Podcast Roundup Week #9

It was a total of 39 episodes this week. That's actually more than I would have thought considering it was the flu-pocalypse in our house this week and I spent three full days huddled under blankets on the couch without moving and praying that a fairy would send popsicles.  The fairy turned out to be my hsuband who got sick before I did, but managed to leave the house before I did, too.  Next time he gets sick, I'm literally just going to buy everything I want when I get sick because he requested chicken stock and Vitamin Water and USED NEITHER.  But, I'm back, if not at full strength, strong enough to get pumped about something.

I listen to a podcast called "Crime Writers On..." that discusses true crime media.  I really enjoy their main segments and pretty much skip everything else. I don't always trust their judgment (they were really much more enthralled with the podcast Done Disappeared than I was, for instance), but they recently reviewed the Audible original podcast series West Cork and they were so enthusiastic about it that I downloaded it as soon as I got home.

West Cork is available for free until May 9, so get it while you can.  It's through Audible, but Audible is apparently an Amazon-affiliated company, so I just go it through Amazon. For free.  I mean, most podcasts are free, but this is an Audible production, which is normally not free, so that's why I'm stressing the free part so much.

Anyway. It tells the story of the murder of Sophie Toscan du Plantier in the town of Schull in West Cork, Ireland in 1996.  This is apparently quite a famous tale in Ireland (maybe most of Europe?), but as an American, this was a brand new unsolved murder to me. 

I thought the first two or three episodes were a bit of a trudge, but then it just picked up and got zippy from there. The creators tell the story chronologically, but the best parts of the podcast are when they go back to an idea you thought they were just going to bypass. They might mention Topic A very briefly in episode 2, but then all of a sudden Topic A is the main topic in a later episode. I thought it was really well done.

It's 13-episodes long and probably 8 hours or so overall and I was riveted after the first hour or so.  I highly recommend it.

Also, there was a truly sad story about the high suicide rate for veterinarians on Death, Sex, and Money, if you're really interested in a sad tale.