A Fishy Tale. The world has gone insane; war in the Middle East, violent antisemitic protests, the president fell off his bicycle. We could all use some laughs about now. No worries, my newest comedy murder mystery, A FISHY TALE is launching in December. I have always believed it is much healthier if you don’t take life too seriously, and I like comedy of the absurd the best. A Fishy Tale
I should probably point out that my all-time heroes include Jerry Lewis, Steve Martin (The Jerk), Bill Murray (Caddy Shack), Dan Ackroyd (Ghost Busters), Gene Wilder (Young Frankenstein), Chevy Chase (Caddy Shack), Mel Brooks, Bernadette Peters, Benny Hill, Tracy Ullman (No Panties skit), Lucille Ball, and the guys from Monty Python. These funny folks have brought me countless hours of laughter through TV and movies. If you don’t recognize some of their names, I recommend you google them and check out their work. You’ll forget all this insanity for a while, and just laugh. It feels good. A Fishy Tale
For the readers among you who enjoy a good laugh, I am pleased to announce that my newest Dr. Jason Longfellow, PI and nurse wife Chelsea novel, A FISHY TALE, is coming in December. Based on my beta readers, if this book doesn’t make you laugh, you should probably take your pulse. My purpose for writing these books is to provide the reader with laugh out loud comedy in the form of a unique murder mystery plot. In my humble opinion, A FISHY TALE hits these two nails right on the head. A Fishy Tale
How did I get to A FISHY TALE? It all started seven years ago. As a workaholic, I was working very long hours consulting in pharmaceutical and medical biotech development. I woke up one morning, looked in the mirror, and this old man stared back at me. Stressed and exhausted, he decided I needed to have some fun or I might also fall off my bicycle. So, I retired to pursue a new passion, writing murder mysteries. A Fishy Tale
I started with a couple of seriously dark murder mysteries, my Guardian Angel series, in which FBI Agent Cooper and his band of female law enforcement agents first chase down a deranged serial killer/terrorist killing government officials. Then they pursue an elusive cult leader who kidnaps young women, does despicable things to them, and loves snakes. I enjoyed the writing, but I scared myself. How did such dark characters come out of me? A Fishy Tale
At this point, I tried something different. I watched several reruns from my list of heroes above and got the idea for Medical Biotech Murder Mysteries, comedy murder mysteries with the theme of medical biotechnology gone wrong. Medical biotechnology involves scientists manipulating your DNA (gene therapy), immune system (immunotherapy) and cells (cell therapy) to treat disease. What could possibly go wrong? Lots, including murder. There’s interesting characters, wacky and unique murder mystery plots, and comedy of the absurd. A Fishy Tale
The main characters in these books include Dr. Jason Longfellow, PI and his nurse wife, Chelsea. Jason has worked for twenty years as an FDA scientist reviewing data for various drugs submitted to the FDA for marketing approval (Note: I may, or may not, have done something similar in my lifetime). He evaluates whether the reward for taking each drug outweighs the risk/toxicity. For example, is taking a drug to cure a headache worth growing a tail…that sort of thing. A Fishy Tale
Bored with his job, he wants to do something else. He loves to watch murder mysteries on TV. To his wife’s dismay, he gets his private investigator’s license online and starts taking cases part-time. He’s an excellent FDA scientist, but as a PI…not so much. And as Chelsea points out, he has three children and makes no money as a PI. Anyone who has been married will enjoy the banter back and forth between these two lovebirds of twenty years. Poor Chelsea tries her best to keep her overly enthusiastic PI husband out of trouble, focused, and alive, while not strangling him herself. A Fishy Tale
In the book, Pleasuria: Take as Directed (Koehler Books), Jason stumbles into his first case, murder by a drug side effect that will knock your socks off, and then kill you. Remember, this is comedy of the absurd, and both the murder plot and Jason’s investigatory techniques are, how shall I say, unique? As a pharmacologist I can tell you that this wild plot might, maybe, possibly, probably not happen in real life. But it could. Several readers have mentioned the laugh out loud comedy. It’s a fun read, and Jason does most of the PI work in this one. Spoiler alert: he eventually catches the bad guy and Chelsea does not, in fact, strangle him. A Fishy Tale
The second book, Murder by Road Trip, was inspired by a 7600 mile, 30-day cross-country road trip that I took with my youngest daughter (then 22) in 2016. My daughter, Jacqueline, co-wrote the book with me, and the plot includes many interesting spots that we stopped at along the way, a Titan missile base, Wild West Cowboy Museum, Border Patrol Museum, a water park, and a number of RV parks. A Fishy Tale
In this story, Jason, Chelsea, and their three daughters travel cross-country in an RV to get to California, where Jason will interview for a lucrative job with a medical biotech company. Chelsea is pushing for this lucrative option. Jason wants to pursue the PI thing, where they live in poverty. A Fishy Tale
This turns out to be one wacky road trip. Another case of medical biotech gone awry, the further they travel the friskier Jason becomes. He keeps taking Chelsea to the top of the RV at night, to avoid disturbing the children. She doesn’t understand what’s happening, but she doesn’t hate it. Jason also develops some odd skills and cravings. A Fishy Tale
