Speed Dating Murders: A Love Story (Paperback or Softback)

My first try at speed dating went spectacularly. Ten women, ten men with five minutes to sell ourselves. All four of my choices provided hits. One was turning into a budding, loving, long term relationship until the murders got in the way.

Michelle Del Carlo felt she had found a winner. An old-fashioned guy. He was tall which was a must as she edged six feet. He was even athletic, an assistant basketball coach at a Division I university in San Francisco. His name was Rob MacKay and their five-minute date went well as well as their next five. Everything was pointing at that 5% category of a long-term relationship when after a month of dating, Rob was accused of committing murder. The Gay man who had run the speed dating event for Quick Dates, was killed, along with one of the women daters. Instead of straining their relationship, the stress of the charge brings them together.

Michelle believing Rob is innocent of the charge, starts investigating the other speed daters, along with Rob and the help of Rob's attorney, Nate "The Great" Hart. This puts both of them in danger and results in the death of Rob's cat on the doorstep of his home. Slowly the police start considering Rob less of a suspect and more as a potential victim.

The setting is in San Francisco and Marin County with Rob caught in the middle of trying to continue to do his job as recruiter of high school athletes and collage game coach. The story unfolds with him as the main storyteller. Michelle changes jobs from a clothing retailer in downtown San Francisco to an upscale retailer in Marin while she works to prove Rob's innocence. Details about evaluation and recruiting of high school athletes provides the setting for the story as Rob and Michelle unravel the mystery until a third woman dater's bloody coat is found under the Golden Gate Bridge. It becomes more than just a murder when it's realized that the missing woman's job with the Bank of America was as the head of security against cyber threats. Her disappearance becomes a threat to National Security.

Speed Dating Murders, shows all the fears and uncertainty of trying to understand a person in just five minutes. Generally daters are looking for a long-lasting relationship. The services advertise that the possibility of that is 5% per dating event while the possibility of sex is in the 7 1/2 percent range. There is always the chance of selecting a predator.

The inspiration for The Speed Dating Murders came from the true experiences of two daters, where all the women in the event met in the bathroom prior to the five-minute dating, as well as after the event. They exchanged information as to their choices and who the men put on their contact scorecard. In The Speed Dating Murders this instance results in two perhaps three murders, and the death of a cat.