Ahsoka
OK, I know what you're thinking. Ahsoka Tano didn't get her start in books, she made her first appearance in Star Wars: The Clone Wars, an animated film that came out in 2008. And you know what, I'm not denying that. That is 100% the truth. But here's the thing, there is a rather famous character on her show that got their start in literature. I'm talking about Grand Admiral Thrawn. Thrawn first appeared in the retconned 1991 book Heir to the Empire by Timothy Zahn before being brought back into the official canon during the third season of Star Wars Rebels, another Dave Filoni creation. Since then Zahn has been brought back to write canonical Thrawn books, but the original Thrawn Trilogy holds a special place in my heart. Heir to the Empire is the book that made me a reader. Yes, there were other books I loved before Heir to the Empire, and authors who are to this day favorites, but nothing galvanized my love of reading like Heir to the Empire. It took my obsessive love of Star Wars to a whole new level. And the villain trying to take control in the power vacuum left by the destruction of the Empire was Thrawn. Therefore to finally see him in live action was a dream come true. And to have him played by one of the Mikkelsens? Damn. And yes, I know he did the voice in the cartoon, but he didn't just have the voice, he had the look, so to bring him back was perfect. So for me, Ahsoka was about bringing my love of Star Wars back to the beginning. And that's how the show feels to me. It feels like a true Star Wars story. I should make it clear, that unlike some people in the fandom, I have loved all the live action shows for one reason or another, but this, this had the magic I felt back when I was addicted to the MMORPG Star Wars Galaxies. The atmosphere of this big and glorious universe to explore with the swoosh of a lightsaber every so often. I really was content just wandering the worlds of that game as a tourist and miss the ability to do so greatly. But Ahsoka has filled that void. Just a little. Though I can see the complaints people have that it feels like they've been dropped into season five of a long-running show, because technically that is the truth. They hit the big plot points, but to get everything you need to watch six season of Star Wars: The Clone Wars and four seasons of Star Wars Rebels. Which I'm sure some people are hesitant to do. Especially if they are those people who look down on animation. But for me, all this show needed to do was keep my love of Star Wars alive, and it did more than that. It deepened it. Those shots of Anakin/Darth Vader in the World Between Worlds was a defining moment for all of Star Wars. It is an image that will live rent free in my head. Forever. As will many other moments, from finally seeing the Witches of Dathomir in live action, to Eman Esfandi being so perfect as Ezra that you could see in a moment why someone would undertake a dangerous journey just to rescue him, to that spirit of adventure that Lucas embraced in the eighties coming back into his oeuvre, and finally, to Ray Stevenson standing on the statue of the Mortis Gods in a very Tolkienesque moment. But in the end, all I have to say is more! I want to see what happens next. I need to know what role Anakin has to play. I need some Witch battles. I need it all.
Dashiell Hammett is known for some of the greatest and most memorable detectives though he only wrote five novels. There's Nick and Nora Charles, and of course, Sam Spade. Though perhaps these characters are now known more for their big screen presence. William Powell and Myrna Loy were so popular they made six films from one book, one short story, and an idea by Hammett, although he refused to work on the final three films. And one can't think of Sam Spade without thinking of Humphrey Bogart. Which is exactly what this production wants. This is Clive Owen humbling stepping into the shoes of his hero. Because if there's one thing you need to know about Clive Owen, he is a Humphrey Bogart acolyte. And I don't think this show would be so successful without that devotion, without that love, that reverence, of the character and the man. As he stated in an interview with Stephen Colbert, he'd listen to Humphrey Bogart deliver his dialogue on a loop. Continually studying his delivery. Which he poured into the role of a lifetime. Even if Lauren Bacall might disagree because she loved him in Croupier. Yet one amazing performance doesn't necessarily equal a wonderful television show. To do that you need to not just have the right actor, but the right vision behind that camera, as well as the right story. Because without the right story, well, it's just characters wandering aimlessly around. And here we have Sam Spade arriving in France with a package that needs to be delivered. That package is a young girl. Instead of successfully completing the job he finds a life for himself. Over the next ten years he is married and widowed. He keeps an eye on the girl who lives at a convent because Teresa's purported father Philippe is a bad man. France is trying to find it's way in the world after World War II and the wounds left by Nazis collaborators. What's more the Algerian War is barely over and that could change based on the appearance of one young boy. This young boy is a lightning road, bringing the religious, the avaricious, and several countries into conflict in the small town of Bozouls. Fun fact, the late great actor Richard Belzer lived there in real life and seeing as this show was created by Tom Fontana of Homicide: Life of the Street fame, I don't think that's a coincidence. Back to Sam Spade.... All he wants is his life to return to normal and he'll do whatever that takes, in his laconic way. His wry observations and outlook on life coupled with his friendship with Teresa give the show a Paper Moon vibe with a strong stylistic helping from Lolita. This is French New Wave Noir, something I didn't realize I needed in my life until now. Now that I have it, I want more. Seriously, can we get another season? I mean, I think we deserve as much Sam Spade as we got of Nick and Nora Charles. And while the ending here might have seemed a tad rushed and confusing with Alfre Woodard subbing in for Hercule Poirot, it was better than anything Nick and Nora Charles ever got involved in. So six seasons and a movie. OK?
