Detail the history of the extremely popular true crime comedy podcast My Favorite Murder, from their inception to their recent book release titled Stay Sexy and Don’t Get Murdered. Are we living in a "new era of true crime fascination," as some have suggested? Research the global response of the podcast resulting in millions of "murderinos," and avid listeners. Does the success of My Favorite Murder suggest that interest in true crime is more common than previously thought? Is this interest healthy? Are Karen Kilgariff and Georgia Hardstark, the show’s hosts, honoring the victims of the stories they recount? Does My Favorite Murder glorify violent crime? Touch on the titles of the chapters in the memoir, each corresponding to a catchphrase one of the women have coined during the taping of their show over the past four years. Does Stay Sexy and Don’t Get Murdered qualify as a "self-help" book? Is their path to success unprecedented and representative of the digital age?
By what metric can it be argued that we are living in (as you put it) a "new era of true crime fascination"? One need only look at lurid newspaper headlines from the early years of the last century, or recall the long-held policy of TV news programs ("If it bleeds, it leads"); the fascination with true crime stories is nothing new, though the popularity of these true crime podcasts is worth a critical examination of the way they depict their subjects and what that says about us. – John Wilson5 years ago