The Deadly Puzzle

The plot of The Deadly Puzzle has more turns than a coiled rattlesnake. There’s a goodly dose of mean, murderous women among the diverse characters that add to the violence, blood, and pain.PRIVATE DETECTIVE JAKE WAYDE’s task is to stop the killing spree caused by the late, vengeful DR. FREDRICK RHINEMAN, who, after his death, had pieces of a puzzle that reveal the whereabouts of a deadly, world-changing chemical formula and ten million in cash, mailed to sixteen people. In his semi-retirement, Dr. Fredrick Rhineman was working on a lethal formula. He was researching evolution, DNA and the bloodlines of nationalities. One of his primary interests was bacteria and pathogens – anything that could cause disease and death. The doctor’s aim was to be able to pinpoint a nationality and eliminate them.He composed a letter and made sixteen copies. Each of the letters contained a small piece of red paper cut in the jagged form of a puzzle piece. The doctor had written a letter of the alphabet or a number on each piece of red paper. When all the pieces were collected and assembled, they’d reveal the location of ten million dollars in cash and the deadly formula. He instructed his secretary to mail the letters immediately upon his unexpected demise.Dr. Rhineman was zealous about puzzle-solving and known in wider circles as peerless. One afternoon at his private club, he was engaged in an exciting puzzle-solving match with his friend SENATOR LOUIS KNOWLES. Suddenly, he grabbed his chest and instantly died from a massive heart attack. The following day his secretary mailed the sixteen letters. Four addressed to the ambassadors of Russia, Saudi Arabia, China, and Iran. Twelve were sent to the people he most hated, which included ex-marine private detective JAKE WAYDE. As the intended people receive the letters, the inevitable malice begins. The quest to retrieve the sixteen red pieces of the puzzle followed the pattern that Dr. Rhineman had envisioned. Four women are the prime suspects in the killing spree. Money is the for some, while others who represented their countries, by the chemical formula.