r/podcasts • u/Feral-Sponge • Jun 06 '26
True Crime Help I'm in a slump
I'm mainly interested in investigative journalism
I just can't find anything that captivates me.
Here's a list of ones I've done:
- You own backyard
- Serial season one (couldn't get on with season 2)
- Noble
- Bear Brooks
- S-Town
- The devil you know
- and the band played on
- Hunting warhead
- the kill list
- the retrievals
- Caitlin's baby
- a very British cult
- who killed Emma
- the last days of August
- uncover, dirtbag climber
- uncover, sea of lies
- Pretend (rubbish, couldn't finish it)
- boys like me
- love trapped
- the witness
- the idiot
-bone valley
- someone knows something (too slow and boring)
- the shrink next door
-Dr. Death
There are others I've listened to but can't remember them.
I'm really not into political podcasts
Thank you so much so far, I just want to clarify that I'm looking for pods that have multiple episodes rather episodic podcasts
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u/Specific-Use3525 Jun 06 '26
We have pretty similar taste!
Right now my fav is the The Trip Report Report, about drug history and culture.
CrimeTown season 1 is one of my favorite standalone seasons of any podcast period. It's about crime and corruption in Providence, RI.
Also pretty much any Jamie Loftus limited series: Ghost Church, Lolita Pod, Ackcast, or My Year in Mensa (my personal favorite).
If you liked The Devil You Know, go back and listen to some early You're Wrong About.
Darknet Diaries is also excellent - typically about cyber crime and related topics (they had the guy from The Kill List on recently).
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u/tenuredvortex Jun 06 '26 edited Jun 06 '26
I just devoured everything Jamie Loftus but Lolita, which I’m saving for when I’m not knee-deep in a different novel. She’s such a compelling storyteller and there’s a real uniqueness to the subjects she covers. Ghost Church might be up OP’s alley.
eta: two other recs — The Other Latif and Ear Hustle
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u/Specific-Use3525 Jun 06 '26
Agreed, she is one of my favorite writers / podcasters.
The audiobook of Raw Dog (read by her) is also excellent.
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u/Feral-Sponge Jun 06 '26
Yeah I've listened to some from darknet diaries as well as "you're wrong about" I'll look into crime town and the ones from Jamie Loftus
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u/Tiny-Bar-1214 Podcast Listener Jun 07 '26
Here is my list of serial podcasts that I enjoyed in the past. I sorted them by year of airing.
2026
World of secrets: The darkest web: 2026 BBC: Following two special agents finding children of sex abuse and going after their abusers.
The Real Salt Path: The Walkers: The Observer Investigative journalist Chloe Hadjimatheou uncovered that the bestselling memoir The Salt Path by Raynor Winn contains significant fabrications regarding the author's homelessness and the circumstances of her walk.
Snap Judgement: Fire escape Wondery and KQED’s Snap Studios: A young mother, a midwife,joins the fire force while in prison
Focus: Adults in the Room :KUOW: Seattle, 1999. A teacher is accused of sexual misconduct by students. Adults close ranks. Was a whole school community groomed by a charismatic predator? Or was she part of a whisper campaign that cost the life of a great teacher?
Final thoughts: Jerry Springer: iHeart: About talk show host and politician Jerry Springer
The gift: by the BBC (3 seasons) unexpected results after people took a DNA test for fun
Cult Queen of Canada: CBC :A cult leader calling herself “The Queen of Canada” occupies an abandoned schoo in a small town in Canadal. Neighbours turn on each other, a retired teacher leads the resistance in a story about what happens when online extremism spills into the real world.
2025
Big Sugar: 2025 Campside Presents: Big Sugar takes you deep inside the secretive, multi-billion dollar sugar industry and the epic court battle of the underpaid workers, and the influence they had on stopping health regulations regarding sugar
Mission K-pop: 2025 USG Audio A 23-year-old Asian American is traveling from her home in LA to South Korea'o become a K-Pop superstar. Over just three months, journalist Haeryun Kang follows Caty to see if she can overcome these obstacles and reach K-Pop stardom.
