Bell Cow Productions: Podcasts

About Bell Cow Productions: Podcasts

Hosts Rob Jung and Michael David MacBride are rounding up the best voices from the Bell Cow Cattle-log and the wider literary world—publishers, authors, and more. This is where we shine a light on the people you need to hear from and the process behind their work. Get ready for short, punchy chats, exclusive author readings, and deep dives into their background and craft. We’re ringing the bell loud and clear, guiding you straight to your next good book, maybe even one written in your own backyard. Join the herd, or least give the round-up a listen: subscribe, like, follow!

Publisher

Bell Cow Productions

Category

arts

Language

en

Explicit

No

First episode

13 Nov 2025

Latest episode

26 Oct 2026

Latest episodes

80 episodes in the feed.

1. 

   26 Oct 2026

   Frank F. Weber in conversation with Betty Brandt Passick (Mystery Conversations)

   Mystery Conversations: A Bell Cow Podcast brings the best of Minnesota Mystery Night to listeners everywhere. These episodes are recorded live, in front of an audience, at the long-running monthly event that pairs top mystery and thriller writers with smart, engaging interviewers for lively, unscripted conversation. Expect craft talk, publishing stories, crime-fiction gossip of the respectable variety, and the kind of audience energy you only get when book people gather in a room together. Minnesota Mystery Night describes itself as a live, meet-the-author event featuring mystery and thriller writers in conversation with intriguing guests, held on the third Monday of each month in Mendota, Minnesota. These Bell Cow encore presentations preserve those live conversations and give them a second life beyond the room. They also connect to Masters of Mystery Radio Hour, the broadcast version of Minnesota Mystery Night, which is recorded live at the event and carried on radio stations in Minnesota, South Dakota, and Wisconsin, including KRWC-AM, AM950/KTNF, KTOE, KLTF, KCCR, KKBJ, KWNO, WWIS, and KJAM. Bell Cow Productions, meanwhile, exists to support writers through podcasts, resources, and behind-the-scenes literary conversation, which makes this series a natural fit for the herd. Originally recorded 4/21/2025 at Lucky’s 13 Pub in Mendota, Minnesota: forensic psychologist and true-crime novelist Frank F. Weber sits down with historical crime writer Betty Brandt Passick for an evening of lively conversation recorded before a Minnesota Mystery Night audience. This episode brings together two authors who draw from real crimes, historical records, community memories, and extensive research to construct stories in which fact and fiction are never very far apart. Bell Cow is proud to give the evening an encore presentation, with the conversation also living on through Masters of Mystery Radio Hour. Frank F. Weber is a forensic psychologist and Minnesota true-crime author whose novels draw inspiration from real cases. His books include The I-94 Murders, The Haunted House of Hillman, Scandal of Vandals, and Heartbreak Hollow. https://www.frankweberauthor.com Betty Brandt Passick is a multi-award-winning author whose historical crime novels include Gangster in Our Midst and The Black Bag of Dr. Wiltse. Her gangster series was inspired by the remarkable, fact-based story of a Chicago mobster who settled in her small Iowa hometown. https://bettybrandtpassick.com Bell Cow Productions: https://www.bellcowproductions.com Minnesota Mystery Night: https://www.mnmysterynight.com Masters of Mystery Radio Hour: https://www.mnmysterynight.com/mmrh #MysteryConversations #MinnesotaMysteryNight #FrankFWeber

2. 

   23 Oct 2026

   Iowa’s Tiniest Bookshop Goes Big: Green Dragon Bookshop (Bell Cow Bookstore Grazing)

