Mark Shaw on the journey that led him to write Abuse of Power
Original Airdates: Dec. 5-8, 2025
TVC 717.1: Ed welcomes back Mark Shaw, investigative journalist, former criminal defense attorney, onetime legal analyst for CNN, ESPN, and USA Today, and the author of more nearly thirty books, including The Reporter Who Knew Too Much: The Mysterious Death of What’s My Line TV Star and Media Icon Dorothy Kilgallen. Mark’s latest book, Abuse of Power, includes new information about the mysterious nature of Kilgallen’s demise in November 1965 that, Mark believes, links Kilgallen’s death to the assassinations of John F. Kennedy and Robert F. Kennedy. Abuse of Power, The Reporter Who Knew Too Much, and all of Mark’s books are available through Post Hill Press and Amazon.com.
John Shear (left) and Sirhan Sirhan. Screen grabs taken from the YouTube video Take a Look Back at the Life of a Santa Anita Legend, John Shear, available at YouTube.com/watch?v=s6CV5L–3ec
Mark Shaw, author of Abuse of Power
Original Airdates: Dec. 5-8, 2025
TVC 717.2: Mark Shaw, author of Abuse of Power: Connecting Robert Kennedy’s Assassinaton with the Murders of JFK and Dorothy Kilgallen, talks to Ed about a recently released YouTube video about John Shear, a longtime paddock captain at Santa Anita Racetrack in Southern California who hired Sirhan Sirhan as a “hot walker” as Santa Anita several months before Sirhan was arrested for the assassination of Robert F. Kennedy in June 1968. According to Mark, John Shear’s comments in that video not only lend credence to the possibility that Sirhan may have been used as a fall guy by the mob for the assassination of RFK, but help make the case that Sirhan should receive a new trial in light of these new revelations. (Though John Shear died in December 2023, Mark interviewed Shear’s son, Michael, in December 2024; Michael Shear provided confirmation of his father’s account.) Both Abuse of Power and The Reporter Who Knew Too Much are available through Post Hill Press and Amazon.com.
Dorothy Kilgallen biographer Mark Shaw on the importance of primary sources
Original Airdates: Dec. 12-15, 2025
TVC 718.3: Part 2 of a conversation that began last week with Mark Shaw, author of Abuse of Power: Connecting Robert Kennedy’s Assassinaton with the Murders of JFK and Dorothy Kilgallen and The Reporter Who Knew Too Much. Topics this segment include new findings that suggest that the autopsy performed on Kilgallen after her death in November 1965 may have been compromised. As was the case with Mark’s previous book, Collateral Damage, Abuse of Power emphasizes the importance of relying on primary sources whenever possible. Abuse of Power, Collateral Damage, and The Reporter Who Knew Too Much are all available through Post Hill Press and Amazon.com.
A posthumous honor for Dorothy Kilgallen
Original Airdates: Dec. 12-15, 2025
TVC 718.6: Mark Shaw, author of Abuse of Power: Connecting Robert Kennedy’s Assassinaton with the Murders of JFK and Dorothy Kilgallen and The Reporter Who Knew Too Much, talks to Ed about how the City of New York honored Dorothy Kilgallen on Saturday, Nov. 8 by naming a street after her on the sixtieth anniversary of her death. Other topics this segment include why so many of us are enamored with real-life murder mysteries. Abuse of Power and The Reporter Who Knew Too Much are both available through Post Hill Press and Amazon.com.
