Murder Shelf Book Club Podcast

Episode 71: “The Original Staircase”- The Death of Amy Robsart: An Elizabethan Mystery by Sarah-Beth Watkins Part 1

Part 1: 1560: Tudor England. Amidst rumors of adultery, poisoning divorce, and murder, Lady Amy Dudley, nee Robsart, was found dead at the foot of the stairs. Immediately, suspicion fell upon her husband, Lord Robert Dudley, favorite of the newly ascended Queen of England, Elizabeth I. Had he done away with his wife to marry the Queen?  The investigation, interviews, interrogations, and inquest does little to snuff out the speculation and debate—How did Amy Dudley die?  Accident, Suicide, or Murder? 500 years later, we are still asking these questions. Join Jill as she combines the two passions of her life- The Tudors and true crime!
And find Jill on PODCAST ROW AT CRIMECON 2023 ORLANDO!!!  So EXCITED!
Sources, show notes, a ton of portraits, family trees, and more are found on Jill’s blog at www.murdershelfbookclub.com Sept. 2023.
ANNOUNCEMENT- JAN 2025:  My new Murder Shelf Book Club Podcast MERCH SHOP has launched!  Please go explore! I appreciate you supporting my true crime book club podcast!
Share your thoughts with me at  jill@murdershelfbookclub.com, on X,  Facebook,  Instagram or YouTube.  OR, join Jill on PATREON for $4 and help pick our next book and talk true crime developments, first Thursday of each month at 8:30 pm EST!
Music- The Pewter Elephant by Blue Dot Sessions.
 
 

Episode 70: ”The Story Isn’t Over”-Bone Deep- Untangling the Twisted true story of the tragic Betsy Faria Murder Case: Jill speaks with RUSS FARIA!

Crimecon 2024 is coming fast! Look for Jill on Podcast Row! 
UPDATE!  We met Russ Faria after he was charged with the murder of his wife, Betsy.  Wrongfully convicted, Russ spend 3 years in prison, until he was finally exonerated (Ep 40-44). Enter new DA, Mike Wood, who begins investigating the investigators for corruption, determined to right the unbelievable wrongs.  In an alleged effort to derail the investigation, former Lincoln County detective, Mike Merkel is implicated, spirally the investigation. Listen to the latest from Russ Faria, who was in the Missouri court room himself.  And what is new with Russ and Carol McAfee? The story isn’t over yet!
 
Source material, show notes, photographs are found on Jill’s blog at www.murdershelfbookclub- May 2022. 
ANNOUNCEMENT- JAN 2025:  My new Murder Shelf Book Club Podcast MERCH SHOP has launched!  Please go explore! I appreciate you supporting my true crime book club podcast!
Share your thoughts with me at  jill@murdershelfbookclub.com, on X,  Facebook,  Instagram or YouTube.  OR, join Jill on PATREON for $4 and help pick our next book and talk true crime developments, first Thursday of each month at 8:30 pm EST!
Music- The Pewter Elephant by Blue Dot Sessions.
Have you left a 5-star review?  

Episode 69: ”The Sage Speaks with Jill”- An Interview with cold case investigator Chief Clay Bryant Pt 4

Part 4: Our author, the "most prolific cold case investigator in the United States for single-event homicides", Chief Clay Bryant chats with Jill, discussing his cold case investigations and a bit on life itself.  His common sense and down to earth brilliance shines through, as Clay shares moments that simply take your breath away—What were the odds THAT could have happened? Get the inside story of the next book, on yet another cold case he solved and another killer off the streets. Murder Bookies, do not miss this discussion, it is sincere, poignant, and uplifting!
AND- Announcement: Look for the Murder Shelf Book Club on Podcast Row at Crimecon 2024 in Nashville! 
Sources, show notes, photographs, maps and food and drink information on the Clay Bryant books is found on Jill’s blog at www.murdershelfbookclub.com, July 2023.
ANNOUNCEMENT- JAN 2025:  My new Murder Shelf Book Club Podcast MERCH SHOP has launched!  Please go explore! I appreciate you supporting my true crime book club podcast!
Share your thoughts with me at  jill@murdershelfbookclub.com, on X,  Facebook,  Instagram or YouTube.  OR, join Jill on PATREON for $4 and help pick our next book and talk true crime developments, first Thursday of each month at 8:30 pm EST!
Music- The Pewter Elephant by Blue Dot Sessions.
"I see you as you hear me!"

