Here is a clip of Laura Lippman on the Late Late Show last night with Craig Ferguson.

by Karl McGowan

I recently got to see the film adaptation of Ken Bruen’s The Guards, shown on the Irish channel TV3, it’s the pilot of a proposed series of TV movies based on the Jack Taylor series of novels. I have to admit to having a bit of trepidation about how the film was going to turn out, I’ve been reading Ken Bruen for years and I have been disappointed by screen adaptations in the past eg John Hanna as Inspector Rebus and the Jeff Bridges version of Matt Scudder in Eight Million Ways To Die. I needn’t have worried though, ‘Jack Taylor’ was a gripping crime thriller and I hope the pilot gets taken up as I’d love to see more being made.

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After the jump Spinetingler has the full trailer for the first Jack Taylor film, The Guards, based on the Jack Taylor novels of Ken Bruen.

Magma has the rights to the full series of books so please join me in collective prayer that Ken’s fans in the U.S. will be allowed to see these films some day.

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Earlier today Carl Hiaasen was on The Today Show discussing his new novel Star Island.

Check out the new trailer for HBO’s Boardwalk Empire. Spinetingler is currently in negotiations to bring you a really cool exclusive to coincide with the release of Boardwalk Empire.

Seriously, just go read the whole thing

NETWORK NOTES: We don’t like the detective very much here. He doesn’t stop the bad guy, has no plan, and at the end sort of just puffs after him yelling like an idiot.
ME: It’s real. It’s what really happens when people are confronted with these types of things. Especially quirky amateurs.
NETWORK NOTES: Again, seems like a pussy.
ME: I get that. Maybe he’ll just seem flawed but in an endearing way.
NETWORK NOTES: We also don’t understand why he says the part about not paying the hooker. Why does he consider that to be relevant to all this?
ME: He’s got a good heart. The hooker seemed so nice and he feels for her.
NETWORK NOTES: He’s not gonna do something stupid in the next episode is he? Like call the hooker and meet her at a coffee shop and pay her the money she’s owed.
ME: Ummmmm…No.

I return to my office and call the police. Two and a half hours later they arrive, turning my USA detective show into a hard-boiled network cop series. Two female uniforms, serious women, women who clearly do not want to be hearing from some jackass waving an envelope with the word HOOKER! written on the bottom.

I detail my story, knowing how impressed they’re going to be by the number of clues I’ve already amassed…

COP: Sir. Before you continue…I want to say something to you.
ME: Of course, officer.
COP: I need you to understand that it is against the law to file a false police report sir. It is a crime.
ME: Are you kidding me?
COP: I am not.
ME: Are you suggesting I’m making this up? Why? To cover up for the fact that a hooker has called my home demanding money from me? Do you think I’m a whore-r? (sp?)
COP: It’s a strange story, sir. Very strange. Doesn’t add up. They seem to know a lot about you.
ME: They were in my office for four hours! I’m pretty sure they weren’t having sex the whole time. God knows I couldn’t.

NETWORK NOTES: We like this part. Conflict between our guy and the system. Of course they would suspect that. Maybe our guy did do it. Maybe it’s all a scam. Like Usual Suspects. We love that movie. People wouldn’t expect that.
ME: He didn’t do it. There’s security camera footage which shows the plucky hooker and the big tall John.
NETWORK NOTES: We need to see that. Security camera footage is always cool.

Dave Thompson of Busted Flush, brings word about the Zoe Sharp series character Charlie Fox:

Zoë’s THE CHARLIE FOX MYSTERIES — centering on ex-army self-defense expert and one time Special Forces candidate, Charlotte “Charlie” Fox and her all-action, high octane adventures in the world of close protection — has been sold to Twentieth Century Fox TV, by Alan Nevins at Renaissance Literary & Talent on behalf of Jane Gregory at Gregory & Company.

Busted Flush republished Zoe Sharp’s first Charlie Fox book, Killer Instinct, in May.

The season five trailer of Dexter was revealed at San Diego.

One of those the title says it all posts but hell this is great news. But I stand by what I said then, that this has the potential to be huge. The world that Huston created in his novel is ripe for more exploration.

Alan Ball is prepping a new hourlong project for the pay cable network. HBO has greenlighted a pilot for All Signs of Death, a dark comedic drama based on Charlie Huston’s 2009 crime noir novel The Mystic Arts of Erasing All Signs of Death. Ball is executive producing and directing the pilot, which was written by Huston. The project, which is now casting for an August production

This just looks better and better.