If you’re the kind of person who binge-watches episodes of Law & Order: SVU or who couldn’t stop talking about Netflix’s Making a Murdereror the podcast Serial, then it’s safe to assume you’re a fan of murder mysteries and tales of high-crime. You can’t get enough of trying to figure out—along with detectives and reporters—who did what, when, and why.
Lucky for all of us true crime freaks, the genre is having a moment right now—especially when it comes to podcasts. Ahead, we’ve rounded up 10 of the best true crime podcasts around from single-episode mysteries to in-depth reporting on one crime.
Oh, and just in case you, like Kim Kardashian, haven’t listened to the first season of Serial, get on that. It’s the most popular season by far and when you’re done, you can finally weigh in on whether you think Adnan Syed deserves a new trial—or not.
The best true crime podcasts around this season
Criminal Podcast
No true podcast list would be complete without Criminal. Launched in 2014 and hosted by Phoebe Judge, listeners can tune in for twice-monthly episodes that have a sociological and historical bent focused on the bizarre.
True Crime Historian
Host Richard O. Jones discusses a different case in weekly episodes drawing from newspaper accounts from the era of “yellow journalism.” That is, back when reporters and newspapers sensationalized crime.
True Crime Garage
True Crime Garage is an independent podcast hosted by two friends recorded in their, you guessed it, garage. The two buds (Nic and The Captain) regularly drink beer and discuss their favorite true crime tales from the “Forth Worth Missing Trio” to the “Oakland County Child Killer.”
S-Town
If you’re looking for a deep-dive into a single story, S-Town offers a beautifully-scripted alternative to your traditional true crime podcast. Hosted by Brian Reed and produced by WBEZ (the radio studio behind Serial), the story follows the story of a man named John, from Alabama, who contacts Reed with a tale about his “shit town.” What follows is a different kind of mystery.
My Favorite Murder
Started in 2016 and hosted by comedians Karen Kilgariff and Georgia Hardstark, My Favorite Murder has spawned its own giant “Murderino” fan base. The two hosts balance out the grisly murders with a dose of humor and playfulness—not always an easy task.
Dirty John
Dirty John is a podcast from the Los Angeles Times that’s hosted and reported by investigative journalist Christopher Goffard. The eight-episode series follows the story of Debra Newell, a successful interior designer who meets John Meehan, a “handsome man who seems to check all the boxes.” Except—something’s not quite right.
Crimetown
If you’re a fan of stories about the mob and organized crime, look no further than Crimetown. The serial documentary produced by Gimlet (the makers of Reply All and Start-Up), largely focuses on how organized crime impacts an entire city and its culture. The first season focuses on Baltimore, while the second season will focus on Detroit.
Sword and Scale
If you’re definitely not afraid of grisly crime details and horrific murders, consider Sword and Scale. The podcast tackles everything from mass murderers to sex crimes to torture and more. The goal of the podcast, according to its site, is to depict crime stories “as nakedly as possible, in their stark reality rather than the glossed-over ‘photoshopped; version the mainstream media portrays.”
Up and Vanished
There are few true crime podcasts that have reached close to the heights of Serial, but Up and Vanished comes pretty damn close. In fact, it may have helped crack open a cold case from 2005! While many of the true crime podcasts around today focus on murders and unresolved mysteries, Up and Vanished focuses on cases of missing persons. Season one of the investigative journalism podcast (hosted by Payne Lindsey) followed the case of a missing 30-year-old beauty queen from Georgia.
Curtain
The Curtain podcast is an up-and-coming podcast from Australia that aims to “pull back the blinds to shine a light on the darkest parts of our justice system and ask—who are the victims? That is, are the guilty parties truly the perpetrators? Or are they victims of an unjust system?
