Ashley Flowers

Ashley Flowers is an American podcaster, writer, and non-profit organization founder. She is best known for the true crime podcast Crime Junkie.[1] In August 2022, Flowers' debut novel, All Good People Here, became a New York Times bestseller.[2]

Ashley Flowers
Known forTrue crime podcasting
Notable workAll Good People Here
Crime Junkie

Early career and personal life

As a child, Flowers, who read mystery and crime novels such as Nancy Drew books and who watched television shows like Matlock, thought that she might one day have a career as a cold case detective.[3]

Flowers worked in biomedical research and later in sales for a medical device company. During her work commutes, she listened to true crime content, including Serial, a true crime podcast recommended to Flowers by her childhood friend, Brit Prawat.[3][4][5][6] Flowers started working in business development for a software company in 2017.[7]

Ashley Flowers lives in Indiana and works in Indianapolis.[3] Flowers has a daughter, Josie and a dog, Charlie (Chuck), who is the namesake for Flowers' podcast network, audiochuck.[8][5][9]

Media career

Flowers, who worked as a volunteer and then a board member for Crime Stoppers of Central Indiana, was asked how Crime Stoppers might reach a younger audience. Flowers developing Murder Monday, a 20-minute show that aired on a local radio station.[7][8][10] Each episode focused on a different case. Flowers hosted Murder Monday for a year and then developed Crime Junkie with Prawat.[4][8]

Podcasting

In 2017, Flowers founded a podcast network, Audiochuck LLC, which specializes in true crime podcasts.[3] Flowers invested $13,000 into the company for its initial operation.[8] Flowers then sourced revenue from Patreon members and ads from AdLarge Media.[7][11]

Crime Junkie
Main article: Crime Junkie

Ashley Flowers and Brit Prawat have co-hosted Crime Junkie, the flagship podcast of Audiochuck, since 2017.[3] Crime Junkie grew quite popular in its first few years. Flowers and Prawat announced a national tour in July 2019.[4][12][13]

In 2019, Flowers and Prawat were accused by multiple parties of plagiarizing other works, including newspaper articles, other podcasts, and an episode of the television show On the Case with Paula Zahn for episodes of Crime Junkie. Some content was read verbatim; in other examples, only a few words were changed.[14][15][13] Flowers responded to the claims and legal action taken by The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette by removing at least five episodes of Crime Junkie.[16][14][17][15] Flowers stated to Variety that the episodes' "source material could no longer be found or properly cited".[7] Flowers and Prawat saw negative feedback on Apple Podcasts regarding the absence of attribution on the show.[18]

Audiochuck's other podcasts

CounterClock is a 2020 podcast hosted by Delia D’Ambra and produced by Audiochuck.[19]

Audiochuck's Anatomy of Murder won the Webby Award for People’s Voice Winner in 2022.[20]

In 2021, Flowers brokered a partnership of Audiochuck with SiriusXM.[21] As of July 2022, Audiochuck has a total of 16 podcasts in its network, including Crime Junkie.[6] In February 2022, Ashley Flowers released another podcast within the Audiochuck network called The Deck, which focuses on cold cases with few leads.[3]

Nonprofit and writing work

In June 2020, Ashley Flowers founded the nonprofit Season of Justice, which provides grants to laboratories for DNA testing to solve cold cases.[22] In 2021, Season of Justice received 501(c)(3) tax-exempt status.[10] As of July 2021, the nonprofit had donated more than $225,000 to families and others involved with 31 cold cases.[10][23] Season of Justice's work continued into 2022.[24][25][26]

In January 2022, Ashley Flowers signed a publishing contract with Bantam Books for her debut novel, All Good People Here, which was co-written with Alex Kiester.[22][27] Flowers said that a true crime cold case inspired details in her novel, which is set in a small town in Indiana.[28][29] All Good People Here was released on August 16, 2022, and became a New York Times bestseller.[2] It received a favorable review from Publishers Weekly and was a Publishers Weekly bestseller.[30][31]

