Behind the Scenes of Crime Capsule: 100th Episode Special with Christen Thompson

[00:00:13] Welcome back to Crime Capsule.

[00:00:15] I'm your host, Benjamin Morris, and I have a confession to make.

[00:00:19] When I was a little kid, I honestly never thought I'd live to be 40 years old.

[00:00:25] It seemed impossibly far off, as far away as Jupiter or Pluto.

[00:00:32] And yet, day by day, week by week, the years ticked on,

[00:00:37] and one day, a year or so ago, I won't say exactly how long for that you'd have to buy me a drink.

[00:00:44] You guessed it, I hit the magic number.

[00:00:47] Milestones are like that.

[00:00:49] When you're first starting out, the ones far off seem simply unimaginable.

[00:00:55] Like, you don't even have a chance, but you get started.

[00:00:59] You get stuck in, you find folks who believe in the same mission you do,

[00:01:04] who come alongside you in one day, you wake up and, yeah, you see where I'm going.

[00:01:10] You reach 100 episodes of a podcast whose first one felt like it was just yesterday.

[00:01:17] If I say much more than that right now, this episode, no, this celebration might never get off the ground.

[00:01:25] I'd have to let our associate producer Snickers, the tortoise shell, take the mic

[00:01:29] as I sat quietly weeping tears of gratitude over in the corner

[00:01:33] and instead you'd get 45 minutes of purring, which might not be all bad.

[00:01:38] But no, I get an even greater privilege today, which is to welcome on to the show

[00:01:45] the woman who made it all possible, who dreamed up the concept to begin with

[00:01:51] her very own Kristen Thompson of Arcadia and the History Press, the true lady behind the curtain.

[00:01:59] Here's a bit of backstory. Five years ago, long after we had finished a book together,

[00:02:03] Kristen approached me with an idea. That idea gave birth to a website,

[00:02:08] that website gave birth to a podcast and here we are, 100 episodes in.

[00:02:14] And it's all thanks to her vision to marry the best of true crime writing

[00:02:20] with this emergent platform that was so well equipped to receive it,

[00:02:25] which is just the kind of stroke of genius Kristen is known for,

[00:02:30] which is why we are thrilled to pull the curtain back just a bit

[00:02:35] and welcome her on to the show, which is to say to welcome her to meet her brainchild.

[00:02:41] We'll have more to say at the end about what Crime Capsule is doing

[00:02:45] for this extended celebration, but for now to everyone out there in podcast land

[00:02:51] I'm just going to say at the beginning what I normally say at the end.

[00:02:57] Thank you for listening. So it feels funny to say it, but I kind of have to anyway.

[00:03:06] Welcome to Crime Capsule even though you've been here all along lurking in the shadows

[00:03:12] for over three years.

[00:03:14] Hi, sorry I've been lurking. That's really rude of me,

[00:03:18] but I'm glad I can come out now and play.

[00:03:21] We are overjoyed and still slightly in disbelief, which is kind of a good place to be.

[00:03:28] Can you actually believe that we made it to 100 episodes?

[00:03:32] Of course I can. I had complete and utter faith in everything that we do.

[00:03:38] I'm glad one of us does.

[00:03:39] No, it is. It's an amazing, I mean, I just can't believe how quickly it went.

[00:03:45] Honestly, like it's just been three years to think about it.

[00:03:49] Somehow three years sounds longer than 100 episodes.

[00:03:52] Yeah.

[00:03:53] But it's amazing.

[00:03:54] Yeah, it does. I have to say just right up front whenever I see a fourth wall as a rule,

[00:04:00] I pick up my sledgehammer. So for all of you loyal Crime Capsule fans out there,

[00:04:05] I'm just going to come right out and say this.

[00:04:07] There is no way that we ever would have made it this far without Kristen.

[00:04:11] Now, I am trying to make her blush, but this is a podcast.

[00:04:14] So I don't actually know if it worked.

[00:04:16] I can only just hope that it did.

[00:04:21] So we soldier on.

[00:04:24] Now, I also have to say that our fans, I'm sure, are super excited to meet the wizardess of Oz herself,

[00:04:33] the lady behind the curtain.

[00:04:36] Kristen, would you tell us a little bit about yourself and just kind of how you came into this particular role?

[00:04:43] Yeah, sure.

[00:04:44] So my name is Kristen Thompson, and I am the director of direct to consumer sales and marketing for Arcadia and the History Press.

[00:04:54] I've been in that role for about 10 years.

[00:04:57] Sorry, I haven't been in that role for 10 years.

[00:04:59] I've been with the company for that for 10 years.

[00:05:01] I started and met Ben, but you as an acquisitions editor, acquiring for the Southern States.

[00:05:08] That was your first mistake, I have to say.

[00:05:11] We published a wonderful book on the history of Hattiesburg, Mississippi.

[00:05:15] It was a joy to edit.

[00:05:18] And I learned so much about pine trees.

[00:05:22] Well, we had a lot of them, you know, so I had a few to spare.

[00:05:26] So you've been with History Press for 10 years, a decade.

[00:05:29] Yes, yeah.

[00:05:30] And I came to this role shortly in 2018, so shortly before the pandemic after a brief interlude off in the big wide world of tech.

[00:05:42] I had done the acquisition thing for a long time and it's a very intense role.

[00:05:49] It's, and I wanted to do something different.

[00:05:52] Not that my role now isn't intense, but it's a little bit slower paced.

[00:05:58] History Press and Arcadia publish a very large volume of books.

[00:06:01] So the acquisitions editors are, they're tasked with a large volume of publishing responsibilities.

[00:06:09] I was really interested in getting into the other side of it and you know, helping those books succeed in a different way.

