HOSTAGE: New thriller on Netflix

I highly recommend Hostage on Netflix, a new British series that premiered on Thursday. Good acting, strong plot, if not a bit familiar, but also well done suspense and action. It's definitely bingeable, and I binged it. Hostage stars Suranne Jones, Julie Delpy, and Lucian Msamati. This thriller has it all. 

Storyline: The PM's husband is kidnapped and the visiting French President is blackmailed, as they face high stakes personal and political choices. 

It had me riveted. A good diversion to today's politics. 

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Reminder: Unforgotten & The Marlow Murder Club: New seasons start this Sunday!

Just a reminder that new seasons of both The Marlow Club and Unforgotten start this Sunday night on PBS Masterpiece Mystery! . Can't Wait. I love both these shows!

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Two MASTERPIECE Mystery! series coming on Sunday, August 24 to PBS broadcast and streaming.

The Marlow Murder Club, Season 2 at 9/8c 6 episodes. 

PBS Broadcast weekly, PBS Passport, MASTERPIECE Prime Video Channel

Life in the idyllic town of Marlow has just about returned to normal, but it’s not long before Judith, Becks and Suzie are called back into action, when a series of new unsettling crimes befall the local residents. Navigating the delicate balance of Marlow society – from local aristocracy to boatyard workers, the picturesque High Street to a newly established archaeological dig – the sleuthing trio dig into all corners of Marlow life as they assist DCI Tanika Malik in her official investigations.

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Unforgotten, Season 6 at 10/9. 6 episodes. 

PBS Broadcast weekly, PBS Passport, MASTERPIECE Prime Video Channel

Unforgotten once again examines the lives of a disparate group of people linked to a
cold case. We follow DCI Jess James, DI Sunny Khan, and their team as they uncover
the truth behind a dismembered body found in Whitney Marsh.

Cartoon of the Day: Best Books for Summer

 

Cartoon of the Day: TBR Pile

 

SISTER BONIFACE MYSTERIES, SEASON 4

Sister Boniface, the crime-solving nun series, Season 4, will premiere on Britbox on August 19. 

The series is set in the 1960s. Sister Boniface is a Vespa-riding Catholic nun with a crime lab and love of detective fiction, quite comparable to and competent as a forensic scientist, who works with the local constabulary. 

Season 4 will have 8 episodes. 

Lorna Watson stars as Sister Boniface. Returning also are cast members Max Brown as DI Sam Gillespie, Jerry Iwu as DS Felix Livingstone, Ami Metcalf as WPC Peggy Button, and Carolyn Pickles as Rev Mother Adrian. 

Season 4 guest cast includes Les Dennis, Katherine Kingsley, Martyn Ellis Mina Anwar, Ed Birch, and Daniel Laurie.

GREG ILES: R.I.P.

Greg Iles, Mississippi author of several New York Times best-selling novels, died yesterday, at the age of 65.  He had multiple myeloma, an incurable blood cancer. Greg was one of the nicest, kindest, and supportive people, as well as a great writer. He will be missed. My sympathy and love go out to his friends and family.

Greg Iles was born in Germany in 1960, where his father ran the US Embassy Medical Clinic during the height of the Cold War. His mother was raised on a subsistence farm in Louisiana and began picking cotton at the age of three. Iles spent his youth in Natchez, Mississippi, and graduated from the University of Mississippi in 1983.  While attending Ole Miss, Greg lived in the cabin where William Faulkner and his brothers listened to countless stories told by “Mammy Callie,” their beloved nanny, who had been born enslaved.

 

Iles wrote his first novel in 1993, a thriller about Nazi war criminal Rudolf Hess, which became the first of seventeen New York Times bestsellers. Primarily set in the Deep South, his later novels have been made into films, translated into more than twenty languages, and published in more than thirty-five countries worldwide.  His new novel will continue the story of Penn Cage, after the epic trilogy that ended with 

New York Times #1 bestseller Mississippi Blood. 

Greg was also a member of The Rock Bottom Remainders, a charitable rock group made up of authors. Bandmates included Stephen King, Amy Tan, and Dave Barry. 

He is survived by his wife Caroline and four children.