Ellen Byron's "Cajun Kiss of Death"

Ellen Byron is the Agatha Award-winning author of the Cajun Country Mysteries. The USA Today bestselling series has also won multiple Best Humorous Mystery Lefty awards from the Left Coast Crime conference. She also writes The Catering Hall Mysteries (under the pen name Maria DiRico), and will launch the Vintage Cookbook Mysteries (as Ellen) in June 2022.

Byron’s TV credits include Wings, Just Shoot Me, and Fairly OddParents. She’s written over 200 national magazine articles, and her published plays include the award-winning Graceland. She also worked as a cater-waiter for the legendary Martha Stewart, a credit she never tires of sharing.

A native New Yorker who attended Tulane University, Byron lives in Los Angeles with her husband, daughter, and rescue chi mix, Pogo. She still misses her hometown - and still drives like a New York cabbie.

Here Byron dreamcasts an adaptation of her new Cajun Country Mystery, Cajun Kiss of Death:

It’s so much fun to cast a movie in your mind! Here are my choices for five characters from Cajun Kiss of Death.

Maggie Crozat – I’ve always seen Anne Hathaway in the role of Maggie. She has this wonderful way of combining moxie with a hint of insecurity, plus she knows how to play comedy. Not every actress can. In the 1990s, casting calls often went out for “pretty funny.” This was a call for male and female performers who were hot but also funny. It sounds incredibly sexist these days, doesn’t it? But finding this combination wasn’t easy. I’ll leave it to readers to analyze why.

Detective Bo Durand – I struggled with dream casting Bo for a long time. Someone once suggested Josh Harnett, and he was a possibility. Then my husband and I began watching Schitt’s Creek – we were early fans – and an actor popped into my personal zeitgeist as the perfect casting. His name is Tim Rozon. He played Alexis’s boyfriend Mutt during the show’s first seasons, and he’s got the perfect look and demeanor for Bo. And here’s another advantage to Mr. Rozon. You know all those Hallmark mystery movies? A lot of them are shot in Canada using the country’s tax credits. But to take advantage of the credits, you need to follow “Can Con” – Canadian Content – rules, meaning a large percentage of cast and crew must be Canadian. So, if my dream movie version of Cajun Kiss of Death was shot in Canada, Mr. Rozon would be a boon from both an artistic and business perspective.

Grand-mere, Maggie’s grandmother – This is the one casting choice that’s been a no-brainer since I wrote the series: Blythe Danner. In her youth, Ms. Danner starred in several Tennessee Williams plays, so she’s got the Southern thing down. Plus, not only does she exude an elegance and grace that’s perfect for Gran, there’s a twinkle in her eye and a talent for comedy. I absolutely envision her when I write this character. And you know what? That daughter of hers – What’s her name? Gwyneth something? – would also make a great Maggie!

Police chief Rufus Durand – Sam Rockwell is one of the most versatile actors working today. There’s nothing he can’t do and be charming while doing it, even if playing a villain. He’s got a bit of the imp to him, which would work for Ru, who goes from being an enemy to frenemy through the course of the Cajun Country Mystery series. Ru is unapologetic about his sometimes-sketchy choices, so you need an actor who’s innately likeable to play him. When it comes to casting Rufus Durand, Sam’s the man.

Vanessa Fleer-MacIlhoney – this casting choice might blow you away, but you know who would be great in this role? Stormy Daniels. Yup, you read that right. Stormy’s got Vanessa’s look down, plus the woman has a great sense of humor. And she’s one smart cookie, which Vanessa is as well. Some actresses might lean toward playing Vanessa as a bimbo. She’s not. She’s self-involved and clueless a lot of the time, but often offers a surprisingly canny take on a situation. You want to cast a performer who can hit all those notes, and I think Ms. Daniels can.

As to a director, no one specific comes to mind. All I know is I want her to be a woman!

Visit Ellen Byron's website.

Coffee with a Canine: Ellen Byron & Wiley and Pogo.

Q&A with Ellen Byron.

Writers Read: Ellen Byron.

