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S7 TT8: One Dead Two To Go
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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. 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\\u2019s featured release is One Dead, Two To Go by Elena Hartwell
TG Wolff Review
One Dead, Two To Go is a PI Mystery. Eddie Shoes\\u2019 latest client is the worst. She lies. She cheats. And now, just after the body of her husband\\u2019s mistress is found, she\\u2019s gone missing. Eddie has to go find her\\u2026it\\u2019s the only way she\\u2019s 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.
Strengths of the story. The storytelling style is the first thing I noticed. It\\u2019s fun, free, and fast-paced. Written in the same vein as Evanovich\\u2019s Stephanie Plum, Hartwell\\u2019s Eddie Shoes is serious about her work. She has to be to manage the chaos around her.
Eddie Shoes, born Edwina Zapata Shultz, is the daughter of card shark and a mafioso. She\\u2019s a woman who uses her brains to make a living as a PI. She isn\\u2019t a fighter but she is tenacious and willing to go where good sense doesn\\u2019t tread. She was well developed and an easy character to cheer for.
Eddie\\u2019s mother drops in for an uninvited extended visit and decides to help out. Chava is different from most mother characters. She was 16 when Eddie was born, so this mama is only in her mid-forties. She is a slight of hand pro in addition to card player and has the same tenacity as her daughter. Chava becomes Eddie\\u2019s ad hoc assistant, bringing her own skills and connections to the case.
The story has a murder but the plot is focused on the disappearance of Eddie\\u2019s client, Kendra Hallings. Between a cheating husband and a mystery man, it seems all but certain that Kendra was kidnapped. Before Eddie can put the pieces together\\u2026she has to find them. Kendra\\u2019s life isn\\u2019t what she painted it to be. Her husband isn\\u2019t what she thought he was. And then there\\u2019s that mystery man again.
Where the story fell short of ideal: With comedic style stories, it\\u2019s often hard to check all the boxes, but this one does. The bones of the kidnapping mystery are strong with the actions of the parties being consistent with their motivations. I thought about the end for several days after reading it, following each thread to see if they stood up, and they do.
Eddie drives her part of the plot and, in doing so, forces the bad guys to act. She could have stopped looking for Kendra, and the story would have ended. Eddie, with the help of Chava, pushed this story to a satisfying end.
One Dead, Two To Go was released in 2023 from Open Road Media Mystery & Thriller and is promoted by Partners In Crime Tours and is available from AMAZON LINK and other book retailers. The next two books in the series \\u2013 Two Heads Are Deader Than One and Three Strikes, You\\u2019re Dead are also available
About Elena Hartwell
Elena Hartwell spent several years working in theater as a playwright, director, designer, and...'