The Radio Murders: The Collectors

"Sometimes you gotta be dead before anybody knows you’re alive."
- Gene Minues,
Talk Radio Caller

 

The News Cast

Written by The Radio Murders

Wednesday, 24 November 2010 23:16

She was not credible, not in the least.

It was not a big story, not even in the first fifteen minutes of the newscast, but it was important enough to show the victim describing her ordeal. The whole interview was taped in the shadows, but her words were clear, and she was lying.

The story went like this: a family was sleeping late one night with two strangers came in and pulled the mom and dad out at gunpoint. The victim said that drove them around to ATM machines and forced them to withdraw money. In the process they left three children in the house, two very young.

There were so many things wrong with the story that I actually turned to Monika, my wife and biggest supporter—the feeling is mutual—and said that this woman is hiding something. With those words a flood if imagery and concepts, characters and situations came to me in what seemed like an instant. The Radio Murders was born.

What followed was full-time writing. the story was so real that all I did was take dictation, or so it seemed. On character after another made their motives, hopes and fears known to me and insisted on being included.

It was the skill of fiction writing that I lacked, and with the help of some kind benefactors along the way, I started to learn the rules. In the words of one editor and agent, learn them before you break them. The Radio Murders: The Collectors and the four other volumes do step outside the mainstream.

I'm not sure hat happened to the far-western suburban family, the victim of the original "crime." I would not be surprised if they were found complicit in some way of pulling off a hoax, or worse. Whoever they are, I am very grateful for the starting point. I certainly hope their real-life experinces are nothing like those of the fictional characters they inspired.

Last Updated on Thursday, 25 November 2010 11:21

 

Inside The Radio Murders

 

The Radio Murders: The Collectors has plenty of victims. But this is just a story, drawn from the imagination of a writer, nothing more. Sadly, there are real victims in our society because there is real evil. With that in mind the author and publisher of The Radio Murders: The Collectors have agreed to donate a dollar of every hardback and half that for trade paperback sold.

So Who Wrote TRM?

Sitting down and writing a full-feature mystery novel, or anything for the public, takes certain assumptions.

We are all storytellers in one way or another. But what makes this storyteller think this tale is worth your time?

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The Book

A Simple Idea

The Radio Murders is a simple idea; a radio talk show about real-time murder, As It Happens with a deadly twist.  How could such a thing exist? More importantly, how could it become an entertainment vehicle?

The latter is not so difficult to conceive. We have a bloodlust evident from the beginning. It took four short chapters of The Bible before we had our first murder mystery. It was predicated only by sex and betrayal. Sex has been regulated almost out of radio except in the most nuanced terms. Betrayal is a side dish at best.

So what’s left?

The Radio Murders: The Collectors vividly illustrates how greed, revenge and vanity deconstructs a suburban Chicago family, and draws a relative, a Chicago talk show host, into their deadly pursuits. As a result a home invasion and murder is actually aired, live during Bill "Crash" Kradich’s broadcast. The event is a ratings winner and sends some staff at radio station KCI on a mission to create and "own" the concept.

As part of the Janich family’s near demise, another group of men become involved. Known only as The Collectors, these men take greed to epic heights and will not stop until they acquire some very special items. The Radio Murders: The Collectors tells both stories as they move along parallel runaway courses only to collide in a stunning climax.

Are You Ready?

The Radio Murders is not for everyone. There is plenty of action in this story and it is adult in nature.

The Collectors is not a Romance, not a Cozy Mystery or light reading. "This is not a two-dimensional story," said one reader. "There are layers, each more interesting than the last." The Radio Murders is at times a story about desperate people doing desperate things. And the people you find here do what people do. There is sex, harsh language and graphic scenes of crime and murder.

If you enjoy the work of James Patterson, Michael Connelly, Tami Hoag, Jeffery Deaver, Patricia Cornwell and others who are not affraid to tell a difficult story, then you are exactly the person I am writing for.  The Radio Murders: The Collectors is not a story for the easily offended.

Just thought you should know.

-Chuck Collins

Coming Soon to Amazon.com

The Radio Murders will debut at on-line stores everywhere in December.

 

Now Available at Barns&Noble.com

The Radio Murders: The Collectors is now available at one of the nations' leading booksellers.

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