Abducted in Plain Sight....is bananas

Abducted in Plain Sight....is bananas

It's a breakfast-hour recording for the panel after a basement flooding emergency threw off the schedule (not to fear...Studio C is undamaged). Also, the dog's weird behavior has a medical explanation.

The Crime Writers do a quick take on the new installment of "Done Disappeared." After a shaky sophomore season, the podcast parody seems to be back to peak form.

Then the team gives their thoughts (and they have a lot of them) about the new doc from Netflix, "Abducted in Plain Sight." The story of a girl kidnapped by her neighbor - twice - is filled with a ton of WTF moments, but does that alone make for a good documentary?

FOR OUR SPOILER-FREE REVIEW OF "ABDUCTED IN PLAIN SIGHT" GO TO 54:59

In crime of the week: $10,000,000 finders keepers.

Monster: The Zodiac Killer - Is it a podcast worth listening to?

The crime writers discuss the finer points of hate mail. Toby gives a shout out to a little-known but important local podcast called 2nd Read, Rebecca and Kevin plug their appearance on Netflix's "You Can't Make This Up" podcast, and Lara has wine come out her nose.

The panel reviews Monster, which explores the sinister ciphers and random slayings of the Zodiac Killer that gripped California in 1969. Documentary or exposé, is it possible they’ll put forth a theory which has yet to be made after a half-century of investigation?

TO HEAR THE SPOILER-FREE REVIEW OF "MONSTER," SKIP TO 54:54.

Then in crime of the week: purloined purple penguin.

Our Broken Harts breakdown

Two true crime updates this week. The "hot sheriff" from Murder Mountain issues a rebuttal of-sorts to the Netflix doc. Meantime, based on a recent court decision favorable to his case, Adnan Syed's legal team has submitted a supplemental filing in his appeal. Then there's special cameo from this month's guest on Toby Ball's Deep Dive podcast.

Next the crime writers talk about the hit podcast "Broken Harts." This collaboration between HowStuffWorks and Glamour magazine looks at the case of a family killed when its van was intentional driven over an ocean cliff. The background of the Harts is compelling, but does the pod do a good job presenting any of these issues?

FOR OUR SPOILER-FREE REVIEW OF "BROKEN HARTS," GO TO 57:09.

In crime of the week: sub launching.

Murder Mountain and Bandersnatch and Chill

Murder Mountain and Bandersnatch and Chill

It’s 2019 and the Crime Writers resolve to bring it in the new year.

The panel clicks its way through "Bandersnatch," Netflix’s hot interactive TV show. Toby thinks it meshes gimmick with good story, Kevin likes its meta themes, and Lara is still trying to figure out her Roku. Meanwhile, Rebecca finally finishes her summer reading.

The Crime Writers catch the 4:20 to “Murder Mountain,” the new Netflix doc about the outlaw California region where black market marijuana is cultivated. Does the six-part series effectively weave the story of an unsolved(?) murder with its look at the past and future of the region now that legalization has uprooted the industry?

TO HEAR THE SPOILER-FREE REVIEW OF "MURDER MOUNTAIN" GO TO 59:22

Then in Crime of the Week: And to all a good fight.

The Innocent Man on Netflix, a Making a Murderer lawsuit, and a Monster podcast trailer

The Innocent Man on Netflix, a Making a Murderer lawsuit, and a Monster podcast trailer

Is it an early Christmas present, or a justified lawsuit? We weigh in on the news that one of the maybe-corrupt law enforcement officers featured in Making A Murderer has filed suit against Netflix and the filmmakers. Plus, one of the Bundy clan is walking away from the movement we heard about in the excellent podcast Bundyville. Why? The answer might surprise you.

And yes, a much-maligned podcast gets a follow up as we break down what we heard in the new trailer for Monster: The Zodiac Killer.

Then, in our main event review, we break down and review the latest entry from Netflix in the true crime documentary genre. It’s called The Innocent Man, and it’s based on a book from an author better known for campy courtroom novels. Do we love it? Find out!

TO HEAR OUR SPOILER-FREE REVIEW OF THE INNOCENT MAN, FAST-FORWARD TO 1:01:33.

A big break, a Cold review and the Best of 2018

A big break, a Cold review and the Best of 2018

OH SNAP! Rebecca describes her misadventure in the woods. We make an announcement about PodX. In true crime update, Curtis Flowers's defense hopes to turn the tables on Doug Evans.

We review Cold, the new podcast from KSL examining the Susan Powell case. A thorough examination of the lives of the Powells through recovered computer files, audio diaries, videotape, and dramatic readings, we ask how much is too much?

TO HEAR OUR SPOILER-FREE REVIEW OF COLD, FAST-FORWARD TO 32:58.

We look back 2018 with our recommendations of the best things to watch, read, and listen to. What's everyone's pick for the best podcast of the year?

