S7E13 Right Hand Dripping Blood Red

Mysteries to Die For

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 in the heart of a mystery. All stories are structured to challenge you to beat the detective to the solution. These are arrangements, which means instead of word-for-word readings, you get a performance meant to be heard. Jack and I perform these live, front to back, no breaks, no fakes, no retakes.

This is Season 7, Games People Play. Games are about competition conducted according to rules with participants working toward a goal. Games are a part of every culture and are one of the oldest forms of social interaction and engagement. Games can be fun, challenging and exhilarating. They can also be intense, cutthroat, and lethal. This season, our authors have fashioned deadly games and unscrupulous villains to test your detection skills.

This is Episode 13, twister is the featured game. This is Right Hand Dripping Blood Red by Jason Little.

Mysteries to Die For remains ad free. In exchange for not making you move to hit the fast forward button, support our authors by checking out their backlists and picking up a title. This week is Jason Little. He has a collection of short stories currently available on Amazon, which can be found at JasonLittleWriting.com

DELIBERATION

It isn’t all fun and games for Detective Sam Carlysle. The bodies are stacking up. Ivan Romanov (aka Mister Twister), Henrick Gajewski (aka The Garbage Man), Mitch Takovich (aka The Spinner Doctor). Here are the people we’ve met…at least the ones that are still alive:

• Peter Caruthers, reporter for the Chicago Tribune who seems to be in the wrong place at the right time

• Abby Tinsdale, aka Knockout_Kitty, competitor from Dallas, Texas who intends to win

• Gavin Rosenbaum, Mister Twister’s manager who eats his stress

• Sofi Planchette, the IBOTE event coordinator who demands things run on time

• Julia Tinsdale, Abby’s mother with the sometimes Texas accent

Here are the facts Sam is working with:

• The victims are being killed in a manner consistent with their last Twister winning move. With a $1million prize, it is a very competitive field.

• Mister Twister’s back was broken and his hand cut off. Odd bruising along the shoulders indicates someone went overboard on the Chiropractic readjustment. A Snickers wrapper was found at the scene.

• The Garbage Man was killed with a device Peter Caruthers reported was used by the Bratva, aka the Russian mob.

• The Spinner Doctor was found with his severed foot submerged in a filthy toilet with a Snickers wrapper tucked behind the basin. His last words indicated a m…m…murder mystery has yet to be solved.

• Journalist / photographer Peter Caruthers appeared on the scene of each murder. His Nikon had photos of the victim’s last win. He provided information on the Russian mob and pointed to the male judge being behind it.

It’s your turn to call the next move for Carlysle. Whose hands go in the cuffs?

A reminder to mystery readers, check out our print and e-books. This season’s book is being released in two parts. Part one, Opening Gambit, released in March 2024 and Part two, Final Move, will release in September. Today’s story is the first in part two. Buy one for you and one for a mystery lover you love. The dimes and quarters from books sales do support the podcast and keep Jack in tacos and headphones.

ABOUT Twister

The game Twister was created with the original name of Pretzel in 1966. Working for the Guyer Company, toy designer Charles Foley and graphic designer Neil Rabens combined ideas for a game where people were the pieces and a colorful mat concept into a game that is very much the one we know today. Foley and Rabens, with the support of their employer, applied for and received a patent, which was granted in 1969. Milton Bradley was approached for production, who took on the project but renamed it to Twister. Twister faced some controversy from critics claiming it was “sex in a box.” Twister withstood challenges, expanding sales throughout the world. In 2015, Twister was inducted into The Strong National Museum of Play. Fun fact from the museum of play website, The official Guinness Book of World Records temporarily banned the Twister category “most contestants” after the University of Massachusetts in Amherst’s massive Twister game involving 4,160 players in 1987. Guinness cited “evidence of officiating inconsistencies.”

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twister_(game)

https://www.museumofplay.org/toys/twister/

ABOUT Jason Little

JasonLittleWriting.com

Jason Little has spent the majority of his working years in sales and marketing. He currently sells life insurance, where he gets to talk to people about their imminent demise for a steady paycheck. He loves to delve into the human condition and writes in a variety of genres from science fiction and horror to mystery and suspense. When he isn't writing, Jason has a VR headset strapped to his face or he is sweating to a fitness challenge like 75 Hard. He actively discusses work/life/writing balance, the writing process and other miscellany at JasonLittleWriting.com. He is a native of Michigan and currently resides in Texas.

WRAP UP

That wraps this episode of Mysteries to Die For. Support our show by subscribing, telling a mystery lover about us, and giving us a five-star review. Check out our website TGWolff.com/Podcast for links to this season’s authors.

Mysteries to Die For is hosted by TG Wolff and Jack Wolff. Right Hand Dripping Blood Red was written by Jason Little. Music and production are by Jack Wolff. Episode art is by TG Wolff. Join us next week for a Toe Tag, which is the first chapter from a fresh release in the mystery, crime, or thriller genre. Then come back in two weeks for our next original story, Sorry Not Sorry by Kathleen Marple Kalb where Sorry is the featured game.