Sarah D. Bunting

Editor-at-Large at Primetimer

Co-Host at Again With This: Beverly Hills, 90210 & Melrose Place

Co-Host at Mark And Sarah Talk About Songs

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Articles

Ask Not: Girls, interrupted (by the Kennedys)

2 weeks ago | realityblurred.com | Sarah D. Bunting

The crimeThe deaths of Mary Jo Kopechne, Mary Richardson Kennedy, Marilyn Monroe, and Carolyn and Lauren Bessette; the gaslighting of some of these women, and of Joan Kennedy and Jacqueline Onassis; the accident that claimed Pamela Kelley’s mobility; Rosemary Kennedy’s lobotomy…for starters. The storyAsk Not: The Kennedys and the Women They Destroyed is extremely readable, and at first, I didn’t trust Maureen Callahan’s litany of misogynist Kennedy behavior for that reason.
The Bakersfield 3: “It’s better if you don’t know”

3 weeks ago | realityblurred.com | Sarah D. Bunting

The crimeThe murders of James Kulstad and Micah Holsonbake; the “suspicious disappearance” of Baylee Parrent Despot. The story (which may contain spoilers)ID’s The Bakersfield 3: A Tale of Murder and Motherhood premiered last week and is streaming now on Max, and initially, I found its eminently ID-ish structure and pacing pretty frustrating.
Whack Job: Is the pen mightier than the axe?

3 weeks ago | realityblurred.com | Sarah D. Bunting

The crime/sVarious horrific murders committed with axes or axe-esque tools. The storyI have probably spent as much time with the James family’s writing as anyone not actually in the James family, with good reason and zero regrets, so to describe me as bouncing-in-my-seat impatient for Rachel McCarthy James’s Whack Job: A History of Axe Murder is to understate the case rather dramatically.
Coben, Combs, and clowns: 5 true-crime stories to watch

4 weeks ago | realityblurred.com | Sarah D. Bunting

Paramount announced earlier this week that Harlan Coben is coming to CBS primetime next year (between Survivor seasons, basically) with Harlan Coben’s Final Twist. Coben,known for his twisting narratives and intricate plots[,] … will guide audiences through gripping tales of murder, high-profile crimes and life-altering surprises, each meticulously unraveled to reveal hidden truths, deceptions and lies.
True Crime Story: Look Into My Eyes looks for justice in grief

1 month ago | realityblurred.com | Sarah D. Bunting

The crimePracticing hypnosis without a license. No, that isn’t a felony. The story (with a content warning for suicide)True Crime Story: Look Into My Eyes came out almost two years ago, and concerns a cluster of deaths in North Port, FL almost fifteen years ago.
Is Unseamly: The Investigation of Peter Nygård still worth watching?

1 month ago | realityblurred.com | Sarah D. Bunting

The crimeSiegfried-ishly flamboyant Finnish-Canadian fashion tycoon* Peter Nygård serially assaulted dozens of women, verbally abused generations of staff, and slanderously feuded with a Bahamian neighbor. *yeah, I know I’ve said repeatedly that nobody uses that word except Messrs.
How much true crime is on Sidney Lumet’s c.v.?

1 month ago | realityblurred.com | Sarah D. Bunting

A couple weeks back, my esteemed colleague Kevin Smokler (pre-order his book!) and I got to talking about Sidney Lumet: our favorite films of his, how he’s great with actors and crap at pacing, and whether, as Kevin put it, “shit ever works out in his movies?”I looked it up before responding, and: shit really kind of doesn’t ever work out in a Lumet joint, but the number of times that’s because it’s a real-life corruption case made me realize, hey, I should BET-CRP Lumet.
Read-Handed: Doggie dupes and dead du Ponts

1 month ago | realityblurred.com | Sarah D. Bunting

Read-Handed is our occasional feature updating you on true-crime books, listens, research etc. that we’re in the middle of right now. We hope you’ll add YOUR recent reads — whether you dug the book or DNF’d it partway through — and what you’re looking forward to, too. what’s up at Exhibit B. BooksThe shop’s current featured author is John Glatt, whose work we’ve covered in the past; those books are 20% off. So-called “plus-ones” — books I have more than one copy of — are also 20% off.
Gone Girls and the rule of three(-part streaming doc)s

2 months ago | realityblurred.com | Sarah D. Bunting

The crimeThe murders of seven women (and very possibly dozens more) on Long Island by alleged serial predator Rex Heuermann; the fact that it took Suffolk County law enforcement a decade and a half to crack a case for which they’d had much of the evidence in hand for some time. The storyAs you can see, it took me most of the week to finish Netflix’s Gone Girls: The Long Island Serial Killer, the three-part return to the Gilgo Beach case by director Liz Garbus.
Happy Face: “Please don’t produce me”

2 months ago | realityblurred.com | Sarah D. Bunting

The crimeBroadly, the murders committed by the so-called Happy Face Killer, Keith Jesperson. More narrowly, the criminal-justice system’s inability and/or unwillingness to reverse itself, and the true-crime industry’s ravenous appetite for packageable content.