[00:06:15] In that role, which started off as digital strategy and special projects.

[00:06:22] We talked about creating these content verticals based on the content of History Press and Arcadia titles with which I'm sure our listeners are very well versed in everything we publish.

[00:06:36] But in case, in case they're not, we publish all over the country kind of thinking about each book as a postage stamp of location where we want to find champion and

[00:06:51] promote stories by local experts for local readers that usually wouldn't get the time of day with other publishers simply because those that model needs to be supported on a national scale.

[00:07:06] And so our books, they can be supported by just the local economy, the local population.

[00:07:12] Of course we have books that transcend that and we have different programs that seeks to transcend that but that's the general gist of it.

[00:07:20] And so as a result, we have this like nearly 20,000 book back catalog of stories ranging from like books on garden clubs to local true crime,

[00:07:36] folktales, local recipes just like everything under the sun that you can imagine that kind of creates a culture.

[00:07:45] And we wanted to know how our different ways we can introduce that to people and the content verticals was one way.

[00:07:51] I have always been really interested in true crime and so when we were talking about ways to do that,

[00:07:58] I put true crime at the top of my list because I feel like I knew how I knew how to do it because I'm just a fan and consumer of it.

[00:08:07] And also it's just it's it's wild. It's widely popular as you know, as your listeners know.

[00:08:12] And so that's what we started. We started as a blog basically and then it grew into this award-winning behemoth with you at the helm.

[00:08:25] That is a magical turn of phrase award-winning behemoth.

[00:08:29] That is something that I need to get like a shirt, you know, with like like that stitched on the lapel or some pins, you know,

[00:08:37] like little round elect this is my candidate for the next election is the award-winning behemoth.

[00:08:43] Let me ask you a question, Kristen. I'm curious, you know, there are more ways and this is thinking specifically about your current role of sales and marketing.

[00:08:54] There are more ways than ever to actually get a book into a reader's hands. OK, but that doesn't necessarily make it easier to get that book into a reader's hands.

[00:09:09] And I was just kind of wondering if you can do you think it is harder now than it used to be with the multiplicity of options?

[00:09:16] Or do you think it's easier because so many things have been reduced to the one click, the frictionless purchasing experience?

[00:09:25] That's a really good question. And honestly, my answer probably depends on the day and what I'm working on.

[00:09:32] In some regards, you know, there are more ways to reach people. So you have to hit all of those ways.

[00:09:39] But you don't know which of those ways or which of which of those touch points are the reason that somebody ended up buying a book.

[00:09:48] And at the end of the day, word of mouth and kind of personal connection are always going to trump anything that a marketer kind of puts out there,

[00:09:57] which is part of why I like I like working on crime capsule so much because there is there is no one who is a better evangelist for for a book than the person who wrote it.

[00:10:09] They are just these deep wells of knowledge and interest. And you know, there's always so much left on the cutting room floor that it's just so exciting to get to talk to these people.

[00:10:22] And so for them to be able to have the opportunity to like really geek out. And that feels a little weird when we're talking about like a dark subject, but it is, you know, it's a it's a passion project.

[00:10:34] I think that's I think that tends to be one of the most genuine ways. And then like I said word of mouth through friends, regular endorsements.

[00:10:43] So it's the game hasn't really changed all that much. It's just the delivery method. And I think the challenge for publishers marketers and other media professionals is how how do you really, really make a genuine connection

[00:11:01] across all of these different landscapes and and not end up just making yourself sound like an advertisement. That's really challenging, especially in a high volume environment.

[00:11:15] Well, let's let's dive into that. And I do just want to note that you guys can't see this out there in podcast land but because Kristen occupies the specific role of helping authors, you know, place their books into their readers hands.

[00:11:28] She actually has a halo surrounding her. She is prematurely bad. So, you know, it's just kind of one of these cool things that you get to see when you meet her is like this, this sort of gentle radiance that surrounds her, you know, as a result of that.

[00:11:43] So let's talk about true crime in particular in that respect, you know, one of the interesting things about the Arcadia backlist which you mentioned is 20,000, you know, titles deep, which is just incredible to think about.

[00:12:02] One of the interesting things about it is that it really is and I'm going to make a terrible pun here with respect to our production company. It is, you know, it is the truth of the matter that crime titles don't have a shelf life, right?

[00:12:17] Crimes are historic in nature. They serve as a continual reference point for their communities. They are a source of ongoing fascination, whether you, you know, lived during the time of the incident or whether you're just sort of stumbling on it, you know, years later.

[00:12:32] So as a publisher, what do you think drives that interest in local crime stories? Because it does seem like that interest is higher than it has ever been.

[00:12:47] The argument that you hear a lot, and I think from a lot of critics is that it is, you know, some dark part of our psyche that is just obsessed with the macabre, which I'm sure there's there's some of that but I actually think it's quite the opposite.

[00:13:06] In understanding and interrogating dark moments, you get to also see the light that comes out of them. And I think that could be really powerful. So I think that is, I think that's what brings me back to it is, you know, these the most horrible moment in a person or a family or a town's life era.

[00:13:32] And the, the kind of bright spots that come out of it, the heroes that emerge out of it, the goodness that people discover in themselves.

[00:13:42] And in the people around them, in spite of tragedy and in the face of it. And then of course there's also, I mean, you know, I shouldn't say everybody loves a good puzzle, but I think people who are drawn to true crime truly are they're drawn to a good puzzle and

[00:14:01] I think not, not having the impulse to do bad things you want to understand what could drive somebody to do something like that. And so I think that's that I think under those two things I think underpin why it is such a relentless,

[00:14:20] relentlessly attractive genre.

