Baseball Mysteries

Quench your thirst for drama, mystery, humor, romance, and fantasy with 25 short stories, each with a twist the reader won’t see coming. If you hadn’t had a drink or two before you read this book, you will need it afterwards. With stories ranging from four hundred to seven thousand words, this collection has something for everyone. Audrey is pregnant by someone other than her husband. Renee left the scene of a fatal hit-and-run accident. Barbara’s hook-up with an Internet stranger goes too far. What is Crystal’s secret? How will a jealous girlfriend, a skeptical husband, and an ...

From the pen of a multiple award-winning author... From the depths of the Taklamakan desert in Mongolia, a priceless emerald has been stolen. Through circuitous paths, it makes its way to a baseball diamond in St Louis, Missouri. A thoughtful conversation between three friends sees the mystery unfold, and the whereabouts of the emerald finally revealed. Step up to the plate to read, "The Emerald in the Diamond." Also included is the prequel to this story: the same three friends recount the murder of a woman in a Malaysian condominium, where the murderer's identify is divined through ...

Squeeze Play in Beantown revolves around an attempt to bring about Sunday baseball to nineteenth century Boston, where recreation on the Sabbath was prohibited by law. Rowe’s protagonist, Will Beaman, seeks to have the National League’s Boston Beaneaters play the Cincinnati Reds on a Sunday late in the torrid 1897 pennant race between Boston and Baltimore. Frederic Remington’s first exhibition of his western art, feminist Emma Goldman's push for radical reforms, John F. “Honey Fitz” Fitzgerald’s ambition to be mayor of Boston, and England’s return of the famous William ...

The year is 1897. The place: Boston, Mass. Star short stop Herman Long has just been beaten and left for dead, alone and in the locker room of the Boston Beaneaters National League base ball team. But, whodunit and why? It’s up to ne’er-do-well Will Beaman, who stumbles across Long while trying desperately to secure a front office position with the ball club, to solve the case. Filled with romance, numerous red herrings, exciting game reportage, and shady characters, Best Bet in Beantown dives deeply into the sordid world of 19th century base ball.

Marilyn Monroe died just after midnight on August 5, 1962; former Little League champion Kimitake "Clyde" Koba was born on the same day, at the same time. As Clyde struggles to escape the ghost of his brother and his alcoholic father and stumbles through his first love, he finds strength in the belief that he is the reincarnation of Monroe. Meanwhile....

In 1960, an upstart Pittsburgh Pirates team beat the highly favored New York Yankees in the World Series. Given the power of a Yankee roster that included Mickey Mantle, Whitey Ford, and Yogi Berra, that improbably victory did more than give long-suffering Pirates fans something to cheer about; it put Pittsburgh on the map. Though John Moody was only six years old during that magical baseball season, he was a devoted fan of the Pittsburgh team. The star pitcher for the Pirates and John's first hero was Vernon Law - an unsophisticated Idaho country boy, widely known as The Deacon, a friendly nickname derived from his strict Mormon upbringing.

Every law firm has its backroom bench of brilliant workaholic nerds ferocious in their commitment to the law and to their clients. Such a player is Milton Bernstein of Abbott & Windsor. He's highly valued by the partners for his skills, but untested in the courtroom. Milton's younger brother, Hal, is his polar opposite - strikingly handsome, a high-school baseball legend in St. Louis who was on his way to the major leagues until he destroyed his prospects in a motorcycle accident. Milton suddenly finds himself fielding Hal's arrest for kidnapping and murder.

The year is 1918. An influenza epidemic imperils the world. A world war rages, igniting protests on the American homefront and threatening to end professional baseball. Labor unrest is everywhere. The Red Sox are struggling to reach the World Series. Will Beaman is asked to investigate the disappearance of a derelict who has been hanging around Fenway Park bragging about becoming rich on fixed games. Will's search for the missing man triggers threats on his life, plunks him into the midst of Boston's volatile gambling community, identifies a host of rough-and-tumble suspects, and draws him ...

When local baseball player Junior Jones receives death threats over the color of his skin, the team's wealthy owner hires Sam Rockwell to solve the case and stop a murder before it happens. Sam goes undercover as a minor league pitcher to strike out the culprit. Follow the clues along with Sam's curmudgeonly ghost of a father Frank Rockwell, and Sam's wife Amelia, who holds a secret that will forever change the lives of the entire Rockwell family. It's another laugh-filled, madcap mystery in the warm, witty 1950's Hollywood-style of author Jason Anspach.

