STOP A MURDER - WHO (Mystery Puzzle Book 4) Read online

It’s not all in the family.

  I expect an answer, Joe.

  And you readers had better not tell him anything.

  Aknown Sender

  From: Unknown Sender

  To: JA Konrath

  Subject: Time For A Lesson

  Really, Joe?

  You refuse to answer?

  I guess I need to show you how real this situation is.

  Here’s the next puzzle.

  Solve it. And the ones you’ve missed so far.

  Then email me.

  PUZZLE #47

  Answer all the questions.

  If there are seventeen steaks, and you take away five, how many do you have?

  We know this family down the street from us, the Roqueforts. Mr. and Mrs. Roquefort have six daughters, and each of those daughters has one brother. How many people are in the Roquefort family?

  How many beards are in the band ZZ Top?

  Bill has eleven farms. On the first farm, he has one haystack. On the second, he has two haystacks. On the third, he has three haystacks. On the fourth, he has four haystacks. Following this pattern, how many haystacks will he have if he combines them all on the eleventh farm?

  A scientist places a single celled bacterium in a petri dish. Every day, the bacteria divides, making a copy of itself. On the 226th day, the 6-inch round petri dish is completely full of bacteria, totaling 47,346,213,213 single celled organisms. How many days did it take to become half full?

  Multiply the first four answers together and square it.

  Then subtract the fifth answer.

  You’re going to need help with this.

  SPOILER ALERT!

  Read it carefully.

  Read it carefully.

  More than hair.

  Read it carefully.

  Read it carefully.

  Respond or else,

  Umknown Sender

  Delivery from Unknown Sender

  I don’t know how Unknown Sender got my address. Couldn’t be too hard in this Internet age. But it creeps me the hell out.

  He dropped off an envelope with my name on the front. It contained a printed picture of a fishing lure, black and white on regular 8.5” x 11” paper. The picture was cut. Photoshopped on the bottom of one of the halves was the phrase: NAME THIS MOVIE.

  The back was hand signed “Uuknown Sender”.

  I tried to take it to the local police, and they laughed me out the station. Apparently, there are no laws against giving someone an envelope without any overt threats in it. The cop I talked to said it was harmless.

  But I know this isn’t harmless. Not in the least.

  After leaving the police station, I went out and bought a new electronic lock, a security camera system, and two dogs.

  I’m also having a burglar alarm system installed, but that won’t happen until later next week. That’s the soonest they could fit me in.

  Common sense says I should get out of town. I sent my wife and son to stay with relatives.

  But I’m not going anywhere. If Unknown Sender wants to come over, let him come.

  I don’t run away from bullies.

  I’m going to stay here and try to stop him.

  This latest puzzle, though, makes no sense to me.

  Here’s a digital picture that I took of the print-out he dropped off at my house.

  I knew what the bait was right away, because antique tackle is my hobby. Anyone should be able to find the lure simply by searching the Internet. But I couldn’t figure out the clue. Or why the pic was cut.

  This was the last WHO puzzle.

  I assume the answer unlocks a video. I haven’t seen the last one, but a few readers have emailed me telling me about it.

  For your own safety and mine, all readers must stop emailing me.

  Those viruses I had on my computer were tracking spiders, and I’m sure I got them from Unknown Sender’s emails.

  He’s been monitoring me. A cyber expert told me that Unknown Sender could be able to track people who contact me.

  I trashed that computer, and got a new one. I’m using the best anti-virus programs, but I still need to play it safe. I couldn’t live with myself if Unknown Sender compromised my contact list.

  Thank you for reading me. Thank you for trying to help.

  But PLEASE, don’t associate with me at all.

  I don’t know how this is all going to end.

  I guess all I can do is try to solve the puzzles I’ve missed, and figure out what his plan is.

  In the back of my mind, I’ve been hoping this was all fake. That I was being trolled or catfished or pranked.

  And maybe it still is. Maybe, sometime in my past, I pissed off someone so badly, they’re willing to go to any lengths to scare me.

  Well, it’s working.

  I’m scared.

  But I’m going to stop this guy.

  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

  SHAKEN

  Chicago cop Jacqueline “Jack” Daniels has chased, and caught, dozens of dangerous criminals over the course of her career. But she’s about to meet her match.

  When Jack wakes up in a storage locker, bound and gagged, she knows with chilling certainty who her abductor is.

  He’s called “Mr. K.” More than two hundred homicides have been attributed to him. His victims have died in the most horrible ways imaginable. He’s the essence of evil. Some think he’s just an urban legend. But he’s real. Jack has tangled with him twice in the past, and both times he managed to slip away.

  Now Jack will finally have a chance to confront the maniac she’s been hunting for over twenty-five years. Unfortunately, it won’t be on her terms. In less than two hours, Mr. K is going to do to Jack what he’s done to countless others. And Jack is going to learn that sometimes the good guys don’t win…

  SHAKEN by J.A. Konrath.

  DISTURB

  A medical investigator tormented by secret guilt.

  A beautiful doctor with an illicit desire.

  A millionaire businessman indulging a passion for murder.

  And a human guinea pig who has been awake for seven straight weeks.

  DISTURB by J.A. Konrath.

  STOP A MURDER – WHEN

  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…

  #5 STOP A MURDER – WHEN: Puzzles 49–60

  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

  I won’t spam you or give your information out without your permission!

  STOP A MURDER – WHO

  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.