Kuper Island is a remarkable podcast, an investigation into one of Canada’s most notorious so called Indian residential schools. Journalist Duncan McCue explores the unsolved death of a student, a tragedy that sheds light on rampant abuse and exposes the trauma of three survivors. Support this podcast by shopping our latest sponsor deals and promotions at this link: https://bit.ly/4gF2K18 See more information on my books: katewinklerdawson.com Follow me on social: @tenfoldmore (Twitter) / @wicke...
Jun 23, 2025•1 hr 3 min•Ep. 50
I love a good spy story. We’ve talked about spies embedded with the American government. We’ve discussed librarians and academics researching in the basement of the Library of Congress during World War II. And now we’re talking with Thomas Maier about a very unlikely spy, a former football player turned spy for Churchill. It’s all in his book, The Invisible Spy. Support this podcast by shopping our latest sponsor deals and promotions at this link: https://bit.ly/4gF2K18 See more information on m...
Jun 16, 2025•1 hr•Ep. 49
Occasionally we interview fiction authors who use true crime stories as jumping off points for their novels. Virginia Feito wrote a book called “Victorian Psycho.” And it’s based on several cases you’ve likely heard of. There’s a lecherous head of house, a jealous wife…and a violent governess. Very violent. Feito uses gallows humor to take real stories and craft them into harrowing tales. Support this podcast by shopping our latest sponsor deals and promotions at this link: https://bit.ly/4gF2K1...
Jun 09, 2025•50 min•Ep. 48
I’m so excited about this interview. It’s with Claire St. Amant. She’s a journalist and an author. And she was a TV producer for 48 Hours and 60 Minutes. Now she’s pulling back the curtain on true crime television. I learned a lot from her. She’s talking about her memoir: Killer Story. Support this podcast by shopping our latest sponsor deals and promotions at this link: https://bit.ly/4gF2K18 See more information on my books: katewinklerdawson.com Follow me on social: @tenfoldmore (Twitter) / @...
Jun 02, 2025•1 hr•Ep. 47
We might have our first Pulitzer Prize winner on our show. Author Gilbert King digs into cases of wrongful conviction. Today, we’re talking about his outstanding podcast, Bone Valley Season 2. Gilbert explores the 1987 murder of Michelle Schofield in Florida. It’s a story of justice, forgiveness, and the possibility of redemption. Support this podcast by shopping our latest sponsor deals and promotions at this link: https://bit.ly/4gF2K18 See more information on my books: katewinklerdawson.com F...
May 19, 2025•1 hr 4 min•Ep. 46
LA Times reporter Christopher Goffard was the voice behind the hit podcast “Dirty John.” And now he has a new podcast that covers crimes in Los Angeles that made headlines, stories like the murder of actress Rebecca Schaeffer at the hands of a stalker. He tells me about his show, “Crimes of the Times.” Support this podcast by shopping our latest sponsor deals and promotions at this link: https://bit.ly/4gF2K18 See more information on my books: katewinklerdawson.com Follow me on social: @tenfoldm...
May 12, 2025•45 min•Ep. 45
This week on Wicked Words, years ago author Pagan Kennedy wondered about the history of the rape kit, a crucial tool for investigators today. Who designed it? She found out that it was Martha Goddard, a pioneer who wanted to help police catch sexual predators using forensics. But sometime after she made history, Goddard vanished. Listen to Kennedy’s story at the center of her book, The Secret History of the Rape Kit. Support this podcast by shopping our latest sponsor deals and promotions at thi...
May 05, 2025•51 min•Ep. 44
Plane hijackings aren’t very common anymore. But in the late 1960s and early 1970s, armed criminals were forcing commercial airliners to divert their flights, oftentimes demanding ransom. Author Brendan Koerner tells the story of an American couple turned hijackers, whose journey ends with some surprising twists. Koerner’s book is called: The Skies Belong to Us. Support this podcast by shopping our latest sponsor deals and promotions at this link: https://bit.ly/4gF2K18 See more information on m...
Apr 28, 2025•58 min•Ep. 43
For years, a predator preyed on gay men in Atlanta. He was known as the Handcuff Man. He attacked male sex workers, disfigured them, and then left them for dead. Journalist Hallie Lieberman wrote a fantastic piece for The Atavist Magazine called The Devil Went Down to Georgia. Support this podcast by shopping our latest sponsor deals and promotions at this link: https://bit.ly/4gF2K18 See more information on my books: katewinklerdawson.com Follow me on social: @tenfoldmore (Twitter) / @wickedwor...
Apr 21, 2025•54 min•Ep. 42
In 2018, the FBI discovered that high level criminals around the world were using encrypted devices to plot intricate crimes. When a powerful, secure new app began courting these syndicates, members of the underworld flocked to it. One problem for the criminals: the app was created by the FBI. Joseph Cox tells us the incredible story from his book, Dark Wire. Support this podcast by shopping our latest sponsor deals and promotions at this link: https://bit.ly/4gF2K18 See more information on my b...
