Glitter of Diamonds
A Manzuik and Ryan
Mystery
N. J. Lindquist
Murder Will Out Mysteries
(Hardcover)
ISBN-10: 0-9685495-9-4 (0968549594)
ISBN-13: 978-0-9685495-9-9 (9780968549599)
Publication Date: May 2007
List Price: $24.95
Synopsis (from the publisher): After Stasey Simon, an outspoken sports talk-show host, asks on-air for a volunteer to knock some sense into the home team’s temperamental new pitcher, Manziuk and Ryan hustle to catch a murderer swinging a lethal bat before the case escalates into an international incident.
Review:
Glitter of Diamonds,
the second mystery in the Manziuk and Ryan series by N. J. Lindquist,
concerns the hopes and dreams, plus the disappointments and heartaches,
of a major league baseball team. We learn about the women and men of
the sports news media who follow the members of the team, even into the
locker rooms to try to get a story. Some write columns in the daily
newspaper. Others have sports station talk shows. These people can be
brutal.
For those readers who don’t know too much about major league
baseball except that it’s a little boy’s game
played by men
who make an awful lot of money doing it, the author tells us much about
these players and their game. There’s an unwritten code:
players
should be nice guys who are role models and play fair. There are,
however, players who are not nice, and who are lousy role models, and
who do not play fair. This is a story about one of those players.
The general management of the Toronto Matrix bought and brought from
Cuba a player who they thought was a fantastic pitcher – Rico
Velasquez. Because of him the team had a good chance to make it all the
way to the World Series. But, a murderer has other ideas. He lurks in
the Matrix bullpen waiting for Rico and hits him in the back of the
head with a baseball bat. This sets the story into action.
Although this reviewer very seldom watches a baseball game,
listens to a talk show sportscaster, or ever read anything on
the
sports page of the newspaper, this book was written in such a way that
it's possible for someone like myself to enjoy the story. Ontario
police detectives Paul Manziuk and Jacqueline
Ryan—he’s the
white, seasoned police veteran, while she’s a recently
promoted,
young, inexperienced black woman— are pushed to the limit to
solve this case, plus another murder similar to Rico’s, and
two
attempted murders. There are stories within stories about the families
of some, the romance of others, the jealousy of still others.
Glitter of Diamonds
is a book worth reading. N. J. Lindquist is fantastic in
telling this story with humor, compassion, and commitment.
Special thanks to guest reviewer Betty of The Betz Review for contributing
her review of Glitter
of Diamonds and to Breakthrough
Promotions for providing an ARC of the book for this
review.
Review Copyright © 2007, Hidden Staircase Mystery Books, All
Rights Reserved.
Mysteries in this series ...
Shaded Light
Murder Will Out Mysteries (Trade Paperback), 2004
ISBN-10: 0-9685495-6-X (096854956X)
ISBN-13: 978-0-9685495-6-8 (9780968549568)
Glitter of Diamonds
Murder Will Out Mysteries (Hardcover), 2007
ISBN-10: 0-9685495-9-4 (0968549594)
ISBN-13: 978-0-9685495-9-9 (9780968549599)
Omnimystery keywords for Glitter of Diamonds
...
Location(s) referenced: Toronto, Ontario.
