In the Works: ABC Joins James Patterson's Club

Per Variety, ABC has tapped Brett Ratner to direct and produce a pilot based on the Women's Murder Club featured in several James Patterson thrillers, while The X-Files' Frank Spotnitz is developing for the network Murder Incorporated, a drama about a man from a wealthy family whose fortune has a dubious source.... The CW is eyeing Grey's Anatomy exec producer Mark Gordon to bring life to Reaper, a chiller in which a "bounty hunter" for Satan tracks escaped souls.... Lifetime is pondering a pilot order for Conspiracy, a legal thriller about a D.C. lawyer whose life is put in danger when she realizes she won a high-profile case for a pharmaceutical company based on evidence falsified by a Massive Evil Conspiracy. Um, isn't it a bit soon (if ill-advised) to rip off Runaway?