Crime Writers On...True Crime Review – Details, episodes & analysis

Karen Falasca was the last person to see her sister Denise alive before she was murdered in 1969. Haunted by the tragedy, Karen spoke to podcaster Anthony Scalia about her five decade search for Denise’s unidentified killer. Scalia retraced Karen’s investigation into likely suspects. But the sister remained skeptical of the police’s findings. And as a terminal illness threatened to take her life, Karen made one request of Scalia: finish her work and learn the truth behind Denise’s murder.

In the podcast “Denise Didn’t Come Home” from truth.media and Sony Music Entertainment, Scalia repeats Karen’s investigation and questions the person the cops say strangled the 15-year-old all those years ago. He also recounts Karen’s life story, their blossoming friendship, and explores whether her memories of that day hold up.

OUR SPOILER-FREE REVIEWS OF "DENISE DIDN'T COME HOME" BEGIN IN THE FINAL TEN MINUTES OF THE EPISODE.

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In 1971, Stanford psychologist Philip Zimbardo conducted an experiment with college students to evaluate behavior in a mock prison. Within days, the guards were abusing their power and mistreating the prisoners so badly the study was shut down early. The “Stanford Prison Experiment” was heralded in academia and in pop culture as a landmark study into the corrupting power of authority. But a re-examination of Zimbardo’s methods questions whether he manipulated the subjects into those behaviors, challenging whether its shocking results - and its legacy - should be discredited.

The three-part series “The Stanford Prison Experiment: Unlocking the Truth,” is produced by Nat Geo and is available on several streaming services. It unearths Zimbardo’s scientifically dubious methods that steered the study toward its violent conclusion. It also reunites the former guards and prisoners - some for the first time - to explain what was really driving their actions.

OUR SPOILER-FREE REVIEWS OF "THE STANFORD PRISON EXPERIMENT" BEGIN IN THE FINAL TEN MINUTES OF THE EPISODE.

In Crime of the Week: If the shoe splits...

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A Hollywood studio courts Charles, Oliver, and Mabel to make a star-studded movie based on their hit podcast. But Charles is shaken by another murder in the building: his longtime stunt double, Sazz, was killed in his apartment by a sniper, and her body burned in the incinerator.

Before she died, Sazz had been poking into something about the first season of the podcast. The fatal shot came from the west side of the Arconia, occupied by an odd collection of residents with a secret to hide. Writers, directors, executives and stuntmen also make up the suspect list. Now the podcasters are on a new case: what bombshell did Sazz uncover and who was willing to kill to keep it quiet?

Steve Martin, Martin Short, and Selena Gomez return for season four of “Only Murders in the Building.” This time, the Emmy Award-winning series deconstructs the murder mystery through the lens of film. The movie forces Mabel to ponder how the world views her, and leads Oliver to re-examine his relationship with Loretta. Meanwhile, Charles is racked with guilt that his old friend may have died because of him. As usual, “Only Murders” delivers sly humor, a touch of pathos, and crackling performances by the leads and many guest stars.

OUR SPOILER-FREE REVIEWS OF "ONLY MURDERS IN THE BUILDING" SEASON FOUR BEGIN IN THE FINAL [ XX ] MINUTES OF THE EPISODE.

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There was something for everyone on the TV in 2023. We saw documentaries that dug deep into issues of crime and punishment. There were several true stories told in real time by the people in the middle of them. But there were also shows that made us laugh…and sometimes sing.

But which TV shows and documentaries truly stood out? The crime writers will reveal their lists for the Best TV of 2023.

Lara's Top Ten

1. Great Photo, Lovely Life
2. Navajo Police: Class 57
3. Victim/ suspect
4. Reality
5. Only Murders in the Building season 3
6. Navalny
7. Telemarketers
8. How to Create a Sex Scandal
9. Jury duty
10. Last Call

Toby's Top Ten

1. Great Photo, Lovely Life
2. Reality
3. Shiny Happy People
4. Telemarketers
5. Last Call
6. Savior Complex
7. Murder in Big Horn
8. Only Murders in the Building  season 3
9. Navalny
10. The Diplomat

Kevin's Top Ten

1. Jury Duty
2. Victim/Suspect
3. Great Photo, Lovely Life
4. Only Murders in the Building season 3
5. BS High
6. Scouts Honor
7. Stolen Youth
8. Burden of Proof
9. Telemarketers
10. Murder in Big Horn

Rebecca's Top Ten

1. Great Photo, Lovely Life
2. Jury Duty
3. The Diplomat
4. Shiny Happy People
5. Only Murders in the Building season 3
6. Telemarketers
7. Netflix's Murdaugh Murders: A Southern Scandal
8. Navalny
9. Navajo Police: Class 57
10. Last Call

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This year brought us podcasts that examined interesting characters - from the super famous to the terribly infamous. There were the meticulously investigated stories of people caught in a system stacked against them. And it provided us with many series told by hosts with very personal connections to the crimes they covered. 

But which titles truly stood out? All four crime writers present their top 10 podcasts for 2023.

In Crime of the Week: A lot of nerve swerve.

