STOP A MURDER - WHO (Mystery Puzzle Book 4) Page 3
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
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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.