Very exciting!

This is one of my Fav shows, but can we pretty please get back to the normal format of you telling us true crime stories. I’m bored of these interviews and guests.

I just added this podcast to the handful of true crime ones I follow. The host has a fantastic voice and I love her storytelling format. Her background in Psychology adds some much needed educated analysis (vs baseless speculation and tangents) to the true crime canon. We often hear the “WHAT” but are left wondering “WHY?” There’s never an excuse but contributing factors are important for education and hopefully, prevention of crime.

Is FULL OF SO much false info. Like as in blantantly FALSE. I would be terrified of being sued after just listening to this.

I love you story telling. Great facts. I appreciate the work you do to bring us these stories. Also, the opening music just draws you in.

Highly recommend!

Perfect storytelling, and no vocal fry! For whatever reason, vf has started to make listening to various podcasters almost impossible for me—can’t quite figure out why, but there you have it. This podcaster has a voice that’s easy to listen to and an appropriately straightforward delivery that emphasizes the story and not the storyteller. Well done!

I love this podcast and I adore Esther (even if she’s only a voice through my phone). She puts a lot of work & research in for these episodes and it shows. I appreciate her thoroughness, a lot of podcasts only regurgitate easily found news articles. Her background in counseling/psychology is a huge bonus as it allows her to provide added insight. About some of the neg. reviews…. you can tell she’s reading from a script, duh… 99% of podcasts are scripted. Give this podcast a listen, I think you’ll find the quality of content more than makes up for the lack of inflection in her speech.

You had asked the question, “was there even Target Stores in 1980?” Yes, there Target Stores in the ‘80s and even in the ‘70s! Target was a fabulous store in its early years! Way better than it is today.

I love when you tell the stories. Not so much when you have guests. Your research is amazing! Lorena is amazing!!

I’m addicted to the genre, and this show is fast becoming my favorite, right up there with “Case Files” and “Sword & Scale.” As with the other standout podcasts, it’s the quality of the writing that makes for compelling listening. A good tale, well-crafted beats impromptu commentary every time. I’ll be all caught up soon, and I don’t look forward to that time! Update: like some other fans here, I find the episodes that involve interviewing guests to be uninteresting. I skip those. I prefer when you stick to actual cases and employ your excellent writing ability to present the story.

I wrote this a while back, but it’s still valid! You’re now talking with someone about an axe murderer; PLEASE STOP bringing people in for “conversations”. It looks like a great topic today but you just said you have a guest and my heart sank. I don’t want to be mean, but nobody wants to hear your chit chat. I’m gonna listen for another 5 minutes, but I’m already thumbing through “Swindled” bonus episodes I might have missed. I’m just listening to your interview with ? about Kemper that I think came out over Christmas, and I’ve noticed this before; you have a tendency to talk over your interviewee and it feels awkward and embarrassing. Slow down!! We know you conduct deep research, but let the guest get a word in! You don’t have to prove to him that you read his book by repeating it back to him! I get the conversational format, but take a breath!!! I’m listening as I write this and you’re not giving this dude a chance to speak!!! Just an observation, no offense intended. Wow, I wrote that last Christmas and didn’t remember to send it, and my complaint is still the same. I’m listening to the episode on the “Red Hot Chili Peppers” and you are using your “conversational” style….which is necessary when you’re interviewing somebody, but without a guest it’s just you “talking” to the audience and it’s awful. Your podcast is a scripted show, and I like it. I like the way you write, and your voice is pleasant, but this feels like you have made a bullet-pointed list and you’re just scanning and “winging” it. I too can talk about a crime for an hour with Wikipedia in my lap; I listen to this because the research is good and you are a great story-teller, but you are not a natural interviewer and you’re not very good at it and considering the usual caliber I have come to expect from this podcast, the disaster you are sharing right now feels stultified, lazy, and I’m about to turn it off; it is painful to listen to. And I have listened to EVERY SINGLE episode, so I think my opinion is valid. Please write a script based on your research, and read it. That’s all you have to do.

I have listened to this show for years, and while I really enjoy the content and story telling, lately it feels like I’m getting screamed at when it switches over to an ad because of the wild difference between the volume of the podcast audio and the ad breaks. It has reached a point where I no longer enjoy listening because my eardrums wind up being assaulted with every ad break.

What a stupid theory. It’s the same garbage that started the stupid election lies. Ppl giving it life. He killed his wife period. Owl attack. Lol.

The host has extreme dry mouth and a lisp. I tried several episodes and gave up. I am not a fan of a host that clearly reads from a script, this hosts does it and not so good either.

Excellent stories and interviews. Love the narrated ones and especially enjoy the smart interviews. Most recently the author of “Death by Talons” was fantastic. Thank you for your great work, Esther!

Giving my opinion no on really asked for. I have been listening since the beginning and even the ads don’t bother me. But the interviews and features are ALOT. It’s so frequent it feels like you don’t even want to do the podcast anymore and I hope that’s not true. However this last episode…I’m trying but this was not it…

Chatty and rambling. It’s astounding how poor the grammar is for someone claiming to have a college degree. Dramatizations are silly, annoying, and distracting.

