CLEWS The World's Worst Femmes Fatales - Season One  artwork

CLEWS The World's Worst Femmes Fatales - Season One

13 episodes - English - Latest episode: over 2 years ago -

CLEWS is a library devoted to top-shelf, literary, culturally significant true crime stories from around the world. Our chairs rest at the intersection of history, journalism, law, and murder. Every episode is the product of meticulous research and analysis that will inform, entertain, teach, and surprise even the most knowledgeable true crime aficionado. Episodes featuring true stories alternate with episodes devoted to interviews of today's best-selling true crime authors. Lead author Laura James, South Lyon, Michigan, is a polyglot with a BAA in Journalism and was a newspaper reporter for five years on the court beat before law school. She was the valedictorian of the University of Detroit School of Law, 1994, and a trial lawyer for 27 years as well as a true crime author, editor, and critic. Her literary blog CLEWS (c) 2005, devoted to true crime books, earned millions of hits and glowing reviews in the Wall Street Journal, Slate, etc. She took early retirement in 2021 to turn CLEWS into a podcast. Laura James has been hired to write or edit books, chapters, prefaces, proposals, and afterwords by the University of Michigan Press, Kent State University Press, Ivy Press, University of Nebraska Press, Pelican Press, Sterling Publishing / Barnes & Noble, the Albert Borowitz True Crime Library, and Prometheus Books, among many others. Her most recent book, THE BEAUTY DEFENSE, was named one of the Top Ten True Crime Books of 2021 by Marie Claire magazine. Laura James is also the 2009 recipient of the John Newman Edwards Award, presented by the Friends of the James Farm, for Outstanding Effort to promote, publicize, and chronicle the legend of Jesse James and the Civil War era in Clay County, Missouri. The CLEWS blog also led to lasting friendships with many true crime authors. Our first interview will be with the reigning king of the true crime genre, Harold Schechter, with many more stars to come -- broad conversations about our favorite books and stories and the hottest issues in true crime today. The CLEWS blog also led to the development of surprising (and proprietary) data on the specific, time-tested stories that audiences very much want to hear above all others. The data suggests that the thirst for certain sub-genres of true crime are vastly under-served at present. It is our intention to have provocative conversations with the stars of true crime and to find and tell the most interesting, literary, culturally significant stories for a mature, educated, thirsty audience. Christopher Ray is the founder and chief audio engineer of Counterpoint Sound Worx, based in Boston, Massachusetts. From the audio equipment used to record Laura's essays to the edited and mixed sound of the podcast--Chris adds his expertise and his creative imagination to give cinematic life to the world's most interesting true crime stories. The editing and mixing is all handled by Chris; he uses Avid Pro Tools. Additionally, all music and sound fx are selected by Chris.

True Crime History true crime old true crime murder suspense literature
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Episodes

Jill the Ripper (In Stereo)

November 23, 2021 00:00 - 41 minutes - 57.1 MB

CLEWS takes you to Tokyo in spring, where a beautiful woman commits the rarest crime in the calendar. Meet Sada Abe and her modern sisters in castration.  Sources: Laura James, The beauty defense, 2020.  www.naomiclifford.com/ann-crampton/ William Johnston, Geisha, harlot, strangler, star, 2005.  Judith Knelman, Twisting in the wind, 1998. Christine Marran, Poison woman, 2007.

White Mischief in Botswana - Marriette Bosch (In Stereo)

November 17, 2021 17:00 - 41 minutes - 56.6 MB

CLEWS takes you to Botswana, known for its diamonds, democracy, elephants, and low crime rate – until a June night in 1996, when gunshots announce the shocking murder of a well-to-do woman in her own home. The police are stumped. Then a wedding, a housemaid, and a sister-in-law reveal the secrets of Marriette Bosch. Sources: Botswana, Bosch v The State, Judgment of the Court of Criminal Appeal 37 of 1999. Katharine Murison, Africa south of the Sahara 2003, 2002. Kenneth Good, Diamonds, disp...

White Mischief in Botswana - Marriette Bosch

November 17, 2021 17:00 - 41 minutes - 56.9 MB

CLEWS takes you to Botswana, known for its diamonds, democracy, elephants, and low crime rate – until a June night in 1996, when gunshots announce the shocking murder of a well-to-do woman in her own home. The police are stumped. Then a wedding, a housemaid, and a sister-in-law reveal the secrets of Marriette Bosch. Sources: Botswana, Bosch v The State, Judgment of the Court of Criminal Appeal 37 of 1999. Katharine Murison, Africa south of the Sahara 2003, 2002. Kenneth Good, Diamonds, disp...

A Jury In France Meets Miss St. Louis (In Stereo)

November 10, 2021 17:00 - 33 minutes - 45.4 MB

CLEWS takes you to the French Riviera, where a Miss America runner-up is in a knock-down, drag-out battle with her millionaire husband that doesn’t end until the shooting starts. It’s the story of Fred and Charlotte Nash Nixon-Nirdlinger - just the sort of thing that happens when fifty marries twenty.  Sources:  Laura James, The beauty defense, 2020. www.newspaperarchive.com Mary Knight, On my own, 1938. https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/11853788/frederick-goodwin-nixon-nirdlinger Private...