--Marshal Zeringue

Edward M. Lerner's "Déjà Doomed"

A physicist and computer scientist, Edward M. Lerner toiled in the vineyards of high tech for thirty years, as everything from engineer to senior vice president. Then he began writing full time.

His novels run the gamut from near-future technothrillers, like Small Miracles and Energized, to traditional SF, like the InterstellarNet series and Dark Secret. Collaborating with New York Times bestselling author Larry Niven, Lerner also wrote the Fleet of Worlds series of Ringworld companion novels. Much of Lerner's short fiction has been collected in Creative Destruction and Countdown to Armageddon / A Stranger in Paradise. His nonfiction articles on science and technology centerpiece Frontiers of Space, Time, and Thought: Essays and Stories on The Big Questions.

Lerner's 2015 novel, InterstellarNet: Enigma, won the inaugural Canopus Award for interstellar-themed fiction. His writing has also been nominated for Hugo, Locus, and Prometheus awards.

Here Lerner dreamcasts an adaptation of his new novel, Déjà Doomed:

If they make my book into a film, here’s who I'd like to play the lead role(s).

Let’s start with the book: a near-future adventure set mostly on the Moon. Our intrepid explorers find artifacts left behind by ancient alien visitors – and you just know nothing good can come of their poking around. Even if the novel’s title weren’t Déjà Doomed.

But I don’t mean to imply this is a horror story – setting aside the almost certain likelihood of an existentially horrible outcome. Déjà Doomed is most definitely science fiction, with the majority of the action – of which there’s plenty – happening on, and in, the Moon. As for any clarification of the doom part of the title, readers here will thank me for not being too specific today.

In the interest of cinematic interest, I might mention there are also – coming into the story in ways you might never anticipate – aliens, and space battles, and even a cameo by … dinosaurs.

Before getting to the cast, I’d best introduce a few lead characters. First is Marcus Judson, a NASA engineer. He’s leading the construction of a radio observatory on the lunar far side, sheltered from Earth’s radio cacophony – until the CIA drafts him to investigate possible alien artifacts half the Moon away. Second is Yevgeny Rudin, “bush” pilot supporting all manner of Russian activities on the Moon. His real job is undercover FSB agent. Yevgeny, of course, comes to suspect that the CIA, in the person of Marcus, is up to something – and goes looking. Finally, there’s Marcus’s earthbound astronomer wife, Valerie Clayburn. Val, like Yevgeny, doesn’t take the cover story of Marcus’s sudden expedition at face value and, if only remotely, finds ways to insert herself.

For Marcus, our clean-cut, American engineering hero in space, there can be only one choice. That’s Matt Damon, aka the unstoppable Mark Watney, star of The Martian. For Yevgeny, Marcus’s suspicious Russian foil, I see Sergey Puskepalis, aka the engineer Zaytsev in the submarine/caper movie Black Sea. And for Valerie, I’d propose Amy Adams, brilliant exo-linguist in the SF movie Arrival.

I’d certainly pay good money to see that cast do this story.

Learn more about the author and his work at his website.

My Book, The Movie: InterstellarNet: Origins.

--Marshal Zeringue

Gwen Florio's "The Truth of It All"

Gwen Florio grew up in a farmhouse filled with books and a ban on television. After studying English at the University of Delaware, she began a thirty-plus year career in journalism that has taken her around the country and to more than a dozen countries, including several conflict zones.

Her first novel in the Lola Wick mystery series, Montana won the Pinckley Prize for Crime Fiction and the High Plains Book Award, and was a finalist for the Shamus Award, an International Thriller Award and a Silver Falchion Award. She has since released four other books in the Lola Wick series.

Recent novels include the standalone Silent Hearts, and Best Laid Plans, the first installment of a new mystery series.

Here Florio dreamcasts an adaptation of her new novel, The Truth of It All:

The Truth of It All, about a young public defender trying her first big case, has a wealth of strong female characters – not just the protagonist, Julia Geary, but her partner in the public defender’s office, Claudette Greene, and her mother-in-law, Beverly Sullivan. In addition, the high school girl who’s the target of the sexual assault case around which the book revolves goes from being a cardboard character in many people’s minds -- i.e, The Victim – to finding her own strength in a very notable way.

For that reason, I’d love to see a female director. Chloe Zhao immediately comes to mind, not only for her Oscar-winning work on Nomadland, but for an earlier film, The Rider, that deftly the nuances of ethnicity and class in the West – two issues central to this book. I also liked Kelly Reichardt’s film, Certain Women, that examined similar issues and that was shot in Montana. And, given the case involved in the book, Emerald Fennell immediately comes to mind because of Promising Young Woman. Such a wealth of directors!

As for actors, Kristen Stewart (of Reichardt’s Certain Women in addition to the Twilight movies) has a wonderfully wary quality that’s perfect for Julia, who’s negotiating the difficult terrain of being a new widow and suddenly single mother as a result, with a challenging case that brings the wrath of the community upon her.

All hail Regina King as Claudette, Julia’s take-no-shit partner in the public defender’s office. As a black woman in a largely white community, the unwelcome responsibility of explaining racial realities to privileged white people is thrust upon Claudette – who embraces the fact that sometimes her very presence makes people uncomfortable. King shines in every role and she’d kick ass as Claudette.

Julia’s exceedingly difficult mother-in-law, Beverly, became one of my favorite characters as I was writing the book. Jean Smart is so engagingly sly; I’d love to see the smiling undertone she’d bring to Beverly’s strait-laced demeanor.

Marlo Kelly’s performance in the television adaptation of Megan Abbott’s Dare Me blew me away – she'd be perfect as Ana.

For Julia’s client Sami Mohammed, Mena Massoud (Aladdin) has the wide-eyed quality that I think would let him believably play a high school student (somewhat older because of his refugee status) that also would play into the uncertainty that comes with trying to navigate a new culture and language.

Finally, Karl Schmidt as a local white supremacist plays a small but key part in the book. Ed Harris would bring just the right blend of menace and surprising humanity to that role.

Visit Gwen Florio's website.

Coffee with a Canine: Gwen Florio & Nell.

My Book, the Movie: Silent Hearts.

My Book, The Movie: Best Laid Plans.

--Marshal Zeringue

Catriona McPherson's "A Gingerbread House"

National-bestselling and multi-award-winning author Catriona McPherson was born in Scotland and lived there until immigrating to the US in 2010, where she lives on Patwin ancestral lands.

She writes historical detective stories set in the old country in the 1930s, featuring gently-born lady sleuth, Dandy Gilver. After eight years in the new country, McPherson kicked off the comic Last Ditch Motel series, which takes a wry but affectionate look at California life from the POV of a displaced Scot. She also writes a strand of contemporary psychological thrillers. The latest of these is A Gingerbread House, which Kirkus called “a disturbing tale of madness and fortitude.”

Here McPherson dreamcasts an adaptation of A Gingerbread House:

I don’t want a movie. I want a telly series a la Broadchurch. Okay?

A Gingerbread House is the story of three women chasing a dream, who all walk into a nightmare. The best friend Ivy never had, the parent Martine never knew, the happy-ever-after Laura pines for ... these are the breadcrumbs strewn on the path.

Meanwhile, in another part of the forest, Tash Dodd is on a quest of her own to right a wrong.

So far, so Disney. But the setting is a grey town in the post-industrial central belt of modern Scotland and there are no princesses here. Ivy is a book-keeper, Martine is a grant-writer, Laura has a phone-accessory retail business too close to Etsy for her liking, and Tash drives a delivery van.

With all that in mind, here in order of appearance is my dream casting of the main four, plus some supporting characters that I did actually cast while I wrote the story.

Tash: Fern Brady. She’s perfect. She’s the right age. She’s got the right accent. (She’d have to coach the others.) The only glitch is she’s a stand-up comedian, not an actor.

Ivy: Brenda Blethyn. Looking like Vera Stanhope, but with a completely different personality. Ivy is shy and self-effacing, silently judging most of the time. There would be a lot of face-acting and Brenda Blethyn is the mistress of that.

