Welcome to Mysteries to Die For’s Toe Tags.
Toe Tags are first chapter readings of new releases, often with our own review of the complete work. These chapter reads are combined with Jack’s original music to give you a real taste of the book. To try to remove my personal biases from the review, I started using the approach of comparing the work to an ideal. Yes, that in itself has an element of subjectivity. Follow this link to learn more about my process: Elements of a Perfect Story according to TG Wolff.
Support the authors by reading the books that you connect with and leaving reviews on the major review sites, like Amazon, GoodReads, and Bookbub. It really does matter.
One Dead, Two To Go by Elena Hartwell
One Dead, Two To Go is a PI Mystery. Eddie Shoes’ latest client is the worst. She lies. She cheats. And now, just after the body of her husband’s mistress is found, she’s gone missing. Eddie has to go find her…it’s the only way she’s going to get paid.
Bottom line: One Dead, Two To Go is for you if you like comedic PI mysteries where good sleuthing goes toe to toe with bad luck.
The Taste of Datura by Lorenzo Petruzziello
The Taste of Datura is an adventure. Nick Terenzi purchased an intricate brass bracelet some time ago in Rome. He tried to sell it and when he couldn’t, we went to the black market. Now, the Egyptians, the Turks, a Spanish professor, the UN, and a sexy flourist all want what Nick has. Nick doesn’t know what’s special about the bracelet, only that it’s his key to staying alive.
Bottom line: The Taste of Datura is for you if you like adventures building off mythology with a touch of paranormal.
Hounds of the Hollywood Baskervilles by Elizabeth Crowens
Hounds of the Hollywood Baskervilles is a comedic, cozy mystery. Babs Norman is a Hollywood stunner, but instead of gracing the silver screen, she’s gumshoeing it through the star-studded streets. Hollywood’s movers and shakers are reeling as canine stars and faithful companions alike are disappearing. Babs must mingle with Tinseltown’s elite to find the hand that holds the leash.
Bottom line: Hounds of the Hollywood Baskervilles is for you if you like cozy-styled mysteries and fun-filled romps through the golden age of Hollywood.
Black & White by Justin M. Kiska
Black & White is a mystery. This story is told in two times. Then was 1945. Stride agency investigator Francis “Fitz” Mason is hired by a retired US Ambassador to find the daughter who disappeared while dressing for her wedding. Now is 1985. Park City Police Detective Sergeant Ben Winters and Detective Tommy Mason are called to the scene of a woman’s body discovered in a field. She’s young, beautiful, and frozen solid. Winters and Mason take up the case where Uncle Fitz left off forty years ago.
Bottom line: Black & White is for you if you like mysteries driven by classic detectives, both cop and private investigator.
Playing Dead by TG Wolff
Playing Dead is a mystery. A body is put on display in Det. Jesus De La Cruz’s neighborhood. The victim isn’t random but some Cruz and the Cleveland police have been after, Alexander “Rotten” Carter. There was nothing plain and simple about this murder. Point in fact: the corpse was dressed as the king of hearts…the suicide king. Now Cruz is on the case to find answers to Carter’s killing and to the activities that hit much closer to home.
Bottom line: Playing Dead is for you if you like complex mysteries and being part of the detective’s professional and personal life.
