Today on The Stacks, we’re joined by ProPublica reporter and The New York Times Magazine staff writer, Pamela Colloff, to discuss her book, Catch the Devil: A True Story of Murder, Deception, and Injustice on the Gulf Coast. This book delves into the life of career con man Paul Skalnik, whose pattern of trading fabricated prison confessions for his own freedom landed a Vietnam veteran on death row for a murder he didn’t commit. We talk about the power of investigative journalism, the hard lessons Pamela has learned as a journalist, and why people are fascinated by con men.

Our book club pick for July is Behind the Beautiful Forevers by Katherine Boo. We will be discussing the book with Julianna Haubner on Wednesday, July 29th.

You can find everything we discuss on today's show on The Stacks website: https://www.thestackspodcast.com/2026/7/15/ep-433-pamela-colloff

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