Inside the cut-throat world of true-crime TV news

If there’s one thing Claire St.Amant learned producing true crime stories for CBS’ “48 Hours” and “60 Minutes,” it’s that the business was cutthroat.

Competitors like NBC’s “Dateline” and ABC’s “20/20,” as well as St.Amant’s own CBS team, would go to any length to get an exclusive.Once St.

Amant cultivated a years-long relationship with a victim’s family in the hope of getting an interview, but that connection was undermined when an anonymous caller identifying herself as “Claire from 48 Hours” sabotaged the effort via an inappropriate phone call to the victim’s family.St.

Amant’s rapport with them was shot, but she emerged far wiser.“As much as I hated getting beat ..

.I’d gained a valuable lesson in the war games that go on in the national media,” she writes in “Killer Story: The Truth Behind True Crime Television” (BenBella Books, February 18th).After a stint in the Peace Corps, St.

Amant began work as a journalist in Dallas. In 2010 she wrote for the People’s Newspaper covering the city’s suburbs, and by 2013 she was the managing editor of the start-up Culture News Dallas.A story she covered on a private-school sexual assault had given her what she calls journalism “street cred,” so when CBS’ “48 Hours” wanted to cover the 2011 Dallas murder of a husband by his “professional manipulator” wife in Dallas, the show asked for St.Amant’s help producing an episode.While St.

Amant was excited for the freelance opportunity, she wasn’t prepared for it.“I actually Googled ‘what does a television producer do?’ ” St.

Amant writes.St.Amant proved a more than capable producer. She secured interviews with the dead hubby’s ex-wife and daughter and the murderous wife’s adult children, plus used her local connections to secure crucial evidence from local police.St.

Amant’s talent proved potent enough to thrust her into a successful career producing true crime stories for CBS. Her ...