You’d think if they missed her so badly they’d have another child. Right?
Instead, they split.
I’m sure they would have split up anyway. So I saved Baby Bella from the heartbreak of a broken home, on top of everything else.
Would you like me to share more secrets?
Or are you ready for the puzzle?
PUZZLE #35
How many wood blocks are on this table?
I thought after all the complicated brain teasers I’ve sent you, it was time for a simple one.
Simple as in easy to understand. Not simple as in easy to do.
Let me tell you, Joe, that I’m the one that built this tower, and even I had to count it several times to make sure I had the right number.
SPOILER ALERT!
The mirror is there to help you, not trick you.
Happy counting,
Unknown Sendert
From: Joe Konrath
To: Unknown Sender
US—
Murder isn’t a game.
You should turn yourself in.
I’m here to help you, if you need it.
Yours sincerely,
Joe
From: Unknown Sender
To: JA Konrath
Subject: Why I’ll Do It–36
Joe, Joe, Joe…
You seriously want me to turn myself in?
Are you sure you aren’t the one forgetting your meds all the time?
I’m not going back to prison. Ever.
I’m too smart to be caught.
I’m smarter than the cops.
And the FBI.
And you.
And all your readers.
Giving up would be like Picasso cutting off his hands. You don’t hobble a great artist.
You encourage him.
You aren’t very encouraging, Joe.
You should be punished.
How about an especially complicated puzzle?
Proceed with caution…
PUZZLE #36
Read this entire puzzle very carefully before attempting to solve it.
What eight-letter word becomes longer when you take away two letters from it?
I was born six pounds, seven ounces. Every year I gained four pounds plus 20% of what I was the year prior. When I turned twenty years old, and I took a job as a butcher and ate so much meat that within a few months I gained the same amount I was when I was nine years old. My question is: A few months into my job as a butcher, what did I weigh?
A building that has over forty stories is called a skyscraper. What’s a public building with thousands of stories called?
What contains thousands of letters, but it is only two words long.
I breathe. I eat. I grow. I can even reproduce. But I’m not alive, and water kills me. What am I?
The whiter I get, the dirtier I get. What am I?
The last year to look the exact same upside-down as it does right side up is 1961. What will be the next year to carry this same characteristic?
Put ALL THE ANSWERS in the textbox.
I really don’t like shouting. Daddy used to yell all the time. But I find that, when done sparingly, it is an effective way to get a person’s attention.
So is stabbing, if you’re curious.
I know, I know… this puzzle is a real son of a bitch. You’re probably going to spend hours on it. And even then, you may not get it right. And you probably won’t know where you messed up.
Want a hint?
SPOILER ALERT!
Did you follow directions?
Ha! Not much of a hint!
Or is it?
This is the last of the WHY puzzles, Joe.
If you figure them all out, you’ll finally know why I’m going to murder someone.
I’m excited for you.
So far, there have been thirty-six puzzles. And correct answers will lead you to HOW I’m going to murder my victim, WHERE they will be murdered, and now, finally, WHY.
You write mysteries. All killers have a motive.
Aren’t you eager to learn mine?
Good luck,
Wnknown Sender
From: Joe Konrath
To: Unknown Sender
US—
You were right. This was a hard puzzle.
I haven’t gotten it yet.
But I know my readers are working on it. So even if I don’t get the answer, someone else will.
You’re not going to kill anybody.
You’re going to jail.
The FBI has been bcc’d on every one of our emails. They’re using the latest technology to track you down.
The Internet isn’t as anonymous as you think, Tim.
Yes, I know your real name is Tim.
I also know where you live.
You wanted to play?
Now we’re playing.
We’re playing for keeps, shit head.
The next time your doorbell rings, it’s going to be a dozen Feds in body armor armed with Glocks and warrants, ready to haul your sorry ass to prison.
Soon,
Joe Konrath
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 KILLER
S 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
RUSTY NAIL
Someone is sending Jack snuff videos. The victims are people she knows, and they share a common trait—each was involved in one of Jack’s previous cases. With her stalwart partner hospitalized and unable to help, Jack follows a trail of death throughout the Midwest, on a collision course with the smartest and deadliest adversary she’s ever known.
During the chase, Jack jeopardizes her career, her love life, and her closest friends. She also comes to a startling realization—serial killers have families, and blood runs thick.
Rusty Nail features more of the laugh-out-loud humor and crazy characters that saturated Whiskey Sour and Bloody Mary, without sacrificing the nail-biting thrills. This is Jack Daniels’s third, and most exciting, adventure yet.
RUSTY NAIL by J.A. Konrath.
THE LIST
A billionaire Senator with money to burn…
A thirty year old science experiment, about to be revealed…
Seven people, marked for death, not for what they know, but for what they are…
THE LIST
History is about to repeat itself.
STOP A MURDER – WHO
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…
#4 STOP A MURDER – WHO: Puzzles 37–48
Sign up for the J.A. Konrath newsletter. A few times a year I pick random people to give free stuff to. It could be you.
http://www.jakonrath.com/mailing-list.php
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STOP A MURDER – WHY
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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