Laura Lippman: why crime fiction has a 'sidewinder approach to empathy.'

Behind the Crimes with Robert Murphy

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Laura Lippman: why crime fiction has a 'sidewinder approach to empathy.'

The award-winning author of 'Prom Mom' and Apple TV+'s 'The Lady in the Lake' talks of how she was inspired by her true crime past as a Baltimore journalist to create fictional worlds.

Robert Murphy

and

Laura Lippman

Jun 04, 2024

Transcript

#Subscribe for free: robertmurphy.substack.com#

Laura Lippman spent more than 20 years as a journalist working in Texas and Baltimore.

She has won Edgar, Agatha, Anthony, Barry, Nero and Shamus awards (among many others) for her 25 novels - which include 12 featuring the private investigator Tess Monaghan

Her latest, Prom Mom, has a loose inspiration by the 1997 case of Melissa Drexler a New Jersey teenager who gave birth during her prom, but then something truly awful happened…

Laura discusses the ethics of True Crime - including the aftermath of Baby Reindeer, how being a journalist helped her ‘research to task’ and why Nick Hornby likened Laura to ‘a big American cheeseburger’ (Patricia Highsmith was a steak!)

There’s more about Laura here: https://lauralippman.com/

And subscribe for extras: robertmurphy.substack.com

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Behind the Crimes with Robert Murphy

### WINNER 'Outstanding Indie Podcast at the True Crime Awards 2024. ###

What makes a criminal? What makes a truly great detective?

Award-winning TV crime correspondent Robert Murphy speaks with people involved with some of the most fascinating true crime cases of recent years: detectives, victims, experts and sometimes even the criminals themselves.

What drives a person to ignore the morals, laws and conventions of normal society and pushes them to perform the darkest acts?

Sex? Money? Revenge? Love? Humiliation?

Are criminals born bad or are they a creation of their circumstances?

How can detectives catch people who are intent on causing truly dreadful harm to others? What happens when that criminal has done a brilliant job covering their tracks?

This podcast and newsletter explores some of our biggest crime stories - and some of the lesser-known, compelling cases which deserve a better understanding.

For video interviews, evidence from each case, articles and more, go to https://robertmurphy.substack.com/about

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