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Welcome to Mysteries to Die For and this Toe Tag.

I am TG Wolff and am here with Jack, my piano player and producer. This is normally a podcast where we combine storytelling with original music to put you at the heart of mystery. Today is a bonus episode we call a Toe Tag. It is the first chapter from a fresh release in the mystery, crime, and thriller genre.

Today\\u2019s featured release is The January Corpse by Neil Albert

Interesting tidbit before we start, the Dave Garrett series was planned as a 12 book series. Books 1-6 were published between 1991 and 1996. Neil is picking up the series and re-issuing the first six, the first of which is today\\u2019s toe tag, The January Corpse. The Dave Garrett series is set in 1990. Cell phones were on the scene but weren\\u2019t every day like they are now and were meant for, wait for it, making phone calls. There was no internet, no smart phones, and people still used payphones. That\\u2019s right, we are going old school with The January Corpse!

TG Wolff Review

The January Corpse is a PI Mystery. Former lawyer turned investigator Dave Garrett is picking up sloppy seconds with this case. The family of Daniel Wilson has filed suit to declare the man missing for 7 years as dead to claim the life insurance benefit. What should be a chore of routine investigation into a cold case gets messy, mean, and dirty in the blink of an eye.

Bottom line: The January Corpse is for you if you like fast-thinking private eyes, cases with too many loose ends, and action and adventure in Pennsylvania Dutch country.

Strengths of the story. Dave Garrett is an intellectual PI who uses his head rather than brute force for investigating. Being an ex-attorney, he is a different take on a private investigator than characters with backgrounds in law enforcement or military. Dave has some emotional scars, making him an interesting character and somewhat outsider.

The mystery itself is the right size for something solved in 3 days. You would think after 7 years, it wouldn\\u2019t be so easy to solve the disappearance of Dan Wilson. Does Dave get lucky? Some could say that, but he invested the time and tenacity that ended up paying off. No one gifted him with the answers, he earned every single one. This is one of the biggest strengths, Dave Garrett is the hero of his story.

The setting is Philadelphia, 1990. I loved the details on Philly and the surrounding area, the kind that come from an author really knowing the area. For example, there is a passage discussing the odd travel patterns. Some days, it takes 10 minutes to get into the city, then you\\u2019re stuck in gridlock for 3 blocks. Other times it takes 90 minutes and once you\\u2019re in the city, you\\u2019re free an clear. You don\\u2019t get those types of observations using Google Earth. The descriptions of the neighborhoods, people, and buildings give texture to the story.

The pacing is excellent for those of us looking for a reason to binge read a book in one sitting (yeah, I did that.) When Dave gets the case Friday morning, it\\u2019s with the expectation of appearing in court to testify on Monday. The clock starts ticking immediately. I like that part of the story includes Dave weighing what is the best use of his limited time \\u2013 especially limited business hours. In that short period, there is a fight, a car chase, a hostage situation, and a hot chili pepper romance scene.

Where the story fell short of ideal: Not much to pick on here. The logic of the story held up well, something I always look for. The events that were surprising and action packed when reading fully made sense with the benefit of hindsight. As is often the case with PI stories, people lie to Dave but he sniffs out the truth in a way where he does the heavy lifting of sleuthing (i.e. no coincidences, etc) and the lies make sense.

A word of warning and an explanation \\u2013 you may see some typesetting errors, like'