   Welcome to Bookstore Grazing, a Bell Cow Productions podcast where hosts Rob Jung and Michael David MacBride go beyond the bookshelves to get to know the independent bookstores—and the people behind them—that help make the literary community work. Every bookstore has a story. How did it get started? What earns a place on the shelves? How do booksellers decide what to recommend, work with local authors, create events, and build a community around books? Bookstore Grazing visits bookstores for casual conversations about their history, their customers, the books they love, and the things readers and authors might never see from the other side of the counter. In this episode, we’re grazing our way to Fort Dodge, Iowa, where Cori joins Rob and Michael from Green Dragon Bookshop—currently Iowa’s tiniest bookstore at just about 300 square feet. After years of dreaming about owning a bookstore, Cori left a career in project management and put her MBA to work after the pandemic convinced her it was finally time to give that dream a chance. She signed for the space in February 2022 and opened Green Dragon just four months later. With only enough room for roughly 2,000 to 3,000 books, every inch of shelf space matters. Cori shares the formula she now uses to curate the store: about 30 percent classics and genre foundations, 30 percent current popular titles, 30 percent new releases—and 10 percent whatever she thinks deserves a chance. We talk about her philosophy of balancing dependable “rocks” with more adventurous “reaches,” how customers helped Green Dragon expand from its original science-fiction and fantasy focus into horror, mystery and romance, and why some of the most valuable bookselling lessons have come directly from the readers who walk through the door. But Green Dragon’s reach extends far beyond its tiny footprint. Cori is also the creator of the Iowa Indie Bookshop Tour, which began in 2024 after she realized the nearest independent bookstores to Fort Dodge were more than an hour away. Her solution? Instead of creating a local bookstore crawl, make the entire state the crawl. The first tour included 35 bookstores, grew to 45 in its second year, and reached 62 participating shops in 2026. Thousands of readers now travel around Iowa collecting passport stamps, playing bookstore bingo and, this year, even gathering clues to solve a bookstore murder mystery. And, of course, we talk books. Cori explains why she loves the rise of cozy fantasy, LitRPG, feminine rage and “weird girl fiction,” how *Dungeon Crawler Carl* has helped bring some readers back to books, why Legends & Lattes is such a useful gateway into fantasy, and how Green Dragon deliberately looks for unique voices and books readers may not already know. We also peek behind the shelves—literally—to discover Green Dragon’s hidden backstock and hear how Cori brings signed books home from conventions and literary events for readers in Fort Dodge who might not otherwise get the opportunity to meet those authors. And Green Dragon won’t be Iowa’s tiniest bookstore much longer. After waiting about two years for the right space, Cori reveals that the shop is preparing to move into a larger location just a block or so away in Fort Dodge, with the move planned for 2027. Visit Green Dragon Bookshop: https://www.thegreendragonbookshop.com/ Learn more about Bell Cow Productions: https://www.bellcowproductions.com Please follow, subscribe, like, and share. And, if you're a bookstore who wants to be featured, drop us a line. We'd love to chat. #BookstoreGrazing #BellCowProductions #GreenDragonBookshop #FortDodgeIowa #IowaIndieBookshopTour #IndependentBookstore #IndieBookstore #ShopLocal #SupportIndependentBookstores #FantasyBooks #ScienceFictionBooks #HorrorBooks #BookPodcast #BookTube #IowaBooks #Booksellers #ReadingCommunity

3. 

   22 Oct 2026

   📚 Bell Cow Book Club: Jess Lourey’s The Crying Killer

   🐮 Welcome to Bell Cow Book Club, the Bell Cow Productions podcast where Rob Jung and Michael David MacBride read along with the herd and then sit down for a live, unscripted conversation about books worth talking about. No edits. No safety net. No second take. Just two readers, one book, and wherever the conversation takes us. 📖 This month, we’re discussing The Crying Killer by Minnesota author Jess Lourey, a dark, true-crime-inspired thriller rooted in the Twin Cities and the real-life legend of Minnesota’s Weepy-Voiced Killer. The story moves between 1986 and 1995, following former police officer turned private investigator Tuesday Kenn, who has spent years trying to escape the violence of her past. When murders begin echoing the crimes of a killer everyone believes died years earlier, Tuesday becomes convinced that the past isn’t nearly as buried as everyone thinks. But The Crying Killer is also a story built around memory, trauma, identity, family, and the question of whether Tuesday—and the reader—can trust what she thinks she knows. Rob and Michael dig into Lourey’s use of Minnesota setting and true-crime inspiration, the shifting timelines, the friendship at the heart of the story, Tuesday’s relationship with Julia, and the increasingly complicated question of who is actually telling the truth. And then there are the twists. A lot of them. We talk about which revelations genuinely surprised us, which ones felt earned, and whether there comes a point where adding another twist can actually lessen the impact of the one before it. 🔎 Does the book play fair with its biggest reveals? 👻 Does one particular late-book twist deepen the story—or change the rules too late? 🧩 Does the final identity of the Crying Killer work better thematically than it does as a mystery solution? 👩👧 And when protecting someone requires building their life around a lie, how long can that lie still be justified? We also talk about the difference between admiring the construction of a thriller and actually loving the reading experience—and why disagreement between readers can sometimes make for the best book-club conversation. ⚠️ SPOILER WARNING: Bell Cow Book Club is a true book-club conversation. We discuss the entire novel, including Tuesday’s identity, Nic, Arsen, the Crying Killer, major deaths, clues, twists, and the ending. Read The Crying Killer first if you want to experience the story without spoilers. 🐮 Learn more about Bell Cow Productions at: https://www.bellcowproductions.com And you can find out more about Jess Lourey, all her books, and what's coming next on her webpage here: https://jessicalourey.com/ 📺 Follow Bell Cow Productions and join future Bell Cow Book Club conversations live: https://www.youtube.com/@BellCowProductions/streams #BellCowBookClub #BellCowProductions #JessLourey #TheCryingKiller #ThrillerBooks #MysteryBooks #MinnesotaAuthors #MinnesotaMystery #TrueCrimeInspired #BookTube #BookClub #BookPodcast #ReadersOfYouTube #BellCow

Reach and audience

Public platform figures. Ratings count people who left a rating, not total listeners.

Apple Podcasts (US)

5.0 / 5

2 ratings

Contact Bell Cow Productions: Podcasts

Guest appearances

Books guests

Based on episode analysis; this does not confirm that the show is currently accepting guests.