TOE TAG DATES AND TITLES
4/19/24 One Dead, Two To Go by Elena Hartwell
4/5/24 The Taste of Datura by Lorenzo Petruzziello
3/15/25 Hounds of the Hollywood Baskerville by Elizabeth Crowens
3/1/24 Black & White by Justin M. Kiska
2/16/24 Playing Dead by TG Wolff
2/2/24 Objects of Desire by Valerie Webster
1/19/24 The January Corpse by Neil Albert
1/5/24 Broadcast Blues by R.G. Belsky
12/22/23 The Legacy by C.L. Tolbert
12/8/23 The Medusa Murders by Joy Ann Ribar
12/5/23 A Grifter’s Song by Frank Zafiro
11/24/23 The Second Term by J.M. Adams
11/10/23 The Algorithm Will See You Now by JL Lycette
10/27/23 Girl on Trial by Kathleen Fine
10/13/23 25 to Life by John Lansing
9/23/23 Echo from a Bayou by J. Luke Bennecke
9/15/23 Reckoning by Baron Birtcher
9/1/23 Deadly Depths by John. F Dobbyn
8/18/23 Bastard Verdict by James McCrone
8/4/23 The Hemingway Deception by Tj O’Connor
7/21/23 Psycho Therapy by TG Wolff
6/16/23 Suicide Squeeze by TG Wolff
6/2/23 Widow’s Run by TG Wolff
5/19/23 Dream Stalker by Nancy Gardner
5/5/23 The Bone Records by Rich Zahradnik
4/21/23 What Meets the Eye by Alex Kenna
4/7/23 A Bad Bout of the Yips by Ken Harris
3/24/23 Chaos at Carnegie Hall by Kelly Oliver
3/10/23 Duplicity by Shawn Wilson
2/24/23 The Accidental Spy by David Gardner
2/10/23 Hero Haters by Ken MacQueen
1/27/23 1 Last Betrayal by Valerie J. Brooks
1/13/23 The Midnight Call by Jode Millman
9/16/22 The Perfect Brother by Chris Patchell
9/2/22 Sanctuary by C.L. Tolbert
8/19/22 In Danger of Judgment by David Rabin
8/5/22 Dead in the Alley by Sharon Michalove
7/22/22 See You Next Tuesday by Ken Harris
7/8/2022 Wolf Bog by Leslie Wheeler
Objects of Desire by Valerie Webster
Two years ago, PI Rita Mars broke up with Diane Winter. It was loud and messy end to their relationship. Now Diane is missing and the note left behind points in Rita’s direction. Juggling a case of corporate embezzlement, Diane’s disappearance, and a mother with early dementia means Rita has to do a lot of juggling to keep the balls in the air and her butt out of jail.
Bottom line: Objects of Desire is for you if you like mysteries without murder, female-centric plots, and clean storytelling.
The January Corpse by Neil Albert
The January Corpse is a PI Mystery. Former lawyer turned investigator Dave Garrett is picking up sloppy seconds with this case. The family of Daniel Wilson has filed suit to declare the man missing for 7 years as dead to claim the life insurance benefit. What should be a chore of routine investigation into a cold case gets messy, mean, and dirty in the blink of an eye.
Bottom line: The January Corpse is for you if you like fast-thinking private eyes, cases with too many loose ends, and action and adventure in Pennsylvania Dutch country.
Broadcast Blues by R.G. Belsky
Broadcast Blues is an amateur sleuth mystery. Channel 10 News’s Clare Carlson prayed to the news gods for an explosive lead story and she got it. A car bombing in the middle of New York City killed private investigator Wendy Kyle. Wanting to break the story to stave of the station’s new owners, Clare starts digging and discovers Kyle was into more than just cheating husbands.
Bottom line: Broadcast Blues is for you if you like brassy female leads, the pressure and pace of local TV news, and a mystery you can sink your teeth into.
The Legacy is a mystery / legal thriller. Professor Emma Thornton’s newest case is complicated. Jeremy Wilcox is accused of killing his mother, stabbing her to death. Diagnosed as schizophrenic, Jeremy is off his meds in jail, making communication difficult. He has a history of self-medicating with painkillers and escaping from the local hospital’s mental health ward. The family dynamic is dysfunctional, support is non-existent, and answers to even basic questions are not forthcoming.
Bottom line: The Legacy is for you if you like legal thrillers where it takes more than evidence to get to the truth.
The Medusa Murders by Joy Ann Ribar
The Medusa Murders is an amateur sleuth mystery. Professor Bay “L.L.” Browning is drawn into a serial killer’s world when her coat is found at a crime scene. The killer has an agenda and a style, one that emulates the mythical Medusa turning her victims to stone. Her knowledge of art and mythology turns out to be the expertise the police need.
Bottom line: The Medusa Murders is for you if you like clean mysteries with a cozy feel and centering on art and mythology.
A Grifter’s Song compiled by Frank Zafiro
A Grifter’s Song is a Crime Thriller novella series. Sam and Rachel are long time lovers and lifelong grifters. No mark is too big, no scheme too hot. They zigzag across the continent, looking to make the next score and stay ahead of Little Vincent and the Philadelphia mob. From the first book to the last, nothing is sacred. . . except the love they have for each other.
