Oct 28

Oct 28 True Crime in the Kitchen

Podcasts to Satisfy your True Crime Addiction

At a friend’s birthday party recently, I found myself chatting with a group of fellow true crime podcast fans. We munched on crudités and compared notes on spooky thrillers with great sound scaping, fantastic hosts, and our reactions to unsolved murders and unexpected endings. True Crime podcasts are a whole industry, and if you’re like me - short on time but love to multitask - you are listening to them in the kitchen while you meal prep, cook, and wash the dishes!

As the partygoers and I shared our True Crime recommendations, I thought of you, Hearthsiders, and wondered how many of you also love this genre. So I’m sharing a list of my favorites below. And, if you love True Crime too, I want your recommendations! Drop them in the comments.

My Top 5 True Crime Podcasts

Note: These are true crime podcasts, and the necessary trigger warnings that go with that certainly apply. If you are sensitive to specific topics, please research a bit more before you choose to listen to any of these.

West Cork | Cold Case.
The murder of a French woman in rural West Cork from the 90s remains unsolved today. Investigative journalist couple Jennifer Forde and Sam Bungey deep dive the events and possible murder suspects decades later. You’ll have an opinion on who or what (really, there’s a possibility at one point a horse did it!) was the murderer by the end. Expect wild mishandling of the evidence, unexpected challenges of an isolated town on holiday, amazing sound scaping, and genuine respect shown to the victim and her family. This is True Crime podcasting perfection. Originally on Audible only, last I checked it was also on Android Podcasts and Spotify.
Bear Brook | Serial Killer.
Very gritty and creepy. Bear Brook, hosted by Jason Moon, starts with a cold case of two bodies found in a blue barrel in the remote woods of New Hampshire. And then another one. When new forensic techniques allowed this case to be reopened, Moon and his team started covering the story. What they find, and the possibilities of what they uncover, will have you on edge. The technology is fascinating, the arrested suspect is terrifying, and the reporting is superb.
S*Town | Purported Murder in Small Town America.
This one is just wild and deeply sad. John B. McLemore reaches out to radio journalist Brian Reed about an alleged murder in his rural Alabama town. His town that he hates, and that he’s going to help by uncovering the truth. Completely unexpected, this 7 episode podcast unravels a story that will keep you guessing the whole way through. Gritty in the darkest senses of the word.
The Dropout | Corporate Crime.
Back in the headlines recently, this podcast chronicles the rise and fall of CEO Elizabeth Holmes and her billion-dollar company that created a revolutionary blood testing technology. The examination of Holmes, a sociopath, is utterly fascinating and completely unrelatable. Unlike the others in this list, there is no murder to this tale, but the deception and corporate crime committed is completely criminal. A true character study of a criminal.
Dirty John | Predatory Handsome Manipulator.
A cautionary tale for online dating, to be sure. Debra Newell meets John Meehan on a dating site and he ticks all of her boxes. When they meet, he’s even more charming in person than she expected. Things are seemingly perfect until Debra’s daughters start to raise some concerns and the truth about Dirty John, master manipulator, starts to come out. This one is more of a long narrative than the investigative journalist style.