Patrick Radden Keefe, in conversation at The Globe
6/21/202648 min
Patrick Radden Keefe, investigative journalist and staff writer at The New Yorker, is best known for his narrative non-fiction true crime stories and deep dives into history. His best selling books include Say Nothing, Empire of Pain, and The Snakehead, as well as the podcast Wind of Change.
Keefe visited The Globe and Mail’s Toronto offices in June 2026 to talk to Globe feature writer Ian Brown about his latest work, London Falling: A Mysterious Death in a Gilded City And A Family’s Search For Truth, along with insights into investigative writing and reporting and what it takes to unearth stories from the criminal underworld. This recording of that interview has been edited for length.
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Transcript preview
First 90 secondsCheryl Sutherland· Host0:00
[chime] Hey, it's Cheryl. This week at The Globe and Mail, we welcome the guest into the newsroom, investigative journalist and writer, Patrick Radden Keefe. [upbeat music] He's a celebrated author known for narrative true crime stories and deep dives into history. Keefe is a staff writer for The New Yorker, but you may know him from his best-selling works, like Say Nothing: A History of the Troubles in Northern Ireland and the Legacy of the IRA, Empire of Pain, an investigation into a pharmaceutical family dynasty blamed for the opioid crisis, or his podcast, Wind of Change, on whether a 1980s pop song helped topple the Soviet Union. Keefe sat down for an interview with The Globe's feature writer, Ian Brown, in front of a live audience of Globe reporters and editors. Some of their conversation is about Keefe's latest book, London Falling: A Mysterious Death in a Gilded City and a Family's Search for Truth. But a lot of the talk was about our shared work of journalism, how stories are found, and what it takes to dig up the truth. We thought it was a fascinating talk with real insight into the nitty-gritty work of investigative writing, and one we thought you should listen to. So here's that interview now that we've edited down for length. Hope you enjoy.