TT18: Widow's Run (Diamond #1)

Welcome to Mysteries to Die For and this Toe Tag.I am TG Wolff and am here with Jack, my piano player and producer. This is normally a podcast where we combine storytelling with original music to put you at the heart of mystery, murder, and mayhem. Today is a bonus episode we call a Toe Tag. It is the first chapter from a fresh release in the mystery, crime, and thriller genre.Today’s I’m starting an early celebration of the July 10th release of Pyscho Therapy, the last in my Diamond Trilogy with this Toe Tag of the first story, Widow’s Run. Widow’s Run is the first season of Mysteries to Die For. The book was our inspiration for starting the podcast as much as it was our guinea pig in learning how to do, well, everything..The Widow’s Run was released November 2019 from Down & Out Books and is available from AMAZON LINK and other book retailers.Everyone but Tina's ReviewWidow’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 Strengths of the story. To give you an unbiased review, I’m using posted reviews…Two from Amazon, “Widow's Run is a suspenseful thriller with well-crafted characters and a plot that leaves you guessing until the very end.” And “Widow's Run is a nonstop roller coaster ride of chaos and suspense with a lead character who's not afraid to speak her mind...and has the resources to back her words up. Determined to find the true reason behind her husband's death, Diamond will stop at nothing to get the answers...including faking her own death and then showing up in disguise at the funeral. Both her tongue and mind are sharp as a whip, making this a super fun read.” These are fair. This story is about pacing and characters. It’s a solid mystery, but simple, it had to be because everything around it was so complex. I was inspired by Rick Riordan’s Percy Jackson series – each chapter is it’s own story and also moves the overall story along. It made it a blast to write and it what give the pacing it’s feel.Where the story fell short of ideal: Miriam on GoodReads gave me a 3.5 for zest and enthusiasm- thanks for the bump, Miriam. She felt it was “a convoluted spy / mystery / thriller that begins in a slapstick humor manner and, while calming down some, is still frenetic as Diamond travels to Rome and back to the states. She's got a lot of help, some more useful than others.There are a few grammatical errors, and a doozy of a continuity issue at the very end as the dead people are incorrectly identified.If you do pick up this slim mystery, don't put it down or you'll lose track of all the disparate threads.”The comment on slapstick is reasonable. Overall, it may give the impression the book is silly, which it isn't. But it does feature gags that mix physical timing and mental wit. It is more Dead Pool than Inspector Gadget.I have no reason to doubt the grammatical errors are there. They drive me crazy. No less than four professionals reviewed this book…and still they sneak through. Just enjoy them, that’s what I do when I find one – it’s like finding a four leaf clover. Maybe when books are written by AI they'll be perfect. Until there, when you find a oops think, 'Hey, a human wrote this! Cool.' As to the continuity issue, well I had to look into that one because continuity is one of my big thing’s and…nope…all the names were correct. Now, as Miriam implied, there were a bunch of characters, and not all of them died (some were only severely maimed). I suspect she read something in a way I didn’t intend. Reading it as I did intend, no issue. If any of you think you find the error, email me at tina at tgwolff dot com. I'll send you a book if you find it and I’m curious what you see.So, I'm inviting you take six hours out of your reality to read Widow’s Run, the first Diamond Adventure. Review it, help me get up to like 20 reviews. It would mean a lot. Then you’ll be ready to pick up with Suicide Squeeze, the first chapter is our next toe tag