12 Oct 2026
S9E20 Minute Mysteries by H.A. Ripley
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.
In the world’s most dangerous working environments it can seem like everything is out to kill you. The equipment you use. The materials you work with. The very air you breathe. Stored energy is a coiled viper waiting for the right moment to lash out. Owners, manufacturers, contractors, and beyond have developed safety protocols to combat STCKY, that is, Stuff That Can Kill You. Gravity, Motion, Mechanical, Electrical, Pressure, Sound, Radiation, Biological, Chemical, Temperature. This season is all about the means of murder as authors put our STCKY detective skills to the test. This is Season 9, Stuff That Can Kill You.
This is Episode 20, where all kinds of different things are our STCKY means of death. This is Minute Mysteries by H.A. Ripley
Memberships!
The Case of the Vanishing Budget.
A small, plucky podcast called Mysteries to Die For awoke one morning to find its resources mysteriously drained. The lights flickered. The software groaned. The authors—real, living humans—were spotted wandering the halls whispering, “We… need… co-ax cables…”
Jack and TG searched for clues. Was it sabotage? A ghost? A raccoon with a grudge?
No. The culprit was far more chilling.
Ads. Ads were creeping toward the show like a slow moving fog, threatening to interrupt every dramatic pause with a cheerful voice saying, “Have YOU tried our new probiotic toothpaste?”
To stop this horror, the hosts devised a plan—three tiers of membership, each more heroic than the last.
• The Free Tier aka The Grave Digger’s Society: For listeners who love the show but also love keeping their wallets sealed tighter than a mummy’s tomb.
• The Cadaver Collective: For those willing to part with a few dollars to keep the mysteries flowing and the authors funded.
• The Preservationist Society: For the brave souls who want to say, “Yes, I support whodunnit storytelling across all genres,” with the confidence of a detective revealing the killer in the big reveal.
And for those who fear commitment? A tip jar—where you can drop a coin and leave a pun so terrible it becomes its own unsolved crime.
The solution to the mystery was simple: Memberships save the show. They keep the power on, the software humming, and the ads banished to whatever dark dimension they came from.
The final clue? The links—hidden in plain sight—waiting in the show notes and at M2D4podcast.com (M2D4podcast.com).
Will you solve the mystery… or become part of it?
ABOUT H.A. Ripley
Harold Austin “Rip” Ripley (1896–1974) was a newspaper columnist for the Chicago Tribune who wrote a daily column called "Minute Mysteries" featuring Professor Fordney. The series found its way into more than 100 newspapers. In 1932, he released a book of his Detectograms. Ripley also created Photo Crime for Look magazine, inviting readers to solve cases from photographic clues. He was a recovering alcoholic and later in life, founded Guest House treatment centers and helped thousands of alcoholic priests. Austin Ripley slowly began to lose his eyesight and went completely blind two years before his death. He died at home in his cabin he built on Tainter Lake on April 11, 1974.
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/131615749/harold_austin-ripley?utm_source=copilot.com (https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/131615749/harold_austin-ripley?utm_source=copilot.com)
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/50603
WRAP UP
That wraps this episode of Mysteries to Die For. Support our show by subscribing, telling a mystery lover about us, and giving us a five-star review. Check out our website m2d4podcast.com (m2d4podcast.com) for links to this season’s authors.
Mysteries to Die For is hosted by TG Wolff and Jack Wolff. Minute Mysteries was written by H.A. Ripley. Music and production are by Jack Wolff. Episode art is by TG Wolff. Join us next week for a Toe Tag, which is the first chapter from a fresh release in the mystery, crime, or thriller genre. Then come back in two weeks for our next original story where gravity is our STCKY means of murder. It’s Pop! Goes the Weasel by TM Chord.
