Latest / Cyrus Webb's tracks / Author Gregg Olsen talks ORDINARY WIFE on Cyrus Webb Presents

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Author Gregg Olsen talks ORDINARY WIFE on Cyrus Webb Presents · Cyrus Webb's tracks

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Speaker 1: Hello, everyone, and welcome back to Cyrus Web Presents. I'm
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Speaker 1: your host, Cyrus Web. Glad you all could join us
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Speaker 1: once again. For those tuning in on the radio dial
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Speaker 1: in Mississippi at WYAD 94.1 FM and WYADonline.com, we're glad
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Speaker 1: that you all can be with us. Those tuning in
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Speaker 1: on our simulcast on Facebook, LinkedIn, YouTube, and on X,
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Speaker 1: we're glad you all can be with us. Going to
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Speaker 1: bring in our friends over on IG so they can
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Speaker 1: be a part of our chat and last but certainly
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Speaker 1: not least, going to connect with our friends over on
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Speaker 1: Amazon Live. I'm really excited about our next guest. I've
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Speaker 1: been following his work. for some time. He's someone who's
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Speaker 1: very well known when it comes to writing true crime.
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Speaker 1: And his brand new book out today is another page-turner
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Speaker 1: we're excited to talk about. We're now live on the
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Speaker 1: Amazon live side of our broadcast with Cyrus Ware. Presented,
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Speaker 1: if you guys are new to us on Amazon, I'm
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Speaker 1: going to type you guys in a welcome message over there.
0:46
Speaker 1: Make sure you guys do hit that follow button either
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Speaker 1: here in this corner or down below. You also will
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Speaker 1: see the brand new book by our next guest. We're
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Speaker 1: excited to welcome best-selling author Greg Olson to our broadcast today.
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Speaker 1: He and his daughter Morgan are have written a great
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Speaker 1: new book called Ordinary Wife. You guys can see there
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Speaker 1: in our carousel, the true story of America's forgotten serial killer.
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Speaker 1: We're going to talk to Greg, not only about what
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Speaker 1: it's like for him to share these true crime stories,
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Speaker 1: but also what attracted him to the newest story featuring
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Speaker 1: Light of True Blood and what he wants you to
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Speaker 1: be able to take away from the book. If you
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Speaker 1: guys are not staying connected with Greg, we'll let you
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Speaker 1: guys know how to do that as well. But Greg,
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Speaker 1: thank you so much for the time. Really appreciate it.
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Speaker 2: Cyrus, I am so glad to be on here with you.
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Speaker 2: Thank you.
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Speaker 1: The pleasure is definitely all mine. Happy pub day to you.
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Speaker 1: For those who are joining us live, the book's officially
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Speaker 1: out today. I was just saying to Greg, it's already
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Speaker 1: a number one new release. Hello to you, Jesus Black
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Speaker 1: Man over there on YouTube. Glad you could be able
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Speaker 1: to join us. So Greg, this is a story you've
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Speaker 1: been able to live with for some time, taking us
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Speaker 1: back to the 1920s. What has it been like for
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Speaker 1: you now to be able to share Light of True
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Speaker 1: Blood's story with the world?
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Speaker 2: Well, it's kind of funny. It's like when I first
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Speaker 2: heard about this case, I didn't know anything about her
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Speaker 2: or what she'd done. And I've been around a long
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Speaker 2: time doing a lot of true crime. And the case
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Speaker 2: happened in Idaho, which is the next state over from Washington,
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Speaker 2: where I live. So I should have known about this case.
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Speaker 2: I didn't. So stumbling upon it as I did, I thought,
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Speaker 2: this is a book. This is going to be the
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Speaker 2: kind of book that I want to give my reader,
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Speaker 2: which is a story that they don't know. If I
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Speaker 2: don't know it, they probably don't know it either.
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Speaker 1: Yeah, exactly. Exactly. And Jesus Plugman over on YouTube, we're
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Speaker 1: talking about Lida Trueblood. And that's the interesting thing here.
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Speaker 1: The way that you write this book, Greg, and I
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Speaker 1: was saying it to you before we went on here,
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Speaker 1: the book reads, I mean, it is such a page turner.
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Speaker 1: It reads like a novel. We're able to get an
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Speaker 1: idea of who Lida was as the world got to
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Speaker 1: see her. Someone who was beautiful, who was smart, but
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Speaker 1: definitely very calculating and very good at being able to
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Speaker 1: cover her tracks well. Is that one of the things
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Speaker 1: that really fascinated you when you got into her story
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Speaker 1: about how she was able to go so undetected for
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Speaker 1: so long?
