On January 7th, 1872, "Jubilee Jim" Fisk was murdered on a staircase in New York City's Grand Central Hotel. His killer (the lover of Fisk's former girlfriend Josie Mansfield) was furious at being targeted by the financier as the two parties battled in the courts.

My guest this week is bestselling historian and Pulitzer Prize finalist H.W. Brands, author of "The Murder of Jim Fisk for the Love of Josie Mansfield". He not only talks about Fisk's sensational murder, but he also explains some of the outrageous financial schemes Fisk and his partner Jay Gould were involved in, including attempts to take control of the Erie Railroad and to corner the gold market.

More about the author and his book here: https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/209467/the-murder-of-jim-fisk-for-the-love-of-josie-mansfield-by-hw-brands/

H.W. Brands' Twitter handle: https://twitter.com/hwbrands

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

David "Stringbean" Akeman was a singer, clawhammer banjo player and an early Grand Ole Opry star, known for his lanky build and comedic personality. And as a cast member of the nationwide television show Hee-Haw, he was at the height of his popularity when he and his wife Estelle were murdered in their rural Tennessee home in November of 1973.

My guest this week is Professor Taylor Hagood, author of "Stringbean: The Life and Murder of a Country Music Legend". He walks us through the fascinating life of this unique musician, the murders that left the nation reeling, and the investigation that led police to the killers.

The author's website: https://www.taylorhagood.com/

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Dick Turpin is one Britain's most famous criminals, a murderous highwayman whose nefarious deeds became romanticized decades after his execution.

My guest is James Sharpe, who shares Turpin's story and dispels some of the myths that have grown around the outlaw over the years. His book is called "Dick Turpin: The Myth of the English Highwayman".

More about the author here: https://www.york.ac.uk/history/people/honorary/sharpe

Go here to download the Zocdoc app for free to find a top-rated doctor (and support the show) https://www.zocdoc.com/most

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Happy Independence Day to all of my American listeners, as we finally reach episode 300!

A slight deviation this week from the typical true crime tragedy and disaster content - my guest is best-selling historian Eric Jay Dolin, author of "Rebels at Sea: Privateering in the American Revolution".

America's new government, in an effort to stand up against Britain's formidable navy, issued letters of marque to privately owned ships, allowing them to seize British merchant vessels and men of war. Eric Jay Dolin explains the importance of privateering to the American cause and shares stories of some of the men who served on these privateers, including Captain Jonathan Haradan, whose heroic exploits helped shape the war's outcome, and free-born African-American sailor James Forten, who would become a British prisoner of war and later in life a wealthy businessman and abolitionist.

The author's website: https://www.ericjaydolin.com/

Go here to download the Zocdoc app for free to find a top-rated doctor (and support the show) https://www.zocdoc.com/most

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this first ever episode re-release, Erik revisits his 2016 interview with New York Times Bestselling author Steve Hodel, author of "The Black Dahlia Avenger". Hodel explains why he believes that the 1947 murder of Elizabeth Short, aka the Black Dahlia, was committed by his father, physician George Hodel.

More about Steve Hodel and his work here: https://stevehodel.com/

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

My guest this week is bestselling author Anthony M. Amore, director of security and chief investigator at Boston's Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum. He shares the story of Rose Dugdale, an Oxford educated former debutante who rejected her wealthy and privileged life and joined the ranks of the Irish Republican Army in the early 1970s. Included in her notorious exploits was the attempted aerial bombing of a police station and the biggest art theft of her era.

Anthony Amore's book is called "The Woman Who Stole Vermeer: The True Story of Rose Dugdale and the Russborough House Art Heist." More the author and his work can be found at his website: http://www.anthonyamore.com/

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On a chilly January night in 1932, a wealthy industrialist named Howard Woolverton was snatched from his car by kidnappers. When he was released unharmed the next day, his apparent lack of concern for the capture of his abductors led many to believe he was attempting to halt the investigation. J. Edgar Hoover would later name George Kelly Barnes, aka "Machine Gun Kelly" and his wife Kathryn as participants in his abduction, but evidence suggests other notorious gangsters were also involved, and the case itself has never officially been solved.

My guest Kevin Meredith collaborated with Woolverton's grandson David W. Hendry to write “Under Penalty of Death: The Untold Story of Machine Gun Kelly's First Kidnapping.” In this interview he theorizes about why Hoover might have ignored other possible suspects, including Verne Miller and Frank "Jelly" Nash, and explains how this little-known kidnapping, along with the Lindbergh kidnapping that followed closely on its heels, helped usher in the 1932 Federal Kidnapping Act.

The author's publisher page: https://iupress.org/9781684351992/under-penalty-of-death/

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

At about 11 pm on July 18, 1959, Dr. Bernard Finch and his girlfriend Carole Ann Tregoff arrived at the Finch home in West Covina, California with a plan to murder his wife Barbara and make her death look like an accident. Things did not go as planned, however, and after a struggle Finch ended up shooting her dead. From there he fled, ultimately leading police on a high speed chase through the city. And he escaped - at least temporarily.

My guest is Steve Kosareff, author of "Satin Pumps: The Moonlit Murder That Mesmerized The Nation", and he has a personal connection to Dr. Finch. He explains the connection, along with other interesting details of this sordid and sensational case.

The author's Twitter handle: @SatinPumps

A YouTube video posted by the author with photographs of the case.

Satin Pumps available on Amazon.

Information about the book from the publisher.

The author's website.

Go here to download the Zocdoc app for free to find a top-rated doctor (and support the show) https://www.zocdoc.com/most

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In the years following the 1906 Atlanta Race Riot, a wave of terror rocked the city. Over twenty black women were brutally murdered, often in a fashion that mimicked the infamous Jack the Ripper murders twenty years earlier.

My guest is Dr. Jeffery Wells, author of "The Atlanta Ripper: The Unsolved Case of the Gate City's Most Infamous Murders". He talks about the racially-charged atmosphere of Atlanta in the 1910s, the likelihood that the rash of murders were committed by multiple people and the connection between the Atlanta Ripper killings and the sensational Mary Phagan murder case.

More about the author and his book here: https://www.arcadiapublishing.com/9781609493813/The-Atlanta-Ripper-The-Unsolved-Case-of-the-Gate-Citys-Most-Infamous-Murders

Dr. Wells' Georgia history blog: http://georgiamysteries.blogspot.com/

For a list of victims attributed to the Atlanta Murderer or Murderers, click here.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices