Mystery authors, true crime, and radio-room banter.
House of Mystery Radio on NBC moves between true-crime casework and mystery, thriller, fantasy, horror, and science-fiction writing. The conversations are informal and roomy, often opening with banter before settling into books, investigations, craft, and the real stories behind them.
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House of Mystery Radio on NBC is an interview-driven mystery and genre show with an old-school radio looseness. It does not stay inside one lane. Recent episodes move between true crime, author craft, cozy mysteries, fantasy worlds, science fiction, horror, thrillers, and crime history. The connective tissue is curiosity about how dark stories are built and why certain cases keep pulling people back. Al Warren appears throughout the sampled episodes as the steady on-air presence. He is often joined by a rotating set of named co-hosts and guest hosts, including Michael Hawley, Joe Goldberg, Gavin Stone, and John Copenhaver. The openings can wander through allergies, wineries, spa days, school forensics talks, or jokes about writing romance before the guest arrives at the center of the hour. That looseness is part of the texture. The show feels less like a formal author event and more like a radio room where genre people talk shop. The guest list in its episodes shows a broad editorial appetite. Steven Myers and Sean Johnson bring a bank-robbery case into the room from opposite sides of an investigation. Thien Ho discusses The People vs. the Golden State Killer from the perspective of a writer and district attorney of Sacramento. Matthew Hughes talks through fantasy universes, crime fiction in speculative settings, and the time required to build a novel. Faye Snowden, A.L. Jensen, Erik D'Souza, Meredith Doench, and Ann Aptaker represent the fiction side, from cozy mystery and series work to darker crime storytelling. Michael Hawley’s comments bring recurring interest in Jack the Ripper, DNA claims, and forensic history. The show’s pace leaves space for personality. It can be funny, odd, digressive, and then suddenly very specific about craft or evidence. Listeners looking for compressed takeaways may find it loose. Listeners who like the room tone of genre conversation will likely find that looseness appealing. The strongest episodes come from contrasts: arrested and arrestee, fiction and forensics, craft beer banter and murder plots, fantasy systems and procedural detail. It is a show for people who read mysteries, follow famous cases, enjoy author interviews, and do not mind a few conversational detours on the way to the story.
Made for: For readers of mystery, thriller, crime, horror, fantasy, and science fiction who like author interviews with a conversational radio feel. It also suits true-crime listeners interested in cases, forensics, and the people who write about them.
What sets it apart: The show mixes fiction craft and true-crime testimony without treating them as separate worlds. Its rotating table can put authors, co-hosts, and case-connected guests into loose, personality-driven conversations that move from jokes to evidence to writing process.
Many talented people's writings and movies address the deep, dark mysteries of our world — across both Fiction (Horror, Crime, Sci-Fi, Action-Adventure, Romance, LGBT) and Non-Fiction (Crime, History, Science, Paranormal) stories. Please step into the “House of Mystery” 5 nights a week and join us as we go deep into the creative process behind our esteemed guests' works. Past Guests in Non-Fiction have included Marcia Clark (of the O.J. Simpson trial), Robert Kennedy, Jr., Jesse Ventura, Burl Barer, Nancy Grace, Aphrodite Jones, Mark Olshaker, Anne Bremner (on Amanda Knox), F. Lee Bailey, Tom Mesereau (on Bill Cosby, Michael Jackson), Roger Stone (on the JFK Assassination), Dan Abrams, Juan…
One minute you're researching 1963 kitchens; the next, Freddy Krueger is freelancing in someone's nightmares.
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Short reviews from the PlayNext desk, based on the episodes we processed.
Matthew Hughes talks craft, recurring universes, and Yellum with dry working-writer timing.
House of Mystery Radio keeps the focus on Matthew Hughes as he talks about writing from different angles across the same universes, with the conversation returning again and again to the practical side of the job.
A grim travel guide with just enough weird detail to make the history stick.
House of Mystery Radio Show turns Johnny Trevisani's The Serial Killer Travel Guide Across America into a roadside tour of grim trivia, moving from its coast-to-coaster premise toward the stranger details that linger.
Tara Hodgson discusses how Liam manipulates Reese and how young adult craft shapes that story.
Tara Hodgson's conversation with Al Warren and editor Michael Hawley frames At Least I'm Trying as a study of manipulation from the inside. Hodgson walks through the way Liam pulls Reese close through love bombing, persistent messages, gifts, and unannounced visits, until she…
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This episode features an interview with Gabriel Rotello discussing the conspiracy theories surrounding the legendary music venue CBGB.
This episode features a humorous and chaotic conversation between Al Warren and Joe, discussing Jeff Copeland, potential show hijacking, and quirky topics like serial killers and books.
This episode features an interview with Chris Washburn and Ron Chepesiuk about the book 'Out of Bounds,' which chronicles Washburn's journey from broken NBA dreams to redemption.
Canadian author and teacher Tara Hodgson discusses her new young adult novel 'At Least I'm Trying,' which explores the dangers of social media through a story she describes as 'Snapchat gone wrong.' She explains how the book's protagonist, Reese, is a perfectionist teen who unravels after her first failures, intertwined with themes of online predation via features like Snap Map.
Host Al Warren interviews author Johnny Trevisani about his book 'The Serial Killer Travel Guide Across America'.
This episode features an interview with writer Anne Aptaker, discussing her work in genres like fiction, horror, and crime, with humorous banter about allergies and voice changes.
A looping Tom Petty and Pearl Jam broadcast helps Chismar's survivor remember what being human means.
Bill Gauthier stopped a Freddy Krueger nightmare by shouting "cut," turning the dream into a film set.
Michael Balter tells Al Warren and Joe Goldberg how Dead Exit grew from a 1990s story about a warehouse manager, a $30,000 Rolex Daytona, and suspected cigarette smuggling.
Christine Jensen explains how a 16-year-old city girl finds belonging at her grandparents' South Dakota farm.
This episode features an interview with Steven Myers, an accomplice in a bank robbery case, and Sean Johnson, the FBI agent who helped close it, discussing the Netflix documentary 'How to Rob a Bank' and their unusual collaboration.
This episode features an interview with Canadian author Erik D'Souza about his Suzanne Rickson mystery series, including his book 'Death on the Rocks'.
This episode features an interview with author A.L.
This episode features an interview with author Faye Snowden about her new book 'A Killing Breath', while also discussing co-host Gavin Stone's writing challenges with a romance novel from a female perspective.
Host Al Warren welcomes back John Copenhaver from vacation as they casually discuss nail and hair care experiences.
Matthew Hughes says he wrote "maybe 2,000 speeches" before choosing fiction, then became a "world-wandering house sitter."
This episode features an interview with Thien Ho, the district attorney of Sacramento, discussing his book and involvement in the Golden State Killer case.