Karen Pirie
If you are looking for an author who is a BIG NAME in crime fiction you couldn't do better than Val McDermid. What's more, unlike other similar authors whose work has been adapted to the small screen she has either phenomenal good luck or is extremely involved in the process or maybe she's just incredibly picky because of the two series and one standalone that have been adapted they are all stellar. Wire in the Blood with Robson Green is a classic up there with Inspector Morse. As for Place of Execution? Stunning. It's one of those mysteries that stays with you forever. Every once in awhile I'll think on it and be amazed all over again. That miniseries also did a lot for changing the trajectory of Greg Wise's career to the deliciously dark. So I had expectations for Karen Pirie. But I also was totally blindsided by it because I got the wrong end of the stick. You see when they said that the show starred a "blonde from Outlander" I thought for some reason it was Nell Hudson who played Laoghaire, the bane of Jamie and Claire, instead it was Lauren Lyle who plays Marsali, Jamie and Claire's beloved daughter-in-law. Not that I'm complaining, because Lauren proved how perfect she was for this role, I'm just also really a fan of Nell Hudson because she was amazing on Victoria, though I'm still mad they killed her off. And in fairness I really didn't know how Lauren Lyle would have the time what with also filming Outlander, but thankfully that didn't seem to be a problem. What this adaptation showed more than anything is how to perfectly update you source material for the present day. In the original novel, The Distant Echo, the cold case that Karen Pirie is investigating happened in 1978 and is being investigated in 2003. Therefore to have that twenty-five year gap now this is heavy on the nineties nostalgia, but more than that it incorporates the citizen detective and true crime podcast culture that has just boomed in recent years. As for Karen herself, she's funny, she bounces around like a Whac-A-Mole. She has a sense of humor and lame style, she knows a good joke, knows she's good at her job, and knows it's a bad time to be a Karen. There's a sense of humor too which anyone who knows Val McDermid will know she possess, I remember she was doing a book signing in the US, sadly nowhere near me, but near my favorite bookstore, Murder by the Book, so I got a copy of her newest book for my mom's birthday, and I asked if she'd inscribe it "To Marian who's glad she doesn't live in Bradfield," Bradfield being where her Wire in the Blood books are set. She dutifully signed that and added "As am I." Which just cracked me up and made the present that much more special. So while there was a part of me who felt that the mtstery was a little pedestrian, it was riviting and fun and I am just so glad there's going to be more because I need more Karen Pirie in my life.
Winter's Gifts by Ben Aaronovitch
The Witchwood Knot by Olivia Atwater
Cocktails and Chloroform by Kelley Armstrong
The Pantomime Murders by Fiona Veitch Smith
Death on the Scotland Express by Fliss Chester
The Mystery Guest by Nita Prose
The Fiction Writer by Jillian Cantor
Salt and Broom by Sharon Lynn Fisher
Godly Heathens by H.E. Edgmon
Didn't See That Coming by Jesse Q. Sutanto
Gwen and Art Are Not in Love by Lex Croucher
The Kingdom of Sweets by Erika Johansen
The Butterfly Collector by Tea Cooper
Ruined by Sarah Vaughn, Sarah Winifred Searle, and Niki Smith
Most people aren't familiar with the actual text of 
Growing up in my house there were a few authors whose books would always be found on our shelves, Tony Hillerman was one of them. Both my parents loved the Leaphorn and Chee series and it was a big event in our house when Mystery! adapted three of the books as Skinwalkers: The Navajo Mysteries with the brilliant Wes Studi as Joe Leaphorn. I remember one day my mom and I were trying to thin out our bookshelves and she decided it was time to finally let Tony Hillerman go. We got rid of the books and about a week later she bought a new copy of The Blessing Way. Because, as I've stated before, Tony Hillerman is always on our shelves, even if we attempt to change this. After the paperback repurchase I offered to get all the books for her for her Kindle, so that is now where our Tony Hillerman collection resides. Though I'm still kind of pissed we ever culled them in the first place. Never make decisions you may regret for expedience because there's nothing more comforting than an old familiar paperback, especially one that has strategically placed evidence as to who read it last. Hint, it was usually my grandmother because she'd use Halls wrappers as bookmarks, she was chaotic good. Therefore much excitement was felt in my household by the announcement of a new series based on Hillerman's books. And not just because I love Zahn McClarnon so much, though this ubiquitous actor was a major bonus. I was excited because the book series started in the 1970s and it was revealed that this adaptation would be a period piece. This was a seventies cop drama! My grandmother, she of the Halls wrappers, instilled in me that the pinnacle of televisual experiences is the seventies cop drama. The Rockford Files is ALWAYS at the top of the list, everything