The true story that inspired Donna Tartt’s The Secret History.

The Trial of Leopold and Loeb: Dickie & Babe revisits one of the most unsettling criminal cases of the twentieth century. A feature-length, standalone audiobook in the tradition of a radio play.

Full audiobook available now on most audiobook platforms, and also available through your preferred podcast player at Classic Crime's Trials of the Century audiobooks homepage.

The Leopold and Loeb case has echoed through literature and culture for a century, influencing writers from Patrick Hamilton to Donna Tartt, and film directors like Hitchcock. Its enduring fascination lies not only in what happened, but in the questions it continues to raise.

Set against the social and intellectual climate of 1920s Chicago, it invites listeners into a world shaped by early modern psychology, cultural anxiety about homosexuality, and shifting ideas about crime and responsibility.

Written as a dramatic narrative and performed by a full cast of stage actors — including performers with backgrounds at the Royal Shakespeare Company and other leading theatre companies — the production brings language, character, and voice to the foreground. The result is an intimate listening experience, designed to draw the listener in gradually, with the narrative momentum and psychological pull of a classic thriller.

Visit our Leopold & Loeb page.