Murder Most Foul James Sulanowski

In the spring of 2016, as immigration debates rocked the
United States, three men in a militia group known as the Crusaders grew aggravated over one Kansas town’s growing Somali community. They decided that complaining about their new neighbors and threatening them directly wasn’t enough.

The men plotted to bomb a mosque, aiming to kill hundreds and inspire other attacks against Muslims in America. But they would wait until after the Presidential Election so that their actions wouldn’t hurt Donald
Trump’s chances of winning.
An FBI informant befriended the three men,
acting as law enforcement’s eyes and ears for eight months. His secretly taped conversations with the militia were pivotal in obstructing their plans and
were a linchpin in the resulting trial and convictions for conspiracy to use a weapon of mass destruction.
White Hot Hate, written by Dick Lehr, tells the riveting true story of an averted case of domestic terrorism in one of the most remote towns in the U.S., not far
from the infamous town where Capote’s In Cold Blood was set. In the gripping details of this
foiled scheme, the chilling, immediate threat of domestic terrorism—and racist anxiety in America— is writ large.

Today Murder Most Foul takes a slight departure from True Crime to discuss the above titled novel by author Joanna Wallace. Critics call it, “Refreshingly original and laugh-out-loud funny.” This comic thriller follows the trials and tribulations of Claire, a part-time serial killer, who is keen to keep her favorite hobby a secret—despite the efforts of a determined blackmailer.


Please join me in welcoming Joanna Wallace to Murder Most Foul

In 1990, Jens Soering, a German honors student at the University of Virginia, was sentenced to life after a spectacular televised trial for the 1985 murders of
his lover’s Elizabeth’s parents, Derek and Nancy Haysom. In a classic example of “he said/she said,” at their trials the star-crossed lovers each pointed the finger
at the other as the actual murderer. Were Jens and Elizabeth Romeo and Juliet or Macbeth
and Lady Macbeth?  From his Virginia prison cell,
Soering deployed his charm to create his own personal innocence project, recruiting celebrities such as Martin Sheen, John Grisham, Amanda Knox and even
Angela Merkel.

Soering was paroled and deported to Germany in 2019. Soering sold the rights to his story and launched a media campaign which portrayed him as a victim of
America’s cruel and arbitrary courts. Yet skeptics have questioned Soering’s claims, and he is now locked in a pitched battle to define his place in history.
A chief skeptic in the matter is Andrew Hammel,
a bilingual German/English criminal lawyer and investigative journalist. Mr. Hammel traces the entire story, beginning with the bizarre romance which led to
two gruesome killings. Drawing on five years of research and confidential sources with fresh revelations, Hammel takes the reader behind the scenes of one of the most extraordinary true-crime cases in modern history – and its
equally gripping aftermath.

In 1990, Jens Soering, a German honors student at the University of Virginia, was sentenced to life after a spectacular televised trial for the 1985 murders of
his lover’s Elizabeth’s parents, Derek and Nancy Haysom. In a classic example of “he said/she said,” at their trials the star-crossed lovers each pointed the finger
at the other as the actual murderer. Were Jens and Elizabeth Romeo and Juliet or Macbeth and Lady Macbeth?  From his Virginia prison cell,Soering deployed his charm to create his own personal innocence project,
recruiting celebrities such as Martin Sheen, John Grisham, Amanda Knox and even Angela Merkel.

Soering was paroled and deported to Germany in 2019. Soering sold the rights to his story and launched a media campaign which portrayed him as a victim of
America’s cruel and arbitrary courts. Yet skeptics have questioned Soering’s claims, and he is now locked in a pitched battle to define his place in history.

A chief skeptic in the matter is Andrew Hammel, a bilingual German/English criminal lawyer and investigative journalist. Mr. Hammel traces the entire story, beginning with the bizarre romance which led to two gruesome killings. Drawing on five years of research and confidential
sources with fresh revelations, Hammel takes the reader behind the scenes of one of the most extraordinary true-crime cases in modern history – and its equally gripping aftermath.

Crime movies, documentaries and literature come in several genres: True Crime (just the facts, Ma’am), “Non-Fiction Novel,” (made famous by Truman Capote with his masterpiece, In Cold Blood) and pure fiction. But even with fictitious crime novels, there are hybrid approaches. Some are “based on a true story,” or “inspired by a true
story,” or “drawn from today’s headlines.”

 Mapping the Night by David Bethel,
falls comfortably into that last category. Drawn from an actual murder case that took place in New York City, it is meticulously researched, authentic, with just the right amount of humor, arising from the interaction of the
participants.

It is my pleasure to welcome author David Bethel to Murder Most Foul.

To all who knew him, Robert Hansen was a typical hardworking businessman, husband, and father. But
hidden beneath the veneer of mild respectability was a monster whose depraved appetites could not be sated. From 1971 to 1983, Hansen was a human predator,
stalking women on the edges of Anchorage society—women whose disappearances would cause scant outcry, but whose gruesome fates would shock the nation.
After his arrest, Hansen confessed to seventeen brutal murders, though authorities suspect there were more than thirty victims.

There are countless books, documentaries and
movies about the monster who came to be known as the “Butcher Baker.” But the book, by late Alaska State
Trooper Walter Gilmour and author Leland E. Hale, is arguably the most complete and most compelling work to date. “Butcher Baker” tells the story of the most prolific serial killer in Alaskan history, from the dark urges that drove his madness, to the women who died at his hand, and finally, to the authorities who captured and convicted
him.

My guest today is Leland E. Hale author of "Butcher Baker."