Martine: Nina Sosanya. You might remember her from Last Tango in Halifax. She’s fifty-two and Martine is thirty-ish. But you’d never know she was fifty-two so I’m sticking with it. Martine is brisk on the surface, a bit broken underneath. I think she’d be a treat to play.

Laura: Jodie Whittaker. She’s stepping down from playing the Doctor in Dr Who; she’ll have the time. And she’s mostly played absolute poppets, hasn’t she? So this will give her a shot of being thoroughly unlikable, at first anyway.

Adim the newsagent across the road: Nick Mohammed. I love him! He is hysterical as his stand-up character Mr Swallow and adorable paired with David Schwimmer in Intelligence. He’s the only reason I care that I haven’t got AppleTV and can’t see Ted Lasso.

The Hollywood sisters at the nail salon: Scarlett and Ava Moffatt. They are break-out stars from a reality programme called GoggleBox. It sounds daft – we watch people watching the highlights of the week’s telly – but it is hilarious and joyful stuff, as well as an excellent way to out pseuds and snobs, in my (correct) opinion.

So, we’ve got A Gingerbread House starring – I’m doing the credits in the order I think their agents could get – Fern Brady, Jodie Whittaker, Nick Mohammed, Nina Sosanya, with the Moffat Sisters, and Brenda Blethyn.

You’d watch that, wouldn’t you?

Visit Catriona McPherson's website.

My Book, The Movie: The Turning Tide.

--Marshal Zeringue

Adam Simcox's "The Dying Squad"

Adam Simcox is a London-based filmmaker who’s shot commercials for brands such as McLaren, Primark and Vice, and music videos for Britpop veterans as well as fresh on the scene alt-country stars. He began his film career by writing and directing three features: the first sold to Netflix; the second and third won awards and critical acclaim at festivals worldwide. He is a graduate of the Curtis Brown Creative novel writing course.

Here Simcox dreamcasts an adaptation of his debut novel, The Dying Squad:

My background is in film – it’s how I’ve earned my misbegotten living, up until now — so when it came to writing The Dying Squad, casting choices were always lurking, flicking my ears and tweaking my nose. I’ve written and directed three films before, and when working in those micro-budget terms, casting was always a challenge. Now I’m here, with my fantasy film selection, it’s time to splash that cash.

Our hero, Joe Lazarus, is a no-nonsense copper with a big problem: he’s dead. That state of being has left him with a swiss-cheese memory, so we need an actor that can portray this sense of confusion, but also get across his intelligence and silent steel too. Let’s go for Paul Bettany. Half tempted to have him in his vision costume just for kicks, but cooler producing heads will probably prevail.

Daisy-May, Joe’s also-dead 16-year-old partner, is the real star of the show. She’s sarky, she’s gobby, and she’s not afraid to call you on your bullshit. She’s also the moral compass and beating heart of the book, and we’ll need an actor of substance to play the role. Let’s go for Anya Taylor-Joy – she’s got just the right measure of insolence and face-down-the-odds nerve.

The Duchess is the governor of The Dying Squad, the spectral police force Joe’s recruited to, all cut-glass cheek bones, steely reserve, and kick ass presence. Let’s not mess around here; let’s get Helen Mirren and Emma Thompson in a knife fight, and the winner stays on as Warden, ruler of the Pen. A controversial means of auditioning, perhaps, but we’re shooting for greatness here, damn it.

Mabel is the Duchess’s sister, and sort of the Q of purgatory. Seen it, done it, killed it. We’ll need someone uncompromising, but also someone capable of getting across heart and sensitivity. We’ll give Judi Dench’s agent a call, but under the strict proviso she doesn’t wear her Cats costume.

Pete was Joe’s flesh and blood partner before Joe was murdered. In the book he’s described as a rugby player gone slightly to seed, but I’m going to go a different way with casting for the film – Stephen Graham’s our man. I want that no-nonsense, ultra-violence bubbling slightly under the surface Graham brings. Plus, the man’s an absolute magician of an actor.

That just leaves one major role to fill – that of director. Am I allowed to nominate myself? Is that too egotistical? Well tough. It’s my fantasy list, and I’ll self-indulge if I want to. If I’m locked out of the director's chair, I might see if Ben Wheatley fancies it. I’m a big fan, and I’d love to see what he does with it.

