After fishermen reel in a severed arm off of Key West, demoted police detective Andrew Yancy grows suspicious of the victim’s young widow and her mysterious new boyfriend. Yancy thinks Eve’s husband Nick might not be the victim of a boating accident, especially as more people wind up dead.

Meanwhile, the couple have been scooping up property and displacing residents on the nearby island of Andros. Neville approaches the sultry Dragon Queen to put a curse on the speculators who stole his shack. Yancy and Neville’s stories become intertwined, as the wisecracking detective wonders how far Eve will go to execute her plan.

“Bad Monkey” from Apple TV+ stars Vince Vaughn as the fleet-footed and silver-tongued Yancy. Based on Carl Hiaasen’s best seller, this part noir/part dark comedy features rat-a-tat-tat dialogue and a host of quirky characters. Can Yancy get his badge back, straighten out his love life, thwart a crooked cop and the neighborhood real estate agent, and bring the scheming couple to justice?

OUR SPOILER-FREE REVIEWS OF "BAD MONKEY" BEGIN IN THE FINAL 12 MINUTES OF THE EPISODE.

In Crime of the Week:  Lost in the mail.

For exclusive podcasts and more, sign up at Patreon.

Sign up for our newsletter at crimewriterson.com.

New York’s police department says its mission is to protect and serve, but its long forgotten origin story says something different. Before they carried weapons and wore uniforms, the city’s loose affiliation of constables and watchmen hunted escaped enslaved people and made arrests for a fee. New York eventually formed a police force, one less focused on solving crime and more to serve the mayor’s political interests. In the 150-plus years that followed, police reforms and counter reforms shaped how the NYPD uses its authority.  But the debate continues on how modern law enforcement interacts with the community.

From Wondery, Crooked Media and PushBlack, comes the podcast “Empire City: The Untold Origin Story of the NYPD.” Peabody Award winner Chenjerai Kumanyika recounts the lost history of Gotham’s police, and brings his personal experiences as a second-generation police reform advocate.

OUR SPOILER-FREE REVIEWS OF "EMPIRE CITY" BEGIN IN THE FINAL 10 MINUTES OF THE EPISODE.

For exclusive podcasts and more, sign up at Patreon.

Sign up for our newsletter at crimewriterson.com.

A small-time Atlanta numbers runner named Chicken Man is given a big-time opportunity: throw a party for all the bosses of the Black mafia after Muhammad Ali’s comeback fight. But a group of robbers holds up the partygoers, making off with nearly a million dollars in cash and jewelry. Detective JD Hudson is tasked with finding the violent robbers - that is unless “Black Godfather” Frank Moten finds them first. Chicken Man finds himself in the crosshairs of both the police and the mob, needing to convince both he had nothing to do with the heist.

“Fight Night: The Million Dollar Heist” from Peacock is based on the podcast about the 1971 real-life caper. Kevin Hart leads an all-star cast that includes Taraji P. Henson, Don Cheadle, and Samuel L. Jackson. The crime drama goes beyond the holdup, focusing on the characters’ dreams of what life in a modern Atlanta could be.

OUR SPOILER-FREE REVIEWS OF "FIGHT NIGHT: THE MILLION DOLLAR HEIST" BEGIN IN THE FINAL 10 MINUTES OF THE EPISODE.

In Crime of the Week: The G.O.A.T. of goats.

For exclusive podcasts and more, sign up at Patreon.

Sign up for our newsletter at crimewriterson.com.

Oregon death row inmate Jesse Lee Johnson always proclaimed his innocence in the 1998 murder of Harriet Thompson. Seventeen years later, with little fanfare, authorities released Johnson from prison instead of retrying him for the crime. But if the case was too weak to pursue a conviction, how was Johnson arrested in the first place? Why did Salem police rely on recanted witness statements and badly documented evidence, while ignoring DNA placing other people at the crime scene? And was Johnson’s race a factor for the investigators with a history of problematic statements? 

