EP35_FLSJ: Investigating True Crime with M. William Phelps
On this episode of the Fast Lane with Sara Jayne podcast, Sara Jayne talks to M. William Phelps, famed true-crime writer, investigative journalist, and the host of the Paper Ghosts podcast on iHeartRadio. M. William Phelps talks about how he became a true-crime writer, formulating his podcast Paper Ghosts, and writing dozens of books.
Episode Highlights:
- Sara Jayne introduces M. William Phelps, who explains how he got involved in true crime stories.
- Is being an investigative journalist make his relationships difficult?
- How difficult is objectivity in his line of work?
- Death Trap is a book that deals with a custody situation turned deadly.
- M. William Phelps is working on season 2 of Paper Ghosts.
- M. William Phelps and Sara Jayne discuss the book, Where Monsters Hide.
- Is it hard not to judge people in these true crime stories?
- What is behind the serial rapists’ phone calls in Dark Minds?
- M. William Phelps wrote a book that was autobiographical about writing true crime stories.
- The devil looks for just a crack in the window, and then he is in.
- How did Happy Face Raven enter into his television show?
- Out of all of the subjects that he has spoken to, who did he like the least?
- If we are not mentally ill, we have the opportunity to fix things that happened to us earlier in life.
- How does he remain sane while writing all of these dark and graphic true crime stories?
3 Key Points:
- M. William Phelps has written over 40 true crime books.
- You can’t always be an objective journalist because you are always going to bring in some element of how you feel.
- Sociopaths have the ability to pick out a person with vulnerability, manipulate them, and exploit their weaknesses.
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