Follow Adam Simcox on Twitter.

--Marshal Zeringue

Joe Clifford's "The Shadow People"

After spending the 1990s as a homeless heroin addict in San Francisco, Joe Clifford got off the streets and turned his life around. He earned his MFA from Florida International University in 2008, before returning to the Bay Area, where he currently lives with his wife and two sons (Holden and Jackson Kerouac). His autobiographical novel, Junkie Love, chronicles his battle with drugs and was published by Battered Suitcase (2010). He is the author of the award-winning Jay Porter series, as well as several standalones including The One That Got Away, The Lakehouse, and the newly released The Shadow People.

Here Clifford dreamcasts an adaptation of The Shadow People:

If they make my book into a movie … they can put anyone they damn well please in whatever role they want as long as I get paid!

Not like I’d get a say anyway. But to play along…

I could see Tom Holland as Brandon. I could see a lot of other actors as well. Brandon is meant to be an everyman, and as such I think any number of reasonably attractive, likable twenty-somethings could pull it off. The role of Francis, however, is more specific. Writing this novel, I kept envisioning Jonathan Banks, who plays the character Mike Ehrmantraut in Breaking Bad and its prequel Better Call Saul. If I’m being honest, I sorta wrote the part with him in mind.

Director? It’s funny, but when the deal for this book was first announced, we were contacted by Sam Raimi’s people, who asked for an ARC regarding a possible adaptation. They (obviously) passed in the end, but I think Raimi would’ve been the perfect choice. While ultimately a thriller, this book employs more elements of horror than usual.

Visit Joe Clifford's website.

My Book, The Movie: The Lakehouse.

Q&A with Joe Clifford.

--Marshal Zeringue

Liv Constantine's "The Stranger in the Mirror"

Liv Constantine is the pen name of sisters Lynne Constantine and Valerie Constantine. Together, they are the bestselling author of the Reese Witherspoon Book Club pick, The Last Mrs. Parrish, The Last Time I Saw You, The Wife Stalker, and the newly released The Stranger in the Mirror. Their critically acclaimed books have been praised by USA Today, The Sunday Times, People Magazine, and Good Morning America, among many others. The Constantine sisters are national and international bestselling authors and their books have been translated into 28 languages, are available in 33 countries, and are in development for both television and film.

Here they dreamcast an adaptation of The Stranger in the Mirror:

Our newest book, The Stranger in the Mirror, features Addison Hope, a young woman with retrograde amnesia. Addison doesn’t know her real identity and can’t recall anything of her life since before she found herself bleeding and bruised on the side of a highway. The jagged scars on her arms, proof of a failed suicide attempt, are the only clue to what may lie in her past. For the last two years she has cobbled together a new life and identity, even finding love, and is preparing to marry, but she is haunted by whom or what she left behind. Terrifying flashbacks of bloodshed and violence plague her, making her wonder if something bad was done to her or by her.

The book has a large cast of characters, and it was fun (and also challenging) to choose just the right actor, giving us much more appreciation for the job of casting director. So, let’s get started…

Because our protagonist, Addison, has no recollection of her past or who she is, her character is one who is sometimes tentative and off balance. She’s smart, doesn’t like conflict and can retreat into an interior world when she feels vulnerable. On the other hand, she can be charming and warm when she feels safe with those around her. Her passion is photography, and her work is exceptional. We’ve chosen Lily James to play lovely, raven-haired Addison, because she has the perfect combination of winsomeness, intelligence and strength. James has appeared in Downton Abbey as Rose, took over the role of Meryl Streep in the sequel to Mamma Mia! and became Elizabeth Bennet in Pride and Prejudice and Zombies. With such a variety of past lives, she’d make a great Addison.

Julian Hunter is a highly successful Boston physician whose wife has been missing for two years, leaving him as the single parent to 7-year-old Valentina. Julian, at thirty-five, is blond and still boyishly handsome. Trim and fit, his style is controlled but casual. He’s dedicated to his work, a voracious reader and a devoted dad. We’ve chosen Simon Baker, who so brilliantly played the Mentalist, for Julian because, well, who else could fit that bill so perfectly?

