Murder Shelf Book Club Podcast

Welcome to Stories Mummy Never Told You, a compilation of dark tales perfect to set the mood ahead of Halloween! Featuring scary stories, creepy pastas, and folklore from around the world from the very best of indie podcasting. Grab your candy, settle in, and get ready for all sorts of stories of things that go bump in the night. Enjoy the compilation by my 'sibling podcasts', all members of the i...

Bonus Mini-Cast!  Happy Halloween to all my true-crime   Murder Bookies!  I wrote this dark little poem especially for you to enjoy this Halloween—a chilling seasonal tale inspired by one of the holiday's most haunting crimes. Turn down the lights, grab your favorite candy, and enjoy The Candyman-A Halloween Elergy 2026, based on the true crime book by Crystal Baynam (link below).  Stay safe this...

Part 1: In Australia, four guests gathered for a quiet family lunch. Only one would survive—and the woman who served the meal seemed untouched. What began as an apparent tragedy soon unraveled into a mystery that captivated the world. As investigators examined conflicting stories, puzzling choices, and a trail of unsettling clues, one question grew impossible to ignore: Was this a devastating acci...

What happens when a city isn't hunting one serial predator—but several at once? In this riveting conversation, former Detroit Police commander Gerry Cliff takes us inside the extraordinary investigations behind Serial City: Detroit and the Hunt for Multiple Predators , revealing how detectives searched for patterns while dangerous offenders moved through overlapping neighborhoods and a city alread...

Part 4: Jill welcomes author and former prosecutor C.J. Williams for a deeply personal conversation about his book, A Monster in Mount Pleasant: The Stories of Murder and Justice . Williams revisits the 1978 murders that shattered his quiet Iowa hometown when he was just 16 years old—crimes that took the lives of Karol and Clementine Beavers and Susan Wheelock, and altered the course of his own li...

Jill chats with retired Chicago detective and author Michele Wood for a conversation that is as gripping as it is unexpectedly heartfelt. Drawing from Michele's book, Model Detective: A True Story of Heels, Handcuffs, and Homicides , the discussion moves beyond true crime headlines and into the lived reality of a woman who spent 25 years investigating homicides, sex crimes, domestic violence, and...

Special Bonus Mini-Cast Event! Playing Games with Gary Ridgway!  What if the friendly coworker who lingered after his shift to play Pokémon with you was one of America's most notorious serial killers? In this unforgettable mini episode, private investigator Shane Moreland reveals how an ordinary workplace friendship took a chilling turn when he recognized his former coworker on the news: Gary Ridg...

Part 3: This conclusion of A Monster in Mount Pleasant continues the gripping legal thriller, filled with surprising twists and turns, devastating setbacks, and a justice system forced to balance outrage, evidence, and constitutional rights as it prosecutes a brutal killer. Over the decades, evidence is questioned, convictions are challenged, and long-awaited justice remains painfully uncertain. C...

In this special episode , Jill ventures into one of humanity's oldest and most unsettling taboos through Nathalie von Zelowitz's extraordinary true-crime work, I Ate His Heart: Interviews with a Cannibal . Drawing on her decade-long therapeutic relationship with a man identified as 'Bernard', Nathalie von Zelowitz takes listeners far beyond shock value, into the complicated psychology of trauma, i...

Part 2: After the murders of Karol and Clementine Beavers, fear settled over Mt. Pleasant as investigators searched for a killer hiding in plain sight. Among the young men questioned was Monte Seager, a troubled teen who had crossed paths with Karol at Mount Pleasant High School. His alibi raised no immediate suspicion, and the investigation began to drift, leaving the Mount Pleasant community for...

In this powerful special episode, Jill continues an urgent conversation sparked by EP 180, Carlos Rodriguez's The Ugly Underneath, by sitting down with Jenny Dutton , executive director of Raven . A former Florida prosecutor with decades of experience in special victims, homicide, sex crimes, and technology-facilitated child exploitation, Dutton pulls back the curtain on the fight to protect child...

Part 1: Author and Mount Pleasant native CJ Williams transports listeners to the seemingly safe and close-knit town of Mount Pleasant, Iowa, in 1978. This was a place known for its unlocked doors, high school sports, family businesses, church gatherings, and neighbors who knew each other by name. However, that sense of security is shattered when the brutal murders of Karol Beavers and her mother,...

In this special episode, Jill chats with retired Washington State Patrol Detective Sgt. Carlos Rodriguez, author of The Ugly Underneath: Navigating the Emotional Toll of Investigating Crimes Against Children , for a conversation that goes far beyond the usual true crime case file. Rodriguez pulls back the curtain on the world of child exploitation investigations—where undercover operations, online...

