“True crime” now plays a huge role in the more lucrative parts of the storytelling business. Across podcasts, nonfiction books and television series, this grim, often gory, reality genre is crucial to filling schedules and providing “content”. But even when the crime concerned is a cobwebbed cold case, set back in the mists of time, the impact of a fresh investigation can be brutal.
For Tash Cutts, it was deeply unsettling to learn that a hit podcast series uncovering the truth about her great-grandmother’s murder was under way. “The danger of this kind of storytelling is that it is creating new victims along the way,” said the 33-year-old, who lives in London.
