A few years ago, I posted three podcast recommendation posts: one for true crime and some comedy, one with my current rotation (including wrestling and general podcasts), and another true crime update. Surprisingly, I’ve only really featured podcasts in my Lauren Lately and Five on Friday posts since then! That means I’ve shouted them out very randomly across about three years. I thought it was high time for a BIG update on my podcast recommendations. Yes, these are all true crime-related. I’ll give brief descriptions and general feelings about them underneath and they’ll be in alphabetical order, so I don’t have to worry about ranking them. These are all ones I’ve listened to between mid-2018 and early 2020, and I’ll let you know if they’re ongoing or if they’ve wrapped up.
Quick list of true crime-ish podcasts I’ve recommended in the past: Unconcluded, The Fall Line, My Favorite Murder, Thin Air, Dirty John, Up and Vanished, Serial, Criminal, Missing Richard Simmons, Accused, In the Dark, Finding Tammy Jo, S-Town, and Unresolved
Show: A Killing on the Cape
Style: About one case
Status: Complete
Snapshot: This one was an interesting, professionally-made podcast about a murder that happened on Cape Cod. It was made by 20/20 and there’s also an episode you could watch about it. Was the convicted man actually the one who committed the crime?
Show: A Murder on Orchard Street
Style: About one case
Status: Complete
Snapshot: Super similar to A Killing on the Cape, as it was also made by ABC (except Nightline, not 20/20). You can also watch a mini-series about it from 2017 too. This one has a lot of insider detective stuff, which was pretty fascinating, and dives into an unsolved murder in NYC.
Show: A Very Fatal Murder
Style: One case per season
Status: Two seasons complete, not sure about more
Snapshot: Okay let me be clear that this is made by The Onion and its a true crime PARODY podcast. If you’re a lover of true crime and The Onion satire, you will 100% get a kick out of this. It covers a fake case and dives down all the stereotypical rabbit holes that these kinds of podcasts do.
Show: Accused
Style: One case per season
Status: Three seasons complete, probably more to come
Snapshot: I’ve recommended this podcast before, but their third season just finished and it was a whirlwind; I’d be remiss not to share my love for Accused again. They’ve covered the unsolved murders of Elizabeth Andes and Retha Welch, and just finished the mysterious death (possible murder) of David Box… and some government conspiracy theories along with it! Fascinating.
Show: Amy Should Be Forty
Style: About one case
Status: Complete
Snapshot: This is a short one about the super famous Amy Mihaljevic case; it was really well-done and offers some insights about where this thirty-year-old cold case may go from here. Will it finally be solved thanks to DNA?!
Show: Bear Brook
Style: About one case
Status: Complete with updates as they come
Snapshot: Okay I can’t emphasize this enough – this is possibly my favorite true crime podcast since Serial season one. It’s so well-made and absolutely FASCINATING from start to finish. It’s a super old case that kept encountering twists and turns, with probably more to come. If you only listen to one podcast here, listen to this one.
Show: Crime Junkie
Style: One case per episode
Status: Ongoing
Snapshot: I hesitate to recommend this one because the girls have been accused of plagiarism (which they’ve since “remedied” by including their sources a lot, in multiple places). Generally people have lost steam on this one but I was completely addicted for a few weeks listening to their backlog. It’s basically a more serious version of My Favorite Murder.
Show: Culpable
Style: About one case
Status: Complete with updates as they come
Snapshot: This podcast was about a fascinating case, where a mysterious death was ruled suicide when it probably shouldn’t have. I’ll admit that I wish the podcaster had laid things out a little better (it gets slightly repetitive at the end) but the case itself interested me enough to listen to the whole thing.
Show: Room 20
Style: About one “case”
Status: Complete
Snapshot: This isn’t really true crime, but it’s somewhat related (true crime lovers will enjoy it probably). A woman investigates a man known as Sixty-Six Garage, who was laying in a hospital bed unidentified and unable to speak for 15 years. She searches for his identity and all of the twists in this “case.”
Show: The Generation Why Podcast
Style: One case per episode
Status: Ongoing
Snapshot: I don’t listen to all of these, but they cover a lot of interesting cases (and more famous ones). I listened to the JonBenet Ramsey case when it was recommended and have since listened to a few more. If you’ve ever wanted super in-depth conversation about some more famous cases, head here.
Show: The Last Days of August
Style: About one case
Status: Complete
Snapshot: This is true crime-adjacent, as its about the suicide of August Ames, a famous pornstar. It includes a lot of information about her family, her husband, and the cyberbullying she experienced before her death. This made me sad for her and gave me a lot of insight about the porn industry.
Show: The Thing About Pam
Style: About one case
Status: Complete
Snapshot: While this wasn’t MY favorite, I know other people really enjoyed this one. It’s by Dateline so it’s super professionally done with quick episodes and an amazing narrator. The end result was too obvious to me so I was less invested, but again – a lot of people love this one and I would generally recommend it.
Show: The Vanished
Style: One case per episode
Status: Ongoing
Snapshot: I was searching for more “unexplained missing people” podcasts after the Thin Air podcast took a super-long and sad hiatus and came across this one. I don’t listen to every single episode but have a TON downloaded for whenever the mood strikes. The host interviews family members of the missing people and the episodes are always well-researched (sometimes a little repetitive).
Show: To Live and Die in LA
Style: About one case
Status: Complete with updates as they come
Snapshot: I think this one got slightly repetitive for me in some episodes but it was well-done overall. I would recommend not reading up on this case (about Adea Shabani) beforehand because some things happen WHILE he’s working on the podcast and you’d know some outcomes.
Show: Your Own Backyard
Style: About one case
Status: Complete with updates as they come
Snapshot: Super engrossing podcast about Kristin Smart’s disappearance and likely murder. This case gets so wild around episode three and it makes me want to scream at police. The answers seem RIGHT THERE and yet nothing has been officially solved. Highly recommend, especially because it’s really recent and genuine updates are coming!
I LOVE YOU! Bookmarking this post! I’ve been wanting to try other crime podcasts ever since the plagiarism accusations from Crime Junkie, so thank you!
Yesss keep me posted on what you listened to!!