Part 4:  In this fourth installment of KILLER IN THE HOUSE ,  Jill chats with reporter and true crime author Katherine Canavan about her book, exploring the 1976 murders of the Abt family in Bucks County, Pennsylvania. Canavan shares insights from her in-depth research, including her personal eyewitness account. The conversation highlights looking back on the case after 50 years, the devastating i...

For 29 years, Neil Moran served as an FBI Special Agent, embedding himself undercover to outwit New York City's most notorious mob families. His deeply moving, firsthand accounts bridge the gap between historical headlines and human tragedy, offering unique insights into the heartbreaking 1978 kidnapping and murder of six-year-old Etan Patz, including the recent update in the case, and the exhaust...

Part 3: March 1976- From the first, reporter Kathryn Canavan had covered the harrowing murder of Gary Engle and the Abt family, Jack, Peggy, Margie, Johnny, and Kathy, an event that instilled deep fear in the suburban community of Trevose, Bucks County, Pennsylvania.  After a lucky break, Bensalem investigators make an arrest just ten days after the brutal murder spree, with George Geschwendt, a n...

Who wouldn't want to help identify unknown human remains and restore the names of the deceased? Who wouldn't want to solve a cold case? Would anyone act to prevent this?  Evidently, yes!  Effective November 2025, Ancestry.com 's new policy prohibits anyone from using its databases for investigative purposes. While Ancestry has long banned law enforcement's use of genetic genealogy for identifying...

Part 2:  On March 12, 1976, a wave of violence struck Pennsylvania, claiming eight lives in two brutal incidents. In Trevose, the Abt family—Jack, Peggy, their children Margie, Johnny, and Kathy, along with Margie's boyfriend, Gary Engle, and their dog, Heidi—were ambushed. Just four miles away in Langhorne, Ed and Marguerite Vogenberger were found murdered in their farmhouse, which had been turne...

Twelve hours before a presidential candidate is set to speak, a startling threat is received. How did Secret Service Special Agent Brad Beeler and his partner swiftly identify the caller and ensure the candidate's safety? In a riveting conversation, Brad Beeler, with 25 years of experience in high-stakes investigations as a top polygraph examiner, joins Jill to tackle this pressing issue. He also...

Part 1: Trevose, Pennsylvania, 1976—a safe, middle-class suburb where children slept under the stars and front doors remained unlocked. This idyllic peace was shattered when a brutal massacre claimed the lives of the Abt family, marking one of the most horrific crimes in the state's history. The killer meticulously planned the deaths of six people, leaving the community paralyzed with fear and dem...

Happy 250th Anniversary, America! Out early for the holiday! Part 4: In this compelling discussion, author Charles "Chip" Wallace, Jr. joins Jill to share the deeply personal account of his mother, Joell Fleming, and the shocking elder abuse and financial exploitation she faced while battling dementia. Since the publication of his revelations, what steps have been taken to address this issue? It's...

In this special episode: Forty-two harrowing years on death row, former inmate William A. Noguera has a gripping story to share. In his chilling true-crime memoir, Through the Lens of a Monster: A Serial Killer on Death Row, an Unsolved Murder List, and an Inmate's Deadly Play for Redemption, he opens up to Jill about his life behind bars. While at San Quentin Penitentiary, Noguera courageously do...

Part 3 : After his mother's death, Charles "Chip" Wallace is faced with a shocking realization: Esmeralda Gomez, the caregiver hired to look after his mother, Joell Fleming, had lied, manipulated, and committed elder abuse and fraud. She exploited a woman in her 80s who was suffering from dementia. Determined to prevent the caregiver from inheriting a fortune, Chip embarks on a thorough investigat...

In Special Episode 169 :  Jill welcomes investigative journalist Maria DiLorenzo, the author of the new book Confessions of the Green River Killer: A True Story of Manipulation, Madness, and a Search for Justice. Maria DiLorenzo reached out to Gary Ridgway, a serial killer, who pleaded guilty to the murders of 49 women, to gather information about possible unidentified victims. Despite his typical...

  Part 2: During the COVID-19 lockdown, Joell Fleming's adult children—Chip and his siblings—were prohibited from visiting their mother, who suffers from dementia. This left her entirely dependent on her caregiver, Esmarelda Gomez. As communication became increasingly difficult, Joell's children were often the last to learn about critical decisions being made regarding their mother's care, often w...