by Ace Atkins
Part of Spenser, book 3
First published 1987
Spenser faces a delicate case when blackmailers target a talented major league pitcher and his wife. The private detective must stop the extortion without destroying the ballplayer's career or marriage in the process. His investigation pulls him from Boston to a small Illinois town, then to an upscale New York brothel. He tangles with a Boston loan shark and finds himself in a forest shootout. Along the way, Spenser confronts his own moral boundaries as he navigates between solving the crime and protecting his clients. The case forces him to weigh his professional code against the human cost of the truth. Parker weaves together crime detection, baseball culture, and questions of love and loyalty. The story features an array of memorable characters, from the sympathetic to the thoroughly despicable. At its heart, this is a story about the limits of doing the right thing.
Genres: suspense, mystery, crime, detective
Vibes: fast-paced, suspenseful, thought-provoking
Tropes: enemies-to-lovers, moral-ambiguity
Setting: Boston, Illinois, New York
Period: 20th-century
328 pages · Mass Market Paperback · Dell