Gabriel Oliver is Addison’s twenty-nine-year-old fiancé. Gabriel runs his wealthy family’s Philadelphia art gallery. Athletic and nice looking, he’s outgoing with lots of friends. He was smitten with Addison from the moment they met, and is her biggest cheerleader, proposing to her after just six months. We think Liam Hemsworth would make a good Gabriel.

Blythe Oliver, Gabriel’s mother, is an elegant and refined woman in her late fifties who descends from generations of wealth. She is a sculptor and started a Philadelphia art gallery with her husband, Ted, soon after they married. Close to her son and daughter, she’s warm and supportive of her children and a calm, steady presence in their lives. Despite the fact that Blythe is fond of Addison, she worries that her son is hurrying into this marriage and will be hurt in the end if and when Addison remembers who she is and what life she left behind. The choice here was easy. Michelle Pfeiffer is Blythe.

Darcy should have been the one about to marry Gabriel. At least that’s what both of their families, friends for years, hoped. Darcy, a violinist, is tall and lithe, blond and ethereal looking with an easy grace. She remains kind to both Gabriel and Addison, despite the pain she felt when Gabriel ended his relationship with her. Elizabeth Debicki is our choice to play Darcy. Debicki, blond, beautiful and 6’3”, is an award-winning actress of both the stage and screen, and she will portray Diana in the next season of The Crown.

Ed, a long-haul trucker, picked up injured hitchhiker Addison on a New Jersey highway two years ago. Ed took her home with him to Philadelphia where his wife Gigi, a nurse, saw to her medical needs. In his fifties, over six feet tall, and with a deep voice and a commanding air of protectiveness about him, Addison feels safe with Ed. If Sam Elliott were just a little younger, he would be our pick for Ed. In his place we’ve put Viggo Mortensen. Mortensen as Tony Lip drove Don Shirley (Ali Mahershala) on tour through hostile towns and groups in The Green Book. Who wouldn’t feel safe with him?

Lastly Gigi, Ed’s wife, is a no-nonsense, take charge woman who has a heart of gold and a mile long nurturing streak. She’s spunky, fun, generous and takes Addison into her home, giving the young woman a sense of belonging and love. We think Reba McEntire could put in all the heart and spirit needed to make red-headed Gigi come to life.

It hasn’t slipped our notice that four of our choices are foreign actors with Hemsworth, Baker and Debicki hailing from Australia and Lily James from England. But we more than make up for it with the strength of American actors Pfeiffer, Mortensen and McEntire. And isn’t it always fascinating to hear how spot on Aussies’ and Brits’ American accents are!

Visit Liv Constantine's website.

Coffee with a Canine: Valerie Constantine & Zorba.

Coffee with a Canine: Lynne Constantine & Greyson.

My Book, The Movie: The Wife Stalker.

--Marshal Zeringue

Heather Levy's "Walking Through Needles"

Heather Levy is a born and bred Oklahoman and graduate of Oklahoma City University's Red Earth MFA program for creative writing. Her work has appeared in numerous journals, including NAILED Magazine, Crab Fat Magazine, Prick of the Spindle, and Dragon Poet Review. She authored a nonfiction series on human sexuality, including “Welcome to the Dungeon: BDSM in the Bible Belt,” for Literati Press.

Here Levy dreamcasts an adaptation of her debut novel, Walking Through Needles:

When I was writing Walking Through Needles, I wasn’t thinking of any particular actors but rather a blending of several faces, so it I had a lot of fun coming up my dream cast. First, a little book background:

Walking Through Needles centers around Sam Mayfair and her stepbrother Eric Walker, who become inseparable as teens until Sam, a budding masochist, suffers abuse by someone close to her and a traumatic event causes them to spin-off on different paths. Fifteen years later, both Sam and Eric learn that Sam’s abuser was murdered and Eric is the prime suspect. Both want to keep horrifying secrets of their past hidden from investigators as Sam tries to exonerate Eric.

