Hanging Curve: a Mickey Rawlings mystery by Troy Soos

In ten words or less: Did Klan lynch pitcher? Ballplayer Mickey investigates.

Review: A utility infielder for the St. Louis Browns, Mickey Rawlings hopes he'll finally get to play on a championship team. When a former teammate asks Mickey to play in an exhibition game against a black semi-pro team, he agrees. He hasn't gotten much playing time lately, and he's heard about how good some of those black players are. So good, in fact, that their pitcher, Slip Crawford, strikes Mickey out every times he comes to the plate.

The Klu Klux Klan, in robes and hoods, are in attendance at the game. A few days later Slip Crawford is found lynched. Was the Klan involved? Mickey joins forces with a black civil rights lawyer and a white journalist to investigate.

Why bother? Soos combines a fine mystery with a chilling background. He's evoked the feeling of 1922, with race riots and Jim Crow laws, in a style that is convincing and disturbing. For fans of baseball and historical mysteries.