Apr 14, 2025•1 hr 1 min•Ep. 41
In 1986, 17-year-old Keith Warren was found hanging from a tree in Silver Spring, Maryland. His sister wanted answers—how did he die? It was ruled a suicide, but there were so many suspicious things about Keith’s death. I talked to filmmaker Avril Speaks about her docuseries, “Uprooted,” which covers Keith’s case. Support this podcast by shopping our latest sponsor deals and promotions at this link: https://bit.ly/4gF2K18 See more information on my books: katewinklerdawson.com Follow me on socia...
Apr 07, 2025•53 min•Ep. 40
This is a story about a landmark case in Canada from just a few years ago. A teenager attacked two women in a massage parlor in Toronto in 2020. He killed one and seriously injured the other. When he told investigators why he did it, they settled on trying him for murder…and terrorism. Journalist Lana Hall tells me about her piece in Maclean’s magazine called: The Incel Terrorist . Support this podcast by shopping our latest sponsor deals and promotions at this link: https://bit.ly/4gF2K18 See m...
Mar 31, 2025•45 min•Ep. 39
Dean Corll was a serial killer in Houston in the early 1970s. He kidnapped and murdered more than two dozen missing teenage boys before he was murdered by one of his accomplices. Decades later, a forensic anthropologist discovered a box of remains from the case. She spent years using scientific tools to identify some of the unknown victims. Journalist Lise Olsen tells me the story at the center of her book: The Scientist and the Serial Killer . Support this podcast by shopping our latest sponsor...
Mar 24, 2025•59 min•Ep. 38
It’s been 30 years since the infamous OJ Simpson trial, and the lead prosecutor Marcia Clark has had quite a career since then. She writes fiction and nonfiction books, including the one we’ll talk about today. It’s called Trial by Ambush and it’s a story about a young woman in Burbank, California. In 1953, Barbara Graham was caught-up in a robbery scheme that turned deadly. Marcia Clark investigates the sexism and, ultimately, the tragedy of this case. Support this podcast by shopping our lates...
Mar 17, 2025•1 hr 2 min•Ep. 37
Did you know that some of the most effective American spies during World War II were librarians and archivists and history professors? Some were locked in the basement of the Library of Congress, analyzing documents. Those documents were being gathered by academics sneaking around Europe, under the noses of the Nazis. Author Elyse Graham tells me the story at the center of her book, Book and Dagger: How Scholars and Librarians Became the Unlikely Spies of World War II. Support this podcast by sh...
Mar 10, 2025•54 min•Ep. 36
We don’t talk a lot on this show about female killers, but author Craig Monson has brought me a fascinating story right out of a Hollywood film. His book, The Black Widows of the Eternal City, centers on a web of women poisoners in 17th century Rome and their male victims. Support this podcast by shopping our latest sponsor deals and promotions at this link: https://bit.ly/4gF2K18 See more information on my books: katewinklerdawson.com Follow me on social: @tenfoldmore (Twitter) / @wickedwordspo...
Mar 03, 2025•48 min•Ep. 35
This week on Wicked Words, we’re traveling to 1856 Ireland for a locked-door mystery. A cashier for a Dublin railway station is found dead, savagely beaten. Nothing appears to have been stolen. Can an experienced detective crack this case? Author Thomas Morris tells us the story in his new book The Dublin Railway Murder: The Sensational True Story of a Victorian Murder Mystery. Support this podcast by shopping our latest sponsor deals and promotions at this link: https://bit.ly/4gF2K18 See more ...
Feb 24, 2025•59 min•Ep. 34
On this week’s episode of Wicked Words, we’re traveling to the Texas border town of Laredo. When four vulnerable women are murdered, police suspect that a well-respected U.S. Border Patrol agent has turned into a serial killer. Author Rick Jervis tells me the story behind his book, The Devil Behind the Badge: The Horrifying Twelve Days of the Border Patrol Serial Killer. Support this podcast by shopping our latest sponsor deals and promotions at this link: https://bit.ly/4gF2K18 See more informa...
Feb 17, 2025•53 min•Ep. 33
When an outspoken journalist in India was assassinated in September of 2017, it shocked the world. The conspiracy that was uncovered by journalists and investigators was disturbing. Author Rollo Romig tells me the story at the center of his book: I Am on the Hit List. Support this podcast by shopping our latest sponsor deals and promotions at this link: https://bit.ly/4gF2K18 See more information on my books: katewinklerdawson.com Follow me on social: @tenfoldmore (Twitter) / @wickedwordspod (Fa...
Feb 10, 2025•49 min•Ep. 32
Some of my most favorite true crime stories in history come from the UK, specifically London. So I was very excited to talk to author Simon Read about his book: Scotland Yard: A History of the London Police Force's Most Infamous Murder Cases. Read investigated some of Scotland Yard’s most interesting cases and now he’ll tell us about some of them. Support this podcast by shopping our latest sponsor deals and promotions at this link: https://bit.ly/4gF2K18 See more information on my books: katewi...
