True Crime Fiction Menu: Buzzy Podcasts Edition
What I've been consuming lately in the true crime and crime fiction universes
Unbelievably we have reached summer’s midpoint and then some! As my return to the classroom looms, I’ve been distracting myself with some excellent listening and reading material.
Give it a listen!
The big news in the true crime podcast ‘verse is the return of the award winning, literally life saving investigative series In the Dark. Season 3 is hosted by The New Yorker,1 and it looks at the prosecution of a notorious war crime that failed to hold anyone accountable. When Madeleine Baran talks, we listen!
Now the only way I can argue that Hysterical from legendary writer and producer Dan Taberski2 has anything to do with true crime is that one of his interview subjects compares the media attention that centered on LeRoy, New York, after a mysterious outbreak of unexplainable symptoms in teenage girls there to the town being “the new Dateline and everyone was trying to solve the murder.” But this particular instance of (I guess spoiler if you really want to go in totally fresh) conversion disorder happens to be the inspiration for an excellent crime novel, The Fever from Megan Abbott.3 Both Abbott and Taberski reference another very famous outbreak that some believe should be retroactively diagnosed as mass psychogenic illness: the Salem Witch Trials of 1692. And if you’re interested in that, The Witches: Suspicion, Betrayal, and Hysteria in 1692 Salem by Stacy Schiff is informative and so, so readable.
Give it a read!
This essay from a son mourning his mother by and through learning about the assault the nearly killed her before he was born is beautifully written. For fans of Florida Man, here’s a book that involves a corpse being eaten by alligators. And this piece thoughtfully parses the narratives that circulate when a community is trying to make sense of an unthinkable crime. If you want some writing that looks at the consequences of true crime “fandom” from a personal rather than a snarky perspective, Arwa Mahdawi shares her fraught experience amateur detecting here.
Give it a stream! (maybe?)
I know it’s not from a lack of options, but I haven’t watched too much streaming true crime in the past few months. I have enjoyed the two episodes I’ve seen of this Ashley Madison doc, and I was very surprised when I turned on a random episode of Worst Roommate Ever expecting humorous anecdotes about stolen food or unsanitary bathroom practices and instead got a story about straight-up murder.
Give them a ‘Stack!
I don’t know about you, but I could do with a little more precedent in my times here in the American political landscape! It reminds me of the scene from Thank You For Smoking where Aaron Eckhart counters his son’s essay prompt on “Why is American government the best government in the world” with “we do have a very entertaining government.” Anyway, there are several newsletters on this fine platform that have been helping me make sense of the chaos.
Since her substack has over a million subscribers I’m under no illusion that I’m breaking the story that Heather Cox Richardson’s Letters from an American is brilliant! And how does she turn out this content almost every day? Astounding!
For my Gen X babies who remember the MTV comedy show The State, Michael Ian Black has a funny (expected) and often politically astute newsletter that I always enjoy. And sometimes he talks about UFOs!
Parker Molloy offers excellent media criticism at The Present Age.
Lastly, I’m an unapologetic Friend of the Pod, so I always look forward to Dan Pfeiffer’s wonky Message Box. Fair warning: much of it is often paywalled, but I even enjoy the first paragraphs before my cheapness prevents me from reading more. Here’s his latest on how JD Vance is (not) working out.
I would love a romcom where a marketing person from The New York Times promoting Serial and one from The New Yorker promoting In the Dark have a meet cute at Podfest Expo and have to hide their burgeoning attraction while simultaneously competing against each other to argue their property is the *most* prestige in an otherwise distasteful slough of salacious and superficial content. Anyone care to greenlight?
I’ve only listened to Missing Richard Simmons, but I’ve heard excellent things about Running from Cops and The Line.
Did you know I’m writing a book about Megan Abbott? So most things remind me of her work right now, but she describes in an interview that watching one of the impacted girls on the Today show gave her the idea for the book.