I was outside the restaurant, waiting for my friend. She arrived a little late, a little flustered, a little distracted. “Sorry!”, she hurriedly apologised. “I was listening to the latest episode of Serial and lost track of the time”.

“Serial?”, I asked, “What’s that?”

“You know. Serial. The podcast”, she replied

“Podcast?”, I asked, “What’s that?”.

And so, over dinner, all those years ago, I was introduced not only to the medium of podcasting but to the specific genre of true crime podcasting. And yes, I became hooked. First to Serial. Then to all its spin-offs. And then to a countless number of subsequent true-crime mysteries.

Over time, I’ve come to realise that it’s not so much the tragedy of true crime itself that hooks me in, but rather its search for the truth. That’s what I find so compelling—the notion of moving from the unknown to the known. The process of uncovering the facts, assembling them in order, analysing their significance and working towards a conclusion. My intrigue with the journey from mystery to discovery is why my Spotify library boasts an extensive list of long-form true crime podcasts and almost none of the “done-and-dusted-in-a-single-episode” variety.

Ok. Ok. I’m sure you’re wondering why exactly I’m rambling on and on about my podcast proclivities. I mean, what on earth has it got to do with anything I normally write about?

Well, here comes the link.

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