Fasten your headphones! Listen up as narrator Sean Rhead brings this thriller to life. It’s been over a year since Marshall James first became intimately familiar with murder. He’s six months sober now and happily living with the love of his life, LAPD Detective Mac McElroy. Despite the coming storm of AIDS and its devastating toll on the world Marshall knows, his dark days seem to be behind him. Then one night he says the wrong thing, storms out in anger, and walks straight into a nightmare. Someone is setting him up to take the fall for a beautiful corpse. But who would do something so evil, and so planned? Within hours he finds himself running from the police and the mob, and running toward a killer he must apprehend before the only chance left is no chance at all. With an introduction by the author. 

And we're off! Welcome to the Mark McNease Mysteries Podcast. This is the first of many coming episodes in which I narrate my own mysteries and short fiction. What better way to launch this venture than with  the first three chapters of my newest book, Reservation for Murder:  A Kyle Callahan Mystery. 

It’s been several years since Kyle Callahan sought the help of a New York City therapist to overcome the trauma of his encounter with a serial killer, and just as long since his investigation into a teenage girl’s murder brought down the Manhattan District Attorney. He and his husband Danny Durban have decided to move away, to start a new life in the idyllic river city of Lambertville, New Jersey. They have friends there. They’ll have peace and quiet. They can leave the hustle and bustle and stresses of America’s biggest metropolis behind.

They open a bed and breakfast, and soon discover that murder and mayhem are waiting to check in. There’s a writers conference in town, with big names and big egos heading for a clash—and a killing—of titans. No sooner has the ink dried on the guest registry than Kyle finds himself pursuing another murderer, this one closer to home than they’ve ever come. He enlists the help of his old friend and local resident Linda Sikorsky, once a detective on the New Hope, Pennsylvania, police force. The two of them follow one lead after another in a race against time until the shocking truth is exposed.

Welcome to episode #2 of the Mark McNease Mysteries Podcast, Audio Mysteries and Fiction. Episode #2 continues my reading of Reservation for Murder: A Kyle Callahan Mystery, with chapters 3, 4 and 5.

Kyle and Danny have left New York City and moved to quiet, quaint, and now mysterious Lambertville, New Jersey. They've opened their bed and breakfast, Passion House, and the place is booked solid with a writers convention in town. Two of those writers, Harold Summit and Gladys Finch, are staying at the house, along with an odd elderly gentleman in search of his past. Follow along as we continue their journey toward murder and mishap, with egos clashing and death heading up the walkway.

Fasten your headphones and enjoy the listen as I narrate the first three chapters of Reservation for Murder. I'll be releasing one podcast (three chapters) each week, for a total of 56 chapters. So click 'play,' close your eyes, and let's take a ride on the mystery train.

Welcome to episode #3 of the Mark McNease Mysteries Podcast, Audio Mysteries and Fiction. Episode #3 continues my reading of Reservation for Murder: A Kyle Callahan Mystery, with chapters 6, 7 and 8.

Kyle and Danny have officially started their new life in Lambertville, New Jersey. Their bed and breakfast is up, running, and fulling booked, with two big-name and big-ego authors staying there while they attend a writers convention in town. But will the friction Kyle perceives between them turn deadly? Do they even know each other ... and if they do, how?

Meanwhile, house staff Justin Stritch and Patty Langley set about being their most efficient selves, though trouble seems to be motioning to Justin from a guest room. Will he answer its call?

Welcome to episode #4 of the Mark McNease Mysteries Podcast, Audio Mysteries and Fiction. Episode #4 continues my reading of Reservation for Murder: A Kyle Callahan Mystery, with chapters 9, 10 and 11.

Kyle and Danny are enjoying a full house with their new bed and breakfast, Passion House. Two major authors in town for a writers conference, Harold Summit and Gladys Finch, are staying across from each other in the upstairs suites. Their spouses are with them, and Scott, dutiful husband and personal assistant to Harold, is none too happy with Harold's appreciation of in-house staff member Justin. Gladys, meanwhile, has revealed her intention to confront Harold at the convention over a grievous wrong she has been simmering over for many years.

In last week's episode, Kyle couldn't help himself as his curiosity grew about their unusual guest at Passion House, the elderly gentleman Joseph Garland. A man of few words, he'd only told them he was in Lambertville to research his family history. But is that the truth? And is it any of Kyle's business? Meanwhile, literary icon Gladys Finch stewed in an upstairs suite with her wife Carol while she imagined a spectacular revenge on their housemate Harold Finch. Fasten your headphones as we return for three more chapters.

Welcome to episode #6 of the Mark McNease Mysteries Podcast, Audio Mysteries and Fiction. Episode #6 continues my reading of Reservation for Murder: A Kyle Callahan Mystery, with chapters 15, 16, and 17.

In last week's episode, Kyle's curiosity about their strange houseguest, Joseph Garland, continued to grow. Was the old man there to research his family history in this age of the ancestry craze, or was there something more to his visit, something he wasn't telling them?

Meanwhile, at breakfast with the other guests, author Gladys Finch asked fellow author Harold Summit if he had once edited a small literary magazine. Perhaps that holds the secret of her resentment toward Summit. Harold continued to show an attraction for houseman Justin, and Harold's husband Scott kept an eye on it all. Fasten your headphones as I narrate another three chapters.

In last week's episode, Kyle suspected houseman Justin of flirting with houseguest Harold Summit and preparing to break the rules: no fraternizing with the customers. A short time later, Scott pouted in his suite with husband Harold over once again being left behind while Harold attended a writers convention. Harold placated him with a promise of lunch in a local restaurant, then headed out with plans of his own. And across the hall in the other suite, Gladys Finch revealed why she hated Harold Summit and what she planned to do about it: revenge had a name, and that name was Gladys Finch.