Part 2: Karl and 2nd wife, Cindy, settle into married life, with son, Alex joining the family. But the bad luck that follows Karl strikes again and again, with more trauma and deaths occurring, leaving soot and sorrow in their wake. Growing pains abound, life presents twists and turns, but tragedy is never far behind, as Cindy begins to wonder- Is …

In 2ndCast: Cecilia’s Curse, Jill wonders if Cecilia Ludwig cursed Mishawaka, Indiana with her dying breath. Explore the bizarre and twisted legacy of Cecilia Ludwig’s murder by husband, Albin Ludwig, the prosecutor, Joseph Talbot and his family, neighbors and friends alike, following the ripples from the stone tossed in the pond across the century…

Crimecon Nashville 2024 is happening in one month! Come meet Jill, yack about true crime and delve into our books & cases at Crimeon! 11:15ish PM after John Douglas on Friday May 31, 2024, Falls Bar at the hotel! AND, Jill is currently featuring the true crime book, Levi’s Eyes by Aphrodite Jones—the bestselling author and true crime maven, who is …

Meet the Karlsens, Christina, Karl and their 3 small children. Living in Murphys, California, Christmas 1990 was filled with mistletoe, ribbons and home-made cookies. But the joy was cut short, with tragedy striking. Grieving, the Karlsens move across the country to Romulus, NY, trying to settle into a new life. But back in California, investigator…

Charged with 1st degree murder, Byron Smith’s trial beings for shooting Nicholas Brady and Haile Kifer to death in his basement on Thanksgiving 2012. Armed with damning evidence, the Prosecution presents its case of calculated revenge, as the Defense presents the Defendant as a fearful man, who only wanted to defend himself against violent intruder…

In Pt 2, with two teenagers dead, the Byron Smith investigation heats up, focusing on the rash of burglaries that had occurred recently, including those at Smith’s previously, with damning conclusions. Accomplices and witnesses are interviewed, arrests are made, and another search warrant unearths the ‘mother lode’ of evidence that turns this case …

Enjoying a day with the family, Lead Investigator Jeremy Luberts is called into work at the Morrison County Sheriff’s Office to look into a concerning call. Arriving at the Elm Street residence, a retired Byron Smith meets him, telling him two burglars had broken into his house, and he’d defended himself, shooting them. With 2 dead bodies, Jeremy L…

Headed to Crimecon Nashville 2024? Visit Jill on Podcast Row and look for Jane Carson-Sandler too! May 31-June 2, 2024~! In Part 4 on Frozen in Fear, Jill chats with our author and survivor of the East Area Rapist, Jane Carson-Sandler. Jane went from being a victim to a ‘Survivor-Thriver’, taking back control over her life, an extraordinary life of…

Going to Crimecon Nashville 2024? Find Jill on Podcast Row and look for Jane Carson-Sandler too! Part 3: In this uplifting conclusion of the Frozen in Fear trilogy, the voices of the survivors of the East Area Rapist are raised, allowing us to see how these brave souls overcame adversity, trauma, and worse, taking back control, rejecting fear Updat…

In the one hundredth episode of the Translated Chinese Fiction Podcast, we are throwing a goodbye party! Friends, listeners, and past guests joined me for a little reminiscing and musing. I drank precisely one beer. The show is going on hiatus, exactly as I’ve been warning you for the past ten episodes or so. The feed will stay up indefinitely, and…

Going to Crimecon 2024 in Nashville? Look for Jill on Podcast Row and Jane Carson-Sandler too! May 31-June 2, 2024! In Part 2- Struggling to climb out of the dark hole in the aftermath of rape, other challenges test Jane’s resolve and faith as she finds herself in rehab. With more rapes happening, Jane recounts the lessons learned from counselling …

Crimecon 2024 is coming! Use Jill's code murdershelf and save 10% on your badge! Find Jill on Podcast Row, and Jane Carson-Sandler too! Nashville, May 31-Jun 2, 2024! Written by the 5th Victim of the East Area Rapist, Frozen in Fear tells Jane Carson-Sandler’s story of living a normal, fulfilling life in California in 1976- until the day a ski mask…

‘I wrote the asinine words ‘liquor is literature’ and ‘people who are strangers to liquor are incapable of talking about literature’ when I was good and drunk, and you must not take them to heart.’ In the ninety ninth episode of the Translated Chinese Fiction Podcast we’re taking a lengthy holiday with Mo Yan in The Republic of Wine, so get your vi…

