As a criminal defense investigator and the author of five acclaimed literary mysteries, it's Rene Denfeld's job to make juries — and readers — feel invested in the stories she's telling and the humans involved. In this episode, we'll hear about Denfeld's fact and mitigation investigative work, her fiction writing, and the secret to telling stories that make people care.

Buy Rene Denfeld's new book: https://www.harpercollins.com/products/the-talking-bone-rene-denfeld?variant=44413756178466

See her author site: https://www.renedenfeld.com/

Host: Hal Humphreys

Guest: Rene Denfeld

Sponsored by: TLOxp®

Music provided by Jason White, who composed our theme.

Special thanks to Kim Green, who produced this episode.

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Pursuit Magazine and PI Education are part of StoryboardEMP, a media and education company in Nashville, TN. Pursuit, a free online magazine for private investigators, explores all things investigative, from gumshoe techniques and surveillance tech to industry news and crime in media. PI Education, its sister brand, provides online continuing education for licensed PIs. Pursuit and PIed are owned and edited by husband-wife team Hal Humphreys, a PI, and Kim Green, a writer and radio producer.

In this podcast, you'll find episodes that dive deep into the work and the business of private investigations. And at PI Education's YouTube channel, you can dive even deeper into the knowledge pool of this fascinating profession, with regular briefings and webinars. Subscribe to stay up to date!

Pursuit Magazine: https://pursuitmag.com/​
PI Education: https://pieducation.com/​
Our channel: https://www.youtube.com/c/PIEducation​

How do you manufacture a bogus drought? Rainfall is a measurable fact: it rains or it doesn’t. Ten inches fall, or twenty. It’s not open to debate. Or so I thought.

Full disclosure: agriculture fraud is a category that was not really on our radar — until we spotted this fantastic headline in Farm Journal: RAIN ROBBERS: How Four Farmers Faked a Drought and Stole Millions in Crop Insurance. The tagline gets even better: “Dust became dollars in one of the wildest agriculture crimes on record.”

Our guest Chris Bennett wrote that headline — and this buck-wild story, worthy of a full Coen Brothers treatment. His bio says, "Writing from the level land of the Delta just outside of Clarksdale, Mississippi, Bennett has blogged for several years on agriculture, surrounded by cotton and plenty of cottonmouths." We can't do better than that, so we won't try. Listen in to hear an incredible scam story from high-plains farm country, told by a guy who's been called "the best storyteller in agriculture."

"Rain Robbers" in Farm Journal: https://www.agweb.com/news/business/rain-robbers-how-four-farmers-faked-drought-and-stole-millions-crop-insurance

Chris Bennett's archive: https://www.agweb.com/authors/chris-bennett

Host: Hal Humphreys

Guest: Chris Bennett

Sponsored by: TLOxp®

Music provided by Jason White, who composed our theme.

Special thanks to Kim Green, who produced this episode.

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Pursuit Magazine and PI Education are part of StoryboardEMP, a media and education company in Nashville, TN. Pursuit, a free online magazine for private investigators, explores all things investigative, from gumshoe techniques and surveillance tech to industry news and crime in media. PI Education, its sister brand, provides online continuing education for licensed PIs. Pursuit and PIed are owned and edited by husband-wife team Hal Humphreys, a PI, and Kim Green, a writer and radio producer.

In this podcast, you'll find episodes that dive deep into the work and the business of private investigations. And at PI Education's YouTube channel, you can dive even deeper into the knowledge pool of this fascinating profession, with regular briefings and webinars. Subscribe to stay up to date!

Pursuit Magazine: https://pursuitmag.com/​
PI Education: https://pieducation.com/​
Our channel: https://www.youtube.com/c/PIEducation​

Capital cases are criminal prosecutions where a defendant may face the death penalty. These trials have two phases: In the guilt phase, a jury decides whether a defendant is guilty or innocent. In the penalty phase, the jury hears arguments about aggravating or mitigating factors and decides on a sentence.

Elizabeth Vartkessian plays a huge but little-known role on defense teams in capital cases: As a mitigation specialist, it’s her job to spend hundreds of hours visiting with defendants and their families, teachers, neighbors, and friends — to get a fuller picture of the person’s life, including past abuse, trauma, and mental illness. The stories she collects might save her clients’ lives.

Vartkessian is also founder and director of Advancing Real Change, a national nonprofit dedicated to conducting life history investigations in criminal cases. And she’s the author of THE DESERVING: WHAT THE LIVES OF THE CONDEMNED REVEAL ABOUT AMERICAN JUSTICE, which came out in January. In this episode, we talk about how she does her work, why she wrote this book, and her abiding belief in the law.

Elizabeth Vartkessian's author site: https://www.elizabethvartkessian.com/

Buy the book: https://geni.us/thedeserving

Advancing Real Change: https://advancechange.org/

Host: Hal Humphreys

Guest: Elizabeth Vartkessian

Sponsored by: TLOxp®

Music provided by Jason White, who composed our theme.

Special thanks to Kim Green, who produced this episode.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Pursuit Magazine and PI Education are part of StoryboardEMP, a media and education company in Nashville, TN. Pursuit, a free online magazine for private investigators, explores all things investigative, from gumshoe techniques and surveillance tech to industry news and crime in media. PI Education, its sister brand, provides online continuing education for licensed PIs. Pursuit and PIed are owned and edited by husband-wife team Hal Humphreys, a PI, and Kim Green, a writer and radio producer.

In this podcast, you'll find episodes that dive deep into the work and the business of private investigations. And at PI Education's YouTube channel, you can dive even deeper into the knowledge pool of this fascinating profession, with regular briefings and webinars. Subscribe to stay up to date!

Pursuit Magazine: https://pursuitmag.com/​
PI Education: https://pieducation.com/​
Our channel: https://www.youtube.com/c/PIEducation​