Going West: True Crime

About This Audiobook

*Going West: True Crime* isn’t just another podcast-turned-audiobook—it’s a masterclass in how raw, conversational storytelling can make even the most familiar cases feel urgent again. Daphne Woolsoncroft and Heath Merryman ditch the polished, scripted true-crime formula for something messier and more human: real-time reactions, unvarnished skepticism, and the kind of offhand observations that stick with you long after the episode ends. The narration (likely pulled from the original podcast recordings) preserves the hosts’ chemistry—Woolsoncroft’s sharp, almost clinical analysis playing off Merryman’s darker, more visceral reactions. What sets this apart is its refusal to romanticize; these aren’t just stories, but dissections of systemic failures, eerie coincidences, and the quiet horrors lurking in small-town America.

The audiobook’s strength lies in its episodic structure, which mirrors the podcast’s weekly drops but benefits from bingeable pacing. Each case—whether a cold disappearance in the Pacific Northwest or a decades-old murder tied to political corruption—gets room to breathe, with the hosts weaving in historical context, local lore, and their own investigative rabbit holes. The production is stripped-down (expect minimal sound design, just the hosts’ voices and the occasional archival clip), which keeps the focus squarely on the storytelling. If you’re tired of true crime that feels like a Wikipedia entry with dramatic music, this is the antidote: unpretentious, often infuriating, and impossible to pause.