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Speaker 2: Yeah, part of it is that for sure. The idea
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Speaker 2: of somebody who could basically kill four husbands, a brother-in-law
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Speaker 2: and her little girl and basically slip under the radar
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Speaker 2: for a time. Also, there was like an outrageous aspect
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Speaker 2: to the whole thing, which was that, you know, some
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Speaker 2: of these marriages were only a few weeks old when
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Speaker 2: she did her killings. All of that, you know, kind
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Speaker 2: of makes you think like you kind of sit up
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Speaker 2: and take notice and wonder like, how could something like
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Speaker 2: that happen? And it can happen because 1920, 1918 is
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Speaker 2: a different time, a different era. And there are people
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Speaker 2: out there that can operate under the radar, which is
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Speaker 2: exactly what she did. You know, there's always an excuse
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Speaker 2: when sanitation's not good. You know, somebody could say they
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Speaker 2: had typhoid fever or the Spanish flu in 1918, you know,
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Speaker 2: killed millions of people worldwide. All of that's going on,
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Speaker 2: and it provided cover for somebody like Lida to get
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Speaker 2: away with what she did for all those years.
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Speaker 1: And that is the interesting thing. I mean, when you're
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Speaker 1: reading this book and you think about, and I'm going
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Speaker 1: to talk around some of this, Greg, of course, because
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Speaker 1: people are just not being able to get it. But
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Speaker 1: we always think about these crimes when it comes to
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Speaker 1: money or influence or whatever. I mean, we're talking about
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Speaker 1: what would be in our days a considerable amount of money.
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Speaker 1: You know, and I think, but the idea, though, of
4:20
Speaker 1: just being able to do it. So I want to
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Speaker 1: go back a little bit, because as I mentioned, I
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Speaker 1: knew about you before Ordinary Wife. What was it about
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Speaker 1: true crime that kind of made you say, this is
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Speaker 1: a topic, this is a genre or a subject that
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Speaker 1: I want to be able to write and explore?
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Speaker 2: It's a funny thing, Cyrus. I write true crime because
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Speaker 2: that's what I read as a young man. I mean,
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Speaker 2: I was reading all these books by the late, great
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Speaker 2: Anne Rule. She wrote so many great crime books. There
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Speaker 2: were other people who've been writing in that era. I'm
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Speaker 2: talking like high school for me and college. I read
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Speaker 2: those books and I thought to myself, well, I can
4:58
Speaker 2: probably do that. I think I could do that. And
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Speaker 2: I always tell people that if I was reading gardening books,
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Speaker 2: you and I would be talking about a potted plant
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Speaker 2: right now, Cyrus, because I was determined to be a
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Speaker 2: writer and true crime was my way in. And I
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Speaker 2: think for me, all of it added up to this
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Speaker 2: idea of wanting to know why people do the worst
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Speaker 2: things to each other. I wanted to, once I got
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Speaker 2: into it and started talking to people separate from reading
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Speaker 2: a book about them, I knew that that was my role.
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Speaker 2: I'm going to find that story that no one knows.
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Speaker 2: I'm going to give it to my reader and let
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Speaker 2: them decide the truth. Right.
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Speaker 1: And I think that is something, one of the reasons
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Speaker 1: why I think people love your work so much, and
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Speaker 1: I'm not just saying this, Greg, because we're having this conversation,
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Speaker 1: because it's very obvious this is not just something you
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Speaker 1: threw together. I mean, it's very obvious you've taken your
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Speaker 1: time to make sure that you're able to tell this
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Speaker 1: story with as much information as you can gather. And
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Speaker 1: on this particular book, you were able to do it
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Speaker 1: along with your daughter, Morgan Olson, as well. What was
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Speaker 1: that like for you to make it a family affair
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Speaker 1: this time?
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Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, that is like a natural thing that happened.