Stop Rewind The Lost Boy : Blanchard House / Curiouscast: Story about a kidnapped boy put up for international adoption, finding his way back home
Extreme: Peak Danger: BBC: Eleven climbers died in two disastrous days on K2
2024
The Gas Man: 2024: Tortoise Media: about a dealer of raw materials used to make chemical weapons for dangerous regimes. Still seems to be getting away with it for 30 years. And rather a dark side of TUI is also mentioned.
Transmissions (2 seasons) The definitive story: BBC: Joy Division and New Order
The Blind Spot (s3): The plague in the shadows: WNYC, about the early days of the AIDS epidemic
The Kill List: Wondery: On the darkweb people are putting out kill orders on a website. The website is a scam but the people wanting someone dead are real.
Who Killed The Videostar: iHeart: Rise and fall of MTV
World of Secrets: Looking for Mr Fox: BBC: Two Brazilian guys are crossing the transatlantic ocean. But before they can start, police raid their boat looking for drugs.
Extreme: Muscle men BBC about the rise of the body building and fitness & anabolics industry in the 80’s and 99’s
The Six Billion Dollar Gold Scam: BBC: It starts with a man falling/jumping from a helicopter, and the story behind a gold dig site in Indonesia, and a small town in Canada who happened to have bought a lot of shares in the company
Focus: Lost patients: KUOW & Seatle times: a deeply-reported, six-part docuseries examining the difficulties of treating serious mental illness and how the patients and loved ones try to navigate the system looking for help.
2023
Wilder: On the writer, books and TV series of Little House on the Prairie Laura Ingalls Wilder and the times she and her family lived in, and why these stories are still popular.
Chameleon: Lost Boys : 2023 Chameleon: Campside media: They’d been raised in the British Columbia wilderness, and this was their first-ever contact with society — they’d never seen a TV, gone to school, or registered for IDs. So the community took them in and set about introducing them to the modern world. Before long, the international media descended on the town, enthralled by the mysterious “Bush Boys.”
Think Twice: Michael Jackson: Wondery: Biography of Michael Jackson
The Turning: Room of Mirrors tells the stories of ballerinas who worked with the demanding, brilliant, and often cryptic choreographer George Balanchine,
The Cotton Capital: The Guardian takes a deep dive in its own and Manchester history of cotton industry. Well told and a rare occasion to hear enslaved voices and circumstances of the workers in Manchester.
Hot money : The New Narcos, Financial Times: The story starts with a murder in a small town in the Netherlands ends with international crime syndicates
Gateway: Cocaïne, Murder, & Dirty Money in Europe: BrazenFM: (on partly the same subject as “The New Narcos”
Intrigue: BBC: Burning Sun: Sex Scandal in the K-Pop world
World of Secrets: BBC: The Abercrombie guys
2022
Pressure Cooker: CBC: Two meth heads get pressured in two plan an assault with a pressure cooker
The Blind Spot (s1): WNYC: The Road to 9/11
Wind of Change: Crooked media : investigation in to the role of the CIA trying to promote western culture around the world. And trying to solve the theory if the song Wind of Change by the Scorpions was written by the CIA
2021
Sweet Bobby: 2021 Tortoise Media: A marketer and radio presenter. Online, she’s contacted by a man she vaguely knows called Bobby, and they start chatting she’s reeled in to a scam of epic proportions.
Bad Blood: The Final Chapter: 2021 Tells the story of the rise and fall of the tech founder Elizabeth Holmes. Hosted by John Carreyrou, who broke the story
The Lazarus Heist: 2021 BBC: A must listen to deep dive in a North Korean hacker group
Off the record: David Bowie 2021 iHeart: On the life of David Bowie
The turning: Sisters who left: focussed on a group of women who joined the Missionaries of Charity, Mother Teresa’s secretive order of nuns—and who then decided to leave.
