The Cincinnati Red Stalking (Mickey Rawlings Baseball Mysteries) [Hardcover]

Troy Soos (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 1, 1998 | Series: Mickey Rawlings Baseball Mysteries

On the day of the grand opening of an exhibit to honor the 1869 Cincinnati Red Stockings, the die-hard fan in charge of the event is shot to death. Soon Reds player Mickey Rawlings finds himself embroiled in a mix of conspiracy, lies, and murder that could end his career . . . and his life.

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

All Mickey Rawlings wants to do is put the Great War behind him, settle in as a utility infielder with the Cincinnati Reds, and learn to hit the low, outside curveball. It doesn't seem like much, but Mick keeps picking the wrong friends. Oliver Perriman, for instance, seems like a nice enough guy. Just a super baseball fan who wants to put together a tribute to the first professional baseball team, the 1869 Reds. But Perriman is shot in the head during a game, and when Mick becomes a suspect, though not a likely one, he decides to nose around. The case is a tangled web of greed and lost family lumber fortunes that ultimately has little or nothing to do with the game. The entries in the Mickey Rawlings series could almost be classified as cozies directed at baseball fans. Mix in great 1920s period detail and a likable, carefully presented first-person narrator in Rawlings for a series that has modest goals and meets them with style. Wes Lukowsky

From Kirkus Reviews

Two years after the Chicago Black Sox scandal rocked major league baseball, the Cincinnati Reds are still trying to prove that they won the 1919 World Series, and that the White Sox didn't just hand it to them. Oliver Perriman, a Reds fan who'd like to remember happier times, wants to mount an exhibit of memorabilia featuring the 1869 Cincinnati Red Stockings, who beat every team they played in a historic coast-to-coast tour. No sooner has the Reds management signed on to Ollie's plan, though, than he's shot to death, presumably by somebody who had an eye out for a particular bit of Red Stockings history. Could it have been the ball or the baseball cards he gave to the Reds' latest acquisition, rolling-stone utility infielder Mickey Rawlings? Mickey promises his live-in girlfriend, ex-serial queen Margie Turner, that he's not going to get involved this time, but it's too late. By the time Mickey uncovers evidence of a 50-year-old murder, somebody's already broken into his house looking for the fatal evidence, and somebody's trying to smear him by linking him to the gamblers who bought the 1919 Series. Will Mickey end up a ``permanent ineligible,'' the latest casualty of autocratic Commissioner Kenesaw Mountain Landis? No way, as Mickey never says. But his fifth adventure (Hunting a Detroit Tiger, 1997, etc.) is stronger on baseball triviathe Reds have an especially rich traditionthan on that untidy old mystery. -- Copyright ©1998, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 329 pages
• Publisher: Kensington Books; First Edition edition (March 1, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1575662868
• ISBN-13: 978-1575662862
• Product Dimensions: 7.3 x 5.1 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,666,614 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Ah, those were the days..., May 14, 2000

By 

Roger Long "longrush" (Port Clinton, OH USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Cincinnati Red Stalking (Mickey Rawlings Baseball Mysteries) (Hardcover)

If you are a baseball fan and a mystery reader, it doesn't get any better than this. The author re-creates the era of 1921, when the Cincinnati nine were still reeling from having been cheated out of their victory over the Chicago "Black Sox" by accusations that the fix was in. Having felt the summer heat of Cincinnati and having seen many games at Redlands (Crosley Field), this brought it all back. I can't wait to read Troy Soos' other mysteries.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Good mix of fact and fiction., July 25, 2001

By 

Thomas J. Kummer (Cincinnati, Ohio USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Cincinnati Red Stalking (Mickey Rawlings Baseball Mysteries) (Hardcover)

Troy Soos continues the story of journeyman Mickey Rawlings. This time he plays for the Cincinnati Reds.

It's 1921 and baseball is reeling from the Black Sox scandal. Mickey is threatened with expulsion from the game because of bogus gambling charges. In addition, Mickey is investigating two murders more than 50 years apart.

As a long-time resident of Cincinnati, OH, this book was especially enjoyable to me. I'm too young to have attended games in Redland/Crosley field, so it was good to be able to go there, at least vicariously. I'm eagerly awaiting the next Troy Soos novel.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Baseball, Cinninati, Who dunnit?, April 15, 2010

By 

dennis (fort valley, va, United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Cincinnati Red Stalkings (A Mickey Rawlings Baseball Mystery) (Mass Market Paperback)

You get three for the price of one. Its a fact, that women are market for novels, but this one's written for us guys, especially those of us who like baseball, and one that stays away from descriptions of the color of the wall paper. (And publishers wonder how to improve their markets-get some novels similar to this one). The fact that this book did NOT win a Pultizer, is a plus for my selection. People who decide who gets these prizes probably do not go to baseball games (Maybe NFL games where they sit in owner's boxes outside the winter weather.

This novel does have all the necessary "messages" that seem to be required of the new fare of the evil rich, corruption and racism. The hero is a "utility" player. The lowest rung of the roster. But he is in the Majors. It's through his eyes that we see the Cinncinati,gamblers, and doesn't seem to like owners, whose main interest in baseball was making money.