[00:14:22] I couldn't help but think of one of our crime capsule heroes, which is, you know, who's Rita Shuler, right? I mean, her story of solving the cold case of Elaine's murder could not,

[00:14:35] it's so fascinating, you know, the doggedness, the perseverance, you know, the recognition that Rita had between herself as a young woman in this small community, you know, in the low country of South Carolina and the victim, right?

[00:14:50] And saying to herself as a young lieutenant detective, we can do better than this. You know, we're not going to let this go, right? This is not who we are in this community.

[00:14:58] You know, her story is just so incredibly inspiring in that regard. And yes, murder was utterly tragic, but the justice that came out of it, right? I mean, the story of, you know, cracking that case is really something to behold.

[00:15:14] Let me ask you this. Why do you think that are there any sort of recent factors that you think contribute to the rise in omnipresence of crime, true crime, sort of interest in our culture these days?

[00:15:31] Is it because, you know, in the age of the Internet, everybody is a sleuth? Or do you think that there has something that has shifted as maybe the nation's grown more polarized? I mean, I don't know.

[00:15:43] I'm just kind of curious if you have a read on why true crime and why now? You know, why is it so much bigger now than it used to be?

[00:15:50] I do tend to think it has something to do with the democratization of information and access to information for sure, and less so polarizing because I think if it was about polarization, you would see people looking for,

[00:16:05] well, you would see more people. There are certainly people who do this, but looking for crimes that fit a narrative that they have versus looking for a thread to pull.

[00:16:16] And, you know, there are like I said, I think there are people who do have ill intentions, but I think that just the breadth of information that's available on the Internet and how easy it is to access different pieces of information

[00:16:32] and find those threads to pull. I think that's the biggest reason.

[00:16:37] Yeah, I mean everybody has their Sherlock Holmes hat, you know, to a certain degree on at all times, you know, when you swim in these waters, which is just about the worst mixed metaphor I might be guilty of yet in an entire 100 episode streak.

[00:16:52] So, you know, forgiveness not permission, right? Forgiveness not permission. Let me ask you to put your publisher hat on for a second, Kristen.

[00:17:00] What trends of this nature, the rise in interest and, you know, folks kind of really consuming so much of the true crime content out there.

[00:17:11] Do you see reflected in publishing? And I guess that's kind of a way of asking how has publishing responded to the desire for more content of this nature, whether on the very local scale or on the kind of national scale?

[00:17:27] That's a great question. And so in this role, I'm looking, I look more at the kind of the second half of your question about how publishing has responded since I'm not on the acquisition side anymore.

[00:17:40] I'm looking more at what are people looking for on our own website and across different platforms? What are they engaging with? And then I do bring that back to our acquisitions teams.

[00:17:52] And I do weigh in in that way. But some a couple of things that have that have peaked recently or not peaked but have kind of been consistently cropping up over the past couple of years that have really interesting ties to contemporary events are disasters and pandemics.

[00:18:11] So specifically, there's we have a few books on with a whole series of disasters. And there have been a few different search terms around disasters, not specific disasters, though, people are really searching for like wanting to consume more information about kind of freak accidents.

[00:18:34] Yeah, it's really interesting. Fires unusual. A lot of fire people looking for fires and train crashes and and shipwrecks shipwrecks are a big one. So these are these are kind of true crime adjacent.

[00:18:50] And I think that you know maybe there was a crime at the center of them. Maybe there wasn't. Maybe it's just malfeasance. Just malfeasance but yeah.

[00:18:59] Garden variety.

[00:19:01] Garden variety.

[00:19:02] So you're bog standard malfeasance, right? You know, you vanilla malfeasance, not the really sexy.

[00:19:08] Exactly.

[00:19:09] So those are the trends that I'm seeing on the direct consumer side. As far as book publishing goes, and the books that I'm seeing in the pipeline.

[00:19:27] There's I think that the personal element either from the author or the care the people involved in the crime, it's not necessarily like, oh is it we just we have to find the most gruesome crime. It's not that it's what it what is the heart of this story and does it convey can we convey it well.

[00:19:48] Those are the ones that I think the books that do that that do the best are the authors who are really really passionate that come and that it comes across.

[00:19:58] That makes sense. And let's talk about that actually because I think that's actually a really good sort of vein of or to delve into that maybe a slightly less mixed metaphor that I can get away with this time.

[00:20:13] How do you make a true crime book is what I'm asking right and for context. I do want to invite our listeners to return to this really great discussion that we had between Laurie Krill one of the editors acquisitions

[00:20:27] acquisitions editors at Arcadia and Kate Zaliznak who wrote an incredible volume on the doodler murder of the Bay Area.

[00:20:38] That conversation took place about a year ago between I believe it was season one and season two and just a really interesting kind of discussion of their partnership in framing this very complicated true crime account so be sure to go and check that out.

[00:20:56] I mean as a publisher you are both looking for stories to publish and reviewing unsolicited proposals that just kind of come in on the slush pile. So what do you look for in a true crime book and what are the main ingredients for a successful title.

[00:21:12] So when I was an acquisitions editor and I think the acquisitions editors with with our presses have the same perspective. First and foremost does the writer have the trust of the community and the trust of the if there if there are families that are still connected to the crime do they have their trust.

[00:21:32] Do they have connection do they have their permission if that hasn't happened. It's a really really hard road to publication for a variety of reasons. I think ethically the biggest one.

[00:21:48] And then it's it does need to be you know we do need to be sensitive to time. It's hard. It's hard to write. It's hard to publish a book on a very recent crime in part for the first reason I gave.