Meanwhile, he stumbles onto several crimes, including a tiny but talented jewel thief that robs RVs and the great cheese caper. More importantly, Chelsea must figure out why someone is trying to steal Jason’s teeth and kill him. This time Chelsea is much more involved in the investigating. She appears to have a knack for it. I’ve had several readers mention the laugh out loud comedy. My daughter has a degree in media arts and design, and she designed the book cover. A Fishy Tale
In the third book, The Realtor’s Curse, Jason and Chelsea travel to Florida to buy an oceanfront vacation condo. Fairly straightforward, right? People do it all the time. But not Jason. The mayhem begins before they even reach the Sunshine State and doesn’t let up until the end. Condo hunting has never been like this; each condo comes with a dead body, Jason is attacked by an angry young realtor with a kitchen implement, and then there’s the body on the beach. A Fishy Tale
Chelsea must solve the case while trying to keep Jason alive; Florida appears to be hell bent on killing him. Jason confuses a speed boat with a submarine. What did he do to make the realtors so angry? Is murdering your clients really a successful model for a real estate agent? What does this all have to do with killer mosquitoes? Then there’s the hurricane…well, it is Florida. Anyone who reads this one is guaranteed to laugh out loud and will think twice about ever vacationing in Florida again. This book won first place awards for both mystery and comedy. A Fishy Tale
COMING IN DECEMBER, A Fishy Tale. If you need lots of laughs, this new one’s for you. Chelsea inherits a fortune. The family moves from frenetic Northern Virginia to the peace and quiet of a mountain lake. No more money worries, they don’t need to work. Jason, bored again, suggests that he set up his own PI agency. Chelsea agrees, purchases an office building, and hangs up a shingle, Chelsea Longfellow, PI, and Associate. It’s her inheritance, and she has solved most of Jason’s previous cases anyhow. Jason is sad. A Fishy Tale
Someone, or something, is killing fishermen on the lake at night. Fishing tournaments are being cancelled and people are afraid. The striped bass in the lake have gotten a lot bigger over the past couple of years, reaching up to 90 pounds. Someone is dumping expired drugs into the lake. The young wife of the CEO of a local medical biotech company hires the PIs to find her husband. Is this murder, or nature fighting to take back the wilderness lake? Jason decides to go fishing overnight, using himself as bait to catch the fishermen killer. Chelsea demotes Jason to Junior Associate PI as he continues to screw up. Will they catch the killer, be it man or beast, before she fires Jason altogether? This is their best, and funniest adventure yet. A Fishy Tale
So, that’s how we got to A Fishy Tale. A bored, stressed, and some might say slightly demented ex-FDA scientist (that would be me) retired to write wacky murder mysteries. My wife thinks my problem is that I watched too many episodes of Murder She Wrote, but I can’t help it. That Jessica Fletcher was something special (did I mention I might be demented?). A Fishy Tale
Stay tuned. Will Dr. Jason Longfellow, PI ever succeed as a PI? Will I succeed as a murder mystery writer? is there any chance of peace in the Middle East? Will the President fall off of his bicycle again? I can tell you for a fact that I have no answers to any of these important questions. I can also guarantee that the world will continue to be an insane place to live, and I will always need to laugh. A Fishy Tale
If you agree, you might want to read A Fishy Tale. It’s fun, full of laughs, and I’ll bet you won’t guess whodunnit until the end of the book. I was even surprised, and I wrote it.
See below for early praise for A Fishy Tale.
A Fishy Tale is another triumph by John J Jessop. It is a laugh out loud story of the exploits of the private investigation firm run by Dr Jason Longfellow and his wife Chelsea as they try to solve a series of murders of prize-winning fishermen in rural Virginia. In addition to the swashbuckling action A Fishy Tale sparkles with the interactions between Dr. Longfellow and his nurse wife. The humorous comments and actions between these two are fun of love and very relatable to anyone that has been married. Rick Spees, Author, Capitol Gains
When a couple of brothers pull a ninety-pound fish out of a Virginia lake, they know that something strange is ‘goin’ on.’ Jason and Chelsea Longfellow, amateur PIs, dive into the mystery of what might connect the soggy body of a businessman, several missing fishermen, and a medical biotech company. John J. Jessop propels ‘A Fishy Tale’ with the speed of a Nitro Z21 Bass Boat toward its shocking conclusion. Henry G. Brinton, author of the environmental mystery “Windows of the Heavens
John J Jessop has weaved a tall (fish) tale with unbelievable characters that are as relatable as if they were real…the reader becomes part of the story…You’ll take the bait and more in Jessop’s newest and best work yet. Ben Berkley, Author, The Selfish Giant
These guys liked the book, and you will too. A Fishy Tale will be available in ebook and paperback in December. Meanwhile, if you need a good laugh and like the idea of wacky murder mysteries with unique plots, you will also enjoy my other Medical Biotech Murder Mysteries. Go to my website at https://johnjjessop.com for links to buy those books on Amazon or bookstores everywhere. Happy reading!