Welcome to Mysteries to Die For.
I am TG Wolff and am here with Jack, my piano player and producer. This is a podcast where we combine storytelling with original music to put you in the heart of a mystery. All stories are structured to challenge you to beat the detective to the solution. These are arrangements, which means instead of word-for-word readings, you get a performance meant to be heard. Jack and I perform these live, front to back, no breaks, no fakes, no retakes.
This is Season 7, Games People Play. Games are about competition conducted according to rules with participants working toward a goal. Games are a part of every culture and are one of the oldest forms of social interaction and engagement. Games can be fun, challenging and exhilarating. They can also be intense, cutthroat, and lethal. This season, our authors have fashioned deadly games and unscrupulous villains to test your detection skills.
This is Episode 14, Sorry is the featured game. This is Sorry Not Sorry by Kathleen Marple Kalb
DELIBERATION
Instead of being out for the win, prosecutor Joe Poli wants to get the right bad guy. He’s got Christian and Henry helping him…and he’s got us. Let’s help him figure out who killed Sandra Kule before we’re the ones who are sorry. Our suspects are:
• Barb Kule, the quiet sister who escaped a bad marriage with debt and health issues
• Mikey Kule, the younger brother who has a gambling problem, drug issues, and no funds
• Floyd Lawrence, a cousin working in the shop who also has arrests for drugs and a checking account hovering around frozen.
Here is what we know:
• Sandy Kule was found behind the family house / business. Her throat was cut with the knife found next to her, the one Barb used in the creamery’s kitchen. Preliminary DNA tests indicated the killer was related to Sandy.
• Kule Ice Cream was on hard times. The business wasn’t the ice cream float it once was.
• Sandy was known to love the family business, including the customers. She was keeping everyone from tripping on the rocky road.
• Mikey tried selling antique glasses and other collectibles to Christian for the museum. Many of those items are not missing from the parlor, some replaced with cheap knock offs. The most valuable pieces are still in the shop.
• Barb was arrested by the sheriff after she came down to meet them with blood on her Crocs and shirt and said, “I’m sorry.” The blood was confirmed to be the same type as Sandy’s.
• Henry noticed Floyd gave some customers sprinkles from a drawer instead of the normal cup and Sandra yelled at him, drawing his anger. He also noticed that Mikey was wearing gloves, which he didn’t usually do, and had a bandage under it.
Time to place your order, which flavor is your pick for murderer of the day?
ABOUT Sorry
The game Sorry was created in England in the late 1920s by William Henry Storey, who registered it as a trademark in the UK in 1920 and receive a US patent in Aug 1930. The patent link is in the show notes. The patents describes in detail the parts of the board, the men, the cards, and how to play. Mr. Storey went on to say “the above apparatus used as above described is calculated and has been proved by experience to be a prolific source of amusement and provides a game which calls for the exercise of a great deal of judgment while being dependent in a measure on an uncertain factor such as is calculated to add to the excitement of the game, though due to the choice of moves allowed when certain cards are turned up, the influence of the element of chance as a determining factor is much reduced in comparison with the skill exercised by a player in choosing his moves.”
Several sources cite the Indian game Pachisi as inspiration or basis for Sorry. The link to the Wikipedia page is in the shownotes. Rather than a square board, Pachisi uses a cross-shaped board. The goal is to move all of your pieces onto and around the board before the other players. The number of spaces moved is determined by throwing shells and counting how many land upright. There are several variations of the game, some dating back to 1100-800 BC.
Rabbit Hole Material:
https://patents.google.com/patent/US1903661.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sorry!_(game)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pachisi
ABOUT Kathleen Marple Kalb
https://kathleenmarplekalb.com
Kathleen Marple Kalb describes herself as an Author/Anchor/Mom…not in that order. An award-winning weekend anchor at New York’s 1010 WINS Radio, she writes short stories and novels including the Ella Shane and Old Stuff mysteries, both from Level Best Books. As Nikki Knight, she writes the Grace the Hit Mom and Vermont Radio mysteries. Her stories have appeared in Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine, Black Cat Weekly, online, and in anthologies, and been short-listed for Derringer and Black Orchid Novella Awards. She, her husband, and son live in a Connecticut house owned by their cat
WRAP UP
That wraps this episode of Mysteries to Die For. Support our show by subscribing, telling a mystery lover about us, and giving us a five-star review. Check out our website TGWolff.com/Podcast for links to this season’s authors.
Mysteries to Die For is hosted by TG Wolff and Jack Wolff. Sorry Not Sorry was written by Kathleen Marple Kalb. Music and production are by Jack Wolff. Episode art is by TG Wolff. Join us next week for a Toe Tag, which is the first chapter from a fresh release in the mystery, crime, or thriller genre. Then come back in two weeks for our next original story, DARE OR TRUTH by Frank Zafiro where “truth or dare” is the featured game
