Outliers Writing University Podcast Series

CRIMINAL MISCHIEF 62: Special Guests Dr. Katherine Ramsland and Documentary Producer Tracy Ullman

Dr. Katherine Ramsland teaches forensic psychology and behavioral criminology in the graduate program at DeSales University, where she is Professor Emerita. 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 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, Annie Hunter, who consults on death investigations.
Tracy Ullman is a documentary producer, director, and writer in Chicago. She has produced dozens of non-fiction television programs for Discovery Networks, Oxygen, AETN Networks, and PBS. Her most recent production is a six-part limited documentary series about serial murderer John Wayne Gacy and the new discoveries made in his case for NBC’s Peacock streaming service.

CRIMINAL MISCHIEF 61: Special Guest Forensic Specialist Jennifer Dornbush

After careers in journalism and teaching, I turned seriously to screenwriting where I began to connect my coroner world to my writing world. I sought out a degree at the Forensic Science Academy in Los Angeles to gain more forensic training and earn the friendship of LA’s top CSIs, fingerprint specialists, DNA scientists, and detectives. Through this experience, I authored Forensic Speak: How To Write Realistic Crime Dramas, used by not only showrunners and writers but also law enforcement.
TODAY, I WORK AS A SCREENWRITER, AUTHOR, SPEAKER AND FORENSIC SPECIALIST.
As a screenwriter… I’ve developed film and TV projects with Lifetime TV, Enspire, Echo Lake, Wolper Productions, Red Kimono, David Janolari Entertainment, Hoplite, and a host of others. I wrote the theatrically released film and novel, God Bless the Broken Road, a Netflix top 10 Faith-based Movie.
As an author… my mystery book series, The Coroner’s Daughter, first released in 2018; with The Coroner, and followed by Secret Remains. Last One Alive in 2023. Books 4 and 5 are slated for publication in 2024 and 2025. My true crime thriller, Hole in the Woods released in 2020 and optioned for TV.
I am a contributing author in a three book Murder, Music and Mystery anthology series from Blackstone Publishing: Hotel California, 2022; Thriller, 2023; and the pre-published, Back In Black, 2024.
In pre-publication are a true crime memoir, Raised By The Ice Man, that chronicles the lives of Merrick and Christin Kuklinksi, daughters of mafia killer, Richard Kuklinski. And an historical crime fiction novel, The Locard Principle, inspired by the doctor who instituted the world’s first crime lab.
I am also currently working on a YA mystery dramedy for publication and TV series.
As a speaker… I frequently speak internationally on crime fiction and forensics. And I host regular webinars through Writer’s Digest, The Writers Store and Script Magazine and dozens of others. I also teach for several universities and mentor aspiring writers from around the world. 
As a forensic specialist… I’ve consulted with TV writers on shows such as: Bull, Conviction, Hawaii Five-O, Leverage, Suits, and Rectify.)
 
https://jenniferdornbush.com/

CRIMINAL MISCHIEF 60: Special Guest Retired NYPD Missing Persons Squad Sergeant and Current P.I. John Ferriso

JOHN FERRISO
John Ferriso is a retired Sergeant New York City Police Department. He was a September 11th, 2001, rescue and recovery worker and sergeant assigned to the Internal Affairs Bureau. His last assignment in the NYPD was Sergeant Missing Persons Squad, supervising an office of 20 detectives, with 7,000 cases per year. A short story published online detailing what he witnessed on September 11, 2001, In a New York minute, an officer’s eyewitness account of the events of September 11, 2001. He is  a published author of short stories. All in a day’s work: an officer accounts 20 years NYPD. One of his short stories titled “what if the police called all your contacts, what would they say about you” was published in Psychology Today. 
John is a member of Sisters in Crime, New York chapter. He networks with other mystery writers answering authors’ questions regarding the actual steps within a police investigation.     
John Ferriso is the owner of Ferris Investigation’s a New York private investigators company that specializes in missing person investigations. He utilizes his skills with nationwide non-profit organizations who investigate and re-examine missing person cold cases. He has been featured on podcasts where his cold case investigations are brought to the attention of new audiences.  
John received a master’s degree from American Public University, Ancient History.  
John has worked as Security Supervisor Empire State Building. He currently works in private security for a New York City Wall Street firm.
John Ferriso is a married father of two children residing in Queens NY.            

CRIMINAL MISCHIEF 59: Special Guest Tulsa PD Homicide Detective Brandon Watkins

You've seen him on THE FIRST 48. We chat about that as well as his career in homicide

