Killing Eve
So I'm an AMC Insider. Why you might ask as I don't watch many shows on AMC, well, the reason I first signed up wasn't for the lovely gift card drawing, that was a recent edition, I mainly signed up because they asked questions about BBC America programing and I wanted to clearly state that BBC America should be showing actual British shows not filling their schedule with The X-Files and whatever Star Trek they feel like at the moment. Star Trek is a "little" understandable because of Patrick Stewart, but The X-Files!?! In between stating all my outrage and answering questions about my favorite Dirk Gently characters I started to get all these surveys about the upcoming show Killing Eve. The initial promos had me entirely uninterested, because they were vague and I had no idea what the show was about. After probably the tenth promo I watched I realized it was an espionage driven game of cat and mouse starring Sandra Oh and Jodie Comer and I decided to give it a try. Plus, Jodie Comer was really great in The White Princess so for me she was the real draw and the fact that only Oh got an Emmy nomination is shocking because I discovered in that first episode what many people came to realize as they joined the bandwagon late, Killing Eve is an exquisite dark comedy about two women on opposites sides inextricably drawn to each other where Comer is amazing in her instability. I was so desperate for more that I picked up Luke Jennings's compilation of Villanelle novellas, Codename Villanelle, to get more of a fix. But this adaptation is one of those rare occasions where it's better than the source material. Instead of a female James Bond with a hyperactive sex drive where everything is laid bare from the beginning, we're given a twisty tale that will keep you guessing until the very end and thanking whatever deity you believe in that it was renewed for a second series.
In these days of streaming which allow for bingeing having a series that keeps you literally on the edge of your seat for ten straight weeks instead of ten straight hours is pretty remarkable, and yet that is what The Alienist did. Of course, there were times I was tempted to pick up the book by Caleb Carr to get to the bottom of the crimes taking place in New York in the late 1800s, gruesome and ritualistic murders of young male prostitutes, but at the same time I didn't want to muddy the magnificence of the adaptation by comparing it to it's source material. This show combined so many things that I love into one production, a serial killer with a creepy bent like Jack the Ripper, bringing historical fiction to the small screen, but in a way that is believable because it fits in and around actual history, women breaking out of their expected roles, not to mention the depth of the characters with their own personal secrets that inform who they've become. When each episode ended I wanted the next one right away. This show is so fabulous that I think it might be the only show I've profiled this month that has won a coveted Emmy! When they announced just a few short weeks ago that they are adapting the second book in the series, The Angel of Darkness, I couldn't have been happier. I need Dr. Kreizler, John Moore, Sara Howard, and every single supporting character I've come to love from John's grandmother played by the incomparable Grace Zabriskie to the Isaacson brothers. One can only hope that after The Angel of Darkness they find some way to keep this series going, because I don't want, I need more Dr. Kreizler and associates in my life. Perhaps we can bribe Caleb Carr to write a third and forth installment? 
Transcription by Kate Atkinson
Treacherous Is the Night by Anna Lee Huber
City of Lies by Victoria Thompson
The Crumples Letter by Alice Quinn
Vengeful by V.E. Schwab
The Agony House by Cherie Priest
The Magic Misfits by Neil Patrick Harris
The Princess in Black and the Science Fair Scare by Shannon Hale and Dean Hale
Oh, Lucifer, you devil. Or should I say, oh, Tom Ellis, you devil. Because the number one reason I first turned into Lucifer three seasons ago was because of Tom Ellis. As Gary on Miranda Hart's TV Series Miranda, he was the loveable yet romantically inept cook who won Miranda's heart and hand. Yes I enjoyed him on Merlin as well, but as for The Secret of Crickley Hall, a miniseries with so many of my favorite actors that I thought I would love it, well, it's best avoided, as I realized once again late one night recently catching part of an episode on PBS. But surely, you're thinking, that I MUST have really turned into the show because it's based on Neil Gaiman's interpretation of Lucifer Morningstar in his Sandman comics? Honestly? No. And to now shock you further, while I love Neil Gaiman, and I adored his voicing of God in the season three bonus episode set in an alternate timeline, "Once Upon a Time," I can't stand the Sandman comics. I've tried people, I've really tried. But I just couldn't take anymore after the sixth collection and now it's been six years since I read those six volumes and I'd have to re-read them before finishing the final four volumes, and I'm sorry, there are just too many other books I want to read. Some of them even by Neil! Back to the show. Lucifer is a wonderfully almost wacky reinterpretation of what a procedural show can be, what with Lucifer's brother trying to get him to go back to hell, Lucifer's therapist who after thinking for a very long time that Lucifer was delusional, now gets that this is all too real. There are demons and love interests, and an ex who really loves his pudding. I mean, seriously, Dan loves his pudding. When Netlfix saved the Satan, I don't think my heart could have been happier.