else follows, with Stephen J. Cannell shows ranked higher than others. But also in a far more important development, and I'm not talking about the big producer names, Redford having produced the earlier Mystery! series as well, I'm talking about the writers's room being all Native American. I mean, about fucking time! This is their story and they should be the ones to tell it. I mean, props to Hillerman for writing the books, but while he might have known Native Americans and gone to school with them and everything else, he isn't one of them. I feel with Dark Winds and Reservation Dogs Native Americans are finally getting to tell their stories for themselves and this is so long overdue. The first season was actually based on the third and forth books, Listening Woman and People of Darkness but they conveniently have Leaphorn and Chee pair up way earlier than in the books series. It wasn't groundbreaking for it's mystery, dealing with missing money from a bank heist, it was groundbreaking for how it was told and who told it. The second season continues the storyline from People of Darkness, delving into the cult that takes Native rituals and dumbs them down for mass consumption by white people, and is of course now run by corrupt white people. But it also continues a storyline thought resolved, the death of Joe and Emma Leaphorn's son which ends up making these six episodes feel like the second half of the first season. But a very satisfying second half. We get big emotions, danger, and, in the end, resolution and acceptance. If the show ends up not getting a third season, this was a beautiful ending. Of course I actually need this show to run for years and years for my sanity. 
There Should Have Been Eight by Nalini Singh
Saevus Corax Captures the Castle by K.J. Parker
My Batman fatigue set in in 2008. If Christopher Nolan couldn't be bothered to take down outdoor signage for the Lyric Opera of Chicago I don't know why I should be bothered to care about The Dark Knight. Also, controversial opinion, Heath Ledger didn't deserve the Oscar that year, but he did deserve it more than Robert Downey Junior. Since then we've gone through quite a few Batmen and my top picks might be a bit controversial, but with George Clooney being back maybe not as much as they once were. And wherever there is Batman there's his trusty butler. In fact for the who's who among actors I think Alfred has drawn the bigger names; Andy Serkis, Michael Caine, Jeremy Irons, Michael Gough, Sean Pertwee, Tom Hollander, Efrem Zimbalist Junior, and on and on. But one interesting development over the years is that Alfred has slowly become less and less posh, Michael Caine and Sean Pertwee really upping the ante. Sean Pertwee's rougher Alfred created by Bruno Heller for Gotham. But I just couldn't get into Gotham despite my Pertwee love. My problem was Gotham was still too rooted in the Batman mythology, seeing all these characters as younger versions of themselves and what they were to become. Which is why I was drawn to Pennyworth. Also created by Bruno Heller he seems to have realized the limitations of his previous series and limited his characters here. Here we have Alfred, and Batman's parents, Thomas and Martha. And that's it. Set in London during the swinging sixties the world created is a fascinating mashup of Last Night in Soho and V for Vendetta with a giant helping of Michael Caine's oeuvre. Our Alfie as played by Jack Bannon couldn't exist without Caine's Alfie. He exudes that cockney coolness and surety while also bringing a bit of Fred Thursday to the role, an inevitability as he played his son Sam on Endeavour for it's entire run. But the show isn't just a standout performance by Bannon, every actor is perfectly chosen to bring to life this vibrant alternative universe that mimics our Cold War but at the same time is wholly unique. Sadly season two leaned too far into mimicking World War II saved only by Peg and Bet. But then again Peg and Bet could save anyone and anything if they had a mind to. So how did they decide to fix the season two mistakes? By making sure everyone knew this show was about Batman's Butler by adding an absurdly ludicrous subtitle. I mean, surly people aren't so dumb they didn't connect the two. Please tell me I'm right because otherwise humanity is doomed. Much like London. Because while we're moving on from diamond geezers to the swinging sixties with hippies we're getting a darker side with the CIA experimenting with "MKUltra" and Patty Hearst and the Manson Family and an artist that looks like a stretched out Brian Eno. Trust me, he's up to no good. So while the aesthetic is very reminiscent of Adam West's Batman 66; brighter colors, dafter plots, and People With Enhancements, AKA PWEs, as pro superheroes and villains, there is a distinct underlying malevolence. Perhaps because they've fully embraced V for Vendetta in what I though was a lovely meta moment but according to the creators of the show is where they were heading all along because they view Pennyworth as a prequel to V for Vendetta as well as Gotham. Say what!?! Does James Purefoy know because I think he'd have something to say. Also you're still not getting me to watch Gotham. No matter how much I want closure and answers.