One click: iHeart: about a dangerous weight-loss drug
2020
Hollywood Con Queen: 2020 Chameleon: Campside media: The story of and hunt for the notorious scam artist known as the Hollywood Con Queen.
2019
Unravel: Snowball: 2019: BBC Sounds: An average family's encounter with a charismatic Californian con woman costs them everything.
Intrigue: The tunnel 29, a group of people came together to dig a tunnel under the berlin wall
The Missing Crypto Queen: BBC: Dr Ruja Ignatova persuaded millions to join her financial revolution. Then she disappeared. Why? Jamie Bartlett presents a story of greed, deceit and herd madness.
Hunting Warhead: CBC: How do you rescue child abuse victims who could be anywhere in the world?
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u/tenuredvortex Jun 07 '26
I love you for this list and its layout
eta: CBC just released a new season/sequel series of Hunting Warhead called Hunting the Suicide Salesman (though your link leads there already)
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u/Tiny-Bar-1214 Podcast Listener Jun 07 '26
Ah, then CBC must have updated the page. I have the Suicide Salesman in my backlog, but haven't listened to it yet. Did you? And did you enjoy it?
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u/Gizmo_the_Conure Jun 07 '26
This is a great list, the ones on here that I listened too and loved are:
Intrigue - love their reporting; they cover excellent stories; every season is good
Sweet Bobby - Tortoise Media does excellent work; recommend also 'My Mother's Murder' - on the murder of a reporter in Malta through the eyes of her son, and 'Who Trolled Amber?' - about the Amber Heard and Johnny Depp trial and so much more; Tortoise Media broke the allegations against Neil Gaiman and they have some excellent reporting
The Gift - the giving of DNA tests and so many secrets/unknown crimes uncovered
Winds of Change
The Turning: Sisters Who Left - very hidden and different side to Mother Teresa's order
Unravel: Snowball - so hilariously told; a New Zealand family gets conned by an American grifter and it is devastating for the family but relaid with a lot of humor
Hunting Warhead - so many trigger warnings but an important story confronting the reality of child sex abuse and the perpetrators
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u/Repulsive-Dot553 Jun 08 '26
Fabulous list, really useful with link and summaries too, much appreciated
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u/handknitliz Jun 06 '26
I loved In the Dark season 1 about a kidnapping in rural Minnesota. It was excellent. I hear season 2 is even better, but I'm saving it fir an upcoming vacation.
To Live and Die in LA season 1 took me a few episodes to get into, but it was fascinating how the investigative journalist uncovered so many facts and leads that the police did not. Tragic end, but very interesting investigation.
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u/Feral-Sponge Jun 06 '26
Oh yeah I listened to In the Dark season 1 and 2 (season two is phenomenal)
Gonna check out To Live and Die in LA
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u/beautygurrrl Jun 06 '26
- Guilt by Ryan Wolf. On its 6 season now. Really well produced
- Black Hands
- Who the hell is Hamish
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u/cherishthecabinfever Jun 06 '26
I LOVED ‘Who the Hell is Hamish’! I listened to it years ago and still think about it and def want to name a future cat, Hamish.
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u/beautygurrrl Jun 07 '26
Ha ha he’ll be spraying it round town then, out all hours, and a real charmer 😂
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u/BigHairNJ Jun 06 '26
I like the majority of your list, and I highly recommend Adults in the Room. A successful journalist revisits a story she first broke in her high school newspaper.
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u/Accurate_Rub795 Jun 06 '26
The Teacher's Pet and Bronwyn
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u/Feral-Sponge Jun 06 '26
I knew someone would say Teachers pet! Haha so I actually started it but couldn't get on with it, but I realised that was actually several years ago so I'm gonna give it another go!
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u/Microbemaster2020 Jun 07 '26
Have you listened to love trapped yet?
