Outliers Writing University Podcast Series

GET TO KNOW: Best-selling Author and Outlier Allison Brennan

Best-selling author and Outlier Allison Brennan sat down with Terry Shepherd and Jennifer Dornbush in the Outliers Studio at Bouchercon 2025 in New Orleans for a lively and fun chat. @stephcha
 
WATCH: Outliers YouTube Channel: GET TO KNOW: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLia8l2DJ_EnXVqej3dnFj-48RJetAYpcl
 

CRIMINAL MISCHIEF: PSYCH TALK: Being an Executive Producer

What's It Like To Be an Executive Producer for a Limited Series?
I pitched a show called "Murder House Flip" to an associate at Sony, based on a cross between my forensic experience and my love of home renovation. I helped to create it and we sold it, which made me an executive producer. I briefly describe my experience for those writers who are curious about working with Hollywood. 
Dr. Katherine Ramsland teaches forensic psychology and behavioral criminology in the graduate program at DeSales University. She has appeared as an expert on more than 250 crime documentaries and was an executive producer on Murder House Flip and A&E’s Confession of a Serial killer: BTK. The author of more than 1,800 articles and 73 books, including Confession of a Serial Killer, The Serial Killer’s Apprentice and How to Catch a Killer, she pens a regular blog for Psychology Today. She has also written a fiction series based on a female forensic psychologist who consults on death investigations. Dead-Handed is her most recent book.
https://www.katherineramsland.net/author
 
CRIMINAL MISCHIEF On Outliers YouTube Channel:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLia8l2DJ_EnXVBBYu0gtb1Ijjwkf0f6dn
 
Outliers Writing University: https://www.outlierswritinguniversity.com

GET TO KNOW Best-selling Author Steph Cha

Terry Shepherd and Jennifer Dornbush welcomed best-selling author Steph Cha into the Outliers Studio at Bouchercon 2025 in New Orleans for a fun conversation
 
WATCH: Outliers YouTube Channel: GET TO KNOW: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLia8l2DJ_EnXVqej3dnFj-48RJetAYpcl
 

GET TO KNOW Author Robert Kelley

Robert T. Kelley spent 30 years in the technology industry, building multiple companies before turning to writing and working with startups. Formerly the publisher of the quarterly literary journal, The Maine Review, Rob now regularly blogs for Maine Crime Writers. He received his undergraduate degree in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Missouri-Rolla and his PhD in English from Indiana University. Rob lives in Midcoast Maine with his wife, writer Margot Anne Kelley, and an indeterminate number of cats. Raven is his debut novel. 
 
www.roberttkelley.com

GET TO KNOW Grove Atlantic Senior Editor Joe Brosnan

Joe Brosnan is a Senior Editor at Grove Atlantic where he oversees the Atlantic Crime imprint. Prior to that, he was an Editor and Senior Marketing Manager at St. Martin's Press/Minotaur Books and also the Site Manager for Criminal Element for nearly a decade.
 
URL: https://bookshop.org/lists/if-you-ve-got-the-time-we-ve-got-the-crime

GET TO KNOW Author and Editor Jeff Circle

Outliers Get to Know host Tracey Devlyn chats with thriller author and editor Jeff Circle about MYOPIC DUPLICITY—a chilling, thought-provoking crime anthology
where ethical boundaries blur and desperation rewrites the rules.
 
Do the ends ever justify the means?
 
Delve into a labyrinth of moral ambiguity and psychological tension where the pursuit of power and justice collides with the darker impulses of betrayal and manipulation. Each story digs deep into loyalty, revenge, survival, and the murky terrain in between—where ‘right’ is a shifting line, and every choice has a price.
 
