True crime, where there's nothing hotter than a cold case

True crime remains a dominant entertainment draw despite falling overall crime rates in America, and new streaming releases, podcasts, broadcast series, films, and Court TV keep expanding the genre. The article traces today’s audience appetite back to high-profile cases like Truman Capote’s “In Cold Blood” and revisits the 1892 Lizzie Borden killings, noted as technically unsolved since no conviction occurred for Andrew Borden and his wife Abby. Scholars and hosts explain the appeal as rooted in human fascination with mortality, violence, and high stakes. Karen Kilgariff and Georgia Hardstark, hosts of the podcast “My Favorite Murder,” describe starting as a hobby and building to more than two billion downloads, sold-out live events, and their Exactly Right Media network.