Crime Writers On...

Willy Nast was a passing acquaintance of Jeff Signorelli, an Aurora, IL teen who was killed in 2002 when a bullet went through a wall at a party. As a college student, Nast interviewed Signorelli’s parents for an essay on the crime and the community it happened in. With plans for

A small Ohio city was stunned after a teen crashed her car into the side of a building, killing her boyfriend and a back seat passenger. Mackenzie Shirilla said she couldn’t remember what happened before she slammed head-on into a brick wall at 100 MPH, but said the fatal collisi

Clayton Echard was trying to bounce back from his disastrous appearance on “The Bachelor" when he hooked up with a potential real estate investor. Though he claimed they only had oral sex, Laura Owens said she was pregnant with his twins. What came next from her was an unrelentin

Marcellus may be just an octopus, but he’s very observant of what’s happening around him in the aquarium. Tova the cleaning lady is considering selling her home. And when she sprains her ankle, cash-strapped Cameron takes a temp job helping clean. Marcellus can sense the deep sad

In the 1960s, United Mine Workers advocate Jock Yablonski bucked his own union for giving into coal companies on critical issues — including cases of black lung disease and mine safety. And when evidence revealed union president Tony Boyle had been making secret deals with the co

In 2020, pathologist Caroline Muirhead swiped right on a gamekeeper from the Scottish Highlands. Her whirlwind romance with Sandy McKellar led to a quick proposal. But before the wedding, her fiancé confided that years earlier, he and his twin brother killed a man and hid his bod

In 2016, women of color in Newark, NJ began to disappear. The police response lacked urgency because some were sex workers and others were considered runaways. So friends of Mawa Doumbia set their own trap, using the missing 15-year-old’s social media to draw out her killer. Inve

When their friend Nancy is murdered, Eleanor and Mary believe her secret lover “David” is behind it. But Eleanor becomes an early suspect in the case when her long-simmering feelings about the victim’s husband come to the surface. Mary takes on the role of sleuth, hoping to unmas

When Skylar Neese wasn’t posting photos of her with two best friends, she was posting cryptic messages about mean girls. One night in 2012, Skylar slipped out of her bedroom window, got into an awaiting car, and vanished. When the trail went cold, Shelia Eddy and Rachel Shoaf flo

Lucy Greenwell remembered a story from her childhood: in 1987, a newborn was abandoned off a country road near her home in Suffolk. Now a journalist, Greenwell tracked down Jess, who grew up wondering how she came to be a foundling. Jess eventually reached out to the young nanny

When his eighteen-year-old twin brother Anh gets into a drunken fight at a party, Trung stabs his attacker. San Jose police place both identical twins in a lineup, and witnesses mistakenly say Anh was the one who delivered the fatal blow…a mistake neither brother cares to correct

TV weatherman Clark Forrest convinces his friend and ASL interpreter to sign up for an anonymous hook-up app to spice up his life. Floyd Smernitch is cash-strapped, overweight, and dealing with his distant wife and troubled stepson. But after joining DTF St. Louis, Floyd’s body i