I used to love this podcast until it was swamped with interviews, now I hardly listen

The host speaks very quickly and rambles, stumbling over words or generally come across as sounding verbally disorganized. Please slow it down and allow your interviewees to finish a thought or sentence. Part of a good interview is leaving space for your subject to fill. Pause and let them ruminate or share more detail! This is practically unlistenable.

This podcast would be so much better if the reading wasn’t so stiff. Maybe get some hints from audiobook folks.

I really enjoyed the last 2 episodes (270 & 271). I thought the podcast was back on track after all of the interviews at the end of last year…but sadly there is now another interview episode. I wish the podcast would go back to its original style with Esther’s storytelling and mini-analysis of the criminal at the end, which was great. Please, no more interview episodes!

Giving five stars because this is still a great podcast. But it’s no longer one I listen to often, because the frequency of ads is unbearable unless I have my phone in hand. Make that bag for sure— she puts in work and does an amazing job, and that should be compensated. Still, there has to be a way to tone it down, to be more in line with other podcasts. The episode I’m listening to now has an ad break almost every five minutes. That’s too much.

Is a nice podcast, but half of the episodes are adds, you can count up to 5 or 6 different adds on a 30 minutes episode!

I love the show but 15 mins into a 30 min episode and I’ve already heard 3 ad breaks. 2 of which were at least 1.5 mins long. It’s crazy!

I love your podcast! I would recommend writing down your interview questions before talking to someone, like Donovan. The stuttering and struggling to formulate your questions is cringey.

?

Thank you so much for covering her story! She was my cousin and it was such a awful tragedy we all went through. You did her and my family justice 👏🏼

I really want to give this podcast 5 stars because I feel like the host is truly genuine but it needs work. First, Esther talks over all her guests. What’s the point of bringing on a special guest if you don’t let them talk? Second, the host is not very good at going ‘off script’. The episodes where she just wants to talk more genuinely end up with a lot of rambling, unwanted personal opinions, and I absolutely can’t take when she starts a subject then stops and says ‘but we will come back to that later on in the episode’. Why? Why do we need to come back to it? How about talking in chronological order? And sometimes she teases a fact and never returns to the matter and we are left to wondering. Listening to this podcast is very frustrating.

I like the content, but not a great podcast voice. And ads…………😬

I like how straightforward this show is. The host does speak too quickly during many episodes, but it is tolerable. The frequency of ads is out of control. I lost track of what was happening in the story I was listening to because of all the ad breaks.

The audio sounds muffled and the writing seems to have a lot of fluff. There are better true crime podcasts out there.

This should be a good podcast but she has a strange speech impediment and also talks over her guests. Better to limit this

Her voice and tone really pull you in!!!

I know there has to be some adds but they are getting more and more lengthy and disruptive in the middle of the telling of the story I do love the podcast but beginning to lose interest

This show is wonderful!

These music ones are not good like at all, I shut off a lot of the episodes as it is bc there’s way too much “extra” (five school names six marriage names and years where they lived at each residence that has nothing to do with the stories), but these are way worse. Holy crap and I absolutely love music. And the music talked about so far.

Really enjoy your authenticity. Your show gets better and better. Thank you for so many hours it entertainment

I like this show but the ad breaks are out of control. Can you set up an Apple Subscription thing with ad free? I hate Patreon's set up but I would be more than happy to pay for ad free if it was in Apple. Other podcasts have done it like Generation Why and I wish everyone would.

Love this show and the host is amazing!

Not sure why the quality and increased ads are at play. The host is rushing through it at a pace that just isn’t pleasant. Not sure why but something is off. Hopefully, these negative reviews will be used constructively and I can keep listening the way I have all a long.

I think the author left out a huge section of time that probably sent him in his evil direction….. His time of abuse at the hands of Harvard University. It appears that the “justice” and defense has given this dumpster fire of a university a free pass on their treatment of Ted. It was criminal.

GUNS…GUNS…GUNS…

I understand the need for commercials, and I don’t mind a few, but seriously. There’s too many. Is there even five minutes of content before the next commercial set? I get it, you need the revenue, but this is ridiculous. I would love this podcast but can’t deal with the amount of commercials and can’t afford anything else.

This shoe has become almost impossible to listen to due to the ads. Such a shame. Used to love it. Can’t afford to patreon every pod.

I love your show very much but this episode you’re just talking over your guest so much its frustrating to listen to. I really wanted to hear from him more. I’m feeling it’s excitement on your end but it’s so distracting waiting for you to give him an opportunity to talk.

If it weren't for the stunning number of ads!

Esther is thorough, intelligent, fair, and best of all, warm. Listening to this podcast can feel like sitting with a dear friend. Very professional.

It’s a good podcast, but the sound effects have really lowered the quality. Also the commercials are TOO loud. Please go back to the way it was before.

I love this podcast! I have been listening to this for years. It’s my #1! This podcasts inspires me to make my own 3-4 page books. You guys should definitely listen.