Bottom line: A Grifter’s Song is for you if you get your thrills cheering for heroes who live on the other side of the tracks.
Book 1 The Concrete Smile, Excerpt, by Frank Zafiro
Book 2 People Like Us, Chapter 1, by J.D. Rhoades
Book 35 Into The Dying Sun, Chapter 4, by Frank Zafiro
Second Term is a Political Thriller. Cora Walker represents the best of US intelligence and skills. Sixteen years after leading a campaign to protect the US Embassy in Benghazi, Libya, she is pressed into action again. This time, she is defending the Capital and Speaker of the House against a homegrown attack.
Bottom line: Second Term is for you if you love tense, political thrillers built from today’s headlines.
The Algorithm Will See You Now by JL Lycette
THE ALGORITHM WILL SEE YOU NOW is a Medical Thriller. Dr. Hope Kestrel is the top resident at the most cutting-edge hospital in the country, where data and algorithm solve medicals toughest challenges. Hope believes the data-driven science saves people from the pain of ineffective treatments and the illusions of false hope. With one mistake, Hope falls from the top to outcast and along the way, learns the system she built her career around has been manipulated for profit’s sake. Now Hope has a choice…fade into a sad memory or fight her way out.
Bottom line: THE ALGORITHM WILL SEE YOU NOW is for you if you like medical and conspiracy thrillers where a thin line separates reality and science fiction.
Girl on Trial by Kathleen Fine
GIRL ON TRIAL is a Contemporary YA Mystery/Thriller. Sixteen-year-old Emily Keller has one goal her junior year of high school: fit in. But making friends and being popular takes Emily down a dangerous path of drinking, pills, and sex. Now the family she babysat for is dead and Emily is accused of leaving the stove on, causing carbon monoxide poising.
Bottom line: GIRL ON TRIAL is for you if you like legal suspense coupled with real life situations that go from bad to worse.
25 to Life is a PI Mystery and is also characterized as Noir Fiction and Crime Thriller. Jack Bertolino is back for his fifth case. A law student is dead. Her crime? Working on a Project for the Innocent case on behalf of Carl Forbes. What Gloria Millhouse finds? Well, it stinks. Before she can move on it, someone moves on her. Now Jack is on the case, looking for the scum behind the shiny badges of the LAPD SWAT team to find the answers.
Bottom line: 25 to Life is for you if you like classic hard-boiled PIs who punch first and ask questions later and do the dirty work that the good cops can’t.
Echo from a Bayou by J. Luke Bennecke
Echo from a Bayou is a paranormal suspense. John Bastian went head-first into a tree. He woke from a coma and, yeah, he could see dead people. Even weirder, John woke with memories of a war he never fought in, a career he never had, and a wife he never kissed. Flashes hinted at map leading to treasure and an ax leading to death of the man who John was…Jack Bachman. Now John is on the hunt for the treasure, his murderer, and the woman he left behind.
Bottom line: Echo from a Bayou is for you if you like your suspense steeped in the supernatural, paced to draw out the good stuff and finishing with one of the best, eerie endings you’ve ever seen.
Reckoning is a mystery with a conspiracy thriller subgenre. It’s the 1970s and Portland, OR Detective Clark Wehr is found dead in a fishing cabin, hours from home. Everyone from Wehr’s partner to his commander wants the case closed quickly as a suicide. But Sheriff Ty Dawson has questions that the evidence isn’t satisfying and he’s going to keep digging until he gets the answers.
Bottom line: Reckoning is for you if you like cheering on the underdog and calling out injustices for the sleezy, dirty lies they are.
Deadly Depths by John F. Dobbyn
Deadly Depths is a genre crosser. It can be found under Amateur Sleuth mystery and murder thriller. I would classify it as an Adventure bookended by Amateur Sleuth. Archeologist Barrington “Barry” Holmes is dead. With a slit wrist, the police rule it suicide. Holmes’s protégé, Matthew Shane, former Air Force Intelligence and current professor of law, calls bullshit. The path to resolving Holmes’s death puts him face-to-face with a voodoo curse, a notorious antiquities dealer and a three hundred-and fifty-year-old promise between the leader of the Aztec people and the famous Englishman, Captain Henry Morgan.
