Episode 3: Rachel Howzell Hall and lots of serial killer content
About the podcast
Scared Lit-less is the podcast for readers, writers, and other fans of the crime genre. Hosted by a psychological thriller author, the podcast will feature:
Thoughts about writing and telling stories in this genre
Recommendations for new books, documentaries, movies, podcasts, and other media
Interviews with writers of crime, thrillers, mysteries, and suspense
Trivia games and other fun shenanigans
Scared Lit-less is hosted by Amy Suiter Clarke, author of the novel Girl, 11 about a true crime podcast host obsessively trying to solve the cold case of Minnesota’s most notorious serial killer, whose victims were each a year younger than the last.
Quick five with a killer
In this segment, I interview a “killer” aka an author who writes stories that demand killing a lot of characters.
This episode features Rachel Howzell Hall, author of the acclaimed Lou Norton series, the standalone thriller They All Fall Down, and co-author of The Good Sister with James Patterson, which appeared in the New York Times bestselling anthology The Family Lawyer. She is the senior development officer for the Donor Relations Department at Cedars Sinai. Currently she serves on the Board of Directors for the Mystery Writers of America, is a member of Sisters in Crime, and has participated as a mentor in the Association of Writers and Writing Programs’ Writer-to-Writer Program. She lives in Los Angeles.
You can find out more about Rachel and her books on her website.
Author or killer?
Author Bethany C. Morrow and I quiz each other with trivia facts we’ve gathered about a person who is either an author or a murderer. Can you guess?
Bethany C Morrow is an Indie Bestselling author who writes for adult and young adult audiences, in genres ranging from speculative literary to contemporary fantasy to historical. She is author of the novels Mem and A Song Below Water, and editor/contributor to the young adult anthology Take the Mic, which was the 2020 ILA Social Justice in Literature award winner. Her work has been chosen as Indies Introduce and Indie Next picks, and featured in The LA Times, Forbes, Bustle, Buzzfeed, and more. She is included on USA TODAY's list of 100 Black novelists and fiction writers you should read.
Her website is www.bethanycmorrow.com.
A nervous rec
In this episode, I recommended:
Undisclosed Podcast: The latest season has me ignoring all the other podcasts dropping into her feed! It delves into the likely wrongful conviction of Jeff Titus, who was convicted by a cold case unit twelve years after the double homicide of two hunters in the Michigan woods—despite having a solid alibi that he was 27 miles away with a friend at the time.
Night Stalker: Despite a hefty dose of cop-aganda and chuckling about police brutality, this series is worth watching if only for the scenes of the local community chasing down and catching the serial killer who’d been terrorizing them for months.
I Don’t Forgive You: This upcoming psychological thriller will have you absolutely begging for just one thing to go right in the main character’s life. I have never seen an author be so devastating to their main character, but it’s incredibly effective. It’s one of the few times I didn’t see the end coming! Make sure to add it to your list.