Stay ConnectedCrime Writers On… is the original true‑crime review podcast hosted by Rebecca Lavoie and featuring Kevin Flynn, Lara Bricker and Toby Ball. Each week the panel reviews true‑crime podcasts, documentaries, TV shows, and films, diving into journalism, storytelling, pop culture, and the biggest crime stories in media. Plus: the Crime of the Week.
Show website: crimewriterson.com
Follow the show on X: @crimewriterson
Facebook: facebook.com/crimewritersonpodcast
Email: crimewriterson@gmail.com
Copyright: © 2024 Partners in Crime Media
After barely averting war with the United Kingdom, American Ambassador Kate Wyler fears the President’s latest covert moves involving Russia may endanger the Brits. It puts her at odds with her own husband, Vice-President Hal Wyler, who’s playing a dangerous game with nuclear assets. After the government is toppled, Kate must rebuild trust with the new Prime Minister, who rightly regards the US with suspicion. Meanwhile, an assassination attempt makes President Grace Penn even more hawkish, leaving her willing to blow up relationships with allies, her staff, and her husband in order to get her way.
Keri Russell, Rufus Sewell, and Allison Janney return in season 4 of “The Diplomat.” The Netflix series spins a further web of geopolitical intrigue and political maneuvering, while exploring the effects of simmering hostilities and required sacrifices within marriages.
OUR SPOILER-FREE REVIEWS OF SEASON 4 OF "THE DIPLOMAT" BEGIN IN THE FINAL 11 MINUTES OF THE EPISODE.
In Crime of the Week: Liberty from Biberty.
For exclusive podcasts and more, sign up at Patreon.
Sign up for our newsletter at crimewriterson.com.
This show was recorded in The Caitlin Rogers Project Studio. Click to find out more.
About the show: Crime Writers On… is the original true‑crime review podcast, covering the best in true‑crime podcasts, documentaries, TV, film, journalism, and storytelling.
From Partners in Crime Media — creators of These Are Their Stories, the Law & Order aftershow and Netflix's You Can't Make This Up.
Keywords: true‑crime review, podcast review, documentary review, TV review, media criticism, pop‑culture commentary, crime documentaries, journalism, storytelling
Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.
After a sneak attack on a British ship, the new American ambassador tries to navigate the complications of both love - and war.
On this CWO Classic Rewind, we’re going back to our May 8, 2023 review of season one of Netflix’s hit series “The Diplomat,” starring Kerri Russell and Rufus Sewell.
OUR SPOILER-FREE REVIEWS OF SEASON ONE OF "THE DIPLOMAT" BEGIN IN THE FINAL SIX MINUTES OF THE EPISODE.
For exclusive podcasts and more, sign up at Patreon.
Sign up for our newsletter at crimewriterson.com.
This show was recorded in The Caitlin Rogers Project Studio. Click to find out more.
About the show: Crime Writers On… is the original true‑crime review podcast, covering the best in true‑crime podcasts, documentaries, TV, film, journalism, and storytelling.
From Partners in Crime Media — creators of These Are Their Stories, the Law & Order aftershow and Netflix's You Can't Make This Up.
Keywords: true‑crime review, podcast review, documentary review, TV review, media criticism, pop‑culture commentary, crime documentaries, journalism, storytelling
Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.
In 1996, a pair of lesbians from Australia charmed their way into British high society, chatting up Queen Elizabeth and the equestrian elite. Evelyn Burton and Laila Andre lived large, convincing the leisure-class to buy into their lucrative investment opportunities. But the middle-aged millionaires were constantly being evicted from London’s luxury hotels for nonpayment. And a police detective sent to investigate a small-time scam realized the Aussie couple were actually big-time, international swindlers who’d vanished after stealing millions from England’s well-to-do.
From Blanchard House for USG Audio, and Exactly Right, comes the latest season of the podcast “Royal Swindle.” Host Becky Milligan recounts Evelyn and Laila’s audacious scheme and the cat-and-mouse chase to track them down. It features interviews with the elderly Laila, those they conned, and the detective who travelled the world to take them down.
OUR SPOILER-FREE REVIEWS OF "ROYAL SWINDLE" BEGIN IN THE FINAL 13 MINUTES OF THE EPISODE.
In Crime of the Week: cam-pain trail.
For exclusive podcasts and more, sign up at Patreon.
Sign up for our newsletter at crimewriterson.com.
This show was recorded in The Caitlin Rogers Project Studio. Click to find out more.
About the show: Crime Writers On… is the original true‑crime review podcast, covering the best in true‑crime podcasts, documentaries, TV, film, journalism, and storytelling.
From Partners in Crime Media — creators of These Are Their Stories, the Law & Order aftershow and Netflix's You Can't Make This Up.
Keywords: true‑crime review, podcast review, documentary review, TV review, media criticism, pop‑culture commentary, crime documentaries, journalism, storytelling
Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.
A journalist decided to give editorial control of her story to the people she’s profiling. Is she protecting her subjects at the expense of the audience?