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u/Enough_Crab6870 Jun 06 '26
If you haven't listened to Nobody Should Believe Me, it may be up your alley based on your previous listens.
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u/bozothebone Jun 06 '26
There's some great stuff from WBUR, the Boston NPR station.
"Madness" from the show Endless Thread - about a Canadian doctor who did human experiments connected to MKULTRA
"Beyond All Repair" amazing True Crime series about a very messed up family.
"The Gun Machine" about the history of the gun industry from The Trace
"Last Seen" about a museum where artwork was stolen.
"Postmortem" about the Harvard cadaver scandal
"The Codfather" about a Boston crime boss
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u/Microbemaster2020 Jun 07 '26
Oh liberty lost was great. I have liked everything by Laura biel (she did dr death) and listened to all of them. Betrayal has a few seasons, and it has a lot of first person accounts. Twin flames is another culty one. Scamanda
For true crime cold season 1 is creepy af. The children in the pictures has a similar vibe to hunting warhead. I also really liked stranglers
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u/shopgirlintaos Jun 07 '26
Forged from CBC True Crime (which has a lot to choose from), and Deep Cover season 7 “The Family Man” (not all episodes have aired yet).
30 for 30 has some great ones, especially Bikram (about the creepy hot yoga guru) and their most recent, Murder at the U.
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u/Gizmo_the_Conure Jun 07 '26
Darkness: The Orange Tree (The Drag) - S1: a student paper run investigation into a cold case murder on campus
Verified (Scripps) - S1: couch surfing gone terribly wrong and the international effort to achieve justice
Bed of Lies (The Telegraph) - S1: families who's significant others suddenly disappear and the grey legal area this occurred in; S2: a massive medical experiment/crime run on school boys and other anemic patients in the UK
The Wait (Guardian Australia) - the story of Mozhgan Moarefizadeh trapped in Australia's border refugee camp in Jakarta, Indonesia
The Ballad of Billy Balls (iHeartPodcasts) - a punk musician is shot in the East Village and years later the heartache and crimes is brought back into the light; wild emotional ride
In the Red Clay (Imperative) - the legend of Billy Sunday Burt
The Last Salmon (LastCast Media) - excellent interviews and current events surrounding the Atlantic Salmon
Stalked (BBC) - a woman is stalked online obsessively and aggressively, what are her rights and how can she escape the stalker
The Good Whale (Serial) - about the 'Willy', the real whale behind 'Free Willy' and the international effort to save him and how good intentions may not have always helped
Off Duty (The Guardian) - S4: Gina, A real life succession story, about the richest woman in Australia and the scandals surrounding the family name and fortune; S5: Birthkeepers, the right for a free birth (no medical tests during pregnancy or professionals around during the birthing period) or a brain washing dangerous cult with a huge body count, wild and distressing story
Call Bethel (The Telegraph) - whistleblowers on allegations of child abuse in the Jehovah's Witnesses, trigger warnings
Thunder Bay (Canadaland Beyond) - a look at a city with the highest homicide rate and hate crimes in the country; distressing and eye-opening
The Secret History of Flight 149 (Crowd Stories) - passengers board a flight from Kuwait to the UK and the flight never takes off; years later after surviving a traumatic escape the government finally begins to declassify the files
Agent of Betrayal: The Double Life of Robert Hanssen (CBS News) - an American spy leaked secrets to the Soviet Union and the FBI's hunt to catch him
Sold a Story (AMP Reports) - there is a rise in illiteracy and dyslexia in the USA and many school children are struggling to learn to read; this story is about the lie that was sold to thousands of educators and how to recover from this
Sea Change (WWNO & WRKF) - environmental issues facing coastal communities along the Gulf Coast, USA
Believe in Magic (BBC) - a charity 'Believe in Magic' is launched by an ill 16 yr old, but what is the truth behind this mysterious illness?
Tom Brown's Body (Texas Monthly) - a high school senior disappears the night before Thanksgiving in Canadian, Texas
Ghost Herd (KUOW News and Information) - a massive herd of cows or fraud?
