Welcome to Mysteries to Die For. I am TG Wolff and am here with Jack, my piano player and producer. This is a podcast where we combine storytelling with original music to put you at the heart of mystery, murder, and mayhem. Some episodes will be my own stories, others will be classics that helped shape the mystery genre we know today. These are arrangements, which means instead of word-for-word readings, you get a performance meant to be heard.

This is Season 1. The first half of the season comes from my book Widow’s Run, which was published in 2019 by Down & Out Books. If you love clever, sharp-edged mysteries and thrillers, check out Down & Out on the web. www.downandoutbooks.com

Today’s episode builds from the previous 2. Really, you have to listen in order for the story to make sense. Start with the first episode called “What a Lovely Corpse you Have” and catch up to us. We’ll be here for you. We’ve listed a cast of characters in the show notes to help keep track of the players.

To recap, our hero, Diamond, has faked her death, burying the mainstream, suburban professional she was to resurrect her CIA cover. Why? She needs to do what the police won’t, investigate her husband’s death. In the last episode, she flushed out game for Ian Black in exchange for the information that would provide answers. Instead all she got was questions. What happened to her husband’s notebook? Who was the woman he was last seen with? What was he doing outside the hotel that night? The path to the answers go through Rome.

Today’s story is about turkey sandwiches, birthdays, and unexpected house guests. This is Episode 4: First Stop, Hell.

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Characters introduced so far

Diamond, our hero. Recently widowed. Recently (fake) killed herself. On a mission.

Gavriil Rubchinsky. Russian-born, nerd scientist specializing in quinoa. Diamond’s husband. Died May 14, 2018. The reason for Diamond.

Ian Black. Average, ordinary, white man. Extraordinary purveyor of anything, anywhere, anytime.

Sam Irish. British agent. Formerly worked with Diamond. Pissed she died without him.

Andrew Dixon. Seventeen-year-old genius delinquent currently surfing Diamond’s couch

Enrique Torres. CIA agent who trained and worked with Diamond. Can’t believe a candle took her out.

Alexei Rubchinsky. Russian-born, nerd scientist specializing in the body. Diamond’s brother-in-law.

Montgomery Rand. Minor league con man. Reported genius who doesn’t have the brains to use what God gave him.

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Mysteries to Die For is sponsored by Down & Out Books The featured new release is Some Awful Cunning by Joe Ricker. Ryan Carpenter is an underground relocation specialist who helps people escape the danger of their life and start over. After agreeing to help the young wife of a Texas oil baron relocate her stepson to escape criminal prosecution, Ryan learns more than he wants to about the oil baron, his wife, and the stepson.

Haunted by his own forced relocation, Ryan betrays his client and is forced to scramble for his life, which only puts him face to face with the childhood past he’s been trying to escape his entire life. His flight brings him from Albuquerque, New Mexico;...