Buckle up for this CWO Classic Rewind! We’re going to our March 14, 2024 review of the divisive, format‑breaking podcast “Shocking, Heartbreaking, Transformative” from PRX’s Radiotopia Presents and host Jess Shane.
For exclusive podcasts and more, sign up at Patreon.
Sign up for our newsletter at crimewriterson.com.
This show was recorded in The Caitlin Rogers Project Studio. Click to find out more.
About the show: Crime Writers On… is the original true‑crime review podcast, covering the best in true‑crime podcasts, documentaries, TV, film, journalism, and storytelling.
From Partners in Crime Media — creators of These Are Their Stories, the Law & Order aftershow and Netflix's You Can't Make This Up.
Keywords: true‑crime review, podcast review, documentary review, TV review, media criticism, pop‑culture commentary, crime documentaries, journalism, storytelling
Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.
In 2008, Dateline producer Dan Slepian got a tip about a fatal break-in in Las Vegas. Thomas Randolph said he killed an intruder who murdered his wife, but police said aspects of his story weren’t adding up. Investigators learned that four of Randolph’s six wives were now dead. And decades earlier Randolph stood trial for murdering one of them. Slepian spent years interviewing the charismatic suspect hoping to learn whether he masterminded the deaths of his spouses — or whether he was just an unlucky widower.
In Netflix’s documentary “The Widower: ‘Til Death Do Us Part,” Slepian provides real-time video inside the police investigation into Randolph, and extensive interviews over two decades with the defendant about his daring life and departed loves. What emerges is as much a story about reporting as it is about murder.
OUR SPOILER-FREE REVIEWS OF "THE WIDOWER: 'TIL DEATH DO US PART" BEGIN IN THE FINAL 14 MINUTES OF THE EPISODE
In Crime of the Week: A-maize-ing.
For exclusive podcasts and more, sign up at Patreon.
Sign up for our newsletter at crimewriterson.com.
This show was recorded in The Caitlin Rogers Project Studio. Click to find out more.
About the show: Crime Writers On… is the original true‑crime review podcast, covering the best in true‑crime podcasts, documentaries, TV, film, journalism, and storytelling.
From Partners in Crime Media — creators of These Are Their Stories, the Law & Order aftershow and Netflix's You Can't Make This Up.
Keywords: true‑crime review, podcast review, documentary review, TV review, media criticism, pop‑culture commentary, crime documentaries, journalism, storytelling
Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.
In 2007, 20-year-old Vienna Luke was staying with her sister and brother-in-law in British Columbia. One evening, while her sister was away, Vienna had drinks at home with Justin Sewell, but memories of the evening were hazy. She kept her suspicions a secret, but years later when photos Justin took of her that night surfaced, it confirmed her fears she had been sexually assaulted. Royal Canadian Mounted Police set in motion an unusual sting operation: Vienna would wear a wire, sit down with Justin, and get him to confess to what he did to her.
In the CBC Podcast “Personally: Agent Layla,” host Jodie Martinson helps Vienna tell her story of survival and empowerment confronting her abuser to secure his arrest. It goes deep into her ordeal, and its effects on her and her family divided by her accusations.
OUR SPOILER-FREE REVIEWS OF "PERSONALLY: AGENT LAYLA" BEGIN IN THE FINAL 12 MINUTES OF THE EPISODE.
For exclusive podcasts and more, sign up at Patreon.
Sign up for our newsletter at crimewriterson.com.
This show was recorded in The Caitlin Rogers Project Studio. Click to find out more.
About the show: Crime Writers On… is the original true‑crime review podcast, covering the best in true‑crime podcasts, documentaries, TV, film, journalism, and storytelling.
From Partners in Crime Media — creators of These Are Their Stories, the Law & Order aftershow and Netflix's You Can't Make This Up.
Keywords: true‑crime review, podcast review, documentary review, TV review, media criticism, pop‑culture commentary, crime documentaries, journalism, storytelling
Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.
In an effort to find the elusive criminal, the FBI encourages publication of the UNABOMBER’s Manifesto. Agent Joanne Miller thinks the essay contains linguistic clues to his identity, and its denouncement of the Industrial Revolution sounds familiar to the brother of Ted Kaczynski. As a teen math prodigy, Kaczynski attended Harvard and took part in a psychology study where he was made to defend his views on free will during confrontational interviews. The provocative experiment nurtures something within the student that will someday be expressed through violence.
Netflix’s “UNABOMBER” stars Jacob Tremblay, Russell Crowe and Shailene Woodley. The film runs on parallel timelines — one showing a young Ted Kaczynski slowly becoming radicalized against modern society at Harvard in 1958, and the other showing the FBI following clues in his manifesto that lead to his 1996 capture.
OUR SPOILER-FREE REVIEWS OF "UNABOMBER" BEGIN IN THE FINAL 11 MINUTES OF THE EPISODE.
In Crime of the Week: wedding party.
For exclusive podcasts and more, sign up at Patreon.
Sign up for our newsletter at crimewriterson.com.
This show was recorded in The Caitlin Rogers Project Studio. Click to find out more.
About the show: Crime Writers On… is the original true‑crime review podcast, covering the best in true‑crime podcasts, documentaries, TV, film, journalism, and storytelling.