From Oregon Public Broadcasting comes the investigative series “Hush.” Host Leah Sottile and producer Ryan Haas examine the investigators and their evidence that nearly sent Johnson to the execution chamber. It explores the inequities in policing policies. And it refutes the state’s claim Johnson was the only suspect in Thompson’s murder.

OUR SPOILER-FREE REVIEWS OF "HUSH" BEGIN IN THE FINAL 13 MINUTES OF THE EPISODE.

For exclusive podcasts and more, sign up at Patreon.

Sign up for our newsletter at crimewriterson.com.

A young woman from a posh English family sought clarity about her sexual orientation from therapist Anne Craig. She convinced Fipsi her issues were a result of childhood abuse at the hands of her family - abuse Fipsi had no recollection of. Anne convinced her to cut ties with them and focus instead on their sessions. Anne diagnosed most of her well-to-do patients as victims of an underground pedophile ring. The women spent years estranged from their families. It left their parents convinced Anne brainwashed their daughters and unsure of how to get them back.

The podcast “Dangerous Memories” from Tortoise explores the work of the self-styled counselor who convinced women of privilege they were victims and lured them into isolation and dependence. Host Grace Hugh Hallett talks to former clients and their families about Anne’s cult-like hold on them and the efforts to stop her. 

OUR SPOILER-FREE REVIEWS OF "DANGEROUS MEMORIES" BEGIN IN THE FINAL 12 MINUTES OF THE EPISODE.

In Crime of the Week: digital downloads.

Here's the GOURDS article from McSweeney's!

And here's the one from the Baroness Von Schraeder! 

For exclusive podcasts and more, sign up at Patreon.

Sign up for our newsletter at crimewriterson.com.

Cathy Terkanian learned the daughter she gave up for adoption decades earlier vanished under mysterious circumstances while a teenager. When she dug deeper into Aundria Bowman’s disappearance, she learned police never investigated her adoptive father, despite his history of violence. Convinced the Bowmans knew more than they were saying, Cathy began a crusade to force Aundria’s adoptive parents to talk. Could a chance encounter between cold case detectives and evidence left 1,000 miles away be the break they’ve been waiting for?

From the producers of the true crime classic “The Keepers” comes the two-part Netflix series “Into the Fire: The Lost Daughter.” It follows Cathy’s journey to do right by the child she never knew and learn what happened to her. Her journey is filled with surprising twists and leaves the viewer to ponder how far is too far to seek justice for a daughter. 

OUR SPOILER-FREE REVIEWS OF "INTO THE FIRE: THE LOST DAUGHTER" BEGIN IN THE FINAL 12 MINUTES OF THE EPISODE.

For exclusive podcasts and more, sign up at Patreon.

Sign up for our newsletter at crimewriterson.com.

Dr. Robert Young rose to prominence in the world of holistic medicine claiming cancer was not a cell, but rather poisonous acid in the body, so a diet rich in alkaline would neutralize it. The charismatic practitioner opened the so-called Miracle Ranch, where sick people sought expensive treatments to balance their pH. Though he doled out advice and performed baking soda IVs, Young had never been to medical school. And as his devoted followers favored vegetable smoothies instead of chemotherapy, their conditions worsened. 

“Chameleon: Dr. Miracle” is the latest season of the podcast from Campside Media, Sony Music Entertainment, and Dorothy Street Pictures. Host Larrison Campbell recounts Young’s pseudoscientific alkaline diet and talks to ranch employees and patients who received his quack treatments. It also looks into the difficulty of holding Young accountable - and where he is today.

OUR SPOILER-FREE REVIEWS OF "CHAMELEON: DR. MIRACLE" BEGIN IN THE FINAL 13 MINUTES OF THE EPISODE.

In Crime of the Week: Behind iron(y) bars.

For exclusive podcasts and more, sign up at Patreon.

Sign up for our newsletter at crimewriterson.com.

