(pensive music) (typewriter dinging) (typewriter clacking) - Hi, this is Peter Swanson and this is a "Talent for Murder."

There is a librarian named Martha Ratliff.

She is marrying kind of late in life, in her 40s, to a man that seems very sweet, but she doesn't feel like she totally knows him.

And she starts to notice little things that seem strange.

Like she sees him coming home from one of his business trips and he seems to be outside, like sort of practicing his smile in the driveway.

And she finds a strange stain on one of his shirts that could be a blood stain.

So she starts looking at all the places he goes for his trips and she finds unsolved assaults or murders in those towns.

I was introduced to Hitchcock really young.

I actually remember the film.

It was "Dial M for Murder."

I think I was nine years old.

It was on TV and my mom let me watch it.

For people who don't remember the movie, it's Raymond Milland is trying to kill his wife, Grace Kelly.

It's like a stage play.

But Ray Milland looks like a regular guy, but he's trying to kill his wife.

And at nine, I thought villains looked like villains.

They look like the Joker.

Or they look like villains.

And I was like, "No, this guy's a villain, but you wouldn't know it."

And it still sticks with me.

Like, I like villains that hide in plain sight.

(pensive music) - [Jeremy] This is a very normal couple.

- [Peter] Yeah, yeah, yeah.

- I mean, on the outside this is almost-- - Borderline boring.

- Borderline boring.

- Yeah.

Yeah.

- And I wondered, that was an interesting choice for you to make, to say, "I'm gonna take people that could be kind of dull."

- Yeah.

- "And I'm gonna throw a murder into it."

And I wonder when you wrote about them, were you like, "I'm purposely going to make this so normal that it could really identify with a lot of people?"

- To me, Hitchcock was never overly interested in the police or the detective, the classic detective.

I think you said this once, ordinary people in extraordinary circumstances, there's Rear Window.

It's just a guy waiting out his bum leg and he becomes a detective 'cause he thinks he sees a murder across the way.

I love ordinary people caught in the adventure or horrible mystery or nightmare of their lives.

And that's what we're seeing.

- This is a fascinating book, Peter and I so appreciate you being here.

- Oh, thank you.

- And thank you for watching "A Word on Words."

I'm Jeremy Finley.

Remember, keep reading.

(typewriter dinging) - [Peter] How well can we know anyone, even the people who are closest to us?

And we think we know the people we're closest to.

We think we know what they're thinking, but we don't.