Customer Reviews

Murder At Ebbets Field

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

In this 1914 period piece, sometime infielder Mickey Rawlings hopes his NY Giants will beat the Dodgers and earn a shot at the World Series. There's a movie crew shooting the game and right next to the Dodger's dugout, Mickey sees the luscious and famous movie star, Florence Hampton. When the director asks for a man from each team as bit players, the Dodgers pick Casey Stengel and the Giants choose Mickey.

The Giants lose the game (and baseball fans and non fans alike will appreciate Soos's short and vivid game descriptions), the glamorous Miss Hampton whisks Rawlings and Stengel away to film some scenes, then they're off to a champagne party. The next morning Mickey takes his hangover for a walk on the beach and finds Hampton's bloated body washed up on the beach. His friend, journalist Karl Landfors, talks him into investigating Hampton's death.

Soos's simple, almost journalistic prose holds the reader captive in the early 20th century baseball world. Soos, a physicist at MIT, says he always liked "reading mysteries and doing physics mostly for the puzzle...I think Peter Lovesey's Cribb & Thackery series is what got me writing historicals."

He uses books, film and photos to learn how the cities looked in the early part of the century. "I do use actual incidents and players, then I start to play the game of `what if?' to tie them together in a mystery plot."

Although I'm a baseball fan, I don't consider myself a fan of historical baseball -- at least I wasn't until I discovered Soos's series. He's managed to change that.

Murder at Ebbets Field has our hero, Mickey Rawlings playing for cantakerous John McGraw of the NY Giants. After a ballgame in Brooklyn, he gets involved as a bit player in a movie involving baseball players, including the Dodgers' Casey Stengel. Among the movie crowd is Margie, the actress who continues in Mickey's life in other books. Also is a murder, of course, which despite the title, doesn't exactly happen at Ebbets Field, but has Dodger connections. Mickey must balance his loyalty to Coach McGraw with his affection for Margie, his re-connection to the unusual Karl Landfors (re-appearing from Murder at Fenway Park), and making more movies. Mickey also must watch out so that he isn't the victim of some "accident" too. This book is totally charming and a pleasant read.

This is a very entertaining series, all of the books combine baseball, mystery and history and are well written. This is one of the best, the portrait of Casey Stengal is great.

I enjoyed this book thoroughly. It was one of the best mystery books and the best baseball mystery book I have ever read and I would highly recommend it.

I love Troy Soos' wonderful books on old-time baseball in mystery form, both of which I am a fan. Read all of his

baseball books when they first appeared and was so impressed I sent him a congratulatory email and, to my delight and surprise, I received a very gracious reply.

Murder at Ebbets field by Troy Soos was by far the greatest book I have ever read. This book is about a baseball player, Mickey Rawlings, in August 1914. A famous actress gets murdered and Mickey gets caught in the middle of it. I rated this book 5 out of 5 because while i was reading this book it felt impossible put it down, the only times I did were because I had to. This book is told from the view point of Mickey. Mickey finds the body of Florence Hampton, the famous actress, on the beach completely naked. Mickey decides to investigate the murder along with his girlfriend, Marguerite Turner, also known as Maggie. Mickey has to learn to balance his career with his personal life. -WP

This is a nice little book that clips along at a brisk pace. The protagonist seems a bit too smart for a 22-year old, however, and most of the historical tidbits that are included seem clumsily inserted. Having said that, I have to say that it certainly keeps one's interest from start to finish.

Somehow this was just not up to the plot and flavor of the writer's other mysteries. Perhaps it was a result of mixing silent movie making and baseball. I wanted more Ebbetts Field, Casey Stengel, etc. I watched many Dodger games in that old park, and I wanted to relive the feeling. Soos accomplished that in his mysteries about the Reds and the Red Sox, but I felt a little let down this time around.