This is Fresh Air.

I'm Dave Davies and today for Terry Gross.

Network television has given us plenty of fictional crime scene investigators over the years,

applying science, experience, and moxie to track down bad guys from clues they leave behind.

Our guest today, Paul Holtz, is the real thing.

He spent a career investigating crimes in California, specializing in cold cases.

He played a critical role in identifying one of the most notorious serial predators in

American history, the so-called Golden State Killer, who is admitted to committing 13 murders

and 50 rapes in the 1970s and 80s.

In a new book, Holtz writes about that case and others, and about the day-to-day work of

examining gruesome crime scenes, analyzing evidence, and speaking to survivors of horrific

crimes and relatives of those who didn't survive.

He also writes about the emotional toll the work takes.

He's experienced nightmares, panic attacks, and marital issues, and says he's used plenty

of bourbon to self-medicate.

Since retiring from government work in 2018, he's continued to assist investigators and

families as a private citizen, and he's become a celebrated figure in the true crime world.

He's appeared in the TV series America Most Wanted and the DNA of Murder with Paul Holtz,

and he co-hosted a podcast called The Murder Squad.

His fall he'll be co-hosting a new podcast with Kate Winkler Dawson about historic crimes

it's titled Buried Bones.

His new book is unmasked, My Life Solving America's Cold Cases.

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