Welcome to Mysteries to Die For.

I am TG Wolff and am here with Jack, my piano player and producer. 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.

The rules for law and order create the boundaries for civil co-existence and, ideally, the backdrops for individuals, families, and companies to grow and thrive. Breaking these rules puts civil order at risk. And while murder is the Big Daddy of crimes, codified ordinances across municipal divisions, counties, states, and countries show the nearly endless ways there are to create mayhem. This season, we put our detective skills to the test. This is Season 8, Anything but Murder.

This is Episode 7, betrayal is the featured crime. This is Opera Dinner Club by Debra H. Goldstein

DELIBERATION

Jessica Rothman is close to discovering who betrayed her grandparents, Helen and Wilhelm Rothman, to the Nazi’s but she needs our help to figure out who from the final dinner party betrayed them. Here is the list in the order we met them:

Melinda Brooks, smuggler, last of the party remainingAlbert Brooks, professor, opposed to Melinda’s activitiesLloyd Edgerton, armament dealer, opposed to Victoria’s activitiesVictoria Edgerton, smuggler, Melinda’s usual partnerMarta Schmidt, servant to Helen’s parents, now living with the RothmansHans Schmidt, servant to Helen’s parents, now living with the RothmansBernard Schmidt, son to the Schmidts, working at times as a servant to the RothmansAri, Jewish man working to get children out of Austria

Here is what Jessica knows:

Helen Rothman devised a scheme to smuggle valuables for Jews to England. Melinda and Victoria worked together as did Marta and Hans Schmidt.Ari is a mysterious guest who has a seat of honor at the Rothman dinner table. He with Helen proposes to smuggle children out as they are doing with money and jewels.Albert Brooks and Lloyd Edgerton did little to participate for the sake of their businesses. Both were afraid of the fallout should the scheme come to light. Eventually, they both wanted their wives to stop.The Schmidts are German. Having worked for Helen’s parents and then moving in with the Rothmans, their loyalty is to the Rothman’s.Bernard Schmidt participates in the Nazi youth movement because he’s expected to. Like his parents, his loyalty is to the Rothmans.

Upon whom do we shine the spotlight of betrayal?

ABOUT Debra H. Goldstein

Judge Debra H. Goldstein is the author of Kensington’s Sarah Blair mystery series that features a woman who finds being in the kitchen more frightening than murder (One Taste Too Many, Two Bites Too Many, Three Treats Too Many, Four Cuts Too Many, and Five Belles Too Many). Her other writings include the novels Should Have Played Poker and Maze in Blue, and more than fifty short stories that have appeared in numerous periodicals and anthologies. Debra’s work has been named as Agatha, Anthony, Derringer, and Claymore finalists and received IPPY, Silver Falchion, AWC, and BWR awards. She serves on the national Sisters in Crime board and previously was a national board member of Mystery Writers of America and president of the Guppy and SEMWA chapters. https://www.DebraHGoldstein.com