Rebecca's picks:

• The Word is Murder by Anthony Horowitz

• Tom Bouman’s Dry Bones In The Valley

• TV series Scott and Bailey

• The CB Strike series by Robert Galbraith AKA the unknown author JK rowling

• The Faroe Island series by Chris Ould

• This crazy ass season of Law and Order SVU

• The Logan McRae series by Stuart McBride

• Getting Curious podcast by Jonathan Van Ness

• The Will Trent series by Karin Slaughter

Kevin's picks

• The documentary Won’t You Be My Neighbor?

• The Marvelous Mrs Maisel on Amazon Prime

• Crazy Ex-Girlfriend on the CW

• The Most Perfect Album from the More Perfect podcast

• The podcast Bag Man from MSNBC

• The Big Sleep by Raymond Chandler

Lara's picks

• The Marvelous Ms. Maisel Season 2 is now available!

• Wild Thing, podcast about Big Foot Believers

• From Katherine Howe, the upcoming The Daughters of Temperance Hobbs.

• Bear Brook from NHPR

• Jack Ryan on Amazon Prime

Toby's picks

• Fever Dream by Samanta Schweblin

• The Wake by Paul Kingsnorth

• Decoder Ring episode The Incunabula Papers

• The TV show Babylon Berlin

• A Legacy of Spies by John LeCarre

• The movie The Witch

Then in Crime of the Week: Viva Nun Vegas!

A Teacher's Pet update, HBO's The Sentence and Headlong: Surviving Y2K

A Teacher's Pet update, HBO's The Sentence and Headlong: Surviving Y2K

IRL Rebecca renders a verdict...and gets to check something off her bucket list. There's a true crime update out of Australia with an arrest in the Teacher's Pet case. Should we reconsider the quality of a podcast story poorly told, yet effective at solving the crime?

HBO brings us to tears with The Sentence, a look at one woman's 15-year mandatory-minimum sentence and its effects on her young children. Can a documentary about a single family speak to a larger institutional issue?

TO HERE OUR SPOILER-FREE REVIEW OF "THE SENTENCE" GO TO 33:01.

Then Dan Taberski returns with Headlong: Surviving Y2K. This look at global disaster averted weaves stories about eager doomsday preppers, bank robbers, dissident journalists, mothers in labor, and Taberski's own story of coming out to his wife. Let's party like it's 1999.

TO HEAR OUR SPOILER-FREE REVIEW OF "SURVIVING Y2K" GO TO 1:11:53.

Then in Crime of the Week: there arose such a clatter.

Dirty John on TV, an Ear Hustle update, and our review of The City

Good news/bad news in our true crime podcast updates. He’s podcasting’s second most-famous inmate. Now someone is leaving Ear Hustle…for a great reason. Also, a return trip to Winona by Madeline Baron and In the Dark gins up more CWO anger. Was that recent fire a coincidence or payback for supporting Curtis Flowers?

A microchip has solved the mystery of the stray cat taken in by Lara. Seems she soon after had an awkward conversation with a neighbor.

Bravo’s Dirty John is the first true crime podcast to get a scripted TV adaptation. How well is the Connie Britton/Eric Bana-led show telling the story? And does it matter if we already know how it ends?

Then we take a longer look at USA Today’s ten-part series The City. It’s a giant heap of garbage…we mean, the story is about a giant heap of garbage which turns up overnight in a depressed Chicago neighborhood. Does the examination of city politics, corruption, and environmental racism adequately fill the time the podcast’s been given?

FOR OUR SPOILER-FREE REVIEW OF "THE CITY," FAST-FORWARD TO 57:34.

Then in crime of the week: that didn’t last long.

Serial Season 3 is over! And is Homecoming worth a watch?

Serial wraps up season 3 with more from Joshua behind bars (should the whole season have been him?). We leave some notes in the suggestion box for Sarah Koenig about how S3 could have pulled together the many themes touched on: overcharging, racial inequality, police misconduct, and the indifference to improving the system.

Then we binge Amazon Prime's "Homecoming," the first major TV adaptation of a hit podcast. It has its own visual and musical style and a plot that suddenly veers from the source material. Is there enough different about the TV series to keep fans of the podcast engaged?

TO HEAR OUR SPOILER-FREE REVIEW OF "HOMECOMING" FAST-FORWARD TO 1:09:34.

Then in crime of the week: doughnut make my brown eyes blue?

Serial Episode 8 & Believed (the podcast about Larry Nassar)

Sarah Koenig talking to a man behind bars who got done-wrong by the system. Wait, what season of Serial is this? We're talking about "A Madman's Vacation" with its revealing look at the Cleveland juvenile justice system.

Then we talk about the powerful series from Michigan Radio and NPR, "Believed." This podcast takes a hard look at the crimes of gymnastics trainer Larry Nassar who was convicted of sexually assaulting more than 200 girls. Believed tells the tale through the stories of his victims and tries to examine how Nassar got away with it for so long. And our CWO discussion gets personal.

