Crime Writers On...True Crime Review
Crime-Justice
The original true crime review podcast that looks at other podcasts, TV, and pop culture. True crime authors and real-life couple Rebecca Lavoie and Kevin Flynn hold a pop-culture round table with noir novelist Toby Ball and journalist-turned-investigator Lara Bricker. The panel chats about other podcasts (including 'Serial') as well as journalism, storytelling, TV shows and films, and the special segment, 'Crime of the Week.'Show website: crimewriterson.com. Follow the show on Twitter @crimewriterson. Find us on Facebook facebook.com/crimewritersonpodcast. Email the show at crimewriterson@gmail.com.Artwork by Benjamin Frisch
Location:
United States
Description:
The original true crime review podcast that looks at other podcasts, TV, and pop culture. True crime authors and real-life couple Rebecca Lavoie and Kevin Flynn hold a pop-culture round table with noir novelist Toby Ball and journalist-turned-investigator Lara Bricker. The panel chats about other podcasts (including 'Serial') as well as journalism, storytelling, TV shows and films, and the special segment, 'Crime of the Week.'Show website: crimewriterson.com. Follow the show on Twitter @crimewriterson. Find us on Facebook facebook.com/crimewritersonpodcast. Email the show at crimewriterson@gmail.com.Artwork by Benjamin Frisch
Language:
English
Episodes
Truth and Lies: The Informant
2/6/2023
Kansas resident Dan Day discovers his new friends belong to a militia group fixated on the Somali refugees in their community. That’s when he’s approached by the FBI, asking him to join the right-wing group and report on whether they’re planning violence. When the informant learns the extremists are drawing up an attack on Muslims, the investigation takes on a new urgency. Dan finds himself in the middle of a plot in which the lives of many hang in the balance…including his own.
ABC Audio’s...
Duration:00:48:50
Gunther's Millions
2/2/2023
When a German countess died in 1992, she left her fortune to the only family she had: her dog Gunther. The world’s richest pooch enjoyed private jets, personal chefs, and a dedicated staff led by Gunther’s caretaker, Maurizio Mian.
The will also decreed that Gunther would form a pop band. The dog bought Madonna’s mansion where the group’s attractive members were directed to have sex with one another, while researchers studied their levels of happiness. But few questions were asked about the...
Duration:00:47:52
Chameleon: Dr. Dante
1/30/2023
In the 1960s, Ronald Pellar performed as nightclub hypnotist “Dr. Dante.” He thrilled crowds, mixed with celebrities, and even married a movie star. But Dante was a prolific con man, accused of stealing and attempting to have a rival hypnotist murdered.
After prison, Dante expanded his stage act to include seminars, self-help tapes, tattooed makeup, and a collegiate diploma-mill. He made millions of dollars on false claims and was comfortable telling reporters all about them. When it seemed...
Duration:00:44:19
The Hatchet Wielding Hitchhiker
1/26/2023
A racially-motivated attack on pedestrians was thwarted by the driver’s passenger: a man he picked up hitchhiking. He went simply by “Kai,” and the colorful way he described the incident became a viral sensation. Kai’s quirky personality and unlikely story made him Internet-famous. He declined TV offers in favor of going back off the grid. But months later, the carefree drifter the world thought was so charming when he struck a criminal with a hatchet would be implicated in a murder.
The...
Duration:00:45:48
Crooked City: The Emerald Triangle
1/23/2023
When journalist Sam Anderson learned a high school friend was wanted for the murder of a Northern California pot farmer, he set off to prove his friend’s innocence. He discovered the infamous Emerald Triangle was not the hippie Shangri-la it was made out to be. Anderson tries to reconcile the friend of his youth with the man implicated in a fatal ripoff. He seeks answers as to what happened in the hills that drove Zach Wuester to violence.
In “Crooked City: The Emerald Triangle,” Anderson...
Duration:00:46:38
Alabama Astronaut
1/19/2023
Ex-preacher and musician Abe Partridge went on a journey to discover songs never recorded, but passed down for generations in Appalachia. He discovered the largest repository of undocumented music were in Pentecostal churches where preachers employed the controversial practice of handling snakes. But once getting over the customs of their unconventional worship, Partridge developed a true appreciation for the people, their beliefs, and their music. He’d eventually convince a snake-handling...
Duration:00:52:07
Unveiled: Surviving La Luz del Mundo
1/16/2023
As head of La Luz del Mundo, third generation church leader Naasón Joaquín García promised eternal salvation. All the while, he used his position as Apostle to groom children and young women for sexual abuse for years. When García’s victims in the US and Mexico meet on Reddit and compare stories, they ban together to expose the church’s secret. Once seeming untouchable, they convince authorities to go after García and hold him accountable.
The HBO Original “Unveiled: Surviving La Luz del...
Duration:00:46:01
Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery
1/12/2023
A group of uber-successful professionals are invited on a weekend trip to their billionaire friend’s island to play a game: solve his own murder. But one stranger is also tagging along: the famed detective Benoit Blanc, who fears a more sinister game is afoot.
The lights go out. A body is sprawled on the floor. Who’s the killer? The politician? The fashion model? The scientist? The video gamer? Or the former business partner the host swindled?
Daniel Craig leads an all-star cast in “Glass...