When I was little I loved Lost in Space. The problem was it aired at the same time as my swimming lessons. Needless to say I connived to try to stay home on an almost daily basis and rarely succeeded. As for the movie with Heather Graham and Joey from Friends, the less said the better. But the failure to reboot the series in the late nineties meant that I had really no expectations going into the new series on Netflix. I mean, yes, the fact that Toby Stephens was attached as John Robinson made me hopeful, and the gender swapping of Dr. Smith and then casting the always fabulous Parker Posey just made me more interested, but still I waited to watch the series. I didn't know if this newest incarnation of The Swiss Family Robinson would try to recreate the camp of the original series or instead go all grim dark like so many reboots do nowadays. I was literally in for a huge surprise. Instead of being camp or grim dark the show is actually just a wonderful adventure series that plays well for adults and can easily be family friendly. It felt like the best of science fiction movies made in the eighties and made me feel like a kid again. I see why Netflix ordered a second series, because I personally need more of the adventures of the Robinson clan as soon as possible. The way they reinterpreted the material, having them flee Earth, get stranded with a small group of fellow travelers, but then get stranded again, setting up season two to be more in-line with the story we remember? It was perfect. But the twists and turns, the surprises you don't see coming? This was edge of your seat television and me and my new best friend The Robot will stop by and have a chat with you if you disagree. 
Lethal White by Robert Galbraith
Black Diamond Fall by Joseph Olshan
Wychwood - Hallowdene by George Mann
Labyrinth of the Spirits by Carlos Ruiz Zafon
Escaping from Houdini by Kerri Maniscalco 
Time's Convert by Deborah Harkness
The Good Demon by Jimmy Cajoleas
Daemon Voices by Philip Pullman
Soulless by Gail Carriger
The Impossible Girl by Lydia Kang
I'm still scratching my head as to why I forgot to include Hap and Leonard last year because their second season which aired in 2017, based on Joe R. Lansdale's book Mucho Mojo, was one of the most suspenseful and riveting seasons of ANY television show I've ever watched. Words can not do justice to the investigation of a sinister serial killer in their midst whilst also somehow complimenting that with dark humor that is spot on. As I've said before when talking about 
Strike, because I refuse to call it by it's stupid and really pointless US title C.B. Strike, is based on the popular Cormoran Strike series by J.K. Rowling. I mean C.B. Strike!?! Really!?! Call it Cormoran Strike or even Cormoran Blue Strike or even just Cormoran, why his initials which he NEVER uses in the books or on the series!?! OK, rant over. I promise. Or at least I promise the "initial" rant is over. Strike is a show that has a lot going for it but all the elements have yet to fall into place to make it what it could become, one of the best mystery shows out there. The most important aspect is the casting, and they NAILED it with Tom Burke of The Musketeers and The Hour as Cormoran and Holliday Grainger of The Borgias and the recent adaptation of My Cousin Rachel as Robin. The casting is literally so perfect that when reading the books I now see them as the leads. The problem is in how they've been adapting the books, the first book, The Cuckoo's Calling, which is my least favorite in the series was the best adaptation. And I know what you're thinking, but it's not because it was my least liked book, it's because it was the only three part adaptation of the series, the further two books being adapted as two parters. These books are so dense that a three parter is necessary and thankfully Lethal White, out later this month, will be getting a three part adaptation. Now they just have to stop doing stupid things like changing Robin's motivation from selfless to selfish and I'll be content. 