Bottom line: Deadly Depths is for you if you like treasure hunts, a jumble of altruistic, self-serving, and devious characters, and murder of the lowest degree.
Bastard Verdict by James McCrone
Bastard Verdict is a Political Thriller. FBI Special Agent Imogen Trager is on sabbatical. She’s taking a break from the fall out of her last cases to dive into the safe world of academia. At visiting fellow at Scotland’s University of Glasgow, she’s diving into the data behind referendums in the US, Scotland, and Sweden. But then a question is raised about the validity of the 2014 Scottish referendum on independence. And that quick, Imogen is back in the thick of it.
Bottom line: Bastard Verdict is for you if you like sophisticated, intricately woven political thrillers steeped in real historical events.
The Hemingway Deception by Tj O’Connor
The Hemingway Deception is a Thriller. Hemingway. No one knows who he is or what he can do, only that he is the ultimate prize. The key lies with Dr. Montilla, who some label a saint and others a guerilla.
Bottom line: The Hemingway Deception is for you if you like multi-hero stories where everyone is out for themselves for damn good reasons and the stakes are so high, losing means war.
Psycho Therapy by TG Wolff
Psycho Therapy is a Mystery. Diamond. One name for a woman who is faking it until she makes it. And she will make it. At least that’s what she’s telling herself. Dr. Robin Ransom is a therapist to first responders, cops, and spies. She has a problem. She is being blackmailed via email by a nameless, faceless crook. Her neighbor Murali Devi, is an IT wizard who said he’d take care of the problem for her. Now he’s dead. And there’s a hot British guy after her for information she swears she doesn’t have.
Bottom line: Widow’s Run is for you if you like fast-paced mysteries, dynamic characters, and story meant to be read just for the fun of it.
Suicide Squeeze by TG Wolff
Diamond. One name for a woman with one purpose. Or she was, until she finished her to-do list. Now she’s just a woman ready to be over with it all. When her marker is called in, she has no choice but to listen. It’s just like fate throw her a curve ball, sending her the one problem she can’t walk away from. Hanna’s situation is virtually identical to her own with one exception: Hanna’s man might still be alive.
Bottom line: Widow’s Run is for you if you like fast-paced mysteries, dynamic characters, and story meant to be read just for the fun of it.
Widow’s Run by TG Wolff
Widow’s Run is a Mystery. Diamond. One name for a woman with one purpose in life. It should have been ordinary, her husband attending a scientific conference, except he didn’t come home. A random accident. Or was it? A video surfaces calling facts into question, but the police only have words of sympathy for the new widow. Resurrecting her CIA cover, Diamond goes where the police won’t. From Washington DC to Rome, Italy, to Tulsa, Oklahoma, her widow’s run follows the stink greed leaves in its wake. Murder is filthy business. Good thing Diamond likes playing dirty.
Bottom line: Widow’s Run is for you if you like fast-paced mysteries, dynamic characters, and story meant to be read just for the fun of it.
Dream Stalker by Nancy Gardner
Dream Stalker lists as a paranormal cozy mystery. It’s October in Salem, Massachusetts and Mrs. Lily Scott, wiccan, herbalist, and dream walker, is up to her neck in trouble. It started with a childhood friend, she suicided in front Lily. That was followed with two murders, arson, another suicide, and an accident that threatens the life of the best woman Lily knows, her sister Ann. Lily follows a trail of clues to protect the women she cares for, including the one she loves most, her own daughter.
Bottom line: Dream Stalker is for you if you like your mysteries clean, your witches wiccan, and your fiction feminine.
The Bone Records by Rich Zahradnik
The Bone Records is a thriller. Grigg Orlov, the son of a Russian father and Jamaican mother (deceased), was an outsider in his own neighborhood. His father disappeared six months ago and the NYPD wasn’t interested in looking for him. Grigg alone has been searching while juggling two jobs. Just as suddenly, his father returns, with a gunman hot on his heels. His father’s last stand launches Grigg on mission for the truth. One with twisted truths and secrets buried so deep, dying is the only way out.