Happy New Year 2024! Crimecon 2024 is coming! Use Jill's code murdershelf and save 10% on your badge! Look for Jill on z, Nashville, May 31-Jun 2, 2024! Part 3: Franklin, Virginia was home to murder victim, Trent Whitley and the authors Anne Varner and Karen DeVanie. These energetic, dedicated ladies are also the hosts of the Sugar-Coated Murder po…

Crimecon 2024 is coming! Use Jill's code murdershelf and save 10% on your badge! Look for Jill on Podcast Row in Nashville, May 31-Jun 2, 2024! Trent Whitley’s family struggles with his loss and the uncertainty of what happened to their precious son. Certain someone knows something, Delores Whitley makes repeated appeals for that someone to come fo…

Crimecon 2024 is coming! Use Jill's code murdershelf and save 10% on your badge! Look for Jill on Podcast Row zin Nashville, May 31-Jun 2, 2024! Blinding flash. BANG- and the target was dead. A missing person report was filed in Franklin, Virginia by anxious parents, searching for their precious teenager. The investigation would follow lead after l…

Crimecon 2024 is coming! Use Jill's code murdershelf and save 10% on your badge! Look for Jill on Podcast Row in Nashville, May 31-Jun 2, 2024! With the families engrossed, the prosecution of Sean Vincent Gillis begins, with the Defense committed to saving his life and avoiding the death penalty. With his 40-hour confession, this should be a slam d…

Crimecon 2024 is coming! Use Jill's code murdershelf and save 10% on your badge! Look for Jill on Podcast Row in Nashville, May 31-Jun 2, 2024! In Part 2, They get it. With over 60 women dead, Baton Rouge Sheriff Offices realize they have a serial killer on the loose! But they’re wrong. There are TWO; the murders of Sean Vincent Gillis are camoufla…

I supposed every last one of this country’s 1.3 billion inhabitants all had their own obsessions with the giant germ cell. In the ninety eighth episode of the Translated Chinese fiction podcast I am joined by two fine fellows, Shi Yifeng and contributing translator Carson Ramsdell. All a-puff with imperial gusto, we leaf through The Book of Beijing…

Crimecon 2024 is coming! Use Jill's code murdershelf and save 10% on your badge! Look for Jill on Podcast Row in Nashville, May 31-Jun 2, 2024! In Baton Rouge, Louisiana, a gruesome murder is discovered, with the Sheriff’s office investigating, but the case goes cold. Repeat this over and over, and over as serial killer, Sean Vincent Gillis, kills …

‘Starting to write a suicide note would be too melodramatic. If she wrote it, it would only contain one line: This love makes me so uncomfortable.’ In the ninety seventh episode of the Translated Chinese Fiction Podcast, we are passing the gates of Fang Si-Chi’s First Love Paradise (房思琪的初戀樂園- fáng sī qí de chūliàn lèyuán), an all-too-real #MeToo no…

Crimecon 2024 is coming! Use Jill's code murdershelf and save 10% on your badge! See you in Nashville, May 31-Jun 2, 2024! Now deep into the murder motive, each of the suspects are investigated and the evidence scrutinized fully. Who had a motive and opportunity to commit murder? Who benefitted from the death of Amy Robsart? Given the court verdict…

Crimecon 2024 is coming! Use Jill's code murdershelf and save 10% on your badge! See you in Nashville, May 31-Jun 2, 2024! Jill discusses Crimecon 2023 in Orlando! Being on Podcast Row, meeting her Murder Bookies and meeting so many in the True Crime community! Then, she continues the story of Lady Amy Robsart, found dead at the bottom of the stair…

‘the man spun instinctively to face them, both hands covering his chest, looking almost sorrowful as blood glazed his fingers’ In the ninety sixth episode of the Translated Chinese Fiction Podcast we are entering into dialogue with bioscientist-turned-historical-fictioneer Chen Yao-chang and translator Chen Tung-jung to learn how they cultivated Pu…

Crimecon 2024 is coming! Use Jill's code murdershelf and save 10% on your badge! See you in Nashville, May 31-Jun 2, 2024! Episode 71: “The Original Staircase”- The Death of Amy Robsart: An Elizabethan Mystery by Sarah-Beth Watkins Part 1 1560: Tudor England. Amidst rumors of adultery, poisoning divorce, and murder, Lady Amy Dudley, nee Robsart, wa…

