Dead Ball : A Harvey Blissberg Mystery - Hardcover

Rosen, RD

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0802733662 ISBN 13: 9780802733665

Publisher: Walker & Co, 2001

Synopsis

When a former teammate begins receiving anonymous threats, Harvey Blissberg, a former major league outfielder and private investigator, must race against time to stop a killer, in a thrilling mystery by the Edgar Award-winning author of Strike Three, You're Dead.

About this title

About the Author

R. D. Rosen is the author of Strike Three You're Dead, named one of the 100 Best Mysteries of the Century, Fadeaway, Saturday Night Dead, and World of Hurt. He has also been a television producer, commentator, and satirist for CBS, PBS, and HBO. Mr. Rosen lives in New York City.

Reviews

Few baseball records are as sacrosanct as Joe DiMaggio's 56-game hitting streak. Suppose a black player were to challenge that mark. Given the hate mail sent to Hank Aaron as he surpassed Babe Ruth's home-run record, Rosen's (Strike Three, You're Dead) grim premise in this dark tale rings all too true: there's no field of dreams here. While the author knows his way around the ballpark, his story's disturbing force comes from its unflinching review of racism in America. As Moss Cooley, an African-American star of the fictitious Providence Jewels, mounts a hitting streak that stretches toward 50 consecutive games, the racist backlash intensifies. When he receives a cast-iron "lawn jockey," its head severed and a threatening note attached, team officials act quickly. They summon Harvey, a former Jewel, now a private eye, to safeguard Moss no easy feat: Moss's stalker seems to know their every move. Like a crafty pitcher keeping batters off balance, the author delivers unexpected plot twists that keep the reader guessing. His skillfully modulated dialogue encompasses locker room patois, broadcast banter and, when Harvey's investigation leads to Georgia, Southern drawls. While a few of Rosen's similes may miss the strike zone, far more hit the catcher's mitt with a resounding zing (when "the ball disappeared into his glove... it was as if the entire crowd had been shot dead"). Even fans in the bleachers, though, will notice the overreliance on coincidences, and the author's brand name-dropping has as much appeal as a spitball. Agent, Brandt & Brandt.

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

Harvey Blissberg played for the Providence Jewels 15 years ago; then he was a PI and a motivational speaker, but now he isn't motivated by much of anything. He's roused, however, by a call from the team: their black slugger Moss Cooley is closing in on DiMaggio's hitting streak, and someone doesn't like it. Cooley has received some very ugly death threats of a racial nature, and Harvey moves in to protect the player and the team. Though Cooley's streak snaps at 47, the death threats continue, tied to his support of a group that investigates unsolved lynchings. The language crackles quick and sharp, full of hard-boiled one-liners, and there is some oddly beautiful writing about the game of baseball. The ugly and graphic history of lynching is a strong plot point, and the final denouement is both shocking and bloody. In the end, Harvey's longtime squeeze moves up a rung at ESPN, where she works, and Harvey gets a call he'd rather not take. GraceAnne DeCandido
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Edition details

• Publisher: Walker & Co
• Publication date: 2001
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0802733662
• ISBN 13: 9780802733665
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 224