Lara's Top Ten

1. Earwitness
2. Suspect: Five Shots in the Dark
3. The Retrievals
4. Blind Plea
5. Ghost Story
6. The Kids of Rutherford County
7. Fiasco: Vigilante
8. Verified: Full Disclosure
9. Overlooked
10. Admissible Sheds of Evidence

Toby's Top Ten

1. Fiasco: Vigilante
2. You Didn’t See Nothin’
3. Blind Plea
4. Earwitness
5. I’m Not a Monster season 2
6. Alabama Astronaut
7. Witnessed: Devil in the Ditch
8. Ghost Story
9. Chameleon: Dr. Dante
10. The Retrievals

Kevin's Top Ten

1. You Didn't See Nothin
2. Earwitness
3. I Am Not a Monster season 2
4. Fiasco: Vigilante
5. Witnessed: Devil in the Ditch
6. City of Tents: Veterans Row
7. Suspect: Five Shots in the Dark
8. Blind Plea
9. The Retrievals
10. Overlooked

Rebecca's Top Ten

1. You Didn't See Nothin
2. Earwitness
3. Witnessed: Devil in the Ditch
4. The Retrievals
5. Think Twice: Michael Jackson
6. Fiasco: Vigilante
7. Ghost Story
8. Blind Plea
9. Dear Alana,
10. The Dream season 3

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International photojournalist Amanda Mustard returns home to pursue an open family secret. As her grandfather Bill Flickinger nears the end of his life, Amanda investigates the decades of sexual abuse he inflicted on his young chiropractic patients. Mustard looks at how Flickinger avoided accountability for decades and reaches out to her grandfather’s many victims. They include her mother and sister, but the effort to find forgiveness between them threatens to tear the family apart.

In the raw HBO Original “Great Photo, Lovely Life,”  Mustard chronicles her family’s story, seeks to empower survivors, and confronts the fallout that facing family trauma head-on can bring. Viewers are presented with home movies, boxes of mementos, and intimate conversations aimed at disrupting a cycle of abuse, blame, and anger.

OUR-SPOILER FREE REVIEWS OF "GREAT PHOTO, LOVELY LIFE" BEGIN IN THE FINAL 12 MINUTES OF THE EPISODE.

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The Troubled Teen Industry comprises the wilderness programs, therapeutic boarding schools, and group programs desperate parents turn to when their kids are struggling with mental health, substance misuse, and behavioral issues - whether real or perceived. Often, kids are escorted to these programs by so-called Goons - transport agencies hired to take kids away from home, often against their will in the dark hours before dawn. But are these Goons a last-resort tactic for families at the end of their rope or a high-ticket, legal kidnapping operation?

In the podcast “Gooned,” journalist Emma Lehman details many facets of the Troubled Teen Industry, interviewing survivors, former employees, and even impersonating the parent of a teen in crisis in order to dig up dirt on what she asserts is ground zero for the emotional, physical, and psychological abuse that leads to lasting trauma for those the industry is claiming to help.

OUR SPOILER-FREE REVIEWS OF "GOONED" BEGIN IN THE FINAL 11 MINUTES OF THE EPISODE.

In Crime of the Week: ghost in the machine.

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Amina Arraf grew a following for her blog recounting her life as an openly gay woman in Syria, a nation where homosexuality is illegal. She was revered by the queer community internationally, started an online romance, and drew attention from journalists covering the Arab Spring. Her legions of fans were shocked when Amina was arrested by the government and disappeared. But Amina’s descriptions of life under the Syrian regime didn't ring true to those in the small gay community of Damascus. As international efforts to locate and rescue Amina were underway, cracks in her story appeared.

From the CBC comes the podcast “Gay Girl Gone.” Journalist Samira Mohyeddin investigates what happened to the famed blogger. The show also explores the impact on the people and political causes damaged by the whole affair.

OUR SPOILER-FREE REVIEWS OF "GAY GIRL GONE" BEGIN IN THE FINAL 9 MINUTES OF THE EPISODE.

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In 2021, police in Oregon discovered the mummified corpse of Amy Carlson. Her body had been transported and adorned by the members of her small cult “Love Has Won.” The woman they called Mother God had been emaciated and her skin had turned blue. Her followers believed Carlson was the reincarnation of Joan of Arc and Marilyn Monroe, and communed with a group of Galactics led by dead celebrities like Robin Williams and John Lennon. The cult sustained itself through online donations and selling miracle cures as new leaders annointed by Mother God sewed internal strife. Was it her very practices and beliefs that led to her failing health and eventual death?

From HBO Documentary Films, the series “Love Has Won: The Cult of Mother God” examines Carlson’s rise as spiritual guru and her conspiracy-laced convictions. It features interviews with her followers in the immediate days after her death, still enthralled with her dogma.

OUR SPOILER-FREE REVIEWS OF "LOVE HAS WON: THE CULT OF MOTHER GOD" BEGIN IN THE FINAL 11 MINUTES OF THE EPISODE.

In Crime of the Week: A Santa Claus bites the dust.

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Journalist Tristan Redman had no idea his wife's great-grandmother Naomi Dancy had been shot in the eyes by her brother in a 1937 murder-suicide that happened in the house next door. He wondered if it was connected to the spooky incidents in his bedroom or claims from the new owners that it was haunted by a ghost with no face. 

Naomi’s husband had narrowly escaped a bullet during the crime, but modern researchers questioned whether it was he who might have killed his wife and brother-in-law. Redman wondered if the apparition was Naomi asking him to prove John “Feyther” Dancy was the real killer…an inquiry that wouldn’t sit well with Redman's in-laws.

In the podcast “Ghost Story” from Wondery and Pineapple Street Studios, Redman explores the life of the accomplished-yet-problematic patriarch while managing his in-laws’ misgivings. He employs historians, cold case detectives, and spiritual mediums to determine whether his long-dead neighbor was killed by her troubled war veteran brother or her braggadocious husband.

OUR SPOILER-FREE REVIEWS OF "GHOST STORY" BEGIN IN THE FINAL 10 MINUTES OF THE EPISODE.

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