NOTE: THIS PART OF OUR DISCUSSION MAY BE DISTURBING TO SOME LISTENERS. TO SKIP PAST IT, OR JUST STAY SPOILER-FREE, FAST-FORWARD TO THE 1:06:11 MARK.

Then in crime of the week: the spirit within her.

Making a Murderer Season 2 - Our breakdown and review!

Making a Murderer Season 2 - Our breakdown and review!

Killers or conspiracy? Justice or just desserts?

We dedicate our entire episode to the much-awaited sequel to 2016's breakout hit and cultural phenomenon: Netflix's Making a Murderer 2. Our review takes two paths. First the panel discusses the Brendan Dassey story line. Did it capture the drama of his reversed reversal of fortune? Then on to the tale of Steven Avery's attorney Kathrine Zellner. Does her investigation create more doubt about Avery's conviction? Or is it more of (a different kind of) the same.

WE ARE DOING ALL THE SPOILERS, SO TO STAY SPOILER-FREE JUMP TO 1:07:26.

In crime of the week: pooper star!

Serial Episode 7 and Gladiator from Wondery

Serial Episode 7 and Gladiator from Wondery

In Serial episode 7, "Snowball Effect," we see the negative after-effects of Erimius's and Jesse's cases. What were once two men with the moral high ground against police misconduct are now spiraling into self-sabotage.

Then we look at Gladiator: Aaron Hernandez and Football, Inc. This podcast from the Boston Globe Spotlight team examines how football and his environment contributed to Hernandez going from NFL tight end to having three murder charges. A must-listen, even for non-sports fans.

Want to skip our spoilers and just get to the thumbs-up or thumbs-down review? Go to 1:00:18

In crime of the week: swift justice.

Serial Season 3, episode 6 and Happy Face

Serial Season 3, Episode 6 and Happy Face

It's the return for the Brickter Scale. In Serial episode 6, "You in the Red Shirt," Sarah & Emmanuel get into the story of a man beaten by East Cleveland police who seems to get justice in the court but continues to pay for it on the street.

Then we talk about "Happy Face" aka "My dad, the serial killer." This podcast of a daughter's take on her secretly-homicidal father has everything: truckers, bunk beds, prison correspondence...bears. But does it have a point? (Spoiler alert: Nope!)

FOR A SPOILER-FREE REVIEW OF "HAPPY FACE" FAST-FORWARD TO 57:35.

In Crime of the Week: skin diver.

Serial season 3, episode 5 & The Dream

Serial season 3, episode 5 & The Dream

In Serial episode 5, Pleas Baby Pleas, Sarah brings us inside the prosecutor’s office, giving us a view of what it’s like to be one of too-few prosecutors in a system with too many felonies to prosecute, with some decisions made for justice and some for expediency. But does this episode live up to Serial's promise? The panel is split 3-1.

Then, we review The Dream, a new podcast from Stitcher that looks at the unsavory world of multi-level marketing companies, and the reasons some people get sucked in.

For our review without spoilers, skip to: 1:06:41.

In Crime of the Week: Apple, peaches, pumpkin pie. Who's not ready, holler "I."

Serial season 3, episode 4 & American Vandal does number two

Serial season 3, episode 4 & American Vandal does number two

For Serial season 3 episode 4, "A Bird in Jail is Worth Two on the Street," Sarah introduces us to man charged with shooting of an infant in a car before the state dropped the charges. Could this have been avoided? We learn that a snitch in time could have saved him a year in jail.

Then...American Vandal is back with number two. Netflix's smart, Peabody Award winning, true crime satire returns with Pete and Sam looking for the Turd Burglar. Call the police, because DeMarcus steals the show.

FOR OUR SPOILER-FREE REVIEW OF "AMERICAN VANDAL," JUMP AHEAD TO 59:25.

Then in Crime of the Week - golden goats.

Kevin wishes to thank the following folks for donating to the Walk A Mile in Her Shoes walk-a-thon. Krista Correa, Rachel Harrison, Rebecca Epstein, Ben & Noel Bruening, Claire Cantwell, Kylie McElveen, Jennifer Rubenstein, Nikki Mans, Jessica McEachern, Emiliano Diaz de Leon, Katy Veprauskas, Anne Rogers, Carol Coello, Leah & Susan Kosior, Kimberly Hoefling, Wendy Martin, Lisa Miller, Melissa Huenefeldt, Bonnie West, Moira MacLellan, Courtney Castaneda, Sarah O’Reilly, Rebecca Lavoie Flynn, and “Anonymous.”

