Green Monster
A Sam Skarda Mystery
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- $22.99
Publisher Description
After a second World Championship in four years, the Boston Red Sox have finally buried the Curse of the Bambino— or have they? Sox owner Louis Kenwood receives an extortion note signed "Babe Ruth" claiming that the 2004 World Series was fixed—and demanding $50 million to keep the information from getting to the press and the Commissioner's office.
If the allegation of a fix becomes public, Kenwood fears irreparable damage to the value of his franchise and to his legacy as Lucky Louie, a the man who finally brought a championship to Boston after 86 years. Thus, the Red Sox turn to private detective Sam Skarda to find out who's behind the extortion plot.
Kenwood insists that his beautiful executive assistant Heather Canby accompany—and monitor—Sam on every step of his investigation. Unsure whom he can trust, Sam follows the clues to the Los Angeles underworld and then to the slums of Venezuela. Can he assemble all of the pieces to this puzzle before more lives are lost and scandal blasts the Red Sox Nation? Green Monster is the second novel in the Sam Skarda series, following Amen Corner.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Baseball fans will welcome Shefchik's second mystery to feature sports sleuth Sam Skarda (after 2007's Amen Corner). A claim that the Boston Red Sox' victory in the 2004 World Series resulted from a fix takes Sam from Minneapolis to Boston, L.A. and Caracas as he fends off hit men and fights the clock: he has five days to break the case before Red Sox owner "Lucky" Louie Kenwood must pay an extortionist $50 million. Otherwise, a confession from a key St. Louis Cardinal player will reveal the Sox victory to have been a sham, thereby disgracing if not destroying Major League Baseball. Kenwood's executive assistant, the beautiful and brainy Heather Canby, helps Sam investigate, while Fenway Park's iconic "Green Monster" provides the setting for two climactic scenes. Like a pitcher changing speeds, Shefchik takes enough off his characterizations to avoid straight-out stereotypes, and he spins a fair simile now and then a pitch he should add to his regular repertoire.
