Stories for the puzzle lovers
M2D4 Podcast
Charlene Young-Stewart intended to have words with the man who just crashed his BMW into her pear tree. But it’s hard to tell a dead man off. And since its possible she had a teeny part in his death, it was in her own best interest to help Sheriff Matt Hinkle find the answers.
Listen here or wherever you get Mysteries to Die For podcast
A new short in Karina Bartow’s Unde(a)feated Detective Series, which follows deaf detective, Minka Avery. Minka and her extended family are traveling home from a vacation in Jamaica when the loud, annoying man on the plane turns into the corpse on the shuttle that just shut down the entire airport. Minka’s hunting for a killer hiding in plain sight and she’s got to do it fast, before the Orlando PD, the FAA, and a few thousand captive travelers call time is up.
Listen here or wherever you get Mysteries to Die For podcast
The murder of a young barmaid has gone unsolved. Cynthia Deal takes matters into her own hands, bringing together three couples, six people with motive. She had three hours and twelve minutes left in her life when she took hold of the forward line to pull it aboard the LCU Maven, laughing at the weight of the thick, water-soaked rope as it slithered then slumped with a splash into North Isle Harbor. Now there isn’t one murder to be solved, there’s two, and it’s all up to you.
Listen here or wherever you get Mysteries to Die For Podcast
Private Investigators Steve Rockfish and Jawnie McGee are hired to recover a prized Percheron. (That’s a horse.) But there’s more to worry about tromping through the Pennsylvania Dutch countryside than just stepping on cow patties. Just ask the dead guy in stall #1.
Listen here or wherever you get Mysteries to Die For podcast.
Morgansburg, NY is a sleepy college town in the midst of a renaissance and with the good (food trucks) comes the bad (avocado toast). Beyond Professor Watson’s own opinions on the changing culinary landscape are bigger disagreements, which come to a head when the Easter Bunny is found dead in a vintage locomotive. Professor Watson and her AI program known as Doyle start hopping for clues to help Security Chief Mack Byrne solve the case. (‘Cause Security Chief’s love that kind of help.)
Listen here or wherever you get Mysteries to Die For Podcast.
Released March 21, 2023 from Mysteries to Die For, for your puzzle solving pleasure
Vehicles define eras and are a means for advancing economies from traditional to high mass-consumption. They can also play diverse roles within amazing stories.
A train was the setting for Agatha Christie’s famed Murder on the Orient Express. A river boat then took center stage on Death on the Nile. Stephan King’s Christine showed us a blood thirsty side, while in real life, the disappearance of Emelia Earhart and her plane continues to tease imaginations. Cars have been prominently featured in American crime stories with the glory of the getaway vehicle. Then there are the heists from carriages to trains to armored trucks.
Twelve different ways to move it. Twelve stories arranged for you to deduce the truth. It’s a race between you and the detective. Will you catch the culprit or be the one to lose it? 😉 (You knew it was coming.)
A charter fishing boat. An ambulance. A high-tech roadster. A flat-bed tow truck. A converted bus. A cold-war era VW. A locomotive. A prized horse. An airport shuttle. A Winnebago. A horse-drawn carriage. A roller coast train.
Original stories from Ed Teja, Chuck Brownman, Colin Conway, KM Rockwood, Craig Faustus Buck, Erica Obey, Ken Harris, Paul A Berra, Karina Bartow, Kyra Jacobs, TG Wolff, and Jack Wolff.
Paperback available from Amazon. E-book available from all digital retailers with special pricing through June 30, 2023.
It’s 1960 and Slate wakes up in a East German hospital with no wallet, no papers, and no memory. That’s what a bullet to the head can do to you. Now can he figure out who tried to murder him before the killer gets a second chance?
Listen here or wherever you get Mysteries to Die For podcast.
Brandon Rice’s life ended in an empty lot on the the busiest intersection in Spokane. Who could have possibly wanted to kill the kindest, most trusting man? Listen here or wherever you get your podcasts.
Hero Haters by Ken MacQueen is a thriller. There’s a little bit of hero in all of us, but for some of us, our hero has risen to the test. Stopping a shooter in a school. Pulling a man out of a burning car. Rescuing a child from a well. In Ken MacQueen’s world, ordinary people putting others’ lives ahead of their own are honored with an award for exceptional heroism with the Sedgewick Sacrifice Medal. Quietly, one by one, the recipients are disappearing, recipients vetted by one man: Jake Ockham. As the storm of hatred and disillusion swirls, Jake is again called to the most sublime act of setting others before himself.
Bottom line: Hero Haters is for you if you like high tension thrillers driven by twisted logic and determined heroes.
Strengths of the story: Hero Haters masterfully stimulates the readers feelings of urgency, angst, and “oh, shit, no.” This is one book where once you start, either you won’t put it down or you’ll put it down fast because you can’t take the intensity. The characters, good and bad, are well developed and feel like real people. The story line is truly well thought out. Ken MacQueen had to do a lot of plotting about what happened to these characters years before the story starts in order for it to be this flawless. The story moves distinctly between Washington State and Western Pennsylvania, and makes it easy to follow what is happening in the two locations.
Where the story fell short of ideal: This one doesn’t, which is unusual for me with thrillers. Usually I get to the end, look back at the story and find all kinds of contrived scenarios, plot holes, and inconsistencies between character motives and actions. That is not the case with Hero Haters. If I have to pick something as weak, I will say I had some trouble keeping the timeline straight at the start of the book. I didn’t realize this until I was about ⅔ way through and while surprising me, didn’t detract from the story.
Auto inventor Alastair Stubbins and his investment partner are found dead by carbon monoxide poisoning. Vista Hermosa Police Detectives Jonas Maple and Kimberly Collins have far more questions than answers and everybody has an alibi.
TG Wolff 