Am I hitting too close to home?
What Nicky and I had was beyond love. We were brothers.
You’ll never understand that.
You want to see me choke to death on a tuna sandwich?
I’ll see you choke on your own words, when I send you a recording of the murder I’m going to commit, in your name.
So sling your hate. Study your pirated DSM-V ebook and try to figure me out.
You’re going to lose this game.
And when you do, you’re going to lose everything.
Later bro,
Unlown Sender
From: Joe Konrath
To: Unknown Sender
I get it now.
Nicky is your imaginary friend.
You’ve never had a best friend.
You’ve probably never had any friends.
All the things you did with Nicky are things you either wished you did, or did by yourself.
I’m sorry about that. I really am.
But forcing me to do puzzles isn’t the way to make friends.
The Internet is full of simple-to-join groups of like-minded folks. It’s easier than ever to meet people with similar interests.
You need to live in this world. Not in a fantasy world.
This needs to stop, man.
No good can come of it.
Don’t let your past and your illness define you. Be better than that.
Best,
Joe
From: Unknown Sender
To: JA Konrath
Subject: Where I’ll Do It–24
You ignorant cretin.
Live in this world? Not a fantasy world?
Really? From the guy who makes up shitty stories for a living?
It doesn’t matter if Nicky is real, or if I fabricated Nicky, or if Nicky is my split personality, or if I’m actually Nicky.
The truth is in the broad strokes, not the details.
If Einstein was insane and murdered children in his spare time, energy would still equal matter times the speed of light squared. Mark Twain was the alter ego for Samuel Clemens. Does that mean Tom Sawyer isn’t a much better book than anything you’ve written?
You don’t know everything. But you think you do, and that makes you stupid.
Have you ever played chess?
People who haven’t played think you win by killing the king.
That’s incorrect. You win if you checkmate your opponent. A checkmate isn’t death. It’s the inevitability of death.
You set traps until your opponent has nowhere else to go. All he can do is die.
Chess is like a dance. At the very same time, it’s like a war. You can play with, and admire, your opponent, and want to murder him at the same time.
I didn’t murder Nicky.
Daddy did.
He beat Nicky out of me.
He beat everything out of me.
But Daddy lost our chess game. He did maximum damage early on, but I was playing the long game. Luring him into a false sense of dominance, while slowly cutting off every avenue of escape.
Check, Nicky.
Checkmate, Daddy.
In remembrance of Nicky, I present to you a chess puzzle.
Take a look at this picture.
PUZZLE #24
Lance is at f6,
Helen is at b3,
Once you figure out their roles,
You’ll solve this easily.
Based on the above picture and poem, where’s Nathan?
Even if you’ve never played chess, this is easy enough to figure out. Assuming you know some pop culture along with some notation.
Need a bit of help?
SPOILER ALERT!
Lance, Helen, and Nathan are all in the same profession.
And that completes the WHERE category. If you answer all twelve puzzles correctly, you’ll get clues that point to where I’m going to kill my selected victim.
I hope you enjoy the video. But something tells me you aren’t smart enough to unlock it.
Good luck,
Unknoown Sender
From: Joe Konrath
To: Unknown Sender
US—
I know movies and film pretty well. I also know chess.
Your puzzle was clever.
Your video wasn’t.
Was that supposed to show me how talented you are? That you excel at the criminal arts?
Any second-rate magician can do the same thing.
You want to believe you’re some terrifying mastermind, scaring the hell out of me while wowing me with your incredible skills.
I’m not wowed.
You want to impress me?
Meet me. In person.
I’ll let you know, face-to-face, how smart and scary I think you are.
Do it, you chickenshit.
Or else our game is over, and I’ll refuse to even open your emails and you can start your little game over with someone else.
Let’s settle this in person.
Joe
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
I had a lot of help putting this one together. It’s worth taking the time to thank everybody.
First, my wife Maria and son Talon were indispensable. Not only with trying out puzzles, but for putting up with me for weeks as I hit them with brain teaser after brain teaser, trying to find the ones that worked best. Talon also did all of the video editing, and he and Dante Peinado were my crew for shooting all of the movie footage. Dante also appeared as Unknown Sender in several scenes. I’ll let the readers guess who played US the rest of the time.
The puzzles took a lot of work, and Latham Conger III helped out a tremendous amount. A lot of his devious mind is in this book. Also, Latham and I both drew on the tremendous collection of public domain puzzles available on the world wide web. There’s a lot of fun stuff out there, if you look for it.
