The teenage private eye

Cara leads a double life. As an unassuming teenager from a quaint market town, nobody suspects her of being a private investigator. With an uncanny ability to blend in and spy gadgets to help her, she uncovers wrongdoings. Cara seeks truth and justice, but wrestles with the consequences of finding it. After Cara’s story, producer Alice Fiennes talks with true crime expert Rachel Monroe, about what TV shows, books and media teach us about crime and the prominence of women like Cara in fictional detective stories.

Home Sleuth brings you true crime stories from citizen investigators taking justice into their own hands. An unidentified murder victim, a schoolteacher’s suicide, the brutal dismembering of animals. The police have investigated these cases, but our sleuths aren’t content with the answers. They begin their own search for justice.

Over five episodes, we hear the gripping story of the role that home sleuths play in investigating crimes and mysteries, from the original internet sleuth in the 1990s through to present-day true crime YouTubers.

In most true crime podcasts, a presenter tells you where the story is going. This time, we break the mould. The sleuths present their own stories. After each episode, the series producers sit down with true crime expert Rachel Monroe to examine what the case can tell us about the wider world of true crime. Why do ordinary people dedicate themselves to these investigations? Is it ethical? What does it say about our obsession with true crime? Home Sleuth is a Furrowed Brow production for BBC Sounds.

Created and produced by Alice Fiennes and Poppy Damon. Associate producer - Brenna Daldorph. Sound Design by John Scott. Fact-checking by Arthur Gompertz. Editorial consultation and additional sound design by Nick Van Der Kolk at Wingdog Audio. Commissioned by Luke Eldridge and Nicky Birch for BBC Sounds.