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Speaker 2: You know, Morgan is a schoolteacher. She was raised in
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Speaker 2: a true crime family, you know, where I am writing
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Speaker 2: all these books. And she was I think her the
6:20
Speaker 2: first book came out when she was a kindergartner. So,
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Speaker 2: I mean, I've been doing it a long time and
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Speaker 2: I've been dragging my kids and my wife on all
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Speaker 2: these research trips, you know, wherever we went, you know,
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Speaker 2: whether it was a vacation to Disneyland, there was a
6:32
Speaker 2: side trip over to the courthouse, you know, because that's
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Speaker 2: what I did for a living. That's what I wanted
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Speaker 2: to do. So working with her was, you know, it
6:40
Speaker 2: was easy and it was natural and it was the
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Speaker 2: way it should be. So I do like that opportunity
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Speaker 2: to work with my adult child on something we both
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Speaker 2: care about, which is we care about crime, we care
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Speaker 2: about the victims, and we want the reader to find
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Speaker 2: out the truth.
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Speaker 1: I love that. The Crazy Kirk girl, hello to you
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Speaker 1: over there on IG. Glad you could be able to
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Speaker 1: join us. And it's so interesting you mentioned, of course,
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Speaker 1: being able to do this as a family. Because Ida,
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Speaker 1: one of the things we're able to see is that,
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Speaker 1: and it's so interesting, again, the times. For our audience, again,
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Speaker 1: we're talking about the 1920s. Even though we're able to
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Speaker 1: find out about her life before all of this started.
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Speaker 1: Thanks to you, Greg. But at a time where it's
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Speaker 1: very obvious Ida was concerned with Ida. And I think
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Speaker 1: that is what is so.
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Speaker 1: Sad about the story in some ways because, of course,
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Speaker 1: other people were brought in for her own nefarious purposes,
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Speaker 1: but I think also makes it so real for us.
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Speaker 1: Is that one of the things you've heard over the years, Greg,
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Speaker 1: when it comes to your books, that that is a theme?
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Speaker 1: It really becomes about the person, what they can do,
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Speaker 1: what they can get, and quite honestly, what they can
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Speaker 1: get away with.
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Speaker 2: I think that that is the best true crime. The
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Speaker 2: best true crime is not about a murder. It's not
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Speaker 2: about some terrible happening like that. It is about the
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Speaker 2: person and the people that surround them. And that's what
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Speaker 2: I've always believed in as a writer is I'm going
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Speaker 2: to give you, my reader, a real look into the
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Speaker 2: life and the times of those people who are caught
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Speaker 2: up in these circumstances that, you know, we just can't
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Speaker 2: even imagine. The murder is never the most important thing.
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Speaker 1: And what I thought was too, and again, I'll talk
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Speaker 1: around this, again, reading Ordinary Wife, and again, you all
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Speaker 1: can get it now in all the different formats here
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Speaker 1: on Amazon, even the audiobook, you all can be able
8:27
Speaker 1: to get here on Amazon as well. I'll highlight it
8:29
Speaker 1: for you guys on the Amazon side, is that just
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Speaker 1: like today, Greg, which is so crazy, there are some
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Speaker 1: people who are still attracted to these individuals.
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Speaker 2: And that is.
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Speaker 1: Always unsettling to me, but I mean, that is something
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Speaker 1: even in Ida's generation. What was that like for you
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Speaker 1: to see how that some people saw her and her role?
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Speaker 1: Because I think there will always be individuals who are
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Speaker 1: able to excuse behavior, no matter how heinous it may be.
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Speaker 1: But so we see even that was something that wasn't
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Speaker 1: very new. You know what?
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Speaker 2: You're really onto something there, Cyrus. I've written a lot
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Speaker 2: of books over the years, and I think a lot
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Speaker 2: of the perpetrators of crime do have a charisma about them. Now,
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Speaker 2: it may not be an obvious one, like a movie
9:18
Speaker 2: star or politician or something, but they have something about
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Speaker 2: them that brings other people in and they're able to
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Speaker 2: manipulate them and trick them to get them to believe
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Speaker 2: one way or another. So I think that's been true
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Speaker 2: about probably half of the people I've written about. When
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Speaker 2: you look at Lyda, there was a great conversation about
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Speaker 2: her at the time, about her being so beautiful. and
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Speaker 2: so bewitching, and this femme Patel. Part of that was
9:47
Speaker 2: an invention of the press. The people that were writing
9:50
Speaker 2: about her were trying to sell newspapers, so they concocted
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Speaker 2: this story of who she was. I don't know that
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Speaker 2: she was the most beautiful woman ever. When I look
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Speaker 2: at the photos, I go, eh, maybe, you know, I
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Speaker 2: don't know. But I mean, your beauty is in the
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Speaker 2: eye of the beholder for sure. And that is, that
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Speaker 2: is that charismatic component I was mentioning about. You don't,
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Speaker 2: we can't see it in photograph, but maybe in that moment,
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Speaker 2: she can play herself as, you know, somebody who's been abused,
10:19
Speaker 2: or downtrodden in some way to elicit a sympathy from
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Speaker 2: a guy to take care of her under his wing,
10:25
Speaker 2: all that kind of stuff. I mean, she's able to
10:27
Speaker 2: do that. And that's what predators do. Not only that, Cyrus,
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Speaker 2: the predator, like a light of true blood Southard, they
10:35
Speaker 2: know who their target is. And that's the other thing.