CRIMINAL MISCHIEF 58: Cardiac Surgery During WWII

What Cardiac Condition Could Be Surgically Repaired During WWII?
Q: I write a mystery series set during the Second World War. My question is about heart surgery during that time period. I am planning a future book in which my character’s heart ailment catches up to him, and he undergoes surgery. What specific ailment can I give him? It needs to be something that he could have lived with into his 20s, and then became critical - and also something that could be repaired by new surgical techniques circa 1944. Plus, he needs to have a fairly quick recovery, so he's not out of commission too long. 
A: You actually have several options. Many of them are congenital cardiac problems and in the 1940s many did not live beyond adolescence. Things like transposition of the great vessels or tetralogy of Fallott often resulted in a premature death. However, the best bet for your scenario would be mitral stenosis. This is a narrowing of the mitral valve which lies between the left atrium and the left ventricle. All the blood returning from the lungs enters the left atrium and then crosses this valve into the left ventricle, where it is pumped out to the body. A narrowing of this valve is usually caused by rheumatic fever that occurred during his childhood. It was fairly common in the early twentieth century. It was often undiagnosed because the symptoms of fever, chills, and a sore throat mimic the flu or a common cold. Only later, when cardiac issues appeared, would the accurate diagnosis of earlier rheumatic fever be made.
In rheumatic fever, a throat infection from several stains of streptococci, the same family of bacteria that causes strept throat, results in an immunologic reaction that progresses throughout life. This immunological reaction progressively scars the cardiac valves, particularly the mitral, and this causes the leaflets of the valve to fuse together, narrowing the opening. We call this narrowing stenosis. The symptoms of this are fatigue and shortness of breath. The narrowed valve restricts blood flow into the main pumping chamber – – the left ventricle – – and thus reduces output of blood by the heart. These symptoms are magnified during any type of physical activity. Your character could have done well throughout most of his life, but then in his late 20s or 30s or even 40s could begin developing shortness of breath with activity and progressive fatigue. He would then be diagnosed with mitral stenosis, which was easily done with a stethoscope. 
The original surgery for this was a procedure that we called a finger commissurotomy. That's simply a big word meaning you use your finger to open up a narrowed valve. The surgeon would open the chest and make a small incision in a structure called the left atrial appendage. This is simply a dog ear, if you will, off the left atrium. It is easily visible and accessible once the chest is open. The surgeon would then slide a finger through that opening an extend it down to the valve where he would force his finger through the opening. Basically, he would rip the fused leaflets apart. This would relieve the stenosis, but it could leave the person with mitral insufficiency, also called mitral regurgitation. This is where the valve leaks a small amount of blood backwards with each heartbeat. This is usually minor and tolerated much better than the stenosis. I think mitral stenosis would serve your needs well.

GET TO KNOW Best-selling Author JD Barker

J.D. Barker (Jonathan Dylan Barker) is a New York Times and international bestselling American author whose work has been broadly described as suspense thrillers, often incorporating elements of horror, crime, mystery, science fiction, and the supernatural.
https://jdbarker.com/

GET TO KNOW Author KK Cathers

For as long as she can remember, Kerry Cathers has been fascinated by crime and history and now spends her days reading and talking about both. She created A Curiosity of Crime and Bandit’s Roost as research resources for authors of historical detective fiction.The first book in her reference series, A Writer’s Guide to Nineteenth-Century Murder by Arsenic, is available now. The sequel, A Writer’s Guide to Forensics, 1800-1940 will be on bookshelves next year. She presented at the HNS North America 2023 Conference, and given seminars on forensics, poisons, and how to be a nineteenth-century detective for Sisters in Crime, Mystery Writers of America, and Kiss of Death’s COFFIN series.
Kerry’s Substack: https://banditsroost.substack.com

GET TO KNOW Author, Actor, Narrator Harley Jane Kozak

HARLEY JANE KOZAK was born in Pennsylvania, grew up in Nebraska, completed NYU School of the Arts Graduate Acting Program, and migrated to Los Angeles. She starred in a few dozen films (Parenthood, Arachnophobia, The Favor, etc.), three soaps (Texas, Guiding Light, Santa Barbara), countless plays and a lotta TV before taking a 15-year maternity leave and turning to crime fiction. Her first (of 5) novels, Dating Dead Men, won the Agatha, Anthony, and Macavity awards. Her short prose has appeared in Ms. Magazine, The Sun, The Santa Monica Review and eight anthologies, including Best American Mystery Stories of 2019. She has also produced and narrated a dozen audiobooks (although not her own books; go figure). Harley lives in L.A. with three dogs, and leaves the porch light on for her three kids, preferring to ignore the fact that they’re in their 20’s and don’t live at home anymore. 
https://harleyjanekozak.com/

GET TO KNOW Author, Screenwriter, Forensic Specialist Jennifer Dornbush

Jennifer Dornbush is a screenwriter, author, international speaker, and forensic specialist. Raised as the daughter of a medical examiner whose office was in their home; forensics and crime writing are infused into her DNA. Jennifer penned suspense thriller Hole in the Woods;  historical crime fiction The Locard Principle; on-going mystery series The Coroner’s Daughter, and contributes to mystery anthologies, She also created the acclaimed crime writer’s guide Forensic Speak. As a screenwriter Jennifer has optioned, sold, developed, and adapted material for film and television. She is a sought-out international teacher, speaker, and mentor. 
www.jenniferdornbush.com 

GET TO KNOW Author Anne Cleeland

Anne Cleeland is the author of the Doyle & Acton mystery series, which is set in modern-day Scotland Yard and has sold over 800,000 copies world-wide. The series is narrated by rookie detective Kathleen Doyle, who married the famous Chief Inspector Acton only to discover that he is not at all what he seems. The 20th book in the series, Murder in Preemption, is now available.
Anne also writes suspense stories set in the Napoleonic Wars. Her 11th book, A Dubious Prospect, became available Summer 2024.
A retired lawyer, she has four children and lives in Southern California.
https://www.annecleeland.com/