Every book as an ideal reader and every reader has an ideal book. Toe Tags help you find a book you’ll love to devour. Toe Tags are select readings of fresh releases in the thriller, crime, and mystery genre combined with our review of the complete work. Toe Tags from the last six months are on this page while all Toe Tags can be found here:

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The Missing Corpse by Yasin Kakande

The Missing Corpse is a thriller.

CIA operative Shawn Wayles has a new mission. Quietly enter Uganda and find President Joel Katila Muaji is dead or alive. Determine if he is alive, has ceded power, is being forced out, or is dead (hint: it’s door #4). Whichever it is, bring back proof. In the complicated politics of Uganda, the order is anything but simple.

Bottom line: The Missing Corpse is for you if you like powerfully told, hard-hitting thrillers.

The Forbidden Heiress by Gledé Browne Kabongo

The Forbidden Heiress is a psychological thriller.

Sabree Warner is simply brilliant. With a PhD in medicinal chemistry and postdoctoral fellowship focusing on cancer, you would think she’s on the top of the world. But her mother, her only family, has just died and she’s unemployed, her inbox filled with rejections. And then Montague Pharmaceuticals calls. It’s her dream job … but then nightmares are dreams too.

Bottom line: The Forbidden Heiress is for you if you like slow-burn suspense and multi-faceted stories

Killer Tracks by Mary Keliikoa

KILLER TRACKS is a cop thriller.

Sheriff Jax Turner heads out of Mysty Pines for a romantic week at a private mountain getaway. Deputy Rachel Killian is left in charge and eager to prove herself to the man who is like an uncle to her and to the rest of the team. But the week isn’t what either of them expect when a serial killer walks out of prison and goes on a hunt for the one who put him there.

Bottom line: KILLER TRACKS is for you if you like your thrills high tension, high stakes, and high altitudes.

Murder on Site by TG Wolff

Murder On Site is legal mystery.

Jakob Rizk never expected to become Indiana’s acting attorney general. Two weeks in, he’s losing sleep, battling a ruthless rival, and under pressure to prosecute a young engineer for the murder of a hard-nosed inspector famous for rooting out corruption. But with scant evidence and clear signs of political interference, the case is a minefield. When his twin brother Seth, a Miami cop hiding secrets of his own arrives unexpectedly, Jakob puts him to work. Together, the brothers must unravel a web of greed and deception, to find justice for a good woman. Bottom line: Murder On Site is for you if you like A fast-paced mystery with thoroughly enjoyable characters, engaging plot, and the right mix of seriousness and levity – Goodreads Reviewer

Zigzag Girl by Ruth Knafo Setton

Zigzag Girl is mystery suspense. It’s opening night for Magician Lucy Moon and her partners Van and Stormie, who are as close as sisters. Amid the bright lights and sparkle of illusion, murder lurks. Performing the sawing a woman illusion, Lucy lifts the lid to enter, when she finds the space is already taken. Her best friend, a black rose, a prop that has killed before—no, Lucy is not going to leave this one to the cops.

Bottom line: Zigzag Girl is for you if you like your illusions, suspense, mystery twisted together with a sprinkling of Irish magic.

The Haunting of Emily Grace by Elena Taylor

The Haunting of Emily Grace is a suspense. Emily Grace Turner is a master carpenter, single woman, and grieving mother. As she claws her way out of grief, depression, and the drugs meant to numb the former, she is given an opportunity to complete the carpentry on a one-of-a-kind home. But nearly from the start, she and the home’s owner, Cameron Lang, are plagued by unexplained happenings. With Cameron’s wife, Katrina, missing for a year and accusation of her murder as well as the sudden appearance of his estranged (and strange) daughter, Emily Grace has many reasons to think things aren’t as they seem. And unraveling them may just be her path to salvation.

Bottom line: The Haunting of Emily Grace is for you if you like psychologically intense suspense where seeing isn’t believing.

Who Killed One the Gun by Gigi Little

Who Killed One the Gun is a cozy noir. Third-rate PI One the Gun is one minute from dead. Just as he realizes his time is up, he wakes up back in his head. Two the True Blue is by his side, but the question remains who made One die. Now as the day runs on repeat, One must find his killer or die in defeat.

Bottom line: Who Killed One the Gun is for you if you like your noir more witty than gritty

Forewarned by Tracey S. Phillips

Forewarned is a suspense. It’s the summer of 1976 in Carlson, Indiana and the lives of two teens intertwine in a way that will change both their lives forever. Still reeling from her parents’ divorce, 15-year old Daphne Post sees the family next door as having everything she doesn’t. But Lara Vaughn is tired of doing what her parents expect and is working to break out of the box she was born into. Daphne senses tragedy is about to fall but who will be the dead and who will be the guilty.