Feb 03, 2025•46 min•Ep. 31
Police cold-case units have broken some of the country’s most notorious murder cases. Today we're talking to writer Michael Arntfield about Nashville’s cold case Murder Squad and how its lead investigator tracked down the serial killers who terrorized the city in the 80s and 90s. The stories unfold in his book, Monster City: Murder, Music, and Mayhem in Nashville's Dark Age . Support this podcast by shopping our latest sponsor deals and promotions at this link: https://bit.ly/4gF2K18 See more in...
Jan 27, 2025•46 min•Ep. 30
I know this sounds like an old story: a woman goes missing and it seems like a cover-up. But when Shelley Watkins’ body was discovered in 1993, floating in a Texas river, her murder really upended the town of Corsicana. Journalist Carol Dawson worked with my buddy Wes Ferguson on the hit podcast, The Unforgotten. Support this podcast by shopping our latest sponsor deals and promotions at this link: https://bit.ly/4gF2K18 See more information on my books: katewinklerdawson.com Follow me on social...
Jan 20, 2025•1 hr 6 min•Ep. 29
Thirty years before the OJ Simpson trial, a different murder case captured the attention of the country. When a successful Florida businessman is brutally killed in the 1960s, his wife and her nephew become suspects. Their disturbing relationship makes headlines. Author Ron Smith tells me about his book: No One is Perfect. Support this podcast by shopping our latest sponsor deals and promotions at this link: https://bit.ly/4gF2K18 See more information on my books: katewinklerdawson.com Follow me...
Jan 13, 2025•53 min•Ep. 28
For this week’s episode, we travel to my hometown of Austin, Texas. An iconic local business is embroiled in a murder for hire case that attracts national attention. Why did Erik Maund hire someone to kill two people? Katy Vine from Texas Monthly tells me about her podcast, The Problem with Erik. Support this podcast by shopping our latest sponsor deals and promotions at this link: https://bit.ly/4gF2K18 See more information on my books: katewinklerdawson.com Follow me on social: @tenfoldmore (T...
Jan 06, 2025•44 min•Ep. 27
Author Becky Cooper was a student at Harvard University when she heard a curious rumor about a murdered student in the late 1960s. Cooper was told that the killer was likely a professor…but her investigation uncovered clues that had been buried for decades. Who the real killer was came as a surprise to everyone. The story of Jane Britton’s life and her murder is detailed in the book: We Keep the Dead Close. Support this podcast by shopping our latest sponsor deals and promotions at this link: ht...
Dec 30, 2024•1 hr•Ep. 26
After two three-year-old girls were raped and murdered in rural Mississippi, two innocent men were convicted and were in prison for decades. Meanwhile the real killer remained free. Today I’m talking to Radley Balko and Tucker Carrington about their fantastic book, The Cadaver King and the Country Dentist: A True Story of Injustice in the American South. Support this podcast by shopping our latest sponsor deals and promotions at this link: https://bit.ly/4gF2K18 See more information on my books:...
Dec 23, 2024•1 hr 9 min•Ep. 25
Acclaimed forensic psychologist Katherine Ramsland was one of my first guests on this show. She detailed her time with serial killer Dennis Rader. She’s back, along with co-author Tracy Ullman, to tell me about their book The Serial Killer’s Apprentice. It’s the complicated story centered on the accomplice of the serial killer known as The Candyman. Support this podcast by shopping our latest sponsor deals and promotions at this link: https://bit.ly/4gF2K18 See more information on my books: kate...
Dec 16, 2024•1 hr 5 min•Ep. 24
Who killed eight women in a small Louisiana town between 2005 and 2009? And were their murders the work of a serial killer or people connected to a corrupt sheriff’s department? This is a true-life southern gothic mystery. Author Ethan Brown offers us the story at the center of his book, Murder in the Bayou: Who Killed the Women Known as the Jeff Davis 8? Support this podcast by shopping our latest sponsor deals and promotions at this link: https://bit.ly/4gF2K18 See more information on my books...
Dec 09, 2024•50 min•Ep. 23
In 1990, a young journalist witnessed a botched execution and it changed her life. Author Ellen McGarrahan found herself haunted by the question of whether she had witnessed the execution of an innocent man. She tells me the story at the center of her book: Two Truths and a Lie: A Murder, a Private Investigator, and Her Search for Justice. Support this podcast by shopping our latest sponsor deals and promotions at this link: https://bit.ly/4gF2K18 See more information on my books: katewinklerdaw...
Dec 02, 2024•50 min•Ep. 22
We’ve had this author on before when he talked about his book on serial poisoner Dr. Thomas Neill Cream. Today, Dean Jobb tells us about a different kind of criminal, a man known as the “prince of thieves.” Arthur Barry stole from the rich in the Jazz Age and then offered a detailed confession when he was caught. How did he get away with it for so long? It’s all in the book: A Gentleman and a Thief: The Daring Jewel Heists of a Jazz Age Rogue . Support this podcast by shopping our latest sponsor...
Nov 25, 2024•51 min•Ep. 21
