The third issue of Future Publishing’s glossy magazine devoted to crime fiction has landed. Weighing in at 132 pages and for £7.99 on the newsstand, Crime Scene features the BBC’s Peaky Blinders on the cover, a TV series starring Cillian Murphy as an Irish gangster in post-WWI Birmingham. Series three is on its way and our own Andre Paine talks to executive producer Stephen Knight in the cover feature.
The magazine doesn’t seem quite as punchy as the first two – not if you’re a big crime reader, that is – but it does have interviews with Harlan Coben and Mark Billingham. Barry Forshaw is on hand to introduce his upcoming book, Brit Noir, and Orion Publishing’s Sam Eades looks at the anatomy of a bestseller. Ask Val McDermid is her advice.
Television dominates the issue, and there’s a brief look at Rowan Atkinson as Maigret, which is coming to ITV soon, and a great article about the Welsh crime drama Hinterland.
What’s enjoyable is that the magazine format is used to great effect… which is great in a magazine! The Girl in the Ubiquitous Book Title really is just a collection of book covers but it pokes fun at how many publishers and authors are including the world ‘girl’ in their titles – whether merited or not. A feature on Walter Presents, Channel 4’s selection of foreign language dramas, has a lovely mapped-out spread in the middle of it taking us from Sweden to Chile.
Ceri Thomas’ Sidekick Awards article is another fun aside, handing out gongs to John Watson, Higgins and even Kitt from Knightrider. Speaking of cars, classic rides make up another nice visual spread featuring detectives and their wheels. Columbo’s Peugot, the Gran Torino in Starsky and Hutch, and Lovejoy’s Morris Minor are present and correct but not Magnum’s Ferrari. There is also a feature on crime t-shirts. Miami Vice threads, anyone?
Books and DVDs make up the back end of the magazine with The Bridge, Sherlock and Luther prominent for screen. In print there’s Fiona Barton’s The Widow, James Lee Burke’s House of the Rising Sun, and Honky Tonk Samurai by Joe R Lansdale.
Crime Scene is quarterly, and can be purchased from My Favourite Magazines or by clicking the button below. Scroll down to see more images of the latest issue.
Peaky Blinders feature has the richest looking layout.
Harlan Coben interviewed by Crime Fiction Lover contributor Andre Paine.
Yes, ‘the girl’ in the title is a bit of a thing, isn’t it?
A wonderful look at Hinterland, gearing you up for series three, with its creators Ed Thomas and Ed Talfan.
Great idea, but spoiled by the execution. Graphic design 101: don’t put someone’s face in the binding gutter between the pages. John Thaw would be… well, you know.
Walter Presents – Crime Scene includes this geographic guide to some of Channel 4’s upcoming foreign crime shows and an interview with Walter Iuzzolino, who choses what gets screened.
Ahh look, it’s little old us at the end picking some of the ‘see also’ crime reads out there.
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