Oct 6, 2026 · 4 min listen · Last updated October 6, 2026
From storyflo. This is your daily audio brief. Here are today's top 5 true crime stories. Let's get into it. First, from CrimeReads (Literary Hub). New York City Police Commissioner Teddy Roosevelt’s War Against Banana Peels. In a quirky slice of history, New York City faced a bizarre crime wave in the late 1800s: banana peels littering the streets.
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New York City Police Commissioner Teddy Roosevelt’s War Against Banana Peels
In a quirky slice of history, New York City faced a bizarre crime wave in the late 1800s: banana peels littering the streets. As bananas became a popular street food, the discarded peels turned into a real hazard, leading to numerous accidents where pedestrians slipped and got hurt. The situation caught the attention of the media, with newspapers calling for action to address this slippery problem.
Enter Teddy Roosevelt, who was then the city’s Police Commissioner. He recognized the issue and took it upon himself to tackle it head-on. In early 1896, he gathered police captains and sergeants to discuss the dangers of banana peels. He emphasized how they could send people flying onto the hard pavement, leading to serious injuries. Roosevelt was passionate about cleaning up the streets and enforcing existing laws against littering.
He pointed out that those caught tossing banana peels could face fines of up to $5, which is roughly equivalent to $200 today, or even jail time for repeat offenders. This was part of a broader effort to improve public safety and cleanliness in a city that was struggling with sanitation issues. Roosevelt’s campaign against banana peels might seem humorous now, but it reflects his commitment to making New York a better place to live.
So, the next time you hear about slipping on a banana peel, remember it’s not just a comedy trope; it was once a serious concern that had a determined leader like Teddy Roosevelt stepping up to make a difference.
Prisoner of Love: On Research, Ethics, and Matters of the Heart
Love letters were far from my mind when I began researching The Case of the Autographed Corpse, my book about the wrongful murder conviction of Apache medicine man Silas John Edwards and his partnership with bestselling mystery writer Erle Stanley Gardner to reinvestigate the case. It was 2018, and I was deep into Gardner’s papers in the Harry Ransom Center at the University of Texas in Austin. Gardner, the prolific author of the Perry Mason mysteries and a trial lawyer before he became a writer, had formed the Court of Last Resort in the late 1940s.
Stages, Museums, Retreats: 5 Horror Novels Set in the Art World
When you pour blood, sweat, and tears into your art, it becomes a natural vehicle for horror, and that was the angle I took when writing my debut novel. In The Finalist, Eden is one of seven dancers competing for the role of a lifetime in the secluded Deveraux Manor. Legendary ex-prima ballerina Leanora Karagianni is choreographing a new show, which will revitalize her career—cut short after a devastating freak accident—and bring stardom to whoever survives her auditions. Eden is obsessed with winning, but so are the other six.
Katherine Reay on the Enduring Popularity of Golden-Age British Mysteries
The title is a bit misleading as the “British” have been with us for quite some time. I doubt anyone would have anticipated the tsunami of Jane Austen’s popularity when her first film adaptations hit our shores and screens in number in the late 1970 and early ’80s. Since that time, the wave continues to stretch with over twenty feature films and more slated to release this year. To be fair, twenty is a conservative estimate as I’m only counting the direct film adaptations, not the inspired stories, and I’m also including only those I can recall off the top of my head.
10 Epistolary Thrillers That Let the Evidence Do the Talking
The delight of an epistolary novel is the feeling of reading something you shouldn’t. Letters, yes. But take a broad definition and include emails, court filings, news clippings, archives, and it gets even more delicious. Imagine riffling through the papers on someone’s desk when they aren’t looking. Imagine scrolling through someone’s texts when they’ve left their phone unlocked. Imagine piecing together a story based only on that evidence. Every epistolary novel is a mystery. The characters tell the story themselves and the reader knows they’re not getting the whole truth.