Chris Klimas and Joel Haddock did Unknown Sender’s website, using a program called Twine that Chris created. If this ebook sparked your imagination to try something similar, hire them at http://unmappedpath.com.
Thanks as always to Rob Siders for the book design (www.52novels.com), Chereese Graves (http://grammar-rulesatoz.blogspot.com) for the proofing, and Carl Graves (www.extendedimagery.com) for the cover art. These guys make everything I do look and read a lot better.
I also had over fifty beta readers volunteer to test drive an early version of this. I’m grateful to them all for giving it a try, and the ones who got back to me quickly with notes and comments deserve to be thanked by name:
Beth Aaron, Christine Bock, John Donald Carlucci, Cara Colyott, Brandee Crisp, Jamie DeBree, Terri Dukes, Amanda Forrest, Teri Fuhrman, Ken Hattaway, S. Alexander Hicks, Megan Jarrett, Matt Linss, Louise Miller, Joe Mulak, Laura MT, Cathy Neumueller, Ann Voss Peterson, G. J. Phoenix, Jill Selkowitz, Ashley Smith, Rita Smith, Mary Stella, and Dawn Williams.
If I missed you, I either didn’t get your notes, or I left you out because I’m old and losing my mind. Shoot me an email and I’ll fix it.
Most of all, thanks to you, the reader, for trying something different from me, or trying something new even though you’ve never heard of me.
If you liked this, please spread the word. If the STOP A MURDER series does well, I’ll write more of them. I’d be foolish not to.
Thanks for reading!
Joe Konrath
JOE KONRATH’S
COMPLETE BIBLIOGRAPHY
JACK DANIELS THRILLERS
WHISKEY SOUR
BLOODY MARY
RUSTY NAIL
DIRTY MARTINI
FUZZY NAVEL
CHERRY BOMB
SHAKEN
STIRRED with Blake Crouch
RUM RUNNER
LAST CALL
SHOT OF TEQUILA
BANANA HAMMOCK
WHITE RUSSIAN
OLD FASHIONED
SERIAL KILLERS UNCUT with Blake Crouch
LADY 52 with Jude Hardin
65 PROOF short story
collection
FLOATERS short with Henry Perez
BURNERS short with Henry Perez
SUCKERS short with Jeff Strand
JACKED UP! short with Tracy Sharp
STRAIGHT UP short with Iain Rob Wright
CHEESE WRESTLING short with Bernard Schaffer
ABDUCTIONS short with Garth Perry
BEAT DOWN short with Garth Perry
BABYSITTING MONEY short with Ken Lindsey
OCTOBER DARK short with Joshua Simcox
RACKED short with Jude Hardin
BABE ON BOARD short with Ann Voss Peterson
WATCHED TOO LONG short with Ann Voss Peterson
PHINEAS TROUTT THRILLERS
DEAD ON MY FEET
DYING BREATH
EVERYBODY DIES
STOP A MURDER PUZZLE BOOKS
STOP A MURDER – HOW: PUZZLES 1 – 12
STOP A MURDER – WHERE: PUZZLES 13 – 24
STOP A MURDER – WHY: PUZZLES 25 – 36
STOP A MURDER – WHO: PUZZLES 37 – 48
STOP A MURDER – WHEN: PUZZLES 49 – 60
CODENAME: CHANDLER SERIES
EXPOSED with Ann Voss Peterson
HIT with Ann Voss Peterson
NAUGHTY with Ann Voss Peterson
FLEE with Ann Voss Peterson
SPREE with Ann Voss Peterson
THREE with Ann Voss Peterson
FIX with F. Paul Wilson and Ann Voss Peterson
RESCUE
THE HORROR COLLECTIVE
ORIGIN
THE LIST
DISTURB
AFRAID
TRAPPED
ENDURANCE
HAUNTED HOUSE
WEBCAM
DRACULAS with Blake Crouch, Jeff Strand, and F. Paul Wilson
HOLES IN THE GROUND with Iain Rob Wright
THE GREYS
SECOND COMING
THE NINE
GRANDMA? with Talon Konrath
WILD NIGHT IS CALLING short with Ann Voss Peterson
CLOSE YOUR EYES
FOUND FOOTAGE
TIMECASTER SERIES
TIMECASTER
TIMECASTER SUPERSYMMETRY
TIMECASTER STEAMPUNK
BYTER
EROTICA
(WRITING AS MELINDA DUCHAMP)
FIFTY SHADES OF ALICE IN WONDERLAND
FIFTY SHADES OF ALICE THROUGH THE LOOKING GLASS
FIFTY SHADES OF ALICE AT THE HELLFIRE CLUB
WANT IT BAD
FIFTY SHADES OF JEZEBEL AND THE BEANSTALK
FIFTY SHADES OF PUSS IN BOOTS
FIFTY SHADES OF GOLDILOCKS
THE SEXPERTS – FIFTY GRADES OF SHAY
THE SEXPERTS – THE GIRL WITH THE PEARL NECKLACE
THE SEXPERTS – LOVING THE ALIEN
THE SEVEN YEAR WITCH
LAST CALL
A retired cop past her prime…
A kidnapped bank robber fighting for his life…
A former mob enforcer with a blood debt…
A government assassin on the run…
A wisecracking private eye with only one hand…
A homicide sergeant with one week left on the job…
And three of the worst serial killers, ever.