[00:22:03] And also logistically a lot of times the crimes are still under investigation. So it can be you know I remember reviewing a few a few proposals on relatively recent crimes or just like this is it's not the right time for this or if you really want to pursue this we're not the right publisher for this for this work.

[00:22:23] And then you know do they have the chops for it. Do they have a background as an investigative reporter or just some kind of research that you want to see evidence that they are are not going to just sensationalize something that needs no help in being sensationalized.

[00:22:45] Those are the things that we're most concerned about. We want it to read well of course an editor can't can't fix the first two problems. Yeah I was thinking you know one of the other ingredients.

[00:22:56] Here's another mixed metaphor this is just metaphor day on the show what can I say you know you've got this stew right and you're trying to make those like a really beefy chunky delicious stew and you got to have the onions the vegetables you know the beef that sort of those are all like the main ingredients.

[00:23:08] You can't mess those up otherwise it becomes just like you know very very unusual water right sort of like meat flavored water like you got to get the proportion right you got to get the balance right you know if you don't get the recipe right.

[00:23:22] You're in trouble but there is something else which is the spice right and I think that what you just described there. The sense of writerly chops and voice is actually important for the creation of of a story I think of Jesse sublet you know who did that great book on the Dixie mafia the Austin Dixie mafia

[00:23:41] and the Timmy Overton gang in in the 1960s you know he was on the show about two years ago and I tell you what I mean just reading his book and getting to live in Austin Texas in the 1960s with the cars and the suits and the hats and the pool halls and you know this kind of stuff.

[00:24:00] You know the lingo that he brought to that particular you know era just fantastic it was fun to read right I mean the story was great but it was also just fun to read and I think that like that little extra bit of spice on top really helps to sell the experience of traveling to some dark places.

[00:24:22] You know in America's past.

[00:24:25] Yeah I think you hit you hit the nail on the head and that it kind of gets that there's not every writer can write every story.

[00:24:33] But but boy when you find something that that kind of speaks to you like how how that makes the words on the page really saying and the.

[00:24:46] And especially kind of just coming back to that local expertise.

[00:24:50] You know having built in sense memory for how to describe some of these things it's so powerful as a reader to get that.

[00:25:01] Yeah absolutely well and it also that that comes at the sort of end of the process you know like that it comes after you've done the main the main work but it is it is such a joy when you find it done and done well.

[00:25:13] Now let me ask you this when you're reviewing these proposals you and your team you know the acquisitions editors are reviewing these proposals.

[00:25:21] What extra research is required for a true crime title that might not necessarily be required for say a discussion of a historic lighthouse you know in Cape Cod or you know one of the other kinds of history press sort of traditional history titles that you might see.

[00:25:40] I think of course in terms of that balance between the writer as researcher and the writer as kind of a quasi analyst or kind of like partner in analysis when it comes to seeing and evidence and you know forensics and relationships with law enforcement.

[00:26:00] You have to be careful not to step on any toes as you said but sometimes you can bring a perspective to the story which law enforcement itself may or may not have and of course we saw that in our interview with Jesse Moran and his book death on the devil's teeth.

[00:26:16] So just from your perspective as you're looking at these what do you like to see up front as far as the proposal stage to really know that somebody has that story or has that sense of capacity and capability to do the job.

[00:26:30] Yeah that's a great question I think you kind of alluded to I don't know if I'll enter the realm of metaphor. I think I will but go for it come on we're on a roll here.

[00:26:42] I think the proposals and this is not really prescriptive because again I'm not in the acquisitions game anymore but when I think about proposals that have really blown me away and where I have gone into pitch meetings just thinking like we would be so stupid not to snap this up.

[00:27:01] Are when it's evident that they are thinking about the story from all sides that they are that they are thinking about it as the prosecutor and the defense attorney would think about it to really get that holistic picture and that they are.

[00:27:18] Yeah I think that those are the ones that are that are the most impressive to me and so as far as like what research goes into that. I think it that's that's a tough question and is really case dependent as specifically era dependent.

[00:27:32] I'm thinking like I think a lot about that book the Adirondack enigma.

[00:27:39] That we published like just such a wild story and there's only so much research you can do about somebody who was perpetrating crimes that didn't even have a definition or you know is.

[00:27:54] Psychiatrically didn't have didn't have a diagnosis.

[00:27:59] In the 19th century there's only so much that's available to us and so you just have to kind of understand and get well versed in what is what is probably available to this author and what's what's realistic.

[00:28:17] That was a great title that one that we did an article on that for the crime capsule website years ago before the podcast launched and I remember thinking like yeah this this this writer had to just kind of turn their brain on.

[00:28:30] You know full full steam ahead you know all all engines blazing you know late just to be able to look at these bizarre pages of encoded manuscript which nobody is really cracked you know to this day which is which is really something I was also thinking of.

[00:28:46] We've had a few guests on the show who have not been who have been not just writers and authors but who have been in law enforcement or the justice system.

[00:28:58] I'm thinking of judge Johnny Promo right writing his book about the Rio Rio Grande sniper killing as a judge he has to evaluate the evidence from all sides as well too doesn't he right so he gets to bring that training to bear in the actual recounting of this this murder that took place.

[00:29:14] In a down down in Texas and.

[00:29:17] Just a fascinating balance of skills to see their what what a joy you know for you to get to kind of meet these authors as they're bringing those skills to the table and trying to tell these stories.

[00:29:28] And as a writer that's a really really difficult needle to thread I think especially in these cases where.

[00:29:35] The crime is where people there are still people alive who are related to the victim or the perpetrator because you do want to get like you have to be passionate about getting as much information from all sides as you can and to different parties that's going to seem mistrustful.