Bottom line: Forewarned is for you if you like Americana suspense with a whisper of the paranormal and historical fiction.

Maximum Pressure by Sheila Lowe

Maximum Pressure is an amateur sleuth mystery. Handwriting expert Claudia Rose is headed to her 25-year high school reunion and a cold case. Lucy Valentine was a junior when she walked out of the high school and was never seen again … but she did leave a note. Now, her ex-boyfriend and current filmmaker Matt Macedo is making a documentary and enlisting Claudia’s help. As they start interviewing people, the reluctant witnesses reveal there was much more going on than a girl unhappy at school.

Bottom line: Maximum Pressure is for you if you like cold case mysteries where there is more than meets the eye.

Cover of Crime Writer novel. Small house in a wooded setting

Crime Writer by Vinnie Hansen

Crime Writer is a suspense. Writer Zoey Kozinski is looking for inspiration for her next crime fiction novel and she’s hoping to find it in a ride along with Playa Maria PD Officer Stan Austin. She gets more than she bargained for when Austin pulls over a sedan for a broken tail light and ends up the victim of a shooting. Zoey is a witness to the violent crime. The police want to hear what she knows … while the shooter wants to silence her. Permanently.

Bottom line: Crime Writer is for you if you like cat-and-mouse suspense in a small-town setting

Cover of book, picture of a colonial-era man from the back

The Long Shadow of Murder by Eleanor Kuhns

The Long Shadow of Murder is an amateur sleuth mystery. Seven children—soon to be eight—and a large farm keeps Will Rees busy, but he still has time for murder. A visitor to Durham, Maine is missing. Rees and Rouge, the tavern owner and constable, find the man’s body in a valley outside of town with his wallet and his jewelry intact. Then the search is on in Durham and the nearby Shaker community of Zion. When another body is found and then a third, the question is what connects the victims and will lead to a killer.

Bottom line: The Long Shadow of Murder is for you if you like whodunnit mysteries immersed in historical fiction.

Silent Killer by Tracy Burnett & Ross Weiland

Silent Killer is a suspense thriller. Special Agent Gordon Stone with the Food and Drug Administration’s Office of Criminal Investigation is on loan to a terrorism joint task force led by the FBI. After weeks of being relegated to grunt tasks, he’s finally got his own case and it’s in his field of expertise—wholesale food. His subject is Jummal Adeyami, vice president of a grocery chain who is exhibiting behavior odd enough to send up red flags on the terror watch. While Stone is ordered to shut the investigation down, he’s sure there’s more to the story. Is it enough to save him from insubordination charges? There’s only one way to find out.

Bottom line: Silent Killer is for you if you like intellectual thrillers where answers aren’t as simple as black and white.

Book cover with cool background

Mild Manner Men by Walter Horsting

Mild Mannered Men is a crime thriller. It’s 1999 and a small group of international players quietly have the wheels in motion to disrupt the micro-chip industry. Then, a simple mistake happens. The group’s leader picks up the wrong disc after a video conference and suddenly their secret has the potential to be revealed. As the deal moves forward, a no-holds-barred mission is launched to recover the disc from an innocent man as the FBI and an investigative reporter close in.

Bottom line: Mild Mannered Men is for you if you like your thrillers edgy and high concept.

Whatever It Takes by Alan Brenham

Whatever It Takes is a crime thriller. Fort Worth PD Detective Kit Hanover has worked undercover before, but nothing like this. The FBI has been working to take down a massive money laundering scheme in Las Vegas. Thanks to a mole, their targets are one step ahead of them,  killing two confidential informants. Wanting an experienced law enforcement officer with no connection to Vegas, they turn to Kit. Now she answers to Belle Starr and is a waitress / exotic danger at the Pink Kitten. Her job, infiltrate the organization, find as much evidence as possible, and get out alive.

Bottom line: Whatever It Takes is for you if you like your thrills taut enough to snap

The Conductor by Eva Shaw

The Conductor is an amateur sleuth mystery. It is 1948. Dr. Beatrix Patterson is a psychiatrist and occasional consultant to the Santa Barbara police. She is called in to investigate the death of railroad executive Grayson Welsh. Described as a bully with wondering hands, there is no shortage of people he crossed words with. Thought to be connected to the railroad union, Bea goes undercover as a conductor to suss out motives and suspects. She uncovers persons of interest in a commune reputed for social liberties, conflicting interests of other conductors, and Welsh’s own private life.

Bottom line: The Conductor is for you if you like historical mysteries set against a background of social change of post WWII.


Toe Tags from the last six months are on this page while all Toe Tags can be found here: More Toe Tags

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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. Jack and I perform these live, front to back, no breaks, no fakes, no retakes.

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