"I wanted to find Elizabeth Short more than finding her killer."

Five new books to check out in January

The acclaimed author, whose 250 books sold half a billion copies, author casts an eye on the actress’s still-mysterious death.

"This is a book about ghosts. A lot of it’s goofy, but some of it’s scary."

"You can’t work with the estate if you want the real story."

Four new books to check out in September

Scandals at Harvard University always receive outsized attention, especially when a well-liked professor is accused of murder.

"They all became famous for shooting people."

"A reporter is reporting what happens; he's not making it happen."

"The true story of a World War II resistance hero."

How feuding millionaires invented the modern split, and what it could mean for TV’s most refined aristocrats.

"Four anti-fascist Italian women who found their agency and became members of the resistance"

A good gab with Gary Krist, Abbott Kahler and Michael Wolraich

Punk in the age of Reagan, American outlaws, the history of axe murder, and more.

“Johnny, let’s play dig up the bodies!”

Podcast Episode · Very Special Episodes · 04/23/2025 · 50m

not what you think

A moment from the podcast Very Special Episodes

“Brilliant Novelist of Twenties, Inactive Recently, Likened Self to Cracked Plate”

The fall of Budapest, the Italian female antifascist resistance, a Gilded Age spy saga, and more.

"Were they heroes? Were they cowards? Or were they just lucky?"

"The murder was just about as brazen and scandalous as it gets."

A look back at cyberpunk's prescient publication of record

Podcast Episode · On with Kara Swisher · 03/03/2025 · 1h 29m

The women of Dr. Crippen, murder and scandal in Gilded Age San Francisco, the Red Scare, Paul Revere, and more

Starring: Douglas Fairbanks, Janet Gaynor, Charlie Chaplin, H. G. Wells, Marilyn Monroe, the Go-Go's, Darby Crash, David Hockney, and more.

"I'm the first person in seventy five years who has discovered this."

Join us for a book talk with award-winning author Joe Pompeo

On a recent Friday evening, two New York City gentlemen in their 20s were sitting at Vol de Nuit, a Belgian beer bar in the West Village. After some conversation, they removed a couple of small, te…

Plus: "The Rothschild and the Snowstorm" and the "Napalm Girl" photo saga

"A #MeToo story for the mid-1800s."

Four decades after Jeannette May’s remains were found on an Italian mountainside, the authorities have reopened the investigation into who—or what—killed the former Mrs. Rothschild. Was it a kidnappin...

The *other* JFK assassination saga, America's first true crime book, Sherman's March, and Nazi-hunting

"A story about the librarians and scholars who invented modern spycraft."

William d ’Alton Mann became one of the most powerful men in Gilded Age New York by selling his silence to the upper crust. Until they turned on him.

The Big Five publisher made a deal with an unnamed “artificial intelligence technology company” and is allowing authors to opt-in if they want to join the agreement.