[00:29:55] And it's so it's it's you have to you have to be able to talk to people as well which I think is a really is that's a really tough skill.

[00:30:05] What are the main guardrails that you would put in place for a true crime writer which is to say we've talked about the do's you know here's what to bring what about the don'ts you know what are the things to avoid.

[00:30:17] Oh that's a tough question.

[00:30:19] I'll give you an easy one sensationalizing not not that's a non starter that's a deal breaker.

[00:30:24] That's a nice one.

[00:30:26] I would probably come back to kind of something I probably would tell any anybody going into a nonfiction project which is assume you know nothing.

[00:30:40] And approach approach each situation with kind of respectful awe and discovery because you don't you don't know you don't know and there are discoveries to be made everywhere.

[00:30:58] But if you allow your own prejudices or preconceived notions or even preconceived notions about what's possible to find out kind of guide your research.

[00:31:12] You just don't know what you're going to miss.

[00:31:32] Are there any specific Arcadia titles that have come out recently that that you thought did a just a really good job of balancing all the elements.

[00:31:45] I'm sure we have listeners out there who have toyed with the idea of you know potentially writing up something that happened in their hometown or they're interested in case and have been following it for for a while.

[00:31:54] And I remember when I was first starting Hattiesburg you know I read a couple of the other Arcadia titles about you know what does it mean to write the biography of a city.

[00:32:05] You know I mean I had ideas but it was really helpful to see how somebody else had done it so I wasn't reinventing the wheel.

[00:32:10] Any recent crime titles that you just thought kind of nailed it you know as far as like case and presentation and and you know wrapping all these these pieces up together.

[00:32:21] Yeah I think the Fred Wilkerson book did a really good job.

[00:32:27] And then I also this is partially a shameless plug because I acquired the first edition of it but the inside the inside the Texas chicken ranch just had a which is the story of it's the real story behind what eventually became the best little whorehouse in Texas.

[00:32:46] The movie that I think that Jamie did a very good job with that as far as the we think about the people involved and really setting setting a stage.

[00:33:05] Also the Asheville's I think it's Asheville's Battery Park.

[00:33:11] Yeah absolutely the hotel murder yeah yeah the hotel murder was a great one.

[00:33:15] Those are the ones in recent memory that stand out but we have been publishing more and more in in the past few years.

[00:33:22] The Slocum massacre is not recent.

[00:33:26] I think it's about 10 years old but that's also another one that that I think is is it it's a very good tight piece of investigative true crime.

[00:33:36] You know shameless plug season is upon us and so you get one and I get one we we just had this amazing interview with Clay Bryant who was the investigator and the author on the Fred Wilkerson case.

[00:33:48] And this was about three months ago I believe it was and what a story you know what a researcher what again like Rita Shuler one of these law enforcement officers just will not let the case go knew there had to be more to it.

[00:34:02] And that it bore fruit right and that book is really something else I really encourage all of our listeners who maybe did not get a chance to check out that particular interview or that particular title.

[00:34:14] Go go go go because it is a it is really something else and you know that I've not quite lost the shivers down my spine from that particular encounter and you know we've been trying to have Jamie on the show for how long now you know to talk about the chicken ranch.

[00:34:32] So you know the fingers crossed that happened that's something to look forward to for for sure so watch this space everybody watch this space.

[00:34:40] Let's switch gears real quick to just I thought I've even more than I would recommend.

[00:34:45] Oh give us one more come on the hanging the peach tree band it that's the one yeah we we did that interview about a year and a half ago I believe it was last winter.

[00:34:56] And great story also fun because you know it's one of these these unique kind of settings of like fascinating person and I love a good analog mystery it's got a heist element it's got a murder element and it's got everything is totally analog so you don't have to worry about like computers and the digital stuff it's right.

[00:35:20] You know like let's do the old fashioned gum shoe right shoe leather investigative work and what a neat time in Atlanta's history to we do a lot of crime here on the show but it's not all we do right and I think that that's one of the things that has really brought a kind of nice element to where we're able to talk about paranormal were able to talk about highways you know we're able to talk about this really fascinating concept of lost cities the series that we just.

[00:35:50] You know finished.

[00:35:52] You know the any number of these aspects could have you know some murder in them right and occasionally are our paranormal series have some spooky ghost murder kind of built in which is like a bonus element but we don't just do crime.

[00:36:10] So I'm curious you know from your perspective what are some of the non crime related areas that you see blowing up in publishing or at least in Arcadia's list right now what people interested in the occult the occult really without a doubt the occult.

[00:36:30] Okay why is that I think it kind of comes back to that puzzle thing that people love and are fascinated and eat and equally a little scared of what they don't know.

[00:36:46] And they want to know more and what what is more unknown.

[00:36:51] Then the supernatural or people connected to the supernatural and and this is kind of a tangential thought but of why I think we can connect to so many different different veins but crime is a human construction.

[00:37:08] So something is only criminal because we have decided I mean murder is wrong clearly murder is wrong is wrong like these there are there are things that are absolutely wrong and immoral.

[00:37:20] But you know I'm there's a we have a book the curious case of Katie King.

[00:37:26] That was all about it's all about I've been I think I've been trying to get you to cover it for a long time.

[00:37:31] Well let's do it. Let's just jump in. Go on.

[00:37:34] Yes the curious case of Katie King and the Golden Age of Spiritualism.

[00:37:38] I can't remember what state it's in I'm sorry but it's this fascinating look at golden age swindlers people praying on on people looking for connection to the other side through say ounces and through mediums and the way that these people were swindled is just criminal and horrible.

[00:37:57] But there's also this fascinating you know there's part of your brain it's like oh maybe it's real.