I Haven't Been Entirely Honest with You by Miranda Hart
Not For the Faint of Heart by Lex Croucher
Madrigals and Mayhem by Elizabeth Penney
Murder at Glenloch Hill by Clara McKenna
A Trinket for the Taking by Victoria Laurie
Darkly by Marisha Pessl
Designing Worlds by Tim Burton
The Best Horror of the Year, Volume Sixteen edited by Ellen Datlow
The Complete Harrow County by Cullen Bunn and Tyler Crook
Can I just start this with a totally random aside? Ewan McGregor could totally be Tom Selleck's doppelganger circa peak Magnum, P.I. fame in this series. That stache, that hair... Damn. It's uncanny. Moving on from my random Thomas Magnum obsession, which is hard to move on from while watching this show... A Gentleman in Moscow... This limited series is a love letter to a bygone era of class and elegance. Count Alexander Ilyich Rostov is sentenced to house arrest by the Bolsheviks. It just so happens that his "home" is the Hotel Metropol Moscow. There the lives of the patrons and workers of the hotel become his entire world. He is living the Eloise dream! The dream I held for many years as a kid. We'd go down to Chicago often and stay at The Drake Hotel. I loved that hotel so much. Everything about it, the lush carpeting, the flower arrangements taller than I was. I wanted to live there and when I found out that people actually did live there, it became a secret dream of mine. A dream that Count Rostov lives. If in an involuntary manner. Though this is set against the backdrop of the Russian Revolution and the elegance and wealth of the upper class was being continually chipped away. So we see him thrown from his palatial rooms with the precious relics of his old life taken from him and banished to the attics. He moves from patron to prisoner to proletarian. All the while trying to find the silver lining in a very bleak world. And sometimes it's up to outside forces to give him the will to go on. Sometimes it's the bees. If there's one country in the world that faced the greatest upheaval in the 20th century it was Russia. This is a paean to that upheaval, that drastic change, through the eyes of someone who had the most to lose and in the end gained the most. Count Rostov, if the revolution hadn't come about, would have lived a life of idolatry and dissipation. Travelling throughout Europe from one luxury hotel to another like Maxim de Winter. And like Maxim he had a tragic death of a woman he loved in his past. Count Rostov would have been more concerned with manners and keeping up appearances than noticing the plight of those around. He knew the waiters and the workers on a superficial level, but his new circumstances give him a depth. He becomes someone to count on, someone who is entrusted with the life of a young girl who becomes his daughter, whom he would willingly give up his life for. He finds a family. But all the while the horrors of the present are banging on the doors of the hotel. Friends disappear. Friends die. The cultural shift becomes more and more dangerous. While this change takes place over decades we can't help but feel a connection to the times becoming more and more dangerous and strong men in power posing a threat. Now is the time for this show because it resonates. We must stand up to the evil, we must make our plans, and we must risk everything for freedom for those we love, even if we will not live to see that day. And while this show has big themes, it's just like a Fabergé egg, small bejeweled perfection that can be held carefully in the hand. As carefully as every human life.
