Widow's Run

by T.G. Wolff

One night in Rome. One car. One dead scientist. Italian police investigate, but in the end, all they have are kind words for the new widow. Months later, a video emerges challenging the facts. Had he stepped into traffic, or was he pushed? The widow returns to the police, but they have little interest and no answers. Exit the widow.

Enter Diamond. One name for a woman with one purpose. Resurrecting her CIA cover, she follows the shaky video down the rabbit hole. Her widow’s run unearths a plethora of suspects: the small-time crook, the mule-loving rancher, the lady in waiting, the Russian bookseller, the soon-to-be priest. Following the stink greed leaves in its wake reveals big lies and ugly truths.

Murder is filthy business. Good thing Diamond plays dirty.

Praise for WIDOW’S RUN:

“Tina Wolff’s novel is for crime-fiction fans who like it action-packed and hard-edged. Written with feisty panache, it introduces Diamond, one of the most aggressive, ill-tempered, and wholly irresistible heroines to ever swagger across the page.” —David Housewright, Edgar Award-winning author of Dead Man’s Mistress

238 pages, Kindle Edition

Published November 11, 2019

About the author

TG Wolff has never been able resist a good puzzle. With an engineer’s mind for logic and a lifelong love of mysteries, she crafts whodunnit stories that challenge readers to outsmart her detective. Her books are filled with quirky characters, red herrings, and—because she firmly believes solving (fictional) murders should be fun—a healthy dose of humor.

TG earned both her Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in civil engineering, learning early to see every problem as a mystery and each solution as the answer the result of asking the right questions. That same curiosity drives her fiction, where nothing is ever accidental and every detail counts.

When she’s not plotting fictional crimes, TG is a mystery reader and reviewer, and the co-creator / co-host of the whodunnit mystery podcast Mysteries to Die For. A Cleveland, Ohio native, she now lives in northeast Indiana with her husband and two sons, where dogs and mysteries are always welcome.

Reviews

[Miriam Kahn · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'll bump the rating to 3.5 for zest and enthusiasm.

Annalisa "Diamond" Rubchinsaya, wife of biologist Dr. Gavriil Rubchinskaya, is dead, or is she? She fakes her death to track down her husband's killer, the person who ran him down in Rome.

It's a convoluted spy / mystery / thriller that begins in a slapstick humor manner and, while calming down some, is still frenetic as Diamond travels to Rome and back to the states. She's got a lot of help, some more useful than others.

There are a few grammatical errors, and a doozy of a continuity issue at the very end as the dead people are incorrectly identified.

If you do pick up this slim mystery, don't put it down or you'll lose track of all the disparate threads.

For a different review, see the Ohioana Library Association Quaterly http://www.ohioana.org

[Kyra Jacobs · Rating 5 out of 5]

What can I say? Diamond, the lead character in this series, is totally kickass. She has zero filter between the thoughts that enter her mind and the words that come out of her mouth. She's determined, tenacious, and a whole lotta fun. She's also wicked smart, so this isn't just a story about kicking asses and taking names...though, she does a lot of that, too. LOL I cannot WAIT to read book 2 in this series!

[Ileana Renfroe · Rating 5 out of 5]

Widow's Run is a suspenseful thriller with well-crafted characters and a plot that leaves you guessing until the very end.

Synopsis: One night in Rome. One car. One dead scientist. Italian police investigate, but in the end, all they have are kind words for the new widow. Months later, a video emerges challenging the facts. Had he stepped into traffic, or was he pushed? The widow returns to the police, but they have little interest and no answers.

[Cathy Geha]

Widow’s Run by TG Wolff
Diamond Mystery #1

We meet Diamond at her funeral and it is quite an introduction! In disguise she is there to pick up information only to find that to get the information she is needed for something else before receiving information she believes will assist her in finding the person who killed her husband a year ago.

This is a combination type of story not easily pigeonholed into a genre of murder mystery. I didn’t feel it was a cozy or an intense murder mystery but a middle of the road story that introduces us to Diamond and gives us enough information about her past, the man she fell in love with and supporting characters that may appear in the future to make me want to read more. The story takes Diamond to Italy, where her husband was killed, and she manages to pick up a few pieces of the puzzle. She returns to the USA to continue pulling threads and eventually does figure out just who was behind the death of her husband and what motivated it. And then...she is off to solve another case.

I came away liking the supporting characters of Dix and Ian and Irish and now wonder what will happen next. Diamond is not an easy person to “like” but she is one to “admire”.

Thank you to Down & Out Books for the ARC – This is my honest review.

3-4 Stars

[JenniferJ · Rating 4 out of 5]

My Thoughts: Usually not my favorite genre but after reading the opening line how could I not become intrigued enough to continue.

Opening line: "They buried me today and I had the balls to show up."

Thus introducing our mourning widow, "Diamond" her CIA cover at her own funeral faking her death going undercover once again to find out if her husband's demise was a tragic accident like everybody believed at first or a murderous cover-up that the Italian police have washed their hands of.

I loved Diamond so much! She is snarky and sassy and just an all out great fun character! This was an utterly entertaining, action filled, and thrilling read and I so look forward to seeing what Diamond gets into or uncovers next!


*I received a free copy in exchange for an honest review.

[Gwen Clayton · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a fun book to read. Didn't see the end coming. Caught some editing glitches—gaps in logic where I think there were supposed to be transitions(?). Also, lots of puns, which could be good or bad, depending on your level of affinity for them. But the story flowed well and the characters were all endearing, especially Dix.

[Gina Hott · Rating 5 out of 5]

I REALLY enjoyed this. I'm not sure if I liked it because I listened to the 'arranged' version instead of reading it or just because the book was suspenseful but witty. It was a fun mystery and I really liked the characters - their friendship and personalities really take this book from good to great.
I can't wait to read the next in the series!!