Serial meets Twin Peaks in a true crime story by Adam Buxton | Podcasts

Have you been captivated by Wondery's latest true crime series, Kill List?

Tech journalist Carl Miller discovered a list of names on the dark web, which he learned was a murder-for-hire site. It turned out to be a money-making scam, but the people who paid were dead serious about getting rid of their targets – “Tell me the time of execution in advance – I can't be there” , was just an instruction. In the podcast, Miller tracks down the people on the hit list and tries to get authorities to take the risks to their lives seriously.

The show was one of our recommendations earlier this month and has become a word of mouth hit. But what makes this podcast more than just another wild story told in a compelling way?

Most of the cases involved men targeting women, Miller tells his listeners, adding: “I think it says something about modern masculinity and what happens when people lose control of their partners and… “The most terrible discovery is that a woman's suicide was faked by her husband after her name was on the list. In his Observer column, John Naughton said the case was “a vivid reminder of how the internet holds up a mirror to human nature” – particularly to “terrible tides of misogyny”.

In this interview with The Hollywood Reporter, you can hear Miller talk about that and what it's like to call people and tell them, “Hey, someone's trying to kill you.”

In the meantime, there's plenty more exciting series to sink your teeth into this week: Adam Buxton's exciting new pod Serial meets Twin Peaks is finally here, Will Sharpe tells a twisted true story about reincarnation, and Alexis Bledel joins in the survivor of a kidnapping. And if you're looking for a dangerously suspenseful listen, read on for our best podcasts with shocking twists.

Holly Richardson
Deputy TV editor

Pick of the week

Dissolved in smoke
Widespread, weekly episodes
Adam Buxton's new podcast is called “Serial meets Twin Peaks” and bridges the gap between fiction and true crime. Mei Mac is Kay McAllister, a former tabloid journalist who starts her own group to find out what happened to a missing man. Buxton takes on a reserved role as DCI Roy Burgess, who worked on the case. It's told in the style of a true crime novel, but there's no doubt that this is brilliant fiction of high quality – a gripping, slow-moving story. Hannah Verdier

The Burden: Avengers
Widespread, weekly episodes
When Miriam Lewin was 19 years old, she was kidnapped and tortured on the streets of Buenos Aires because of her political beliefs. But she survived, became a journalist and brought the perpetrators to justice. Now The Handmaid's Tale's Alexis Bledel tells Lewin's powerful story, based on detailed interviews. HV

The Madman's Hotel
Audible, all episodes available now
Niall Breslin grew up in the shadow of one of Ireland's “insane asylums” and has been haunted by it ever since. But when he meets Julie Clarke, whose great-grandmother was imprisoned in St. Loman's Hospital until her death, he discovers a history of abuse even more horrific than he imagined. HV

My so-called midlife
Widespread, weekly episodes
“You’ve read All Fours, right?” asks Reshma Saujani as she introduces her podcast. “Where is my hotel room?” If that doesn’t get your target audience nodding along, the wisdom of their first guest will. Julia Louis-Dreyfus (above) is as fabulous as ever and talks about the ups and downs of midlife, including the joys of posing nude for Rolling Stone. HV

Extrasensory
Apple Podcasts, all episodes release Monday for Apple TV+ subscribers
If you were captivated by Ghost Story last year, here's another twisted investigation into a sinister old family secret – this time with questions about reincarnation. Will Sharpe speaks with a woman who was related to two young girls who were killed by a car on their way to church in the 1950s. But after their father announces that they will be born again, his wife gives birth to twins… Holly Richardson

There is a podcast about this

This week, Ammar Kalia chooses five of the best podcasts shocking twistsfrom unsolved murder cases to a traumatic catfishing story

Sweet Bobby
Falling in love isn't always an easy experience, but for Kirat Assi, the subject of this captivating series from Tortoise, the search for a romantic partner was far more traumatic than it should have been. Following Kirat's romance from her first online connection to the shocking revelation of the true identity of the person she fell in love with over the course of nine years, Sweet Bobby takes a true crime investigation approach to a catfishing story that isn't just Kirat's But crushes also bring to light the major pitfalls of meeting someone online. With a Netflix documentary now out, it's worth listening to the original before the twists become common knowledge.

S-town
It's an unusual turn of events when the source of a series suddenly becomes an issue, but that's the case with the hugely popular 2017 series S-Town. Produced by the team behind Serial, the podcast begins with John B, a local resident of the town of Woodstock, Alabama, contacting host Brian Reed to investigate a suspected historic local murder. But after a series of unexpected transitions and a truly unsettling revelation at the end of the second episode, S-Town soon turns its attention to the story of John B himself – an antique clock restorer and lonely figure who embodies Southern Gothic in a place he always speaks from “Shittown.”

fire beetle
Walking the line between fact and fiction, this captivating series begins with the discovery of a novel manuscript entitled “Points of Origin,” whose narrative includes an account of a series of arson attacks that reads suspiciously similar to a series of unsolved fires in the Real life swept through Southern California in the 1980s. Featuring interviews with police investigators and dozens of first-hand witnesses, the true crime and radio drama podcast pieces together the connections between the novel's author and the arson attacks before reaching a dramatic twist that reveals the true nature of the crime .

Bone Valley
True crime often promises a twist that will reveal the culprit in the horrific cold case, only to frustratingly provide no real new information. Journalist Gilbert King's Bone Valley series puts these shows to shame. Advised by a judge that a 1980s murder case was a miscarriage of justice, King and his deputy reporter Kelsey Decker spend four years meticulously examining court records and police documents to ultimately uncover not just the murder, but… also to solve another unsolved case.

The psychiatrist next door
The Apple TV+ adaptation of this strange series starring Paul Rudd and Will Ferrell may not have made much of a mark, but the original is still a fascinating study of human psychology and the way we can trust those who otherwise seem so deeply suspicious. The series reportedly tells the story of famous psychiatrist Dr. Ike Herschkopf and his glamorous lifestyle and soon evolves into an examination of the intense relationship between Herschkopf and his neighbor and patient Marty. It is a cross-border friendship that only leads to a revelation of its truth almost 30 years after the two first met.

Why not try…

• We Need to Talk, where matchmaker Paul C. Brunson and guests share their tips for making deeper connections not only with others, but with themselves.

• The strange story of how several former American football players found themselves drawn into an extreme religious group, in Spiraled.

• How to Do Everything, where underqualified hosts find overqualified experts to answer your burning (and often absurd) life questions.