The San Francisco Splash by David A. Kelly, a Mysterious Review.

Review: While cousins Kate Hopkins and Mike Walsh are in San Francisco to attend a Giants-Dodgers game, they meet up with legendary World Series pitcher Ray "The Rock" Reynolds, who will be throwing out the first pitch for one of the games between the two long-time rivals. But when Ray discovers his World Series ring is missing, Kate and Mike assure him they'll find it for him, in San Francisco Splash, the seventh early chapter mystery in this series by David A. Kelly.

Ray believes that another player, Dodger All-Star Lenny Littleton, may have stolen the ring out of spite after holding a "friendly" arm-wrestling match earlier in the day for fans. Back in the day the two were fierce competitors, and Lenny was on the losing side of a season-ending game that Ray pitched. When Kate and Mike confront Lenny, he denies having anything to do with the missing ring … and the kids believe him. He knows how important the rings are to players — he has one himself — and though he still bears a grudge, he wouldn't take something that means so much. Kate and Mike finally realize there was only one opportunity for someone to take the ring from Ray without him realizing it, and go about setting a trap to catch him.

The mysteries in this series aren't typically too demanding, but the one in San Francisco Splash is particularly light. Rather, it's all about the setting and it's a wonderful one, with the action moving from the bay water to the ballpark to a marina and finally on to Alcatraz. It's exciting accompanying the kids on their quest, though at one point one might argue they bend a legal rule or two by conducting what the police might otherwise consider to be breaking and entering. Still, it's all in the spirit of solving a mystery. And while not among the best of the series to date, it's engaging and entertaining nonetheless.

An appendix of "dugout notes" provides fun facts about the team and the ballpark.

The publisher lists this book as RL: 2.7, mid-second grade reading level, for readers aged 6 to 9. A Lexile measure has not, as of the date of this review, been assigned for this book.

Acknowledgment: Random House provided a copy of The San Francisco Splash for this review.

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The San Francisco Splash

The Ballpark Mysteries by David A. Kelly