Murder Made Fiction

Amanda and Joe begin their coverage of Hulu's limited series The Girl from Plainville. Like what you hear? Head on over to www.patreon.com/murdermadefiction and become a Patron for more exclusive bonus content today! Theme Music: Conrad Chambers Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Amanda and Joe begin a new month dedicated to the murder spree that gripped Boston in 1963 as 13 women were strangled to death in their own homes. This month we're discussing Albert DeSalvo, The Boston Strangler. If you want to hear the full story, join us on Patreon (⁠patreon.com/murdermadefiction⁠) for the full-length primer as well as episodic coverage of the Hulu miniseries, The Girl From Plai...

Amanda and Joe look back at their coverage of Leopold and Loeb and discuss their favorite adaptations, least favorite adaptations, and possible new ways to adapt the story today. Wanna connect with the show? Follow us on social media  (BlueSky & Instagram) or send us an email: murdermadefiction@gmail.com > Amanda: @amandajanestern > Joe: @bstolemyremote / @joelipsett (BlueSky) Wanna support the sh...

After using his work extensively to fact check texts throughout the month, Amanda and Joe sit down with author and archivist Erik Rebain to discuss his fascination with the case, his favorite fictional adaptations and why Ryan Murphy should (or shouldn't) make a TV series. Erik's website: The Lives and Legends of Richard Loeb and Nathan Leopold Wanna connect with the show? Follow us on social medi...

Here's a sneak peek at our all new Patreon episode on Funny Games (2007), that's right, the English-language remake. Like what you hear? Head on over to www.patreon.com/murdermadefiction and become a Patron for more exclusive bonus content today!  Theme Music: Conrad Chambers Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Our coverage of Leopold and Loeb wraps up on the main feed with Barbet Schroeder's Murder By Numbers (2002), which consists of two different films smashed together into one. On one side, we have a police procedural involving Sandy B's detective and her traumatic past. On the other side, we have a pair of queer-coded teen boys (Ryan Gosling and Michael Pitt) obsessed with executing the perfect murd...

Here's a sneak peek at our all new Patreon episode on Scream (1996), the Wes Craven meta-slasher. Like what you hear? Head on over to www.patreon.com/murdermadefiction and become a Patron for more exclusive bonus content today!  Theme Music: Conrad Chambers Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Here's a sneak peek at our all new Patreon episode on Swoon (1992), the only queer-directed text in our Leopold and Loeb coverage. Like what you hear? Head on over to www.patreon.com/murdermadefiction and become a Patron for more exclusive bonus content today!  Theme Music: Conrad Chambers Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The first title in our Leopold and Loeb coverage is Compulsion, written by Richard Murphy and based on Meyer Levin's 1956 novel. Richard Fleischer's film is notable for casting Orson Welles, who delivers an impassioned speech against the death penalty in the finale. Plus: a weakened Hays Code; beautiful Dean Stockwell; and the decision to keep the murder offscreen. Wanna connect with the show? Fol...

Here's a sneak peek at our all new full length Patreon episode on Alfred Hitchcock's Rope (1948) Like what you hear? Head on over to www.patreon.com/murdermadefiction and become a Patron for more exclusive bonus content today!  Theme Music: Conrad Chambers Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In Chicago 1924, Nathan Leopold and Richard Loeb attempted to commit "the perfect murder" by killing 14-year-old Bobby Franks. They were caught almost immediately in what became known as "the trial of the century." Wanna connect with the show? Follow us on social media @murdermfiction (BlueSky & Instagram) or send us an email: murdermadefiction@gmail.com > Amanda: @amandajanest...

Joe welcomes new co-host Amanda Jane Stern with an interview to explore her background, her history with true crime, her likes and dislikes, and recent titles that have caught her attention. Wanna connect with the show? Follow us on social media @murdermfiction (BlueSky & Instagram) or send us an email: murdermadefiction@gmail.com > Amanda: @amandajanestern > Joe: @bstolemyremote / @joelipsett (Bl...

Jenn and Joe wrap up coverage of Netflix's limited series, Unbelievable, with the cathartic final episode. Like what you hear? Head on over to www.patreon.com/murdermadefiction and become a Patron for more exclusive bonus content today!  Theme Music: Conrad Chambers Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In twelve seasons of his anthology show, Ryan Murphy has tackled his share of true crime. To conclude our coverage of the murder of Elizabeth Short, we’re revisiting a pair of episodes featuring Mena Suvari as the famous young woman: Murder House - S1 Episode 9: “Spooky Little Girl” and Apocalypse - S8 Episode 6: “Return to Murder House.” Wanna connect with the show? Follow us on social media @mur...