When we last listened to season three of “In the Dark,” Madeleine Baran had collected signatures from the families of the Haditha victims, hoping to obtain secret photographs of the massacre. In the final episodes of the season, the team gives the pictures to an analyst who says the images are clear evidence of a war crime. Military prosecutors eventually charged eight Marines for killing two dozen unarmed Iraqi men, women and children. But a cascade of immunity offers, intervention by commanding officers, and a generous plea bargain meant no one was held accountable for the murders in any meaningful way.

The final episodes of “In the Dark” season three probes what went wrong with the prosecution of the infantrymen who rounded up and slaughtered civilians in retaliation for an IED attack. And while the number of victims in Haditha have been listed as 24, Baran and her team find evidence the number is too low.

OUR SPOILER-FREE REVIEWS OF "IN THE DARK" EPISODES 6 THROUGH 9 BEGIN IN THE FINAL 11 MINUTES OF THE EPISODE.

For exclusive podcasts and more, sign up at Patreon.

Sign up for our newsletter at crimewriterson.com.

Hours before a wedding at the Winbury’s Nantucket estate, the maid of honor’s body washes ashore. Investigators believe the death was no accident. All the family members are now suspects in the case. They include man-of-leisure Tag Winbury, his high-strung wife and mystery novelist Greer, and their three sons: cash strapped Thomas, adolescent Will, and Benji, the groom. Together with the fish-out-of-water bride, Thomas’s pregnant wife, a shifty best man, and a French cougar, everyone had reasons to kill Merritt Monaco - but who did?

Based on the best-selling novel, the six part Netflix series “The Perfect Couple” stars Nicole Kidman, Liev Schreiber, and Eve Hewson. The high-profile investigation threatens to undermine Tag and Greer’s facade of considerable wealth and an ideal marriage so necessary for their public persona.  

OUR SPOILER-FREE REVIEWS OF "THE PERFECT COUPLE" BEGIN IN THE FINAL 11 MINUTES OF THE EPISODE.

In Crime of the Week: Goodbye yellow brick nose.

For exclusive podcasts and more, sign up at Patreon.

Sign up for our newsletter at crimewriterson.com.

Secondary school student Pippa Fitz-Amobi selects a controversial topic for an extra credit project. She wants to re-investigate the murder/suicide that rocked her sleepy English village five years earlier. She’s not convinced popular teen Andie Bell was killed by her boyfriend, Sal Singh, and Pip enlists his brother to help her. Pip grills Andie’s friends about what led up to her death and disappearance. Soon she gets anonymous threats to back off. Is someone willing to kill again to keep the truth about Andie from surfacing?

From BBC Studios and streaming on Netflix comes the adaptation of the YA bestseller, “A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder,” starring Emma Myers. The thriller series follows Pip’s growing obsession with the Andie Bell case, as she pushes her good girl boundaries to solve the mystery, and navigate adolescent relationships as complicated as the crime.

OUR SPOILER-FREE REVIEWS OF "A GOOD GIRL'S GUIDE TO MURDER" BEGIN IN THE FINAL 13 MINUTES OF THE EPISODE.

For exclusive podcasts and more, sign up at Patreon.

Sign up for our newsletter at crimewriterson.com.

Working off a tip, investigators in a small Georgia town made a gruesome discovery at Tri-State Crematory. Bodies that were supposed to be cremated were instead dumped around the business’s property. The deceased numbered in the hundreds and had been left to rot for years. Owner Brent Marsh was charged with several crimes. Meanwhile, loved ones felt re-traumatized, left wondering who - or what - was really in the urns they had.

The true crime podcast “Noble” from Wavland and Campside Media revisits the 2002 Tri-State Crematory scandal. Host Shaun Raviv talks to relatives, lawyers, and investigators about the case, and seeks answers as to why Marsh never put hundreds of remains in the oven.

OUR SPOILER-FREE REVIEWS OF "NOBLE" BEGIN IN THE FINAL 11 MINUTES OF THE EPISODE.

In Crime of the Week: line(up) dance.

For exclusive podcasts and more, sign up at Patreon.

Sign up for our newsletter at crimewriterson.com.