Karin Slaughter

Karin Slaughter is joined by Simon in her home city of Atlanta, Georgia. She introduces Simon to the case of Paul John Knowles, A.K.A. the ‘Casanova Killer'; a spree killer who terrorised the whole of the US, and who came within a few miles of Karin's family home. The arc and mythology of the ‘Casanova' character finds parallels in the male villains of many Karin Slaughter books. She explains that ‘Casanova' has been recycled into an adjective for a romantic ladies' man, when in actuality, Casanova himself was a kidnapper and a rapist, who bragged about drugging women before having his violent way with them. This is not a romantic character but a criminal; a predator bent on control. Along the journey of the episode, Simon and the audience learn how the real case of the ‘Casanova Killer'influenced Karin's writing of an historical crime novel, and provoked her to explore the motives of killers with a hatred of women.