Joe and Jenn have reached the most mainstream fictionalized depiction of Elizabeth Short's murder: Brian De Palma's 2006 title, The Black Dahlia. Criticized for its poor casting and convoluted narrative, the film is reminiscent of several other crime entries, notably L.A. Confidential. Despite this (and the 2 hour runtime), the cast is hot, Hilary Swank and Fiona Shaw are having a blast, and that...

Ulu Grosbard’s True Confessions is a star-studded neo-noire following Robert Duvall and Robert De Niro as brothers caught in the corruption of post-WWII LA. But how does it fare as a Black Dahlia text? Does it present a faithful or sensitive version of the tragic murder of Elizabeth Short? Wanna connect with the show? Follow us on social media @murdermfiction (Twitter & Instagram) or send us an em...

Here's a sneak peek at our all new Patreon episode on Episode 2 of the Netflix limited series, Unbelievable (2019) Like what you hear? Head on over to www.patreon.com/murdermadefiction and become a Patron for more exclusive bonus content today!  Theme Music: Conrad Chambers Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Our coverage of The Black Dahlia kicks off with the 1975 made-for-TV movie, Who Is The Black Dahlia? Director Joseph Pevney and screenwriter Robert W. Lenski's film presents Elizabeth Short as an aimless, unknowable figure (possibly even to herself). As played by Lucie Arnaz, the movie is well researched and actually gives Short much more screen time than we expected, but it doesn't entirely satis...

Jenn and Joe sat down with non-fiction author William J. Mann to discuss his recent novel, Black Dahlia: Murder, Monsters, and Madness in Midcentury Hollywood, which acts as the source material for our episodes all month long. Wanna connect with the show? Follow us on social media @murdermfiction (BlueSky & Instagram) or send us an email: murdermadefiction@gmail.com > Jenn: @jennferatu > Joe: @bst...

This month, we’re covering films based on one of the most famous unsolved crimes in American history. To kick things off, Jenn and Joe discuss the gruesome murder of Elizabeth Short and the many salacious rumors that rose in its wake. Wanna connect with the show? Follow us on social media @murdermfiction (Twitter & Instagram) or send us an email: murdermadefiction@gmail.com > Jenn: @jennferatu > J...

Due to a technical snafu, we're unable to release our episode on Bad Education, so accept our apologies with an episode on Brad Parker's delightfully silly B-movie Chernobyl Diaries (2012), which we programmed as part of our Chernobyl coverage on Patreon. Like what you hear? Head on over to www.patreon.com/murdermadefiction and become a Patron for more exclusive bonus content today!  Theme Music:...

Week three of 'Whistleblower' month looks at Todd Haynes' 2019 film, Dark Waters (2019), adapted from the New York Times article "The Lawyer Who Became DuPont's Worst Nightmare." Starring a fantastic Mark Ruffalo, the film follows Rob Billott a lawyer who takes on DuPont chemicals for polluting the water in West Virginia. Topics include: the long drawn out legal battle; character actors Bill Camp...

Our coverage of whistleblowers continues with Erin Brockovich, a biopic turned true crime drama about a single mother of three who uncovers a devastating environmental crime. Steven Soderbergh’s crowd-pleaser infuses life into what is essentially a story about documents while adding courtroom intrigue to a case settled without going to trial.  Wanna connect with the show? Follow us on social media...

On Nov 13, 1974, the body of Karen Silkwood was discovered in her rear-ended car in a ditch in Crescent, Oklahoma. Mike Nichols' Oscar-nominated 1983 film looks at the events preceding her death as Karen became the first woman ever elected to a Kerr-McGee bargaining committee, her increasing activism, and her attempts to sound the alarm on faulty nuclear rods before her death. The film stars Meryl...

In the early morning hours of 26 April 1986, the fourth RBMK reactor at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant, exposing the Soviet Union to massive levels of radioactivity. The resulting cleanup would take nearly a year and wind up claiming thousands of lives. Meanwhile, scientists scrambled to understand exactly what went wrong and how to prevent Earth’s worst manmade disaster from happening again. J...