[00:38:05] You know I think that's always something that's worth investigating. There's a reason why you know like shows like what was the one the college ghost hunters.

[00:38:15] I watched the hell out of it.

[00:38:17] This is like in the early 2000s.

[00:38:20] Anyways there's a reason that those things are are exciting. It's not because you want to watch fakers fake it's because you want to watch something that's going to mesmerize and horrify you.

[00:38:32] And so there's that part of it and then there's also the OK well if it is a scam how did they pull it off and there's that puzzle element to it.

[00:38:40] And then also the human element of these people who are getting scammed and you know just it breaks your heart as you as you learn more about it.

[00:38:49] There's a Simpter's book that we did you know over the holidays about Edgar Allen Poe and kind of the era in which Poe's work began to take shape in the spiritualist movement of the mid 1800s.

[00:39:01] People really wanted they had all these questions you know and they really wanted to believe that there was something they could tap into.

[00:39:09] And sometimes all it takes is that desire for the belief for somebody else to see an opportunity and then you know make make a buck.

[00:39:20] I do think that there's this kind of interesting element of when you say the occult is big right now.

[00:39:26] You know I think of the fact that if we kind of widen the concept to the unexplained or the paranormal or the you know the bizarre generally right.

[00:39:38] There's something interesting about the fact that you know everybody in America is born into a place that has had settlement and habitation and kind of you know events sometimes very dark events going on for a very long time right before they even arrived on scene.

[00:39:55] And there's a natural curiosity to kind of dive into what you call that postage stamp of your native soil William Faulkner's term right it's like what went on here before I got on the scene or something.

[00:40:07] Right or why does everybody avoid that building on the corner downtown.

[00:40:13] Like where do these local legends come from you know because some of these places are some of these spooky hills or you know whatever it might be.

[00:40:23] You know those stories were around before we were and I think there's just kind of an intrinsic draw towards that right.

[00:40:33] I mean you make your eyes so powerful.

[00:40:36] Yeah I agree and it's it's it kind of comes back to well why do we tell stories in the first place.

[00:40:42] And I think part of it is what you just hit on like there's we can't not and understanding the place that that you're in or the place that you call home both its darkest and its lightest points is one of the best entries into kind of a holistic human

[00:41:03] experience.

[00:41:05] What book would you like to publish that has not already been published by Arcadia or the History Press.

[00:41:17] So I have two actually and I think that one I think that one of the stories may have may have been covered in Chapel Hill murder and may have possibly.

[00:41:29] I can't quite.

[00:41:30] Yeah so I grew up in Chapel Hill and as I as I emailed you one of the one of the stories.

[00:41:38] This is not the story that I want to mention but I just think it's it'll be funny for your listeners.

[00:41:42] One of the I lived and swam in the lake that apparently that this guy's body was found and it turned out like his wife had murdered him in the 30s.

[00:41:54] And if you are from Chapel Hill and you know the lake off of in Lakewood you know exactly what I'm talking about and you also would agree.

[00:42:06] Yeah I'm not surprised there was a dead body in that way it's a really bougie it's a really bougie neighborhood too which is hilarious.

[00:42:11] But anyways that's not that's not this that's not the story there.

[00:42:17] I grew up hearing about a dual on UNC campus that at Gimgul Castle.

[00:42:28] That that was in like the very very early days of the university.

[00:42:33] I cannot remember the details but it just it was so heartbreak heartbreakingly romantic that I would love.

[00:42:39] I would love to read a book about that and how how the story came to be.

[00:42:46] And all the legends that that it spawned.

[00:42:50] So there's there's that and then in my adopted hometown of Charleston where I live now there was a murder in 1958.

[00:43:02] That has been called the candlestick murder that kind of set off like a gay panic in in town.

[00:43:13] And it's a it's a it was a very it's a very upsetting case and a very like there's lots of lots of things getting brushed under the rug.

[00:43:27] Lots of it's kind of evidence of of a time that it just wasn't that wasn't that long ago that really saw people as less than in a really horrible way.

[00:43:44] But the but the case itself is an aftermath of it was very interesting.

[00:43:49] So those are those are two those are two stories that I think would be would would really benefit from a locals perspective at expertise.

[00:43:59] Yeah, the first one a torrid clandestine possibly unrequited you know love affair that results in death and misery and sorrow all around.

[00:44:09] I mean who could you know who could resist that and then the second one has real midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil vibes.

[00:44:15] You know which it sounds like is a you know coming across the the sultryness of the southern swamps you know and and everything that comes you know as a result of the dark and twisty corners of the bayous so yeah OK well that just leads me to ask directly if there is somebody out there in podcast lead.

[00:44:40] Here's these ideas and who says hey you know that was my uncle's cousin who is involved in the candlestick murders I know a thing or two about that right.

[00:44:49] Or you know that sort of thing if there's somebody out there who who does have an idea for a story that they want to to write up or to pitch or they'd like to learn more about what it means to craft a proposal for Arcadia.

[00:45:06] First thing I want to encourage them to do is go listen to our interview with Laurie Krill and Kate Zell is not because we talked about that a good bit you know in that episode about a year ago you're in a half ago but.

[00:45:17] What from your perspective is the best way for folks to to get in touch and not even necessarily with true crime but you know if they have an idea for a proposal and they thought Arcadia might be a good fit for it what's what's the best way.

[00:45:29] The simplest way is just to go on our website and in the footer there should be a link called make me an author and there's a form it's actually quite straightforward there's a form you can fill out tell us your idea and it'll get routed to the appropriate editor our editors acquire geographically.

