Book About LAPD Detective 'Jigsaw John' Heads for TV Development
A UK independent production company is developing a television series based on a true-crime book about one of the Los Angeles Police Department's best-known detectives. Golden Possum Productions has optioned Jigsaw & Jane: Thirteen Years of Murder and Mayhem with Badge Number One, written by Jane Howatt, according to Deadline, which broke the story as an exclusive.
An option is a deal where a company pays for the right to adapt a book into a film or TV show for a set period. It does not mean the show will be made. Golden Possum is run by UK producer Naomi Harvey. The project is now in development, which means work on the show has started, but further creative names, such as writers, directors or actors, are yet to be announced.
The book centres on John St. John, known to the public as "Jigsaw John." He served 50 years with the LAPD and carried Detective Badge No. 1. Over his career he led major cases, including the Freeway Killer investigation and the Black Dahlia case. The Black Dahlia, the 1947 murder of Elizabeth Short, is one of the most famous unsolved crimes in American history.
The story of the book starts with a reader. In 1982, Jane Howatt was a 35-year-old suburban mother and aspiring writer. She read about St. John receiving the LAPD's Distinguished Service Medal. She had no background in policing or journalism. Even so, she asked him if she could write a book about his work.
He said yes, and the two spent the next 13 years working on it together. Howatt says on her official website that she had access to the LAPD's elite Robbery-Homicide Division while she researched the book. That unit handles some of the department's most serious killings.
Television has already told this detective's story once. NBC's Jigsaw John was a crime drama based on St. John's life and career, starring Jack Warden. It aired about 50 years before this new project was announced.
The new series will be the second screen take on the same man, this time built on a book written with his cooperation and the perspective of the woman who asked to write it. How the show handles that angle, and when it might reach viewers, has not been announced.
For readers new to the business, the path from a book deal to a finished show is a long one. Many options never reach a screen. Golden Possum's project has so far been confirmed only as far as the option and development stage.