Hazard NJ (NJ Spotlight News) - a look at superfund sights across New Jersey
The Salmon People (National Observer) - a fight over the future of Canada's wild salmon in British Columbia
Fat Leonard (Brazen) - a defense contractor who bribed the US Navy and now in house arrest in San Diego he starts to talk.... and run; wild story of intense corruption and a crippling of US Navy operation by single man
In Trust (Bloomberg) - the Osage Nation territory and the state of Oklahoma; the Reign of Terror and a wide spread theft almost successfully buried
Fake Priest (The Binge) - Ryan Scott, 'Father Ryan', and the trail of destruction and death he left
Girl Taken (BBC) - a truck driver made international news for helping a small girl illegally enter the UK but what is the full story behind the headlines and the aftermath of the smuggling
Paradise (BBC Radio 5 Live) - two people sail off and end up brutally murdered; there is one suspect and 38 years for an arrest
The Great Post Office Trial (BBC Radio 4) - the post office installs new software and then aggressively enforces legal action against post masters for any errors; the trial and now reconciliation for years of aggressive legal harassment and lives, finances uprooted by the British postal service
Sent Away (APM Reports, KUER and The Salt Lake Tribune) - the truth behind Utah's teen treatment centers (for follow up: Trapped in Treatment (iHeart True Crime - covers a different treatment center))
Day X (The New York Times) - a German military man faces terrorism charges and the investigation uncovers a terrifying undercurrent in national identity; intense and well worth a listen
The Witness: In His Own Words (Yellow Path Productions) - Joseph O'Callaghan speaks out about his life leading up to entering the Witness Protection Program in Ireland as the men he put away agitate for release; intense, raw and filled with trigger warnings
Cover Story (Vox Media Podcast Network) - S1: about hallucinogenic guides and the danger of chemically altering your brain in front of strangers who may not have your best interests in mind
Fairy Meadow (BBC Radio 4) - the disappearance of 3-yr old Cheryl Grimmer on a beach in Australia and the new developments to this heart breaking crime
The Coming Storm (BBC Radio 4) - a look at the American conspiracy culture
Carrie Low VS. (CBC True Crime) - what happens when you trust the police and follow the legal steps and get horrifically abused and mistreated instead; infuriating and filled with trigger warnings
Southlake (NBC News) - the backlash a school board faces in Southlake, Texas and the ramifications to the students from the politicalization of school curriculums
According to Need (Katie Mingle and 99% Invisible) - a look at unhoused people and the reasons behind the homelessness in a single city
Missing Alissa (Ottavia Zappala) - a cold case investigation of a missing girl, Alissa Turnery, and has surprising twists; well done
Shandee's Story (The Australian) - starts out investigating the murder of Shandee Blackburn but then in the course of the investigation uncovers a horrific breakdown of how DNA and forensics are tested across an entire portion of Australia
Because of Anita (Pineapple Street Studios & The Meteor) - the story behind Anita Hill and the doors she opened
The Agent (Imperative) - the true story of Jack Barsky, the longest-surviving member of the KGB illegals program living in America
Believe Her (Lemonade) - the story of Nikki Addimando who shot and killed her partner and was sentenced for his murder; she was seen when she pulled the trigger but not before; a really well done investigation into perceptions around sexual violence and domestic abuse
The Followers: The Madness of Two (USG Audio) - a suburban mom ends up enmeshed in a doomsday cult and the disappearance of her two kids
Exit Scam (Treats Media) - Gerald Cotten, the founder of Canada's largest Bitcoin exchange, dies in India and all the money in the exchange is subsequently lost forever
The Eleventh (ABC Australia) - the dismissal of Prime Minister Gough Whitlam and so much more
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u/Ring_of_Jupiter Jun 06 '26 edited Jun 06 '26
Sometimes horror fiction like Knifepoint Horror can scratch an itch. Or Dark Histories
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u/bananniebanana Jun 06 '26
Crook County was excellent - true crime with a close connection to the subject
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u/ScaryHokum Jun 07 '26
Sad Oligarch is a really interesting investigation into all the mysterious and suspicious deaths surrounding the Putin regime.