Sam Mayfair was by far the hardest character to cast since she’s strong yet vulnerable, closed off, stubborn, and unapologetic about her sexuality. After seeing Daisy Edgar-Jones in Normal People, I knew she was my perfect Sam. The actor also easily transitioned from playing a teen to an adult, which is handy since the timeline switches from 1994 to 2009.

With Eric Walker, I knew right away that Nick Robinson of The Teacher would be excellent. Long before Eric meets Sam, he’s experienced traumas he carries with him into adulthood. Although he’s haunted by these horrible experiences, he’s still open and vulnerable with his heart in a way Sam isn’t at the beginning of the novel.

Isaac Walker, Eric’s volatile yet charming father, was trickier to cast. Although I haven’t watched Sons of Anarchy, I’ve seen enough of Charlie Hunnam from clips to know he could easily pull off Isaac’s complicated character.

Grandma Haylin is one of my favorite characters I’ve ever written because I didn’t really grow up with a close relationship to my own grandparents, so I wrote the one I would’ve wanted. She’s fiercely protective of her family, a straight talker, and will give you extra homemade cookies in your lunchbox. I’ve always loved Jean Smart, and she killed as the lead’s mother in Mare of Easttown, so I knew she was my Grandma Haylin.

For Sam’s mother and Grandma Haylin’s daughter, Jeri Anne, I needed someone who could pull off a woman who’s been hurt before in love and might rush into a relationship with the first man who shows her attention. She also has to be someone who would prefer to look the other way if it meant getting hurt again, and Laura Linney fit the bill.

Vickie Lang is a mess of a person who places her only daughter in horrific situations, but she’s also manipulative and smart when it comes to getting what she wants. I could see Jamie Pressly doing a great job with the role.

After seeing her in Sex Education, I knew Emma Mackey could play Meredith Lang, daughter of Vickie and someone who was once close to Eric when they were younger and thrown into a bad situation together. Like Sam, Meredith has tried to move past her own traumas the best that she can, but the murder investigation pulls her in against her will.

Lastly, I see Bill Pullman of The Sinner as my quick-eyed Detective Eastman, the lead investigator of the murder and the bane of Eric’s existence.

Follow Heather Levy on Facebook and Twitter.

--Marshal Zeringue

Julia Buckley's "Death on the Night of Lost Lizards"

Julia Buckley has loved reading and writing since childhood. She is still a sucker for a great story, and, like any bibliophile, she loves libraries, Scholastic Book Fairs, the smell of ink, pads and pens, typewriters, and books you can't put down. She lives in a Chicago suburb with her husband Jeff; she has two grown sons and a beautiful daughter-in-law.

Here Buckley dreamcasts an adaptation of her latest novel, Death on the Night of Lost Lizards:

Death on the Night of Lost Lizards is the third book in my Hungarian Tea House series; it debuted at the beginning of this month. The series follows the life of Hana Keller, a Hungarian-American woman who helps to run Maggie’s Tea House, named for her mother Magdalena, her colleague along with her grandmother, Juliana. The tea house has become the setting for a great deal of conflict and drama over three books, starting with a murder during a tea party. This dire event brought Detective Erik Wolf into the tea house. Himself the son of an immigrant, Wolf is fascinated from the start by the three tea house ladies and their unusual insight. The series blends Hungarian folklore and culture, art of all kinds, and a touch of the psychic in a traditionally cozy setting.

Casting roles for a movie version of the book would be a daunting task. I see my characters in my head, but only in a rather amorphous way, and to give them detailed features would be like committing to a permanent relationship. However, for the fun of the assignment, I have plucked some faces out of the vast array of talented people who could play my characters (although I’ve traveled in time to hire some of them).

Hana is known for her lovely red-brown hair, an autumnal and striking shade. The absolute perfect casting for her would be a young Mariska Hargitay. A half-Hungarian herself, Mariska in her twenties had the perfect look to be Hana. She has the glamour of Jayne Mansfield (her actual mother) and the traditionally Hungarian look of many of my own relatives. An understory for the role might be the young Joanna Garcia, who came to fame on Reba as a blonde woman, but later appeared in roles with red hair. I always admired her sweetness and sense of humor.

