‘Murder at the Movies’

Turner Classic Movies host Alicia Malone presents her debut novel, “Murder at the Movies.” Besides its heroine’s likeness to Miss Marple, the book will appeal to classic movie fans through its many allusions, direct and subtle.

Securely snug in her Midcoastal Maine home during last year’s late-fall chill, Alicia Malone settled in for another approaching snowy New England winter. This time, however, she found not only warmth beside the glow of the crackling wood fire but also inspiration – as she planned a murder. In the following weeks, the Australian transplant would juggle a laptop, sheets of printout drafts, and steaming cups of tea while her pair of golden retrievers looked on as she carefully wove together clues, motives, and suspects to create her debut mystery novel, “Murder at the Movies,” published by Running Press for an October 2026 release.

As the author of several well-received film books, the popular Turner Classic Movies host will surprise and no doubt delight viewers with her venture away from non-fiction writing. “I had always secretly wanted to try my hand at fiction,” said Malone from her Maine home. “I’ve taken a lot of fiction writing courses and written some short stories for myself but never published them.”

A chance conversation with a Running Press editor who had published numerous film-related books for TCM surprised them both. Alicia expressed an interest in exploring a fiction novel, while the astonished editor revealed that her company was actually in the market for a series of cozy mysteries, the family-friendly crime fiction subgenre that frequently features amateur sleuths fixated on solving murders often set in small communities. As it happened, after moving to Los Angeles from Australia in 2010 and later becoming a regular TCM host, Alicia relocated to small-town Maine a decade later during the pandemic. Blending into the welcoming community, she was invited to sit on the board of the historic Strand Theatre in nearby Rockland.

And the scene was set.

The mystery unfolds on fictitious Pine Island off the Maine coast where Audrey Sullivan relocates after inheriting her grandmother’s bankrupt movie theater. Then, one evening during a film screening, murder most foul is committed. In true Miss Marple fashion, Audrey sets about to solve the crime while at the same time attempting to save the theater from closing.

“I was very much inspired by my move from Los Angeles to Maine,” Alicia notes. “TCM usually only publishes non-fiction film books, but they ended up liking the idea and were very supportive.”

The network’s encouragement was no doubt, in part, due to the book’s strong connection to an old movie theater and the author’s inclusion of numerous classic film references throughout the story. Some were subtle, like naming a local bookstore “The Shop Around the Corner,” a nod to the Jimmy Stewart and Margaret Sullavan 1940 Christmas comedy-drama.

Others were more overt, especially when introducing new characters during plot development such as the theater’s projectionist described as looking like Walter Houston in “The Treasure of Sierra Madre.” To any classic film fan, that’s a mental picture worth a thousand words. “I wanted to describe some of the characters in a shorthand way,” she explained. “And that’s also how my brain works. I’ll often see someone and think about what classic film star they look like.”

The book’s plot will resonate with fans of murder mysteries from the 1940s and beyond: following introduction of the lead character and the crime, sinister motives for the usual suspects become clear to the inquisitive armchair detective who butts heads with the local police, and ultimately leads to the concluding reveal.

While cable and traditional TV networks continue to face viewership challenges from streaming services, TCM still reaches millions of households, giving the familiar host a potentially huge audience that any first-time author would kill for. Follow-up novels by the author are also planned for the publisher’s “Movie Palace Mystery” series (see www.aliciamalone.com).

“I feel very lucky that TCM has such dedicated viewers who are supportive of all the TCM hosts and their projects,” said Alicia. “I wrote my book with them in mind. Even if you don’t watch the channel but like mysteries or film references, you can still enjoy this book.”

Nick Thomas teaches at Auburn University at Montgomery, Ala., and has written features, columns, and interviews for numerous magazines and newspapers, including many in the Boomer nostalgia and humor departments. See www.getnickt.org