This is exactly right.

This story contains adult content and language.

Listener discretion is advised.

But I said, who is he?

And he said, he's a murderer.

And I said, why does he kill people?

And my dad just paused and said he likes it.

I'm Kate Winkler Dawson, a nonfiction author and journalism professor in Austin, Texas.

I'm also the co-host of the podcast Buried Bones on Exactly Right.

And throughout my career, research for my many audio and book projects has taken me around the world.

On Wicked Words, I sit down with the people I've met along the way, amazing writers, journalists, filmmakers, and podcasters

who have investigated and reported on notorious true crime cases.

This is about the choices writers make, both good and bad,

and it's a deep dive into the unpublished details behind their stories.

Meg Gardner is a thriller writer, a really great one.

She has several series, but the one I'm most interested in started with a book called

Un-Sub about a serial killer.

And it's based on two real serial killers, one of whom she lived very close to.

So, first of all, for anybody who hasn't read your thriller books, give me an overview of

what you've done so far. How many and what's the premise of, you know, different characters

you've created? I now have 17 novels published.

They're all thrillers.

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