{"podcast":{"title":"Foul Play: A Historical True Crime Podcast","slug":"foul-play-a-historical-true-crime-podcast-51278","podcast_index_feed_id":51278,"rss_url":"https://feeds.redcircle.com/4cf5f57c-0bea-454e-8dc3-f263c362d278","website_url":"https://redcircle.com/shows/foulplay","image_url":"https://media.redcircle.com/images/2026/2/16/21/cbfd1140-ea5b-4393-97e9-8f2f9ac2f953_00-main-artwork-original.jpg","author":"Shane L. Waters, Wendy Cee, Gemma Hoskins","episode_count":315,"summary":"Foggy gaslit streets. A quiet courtroom. And crimes that history tried to bury. Foul Play is a historical true crime podcast that investigates the most chilling murder cases from the 1800s and early 1900s across the United States and the United Kingdom. Hosted by investigative crime journalists Shane Waters — who pioneered crime podcasting in 2008 — and Wendy Cee, each season unravels one complete criminal case through original research, court records, and primary source material. This isn't sensationalized true crime. Every season of Foul Play puts victims first — their names, their stories, their humanity — before examining how murder investigations unfolded in an era before modern forensics, when justice was far from guaranteed. From Victorian poisoners in London to Gilded Age killers in America, Foul Play brings historical true crime to life with cinematic storytelling and relentless accuracy. Every fact is verified. Every claim is sourced. Every story is told with the gravity it deserves. New seasons of this historical true crime podcast release throughout the year, with episodes dropping weekly on Tuesdays. Hello, friend. Welcome to Foul Play.","last_synced_at":null,"page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/foul-play-a-historical-true-crime-podcast-51278"},"episode":{"title":"Balham, London: The Priory Poisoning Mystery","slug":"balham-london-the-priory-poisoning-mystery","published_at":"2026-03-03T10:00:08+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/foul-play-a-historical-true-crime-podcast-51278/balham-london-the-priory-poisoning-mystery","show_page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/foul-play-a-historical-true-crime-podcast-51278","url":"http://mythsandmalice.com","audio_url":"https://audio3.redcircle.com/episodes/ca710637-7f18-407d-85dc-365f9fb40699/stream.mp3","summary":"Content Warning This episode contains discussions of domestic abuse, poisoning, and death. Support resources are listed at the end of these notes. This Episode Season 39: The Balham Mystery. April 1876—a successful barrister collapses in his bedroom after drinking from a bedside water jug. For three agonizing days, doctors begged him to name his poisoner. He never would. This is the story of Charles Bravo, and the Victorian murder that has never been solved. Behind the elegant facade of The Priory, a villa in Balham, South London, lay a tangle of secrets: a wealthy widow's scandalous past, a controlling husband who knew everything, and a companion with everything to lose. The Victim Charles Delauney Turner Bravo was thirty years old when he died. A barrister called to the bar, Charles came from a prosperous family of Portuguese Jewish ancestry. He was ambitious, charming, and by all accounts, determined to control every aspect of his household—including his wife's considerable fortune. Charles married Florence Campbell Ricardo in December 1875, knowing full well about her four-year affair with the famous hydropathy physician Dr. James Gully. What should have been a fresh start for Florence became something else entirely: a marriage built on leverage and suspicion. The Crime On the evening of April 18, 1876, Charles Bravo dined at The Priory with his wife Florence and her companion, Jane Cannon Cox. He retired to his bedroom around 8:30pm. Shortly after, servants heard a bedroom door crash open. Charles staggered into the hallway, his face contorted in agony, crying out for hot water. Jane Cox reached him first—a detail that would later prove crucial. Charles had been poisoned with antimony, likely administered in his bedside water jug. The dose was massive: 20-40 grain…","meta_description":"Content Warning This episode contains discussions of domestic abuse, poisoning, and death. Support resources are listed at the end of these notes. This Ep…","key_points":[],"chapters":[],"topics":[],"duration_seconds":991,"processing_state":"not_requested","actions":[{"name":"request_transcript","method":"POST","url":"https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/foul-play-a-historical-true-crime-podcast-51278/episodes/balham-london-the-priory-poisoning-mystery/transcription-requests","description":"Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode."},{"name":"read_markdown","method":"GET","url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/foul-play-a-historical-true-crime-podcast-51278/balham-london-the-priory-poisoning-mystery.md","description":"Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource."}]}}