S3E3 Pinkerton’s The Expressman and The Detective

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. 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 3, Enter the Detective. This season contains adaptations of the first cases for detectives. Some will be characters from book, screen, and stage. Others will be lesser known but with great stories that we hope you give a try. Episode 3 is about temptation, planning, and self-control. This is Pinkerton’s The Detective and the Expressman and adaptation of The Detective and the Expressman by Allan Pinkerton.Support our Sponsors!Down and Out Books.Mysteries and thrillers from mainstream publishers leave you feeling like you kissed your best friend? Then you are ready to step down to Down & Out Books. Mystery, thrillers and horror. Gritty. Hard core. Obscure. Twisted. Imaginative. Fantastic. Stories the way you like them. Discover your next amazing read at Downandoutbooks.comPersons Unknown by Michael PenncavageSteve Harrison, thirty-five years old, handsome, has the world in his hands.  He is admired by his co-workers, his friends, his wife, and his mistress. And then he gets a call."Bill” informs him that his wife has been kidnapped and if Steve wants her back alive, he has to do exactly what he says.  If Steve deviates from Bill’s plan, tries going to the police, or tries to involve others, his wife won’t be breathing when he brings her home. Buy, download, and read Person Unknown by Michael Penncavage. From publisher Down & Out Books. Buy Direct from D&O HERE Exacting Justice by TG Wolff (That’s me!)Do you dig a flawed cop? Meet Cleveland homicide detective Jesus De La Cruz. In his debut case, Exacting Justice, Cruz is after a serial killer who preys on the drug community. He is damned if he does, damned if he doesn’t in a case where the bad guy is making the streets safer. After coming close too many times, Cruz goes under cover, coming face-to-face with his demons for a chance to end a killer’s reign. Read Exacting Justice and see if you can beat Cruz to the truth. Happy Hunting, detective. From Down & Out Books. Available in paperback and e-book from your favorite book seller. Amazon Link. Episode Materials There are several places where you can find the original. Gutenberg is one of them. https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/22155Background on Allan Pinkerton can be found on the company website and Wikipedia among others:https://pinkerton.com/our-story/historyhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allan_PinkertonResearch locations on the history of American money and our banking system:https://eh.net/encyclopedia/antebellum-banking-in-the-united-states/ https://www.history.com/news/8-things-you-may-not-know-about-american-moneyhttps://www.aba.com/about-us/our-story/aba-history/1850-1899Cast of characters (in the order of appearance)Allan Pinkerton: Detective extraordinaire.Nathan Maroney: our primary quarryMrs. Maroney: our secondary quarryFlora: Mrs. Maroney’s young daughterJohn R. White: Pinkteron detective assigned to Nathan MaronyKate Warne aka Madam Imbert: Pinkerton detective assigned to Mrs. MaroneyMr. DeForest: employee of Adams Express Company assigned to distract Mrs. Maroney. Becomes a bit distracted himself.Mrs. Cox: the sister Mrs. Maroney lives with in Jenkintown, PAMr. Joshua Cox: Mrs. Maroney’s brother-in-lawPinkteron detectives:Shadow: man assigned to track the movements of the characters when they travelPorter: man assigned to the rooming house in Montgomery, AL where the Maroney’s livedRunner: man assigned to support White, acting as his message runnerPlant: man assigned to get close to Mr. Joshua Cox,  After the StoryThis story was the first Pinkerton published and, as I said, it is true crime. This was a long story was so, so, so many characters that boiling it down to the essence was challenging. Finishing the story left me with questions that, if this were fiction, I would rant about. Here, I’ll just mention them. First, the original story gives no reason why Pinkerton or other focused on Maroney over the messenger. Generalities are given, like the messenger was a good man, but the same was said about Maroney. It seems there had to be something more solid, even if it was circumstantial, that would make going to such lengths worth the gamble.I would have liked a better explanation of what Maroney was charged with in New York. He was arrested from Federal Marshalls, not city police. If he was tried for the theft, why was he tried again in Montgomery?Pinkerton does not tie off the lose end of Mrs. Maroney. We have no clue to if she was prosecuted or left to just fend for herself. At some point, Madam Imbert went back to being Kate Warne and Pinkerton would have wanted his house back. I did laugh a bit as this was a financial mystery. I have the hardest time following the details of financial schemes and it turns out, it is even worse when going back 200 years. Shesh, we weren’t even using a common currency then. Talk about something that blows my mind.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. Become a member of our Body Bag Brigade by financially supporting this season with a one-time donation. Pay what you can. Information is in the show notes and on our website TGWolff.com/Podcast. DONATE HEREMysteries to Die For is written by TG Wolff with contribution from Jack Wolff. Pinkterton’s The Expressman and The Detective was written by TG Wolff, adapted from The Expressman and The Detective by Allan Pinkteron. Music and production and by Jack Wolff. Episode art is by Shannon Leahy.