Crime Awards and news roundup

News just in from the ITW

Finalist for the 200 Thriller Awards. The winners will be announced this summer at Thrillerfest 2008 at the Grand Hyatt in New York City during a gala banquet on Saturday, July 12th.

BEST NOVEL 2008

No Time For Goodbye by Linwood Barclay (Bantam)
The Watchman by Robert Crais (Simon & Schuster)
The Ghost by Robert Harris (Simon & Schuster)
The Crime Writer by Gregg Hurwitz (Viking)
Trouble by Jesse Kellerman (Putnam)

BEST FIRST NOVEL 2008

Interred With Their Bones by Jennifer Lee Carrell (Dutton)
Big City, Bad Blood by Sean Chercover (William Morrow)
From the Depths by Gerry Doyle (McBook Press)
Volk's Game by Brent Ghelfi (Henry Holt and Co.)
Heart-Shaped Box by Joe Hill (William Morrow)

BEST PAPERBACK ORIGINAL 2008

The Last Nightingale by Anthony Flacco (Ballantine)
A Thousand Bones by P.J. Parrish (Pocket)
The Midnight Road by Tom Piccirilli (Bantam)
The Queen of Bedlam by Robert McCammon (Pocket)
Shattered by Jay Bonansinga (Pinnacle)

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It’s been a very sad time of late. First the passing of Julian Rathbone, followed by Anthony Minghella and Arthur C. Clarke. Now veteran British actor Paul Scofield has died of leukemia, aged 86.

He passed away peacefully in hospital near his Sussex home yesterday, his agent confirmed.

She told Reuters: "He had leukemia and had not been well for some time."

Scofield won a Best Actor Oscar in 1967 for his turn as Sir Thomas More in Man for All Seasons. He was also nominated for Robert Redford-directed movie Quiz Show in 1995.Although he appeared in more than 30 films, he spent most of his career on the stage and was a leading member of the Royal Shakespeare Company.

He was made a companion of honour in 2001 but rejected three attempts to give him a knighthood.

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The Departed writer William Monahan is to pen a thriller based on an article to appear in Playboy.

The Paramount movie will tell the true story of Jim Keene, a police chief's son who was convicted of drug dealing. As an alternative to a ten-year jail sentence, he was allowed to go undercover at an insane asylum, where he tried to get a serial killer to reveal the location of his victims' bodies.

The film is being produced by Graham King (The Aviator, The Departed) and Alexandra Milchan (Street Kings, Righteous Kill). It is part of a first-look deal that King's GK Films has made with the Oscar-winning writer, who will work from their office.

The article will appear in Playboy later this year.

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New James Bond film Quantum of Solace will be released in the UK on October 31.

The 22nd instalment in the franchise will hit cinemas slightly earlier than the previously expected date of November 7.

A statement from Sony revealed that Daniel Craig’s 007 will be tackling "a minefield of treachery, murder and deceit" in Haiti, Austria and South America.The movie follows on directly from Casino Royale and sees Bond discover that love interest Vesper was being blackmailed when she betrayed him.

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The A-Team movie has a release date of June 12, 2009 and will be directed by John Singleton.

The director, whose credits include Shaft, Four Brothers and 2 Fast 2 Furious, was first linked to the job in December.

Michael Brandt and Derek Haas have written the script for the big-screen adaptation of the popular 1980s TV show, reports Variety.

The film will reportedly update the characters' back-stories to establish them as veterans of the Gulf War rather than Vietnam. No casting for the movie has been confirmed yet. However, rapper-turned-actor Ice Cube said he would be interested in the role of B.A. Baracus, originally played by Mr T, if Singleton was at the helm.

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For those of us on this side of the Atlantic we will be treated to the ITV drama adaptation of Jake Arnott’s He Kills Coppers. A stylish crime narrative concerned with the moral legacy of Flying Squad corruption in 1960s London, tells of the infamous murder of three Met officers in 1966. Check out the TV company’s website for further information.

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Clint Eastwood's Gran Torino, which was announced yesterday, may be a sequel in the Harry Callahan series, reports say.Eastwood played rogue San Francisco cop Harry Callahan in five films, starting with 1971's Dirty Harry. He last played the character 20 years ago in The Dead Pool. Callahan's "Do I feel lucky?" monologue is often quoted and parodied in popular culture. Reports supposedly made by the prodcers that hey have been trying to buy a 1972 Ford Gran Torino for the Warner Bros movie. The plot is alleged to revolve around the retired Callahan seeking to track down the killer of two young police officers, one of whom is his grandson. The only thing known about the murderer is that he drives a Ford Torino. So it's Dirty Harry on Wheels?

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Have a Happy Easter