What’s Going On

I tell myself I’ll stop by the ol’ homestead regularly to sweep away the cobwebs, make sure the lights still work, keep the place spruced up. Then months go by before I make the drive and I find the joint colonized by possums and—what the hell’s that smell in the back room? You wait here while I check it out.

In the meantime, a recap of 2026 so far at Cocktails and Crime, where I mainly hang my hat.

 

I pulled together a list of everything I read and saw in 2025 … and decided not to publish it.

A rundown of Noir City Seattle, including the movies I introduced as co-host.

I check out two films that didn’t make the jump to Seattle’s Noir City along with the documentary The Donn of Tiki.

A recap of the festival, plus Sirāt and the reissued Night of the Juggler (1980), which I describe as stupid High and Low meets dumb Death Wish. In a complimentary way.

Reviews of The Last Kings of Hollywood and Partially Devoured, about Night of the Living Dead.

A look at Jane Leavy’s Make Me Commissioner, thoughts on Miroirs No. 3 and The Christophers, plus the 10th anniversary of Renee Patrick’s Design for Dying.

My Seattle International Film Festival in review, including the restored Queen Kelly (1929) and what may be “the most oversexed movie I’ve ever seen.”

The 40th anniversary of my high school graduation and how the ceremony marked my triumphant entry into show business.

A roundup of new old mysteries and old new mysteries.
 

Another One in the Books, Another One for the Books

Not gonna lie: once again, I am thrilled to put the current wretched year in the rearview mirror and hope for bigger, better, and brighter things for us all in the new one.

To close out 2025, a quick summary of the last third of the year at Cocktails and Crime.

I take in an old favorite, Terry Gilliam’s Brazil (1985), on the big screen for its fortieth anniversary, plus a pair of music documentaries

The scoop on A Hell of a Drink, my upcoming book with Chris Elford, plus one of the best movie thrillers of 2025

What I learned from Elmore Leonard, and I drink my way around Chicago

The vintage mysteries I’ve read aloud this year, and seeing Quiz Show (1994) on the big screen with Ken Jennings

Cocktail history in comic book form, along with some interlocked recommendations in film, TV, and crime fiction

The old guy films The Shrouds and The Alto Knights, tenuously linked to a new book by jazz legend Billy Hart with my friend Ethan Iverson

And that’s a wrap on 2025. May 2026 treat us more kindly. 

Coming Soon: A Hell of a Drink

Popping up to announce I’ve got a new book in the works.

A Hell of a Drink, coming from Sasquatch Books in time for Halloween 2027, collects fifty horror-movie-inspired cocktails devised by my friend Chris Elford. For the full story on my collaboration with Chris and what you can expect in the book, head on over to Cocktails and Crime.

Down the Stretch We Come

Some housekeeping up top. I return to CrimeReads with a feature story reviewing the directorial career of beloved actor Danny DeVito. The survey was prompted by the arrival in theaters of The Roses, an adaptation of the Warren Adler novel The War of the Roses which DeVito made into a memorable black comedy in 1989. The main takeaway: watch Death to Smoochy (2002).

Next, a recap of the middle third of the year at my newsletter Cocktails and Crime:

Trying to regain my fiction writing mojo by serving as an Edgars judge and reading a trio of novels that spawned some classic movie thrillers

Seattle International Film Festival (SIFF), part one: documentaries on food, drink, and film

SIFF, part two: vintage 3D noir and crime films

I run a 5K, see some big-screen Kurosawa, and report on recent reading

Class as treated in a pair of current crime novels, and French mushroom noir

A pair of baseball books

The Facebook memoir Careless People prompts a social media report card

I make my documentary debut, and see even more big-screen Kurosawa

A quartet of new crime movies

Background on my DeVito article for CrimeReads 

One-Third of the Year Down, Two-Thirds to Go

First and foremost, I’m back at CrimeReads with another feature story, this time a look at what may be the most snakebit project in Hollywood history. The caper comedy The Comeback Trail has been made twice, almost fifty years apart, most recently with a cast brimming with Academy Award winners. But neither version received a proper release. I dig into the backstories of both movies and explain why.

Next up, a recap of the first third of 2025 at my Substack outpost Cocktails and Crime.

I take in a trio of Nicholas Hoult movies, including my pick for the best crime film of 2024, and recommend Alex Segura’s Alter Ego.

L.A. crime fiction from Nick Kolakowski and Scott Phillips.

New biographies of Johnny Carson and Dorothy Parker, plus the best movie night I’ve had in a while.

A rundown of my then-upcoming, now-recent appearances, and the movies Presence and Soundtrack to a Coup d’État.

A recap of Noir City Seattle, cohosted by yours truly.

I’m blown away by The Penguin, plus new books by Sara Gran and Bruce Vilanch.

Nothing but love for Christa Faust’s The Get Off, plus Laura Lippman’s latest sends me in search of more maritime mayhem.

Recent releases: September 5, Black Bag, and my favorite film of 2025 so far, Eephus.

I revisit David Lynch’s Dune on the big screen for the first time in forty years.

Background on my CrimeReads article about The Comeback Trail that focuses on the astonishing career of filmmaker Harry Hurwitz, which runs the gamut from Charlie Chaplin to disco vampires.
 

Year-End Closeout

I’ll open this recap of what I’ve written over the last third of 2024 with a link to my CrimeReads feature on Mike’s Murder (1984). The film, marking its fortieth anniversary, has haunted me since I first saw it, and I delve into its true-crime origins—it’s inspired by the real-life murder of the former lover of an Academy Award-nominated actor, who was essentially cast as himself—as well as its famously tortured postproduction. The movie, which disappeared for decades, is again available, and even in compromised form deserves an audience.

Meanwhile, a rundown of what you may have missed at Cocktails & Crime.

A new history of Malört, plus thoughts on one of the year’s better TV offerings, Bad Monkey.

My year in 4K restorations, with big-screen rewatches of Le Samouraï, The Conversation, and The Shining.

Against my better judgment, I wrote about Megalopolis.

A report from my all-too-brief trip home to New York City, with multiple jazz shows.

How I spent Election Night with Joel and Ethan Coen, plus book and movie recommendations.

New books on science fiction movies and American horror.

Background on my Mike’s Murder article, plus movie recommendations.

A review of my favorite novel of 2024 and a neo-noir that slipped under the radar.

I may post a similar recap at Substack before 2024 is out, but otherwise that’s it for a year I’m happy to see the back of for a host of reasons. Spare yourself an extra resolution and subscribe to Cocktails & Crime now.
 

Summer Summary

I’m popping in again to remind you that the action these days is at Cocktails and Crime, my Substack newsletter. A recap of the last few months of entries—

The Netflix documentary How to Rob a Bank, and how I was hired to tell the same story decades ago.

Reviews of two new jazz histories.

I marked the one-year anniversary of C&C by going to a book signing for Baseball: The Movie.

I try to figure out why everyone keeps asking me if I’m retired, and why that means staying connected. Also, a related few words on one of the year’s best films, the documentary Flipside.

A pair of books on vintage spirits puts me on a birthday quest to drink Howard Hughes’s whiskey.

A memoir and a raucous comedy set in the ancestral homeland of the Keenans, plus Martin Scorsese’s heartfelt tribute to Powell & Pressburger.

You should subscribe now. I’m always yammering about something.