S7E4 Hard Scrabble

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 4, that classic Scrabble is the featured game. This is Hard Scrabble by KM Rockwood

PRE-ROLL

Hi everyone TG Wolff here. You are about to hear a story from KM Rockwood. She’s an awesome storyteller whose stories never quite go where you expect.

Rose, who gave “Abduction and Lies” a 5-star review on Amazon said “This book is written with the same dark realism as the others in the series. By the end of the book, Jesse's current issues are solved and I breathe a sigh of relief. Until the next time. You are never going to meet a more likeable protagonist than Jesse Damon. Or one who gets into more trouble. Or one you will worry about more.”

Check out KM’s books on her website, kmrockwood.com, Amazon, or your favorite online retailer.

DELIBERATION

Here we are at the deliberation of another Mysteries to Die For ad free episode. In exchange for not assuming you need a virtual therapist, support our authors by checking out their backlists and picking up a title. This week is KM Rockwood. Now…

Misha Soleby-Welkins is getting some kind of education working at the senior center. To pass here dissertation, she’s going to need an answer to what happened to Mr. Davidson. Here are her suspects, I mean clients, in the order we met them:

• Henry, the Scrabble rebel who uses a crutch

• Leonard, the other Scrabble rebel who walks unaided

• Corina, the flatulent woman who uses a walker

• Simon, the perpetually hungry man who uses a wheelchair

• Margaret, the group’s heart and voice of reason

• Mr. Parsons, the hottie who is the backup manager for Mr. Davison

Here are the facts Misha is working with:

• Davidson micromanaged, berated, and even injured the center’s clients, driving himself to a migraine. He leaves before lunch, walking toward his home on the other side of the tracks. Mr. Parson discovers the body some time later. It had been severed by the train.

• Simon rolled his wheelchair outside before Davidson left for a quiet place to each the muffins Misha snuck to him. Margaret went and brought him back in to avoid Davidson catching him.

• Henry goes outside for a cigarette while Misha and others prepare lunch. Margaret goes out to get him when lunch is ready.

• After a mystery lunch, Corina goes outside to spare her friends her flatulent side effects. Leonard takes the lunch trash outside.

• When Misha starts the Scrabble game, Leonard is unaccounted for. He hurries in, looking for Mr. Parsons who has not arrived.

• Leonard thought he saw Mr. Parsons’s car when he took the garbage out. Margaret says he is mistaken. Mr. Parsons and his car are stuck on the other side of the train.

Who should Misha pen as a silver killer and, for bonus points, what was that concoction she served for lunch?

A reminder to mystery readers, check out our print and e-books. The companion book for Season 4, 5 and 6 are available in e-book and trade paperback from online retailers. This season’s book is being released in two parts. Part one will be released in March 19, 2024 and Part two in September. 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 updated software and outdate T-shirts.

Season anthologies on Amazon

ABOUT KM Rockwood

kmrockwood.com

KM Rockwood draws on a varied background for stories, among them working as a laborer in a steel fabrication plant, operating glass melters and related equipment in a fiberglass manufacturing facility, and supervising an inmate work crew in a large medium security state prison. These jobs, as well as work as a special education teacher in an alternative high school and a GED teacher in county detention facilities, provide most of the background for novels and short stories.

ABOUT Scrabble

According to Wikipedia, the game was originated in the US in 1931, the brainchild of architect Alfred M. Butts. The game, Criss-Crosswords, was a variation on an earlier game he created. He did make and sell the game himself but was unable to get it to catch on. Several game companies rejected picked it up. In 1948, Butts sold the rights to manufacture the game to James Brunot. A turning point came in 1952 when the department store Macy’s placed a large order for the games. Rumor was that Macy’s president played the game on a vacation and he liked it so much, he added it to their line up. Hitting big was too much for Brunot, who licenses Selchow and Righter to manufacture the game. They were one who previously turned it down. Rights to sell the game in UK and Australia were sold to JW Spear. Rights has consolidated to Hasbro in the US and Canada and Mattel everywhere else.

Scrabble has been produced in many languages as well as Braille. Scrabble organizations and scrabble tournaments exist all over the world. The world championships are held annually. If you love Scrabble, so do a lot of other people. There are friends out there, waiting for you to come play a game.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scrabble#:~:text=Scrabble%20is%20produced%20in%20the,outside%20the%20U.S.%20and%20Canada.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Scrabble_Championship

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. Hard Scrabble was written by KM Rockwood. 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, A Forced Card by Ed Teja where Indian Poker or Blind Man’s Bluff is the featured game.