Dickens for the Defense of a She-Devil in the Dock (In Stereo)

November 04, 2021 03:00 - 26 minutes - 36.9 MB

CLEWS takes you to the Old Bailey for the trial of killer Emma “Kitty” Byron, a beauty who stabbed a stock broker to death in broad daylight. The mandatory penalty for murder is death by hanging. It should have been an open-and-shut case. But Miss Byron is lovely, and her attorney is the son of Charles Dickens, who once said that some murders are highly popular. Will Dickens save her, or will Kitty swing? Sources: Laura James, The beauty defense, 2020.  Theresa Murphy, The Old Bailey, 199...

CLEWS Interviews Harold Schechter on Ed Gein, Belle Gunness, Graphic Novels, and True Crime Today

November 02, 2021 19:00 - 36 minutes - 50.2 MB

Our inaugural interview is with Harold Schechter, whose first true crime book came out in 1990. Back in the day, true crime was mass market paperback and hard to find. You had to sneak to the back of the bookstore, and a special order got you a long look. Today, true crime tops the charts in every format, every channel. We can’t get enough. How did that happen? Harold Schechter knows. He’s now written dozens of books and just retired after 40 years as a professor of American literature in Ne...

The Salem Witch Trial of 1933 (In Stereo)

October 26, 2021 14:00 - 26 minutes - 36.2 MB

CLEWS takes you to Salem, Massachusetts, and the modern trial of a witch accused of poisoning her husband. Things sure look bleak for this dark-haired beauty, but Jessie Costello will cast a spell – on the jury. It’s a case that has been called the most luscious trial as any in the gaudy annals of American jurisprudence.   Sources Laura James, The beauty defense, 2020. Nathan Gorenstein, Tommy gun winter, 2015. Dr. William Frederick Boos, The poison trail, 1939. John Jakes, Great women ...

The Salem Witch Trial of Jessie Costello, Spellcaster (In Stereo)

October 26, 2021 14:00 - 26 minutes - 36.3 MB

CLEWS takes you to Salem, Massachusetts, and the modern trial of a witch accused of poisoning her husband. Things sure look bleak for this dark-haired beauty, but Jessie Costello will cast a spell – on the jury. It’s a case that has been called the most luscious trial as any in the gaudy annals of American jurisprudence.   Sources Laura James, The beauty defense, 2020. Nathan Gorenstein, Tommy gun winter, 2015. Dr. William Frederick Boos, The poison trail, 1939. John Jakes, Great women ...

The World's Worst Woman - Countess Marie Tarnovska

October 20, 2021 22:00 - 1 hour - 86.2 MB

The World’s Worst Woman – Countess Marie O’Rourke Tarnovska CLEWS tells of the most prolific femme fatale known to mankind and the most celebrated murder trial in the history of Venice. Countess Marie Nicolaevna O’Rourke Tarnovska was the “Russian Delilah” – a woman who orchestrated scenes worthy of Tolstoy. Except - Anna Karenina was a piker compared to the real thing. Sources: Laura James, “The world’s worst woman.” A chapter of Masters of true crime, 2012. Anna Mary Babey, Americans in ...

The World's Worst Woman - Countess Marie Tarnowska

October 20, 2021 22:00 - 1 hour - 86.2 MB

The World’s Worst Woman – Countess Marie O’Rourke Tarnovska CLEWS tells of the most prolific femme fatale known to mankind and the most celebrated murder trial in the history of Venice. Countess Marie Nicolaevna O’Rourke Tarnovska was the “Russian Delilah” – a woman who orchestrated scenes worthy of Tolstoy. Except - Anna Karenina was a piker compared to the real thing. Sources: Laura James, “The world’s worst woman.” A chapter of Masters of true crime, 2012. Anna Mary Babey, Americans in ...

The World's Worst Woman - Countess Marie Tarnowska (In Stereo)

October 20, 2021 22:00 - 1 hour - 84.2 MB

The World’s Worst Woman – Countess Marie O’Rourke Tarnowska (In Stereo) CLEWS tells of the most prolific femme fatale known to mankind and the most celebrated murder trial in the history of Venice. Countess Marie Nicolaevna O’Rourke Tarnovska was the “Russian Delilah” – a woman who orchestrated scenes worthy of Tolstoy. Except - Anna Karenina was a piker compared to the real thing. For more, including comments from descendants and students of the case from around the globe, visit https://ww...

The City of Athens vs. Phryne (In Stereo)

October 05, 2021 13:00 - 28 minutes - 39.6 MB

CLEWS takes you back to ancient Greece. When a beautiful courtesan is charged with shameless revelry, a famous trial lawyer comes to the rescue of the damsel in legal distress. This is the amazing but true story of Phryne (or Frine) and her attorney, Hypereides, and the most shocking closing argument of all time.   For more including the comments section:  https://www.laurajames.com/clews/2021/10/the-most-shocking-closing-argument-of-all-time-hypereides-350-bc.html   Sources:  Laura James...

The Chicago School of Mariticide (In Stereo)

September 30, 2021 12:00 - 40 minutes - 55.2 MB

CLEWS takes you to the gin-fueled, jazz-filled nights in Chicago, Illinois when a good-looking woman could kill a man for no reason whatsoever -- other than to get her picture in the paper.  Here is the story of the shocking murder epidemic that caused the deaths of three hundred husbands and boyfriends, and the scandalous true stories of two beautiful killers who inspired the musical "Chicago" - Beulah May Annan and Belle Gaertner. Sources:  Laura James, The beauty defense, 2020. Maurine ...