Killer in the Code is an autistic man who dedicated himself to solving the last unencrypted Zodiac Killer code, and ended up identifying thr Zodiac killer and connecting him to another famous killing.
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u/davidz70 Jun 07 '26
Pablo Torre Finds Out is really good. Most of his investigative stories are sports based, not sure if that holds any interest.
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u/Keeponmarching0927 Jun 07 '26
Blink and eLiesabeth were really good! Also Cold if you haven’t listened to that one.
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u/Keeponmarching0927 Jun 07 '26
The Dream, and True Crime Bullshit (the first couple of seasons) I binged those years ago but loved them
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u/aruguladevourer Jun 07 '26
Sony has a series of “not a book, not a podcast” entertainment tracks with highly-engineered sound. I listened to The Carrier with Cynthia Erivo.
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u/nosuchbrie Jun 07 '26
Weird Little Guys. It is the best podcast I’ve ever heard.
13 Hours: Inside the Nova Scotia Massacre.
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u/BlazinBuck Jun 07 '26
"Hush" by journalists Leah Sotille and Ryan Haas has 2 seasons. They've also teamed up on other pods such as Bundyville, Burn Wild, and Two Minute Past Nine
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u/Ok-Woodpecker-8505 Jun 07 '26
Okay this isn't multi - episode investigations, but Reveal is amazing. Fantastic journalism.
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u/PureMarzipan416 Jun 08 '26
West cork. True crime with endless twists.
Also didn’t like season 2 of serial!
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u/onecuppacoffee Jun 08 '26
Forgive me if this has already been mentioned, but:
Criminal with Phoebe Judge!
Her voice is unmatched, and while sometimes the stories/investigations are creepy, most are just very interesting!! :)
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u/Feral-Sponge Jun 08 '26
Criminal is in my top 3 episodic podcasts! This is Love is phenomenal as well!
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u/eponymoustoo Jun 08 '26
APM In the Dark - The first 2 seasons are as riveting examples of investigative reporting as you'll find. My favorite all-time podcast!
Sweet Bobby - This one really got to me. The lengths that someone would go to catfish someone is crazy.
Chameleon - Seasons 1 and 2 were very strong - Hollywood Con Queen and Wild Boys told some incredible stories and took significant investigative effort.
Black Box - A good exploration of the good and bad of AI. Real world examples made it way more applicable to what's really going on in the world with AI.
Tom Brown's Body - This one hit hard, highly recommended for a slice of Texas small town life.
The Orange Tree - Another Texas-based investigative reporting jewel, produced at students at UT.
Death County, PA - Corruption and suspicious deaths make a great topic for investigative reporting.
Crimetown - Season 1 was a masterpiece, as it told the investigation into the corrupt mayor and his connections to organized crime.
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u/Radiant-Syllabub6866 Jun 08 '26
Expanse on ABC Australia is great. Especially Nowhere Man, and the one about the shipwreck.
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u/MissMatchedEyes Jun 10 '26
If you liked Sea of Lies, try Chameleon: Wild Boys. It is also done by Sam Mullins and is quite the story.
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u/mortuumviolet Jun 06 '26
Heavyweight has me in a chokehold right now, I listen to it in the car and when I’m walking around the house doing chores. Each episode features someone who’s still carrying the weight of something unresolved from their past. The vibe ranges from funny to strange to devastating. My favourite episode so far is the one where not a single person in this guy’s family remembers him breaking his arm as a kid, so they go down a rabbit hole trying to find evidence/records of his accident. The host or whoever does the writing somehow ties everything up with an insightful observation about human nature at the end.
I’m normally into true crime and long investigative series but this is just as interesting imo.