For the role of Detective Erik Wolf, who must blend a sense of integrity, shrewdness, introversion, and a real devotion to both his career and Hana herself, I would cast Joel Kinnaman. His performances in both The Killing and Hanna convinced me of his talent, and as a man from the Nordic region (Sweden, not Norway), he has the proper look for Wolf.

Hana’s best friend Katie, cheerful and ebullient, would be played by Annie Murphy, the delightfully wacky Alexis on Schitt’s Creek. I would darken her hair slightly to match the chocolate tones of Katie’s hair.

Hana’s protective brother Domonkos would look like a young Tony Curtis (another half-Hungarian), and his girlfriend Margie, who is said to look like Grace Kelly, would of course be played by Grace Kelly.

I am drawing a blank for Hana’s mother and grandmother; I think that I would want to draw from a cast of Hungarian actors to get the look right, at least for her mother and grandmother, who are both Hungarian natives.

Maggie’s dad, another quietly devoted man, would be played by a young John Mahoney, whose face always had a gentleness that I admired. He is on the small list of my brushes with fame, as I ran into him once in an Illinois Jewel.

Learn more about the book and author at Julia Buckley's website.

My Book, The Movie: The Big Chili.

My Book, The Movie: A Dark and Twisting Path.

--Marshal Zeringue

D.W. Buffa's "The Privilege"

D.W. Buffa was born in San Francisco and raised in the Bay Area. After graduation from Michigan State University, he studied under Leo Strauss, Joseph Cropsey and Hans J. Morgenthau at the University of Chicago where he earned both an M.A. and a Ph.D. in political science. He received his J.D. degree from Wayne State University in Detroit. Buffa was a criminal defense attorney for 10 years and his Joseph Antonelli novels reflect that experience.

The New York Times called The Defense "an accomplished first novel" which "leaves you wanting to go back to the beginning and read it over again." The Judgment was nominated for the Edgar Award for best novel of the year. The latest Joseph Antonelli novel is The Privilege.

D.W. Buffa lives in Northern California.

Here the author dreamcasts an adaptation of The Privilege:

When my first novel, The Defense, was published in l997, the first question almost everyone who knew me asked was, “Is it going to be made into a movie?” The second question, almost always, was, “Who do you think should play the lead?”

I was surprised. I should not have been. What we see on film has become, for many of us, the measure, not just of a novel’s success, but of its importance. It is, for that reason, often assumed that the author must have had a particular actor or actress in mind when he created at least some of the characters who fill the pages of his work. And, let me confess, when I first started writing I would sometimes wonder who might be able to show on the screen what I was trying to describe with my pen. I knew that Leopold Rifkin, the judge in The Defense, could have been played perfectly by Ben Kingsley. I could see him doing it. Horace Woolner, the district attorney, could only have been played by James Earl Jones. The defense lawyer, the same Joseph Antonelli who is the defense lawyer in The Privilege, - well, he was always a problem. John Garfield could have done it, but Garfield had been dead for nearly half a century.

Now, more than twenty years later, trying to cast The Privilege, I wish that instead of 2021, it was 1950. It would have been easy then. Antonelli, the lawyer who never loses, would be played by Glenn Ford, and Tangerine, the woman he lives with, a woman so good looking that even other, beautiful, women are not jealous, by Ava Gardner. Charles Laughton would have been unforgettable as the professor of philosophy who raises questions no one had heard in a courtroom before, and only Orson Welles could have played the enigmatic James Michael Redfield. Now, today, the choices are not as easy, but if choices have to be made, George Clooney would play Antonelli and Sean Penn would play Redfield.

My first choice to direct The Privilege would be Francis Ford Coppola. He has been known to do interesting things with stories about Sicilians, and what better Sicilian to portray than Joseph Antonelli who, like every good Sicilian, has his own understanding of what justice means. A second choice would be a director whose name I do not know, the director of the Italian motion picture, Open Doors, the best courtroom drama ever put on film.

Visit D.W. Buffa's website.

Q&A with D.W. Buffa.

--Marshal Zeringue