References
  1. "Sierah Joughin story featured on 'Crime Junkie' podcast". wtol.com. April 23, 2021. Retrieved 2022-09-27.
  2. "Best Sellers - Books - Sept. 4, 2022 - The New York Times". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2022-09-27.
  3. Rosman, Katherine (2022-02-02). "Ashley Flowers Wants to Up the Ante of True Crime". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2022-09-27.
  4. Wren, Adam (2019-11-07). "The Problem With Crime Junkie". Indianapolis Monthly. Retrieved 2022-09-28.
  5. "'Crime Junkie' shares her passion in every podcast". wthr.com. March 25, 2019. Retrieved 2022-09-28.
  6. Olsher, Steve (2022-07-29). "Ashley Flowers: The Queen Of True Crime". Podcast Magazine®. Retrieved 2022-09-28.
  7. Spangler, Todd (2019-08-15). "'Crime Junkie' Podcast Host Ashley Flowers Responds to Plagiarism Allegations". Variety. Retrieved 2022-09-27.
  8. "The Queen of True Crime". ELLE. 2022-08-11. Retrieved 2022-09-28.
  9. "'Crime Junkie' Queen Ashley Flowers on True Crime and Motherhood". NECN. Retrieved 2022-09-28.
  10. Marks, Andrea (2021-07-15). "Podcaster Ashley Flowers Launches Nonprofit to Fund DNA Testing in Cold Cases". Rolling Stone. Retrieved 2022-09-27.
  11. Chan, J. Clara (2021-10-26). "'Crime Junkie' Network Audiochuck Inks Multi-Year Ad Sales Deal With SiriusXM". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 2023-02-01.
  12. Hookey, Sarah. "True-Crime Podcast CRIME JUNKIE Announces National Tour". BroadwayWorld.com. Retrieved 2022-09-28.
  13. Arguello, Toby (2021-12-01). "The Untold Truth Of Crime Junkie - Grunge". Grunge.com. Retrieved 2022-09-28.
  14. DePompei, Elizabeth. "Indianapolis-based true crime podcast pulls several episodes after plagiarism accusations". The Indianapolis Star. Retrieved 2022-09-28.
  15. McNeal, Stephanie. "The Hosts Of The Popular Podcast "Crime Junkie" Are Accused Of Quietly Deleting Episodes Over Plagiarism". BuzzFeed News. Retrieved 2022-10-02.
  16. "Arkansas Newspaper Threatens Legal Action Against 'Crime Junkie.'". Insideradio.com. Retrieved 2022-10-02.
  17. Quah, Nicholas (2019-08-23). "A Plagiarism Scandal Shakes Up the True-Crime Podcast World". Vulture. Retrieved 2020-07-22.
  18. Taylor, Derrick Bryson; Hauser, Christine (August 23, 2019). "Accused of Plagiarism, A True-Crime Podcast Pulls Several Episodes". The New York Times – via Proquest.
  19. "This Week in True-Crime Podcasts: The Sneak, CounterClock, and More". Vulture. 31 January 2020. Retrieved 2023-01-29.
  20. "People's Voice Winner". Webby Award.
  21. "Ashley Flowers' Audiochuck Inks Long-Term Ad Sales And Distribution Deal With SiriusXM". Insideradio.com. 26 October 2021. Retrieved 2022-09-28.
  22. "Ashley Flowers Shares Update On 'Crime Junkie' Co-Host Brit Prawat After Health Scare". ET Canada. Archived from the original on August 15, 2022. Retrieved 2022-09-28.
  23. Ganz, Jami (September 27, 2021). "A 'junkie' for crime gets real; Podcaster creates nonprofit to help solve cold cases". New York Daily News – via Proquest.
  24. "Do you recognize this man? New digital billboard installed along I-30 in effort to help solve 2014 Dallas homicide". wfaa.com. February 8, 2022. Retrieved 2022-09-28.
  25. "Funding from Ashley Flowers' Nonprofit Season of Justice Helps Police Nab Rape Suspect". Insideradio.com. 24 September 2021. Retrieved 2022-09-28.
  26. Babb, Christina Hughes (2022-08-02). "Dallas DA office says new DNA technology could help solve 'countless' cases". Lakewood/East Dallas. Retrieved 2022-09-28.
  27. Deahl, Rachel. "Book Deals: Week of January 31, 2022". Publishers Weekly. Retrieved 2022-09-28.
  28. "Crime Junkie Host Ashley Flowers Discusses Her Debut Novel and How She Fell in Love with True Crime". Peoplemag. Retrieved 2022-09-27.
  29. Egan, Elisabeth (2022-09-01). "Ashley Flowers Loves an Airport Bookstore". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2022-10-03.
  30. "All Good People Here by Ashley Flowers". Publishers Weekly. Retrieved 2022-10-02.
  31. "This week's bestsellers from Publishers Weekly | The Spokesman-Review". www.spokesman.com. Retrieved 2022-10-03.
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