This is where it all ends. An epic showdown in the desert, where good and evil will clash one last time.
His name is Luther Kite, and his specialty is murdering people in ways too horrible to imagine. He’s gone south, where he’s found a new, spectacular way to kill. And if you have enough money, you can bet on who dies first.
Legendary Chicago cop Jacqueline “Jack” Daniels has retired. She’s no longer chasing bad guys, content to stay out of the public eye and raise her new daughter. But when her daughter’s father, Phin Troutt, is kidnapped, she’s forced to strap on her gun one last time.
Since being separated from his psychotic soulmate, the prolific serial killer known as Donaldson has been desperately searching for her. Now he thinks he’s found out where his beloved, insane Lucy has been hiding. He’s going to find her, no matter how many people are slaughtered in the process.
All three will converge in the same place. La Juntita, Mexico. Where a bloodthirsty cartel is enslaving people and forcing them to fight to the death in insane, gladiator-style games.
Join Jack and Phin, Donaldson and Lucy, and Luther, for the very last act in their twisted, perverse saga.
Along for the ride are Jack’s friends; Harry and Herb, as well as a mob enforcer named Tequila, and a covert operative named Chandler.
There will be blood. And death. So much death…
LAST CALL by J.A. Konrath
The conclusion to the Jack Daniels/Luther Kite epic
AFRAID
WELCOME TO SAFE HAVEN, POPULATION 907…
Nestled in the woods of Wisconsin, Safe Haven is miles from everything. With one road in and out, this is a town so peaceful it has never needed a full-time police force. Until now…
A helicopter has crashed on the outskirts of town and something terrible has been unleashed. A classified secret weapon programmed to kill anything that stands in its way. Now it’s headed for the nearest lights to do what it does best. Isolate. Terrorize. Annihilate.
Soon all phone lines are dead and the road is blocked. Safe Haven’s only chance for survival rests on the shoulders of an aging county sheriff. And as the body count rises, the sheriff realizes something even more terrifying–maybe death hasn’t come to his little town by accident…
WELCOME TO SAFE HAVEN, POPULATION 907… 906… 905…
AFRAID by J.A. Konrath
Are you afraid of the dark? You will be.
STOP A MURDER – WHY
This is unlike any mystery or thriller book you’ve ever read before. You play the sleuth, and try to follow the clues and solve the puzzles to prevent a murder from happening.
In this five-book series, you’ll be tasked with decoding the mind and motivations of a nefarious killer who is plotting to commit an unspeakable crime.
Each book contains an epistolary collection of emails, texts, and letters, sent to bestselling author J.A. Konrath, by a serial killer. This psychopath is leaving detailed, cryptic hints about who will be murdered, why, when, where, and how.
Some of the hints are easy to figure out. Others are much more devious.
Do you like solving mysteries? Do you enjoy puzzles or escape-the-room games? Are you good at spotting clues?
Only you can stop a murder.
Are you smart enough?
Are you brave enough?
Let the games begin…
#3 STOP A MURDER – WHY: Puzzles 25–36
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STOP A MURDER – WHERE
Copyright © 2017 by Joe Konrath
Cover art copyright © 2017 by Carl Graves
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either products of the author’s imagination or used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental. All rights reserved. No part of this publication can be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, without permission in writing from Joe Konrath.
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