case that jumpstarts the plot to a successful defense attorney and a seasoned detective working in an uneasy alliance against the grain of their jobs. But the most intriguing reversal is personal—how a loner learns to be a father and two half-brothers discover the meaning of family.

Authors, of course, have used titles and character names to illustrate what is beneath the surface for centuries.

I credit Theresa Harbin, my English teacher when I was a freshman at St. Henry's High School, with showingme the deeper meaning of literature and showing me how to read on a deeper meaning.

Miss Harbin showed me how in Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter, each name gave an insight to aspects of a character.

Chillingworth was cold in the heart; Hester Prynne was basically a prim and proper lady who gave into passion; Dimmesdale was a doomed man, unable to allow himself pleasure or forgiveness; and, of course, Pearl was indeed a treasure.

Of course now, I wonder how I ever got through The Scarlet Letter, but Miss Harbin's lessons never left me.

And I am sure Miss Harbin, now Theresa Lebeiko, made the same impact on her future students.

So when you read Connelly's fine The Drop, savor the complex plot, the complicated characters and the vivid Los Angeles setting, and remember that each of these aspects has at least one or more meanings.

Get the Drop on Michael Connelly
Oline Cogdill
get-the-drop-on-michael-connelly

altA title is just a title, right? A character's name is just a name, right?

Wrong.

The best writers use a book title or a character's name to give a hint about a plot or the nature of a character.

Perhaps this allusion isn't evident right away in a novel, but it will rise up eventually.

Take Michael Connelly, the best-selling author who I believe is one of the best—and most consistent – living crime writers.

Each title of his 24 novels—17 of which are part of the Harry Bosch series—has multiple uses. This is especially true in his latest novel, The Drop.

The Drop has many definition in this fine novel. Here's a link to my review.

Without giving away any spoilers, The Drop means a fall from a high-rise hotel; a retirement program (Deferred Retirement Option Plan); a chokehold; a child lost to the system and, as an adult, lost to society; a case dropped by the cops and even the end of a friendship. It also can mean the end of a period of adjustment for two partners and a new beginning.

A few other meanings of The Drop crop up in Connelly's novel, but that would mean giving away spoilers and that is something we do not do.

Most, if not all, of Connelly's titles have multi-uses.

In Connelly's 2010 novel The Reversal, each character undergoes a reversal, from a convicted murderer’s case that jumpstarts the plot to a successful defense attorney and a seasoned detective working in an uneasy alliance against the grain of their jobs. But the most intriguing reversal is personal—how a loner learns to be a father and two half-brothers discover the meaning of family.

Authors, of course, have used titles and character names to illustrate what is beneath the surface for centuries.

I credit Theresa Harbin, my English teacher when I was a freshman at St. Henry's High School, with showingme the deeper meaning of literature and showing me how to read on a deeper meaning.

Miss Harbin showed me how in Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter, each name gave an insight to aspects of a character.

Chillingworth was cold in the heart; Hester Prynne was basically a prim and proper lady who gave into passion; Dimmesdale was a doomed man, unable to allow himself pleasure or forgiveness; and, of course, Pearl was indeed a treasure.

Of course now, I wonder how I ever got through The Scarlet Letter, but Miss Harbin's lessons never left me.

And I am sure Miss Harbin, now Theresa Lebeiko, made the same impact on her future students.

So when you read Connelly's fine The Drop, savor the complex plot, the complicated characters and the vivid Los Angeles setting, and remember that each of these aspects has at least one or more meanings.

Wednesday, 23 November 2011
Martha Grimes Grand Master

altThe Grand Master is the highest honor that the Mystery Writers of America gives to an author. And the 2012 Grand Master is Martha Grimes, a deserving author known for her Richard Jury series.

According to MWA, "The Grand Master Award represents the pinnacle of achievement in mystery writing and was established to acknowledge important contributions to this genre, as well as a body of work that is both significant and of consistent high quality."

I'd say that about sums up Grimes and her work, as well as the work by the previous Grand Masters.

Grimes will be presented her Grand Master award during the Edgar Awards Banquet, which will be held at the Grand Hyatt Hotel in New York City on Thursday, April 26, 2012.

In addition to the Richard Jury series, Grimes also writes the Andi Olivier and Emma Graham series. She is also the author of several novels outside the mystery genre.

She has published a book (sometimes two) every year for the past 25 years.

Born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Martha Grimes began as a poet, but then turned to mystery novels.

Previous Grand Masters include Sara Paretsky, Dorothy Gilman, James Lee Burke, Sue Grafton, Bill Pronzini, Stephen King, Marcia Muller, Dick Francis, Mary Higgins Clark, Lawrence Block, P.D. James, Ellery Queen, Daphne du Maurier, Alfred Hitchcock, Graham Greene, and Agatha Christie.

Like I said, all deserving authors.

Martha Grimes Grand Master
Oline Cogdill
martha-grimes-grand-master

altThe Grand Master is the highest honor that the Mystery Writers of America gives to an author. And the 2012 Grand Master is Martha Grimes, a deserving author known for her Richard Jury series.

According to MWA, "The Grand Master Award represents the pinnacle of achievement in mystery writing and was established to acknowledge important contributions to this genre, as well as a body of work that is both significant and of consistent high quality."

I'd say that about sums up Grimes and her work, as well as the work by the previous Grand Masters.

Grimes will be presented her Grand Master award during the Edgar Awards Banquet, which will be held at the Grand Hyatt Hotel in New York City on Thursday, April 26, 2012.

In addition to the Richard Jury series, Grimes also writes the Andi Olivier and Emma Graham series. She is also the author of several novels outside the mystery genre.

She has published a book (sometimes two) every year for the past 25 years.

Born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Martha Grimes began as a poet, but then turned to mystery novels.

Previous Grand Masters include Sara Paretsky, Dorothy Gilman, James Lee Burke, Sue Grafton, Bill Pronzini, Stephen King, Marcia Muller, Dick Francis, Mary Higgins Clark, Lawrence Block, P.D. James, Ellery Queen, Daphne du Maurier, Alfred Hitchcock, Graham Greene, and Agatha Christie.

Like I said, all deserving authors.