Serial Season 3: Episode 3 & Uncover: Escaping NXIVM

In Serial episode 3, "Misdemeanor, Meet Mr. Lawsuit," Sarah looks into the issue of how the police interact with the African-American population in their communities. A large topic writ small through the story of one arrest in a hallway. Which one of the crime writers says this is the best single episode of Serial ever?

Then the panel discuss the new CBC podcast Uncover: Escaping NXIVM. The distinctive Canadian presentation style takes on an alleged sex cult.

In Crime of the Week: game over.

JOIN OUR PATREON TO GET ACCESS TO LARA'S RAGE WALK FB GROUP!

Serial Season 3: Episodes 1 and 2 - Our breakdown and review!

Get ready for the best discussion and analysis about the Serial podcast.

Sarah Koenig is back for season 3 (finally)! Along with Emmanuel Dzotsi, Sarah gives us a year in the life of the Cleveland Justice Center.

For episode one, "A Bar Fight Walks into the Justice Center," the crime writers discuss whether the lesson is about prosecutorial discretion...or about race?

In episode two, "You've Got Some Gauls," we can't even with Judge G. But does he have a point?

Also, we give our take on the update episode of "In the Dark." The more things change, the more they stay the same.

In crime of the week: whale fail. See the dumpster snafu here and the classic exploding whale incident here.

Dr. Death, Ozark Season 2, and Serial Season 3 is almost here!

Paging Dr. Death...back to the Ozarks...and Serial is coming back

Weekly episodes of "Crime Writers On" have returned! And so has "Serial!” For season 3, Sarah Koenig and co. will look at the justice system from the inside: embedding themselves in a criminal courthouse in Cleveland.

Note: for the duration of Serial's run, episodes of CWO will debut on Mondays instead of Fridays.

Netflix’s hit crime show "Ozark" is back with a second season. The drama starring Jason Bateman and Laura Linney combines white collar crime and redneck gothic. Is it as good as its debut season?

TO HEAR OUR SPOILER-FREE REVIEW OF OZARK, SKIP AHEAD TO 31:44.

The panel digs into the new hit "Dr. Death" from Wondery. Billed as the successor to "Dirty John," reporter Laura Beil recalls the case of a doctor who performed a string of botched surgeries while the system was unable - or unwilling - to stop him.

TO JUMP AHEAD TO OUR SPOILER-FREE REVIEW OF DR. DEATH, FAST-FORWARD TO 56:45.

Then in crime of the week: felonious food fight.

This episode has IT ALL: Up and Vanished, Sharp Objects, Pam Smart, Kim Kardashian and MORE!

This episode has IT ALL: Up and Vanished, Sharp Objects, Pam Smart, Kim Kardashian and MORE!

Wow, we've got more true crime than you can shake a stick at! This time out we talk about Kim Kardashian's new-found love of "Serial," the latest court filings in Adnan Syed's appeal, and the Facebook meltdown over "My Favorite Murder." The panel give first takes and final thoughts on shows like "Sharp Objects," "Up and Vanished," and "Fatal Voyage." And there's cool stuff to look forward to with TV debuts of "My Dad Wrote a Porno" and "American Vandal" season two.

TO AVOID SPOILERS FOR "SHARP OBJECTS," JUMP TO TIME CODE 35:42.

The crime writers look at the new miniseries from Investigation Discovery, "Pamela Smart: An American Murder Mystery." As NH-based writers & journalists, there's not a lot about the case the panel doesn't already know. Does the show add anything for those who've seen one of the movies or read one of the many books on this case?

FOR OUR SPOILER-FREE REVIEW OF "PAMELA SMART: AMERICAN MURDER MYSTERY," GO TO 1:06:33.

In Crime of the Week, felony bang bang!

A Double-Bill Review: Slow Burn and Castle Rock

In the world of true crime updates, Irish authorities have issued a new report on police conduct in the West Cork case. Speaking of podcasts from Audible, what's happened to their podcast division? Rebecca gives a plug for her new project, Bear Brook, which will be debuting from NHPR next month. Also, has horror author Joe Hill solved the 1974 mystery of the "Woman in the Dunes" by watching "Jaws"?

Speaking of Joe Hill, his father (Stephen King) has a new show on Hulu. Castle Rock is the creepy tale of a unidentified inmate discovered in an old prison, and of the lawyer with a haunted past returning to his hometown in Maine where evil lurks. It's the most Stephen King thing to ever Stephen King.

FOR A SPOILER-FREE REVIEW OF "CASTLE ROCK," GO TO 35:05.

The sophomore season of Slow Burn is out, this time focusing on the impeachment of President Clinton. Slate's podcast attempts to tell the story of the building crisis and how it affected the lives of the scandal’s supporting characters. As Leon Neyfawk says, it's crazier than we remember it.

FOR A SPOILER-FREE REVIEW OF "SLOW BURN," GO TO 59:20.

In Crime of the Week: Friendly, neighborhood bar, Spider-Man.