The Dead Boy Detectives have had a rocky go of things. It seems like they are destined to forever be DOA. Ironic really. They premiered in The Sandman comic way back in 1991 in issue #25 and despite having read and reread "Season of Mists" quite a few times they were completely and utterly forgettable. Or at least that's how I felt. But I have issues with The Sandman. In the intervening ten years between their introduction and Ed Brubaker writing them a four issue miniseries which you just cannot find anywhere Charles Rowland and Edwin Payne picked up their raison d'etre with the moniker of "Dead Boy Detectives." Their first appearance on screen was in Doom Patrol in 2021 with Sebastian Croft and Ty Tennant, yes David Tennant's stepson Ty, playing the roles. Which resulted in Max wanting to do a spinoff that got stuck in developmental hell and when Netflix realized they might have a hit on their hands with The Sandman it seemed logical for them to scoop up Dead Boy Detectives. But not as Max had envisioned it. A whole new very peak CW version starring Jayden Revri and George Rexstrew with in-universe crossovers with The Sandman. Because two dead boys are kind of in the remit of Death... So yes, this show has Death! And when this show premiered on Netflix it got a loyal following almost instantly. It's like all of Neil Gaiman's shows put into a blender and coming out as a show that could air between Smallville and Veronica Mars. I mean Blake Neely even did the music and he did ALL the Arrowverse! Which, yes, I know, it's not peak CW, but at least it's CW. It was a cute show with overarching themes of acceptance and love while also sticking to a slight monster of the week format. The show consists of eight episodes and for me personally it didn't really click until episode three, "The Case of the Devlin House." Our leads get caught in a murderous time loop with "Owner of a Lonely Heart" proving that it's a song that doesn't get annoying no matter how many times you listen to it. This is when I finally connected to the characters. This is when I realized I could watch ten seasons of this show and never get bored. I should have remembered that Netflix hates their viewers and never wants them to be happy. Though personally, I don't blame this cancellation on them. But before I go into that I need to discuss Lukas Gage as the Cat King. Lukas Gage is having a moment. Within the last three years he has shown up in seven shows I've been watching. And been spectacular in all of them. Even when he's a complete a total asshole, he's such a spectacular one you have to applaud him. He was perfect as the Cat King. He WAS a cat! But more importantly, he was a wonderful sexy foil for Edwin. He helped Edwin come to accept himself while also being so damn sexy. I mean, I know we're not getting more of this show, but can I get a Cat King spinoff? And that's the sad truth, we're not getting ten seasons of this show. We're not getting more than the eight episodes we've gotten because of Neil Gaiman. And for those who claim, this isn't fair on the fans and he didn't have anything to do with this show... Um, first, he created the characters AND wrote all of Death's dialogue, but more importantly, he is an abuser and Netflix and his fans can't condone this by turning a blind eye so they can be entertained by a show. There are bigger things in life than television shows. So yeah. I'm sad that this show is more collateral damage from the truth of Neil Gaiman being revealed. But I don't know if I could go back and watch this show knowing what I know. Things have shifted. This dark yet hopeful world that Gaiman created in his works was a false reality that he used to lure his fans into his web. And that web needs to meet a blowtorch.
A Lively Midwinter Murder by Katy Watson
We Three Queens by Rhys Bowen
A Deadly Legacy by E.V. Hunter
Christmas with the Queen by Hazel Gaynor and Heather Webb
Duchess Material by Emily Sullivan
The Muse of Maiden Lane by Mimi Matthews
The Estate by Sarah Jost
The Memory Place by Nate Dimeo
The Unfinished Harauld Hughes by Richard Ayoade
The World According to Cunk by Philomena Cunk
Here's the thing. I am the target audience for The Artful Dodger. Period piece set in Australia which continues the chronicles of Charles Dickens with beloved named stars and I only heard about it by accident. This is a crime against humanity. And by humanity, I mean it's a crime against me in particular. Thankfully things worked out. This past holiday season I rewatched David Thewlis in the magnificent 2015 adaptation of An Inspector Calls. Which got me to thinking, what else has David Thewlis been up to lately? And I saw he was playing Fagin in a show called The Artful Dodger with Thomas Brodie-Sangster and oddly Tim Minchin, who is the composer and lyricist for the Broadway musical Matilda, which made me cry for hours and hours. Damn you Minchin! I instantly went, I must watch this show immediately. Which lead me to learning that my PS3 no longer supports Hulu and therefore I'd have to find a time to watch it when I wasn't on the treadmill. At