Episode 193: Writing True Crime

This week, investigative journalists Shawn Cohen and Philip Eil share insights into their reporting processes, interviewing techniques, and writing true crime with honesty and sensitivity. Moderated by journalist Evan F. Moore. They also discuss their latest books: College Girl, Missing: The True Story of How a Young Woman Disappeared in Plain Sight by Shawn Cohen. "She visited friends. She walked to a bar. She was right there…until she was gone. Investigative journalist Shawn Cohen breaks more than a decade of silence as he pursues the truth: what really happened to Lauren Spierer?" Prescription for Pain: How a Once-Promising Doctor Became the “Pill Mill Killer” by Philip Eil. "An obsessive true crime investigation of a bizarre and unlikely perpetrator, who’s serving the opioid epidemic’s longest term for illegal prescriptions—four life sentences." This conversation originally took place May 19, 2024 and was recorded live at the American Writers Festival. AWM PODCAST NETWORK HOME About the panelists: SHAWN COHEN is an investigative journalist specializing in crime and law enforcement reporting. He is currently working for the Daily Mail as a senior reporter on its exclusives team, breaking news on national stories. He has twenty-eight years of front-line experience covering everything from small-town murders and police corruption to Hurricane Katrina and mass shootings. PHILIP EIL is an award-winning freelance journalist based in his hometown, Providence, Rhode Island. He is the former news editor of the alt-weekly newspaper, The Providence Phoenix. Since the paper’s close in 2014, he has contributed to The Atlantic, Men’s Health, the Boston Globe, Huffington Post, and the Columbia Journalism Review, among other outlets. He has also taught writing and journalism classes at Brown University, Columbia University’s School of the Arts, and the Rhode Island School of Design. He holds an MFA in Nonfiction Writing from the Columbia University School of the Arts. This is his first book. EVAN F. MOORE is a Chicago-based writer whose work over time consists of topics at the intersection of sports, race, entertainment, news, and culture. Evan, an adjunct community journalism professor at DePaul University, is the co-author of the critically-acclaimed book, Game Misconduct: Hockey’s Toxic Culture and How to Fix It. Evan, who has won several journalism awards and nominations, is also a member of the Harold Washington Literary Award committee.