Episode 68 – 2ndCast“ Alls Well that Ends Well”- The Cold Case Murder of Fred Wilkerson: Untangling the Black Widows Web in West Georgia by Clay Bryant Part III

Part 3: We see Connie Quedens ensnaring Fred Wilderson in her web, entangling finances, escalating demands, culminating with Fred abruptly vanished, leaving his beloved daughter and son behind. Who had a life insurance policy on Fred?  Connie.  But nothing tied her to his disappearance.  17 yrs later, Clay Bryant begins to investigate this cold case, and he finds a witness that sets the case on fire! Hear justice arrive in all it’s glory, and the truth of who Connie Quedens is comes out, with many wondering what else she did.
 
Sources, snack recipe, wine recommendation and show notes are found on Jill’s blog www.murdershelfbookclub.com, July 2023.
 
ANNOUNCEMENT- JAN 2025:  My new Murder Shelf Book Club Podcast MERCH SHOP has launched!  Please go explore! I appreciate you supporting my true crime book club podcast!
Share your thoughts with me at  jill@murdershelfbookclub.com, on X,  Facebook,  Instagram or YouTube.  OR, join Jill on PATREON for $4 and help pick our next book and talk true crime developments, first Thursday of each month at 8:30 pm EST!
Music- The Pewter Elephant by Blue Dot Sessions.
"Trust your gut!"

Episode 67 “All is not well” Pt 2: Solving the West Georgia Murder of Gwendolyn Moore & The Cold Case Murder of Fred Wilkerson: Untangling the Black Widow’s Web in West by Clay Bryant

A horrendously abused wife, Gwendolyn Moore, is found at the bottom of an old well in 1970. The investigation deliberately went nowhere, for 32 years. Pt 2 tells the story, begun in 2003, with a chance phone call that brought the case to the attention of Investigator Clay Bryant, who not only recalled the case; he watched her body being recovered that terrible day, as a teenager!!   Delving in, Clay would go to extremes to get the evidence to charge her killer, a chance to set the record right.  
Just days afterward, a chance meeting with mechanic Tim Wilkerson turns the tides of investigation once more. Tim tells Clay his Dad, Fred Wilkerson, is missing- for the last 17 years.  Suspicions abound, but the evidence lead nowhere, and the case went cold. Could Clay Bryant do it again, and find Fred Wilkerson?
 
Sources, snack recipe, wine recommendation and show notes are found on Jill’s blog www.murdershelfbookclub.com
Join Jill on Patreon!  Get your merch for CrimeCon Nashville, May 31-June 2, 2024!  Look for Jill on Podcast Row!  
By Jill, All Rights Reserved

Episode 66 “Coin in a wishing well” – Pt 1 Solving the West Georgia Murder of Gwendolyn Moore: A cry from the well by Clay Bryant

Part 1: Back in 1970, the beaten body of a young wife and mother was lifted from an old well just outside Hogansville, Georgia.  The victim, Gwendolyn Moore, had long been married to her violent and abusive husband, Marshall Moore.  Yet, mysteriously, this homicide investigation went cold the day Gwendolyn died, with Hogansville Chief of Police, Buddy Bryant, haunted by the case for decades. 32 years later, Buddy Bryant’s son, Clay Bryant, following in his father’s steps, would delve into a new investigation. Would the cold case thaw?
 
Sources, snack recipe, wine recommendation and show notes are found on Jill’s blog www.murdershelfbookclub.com, July 2023.
ANNOUNCEMENT- JAN 2025:  My new Murder Shelf Book Club Podcast MERCH SHOP has launched!  Please go explore! I appreciate you supporting my true crime book club podcast!
Share your thoughts with me at  jill@murdershelfbookclub.com, on X,  Facebook,  Instagram or YouTube.  OR, join Jill on PATREON for $4 and help pick our next book and talk true crime developments, first Thursday of each month at 8:30 pm EST!
Music- The Pewter Elephant by Blue Dot Sessions.
 
Did you leave a 5-star review?

Episode 65 2ndCast- ‘Female of the Species’- Pt.3 Death Sentence- The True Story of Velma Barfield’s Life, Crimes and Execution by Jerry Bledsoe

Pt 3: What happens when you are on Death Row?  How does the appeal process work?  What is the human toll?  Is it justice?  We will follow Velma’s loved ones as they struggle with new revelations and hear from the families of the victims as human endurance is tested.  Jill walks you through Velma Barfield’s maze of appeals, arguments for a new trial, and the final emotional outcome.  And Jill tells you what she thinks of Velma Barfield, the Death Row Granny (of course she does!)
 