about the time I finally started watching it was when Disney+ and Hulu merged and out of nowhere everyone was talking about this show. A show which had premiered almost half a year earlier. I mean it's not like the weird Suits success years after it ended, but The Artful Dodger took awhile to find it's audience. People were binging it as fast as they could. Twitter, and yes, I will always call it that, was twittering about how this show deserved a larger audience and several seasons. That The Artful Dodger isn't just a show to binge and forget, it was a show to binge and to never recover from. While I agree that more seasons would fill me with glee, I don't think I'm as fanatical was the other viewers. I enjoyed it. I thought it was a wonderful concept and a fresh twist on the Charles Dickens classic, Oliver Twist, with Dodger finding a new life as a surgeon in Australia and running into Fagin who has been transported there and is up to his old tricks, as well as some wonderful jokes at the expense of Oliver being thrown in. But despite the stellar casting this felt like a kind of in between show. It was in between being a kind of cheap 
When my mom became interested in something she became obsessed with it. This could work in my favor, or, like the Christmas the Badgers went to the Rose Bowl, it could backfire magnificently. I'm not now nor never have been a football fan but at one point I had more Rose Bowl sweatshirts and hats than I could count. But I really benefited when she became obsessed with The Spiderwick Chronicles. This happened in 2008, which as fans of the series will know is when the movie adaptation starring Freddie Highmore came out. For my birthday I got notebooks and field guides and the deluxe collector's trunk. I got it all. So while I didn't love the movie, though I will admit to balling uncontrollably when David Strathaim and Joan Plowright were reunited at the end, I did love the books. Because the books are amazing, just simply magical. They made me feel like I felt when I first discovered the joys of reading as a kid. The story, the illustrations, everything about them made me fall in love with reading all over again. So I was over the moon when I heard about the new adaptation. Then devastated when Disney+ shelved it. I mean, cut Christian Slater a break already! First you pull Willow, which he was magnificent in, and then you decide to not even air The Spiderwick Chronicles!?! At least, in this instance, Roku came to the rescue. I still wish someone would do the same for Willow dammit. And this show works for one reason and one reason only, Daddy Christian Slater. He is magnificent as Mulgarath. So yes, I was rooting for the villain. I can almost, almost, even forgive him from eating Madisynn King from She-Hulk: Attorney at Law. Almost. Random aside, anyone else wondering why the magician who accidentally got Madisynn sucked through an inter-dimensional portal was also present? Oh wait, this was a Disney+ show originally and they're all about synergy when they're not about shelving shows to save a buck. OK, so that makes some sense to me now. Back to Christian Slater. I don't think I'm the target audience for this show and yet I'm probably the one getting the most enjoyment out of it and it's serious Legend vibes. Because while anyone can relate to the moral ambiguity of who are monsters? The actual monsters or man, the "problem child" Jared is the biggest "problem" in this show. His entire family talk about him creating scenes and being the reason they've had to move, and yet it's just them telling us this, we never really see this until he beats the shit out of his best friend, which makes him irrediable in my mind. And how did he get expelled for a really bad comic with an obvious interpretation? He's so one dimensional and his "problems" are so vague that I just didn't care about him. I kept want Christian Slater to show up and do another evil puppet show. I mean seriously, we are in the Christian Slater renaissance. I know most people date this to his role on Mr. Robot almost a decade ago, but I'm saying that it's really now. So do I want a second season? If they fleshed out the humans more, possibly... But seeing as things are very up in the air Christian Slater-wise... It's a no go for me if he's not in it. I'd call him Daddy any day.
The Color of Revenge by Cornelia Funke
The West Wind by Alexandria Warwick
We Shall Be Monsters by Alyssa Wees
The Twice-Sold Soul by Katie Hallahan
We Call Them Giants by Kieron Gillen
In Wonderland by Paul Magrs
The Keeper of the Key by Nicole Willson
Games Untold by Jennifer Lynn Barnes
The Legacy of Arniston House by T.L. Huchu
Hobtown Mystery Stories Vol. 2: The Cursed Hermit by Kris Bertin
All's Fair in Love and Treachery by Celeste Connally
In Want of a Suspect by Tirzah Price
Time and Tide by J.M. Frey
The Viscount and the Thief by Emma Orchard
The Davenports: More Than This by Krystal Marquis
Guilt and Ginataan by Mia P. Manansala
The Museum of Wes Anderson by Johan Chiaramonte and Camille Mathieu
The Watkins Book of Urban Legends by Gail De Vos
