SCENE OF THE CRIME
Program 04-05-23-B Listen!

To The Best of Our Knowledge
from Wisconsin Public Radio

We're off to the scene of the crime. Need a lawyer? Maybe you should find an evidence broker. He's the guy you go to see when you've been accused of a crime and you need witnesses to prove you didn't do it. At least that's how it worked in the 18th century. Novelist David Liss talks about the birth of modern jurisprudence in this hour of To the Best of Our Knowledge.

 

 
   

 

SEGMENT 1:

Britain's best-selling mystery writer, Ian Rankin, talks with Jim Fleming about his character, Inspector John Rebus. He talks about what Edinburgh is really like, and how Scotland has been affected by world events like the air crash at Lockerbie. Rankin's latest novel is "A Question of Blood." Also, Howard Zehr tells Steve Paulson about restorative justice. The goal is to repair the harm done to the victims of crime so that the final outcome is positive for both victim and offender.

SEGMENT 2:

Patrick McGilligan is the author of "Alfred Hitchcock: A Life in Darkness and Light." He tells Steve Paulson how Hitchcock chose his leading men, and what makes "Vertigo" the cinematic classic it is. And we get a clip from another Hitchcock film. Also, Erik Larson is the author of "The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic and Madness at the Fair that Changed America." He tells Jim Fleming about the World's Columbian Exposition of 1893 and what it meant for Chicago at the turn of the century, and talks about America's first serial killer who was operating in Chicago at the same time.

SEGMENT 3:

David Liss has published another 18th century murder mystery. This one's called "A Spectacle of Corruption" and features Liss's hero, Benjamin Weaver. David Liss tells Anne Strainchamps how different trials were in the 18th century, and explains that modern patterns of thinking were only beginning to take hold.

Cassette copies are available at 1-800-747-7444. Ask for program number 04-05-23-B.

................................................................

Books:

  • Erik Larson, The Devil in the White City (Vintage)
  • David Liss, A Spectacle of Corruption: a novel (Random House)
  • Patrick McGilligan, Alfred Hitchcock: A Life in Darkness and Light (Harper Collins)
  • Ian Rankin, A Question of Blood: and Inspector Rebus Novel (Little, Brown)

Music:

  • Button after Rankin:
    “Lilac Slips” from Kinloch’s Fantasy by Puirt a Baroque Marquis Classics
    MAR 211
  • Button/Option after Zehr:
    “Bagpipe Medley”from Rahsaan Roland Kirk “The Warner Bros. Recordings
    Archives Warner Bros. 2-45811
  • Button after McGilligan:
    “Prelude” from “Vertigo” Soundtrack Varese Sarabande VSD 5759
  • Button/Option after Larson:
    “Cleopha - March and Two-Step” Scott Joplin from Music, My Love, Jean-Pierre Rampal CBS MK 45548
  • Alternative Close Music:
    Allegro from Concerto Grosso No. 2 in F Major HWY 320 G.F. Handel
    The Academy of Ancient Music/Andrew Manze; harmonia mundi 907228.29

Distribution dates:

week of 06/12/2005 - hour 2
week of 05/23/2004 - hour 2
Listen!

................................................................

Questions and comments can be addressed to: flemingj@wpr.org

our shows :: about us :: search :: home

 
 
           

Wisconsin Public Radio is a service of the Wisconsin Educational Communications Board, and University of Wisconsin - Extension.

Page Design and Management by Jim Fleming at Wisconsin Public Radio and Sarah Fleming.

© Copyright 2004 Board of Regents of the University of Wisconsin System.