Bottom line: The Bone Records is for you if you like lightning-fast pacing, engaging underdogs, and a setting in one of America’s hidden cultures.
What Meets the Eye by Alex Kenna
What Meets the Eye is a Private Investigator mystery. PI Kate Myles takes a job everyone else has turned down, the investigation of an avant-garde artist’s death. LAPD, Kate’s former employer, determined it was a suicide. But, of course, her father doesn’t buy it for no fact-based reason. Kate’s taken this job before and three out of three times, the cops were right. But this time? This time just may be different.
Bottom line: What Meets the Eye is for you if you like your art edgy, your stakes high, and your dirty deeds done anything but cheap.
A Bad Bout of the Yips by Ken Harris
A Bad Bout of the Yips is a PI mystery. Partners Steve Rockfish and Jawnie McGee are neck deep in the kind of trouble that puts you six feet under. First, there is the case. Their clients are being threatened and their property burned to incentivize them to sell their putt putt business. Then, there is the next streaming show. Angel is coming to talk. And so is his money. Finally, there’s the mob. Annetta Provolone may be under house arrest but Jawnie’s the one who is locked down until the retrial. Nothing goes right. Not a single, damn thing.
Bottom line: A Bad Bout of the Yips is for you if you like stubborn private investigators with smart mouths and ideas so bad, they’re great.
Chaos at Carnegie Hall by Kelly Oliver
Chaos at Carnegie Hall is a cozy, historical mystery. It is the first in the Fiona Figg / Kitty Lane mystery series, picking up the character of Fiona Figg from a separate cozy series by Kelly Oliver. It’s 1917 and Temporary British Intelligence officer Fiona Figg is sent from London to New York in pursuit of Frederick Fredericks, a smooth talking South African who is determined to undermine the British war effort. When Fredericks is arrested for murder, one crime Fiona is certain he didn’t commit, she finds her only solution is to burn the candle from both ends.
Bottom line: Chaos at Carnegie Hall is for you if you like the quirks of cozy, the nostalgia of WWI era settings, and the charm of British mysteries.
Duplicity is a mystery, the kind I call a “follow along.” Brick Kavanagh is officially retired from the Washington DC police Homicide Squad. Unofficially, he’s got a few irons in the fire. The most promising is an airline stewardess named Nora that just might be worth relocating to Chicago. A potential paying gig, Brick is invited to mentor law students through a cold case in their own back yard. Then there is the thing that happens to his partner’s wife. For that, everything else can wait.
Bottom line: Duplicity is for you if you like appealing characters getting in the weeds of missing persons and cold case mysteries.
The Accidental Spy by David Gardner
The Accidental Spy is a Suspense Thriller with a minor in satire. Harvey Hudson is a big thinker. A professor of Big History, his niche in this world is to understand how things begin and how they end. His lackluster technical writing career began with the end of his collegiate teaching career. Breaking the top commandments for cyber security, he invites industrial espionage into his company’s servers. But, no worries, the CIA is on this…and so are the Russians. And Harvey, he’s the pinball stuck in between, working to make his own way out.
Bottom line: The Accidental Spy is for you if you like thrillers that are more intellectual than physical, where you can cheer for the underdog.
Hero Haters 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.
1 Last Betrayal by Valerie J. Brooks
1 Last Betrayal is a thriller. Angeline Porter is picking up where she left off from the 2nd book in the series, Tainted Times 2, putting it all on the line for her half-sister. Bibi has disappeared and based on the last few texts, it wasn’t willingly. Angeline flies from Oregon to Florida to extract her sister from a hornets nest that includes a local detective, an ethically questionable FBI agent, a totally unethical mob queen, and a half-brother who only wants to be her family.
Bottom line: 1 Last Betrayal is for you if you like intricately woven plots that unravel one knot at a time.
The Midnight Call by Jode Millman
The Midnight Call is a legal thriller. Jessica Martin is a corporate attorney whose mentor, Terence Butterfield, is in big trouble – the bloody kind. Jeremy Riley is the past-his-prime defense attorney Jess brings in to defend Terence. Hal Samuels is the Assistant District Attorney pressured to make sure justice is a big, public win. But it’s not that easy – it never is. Past relationships cloud the facts until the web is indeed a tangled one.