Curated and edited by Jeff Circle, the creator of The Writer’s Dossier, MYOPIC DUPLICITY features gripping tales from standout voices—Eric Beetner • C.B. Bernard •
C.W. Blackwell • Wes Browne • Mindy Carlson • Ash Clifton • Libby Cudmore • Victor DeAnda • Erin Flanagan • Rob Hart • Terrence McCauley • Matt Phillips • M.E.
Proctor • C. Matthew Smith • Christopher Swann • Tony Wirt.
 
Edited by Jeff Circle
Foreword by Eli Cranor, narrated by the author
Story Intros by Jeff Circle, narrated by Chris Andrew Ciulla
Published and Produced by Leonardo Audio
 
About the Editor:
Jeff Circle is dangerously ambidextrous, reckless with food spices, and usually has leftover assembly parts.
 
He deployed to Desert Storm as a U.S. Army intelligence analyst, has served as a police officer and federal background investigator, and supported U.S. special
operations as a counterintelligence specialist.
Jeff also hosts The Writer’s Dossier podcast and runs a five-question author interview platform spotlighting the biggest and boldest names in crime, mystery, and thriller
fiction. https://JeffCircle.com
 
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GET TO KNOW: Best-selling Author and Outlier Shirley Jump

Best-selling Author and Outlier instructor Shirley Jump sat down with Terry Shepherd and Jennifer Dornbush in the Outliers Studio at Bouchercon 2025 in New Orleans for a lively and fun chat. @shirleyjump
 
WATCH: Outliers YouTube Channel: GET TO KNOW: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLia8l2DJ_EnXVqej3dnFj-48RJetAYpcl

CRIMINAL MISCHIEF: PSYCH TALK: What's a Psychological Autopsy?

What's a Psychological Autopsy? By Dr. Katherine Ramsland
When a manner of death cannot be clearly identified as natural, accident, suicide or homicide, police might seek a mental health expert's help. With a psychological autopsy, they will evaluate the likelihood that a decedent's mental state aligns with known factors for suicide in order to rule it in or out. They might also suggest ideas for a deeper investigation. I have done this for coroners and cops, and I provide details on the method in my crime novel, I Scream Man. 

GET TO KNOW Author David Williams

David Lane Williams is a paramedic and police officer veteran with assignments including patrol in high-need areas, helicopter rescue, pre-hospital advanced life support, mental health liaison, and Special Investigations Unit detective. During his thirty-year career, Williams was twice named Officer of the Year by the Fraternal Order of Police, and he has been recognized by the Rotary Club, the American Legion, and the National Sexual Violence Resource Center for his work with families and children in crisis.
 
Williams is a monthly columnist with Killer Nashville Magazine. He teaches criminology at the University of Arkansas, and he is a bestselling author on topics related to violence prevention and victimology. He is the author of Carousel Grift, a dark comedy about a Texas amusement park owner who has been arguing with her dead adoptive father for the last thirty years, unable to fall in love or repair the relationship with her estranged daughter until she can learn to forgive the old man...and herself. Williams grew up in the Texas Hill Country. He and his family have settled in the Ozark Mountains, where they offer a haven for donkeys and horses who previously endured a rough life.
 
David Lane Williams
www.davidlanewilliams.com

GET TO KNOW Author Kate Belli

Outliers Get to Know host Tracey Devlyn sits down with author Kate Belli to chat about her chilling new psychological thriller—THE GALLERY ASSISTANT.
A lost night. A murdered artist. A woman on the edge of the truth.
Still reeling from 9/11, Chloe Harlow wakes up with hazy memories of a party and learns the host, a rising painter, is dead. Caught between the glittering art world and a haunting mystery, Chloe must retrace her steps to uncover a truth more dangerous than she imagined.
KATE BELLI writes thrillers and mysteries. She holds a PhD in art history, and is a gallery director and faculty member at a liberal arts college. She lives and works in Central Pennsylvania with her husband and son. When not writing, Kate satisfies her wanderlust by traveling with her family as often as possible, touring museums and sampling local food. She is also an avid runner, having completed several marathons, and a yoga teacher. https://KateBelli.com
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