Wayward Pines (2015) is an American mystery science fiction television series based on the Wayward Pines novels by Blake Crouch.

… the pilot was directed by M. Night Shyamalan, ….

TV show is not bad. 67% on Rotten Tomatoes.

I’d say the most convincing character is Toby Jones as David Pilcher.

The plot of Crouch’s first novel in the trilogy, Pines (2012), is covered over the first five episodes of the TV series. The second and third novels, Wayward (2013) and The Last Town (2014), make up the remaining five episodes.

I’d say the writers did quite a good job translating the longer, more convoluted trilogy into 10 hour long episodes that make more sense. Changes were for the good.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

Season 2 was not based on the books. Got bad reviews. And cancelled.

I won’t watch season 2.

Hugh Laurie adapted the Agatha Christie novel for BritBox in 2022.

Skillfully done. Hilarious dialogue.

100% on Rotten Tomatoes.

Lucy Boynton is superb as Frankie Derwent.

Trivia ➙ she dated her Bohemian Rhapsody co-star Rami Malek from 2017 to 2023.

The book is a non-Marple, non-Poirot Christie, which gives the writer adapting it some freedom.

The mystery hinges on the cryptic question of the title – why didn’t they ask Evans? – pronounced by a dying man, after a fall from the cliffs on a north Wales golf course.

Bobby and his friend Lady Frances Derwent have adventures as they solve the mystery of the man’s last words.

The three-part series became available on BritBox on April 2022.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

One of those rare cases when the TV adaptation is better than the book. A very important TV show. Everyone should see it.

Brie Larson is fantastic as chemist Elizabeth Zott in the 2023 miniseries.

After being fired from her job as a lab tech, chemist Elizabeth Zott uses her new job hosting a 1950s TV cooking show titled Supper at Six to educate housewives on scientific topics.

Alice Halsey as daughter Madeline “Mad” Zott is perfect.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

I liked the show so much I downloaded Lessons in Chemistry, the novel by Bonnie Garmus  (2022).

Stephanie Merritt of The Guardian praised the author’s ability in creating a “richly comic novel around a character who is entirely deadpan” …

Elisabeth Egan called the book “irresistible, satisfying and full of fuel” and claimed that “feminism is the catalyst” … 

Michael Byers from Cascadia Daily News wrote that the “heroine is brave, original and completely unafraid” …

The debut novel was a hit when published 2022.

A brilliant idea, I feel. In an era when ReTrumplicans want to go back to the 1950s — this book reveals how unfairly women were treated in the not-so-distant past.

When they say MAGA — the Great Again was this era of American history when women and minorities were treated so badly. For me, MAGA = racist. MAGA = sexist.

A highlight of the book is the dog Six-Thirty. And that’s well done in the show, as well.

All of the changes made from book to screen were for the better, I feel.

Aja Naomi King as Harriet Sloane is a much more interesting friend / neighbour on TV than in the novel.

Another great read from one of the best in the business.

The 38th book by Michael Connelly is Resurrection Walk (2023). Mostly a court room procedural.

Retired LAPD Detective Hieronymus “Harry” Bosch has cancer.

To get into an experimental drug research treatment program, he’s hired by half brother, criminal defense attorney Mickey Haller. The Lincoln Lawyer.

It’s an interesting premise to put the two together as Mickey works to get accused criminals free. Bosch has had a career putting the accused in jail.

The unlikely duo try to prove the innocence of a woman convicted of killing her ex-husband — a cop.

“a stunning combination of police and legal procedural.” —– Booklist ⭐️ Starred Review

Of course both Bosch and the Lincoln Lawyer currently have TV series.

Personally, I still picture Haller as Matthew McConaughey, who played him in the feature film.

But it’s Manuel Garcia-Rulfo on TV. Of course Bosch is Titus Welliver on TV.

Not bad. Lightweight but no-nonsense …

Another charming British novel with an elderly heroine. 

The Marlow Murder Club (2021) focuses on a group of older women who form a club to investigate a series of killings in Marlow.

It was published in January 2021 to overwhelmingly positive reviews. … The second book in the series, Death Comes to Marlow, was nominated for an Edgar Allan Poe award for Best Cosy Crime novel published in the USA in 2022.

PBS Masterpiece and UKTV greenlit an adaptation of The Marlow Murder Club written by Thorogood and starring Samantha Bond in June 2023.