Welcome to an archive episode!

Check out our new website: morbidlycuriousbookclub.com

Early and ad-free for Patreon members: https://www.patreon.com/cw/TheMorbidlyCuriousBookClub

In 2024, I launched this podcast to delve deeper into our book club's nonfiction selections by engaging directly with the authors, the experts behind these compelling works. However, the book club has been around since 2021...so there are some 'archive' picks that we need to discuss!

In September of 2023, we read what would become a staple for the book club: "WHAT THE DEAD KNOW, Learning About Life as a New York City Death Investigator" by Barbara Butcher!

When Barbara Butcher was early in her recovery from alcoholism, she found an unexpected lifeline in a job at the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner in NYC. As only the second woman ever hired for the role—and the first to last more than three months—she became a vital force in the world of forensic science and criminal investigations. Over the next two decades, Butcher worked thousands of cases: gruesome homicides, suspicious suicides, heartbreaking scenes involving underage victims, and complex mass casualty investigations. In her unforgettable account, she invites readers into the gritty, high-stakes world of crime-scene investigation, from the autopsy room and morgue to tense moments at active crime scenes. Along the way, she uncovered how confronting death every day gave her a new perspective on life—and ultimately saved her from becoming a statistic herself. In vivid, darkly humorous prose, Butcher recounts how she narrowly avoided a booby-trapped suicide scene, and how, during 9/11, she and her colleagues worked tirelessly to identify victims using scraps of clothing, DNA, and the memories of grieving loved ones. Her honesty, resilience, and sharp wit make this a standout in the genre of first responder memoirs and women in law enforcement.

Learn more about Barbara here: https://www.barbarabutcherofficial.com/

The Death Investigator trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ilLAP28qN0&time_continue=1&source_ve_path=NzY3NTg&embeds_referring_euri=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.barbarabutcherofficial.com%2F&embeds_referring_origin=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.barbarabutcherofficial.com

Find the book here with TW: https://app.thestorygraph.com/books/369dae9c-ddfd-4d4c-872a-9f83acf2aefd

Resources mentioned below.

Welcome to a special BONUS episode, where I chat with an author about their nonfiction book that is morbidly curious book club adjacent, but it hasn't been a pick. Thus, a bonus episode!

Join the book club here: https://www.morbidlycuriousbookclub.com/

Shoutout to Legacy Lit for my copy of Amy Littlefield's Killers of Roe: My Investigation into the Mysterious Death of Abortion Rights.

About the book: They are going to kill people, investigative reporter for The Nation Amy Littlefield knew, when the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade. After a decade covering abortion, she wanted to more deeply understand the motives, means, and opportunities behind the antiabortion movement’s victory. So she set out to investigate the murderers of Roe. Killers of Roe chronicles Littlefield’s journey into the unexplored corners of the most successful social movement of our time. As in every good murder mystery, the killers turn out to be the people you least suspect. Plot twists lurk around every corner as Littlefield meets believers, opportunists, and complicated heroes. Along the way, she encounters surprising characters who shed light on how we got to this moment of authoritarian rule: from the former fetus keeper standing trial in Michigan to the antiabortion militant turned long-shot presidential candidate to the pro-choice superfans at the Reagan Library. Throughout the book, Littlefield draws upon women’s stories and her own experience as a mother to reveal the life-and-death stakes of America’s abortion wars. At once clever and poignant reportage, this abortion whodunit uncovers the deeper story of how we lost Roe—and how we will win back so much more.

About Amy: She is the abortion access correspondent at The Nation and a freelance investigative reporter who focuses on the intersection of religion and health care. She is the author of Killers of Roe, a whodunit that investigates the death of abortion rights, due out in March 2026.

Resources mentioned:

https://www.abortionfinder.org/

https://www.ineedana.com/

https://www.plancpills.org/about

https://mahotline.org/

https://abortiondefensenetwork.org/

https://reproductivefreedomforall.org/resources/resources-for-accessing-abortion-care/

StoryGraph link to book: https://app.thestorygraph.com/books/b39c91da-b2c1-43ad-add3-5d10420432bc

Welcome to Season 3 Episode 4!

Join the Book Club, Subscribe to our book box, support our small business here: https://www.morbidlycuriousbookclub.com/

This episode is available ad-free for our Patreon members, and releases slightly early! Become a Patreon Pal today, and check out other episodes, along with bonus bits not included for the general public... https://patreon.com/TheMorbidlyCuriousBookClub?

In April, the Morbidly Curious Book Club read "Madame Restell: The Life, Death, and Resurrection of Old New York's Most Fabulous, Fearless, and Infamous Abortionist" by Jennifer Wright!

About the book: An industrious immigrant who built her business from the ground up, Madame Restell was a self-taught surgeon on the cutting edge of healthcare in pre-Gilded Age New York, and her bustling “boarding house” provided birth control, abortions, and medical assistance to thousands of women—rich and poor alike. As her practice expanded, her notoriety swelled, and Restell established her-self as a prime target for tabloids, threats, and lawsuits galore. But far from fading into the background, she defiantly flaunted her wealth, parading across the city in designer clothes, expensive jewelry, and bejeweled carriages, rubbing her success in the faces of the many politicians, publishers, fellow physicians, and religious figures determined to bring her down. Unfortunately for Madame Restell, her rise to the top of her field coincided with “the greatest scam you’ve never heard about”—the campaign to curtail women’s power by restricting their access to both healthcare and careers of their own. Powerful, secular men—threatened by women’s burgeoning independence—were eager to declare abortion sinful, a position endorsed by newly-minted male MDs who longed to edge out their feminine competition and turn medicine into a standardized, male-only practice. By unraveling the misogynistic and misleading lies that put women’s lives in jeopardy, Wright simultaneously restores Restell to her rightful place in history and obliterates the faulty reasoning underlying the very foundation of what has since been dubbed the “pro-life” movement. Thought-provoking, character-driven, boldly written, and feminist as hell, Madame Restell is required reading for anyone and everyone who believes that when it comes to women’s rights, women’s bodies, and women’s history, women should have the last word.

About Jennifer: She is an author of history books, television writer, columnist, podcaster, and speaker. Her books include the upcoming Glitz, Glam, and a Damn Good Time: How Mamie Fish, Queen of the Gilded Age, Partied Her Way to Power (Hachette Books, 2025), Madame Restell (Hachette Books, 2023), as well as It Ended Badly: 13 of the Worst Break-Ups in History, and the Audible bestseller Get Well Soon: History's Worst Plagues and The Heroes That Fought Them.

StoryGraph link to Madame Restell: https://app.thestorygraph.com/books/145c812f-247c-4d4f-bb9f-08aa416b2e70