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Speaker 2: They do not waste their time picking out a victim
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Speaker 2: that's not going to work for them.
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Speaker 1: Right. You know, I think the other interesting thing, and
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Speaker 1: people will probably see this when they're reading the book, Greg,
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Speaker 1: is that, I mean, we hear about these stories today
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Speaker 1: about these serial killers who, you know, for years they
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Speaker 1: went away. I mean, this is a very condensed time
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Speaker 1: in some respects that she just, I mean, it almost
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Speaker 1: was like an addiction. What was that like for you
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Speaker 1: to see, for you as you were doing the research,
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Speaker 1: how closely connected some of these murders were? You know what?
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Speaker 2: That's the outrageous part of the whole story. It's like
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Speaker 2: wherever she went in a four year period, these people
11:21
Speaker 2: were dropping like, no pun intended, like flies. You know,
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Speaker 2: she was boiling that fly paper, getting the arsenic out
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Speaker 2: of the fly paper and feeding it to them one
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Speaker 2: way or another. So it's like it is it was
11:33
Speaker 2: a very condensed period of time. You know, we have
11:35
Speaker 2: three people dead, two people dead, two more dead. And
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Speaker 2: she's basically walking away with an insurance check each time.
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Speaker 2: That is outrageous. How does that happen? It happens because
11:49
Speaker 2: maybe the cover of being a woman and playing the
11:53
Speaker 2: widow and the tragic figure, maybe also living in a
11:56
Speaker 2: rural community where people are going to mind their own
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Speaker 2: business and not think about what terrible thing the neighbor
12:03
Speaker 2: might have done, or it even could have been chalked
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Speaker 2: up to the reality of the times, which was health
12:09
Speaker 2: and sanitation was not good back then. So if people
12:12
Speaker 2: got sick and died, it happened all the time. Most
12:16
Speaker 2: of them weren't being helped to their death like she
12:18
Speaker 2: did with hers.
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Speaker 1: Yeah. You mentioned something I wasn't planning on talking about, Greg,
12:22
Speaker 1: but since you brought it up, I definitely think it's
12:24
Speaker 1: worth talking about because there's a very strong connection to
12:27
Speaker 1: today and that is the press. And I think, you know,
12:31
Speaker 1: as we look at, again, the coverage of, I mean,
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Speaker 1: like you said, I mean, that in itself is a
12:37
Speaker 1: business as it is today. I mean, I think even
12:39
Speaker 1: more so. And then you Today, you throw in like
12:42
Speaker 1: we're connected today with social media and those kind of things.
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Speaker 1: As you've been able to write these stories, what has
12:47
Speaker 1: that been like for you to see about the role? Yes,
12:49
Speaker 1: the press can play in being able to help catch
12:53
Speaker 1: some of these individuals, but also to glorify them.
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Speaker 2: Absolutely. You mentioned social media. I think about that a
12:59
Speaker 2: lot today, how everybody has an opinion and is free
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Speaker 2: to say it, whether it's rooted in truth or not.
13:08
Speaker 2: And now, think about it. Back, you know, 100 years ago,
13:11
Speaker 2: the press engaged in that somewhat too. They would make,
13:15
Speaker 2: you know, embellish a story to make it better to
13:17
Speaker 2: sell papers. But that chorus was very narrow. It was
13:21
Speaker 2: only four or five newspapers talking about her. Today, it's
13:24
Speaker 2: millions of people will jump on TikTok or whatever and
13:27
Speaker 2: say something about somebody that's not true. And I really
13:31
Speaker 2: do believe, well, there is some similarity between in shaping
13:35
Speaker 2: the story with public perception. I think that, and it's
13:38
Speaker 2: a dangerous, more dangerous time for us to be in today.