From Partners in Crime Media — creators of These Are Their Stories, the Law & Order aftershow and Netflix's You Can't Make This Up.
Keywords: true‑crime review, podcast review, documentary review, TV review, media criticism, pop‑culture commentary, crime documentaries, journalism, storytelling
Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.
In 2012, fledgling war correspondent Austin Tice was abducted in Syria. No group claimed responsibility, but the U.S. believed he was being held by the Assad government. When rebels toppled the dictator and opened the borders in 2024, Western journalists seized the chance to search the regime’s files for clues to Tice’s fate. Guided by secret documents and new contacts, the reporting team crisscrossed the fractured nation for new information on who held Tice, where he was kept, and why he was targeted for abduction. Their investigation took them through abandoned prisons, interrogation facilities, and active conflict zones in search of answers.
From BBC Radio 4 and NPR’s Embedded comes “Where is Austin Tice?” season three of “I’m Not a Monster Presents.” Josh Baker and Sara Obeidat take listeners on a breathtaking race against time to uncover evidence about the missing freelancer. The immersive podcast attempts to bring clarity — and hope — to a story long shrouded in uncertainty.
OUR SPOILER-FREE REVIEWS OF "WHERE IS AUSTIN TICE?" BEGIN IN THE FINAL 11 MINUTES OF THE EPISODE.
For exclusive podcasts and more, sign up at Patreon.
Sign up for our newsletter at crimewriterson.com.
This show was recorded in The Caitlin Rogers Project Studio. Click to find out more.
About the show: Crime Writers On… is the original true‑crime review podcast, covering the best in true‑crime podcasts, documentaries, TV, film, journalism, and storytelling.
From Partners in Crime Media — creators of These Are Their Stories, the Law & Order aftershow and Netflix's You Can't Make This Up.
Keywords: true‑crime review, podcast review, documentary review, TV review, media criticism, pop‑culture commentary, crime documentaries, journalism, storytelling
Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.
Lizzie Borden struggles to thrive as a young woman in Gilded Age New England. With the help of a worldly housemaid, Lizzie devises a plan to rid herself of her inattentive father and repressive stepmother, and live life on her own terms. The gruesome axe murder of her parents leads to Lizzie’s arrest and America’s first “trial of the century.” The public is divided on whether a woman could commit such a violent crime, creating an enduring cultural myth that both dismisses — and underestimates — the power of female rage.
Netflix takes a whack at the legendary true crime in “Monster: The Lizzie Borden Story,” starring Ella Beatty and Vicky Krieps. The anthology series reframes the famous case to highlight the oppressive station of women throughout history. It also contains a parallel modern-day storyline featuring Sarah Paulson as Aileen Wuornos, whose fixation with the Borden story informs her own killing spree.
OUR SPOILER-FREE REVIEWS OF "MONSTER: THE LIZZIE BORDEN STORY" BEGIN IN THE FINAL 12 MINUTES OF THE EPISODE.
In Crime of the Week: moving the furniture.
For exclusive podcasts and more, sign up at Patreon.
Sign up for our newsletter at crimewriterson.com.
This show was recorded in The Caitlin Rogers Project Studio. Click to find out more.
About the show: Crime Writers On… is the original true‑crime review podcast, covering the best in true‑crime podcasts, documentaries, TV, film, journalism, and storytelling.
From Partners in Crime Media — creators of These Are Their Stories, the Law & Order aftershow and Netflix's You Can't Make This Up.
Keywords: true‑crime review, podcast review, documentary review, TV review, media criticism, pop‑culture commentary, crime documentaries, journalism, storytelling
Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.
Folks in Gainesboro, Tennessee were curious about who was scooping up large swaths of land in their tiny Appalachian hamlet. They were shocked to learn the buyers were venture capitalists with ties to Christian nationalists who planned on moving en masse and changing the town to fit their extremist views. Longtime residents banded together in fear of a far right takeover. As the newcomers became more emboldened, so do the townsfolk who try to stand up to them. The question becomes how far will people go to defend their world view and who in town gets to define what a community is?
In the podcast “Our Town” from Bloomberg News, host Meribah Knight brings us the story of those in an unassuming battleground where a social experiment is underway. It’s a portrait of a community forced to confront what happens when ideology meets everyday life.
OUR SPOILER-FREE REVIEWS OF "OUR TOWN" BEGIN IN THE FINAL 11 MINUTES OF THE EPISODE.
For exclusive podcasts and more, sign up at Patreon.
Sign up for our newsletter at crimewriterson.com.
This show was recorded in The Caitlin Rogers Project Studio. Click to find out more.
About the show: Crime Writers On… is the original true‑crime review podcast, covering the best in true‑crime podcasts, documentaries, TV, film, journalism, and storytelling.
From Partners in Crime Media — creators of These Are Their Stories, the Law & Order aftershow and Netflix's You Can't Make This Up.
Keywords: true‑crime review, podcast review, documentary review, TV review, media criticism, pop‑culture commentary, crime documentaries, journalism, storytelling
Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.
Our TOPPODCAST Picks 
