The Art of Crime

Gavin Whitehead
  • 4.7 (243)
  • History
  • Biweekly Series

The Art of Crime is a history podcast about the unlikely collisions between true crime and the arts. New theme each season. The Art of Crime is a product of Drum and Monkey Media, LLC.

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  1. Episode 1

    The Man Who Stole the Gods (Beach Reads)

    Today, I'm joined by award-winning journalist Matthew Campbell to talk about his new book, The Man Who Stole the Gods. For decades, the Bangkok-based Brit, Douglas Latchford, bought priceless Cambodian artworks that had been looted from ancient religious sites. Some of these pieces made their way to the collections of museums as august as the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. In The Man Who Stole the Gods, Matthew shines a light on the looters who stole this art and the international team of sleuths who helped return these works to their native country. If you'd like to support the show, please consider beocming a patron at www.patreon.com/artofcrimepodcast.

  2. Episode 2

    The Talented Mrs. Mandelbaum (Beach Reads)

    This week, I'm re-releasing my 2024 interview with Margalit Fox, author of The Talented Mrs. Mandelbaum, a biography of the notorious nineteenth-century New York crime boss, Fredericka Mandelbaum. Next week, we're back with a brand-new interview. Until then!   If you'd like to support the show, please consider becoming a patron at www.patreon.com/artofcrimepodcast.

  3. Episode 3

    Hollywood Double Agent (Beach Reads)

    Today, we're joined by historian Jonathan Gill to talk about the amazing life of Boris Morros. After the Russian Revolution, Morros immigrated to America from Eastern Europe and became a big-time Hollywood filmmaker.  To an outside observer, his life would have seemed all glitz and glam, but what the public didn't know was that Morros was risking his neck every day as a double agent, spying for both the Soviets and the Americans throughout the 1940s. If you'd like to support the show, please consider becoming a patron at www.patreon.com/artofcrimepodcast.

  4. Episode 4

    Born in Flames (Beach Reads)

    Today, we're joined by historian Bench Ansfield to talk about their breathtaking book, Born in Flames. It's about the arson wave of the 1970s, during which hundreds--yes, hundreds--of landlords in the Bronx set fire to their property to collect insurance. These crimes displaced thousands of Bronxites and killed a few, too. The crisis gae rise to a genre of sensationalist films Bench calls Bronxploitation that foreground poverty and vice in the borough. If you'd like to support the show, please consider becoming a patron at www.patreon.com/artofcrimepodcast.

  5. Episode 5

    The Witch of New York (Beach Reads)

    Today, I'm joined by Alex Hortis, author of The Witch of New York, a riveting account of the 1843 trials of Polly Bodine. A resident of Staten Island, Bodine was accused of murdering her sister-in-law and her infant niece, sparking public outrage. Bodine went to trial not once, not twice, but three times for the crimes, and Edgar Allan Poe, Walt Whitman, and P.T. Barnum variously took part in the attendant media circus.   If you'd like to support the show, please consider becoming a patron at www.patreon.com/artofcrimepodcast.

See All Season 7 (5)

4.7
out of 5
243 Ratings

About

The Art of Crime is a history podcast about the unlikely collisions between true crime and the arts. New theme each season. The Art of Crime is a product of Drum and Monkey Media, LLC.

Information

  • Creator
    Gavin Whitehead
  • Episodes
    114
  • Seasons
    7
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Copyright
    © 2026 The Art of Crime
  • Show Website
    The Art of Crime
  • Provider
    Gavin Whitehead

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