Trembling hands seem to check for the forgotten secret language. Withered bodies, like finding some long-forgotten receipt. Where have you been all these years? The mountains echo again, spring’s call is finally answered: I am the secret language you forgot. You are my lost credentials. In the ninety fifth episode of the Translated Chinese Fiction …

Crimecon 2024 is coming fast! Look for Jill on Podcast Row! We met Russ Faria after he was charged with the murder of his wife, Betsy. Wrongfully convicted, Russ spend 3 years in prison, until he was finally exonerated (Ep 40-44). Enter new DA, Mike Wood, who begins investigating the investigators for corruption, determined to right the unbelievabl…

Our author, the "most prolific cold case investigator in the United States for single-event homicides", Chief Clay Bryant chats with Jill, discussing his cold case investigations and a bit on life itself. His common sense and down to earth brilliance shines through, as Clay shares moments that simply take your breath away—What were the odds THAT co…

In the space marked ‘pregnant’, the machine had quite clearly printed the word ‘no’ In the ninety fourth episode of the Translated Chinese Fiction Podcast we are entering election season. The heroine of Li Er novel Cherries on a Pomegranate Tree (石榴树上结樱桃 - shíliú shù shàng jié yīngtáo) is defending her seat, and that will mean enforcing various pol…

Episode 68 –2ndCast“ Alls Well that Ends Well”- The Cold Case Murder of Fred Wilkerson: Untangling the Black Widows Web in West Georgia by Clay Bryant Part III In Part III, we see Connie Quedens ensnaring Fred Wilderson in her web, entangling finances, escalating demands, culminating with Fred abruptly vanished, leaving his beloved daughter and son…

‘It’s just life, right? One place is as good as another’ In the ninety third episode of the Translated Chinese Fiction Podcast we are Running through Beijing (跑步穿过中关村 - pǎobù chuānguò zhōngguāncūn) in the loping style of 70后 hero Xu Zechen. At the fabled finishing line – observing us wryly, beer and chuan’er in hand – is the translator, Eric Abraha…

A horrendously abused wife, Gwendolyn Moore, is found at the bottom of an old well in 1970. The investigation deliberately went nowhere, for 32 years. Pt 2 tells the story, begun in 2003, with a chance phone call that brought the case to the attention of Investigator Clay Bryant, who not only recalled the case; he watched her body being recovered t…

‘I’ve never broken any rules, not even rules at school. Why would I blackmail someone?’ ’In the ninety second episode of The Translated Chinese Fiction Podcast we are getting duped by Bad Kids (坏孩子 - huài háizi). Fleeing the proverbial orphanage with me is the book’s translator, Michelle Deeter, here to mark a breadcrumb trail through the dark chil…

Look for Jill on Podcast Row at Crimecon 2024 in Nashville, May 31- June 2, 2024! Back in 1970, the beaten body of a young wife and mother was lifted from an old well just outside Hogansville, Georgia. The victim, Gwendolyn Moore, had long been married to her violent and abusive husband, Marshall Moore. Yet, mysteriously, this homicide investigatio…

‘The “exquisite bridges and flowing water” one finds in poetry are not written by real farmers, but those who claim to love rural life when they most fear it.’ In the ninety first episode of the Translated Chinese Podcast, we are travelling half across China to pod you. The writer in question is rural/online star Yu Xiuhua and my guest is her trans…

Pt 3: What happens when you are on Death Row? How does the appeal process work? What is the human toll? Is it justice? We will follow Velma’s loved ones as they struggle with new revelations, and hear from the families of the victims’ as human endurance is tested. Jill walks you through Velma Barfield’s maze of appeals, arguments for a new trial, a…

In Part 2, on trial for premeditated murder, Velma Barfield’s attorney, Bob Jacobson has an uphill battle—she confessed to poisoning Stuart Taylor- and 3 other people. With the defense team facing the “World’s most deadly prosecutor” Joe Freeman Britt, only Velma could explain herself. Was she too impaired from her drug abuse to understand what she…

‘I felt that in action and in lore, one and all were far above me; that in spite of the majesty of my manliness, I could not, in point of fact, compare with these characters of the gentle sex’ Share your feedback by email: thetranslatedchinesefictionpodcast@outlook As this show draws only ten episodes short of its ascent to heavenly hiatus, let us …

After a childhood of poverty and abuse, 17-year-old Margie Velma Bullard eloped with Senior Thomas Burke while they were both in high school. Building a happy life, they welcomed a son and daughter, becoming a normal American family. That is, until addiction reared its ugliness, triggering a cascade of painful, inexplicable deaths. Why did so many …