[00:45:47] So you will be and they and they so it's not it's not subject matter based it's all geographic based and so that would be the best way.

[00:45:54] Yep do folks need an agent in order to do that they do not they do not and that is why we love Arcadia door policy open door policy all ideas are welcome at all times.

[00:46:07] So that is really cool well folks you'll know what to do with that information and we certainly hope to see some of y'all's names appearing in those editors inboxes and hopefully one day down the road we can have you on the show too if you've got ideas that turn into a.

[00:46:24] These magical creations so we have a huge celebration over the next few weeks to mark this one hundredth episode and milestone Kristen do you want to tell our listeners just a little bit about some of the things that we have coming up we've got some promos and giveaways some special guests what do you what do you got for us.

[00:46:48] Absolutely yeah so we are going to be cooking together some giveaways like you said those will be books and other goodies then we also will be having a retrospective of some of our favorite guests crowd favorites and I shouldn't we don't play favorites we don't play favorites that's not what I mean but just.

[00:47:08] We have we have some some fun some fun guests coming back to visit with us and then another round table to get to close it all out so we can get different authors who write about different kinds of crime all talking.

[00:47:25] About crime and writing and publishing and all that good stuff and it's going to be it's going to be such a joy and that's that's something which we the round table we are not going to spoil the exact content of we might have one or two surprises on there which would be kind of fun so you're just.

[00:47:41] Going to have to stay tuned everybody I am so sorry to set the hook and not reel it in but you know what I'm actually not sorry because that's just what you're going to have to do is bear with us as we get everything together but rest assured we are going to have a great great time so.

[00:48:04] I just want to before we wrap up I have a few a few thanks that I have to kind of get out there and this is a list that has been just a real real joy to compile as we hit this this milestone I still kind of can't believe it I'm still pinching myself a little bit but I'm just really grateful to everybody.

[00:48:25] Out there who has been with us you know along the way it's almost too many folks to count you know we've got this great team at evergreen who just the best producers and advocates for the show that we ever.

[00:48:37] Could have asked for it's just been a great partnership you know to work with them and we're super grateful and as well our team at Arcadia which is.

[00:48:45] Which is Kristen and a whole bevy a slew of just very skilled and talented individuals who just know what it means to have great stories find their home whether it's between the covers of a book or for that book to find the right set of hands you know the right pair eyes.

[00:49:05] You know to dive in so we've got just such smart folks supporting us in this I personally need to thank.

[00:49:15] Our associate producer Snickers the cat who zoom bombs nearly every interview that.

[00:49:22] And unfailing accuracy and perfect timing as well as perfect cuteness so you know have to get that out there.

[00:49:28] You know I also think it's important to thank our authors.

[00:49:32] You know they have been so generous with their time and their insights over the years they are just these fonts of knowledge and as you said community trust.

[00:49:44] You know Kristen I think that is such a good way to put it and we couldn't do what they do what we do without them.

[00:49:51] And most of all I know that you will join me in thanking our fans whose curiosity into the sometimes darker but generally just more unusual sides of American history is matched only by their generosity of time and attention you know and so.

[00:50:11] Yeah it's huge it's huge you know we for everybody out there who's listening right now you know we couldn't do this without you and we absolutely do this for you so thank you you know we really really appreciate.

[00:50:24] Your just generosity to us that makes a huge difference and I have one more wizard behind the curtain that I have to thank who is our producer bill Huffman you know we've had.

[00:50:37] A couple of live encounters with bill in years past and I realized I was doing like a little bit of back of the envelope calculations here.

[00:50:47] And I realized you know we couldn't do a 100th episode without bill because I think and Kristen you can back me up on this I think bill has been here for literally 97 of our 100 episodes.

[00:51:02] Is that right do you have that right guys.

[00:51:03] I would say I'm probably in the upper 90s but it's been an absolute pleasure to work with you guys.

[00:51:11] I know that you come prepared every week and when we do interviews it's one of those things where I always have faith in you getting the most out of the author and I think that's what has been so intriguing to me and awesome to see the evolution of you as a podcaster and you know as the show is going to be.

[00:51:33] You know it's just being more comfortable and you know you kind of bring that NPR sort of feel to the show and and and I trust me I hear that and people's reviews so I just think that it's been an awesome show to be a part of.

[00:51:50] I'm really appreciative that.

[00:51:52] I get to be the associate producer and I'm happy to be here.

[00:51:58] I mean it's really it's a lot of fun to hear news stories every week especially since I also host a true crime show called who killed.

[00:52:05] Yeah tell us tell us what's going on with that.

[00:52:07] You mean your check is in the mail.

[00:52:09] Let me just go ahead.

[00:52:11] Absolutely in the mail is too kind what you said but you set a high standard for us Bill what's going on in your neck of the way.

[00:52:17] Well we've recently surpassed I think 300 episodes in the world of who killed.

[00:52:25] I started the podcast with who killed a Mahalovic which was a case that was the closest to my heart and something that I grew up with and that case remains unsolved to this day and it evolved into a serial type show where I basically cover a different case each week sometimes I spend a little bit more time on a case than say an episode of the show.

[00:52:46] But I'll speak with the victims family members.

[00:52:50] I'll speak with survivors authority figures people that were part of the investigation and sometimes I just fly solo or have other podcasters on and you know I wouldn't be here if I wasn't good friends with the guys that host true crime garage to give praise where praises do you know that is one of those.

[00:53:13] We don't get here without the help of others and it's amazing how the podcast community comes together and when you want to do something such as like true crime which can turn salacious and be sort of you know kind of and not everybody's cup of tea but the way that you approach it the way that.

