If you’re into serial killers and unsolved murders and things like that (aren’t some people into serial killers? I know some people USED to be into them. It was a whole THING there for a while. Like sour candy. Or bungee jumping… Weird. Whatever) you might want to check out this weekend’s episode of THS INVESTIGATES on the E! channel.

Gotta say, the show is mostly pretty dull to look at, glacially paced and short on meaningful content. The device of using pleasant snapshots of the victims while they were still alive, these photos then placed strategically in natural environments to represent the bodies, is unusual and interesting, though the reasoning behind this production choice is not apparent.

But my clever and insightful male parent, JOHN PHILPIN, is in it. He’s mainly in the second half, talking about the technically-still-unsolved Valley Murders of Claremont, NH and surrounding areas. New shit has come to light, you see. I know I’m biased but I think he’s the most interesting guy on the show by far, and he definitely has the longest hair of any male they talked to.

Back up a second - why is my dad on this show?

Well, see, he’s a “retired forensic psychologist,” or so they say. He worked on the Valley Murders while they were happening, he was the subject (in absence of an identifiable villain to hog the spotlight) of Phil Ginsburg’s book on the case (The Shadow Of Death, though Phil’s original title Valley Of The Shadow was probably better, blame the publisher I suppose), and John has also written a few books himself. Some are novels, of which I recommend The Murder Channel and Tunnel of Night. Some are what they call True Crime, of which I recommend Stalemate.