Miss Kopp Just Won't Quit by Amy Stewart
Malice Aforethought by Frances Iles
There needs to be a special prize for The Terror because it was able to include every single British male actor of a certain age. Is that Tobias Menzies and Ciarán Hinds having a Rome reunion? Yes it is! Is that Fisher Bloom from Lark Rise to Candleford I see, aka Matthew McNulty? Yes in one! Could that be Victor Colleano from Mr Selfridge? But of course! On and on you will name check every actor in this series, yes that IS George Warleggan's dogsbody, but there are literally SO MANY characters you will have no idea who's who so you will literally be calling Victor Victor instead of Henry Collins and Fisher is Fisher, not Lt. Edward Little. And yes, I had to look up their names because I literally had no idea what their names were even though I devoured every episode of this show that merges the history of a doomed expedition to find the Northwest Passage with supernatural elements from Native folklore. So you're probably wondering why watch this show that leaves you scratching your head half the time wondering who everyone is referring to? The answer is twofold and it's two characters that are polar opposites (see what I did with the polar joke?) Henry Goodsir played by Paul Ready and Cornelius Hickey played by Adam Nagaitis are just riveting. You will never love a character as much as Henry Goodsir and you will never hate a character as much as Cornelius Hickey. Henry Goodsir is a creature of pure light and goodness and you will want to protect him from all the ills of the world while every time Cornelius Hickey is on screen you will be calling for his head on a pike. These two made the series. These two deserved Emmy nominations. But the problem there is you'd have to remember their names... 
Altered Carbon was one of the shows I was most looking forward to this past year. This had nothing to do with the desire to see an ambitious cyberpunk book series brought to life and everything to do with my love of James Purefoy and Joel Kinnaman. I watched that horrid adaptation of Mansfield Park for you James Purefoy, I will watch anything you are in! And the truth is, at times, this show was brilliant. The problem was the moments of brilliance made you realize they were capable of achieving perfection so when the show lagged you really felt it. Set in the future where human consciousness can be downloaded into new bodies, AKA sleeves, this allows death to no longer be an obstacle and the rich can literally live forever. Enter Joel Kinnaman as Takeshi Kovacs hired by the wealthy James Purefoy to find out who murdered his previous sleeve. Takeshi is downloaded into Joel's beautiful body and has to deal with this new body's history, his own history, and his job. If the show had stuck to a linear storyline of who killed James Purefoy instead of going off on long expository rants mainly dealing with Takeshi's fucked up personal life this show could have really worked. But going forward I don't know if I will be interested in watching. The show hinges on the interesting conceit of different actors playing the same role. Now this conceit isn't that original, even Woody Allen has done it, but where this conceit fails is I have this connection to the characters played by these specific actors, do I want to see Joel replaced by Anthony Mackie? Eh, I'm not sure.
The Glass Ocean by Beatriz Williams, Lauren Willig, and Karen White
An Act of Villainy by Ashley Weaver
Not Out Kind by Kitty Zeldis
The True Tale of a Giantess by Anne Renaud and Marie Lafrance
Daughter of a Daughter of a Queen by Sarah Bird
The Matrimonial Advertisement by Mimi Matthews
Wild Fire by Ann Cleeves
The Girl in the Locked Room by Mary Downing Hahn
Hidden Sun by Jaine Fenn
Night and Silence by Seanan McGuire
Buffy the Vampire Slayer by Kim Smith
Hilda and the Hidden People by Stephen Davies
You know what I find amazing? That each and every year more and more books are being adapted for the small screen. Yes, I could criticize and say that Hollywood lacks imagination, instead I will celebrate seeing some of my favorite books and some books I hope to be favorites being adapted into another medium. Last year two book adaptations took the awards season and the Emmys by storm. I of course am talking about HBO's adaptation of Big Little Lies and Hulu's adaptation and expansion of 
