Edward Jay Epstein announces "Annals of Unsolved Crime: The Ultimate Online Q&A," an online interactive series to be powered by Shindig

NEW YORK, April 8, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- Prize-winning investigative reporter Edward Jay Epstein will speak to true crime fans and conspiracy enthusiasts around the globe through a series of interactive online video chats discussing some of history's most intriguing unsolved crimes, which are the topic of his recent book, The Annals of Unsolved Crime.

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The series will comprise an initial six online chats on Tuesdays at 5pm EDT and will be powered by Shindig.com, an interactive platform for large scale video chat events, allowing attendees to enjoy a live talk by a notable personality, share the stage to ask them questions face-to-face or to privately video chat with other participants in the event. "Shindig provides an extraordinary interactive means of directly answering questions provoked by the cases in my book," Epstein said. The discussions will be free, but are limited to the first 800 RSVPs who sign up at: www.mhpbooks.com/unsolvedcrime

"The renowned Epstein now adds to his innumerable credits 'internet pioneer' as he leads the way in a whole new manner for authors to engage with their most passionate fans online," notes Steve Gottlieb, founder and CEO of Shindig.

Those who RSVP for a talk will receive a free downloadable "briefing" on the case being discussed, excerpted from Epstein's book. In each talk, Epstein will explain the evidence, the status of the case, and review his own conclusions.

Schedule for the series:

Tuesday, April 16 - The Lincoln Assassination
History remembers John Wilkes Booth as a lone assassin, but an 1865 military commission indicted 8 people in a conspiracy plot to kill Lincoln and leave the U.S. government "entirely without a head." On the 148th anniversary of the Lincoln assassination, Epstein will discuss the Military Commission's conspiracy charges and why history has preferred a simple narrative of the case.

Tuesday, April 23 – The Mysteries of the Vatican
For 30 years, on assignment for The New Yorker and Vanity Fair, Epstein investigated the mysterious death of Roberto Calvi, often called "God's Banker" because of his close association with the Vatican's finances. Calvi's death will be discussed alongside other Vatican mysteries, including the 1981 assassination attempt on Pope John Paul II.

Tuesday, April 30 - The Amanda Knox Ordeal
DNA is considered the gold standard for forensic investigators, but the Amanda Knox case shows how prosecutorial misconduct can subvert even the best of evidence. Coming on the heels of Knox's re-indictment by Italy's Court of Cassation and the publication of Knox's memoir, Epstein will discuss the true state of the evidence in the Knox case.

Tuesday, May 7 - The Case of the Radioactive Corpse
When Russian dissident Alexander Litvinenko was poisoned by a rare radioactive isotope in London in 2006, his death puzzled police investigators. Epstein travelled to Moscow to track down a key suspect and gained access to sensitive files related to the case. Epstein will discuss ongoing questions about the case…. And why it may never be solved.

Tuesday, May 14 - Bringing Down DSK
Two years to the day after Dominique Strauss-Kahn was arrested in New York for allegedly assaulting a hotel maid, Epstein will discuss his controversial two-year investigation of the case, which he covered for the Guardian and the New York Review of Books.

Tuesday, May 21 - The Lindbergh Kidnapping
One of America's most enduring crimes, the Lindbergh kidnapping changed the way kidnapping cases are prosecuted. Epstein will discuss his take on the case, which focuses on the role of the tabloid press and a seriously compromised crime scene.

About Shindig
NYC startup Shindig is a breakthrough platform for large scale video chat events. On Shindig, anyone with a webcam enabled computer can log in to attend a live presentation or talk. They can share the stage with the speaker and enjoy a personal face-to-face experience before the entire gathering, or mingle freely with other participants in private video chats. In short, Shindig offers the dynamics of physical events at internet scale.

Still in beta, the Shindig platform has been embraced by hundreds of prominent individuals and entities for "Video Chat Book Tours," recording artist "Meet and Greets," online classes and conferences, "Video Chat Nightclubs," Kickstarter pitches and other events, both free and paid.

Recent Shindig powered events include the TEDx Fourth Anniversary Celebration, The New Music Seminar Upfronts and video chat book tours from Guy Kawasaki, Michael Pollan, Hugh Howey, Dan Ariely, Carla Hall, AJ Jacobs, and Scott Sigler among others. Highlights of past Shindig video chat book events can be found here. To find out more about Shindig or to RSVP for upcoming events, visit www.shindig.com. To inquire about how to how to host your own Shindig event, contact [email protected] 

About The Annals of Unsolved Crime

Edward Jay Epstein's The Annals of Unsolved Crimes is product of more than 40 years of investigative work and an insightful guide to some of the most controversial and mysterious crimes of the last 200 years from one of America's most prolific and dogged investigative journalists. In a feature story on the book, USA Today calls Epstein "A grand figure of modern journalism" and noted "Show Epstein a juicy crime and he will show you how it has been subverted by unseen powers for their own agenda, by the inevitable incompetence of investigative authorities and by the media because it likes a simple story line."

About the author
Edward Jay Epstein is the author of fourteen books. He studied government at Cornell and Harvard and received a Ph.D from Harvard in 1973. His thesis on the search for political truth became a best-selling book, Inquest: The Warren Commission and the Establishment of Truth. His doctoral dissertation on television news was published as News From Nowhere. He is the recipient of numerous foundation grants and awards, including the prestigious Financial Times / Booz Allen & Hamilton Global Business Book Award for both best biography and best business book for Dossier: The Secret History of Armand Hammer. He has written for Vanity Fair, The New Yorker, The Atlantic, The New York Times Magazine, and the Wall Street Journal. He lives in New York City.

For more information, contact:

At Melville House: Ariel Bogle, 718.722.9204 or [email protected]

At Shindig: Jeri Rosenblum,  212 699 3655 or [email protected]

SOURCE Shindig