How To Actually Follow A Journal Of Murder
I have been tracking true crime podcasts since the early days of serial podcasting, and A Journal Of Murder is one of the more structured entries in the genre. It is hosted by Kevin Montgomery and focuses on deep-dive case documentation rather than sensationalism. If you are looking for horror movie soundtracks and whispered dramatic pauses, this is not your show. The format is methodical, and that is the point. The show operates primarily as a documentary-style investigation into murder cases. Each episode typically runs between 45 minutes and two hours depending on the depth of the particular case. Montgomery pulls from court records, police reports, and news archives, then reconstructs the timeline chronologically rather than jumping around for dramatic effect. This approach means you learn the basics first, then get into the procedural details. The production quality is consistent but not expensive sounding. There is background music, but it stays low and never competes with the narration. The pacing can feel slow if you are used to shows that compress a full case into twenty minutes with cliffhangers every three minutes. This show does not do that. It lets the case breathe.
One thing people miss about this show is how transparent it is about the limits of its own knowledge. Montgomery will literally say when a fact is disputed, when a witness account is unreliable, or when the legal outcome is ambiguous. Most true crime podcasts pretend they have certainty where none exists. This one does not, and that honesty is more useful than you would expect.
Where To Listen And Download Options
The podcast is available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, and their own website. The official site is ajournalofmurder.com, and that is where the most complete archive lives. Some platforms drop episodes early or throttle audio quality, so if you want the best experience, the direct feed is worth using. There is a premium tier on their website that gives you ad-free listening, early access to new episodes, and occasional bonus content that does not appear in the free feed. I paid for a few months of it because the ad breaks on the free version were longer than I expected for a podcast this size. Premium removes that entirely and the extra material is decent, not just filler. If you want to download episodes for offline listening, every major podcast app supports this now. Just long press or right click the episode and select download. The file sizes run anywhere from 80 megabytes for shorter episodes up to around 200 megabytes for the multi-part case deep dives. That is heavier than most podcasts, so keep that in mind if you are on a limited data plan.
Get the Full Details
How I Actually Got Into It And What Worked For Me
I started listening about two years ago after a friend recommended it when I asked for something that was not constantly gaslighting its own audience. I went through the back catalog in a somewhat random order because the show does not require you to listen sequentially. Each episode is self-contained enough that you can jump into a case without knowing what happened in the previous one. The problem I ran into was that some episodes reference older cases informally, assuming you might know them. It is not a dealbreaker, but it is something to be aware of. My workaround was simple: if an episode mentions another case by name and I did not catch the reference, I would search the show's own episode guide, find the earlier coverage, and listen to that one first before returning to the original. It added about ten minutes to my listening time but stopped the confusion from building up over multiple episodes. Another thing that caught me off guard was the episode length. I went into a two-hour episode expecting a standard forty-five minute runtime and ended up driving through two traffic lights before realizing it had not stopped. The show is honest about runtime on the episode description pages, but I skimmed past those details at first. Pay attention to the listed duration before you commit.
What This Show Gets Right And Where It Falls Short
The strength of A Journal Of Murder is its case selection and research depth. Montgomery does not chase trending cases or revisit well-trodden ground just for views. The cases tend to be ones where there is actual documentation to work with, which means the narratives are grounded rather than speculative. You get verdicts, appeals, sentencing details, and follow-up information that many other shows skip entirely. The weakness is also related to its thoroughness. Because the show takes its time, new episodes do not drop frequently. If you are the type of listener who finishes a season of a show in a week and then suffers through the dry spell until the next release, this format will frustrate you. The update schedule is irregular and sometimes stretches several weeks between episodes depending on the complexity of the case being covered. Another limitation is the narrow geographic and temporal focus. Most episodes cover American cases, with a heavy concentration on cases from the late twentieth century onward. If you are looking for international coverage or cold cases from earlier decades, your options here are limited. The show does not claim to cover everything, but it is worth knowing what the scope actually is before you subscribe.
Who Should Listen And Who Should Skip It
This is good for people who want to understand a case thoroughly before moving on, who appreciate procedural accuracy, and who do not need constant narrative hooks to stay engaged. It is also solid for people who want true crime content that does not treat victims as plot devices. It is not good for people who want short episodes, rapid-fire updates, heavy dramatic music, or speculative theories presented as fact. If you prefer shows like My Favorite Murder or Crime Junkie for their conversational style, this will feel too formal. That is not a flaw in the show, it is just a difference in what it is trying to do. I have listened to roughly sixty episodes across the catalog and the ones I remember most clearly are the ones where Montgomery identified gaps in the public record and followed them to their conclusion. That is the pattern that makes this show worth your time, even if the pace requires patience.