Bottom line: The Midnight Call is for you if you like thrillers rooted in a court room with drama driven by personal choices of good people put in bad situations.
The Perfect Brother by Chris Patchell
This story is made up of two parts. The first part is suspense; the second part is amateur sleuth. This one is hard to summarize without giving too much away.
Suspense: In a university area of Vancouver, a college co-ed Katie Lord disappeared during a run. Flyers are up everywhere and the cops like her fiancé for it. Mallory Riggins isn’t thinking about Katie when she discovers her driver’s side window shattered. She’s not thinking about anything except how to pay for the repair. Which is too bad. She really should.
Mystery: Amar Saraf is the college professor his students call Dr. Hottie. His is admired by his students and is the apple of his parents’ eye. Indira is his brilliant, younger sister who bucks tradition and her parents at every turn. But even she admits, Amar is the perfect brother. Which is why, when Amar is arrested for the murder of his lover, Indira puts her software engineering skills to work to catch a killer.
Bottom line: The Perfect Brother is for you if you like suspense, dynamic amateur sleuths, and technology as an integral part of detecting.
This is an amateur sleuth mystery with elements of a legal thriller. James Crosby, as you heard, is dead. The finger of guilt is pointed at a 19-year-old transient who was a member of the church Crosby led. Arrested, the young woman, Stacey Roberts, calls the one person she knows in New Orleans who can help her, law professor Emma Thornton. The quest for Reasonable Doubt takes Emma into the back rooms of a cult, a head shop in the French Quarter, and under the overpass.
Bottom line: SANCTUARY is for you if you like sophisticated amateur sleuths
In Danger of Judgment by David Rabin
This is thriller. Set in 1987, the thug life in Chicago kept Detectives William “Bernie” Bernardelli and Marcelle DeSantis up to their elbows in blood and guts. That life was about to get disrupted. The heroin market, cornered by two rival Mexican cartels, is being violently squeezed by the newest game in town, the Asian powered Quon. And what makes Quon powerful is an American-born mercenary turned enforcer named Robert Thornton, aka The Professor.
Bottom line: IN DANGER OF JUDGEMENT is for you if you like domestic intrigue, military operations, and stories where the definition of justice is fluid.
Dead in the Alley by Sharon Michalove
This is a second-time around, romantic suspense story. Bay Bishop has moved back home to small-town Michigan with her husband Derrick to start an upscale restaurant. It is a success in so many ways. But then Derrick is killed in a hit-and-run right outside the restaurant’s back door. The investigation takes an abrupt turn when a connection to drug trafficking is found. Enter Greg Musgrove, narcotics detective and the high school boyfriend who ghosted on her nearly 20 years ago.
Bottom line: Dead in an Alley is for you if you like second chance, redemption romances, culinary morsels, and rich storylines that immerse you in the lives of the main characters.
See You Next Tuesday by Ken Harris
This is a Private Investigator and grift story. The dynamic team of Steve Rochfish and Jawnie McGee tackle their first case as full partners. A line from later in the book gives the perfect synopsis. It’s a simple cheating husband case turned into a search and rescue, cult exfiltration and a wild ride that comes back to two old guys getting ripped off.
Bottom line: See You Next Tuesday is for you if you like PI’s who like to mix it up with the bad guys and refuse to quit—even after the cops tell them too. Like four times.
This book is an amateur sleuth story where Katheryn Stinson, a curator of prints and photographs for a small library, is drawn into the mystery of the surfacing body of a local man who went missing forty years prior.
Bottom line: Architect of Courage is for you if you are into thrillers, faster paced stories, and international flavors.
Architect of Courage by Victoria Weisfeld
In the book, the genre was listed as murder mystery. If you pick up this book expecting a murder mystery, you will be disappointed. This book is not a whodunnit, where the amateur sleuth Archer Landis is solving the mystery of his lover’s murder. This book is a thriller, where the unwilling hero, Archer Landis, is being accosted personally and professionally, forcing him to chase the rabbit down its hole.
Bottom line: Architect of Courage is for you if you are into thrillers, faster paced stories, and international flavors.
TG Wolff 