One of the Best Evidence blue-ribbon panel’s most anticipated true-crime titles of 2023 has arrived — Alex Mar’s Seventy Times Seven: A True Story of Murder and Mercy. I interviewed Mar about the book, process, verb-tense selection, publicity-hog prosecutors, and much more at Exhibit B.’s B.log, and I’ll drop a snippet of Part 1 of that (fascinating!) conversation in a sec. First, let’s talk free stuff!

A paid subscription also means you’ll get access to nearly four years (!!) of extra Best Evidence content — and our profound gratitude for your support, of course. (And now a little fine print: the promotion ends at 11:59 PM ET on 4/21/23. Winners to be chosen randomly using random.org. Gift cards are digital, but the book can ship anywhere in the world.)

…Okay, here’s that interview snippet. Here, I’ve just asked Mar how she resisted following the myriad book-worthy tangents that branched off of her main story.