Dead Ball : A Harvey Blissberg Mystery [Hardcover]

Richard Dean Rosen (Author)

Book Description

Series: Harvey Bliss Mysteries | Publication Date: October 2001

Harvey Blissberg is a former major league outfielder and private investigator, with a bad case of what his girlfriend Mickey Slavin calls "sad man-ism." But a phone call from his former team, the Providence Jewels, snaps him out of his funk and into a clubhouse filled with deadly tensions. Outfielder Moss Cooley is on the brink of doing the unthinkable-breaking Joe DiMaggio's 56-game hitting streak record-and anonymous threats on his life begin with the arrival of a headless lawn jockey...followed soon after by the head.

Reuniting Harvey Blissberg with the team, and the city, that formed the background for his Edgar Award-winning first mystery, Strike Three You're Dead, R. D. Rosen's Dead Ball is a chilling look at our national pastime. It is also a troubling look at our national disgrace of racism. In an investigation that takes Blissberg from the polished diamond of the Jewels'refurbi9shed ballpark to the inner sanctum of the club owner and the rough fields of the rural south, Rosen lays bare the hatred just below the cool surface of our grown-up games.

Harvey Blissberg may have his qualms about the way the summer game is played these days, and he has certainly lost a step or two on the center field grass, but he's in perfect condition to stop a murderer in his tracks...and R.D. Rosen is just the man to manage all the players in this explosive and rewarding new crime novel.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Few baseball records are as sacrosanct as Joe DiMaggio's 56-game hitting streak. Suppose a black player were to challenge that mark. Given the hate mail sent to Hank Aaron as he surpassed Babe Ruth's home-run record, Rosen's (Strike Three, You're Dead) grim premise in this dark tale rings all too true: there's no field of dreams here. While the author knows his way around the ballpark, his story's disturbing force comes from its unflinching review of racism in America. As Moss Cooley, an African-American star of the fictitious Providence Jewels, mounts a hitting streak that stretches toward 50 consecutive games, the racist backlash intensifies. When he receives a cast-iron "lawn jockey," its head severed and a threatening note attached, team officials act quickly. They summon Harvey, a former Jewel, now a private eye, to safeguard Moss no easy feat: Moss's stalker seems to know their every move. Like a crafty pitcher keeping batters off balance, the author delivers unexpected plot twists that keep the reader guessing. His skillfully modulated dialogue encompasses locker room patois, broadcast banter and, when Harvey's investigation leads to Georgia, Southern drawls. While a few of Rosen's similes may miss the strike zone, far more hit the catcher's mitt with a resounding zing (when "the ball disappeared into his glove... it was as if the entire crowd had been shot dead"). Even fans in the bleachers, though, will notice the overreliance on coincidences, and the author's brand name-dropping has as much appeal as a spitball. Agent, Brandt & Brandt.

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

Harvey Blissberg played for the Providence Jewels 15 years ago; then he was a PI and a motivational speaker, but now he isn't motivated by much of anything. He's roused, however, by a call from the team: their black slugger Moss Cooley is closing in on DiMaggio's hitting streak, and someone doesn't like it. Cooley has received some very ugly death threats of a racial nature, and Harvey moves in to protect the player and the team. Though Cooley's streak snaps at 47, the death threats continue, tied to his support of a group that investigates unsolved lynchings. The language crackles quick and sharp, full of hard-boiled one-liners, and there is some oddly beautiful writing about the game of baseball. The ugly and graphic history of lynching is a strong plot point, and the final denouement is both shocking and bloody. In the end, Harvey's longtime squeeze moves up a rung at ESPN, where she works, and Harvey gets a call he'd rather not take. GraceAnne DeCandido
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 224 pages
• Publisher: Walker & Company; First edition. edition (October 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0802733662
• ISBN-13: 978-0802733665
• Product Dimensions: 8.6 x 5.8 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,071,018 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Harvey Blissberg's Back in the Game....., December 21, 2001

By 

Roz Levine - See all my reviews

This review is from: Dead Ball : A Harvey Blissberg Mystery (Hardcover)

It looks like Providence Jewel outfielder, Moss Cooley, may be ready to do the impossible. His bat is red hot; he's hit in 46 consecutive games, and he's zeroing in on DiMaggio's 56-game hitting streak record...the record, experts said, that would never be broken. But not everyone is thrilled by the possibility, and with all his success and notoriety, comes hate mail. When Moss receives a headless lawn jockey with a death threat attached, team management decides to call in the big guns, former Jewel's center fielder, turned private detective, Harvey Blissberg, to protect their star player. But "babysitting" isn't enough for Harvey, and once he sinks his teeth into the case and starts digging, he can't let go until he gets to the truth..... Mystery lovers and baseball enthusiasts will be glad to know that Richard Rosen is finally back, after a long hiatus, with another Harvey Blissberg mystery. Dead Ball is a well paced, intriguing, page turner, full of great characters, vivid scenes, and subtle plot twists that keep you off balance and guessing to the end. But it's Mr Rosen's smart, crisp, intelligent writing, and witty and irreverent dialogue that really makes this novel stand out, and his obvious love of the game, and knowledge of baseball history adds real credibility to the story. With its stunning conclusion, and very satisfying ending, Dead Ball is a novel that should definitely be placed at the top of every mystery fan's "Must Read" list. If you're new to the Harvey Blissberg series, start at the beginning with Strike Three, You're Dead, and read them all. If you're already a groupie, Harvey's back, and better than ever!

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Pros in Providence, October 21, 2001

By 

"[e-mail]" - See all my reviews

This review is from: Dead Ball : A Harvey Blissberg Mystery (Hardcover)

Harvey Blissberg, PI, ex-center fielder is back with his old major league team, the Providence Jewels, who have a new park since he played for them, 15 years before. The Jewels superstar, Moss Cooley, is close to breaking Di Maggio's 56 game hitting streak, but someone is trying to rattle him. The team hires Blissberg to protect Cooley.

Harvey and Moss learn to trust and respect each other and little by little, the mystery is unraveled. I was sure I would dislike this book, since I find professional sports boring and Providence is one of my least favorite cities. I was wrong. Rosen makes the game and the people interesting and exciting again (I stopped following baseball when the Giants left New York, when it was a game and not big business as it is today.) Bits and pieces of baseball history are woven into the story as is Providence and its landmarks including Haven's Brothers, a prototype the first diner.

4.0 out of 5 stars Providence mystery hits a triple; runs score!, September 6, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: Dead Ball : A Harvey Blissberg Mystery (Hardcover)

This review originally appeared on my Weblog:...

While Providence may not have had a major league team since 1884, in R.D. Rosen's world, Providence is a major league team, home to the Providence Jewels, along with an architectural treasure of a ball park located somewhere around India Point park.

Rosen has written a series of mysteries featuring Harvey Blissberg, a former Providence Jewel player turned detective turned motivational speaker. Blissberg is a great detective character- by turns blustery, unsure of himself, and self-effacing. He's a very likable character, flaws and all. And of course, seeing places like Wayland Square, Haven Brothers, and the Industrial National Bank Building is very interesting for the Rhode Island savvy among us.

Rosen's geography is a little off (in Dead Ball, he has Routes 95 and 195 confused at points-- 195 passes over Richmond Street, not 95!) but that's a tiny niggle. He gets lots of geographical things right too!

The books are great fun if you like mysteries. The plots move along relatively quickly, and reading about Providence and the mythical Providence Jewels makes you wish we did have a ball club (forget about the headaches of traffic, parking, and corruption for a minute.)

Read the books, you'll be glad you did!