Behind the Crimes with Robert Murphy Robert Murphy

Subscribe for free: robertmurphy.substack.com
Award-winning crime novelist Denise Mina has written the latest Philip Marlowe book: The Second Murderer. To research the book, she spent months studying Los Angeles in 1940, deconstructing Raymond Chandler’s distinct sentence structure and recreating his unique humour.
Denise’s career straddles both crime fiction and true crime. She has won many awards - including the Theakstons Old Peculiar Crime Novel of the Year two years running and has been inducted into the CWA Hall of Fame.
This podcast was recorded at CrimeFest, May 2024.
The Second Murderer is available here.
Denise’s true crime book about Peter Manuel ,The Long Drop, is available here.
Raymond Chandler’s books are available here.
In Cold Blood by Truman Capote is available here.
My own true crime books Decoy and the award-winning To Hunt A Killer are available here.


This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit robertmurphy.substack.com/subscribe

To coincide with the launch of my true crime book ‘Decoy’ I’ve updated and reissued this podcast featuring a rare and exclusive interview with Chris Gould.
In the 1970s, the city of Bristol was terrorised by a man nicknamed ‘The Clifton Rapist.’ The stranger-attacker assaulted seven women over a two-year period.
PC Chris Gould suggested a daring honeytrap: Avon and Somerset Police should set up an innovative undercover sting, using young rookie police officers as decoys to catch him.
This was a monumental gamble, putting the lives of their youngest, least-experienced female officers on the line.
But 12 women volunteered.
As the weeks passed, with no further attacks, commanders made an even more innovative move. And Chris’s career was never the same again.
How was the predator caught and justice achieved? Chris has never spoken in this detail before.
+++ Grab your copy of Decoy here in the UK: https://tinyurl.com/fd759pmh +++
+++ Or here in the USA: https://tinyurl.com/yethzdum +++
Haven’t subscribed yet? Just hit: robertmurphy.substack.com
NB: This is a reissue of a podcast episode first released in November 2023


This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit robertmurphy.substack.com/subscribe

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit robertmurphy.substack.com

Subscribe at: robertmurphy.substack.com
Nearly 20 years had passed and forensic scientist Dr Colin Dark received a call asking if he’d like to take on the case of Hilda Murrell.
What clues had been left at the scene? How could they be analysed using modern techniques? And what truths would emerge about the theories surrounding her murder?
This is a short p…

Subscribe at robertmurphy.substack.com
On March 21st 1984, Hilda Murrell disappeared. It would take police three days to find her - yet her body was in the obvious place.
She had been murdered.
But by whom?
Now the conspiracy theories started: Did the British government want Hilda dead because of her awkward questions about a new nuclear power station? Was she killed because of her links with naval intelligence?
And was the phone line disconnection in her home the work of a bungling amateur or a professional hitman?
This is a free episode and the first part of a two-part mini series. Episode two is for paid subscribers.



This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit robertmurphy.substack.com/subscribe

SUBSCRIBE: robertmurphy.substack.com
Screenwriter George Kay (Hijack, Lupin, The Long Shadow, Criminal UK) was talking with his mother about a potential project: would he be interested in writing a script about the Lord Lucan mystery?
Then, she dropped the bombshell: he had a personal link with the other Lucan nanny Christabel Boyce.
George wanted to speak with Christabel - she would be a primary source and knew the main characters from ‘74.
This was impossible, his mother said. Christabel had herself been murdered by her husband ten years later.
In this conversation, George and Behind the Crimes host Rob Murphy discuss how a private diary found by police investigating Cristabel’s murder in 1985 shed new light on Sandra’s killing.
And the parallels between the Lucan marriage and the Boyce’s are chilling.
Parts 1 and 2 of this trilogy are available, you may want to listen to these first.


This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit robertmurphy.substack.com/subscribe

SUBSCRIBE FOR FREE: robertmurphy.substack.com
In her book ‘A Different Class of Murder: The Story of Lord Lucan’ writer Laura Thompson suggests six possible scenarios of what happened on the night of November 7th 1974.
Was Lady Lucan the target? Did Lord Lucan carry out the killing himself or - as with the rest of his life - did he get help?
And speaking of help, did his rich, powerful gambling friends at the Clermont Club aid his disappearance? Or were they - like he - a target of 1970s society?
You can get a copy of Laura’s incredible book here.


This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit robertmurphy.substack.com/subscribe