Dead Plot Society

Erinn Maxwell

History has a plot problem. Dead popes on trial. Sword-wielding opera singers. Murderous husbands, disastrous romances, and historical figures who desperately needed an editor. Dead Plot Society is history for book people: true stories so ridiculous, dramatic, romantic, horrifying, or suspiciously convenient you’d never get away with putting them in a novel. Author Erinn Maxwell digs into the facts, the tropes, the plot holes, and what belongs in the allegedly drawer. Researched like history. Told like gossip. Society meeting is officially in session.

Episodes

  1. Oct 1

    Julie d’Aubiginy: Opera, Duels & One Very Questionable Convent Fire

    Julie d’Aubigny was a seventeenth-century French opera singer, accomplished swordswoman, and the kind of historical figure whose biography eventually becomes very difficult to separate from legend. She performed at the Paris Opera. She fought with a sword. And according to a story recorded decades after her death, she once followed a woman into a convent, stole a dead nun’s body, put it in her girlfriend’s bed, and set the room on fire. A CORPSE. AND ARSON. In the first episode of Dead Plot Society: A Novelist’s Footnotes, novelist Erinn Maxwell digs into what we actually know about Julie d’Aubigny—better known as La Maupin—what later storytellers added to her legend, and why the truth is sometimes hiding in a footnote. We research it like history. We tell it like gossip. Plus: Julie gets the full Novelist’s Footnotes treatment, and we add a Julie-inspired historical novel to the Society Shelf. THE SOCIETY SHELF Goddess by Kelly Gardiner THE RECEIPTS Sources used to research this episode: The Project Gutenberg eBook of Mademoiselle de Maupin FIND ERINN Website / Instagram

  2. Season 1 Trailer

    Dead Plot Society — Official Trailer

    History has a plot problem. Welcome to Dead Plot Society, where author Erinn Maxwell digs into true stories so ridiculous, dramatic, romantic, horrifying, or suspiciously convenient that you’d never get away with putting them in a novel. History for book people. Researched like history. Told like gossip. Society officially convenes October 1, 2026. Bring your red pen. Theme music: “Playful Medieval War” by VifotoFreeSounds via Pixabay.

  • 1 Trailer
    1 Episode

Trailer

About

History has a plot problem. Dead popes on trial. Sword-wielding opera singers. Murderous husbands, disastrous romances, and historical figures who desperately needed an editor. Dead Plot Society is history for book people: true stories so ridiculous, dramatic, romantic, horrifying, or suspiciously convenient you’d never get away with putting them in a novel. Author Erinn Maxwell digs into the facts, the tropes, the plot holes, and what belongs in the allegedly drawer. Researched like history. Told like gossip. Society meeting is officially in session.

Information

  • Creator
    Erinn Maxwell
  • Years Active
    2026
  • Episodes
    2
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Copyright
    © Erinn Maxwell
  • Show Website
    Dead Plot Society