Crime Writers On...True Crime Review

In 1991, four teenage girls were found murdered inside a frozen yogurt store in Austin, Texas. The building had been set on fire, and the crime scene was compromised by the blaze. With no clear motive and little physical evidence, investigators struggled to make sense of what had happened. Years later, after coercive police interviews, a group of men pointed fingers at each other about the crime. Though their stories didn’t complet...

Leaving their troubled past in New England behind, Sophie O’Neil’s family moves to Texas, where she’s invited into a friend circle of rich wives. The bougie ladies enjoy couture fashion, boozy brunches, and shooting rifles in the woods. Sophie’s connection to group leader Margo Banks grows intense, stirring something more than friendship. As Margo’s oil magnate husband plans to run for governor, the sheriff is dealing with two viol...

A journalist investigates an unsolved murder along Canada's infamous Highway of Tears…and sheds light on an overlooked epidemic of violence against Indigenous women. We’re going back to our December 2, 2016 review of the CBC’s groundbreaking podcast “Missing and Murdered” with host Connie Walker.

OUR SPOILER-FREE REVIEWS OF "MISSING AND MURDERED" BEGIN IN THE FINAL FOUR MINUTES OF THE EPISODE.

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Fire investigator Dave Gudsen is assigned a new partner to help capture two arsonists. One has been setting fires with milk jugs filled with gasoline and grease. The other has been taunting officials with a delayed-ignition device that’s burning grocery stores. Dave draws on his experience to write a novel about a heroic arson investigator with unusual insight into his suspect’s mind. To Detective Michelle Calderone, the book reads...

In the 1990s, Teen Mania Ministries aimed to compete with pop culture influences and reach Christian youth with rock concert-like worship events and international mission trips. The program became a pipeline for the Honor Academy, a religious education facility built on a curriculum of fundamentalist beliefs and unquestioning obedience. Founder Ron Luce aligned his group with conservative political organizations looking to create t...

He was a colorful showman who ran a sketchy zoo filled with big cats. She was the animal activist dogged by murder rumors who wanted to shut him down. That’s when Joe tried to have Carole killed. We’ll revisit our March 30, 2020 review of the series that changed pandemic television habits: Netflix’s “Tiger King.”

OUR SPOILER-FREE REVIEWS OF "TIGER KING" BEGIN IN THE FINAL SIX MINUTES OF THE EPISODE.

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In 1995, morning TV anchor Jodi Huisentruit was abducted from the parking lot of her Mason City, Iowa apartment. Among those the police questioned was her friend John Vansice who said she’d been at his home watching a videotape of the surprise party he recently threw for her. After a TV show in 2022 highlighted the mystery, Jodi’s best friend said the sketch of a suspect looked like her ex-husband, who’d also been fixated on Jodi. ...

A Mississippi man sits on death row for decades after being tried six times for a quadruple murder. But an investigative team uncovers evidence he didn’t do it. We’ll go back to our May 11, 2018 review of probably the best true crime podcast of all time: season two of “In the Dark.”

OUR SPOILER-FREE REVIEWS OF "IN THE DARK" BEGIN IN THE FINAL FIVE MINUTES OF THE EPISODE.

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Devon DeWitt ventures to a seaside estate to collect her estranged sister, now the indispensable personal assistant to an idiosyncratic socialite. She finds Simone has changed her image, and her presence on the island threatens to upend the new persona Simone has crafted. Devon disrupts plans for Kiki Kell’s annual summer gala, pleading with Simone to return home and care for their ill father. But she finds Kiki’s influence on her ...

A punk rocker is shot in 1982, then his body disappears. A journalist explores whether their mother’s claims of a cover-up are true. We’ll go back to our April 15, 2019 review of the classic podcast series “The Ballad of Billy Balls.”

OUR SPOILER-FREE REVIEWS OF "THE BALLAD OF BILLY BALLS" BEGIN IN THE FINAL SIX MINUTES OF THE EPISODE.

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When teenage Abbi finds herself pregnant, her parents pressure her to go to a maternity home run by Liberty University. There, she’s promised free medical care, college tuition, and counseling on whether to keep her baby or give it up for adoption to a Christian family. But once at the facility, Abbi feels controlled and cut off from her boyfriend - and starts reconsidering her adoption plans. She finds that in the Liberty Godparen...

The 1991 trans culture documentary “Paris is Burning” featured Venus Xtravaganza, a vogue performer who was murdered before the film premiered. Decades later, the Pellagatti family embark on a journey to solve her death while learning more about the way she lived her life.  Her brothers take up the unfinished business of legally changing Venus’s name and closing her cold case. But are they ready to hear that their loving acceptance...

Who’s ready for a “number two”? America’s favorite true crime teenagers return to investigate who is the Turd Burglar? We’ll go back to October 7, 2018 for a classic rewind to our review of season two to the Peabody Award-winning comedy series “American Vandal.”

OUR SPOILER-FREE REVIEWS OF "AMERICAN VANDAL" SEASON TWO BEGIN IN THE FINAL FIVE MINUTES OF THE EPISODE.

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Max travels from the Philippines to Thailand to take a high-paying job at a casino. But when he arrives, he’s instead taken to a camp in the jungles of Myanmar and put to work in a call center running phone scams across the globe. His sister Charlie learns the only way to get him home is also to work for the syndicate.  In order to meet Max’s quota, his brother joins the labor camp while Charlie tricks new recruits into the scam fa...

In 1989, Canadian serial killer Clifford Olson initiated contact with two journalists, sparking a series of recorded phone calls. Peter Worthington and Arlene Bynon aimed to unravel the psychology of a man who not only murdered eleven children but also persuaded the government to pay him $100,000 in exchange for the locations of their bodies. Suspecting there may be more unidentified victims in the US and Canada, the reporters spen...

In the 80s and 90s, athletes on the Ohio State wrestling team said Doctor Richard Strauss fondled them during physical exams and insinuated himself into their showers. His behavior seemed common knowledge among players and coaches, and the few complaints that were made were brushed aside by the school. Decades later, former athletes from different sports came forward with allegations of Strauss’s abuse. University officials claimed...