Good Assassins
Top 10 Apple Podcasts, Top 20 New Podcasts 2021
SEASON 1
Season 1 (“Hunting the Butcher”) was a Top 10 hit with millions of listeners, making it one of the Top 20 new podcasts of 2021. It’s part spy thriller, part detective case, part Holocaust history. The untold story of the epic spy mission to hunt down a savage, escaped Nazi murderer. Led by a brilliant undercover agent who lost his entire family in the Holocaust, the hunt for the infamous Butcher of Latvia was a secretive espionage operation that forever altered the fates of all ex-Nazis. With chilling interviews with the Butcher’s victims and illuminating accounts of the Mossad spies themselves, Good Assassins Season 1 reveals for the first time this little-known chapter of history and the pulse-pounding undercover operation that brought the Butcher to justice.
SEASON 2
The unbelievable but true story of the greatest spy of World War II. The Nazis don’t know her name, but they want this woman dead. A mysterious agent is strategically dismantling their violent grasp on France, and not only leading her own resistance factions, but inspiring others. The Gestapo sends their devious double-agent, the priest Robert Alesh, to hunt down the Limping Lady before she threatens their entire push for Western Europe. But Virginia Hall was tougher and more resilient than they ever expected. Bestselling author and journalist Stephan Talty returns with Season 2 of Good Assassins: the dramatic story of a different kind of spy, written by CD Carpenter (“American Hostage”).
Listen to the Podcast
The Book
Season 1 of the podcast Good Assassins (“Hunting the Butcher”) was based in part on author Stephan Talty’s book, The Good Assassin: How a Mossad Agent and a Band of Survivors Hunted Down the Butcher of Latvia (Mariner Books, formerly Houghton Mifflin Harcourt).
“What a wonderful book. Stephan Talty’s fast-paced account of how Herbert Cukurs, the Latvian aviator turned Nazi war criminal, was eventually brought to justice by Mossad operatives is as gripping as any novel. Hard as it is read the details of Cukurs’ horrific crimes, the outcome is both moving and uplifting, with the Latvian’s demise helping to bring other perpetrators of genocide to justice. Talty is at the top of his game.” —Saul David, author of Operation Thunderbolt and The Force
Read the BookThe Music
Composer Tyler Cash created the wonderful musical theme for Good Assassins, inspired by great film music of the 1960s by composers like Lalo Schifrin and Ennio Morricone.
Stephan Talty is the New York Times bestselling author of eleven award-winning nonfiction books, including the first account of the Dalai Lama’s escape from Tibet and a sweeping history of Napoleon at war. Two of his books have been turned into films, the Oscar-nominated “Captain Phillips” and “Only the Brave.” Talty is also the author of two psychological novels set in his hometown of Buffalo, NY. His books, The Secret Agent and Operation Cowboy were both #1 Amazon bestsellers, and The Secret Agent was named “Best Kindle Single of the Year” by thinreads.com. In addition to books, Talty has written for GQ magazine, Playboy, the Wall Street Journal, and the New York Times.