S5E6 Scorching the Back Seat

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. Some episodes are original stories, others will be classics that helped shape the mystery genre we know today. All 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 (unless it's really bad)Support our show by subscribing, telling a mystery lover about us, and giving us a five-star review. And mystery readers, check out our print and e-books. A Word Before Dying is available from all on-line book retailers. And pre-order is available now for Move It or Lose It. Releasing on March 21, share it with your favorite book lover. This is Season 5, Move It or Lose It. This season contains original stories paying homage to the vehicles that propel mysteries forward. A train was the setting for Agatha Christie’s famed Murder on the Orient Express. A river boat then took center stage on Death on the Nile. Cars have been prominently featured in American crime stories with the glory of the get-a-way vehicle. Then there are the heists from carriages to trains to armored trucks. For Episode 6, 1960s era Volkswagen is the featured vehicle. This is Scorching the Back Seat by Craig Faustus BuckABOUT Craig Faustus BuckCraig Faustus Buck has been a journalist, a nonfiction book author, and a TV writer-producer. He currently writes short stories, crime novels, and feature films. His noir novel Go Down Hard and his short stories have been nominated for or won multiple awards. Of his six nonfiction books, two were #1 New York Times bestsellers--one pop-psychology the other pop-gynecology. His short film Overnight Sensation, was nominated for an Academy Award. He was one of the writers on V: The Final Battle, the most watched science fiction event in television history, and wrote the famous episode where The Incredible Hulk dropped acid. Based in Los Angeles, he is an active member of Mystery Writers of America, Sisters in Crime, Writers Guild of America, International Thriller Writers, and Barbecue Brethren.http://www.craigfaustusbuck.com/DELIBERATIONCraig Faustus Buck has given us a Cold War enigma to solve for our friend Slate. Here are the characters he’s met since his eyes have been open, in the order of appearance:• Dr. Hermann, the attending physician who pegged Slate as an American• Leutnant Fleischer, the red-headed investigator from the People’s Police who suspects Slate is more than just unlucky• Dr. Kohl, the psychiatrist whose job it is to make sure Slate’s mind is as healed as his body• Rommy, an American from a Southern state who claims that Slate knew him previously as a drug dealing associate, though this strikes Slate as unlikely• Charlene, another American who has trouble keeping her shirts buttoned• Alex, a bartender at the DK who busted Slate and Charlene in a private momentHere is what we know about what happened to Slate:• He was shot in the head at close range. The Stasi found him and took him to the hospital, where he woke up without a memory, his wallet or his identification papers.• Slate’s body shows evidence of other injuries, including knife wounds. None are reported as being new.• Slate speaks German but defaults to English. His accent is American, with no specification of a region.• Rommy finds out that Slate is in the hospital and goes to meet him. He does not share how he learned Slate was in a East German hospital.• The People’s Police authorize Slate’s release to Rommy, who takes him to West Germany and the one-bedroom flat he shares with Charlene.• Rommy reveals that he sells drugs to the East German officers in exchange for secrets he then sells to the CIA. Slate occasionally works as his runner.• Charlene reveals that she and Slate were lovers, but they were careful to hide it from a jealous Rommy.• Alex caught Charlene and Slate in his back of his car and is presumed to have told Rommy.• Charlene says Rommy shot Slate, but Rommy denies it. If he had, he wouldn’t have missed.One of these people shot Slate and if we don’t figure out who, they may try it again. Whodunnit?WRAP UPThat wraps this episode of Mysteries to Die For. Please do 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. Scorching the Backseat was written by Craig Faustus Buck. Music and production are by Jack Wolff. Episode art is by TG Wolff.