The Radio Murders: The Collectors

Who Needs Us Most?

Written by Chuck Collins

The sweet old guy grabbed my arm as I walked through the crowd at our Holiday Senior Lunch, he smiled and with a crooked finger wagging said, "I love what you say at the end of your show."

Then he repeated it with me, "Do something nice for someone, would ja' please? Especially the older folks, they need us most." He clapped his hands and laughed. "You got that right! And thanks."

I am often challenged by that statement. My friend Sue came in on Friday, New Year's Day with her new grandson, a cute little guy with the future in his eyes. My best friend just had a baby this year, as did James Lee, our creative director and overnight host on WAKR and many others in our circle.

Let me say this, babies need us. They would not survive without us and if we are careful, they have a good shot at doing wonderful things, if only managing to be happy. As we turn the page we are reminded how important this job is.

My closing comment is not meant as a comparison of responsibility, young verses old, rather a challenge not to forget. Those young parents are guided by a natural imperative. Grandparents, too, perhaps even more so.

While it is not easy to care for a new born, an infant, a toddler, it is harder to care for an adult facing the wile of age.

From the mundane to the extraordinary, the needs of the two can be very similar. But while the infant is cute and hopeful, the elderly can be difficult and, yes, unattractive. The baby has his future ahead of him. The old represent the future that is ahead of us, if we are lucky. Everything is different, but the nuts and bolts of care are the same.

Doing something nice for a child is something that every rational person would want to do, go out of their way to do. And that is what makes us special. Managing a kind word and action for an old person often takes effort, and is worth the reminder.

If you are charged with the care of the elderly, always remember that dignity and love is the first of their needs, the rest is simply nurturing. Never forger that you are doing the work that will soften the landing when you and I get there, too.

Happy New Year!  

 

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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