Sources, show notes, photographs, recipe and drink information are found on Jill’s blog: www.murdershelfbookclub.com, May 2023.
 
ANNOUNCEMENT- JAN 2025:  My new Murder Shelf Book Club Podcast MERCH SHOP has launched!  Please go explore! I appreciate you supporting my true crime book club podcast!
Share your thoughts with me at  jill@murdershelfbookclub.com, on X,  Facebook,  Instagram or YouTube.  OR, join Jill on PATREON for $4 and help pick our next book and talk true crime developments, first Thursday of each month at 8:30 pm EST!
Music- The Pewter Elephant by Blue Dot Sessions.
"Trust your gut!"
 
 
 

Episode 64: ‘Poisoning the waterhole’ – Pt.2 Death Sentence- The True Story of Velma Barfield’s Life, Crimes and Execution by Jerry Bledsoe

In Part 2, on trial for premeditated murder, Velma Barfield’s attorney, Bob Jacobson has an uphill battle—she confessed to poisoning Stuart Taylor- and 3 other people. With the defense team facing the “World’s most deadly prosecutor” Joe Freeman Britt, only Velma could explain herself.
Was she too impaired from her drug abuse to understand what she was doing?  Would she sway the jurors? Could this risky decision save her life? Or was she a cold-calculating serial killer as the Prosecution presents? 
 
Sources, photographs, recipes and wine pairings are found on Jill’s blog at www.murdershelfbookclub.com, May 2023.
ANNOUNCEMENT- JAN 2025:  My new Murder Shelf Book Club Podcast MERCH SHOP has launched!  Please go explore! I appreciate you supporting my true crime book club podcast!
Share your thoughts with me at  jill@murdershelfbookclub.com, on X,  Facebook,  Instagram or YouTube.  OR, join Jill on PATREON for $4 and help pick our next book and talk true crime developments, first Thursday of each month at 8:30 pm EST!
Music- The Pewter Elephant by Blue Dot Sessions.

Episode 63 ‘Broken Hearts and Hearths’- Death Sentence- The True Story of Velma Barfield’s Life, Crimes and Execution by Jerry Bledsoe Pt 1

Part 1: After a childhood of poverty and abuse, 17-year-old Margie Velma Bullard eloped with Senior Thomas Burke while they were both in high school. Building a happy life, they welcomed a son and daughter, becoming a normal American family. That is, until addiction reared its ugliness, triggering a cascade of painful, inexplicable deaths. Why did so many people around Velma die? Then, the world imploded with devastating shock—Velma was arrested for murder, and the investigation would reveal- it wasn’t the only one.
 
Sources, photographs, recipes and wine pairings are found on Jill’s blog at www.murdershelfbookclub.com May 2023.
ANNOUNCEMENT- JAN 2025:  My new Murder Shelf Book Club Podcast MERCH SHOP has launched!  Please go explore! I appreciate you supporting my true crime book club podcast!
Share your thoughts with me at  jill@murdershelfbookclub.com, on X,  Facebook,  Instagram or YouTube.  OR, join Jill on PATREON for $4 and help pick our next book and talk true crime developments, first Thursday of each month at 8:30 pm EST!
Music- The Pewter Elephant by Blue Dot Sessions.
See you in 2 weeks! 
 

Episode 62- “Serendipity and a Serial Killer” - She Married the Green River Serial Killer Pt 4!

Part 4: Jill chats with the author of She Married the Green River Killer, Pennie Wood. The women speak of serendipity in forging friendships and healing, while uncovering lost memories from Judith Ridgway’s life that enabling the construct the book. Truth revealed, they delve into the normality of Gary Ridgway’s dual life, the roots of his murderous deviance, and a marriage made in deception. Do not miss the insights, peeling back layers to expose truths, and how one woman survived catastrophic change and betrayal.
Sources, photographs, recipes and wine pairings are found on Jill’s blog at www.murdershelfbookclub.com, March 2023.
 
ANNOUNCEMENT- JAN 2025:  My new Murder Shelf Book Club Podcast MERCH SHOP has launched!  Please go explore! I appreciate you supporting my true crime book club podcast!
Share your thoughts with me at  jill@murdershelfbookclub.com, on X,  Facebook,  Instagram or YouTube.  OR, join Jill on PATREON for $4 and help pick our next book and talk true crime developments, first Thursday of each month at 8:30 pm EST!
Music- The Pewter Elephant by Blue Dot Sessions.
See you in 2 weeks!