Part of Mario Balzic Detective Mystery, book 14
First published 1998
Detective Sergeant Rugs Carlucci sits in the emergency room at Conemaugh General Hospital while his mother receives treatment for what might be a heart attack. The call comes in during this family crisis. Someone has killed Bobby Blasco, once known as the Brushback Kid when he pitched for the Boston Red Sox decades earlier. Blasco had been notorious for hitting batters, even beaning Ted Williams during spring training in 1959. After a mysterious accident ended his career, he returned to Rocksburg, Pennsylvania to run an illegal gambling operation in the Flats. Now Carlucci, acting chief of the Rocksburg PD, must solve the murder while managing his personal troubles. The investigation reveals Blasco as a man who abused his wives and alienated nearly everyone around him. In this declining mill town where the bars stay busy and hope runs thin, Carlucci interviews ex-wives and former associates, each with reason to hate the dead pitcher. The killer used a Louisville Slugger to crush Blasco's skull in a dark, frozen alley. Carlucci must determine which enemy finally struck back.
Genres: mystery, crime, thriller, detective
Vibes: emotional, fast-paced, suspenseful
Tropes: enemies-to-lovers, investigation
Setting: Boston, Conemaugh General Hospital, Pennsylvania, Rocksburg
Period: 1959, Decades Earlier
288 pages · Hardcover · Mysterious Press