A year ago, baseball player Blair Saxon was enjoying his Major League Debut. Today, he’s wasting away on a west coast beach, the victim of a 95-mile per hour fastball to the head. He’s direct, abrasive, and speaks without filters, so it’s understandable that the police don’t want his help with a deadly case. When the killer gets too close, Saxon turns to his one remaining friend, Megan, the only one who will tolerate his strange ideas and even stranger plans. Together as amateur detectives, they do what the police detectives can't, they find suspects. But can they keep themselves ...

Troy Soos' sparkling Mickey Rawlings Baseball mysteries pack early 1900's baseball lore and colorful period details into baffling whodunits. Hunting a Detroit Tiger vividly brings to life the turbulent post-World War I days when the nation partied with bootleg liquor and labor unrest swept the nation with violence.

STRANGE THINGS ARE AFOOT... In the rural town of Hollow Oak, life is good for a team of young baseball players known as the Green Beans. Their days are filled with friendship, fun, and the game that they love. In recent days, Neil (the Beans’ fearless centerfielder) has heard strange things in the forest that lies just beyond the outfield fence. Although he hasn’t been able to pinpoint the source of the weird noises, he can’t shake the feeling of being watched. Neil has begun to suspect that there’s something prowling within the woods, hidden among the trees and shadows. He’s not ...

Babe Ruth, the Sultan of Swat, is having a record-breaking season in his first year as a New York Yankee. Larger than life on the field and off, Ruth is about to discover what the Chicago White Sox players accused of throwing the 1919 World Series are learning - baseball heroes are not invulnerable to scandal. With suspicion in the air, Ruth's 1918 World Series win for the Boston Red Sox is now being questioned. Under scrutiny by the new baseball commissioner and enmeshed with gambling kingpin Arnold Rothstein, Ruth turns for help to Speed Cook, now a promoter of Negro baseball.

THINGS GET SCIENTIFIC... Two weeks have passed since the Green Beans solved the mystery of Hollow Oak, making remarkable discoveries in the process. In the wake of their findings, Jack has been placed within the huge, eerie manor of his new guardian – an eccentric uncle, known as Lefty O’Houlihan. Before long, Jack comes to suspect that something strange is afoot in his new home. Weird noises, curious sights, and his uncle’s odd behavior have led Jack to believe that all is not well at Lefty’s Manor. Seeking help, Jack finds that his friends are more than ready for adventure and ...

SOMETHING LIES BENEATH… Only a handful of days have passed since the nefarious efforts of Jasper, the evil school janitor, were squashed. Although they are exhilarated with their victory, the Beans have come to realize that Jasper is but the tip of the iceberg in the schemes of a larger organization of dubious methods and goals. Be that as it may, they’re happy to have a break from the astonishing events of recent weeks, and their field trip to the Portsmouth Museum of Historical Artifacts seems like the perfect way to relax. It doesn't take long, however, for the Beans to realize that ...

The bear was close enough to smell. My breath caught in my chest as the dark figure plunged through the brush, grunting and drooling, its thick legs running quickly toward Stanley..."Back away slow, out of his sight, then run like the devil outta here." In 1938 in the small farming community of Friendsville, Maryland fourteen-year-old Henry Murphy and his brothers fight for their lives. Mysterious and courageous, Dr. Rufus Steele proves to be a powerful ally, and strong bonds develop among them. But larger questions remain. Who is Rufus Steele? Why did he come to Friendsville? How long does...

MIDDLE SCHOOL MAYHEM... Maria and Sara are bummed out. While their friends are off adventuring on Smuttynose Island, undoubtedly engaging in all kinds of escapades and shenanigans, the sisters are stuck at Hollow Oak Elementary for another routine day of school. Could anything, they wonder, be more boring? As the hours begin to unfold before them, however, they quickly realize this day is anything but normal. A formidable presence has made itself known in the school, and increasingly strange happenings are occurring at an alarming rate. Their father, Chief Fresco, is determined to resolve ...

A mild mannered CPA and baseball fan travels back in time to prevent the 1919 World Series from being fixed, and saving the reputations of Joe Jackson and Eddie Cicotte. Along the way, he meets lots of interesting characters from that era. He not only must stop the scandal, but has a murderer on his tail trying to stop him.

After the baseball season ends, ambidextrous relief pitcher Lefty Gallagher is sent to bring a Czech javelin thrower from behind the Iron Curtain. Leaving Cleveland, Lefty meets a zany cast of characters when he travels from Paris to Prague and back again.

It’s all fun and games until a body washes up…. Beth Monroe just wants to make it through the summer baseball season without being the constant target of her brother Shane’s jokes, but he is relentless, and she’s ready to lock herself in her room and hide. Until the new girl shows up. Halley appears in small town Barryville like a ghost. No one knows where she came from or anything about her past, not even her last name. When she gives Beth a piece of unsolicited advice that, “It’s what’s on the outside that counts,” Beth changes everything about herself. By the time Beth ...