Duration:00:46:52
Undetermined
1/9/2023
In August 2019, her friend reported Jessica Easterly Durning missing. When family members got little response from New Orleans police, they conducted their own search and found Jessica’s body in a field a short distance from her home. Several forensic factors made it impossible for authorities to definitively say whether Jessica’s death was homicide, accidental or some other manner. Meanwhile suspicion has fallen on her husband Justin whose story about her last night at home kept...
Duration:00:50:23
The Battle for Justina Pelletier
1/5/2023
Justina Pelletier was a 14-year-old girl diagnosed with a rare genetic disorder that required numerous surgeries and caused severe pain. When she was taken to Boston Children’s Hospital, doctors suspected Justina’s issues were psychological and not physical - and they suspected her parents were committing medical child abuse.
Over the next 16 months, the Pelletiers used the media and threats of litigation to apply pressure on the hospital and the state to discharge their daughter. But...
Duration:00:44:47
Verified: Full Disclosure
1/2/2023
JeAnna Anderson says Officer Anthony Armour sexually assaulted her during a traffic stop. Frances Salazar went to prison over Armour’s false testimony. And fellow officer Abby Dennison says Armour drugged and raped her.
At the time, Armour was on something called the Brady List, a catalog kept by Arizona prosecutors of cops who shouldn’t be called to the stand - cops whose history of lying or misconduct could impeach their testimony. And that evidence was never disclosed to the women.
In...
Duration:00:52:40
The Best TV of 2022
12/29/2022
Scheming families, conniving con men, and dangerous killers. We saw a lot of great series and documentaries on the small screen this year. We’ll each give our top ten list for the Best TV of 2022.
Lara
Toby
Kevin
Rebecca
Duration:00:53:12
Best Podcasts of 2022
12/26/2022
Wrongful convictions, political investigations, and colorful characters were BIG this year. We’ll each give our lists for the Top Ten Podcasts of 2022.
Lara
Toby
Kevin
Rebecca
Duration:00:54:19
Cover Story: Seed Money
12/22/2022
Ex-spy Matt Marshall makes a stunning accusation: billionaire Mike Goguen has been trafficking women to his Montana safehouse, paying them for sex, and bribing law enforcement to get away with it. Matt said he knew this because he’d been Mike’s right-hand man for years. The rich philanthropist had a secret life of paying millions of dollars to strippers and harboring his own fantasies of saving the world. Was the billionaire with a superhero complex actually a super villain? And could the...
Duration:00:43:33
Welcome to Chippendales
12/19/2022
Steve Banerjee kept failing in his bid to create an upscale club in Los Angeles. His luck changed when he turned the strip club model on its head, creating the all-male dance review for women known as Chippendales. His new choreographer Nick De Noia elevated Chippendales with polished showmanship. But as the dance troupe attracted national attention, Nick vied for credit and control of the operation. Filled with resentment and jealousy, Steve set in motion a plan to get rid of his...
Duration:00:41:54
Infamous: Boy Gone Wild
12/15/2022
Joe Francis made a fortune on a simple concept: get drunken women to flash the camera for his direct-to-DVD series “Girls Gone Wild.” When the filming stopped the debauchery continued, as Francis allegedly coerced sex from the women…some of whom were underaged. Local authorities wanted to protect the victims and put a stop to the filming. Francis remained defiant, until the night an armed man broke into his Bel-Air home to give him a taste of his own medicine.
In the five-part podcast...
Duration:00:38:43
The White Lotus Season 2
12/12/2022
A new set of wealthy guests have checked into The White Lotus in Sicily, each with their own kind of baggage. They include Dominic Di Grasso, with his father Bert and son Albie, who’ve come to seek their Italian relatives. Cameron & Daphne and Ethan & Harper are on a couples vacation. But recently having come into money, Harper is suspicious of her husband’s old college roommate. And returning is quirky heiress Tanya McQuoid, accompanied by her husband and her new assistant he’s not supposed...
Duration:00:48:37
The Vow, Part Two
12/8/2022
Facing federal charges that included establishing a sex cult and branding his female followers, NXIVM leader Keith Raniere prepares for trial. Meanwhile his second-in-command, Nancy Salzman, breaks her silence to say she didn’t know the darker things happening within the organization. Prosecutors lay out a strong case of racketeering and trafficking against Raniere. His attorney and his remaining followers proclaim Raniere’s innocence, saying life in NXIVM is not the cult portrayed in the...
Duration:00:45:18
Run, Hide, Repeat
12/5/2022
After a childhood of secrecy and sudden relocations, reporter Pauline Dakin’s mother finally revealed the reasons behind their family’s chaotic upbringing. Unbeknownst to the children, they’d been living in hiding from their father, a powerful figure in organized crime. The Dakins had been protected for years by Stan, a family friend and federal agent posing as a preacher. Now an adult, Pauline is made aware of the ever-present dangers posed by the gangsters. But as the situation grew...
Duration:00:44:48
Crime Scene: The Texas Killing Fields
12/1/2022
Between 1986 and 1991, the remains of four missing women were discovered in the same field in League City, Texas. Authorities couldn’t rule out the deaths were connected to a string of 30 murders outside of Houston since the 70s. Then another string of disappearances began in the mid-90s. Were all of these crimes linked in some way? And what is their connection to that secluded plot of land on Calder Road?
Season three of “Crime Scene: The Texas Killing Fields” looks at the long history of...
Duration:00:48:16