You might be asking yourself what fool would watch House of the Dragon given the way that Game of Thrones ended. Well I am that fool! Say it in your best Raul Julia Gomez Addams voice if you please. The reason I will keep going back to the Game of Thrones universe is that I remember the magic of reading the first three books in the summer of 2002. My friend Jess introduced me to the books. We had just been to see Tobey Maguire in Spider-Man and we went out to eat and hung out at Barnes and Noble after. We were both picking up books and asking each other if we'd read it. I foisted Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials on her and she foisted I Am Legend and A Game of Thrones on me. We left the store poor in money but richer in stories. And I soon wanted a direwolf. Even sooner I went back to Barnes and Noble and picked up A Clash of Kings and A Storm of Swords and then started playing the real game you play if you're a fan of George R.R. Martin, the waiting game. Yep. I'm somehow still playing it. And there was a part of me that was like, do I want to watch House of the Dragon? Not only could it let me down again in epic fashion, but it's a prequel, with prequels you know where they're going. And then the cast was announced. I really had no choice after that point. Even if Matt Smith wasn't in it there's Paddy Considine,
Rhys Ifans, and Olivia Cooke. These are some actors I truly love and every day it seemed like more were joining, in fact I was so unable to keep up with the announcements I didn't even know that Nicholas Jones was in it until he showed up on Dragonstone in the last episode. And if you don't know who Nicholas Jones is, do yourself a favor and watch some seventies and eighties British miniseries, Anna Karenina, Lillie, and The Flame Trees of Thika are a good start. But with all these great casting announcements a problem was revealed, a problem that the show has been rightly criticized for, the pacing. They were recasting characters with new actors every other episode because of the whooshing sound time was making as episodes jumped decades from one week to the next. This led to great confusion, and also great apathy. While I was looking forward to Olivia Cooke I had no idea how invested I'd get in Alicent being played by Emily Carey. Likewise with Milly Alcock as Rhaenyra. They became the characters to me and when they foisted the change in actors I felt no connection to them. It wasn't even until the last two episode that I felt that Olivia Cooke and Emma D'Arcy actually connected to their characters. But thankfully during this turmoil the show was carried by Paddy Considine as Viserys. He brought such pathos, such vulnerability to a king that you couldn't help but feel for him. So while the showrunners are claiming that next season will fix the pacing problem, and hopefully they'll remember to never do day for night again, the question remains, can the show succeed without Viserys carrying it on his frail shoulders? Perhaps if they better used Matt Smith they could solve their problem.
The Narrow Road Between Desires by Patrick Rothfuss
Disenchantment: Untold Tales Vol. 1 by Matt Groening
Good Girls Don't Die by Christina Henry
Past Lying by Val McDermid
Bulletproof Barista by Cleo Coyle
Act Like a Lady, Think Like a Lord by Celeste Connally
I Heard a Fly Buzz When I Died by Amanda Flower
The Honor of Your Presence by Dave Eggers
Upon a Frosted Star by M.A. Kuzniar
Once Upon a Time in the North by Philip Pullman
Billy and the Giant Adventure by Jamie Oliver
System Collapse by Martha Wells
A Disturbance in the Force: How and Why the Star Wars Holiday Special Happened by Steve Kozak
Elmer Bernstein, Film Composer by Peter M. Bernstein
