Dose of Deception

Dose of Deception is a two-voice true crime show with a fixed shape, and the pair explain it again for new listeners at the top of episodes. The first half belongs to Emily, who brings a real case, either a murder mystery or a missing persons story. The second half belongs to Shannon, who brings a conspiracy theory. Put together, the halves make strange neighbours. Bryce Laspisa shares an episode with The Face on Mars, Barbara Bolick with the Curse Tippecanoe, and Brian Shaffer with The Dybbuk Box. Diane Schuler sits next to a title asking whether Vincent Van Gogh's supposed suicide was actually a murder. The case halves are careful with sequence. The Bryce Laspisa story slows to the night he never made it home: roughly 30 hours without sleep, then a 2:09 a.m. call to his mother, Karen, saying he would pull over for a nap. It was the last call he made. The reaction is immediate, as one of them says she would already have gone to pick him up. The Brian Shaffer installment looks at a break-in at his apartment about four weeks after he disappeared. It also covers a split between Alexis, who believes he is dead, and his brother Derek, who believes he is alive. With Diane Schuler, Emily admits she first took the 2009 crash on the Taconic State Parkway for a horrible accident. Her interest only grew once the backstory and the events of that day began to look suspicious. The talk around these details is unpolished and openly uncertain. In Barbara Bolick's case, the cadaver dogs found nothing on the trail, and the two go back and forth over whether something happened before the hike began. They say plainly when it does not make sense, and they point out that it is still an active missing persons case. The theory halves roam widely, through curses, haunted objects, alien lore and government cover-ups. One of them calls the 'did the government do it' variety her favourite. Another episode ends with the idea of doing more haunted-item stories around Halloween. Bigger stories stretch across parts, and the Dyatlov Pass Incident and Princess Diana theories carry through to the season two finale. In the first part, the Dyatlov details pile up: sealed files, partial access given only to journalists, and reports of radiation on the hikers and their campsite. The finale looks back on a season whose cases one of them says are still on her mind. It also teases Area 51 for season three, noting that every season seems to begin with something extraterrestrial. For a first listen, The Bewildering Disappearance of Bryce Laspisa and The Face on Mars shows the whole format under a single title. The Dyatlov Pass two-parter suits anyone ready to follow one story across two episodes.