[00:53:35] Crime capsule approaches it and the way I approach it is just you know you try to tell the story try to get that information out there but don't make it about you and don't make it about you know the victims past or anything like that I tried to overlook that you know I would say I'm a voice for the voiceless which is a cliche but it's a lot of times it's true and so.

[00:53:58] That's kind of where I am and currently I've got crime kind of coming up at the end of May.

[00:54:05] So that's May 31st to June 2nd in Nashville so I'll be on podcast row there and I will be able to meet some of the fans and see all my other fellow podcasters as well so.

[00:54:20] That is what's going on in the world of who killed I am going to have been communicating about having a.

[00:54:28] Series or a little couple episodes about the smiley face killer conspiracy which I don't know if you're aware of but it's one of those that.

[00:54:37] It's very hard to grasp but it's a and it's not one I necessarily buy into but I'm always open to hearing people who do believe in.

[00:54:48] You know these theories and so I'm not going to discount it I'm just it's just hard to keep a conspiracy of that many people so that's just a little taste of what's to come and I think today I did Josh Harmon who was.

[00:55:02] That was a case from I think 20 plus years ago that was recently solved so yeah great stuff going on great stuff yeah you know it never changes and I started doing this kind of like a contemporary.

[00:55:16] I call it the presser of the week and it sort of covers you know what the newest and latest update in the world a true crime has been and you know this week there were a couple you know we had the last week I did the.

[00:55:31] God's misfits you know out of the Kansas Oklahoma case that is absolutely.

[00:55:39] Disturbing and then Madeline Soto this week.

[00:55:45] As well as I did do Josh Harmon's press conference so those are just sort of like as a former journalist I enjoy putting those up because they're like.

[00:55:54] You get to hear from one the authorities and sometimes the family members speak as well especially if the case has been resolved but if the case is ongoing.

[00:56:04] You can kind of gauge what's been you know how they act how the people act and you know of course authorities are looking at all this stuff too so they're looking for.

[00:56:15] For holes so I just like to keep that information out there not everybody watches that stuff so if it's just easy to access in the feed then I kind of just give a little synopsis and then play it.

[00:56:27] So that's what's that's what the world of who killed is experiencing right now you know I have to say I have often found that who killed is a it is a veritable encyclopedia of information about all sorts of things.

[00:56:44] There are sorts of different cases you know I had I had the great pleasure of really learning some of the most concrete hard facts about the Long Island serial killer from your interview with Jesse Moran a couple of months ago and it's like.

[00:56:58] I just want to encourage all our listeners you know if you're interested in a case if you're interested in a contemporary case or or historic case be sure to go and check out who killed because you can actually search for you know what what has come up over the you know the past.

[00:57:12] You know several years and just get some great information.

[00:57:15] Yeah the Jesse Pollock stuff with the with the list you know long he did the he was the one that interpreted some of the audio transcribe the audio yeah because he was a professional audio trained professionally trained audio specialist so he was the one that actually did do the transcription of that tape so.

[00:57:35] Yeah that was a really interesting case I met actually him through you guys so you know he started with you and ended up on my show.

[00:57:43] It's great.

[00:57:45] Yeah yeah you know and again you've been on my show I've been on your show I think there's there's a crossover obviously and I think that there is definitely cases out there that still remain unsolved you know colonial parkway murders there's been movement in that case the Delphi case is coming to trial.

[00:58:04] I'd hope for cases coming up but you know you still have a lot of these unsolved cases again there's 250,000 plus of them out there so.

[00:58:12] Absolutely well guys listeners you know whoever's out there you know headed to Nashville later this month to crime con make sure you go see Bill you know on podcast row and say hi and.

[00:58:23] You know it'll be it'll be a great time for sure in the meantime just stay tuned both on his show and here on crime capsule for more of everything that you love and as we look forward to our next 100 episodes we just raise our collective glasses to.

[00:58:42] Everybody out there are listeners or supporters you know our staff our team we're just really grateful.

[00:58:47] Kristen before you take us out is there anything else you would like to say just to our listeners ship before we go.

[00:58:54] I would just like to echo the thanks thanks to the listeners as well as to Bill to the whole team at evergreen and to Ben you've been such an intrepid host that the best thing I ever did was ask you to host this.

[00:59:10] You're too kind your check is in the mail to know it's been a joy it's been a joy and honor and I'm just really excited to see what you know what comes next so will you do us the honors of taking us out and I gotta say this is me.

[00:59:25] Fourth wall sledgehammer Kristen was the one who came up with brains behind the operations folks she's the one who came up with our incredible slogan and so credit where credit is due Kristen it is such a joy to get to turn the microphone over to you to tell us.

[00:59:41] Crime capsule history so interesting it's criminal.

[00:59:45] Thank you as always for listening.

[00:59:54] She requires no introduction but our guest has been Kristen Thompson director of consumer sales and marketing at Arcadia Publishing and the history press and the brains behind the whole crime capsule operation.

[01:00:09] To order any of the books you have heard us talk about today or any of the previous titles that our authors have discussed here on the show.

[01:00:19] Visit your local independent bookstore or visit Arcadia Publishing dot com and be sure to join us next time as we continue our one hundredth episode celebration.

[01:00:32] See you then.

[01:00:36] Thanks as always to our producer Bill Huffman our production director Bridget coin audio engineer Ian Douglas and our executive producers Michael DeLoya and Gerardo Orlando.

[01:00:48] I'm your host Benjamin Morris.

[01:00:51] Crime capsule is a production of Evergreen podcasts and a signature title of the killer podcasts network.

[01:00:58] You can find Crime Capsule wherever you listen to podcasts discover more great true crime and paranormal programming at killer podcasts dot com.

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