True crime from the investigators’ side.
Small Town Dicks follows serious criminal cases through the people who worked them. The show favors investigator memory, case detail, and practical survival thinking over sensational mystery-box pacing.
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Small Town Dicks is true crime told from the working side of an investigation. The show centers on serious cases and lets detectives, deputies, and other law enforcement voices explain what they saw, what they missed, and how the case moved. It is not coy about motive. Greed, revenge, sexual assault allegations, manipulation, and control all appear in the recent episodes, often with a bluntness that reflects the work being described. The pacing is conversational. Then it tightens. A story may begin with Yardley’s warm check-in to the Small Town Fam, but it quickly turns toward timelines, suspect behavior, witness statements, evidence gaps, and tactical decisions. In “The Mark,” retired Orange County Homicide DA Matt Murphy maps an affair, financial thefts, and escalating risk into a murder case driven by self-serving greed. In “Blood Boiler,” Detective Robert’s case leads into questions about assault allegations, workplace conduct, credibility, shame, and patterns that may or may not be visible to the people closest to a suspect. In “High Noon,” Deputy Aaliyah’s day off becomes an armed barricade response, with the episode focusing on negotiation, family interference, and the uneasy calls officers make in real time. Other episodes revisit revenge, modern means of harm, hostage dynamics, and cold, calculated homicide. The show is often upsetting. It is also methodical. Instead of treating violence as a twist, it asks how investigators read behavior, preserve options, and pursue justice when facts arrive messy and late. Yardley’s introductions keep the relationship with listeners personal, while the case conversations lean practical and procedural. The result is a true crime series for listeners who want firsthand accounts, not glossy reenactment. It can be grim, direct, and emotionally heavy. It is strongest when the investigators slow down the moment and explain what a choice meant before everyone knew the outcome.
Made for: For true crime listeners who want firsthand investigative accounts, procedural detail, and candid discussion of motive. Best suited to audiences comfortable with difficult violent-crime material.
What sets it apart: Small Town Dicks stands apart by foregrounding the people who worked the cases, from detectives and deputies to other law enforcement voices, and letting their practical reasoning shape the story.
Based on 6 episodes we listened to · September 2026
Small Town Dicks turns investigator testimony into clear accounts of police judgment, evidentiary reasoning, and crisis decisions under pressure.
Small Town Dicks makes police work legible by letting investigators explain what they noticed, what they misunderstood, and how decisions changed under pressure.
A welfare check turns to gunfire; Yardley's guests take you through the seconds before it.
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Short reviews from the PlayNext desk, based on the episodes we processed.
A greed-driven murder case told with clear, methodical focus.
Retired Orange County Homicide DA Matt Murphy guides Small Town Dicks through a murder case anchored in plain, self-serving greed. The episode follows Nanette, Eric, and Bill McLaughlin across the Sporting Club Irvine, her son's baseball games in Newport Beach, and trips to New…
A tense case built on witness accounts and the gap between public image and private behavior.
Blood Boiler, Part 2 closes out the Darren case by placing Victoria's account beside the versions given by his three ex-wives, and that structure gives the episode its clearest momentum.
A Thanksgiving bonus that pairs Yardley's warm intro with a practical Paul Holes discussion.
Small Town Dicks uses its Thanksgiving week break to open with a warm, direct note from Yardley. She says the team always takes the week off so everyone can relax, spend time with friends and family, and eat potatoes, then points listeners toward the episodes now available from…
A difficult case turns on Victoria's report, Bob's account, and the limits of secondhand detail.
This two-parter follows a sexual-assault investigation in which Victoria describes what happened, the shame and embarrassment around it, and the two and a half weeks without contact from Darren.
A barricade call turns a quiet police day into a tense negotiation with family pressure on both sides.
Small Town Dicks shapes this episode as a glimpse of a day inside a police department, then narrows into the tension of an armed, barricaded subject pulling everyone into motion. Deputy Aaliyah gives the story its center.
A welfare check turns into a life-and-death call in seconds, and the first-hand detail gives it its force.
Small Town Dicks centers a welfare check that turns into a life-and-death situation in just a matter of seconds, with Yardley joined by Detective Dan and Officer Patrick to walk through what happened.
True crime with raised eyebrows.
True crime with a messy-TV side channel.
Australian history, restored from the record.
Dark facts, loose wires, no reverence.
Homicide cases, evidence first.
A broken crisis-workers van sends Patrick and Roy on a welfare check that turns into gunfire in a quiet north-side cul-de-sac.
Yardley introduces Season 16 of Small Town Dicks with guest Paul Holes discussing the reopened 1974 murder case of Carla Walker.
The hosts of Small Town Dicks announce a bonus episode and introduce a story about a police officer's calm demeanor in the face of a dead body and a felon.
A day-in-the-life episode following a police deputy who becomes the lead negotiator in an armed standoff while off-duty with her children.
Small Town Dicks' "The Mark" follows the 1994 Newport Beach killing of Bill McLaughlin, who was shot six times in his Balboa Cove home.
Host Yardley announces the April 17th premiere of Small Town Dicks Season 18, with early access for super duper fam members starting April 3rd.
Small Town Dicks' Blood Boiler, Part 2 follows Darren, a courthouse deputy accused of sexual misconduct, force, and abuse of authority around judges, clerks, and defense lawyers.
["Small Town Dicks' Thanksgiving Bonus!
Small Town Dicks hosts Yardley, twin retired detectives Dan and Dave, and Paul Holes interview Detective Robert, a sergeant who now supervises a 12-person background-investigations team, about a two-part case he calls 'Blood Boiler.' Robert describes Victoria, a kindergarten teacher, reporting that Darren, a 47-year-old deputy sheriff assigned to courthouse security in a neighboring county, assaulted her while the two took turns house-sitting and dog-sitting for her ex-boyfriend Bob, a firefighter and Darren's childhood friend.
Small Town Dicks' High Noon follows Deputy Aaliyah, a brand-new Crisis Negotiation Team member, getting called on her day off after Melvin FaceTimes Justin with William's body on the floor.
A true crime podcast episode about a revenge murder case investigated by a veteran homicide detective.
Yardley introduces a limited series 'Beyond Recognition' and revisits a past episode about the infamous World's End double murder in Scotland, investigated by detective Tom Wood.