My parents watch Criminal Minds and similar shows all the time, two friends of mine bought a book about a serial killer and my Twitter timeline is full of people talking about a new true crime podcast. It's just my bubble or is it a broad cultural phenomenon?
These are interesting insights! Watching Criminal Minds I got this feeling of "big brain time" that would appeal to a large audience. Vicariously feeling "smart" get people going, I guess. About the first thing you said, "the cultural obssesion with death" that started on the 70s. Do you thing it's connected to the reactionary backlash after the 60s? That got me interested, with you have some recommendations, I'd be thankful.