13:42
Speaker 2: There are, you know, hopefully books like mine and others
13:45
Speaker 2: that come out that give a reader and a person
13:48
Speaker 2: a chance to absorb the full story, learn what happened,
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Speaker 2: and then make up their minds about what really happened.
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Speaker 2: Because we don't ever know because we're never inside somebody's head. Right.
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Speaker 1: You know, I think, last thing I want to talk
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Speaker 1: to you about, Greg, and again, I appreciate you spending
14:04
Speaker 1: part of your pub day with us, is that there
14:07
Speaker 1: are ideas all over the place, right? I mean, that's
14:10
Speaker 1: the thing. When I was reading the book, and again,
14:12
Speaker 1: I got an early copy of it, but I looked
14:16
Speaker 1: at that character and I thought, well, the individual, and again,
14:20
Speaker 1: the way you write it, I mean, it's almost like,
14:23
Speaker 1: you know, you feel like it is this character because
14:25
Speaker 1: it's just someone who is charismatic, someone who is unassuming
14:30
Speaker 1: in some respect And you think, wow, you can see
14:34
Speaker 1: how there are so many people today that can be
14:37
Speaker 1: sucked into situations where there may be red flags, but
14:42
Speaker 1: you kind of even let those go by. What has
14:46
Speaker 1: that conversation been like for you with readers? It makes
14:49
Speaker 1: the way they make them look at not only figures
14:51
Speaker 1: like Light of True Blood, but also individuals today that
14:55
Speaker 1: we see that end up being in these situations.
14:58
Speaker 2: It's funny about readers today. It's like you know, you
15:01
Speaker 2: read a book and you give a review and you said,
15:04
Speaker 2: I really hated that character, Lyda Trueblood. She was terrible.
15:07
Speaker 2: One star. It was like, okay, well, that's not a character.
15:12
Speaker 2: That's a real person, you know? And it's not an
15:15
Speaker 2: invention of anybody's, you know, fiction. So there is that
15:19
Speaker 2: perspective of people sharing an opinion, right? An idea about it.
15:23
Speaker 2: But I think that we as readers and as consumers
15:27
Speaker 2: of criminal justice content, that our best message to each
15:32
Speaker 2: other is sit back and wait for the jury to
15:34
Speaker 2: do their job. You can have an opinion, but your
15:38
Speaker 2: opinion can't be presented as fact. And I have always
15:41
Speaker 2: tried to walk that line to make sure that every
15:44
Speaker 2: single reader comes away at the end of the book
15:47
Speaker 2: with their own idea about what happened. It's like they're
15:50
Speaker 2: on the jury and they're going to decide.
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Speaker 1: Well, I'll tell you, it's a great book. Congratulations to yourself, Greg,
15:57
Speaker 1: and to your daughter, Morgan Ellison. Her first book With
16:00
Speaker 1: you again, everyone, Ordinary Wife is the new title that's
16:03
Speaker 1: out now. The true story of America's forgotten serial killer.
16:06
Speaker 1: You guys can get it in print, the Kindle edition,
16:09
Speaker 1: even the audio book, as I mentioned here on Amazon.
16:12
Speaker 1: I'm going to highlight it again for you guys. And also,
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Speaker 1: of course, for you guys joining us on Facebook, LinkedIn
16:17
Speaker 1: and on YouTube, you'll find the link there to get
16:19
Speaker 1: the book. For those of you joining us on IG,
16:21
Speaker 1: we do have it pinned for you guys there as
16:23
Speaker 1: well on X. You can see it in the comment
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Speaker 1: section there. Greg, thank you again for the time. Congratulations
16:29
Speaker 1: to you. How can our audience stay connected with you?
16:32
Speaker 2: You know, I'm on Facebook. I'm on Instagram. I'm easy
16:34
Speaker 2: to find. NotoriousUSA.com is my website. I have written, as
16:40
Speaker 2: you mentioned, lots of books. I'm sure there's something in
16:43
Speaker 2: there that the true crime fan, if they've missed it,
16:46
Speaker 2: they'll want to get it. Love it.
16:48
Speaker 1: Well, Greg, definitely looking forward to our next chat together.
16:51
Speaker 1: You're welcome back here anytime.
16:53
Speaker 2: You're terrific. Thanks so much.
16:55
Speaker 1: I appreciate you. And we thank your audience for tuning
16:57
Speaker 1: in to another great segment of Cyrus Web Presents. Until
17:00
Speaker 1: next time, you all make it a great one. We'll
17:02
Speaker 1: talk to you soon. Take care.