The Perfect Game

Starred review from January 12, 2015
Kirby, a practicing clinical psychologist, makes her debut with an exceptional mystery that reveals the dark side of the lucrative, glitzy world of professional baseball. When Lauren Rose, an emergency-medicine intern at Phoenix Good Samaritan Hospital, learns that her sister, Liz, has been murdered, she quickly becomes a suspect in the case. Liz’s handsome husband, Jake Wakefield, a pitcher for the Arizona Diamondbacks, is also implicated. Wakefield protests his innocence while striking up an inappropriate flirtation with Lauren, who makes matters even worse when the results of her police-ordered lie detector test are ruled inconclusive. The investigative work of two Scottsdale PD detectives ensures an arrest and courtroom trial. Both prosecution and defense introduce damning evidence, including surprise witnesses, deleted Internet searches, and video surveillance. Kirby elevates what could have been a straightforward court-case drama into a game of strategy and cunning that’s a cut above the rest.

January 1, 2015
A trauma doctor finds her own life on the critical list when her glamorous older sister is murdered.Now that Lauren Rose is a resident at Phoenix Good Samaritan Hospital, she hopes she'll finally find some time to spend with her older sister, Liz, who's married to Arizona Diamondbacks starting pitcher Jake Wakefield. That hope ends when Detective Wallace of the Scottsdale PD walks into the ER during Lauren's shift and brusquely informs her that her sister is dead. Although the killing looks like the result of a botched burglary, handsome Wallace and his surly partner, Boyd, keep interviewing Lauren about her movements the night Liz died. She finally consults criminal lawyer Dennis Hopkins, who advises her to dummy up. The tabloids have a field day, while local TV news reports point out that Lauren was recently named Liz's sole beneficiary. It seems as if Jake is her only friend. He invites Lauren to the Spirit of MADD award dinner in Liz's honor and encourages her to keep him from rattling around alone in the palatial home he shared with Liz, where the two bond over Ben and Jerry's and their shared love of baseball. But even Jake can't keep the police off Lauren's case, and she quickly finds out who has her back and who doesn't. Kirby delivers a debut that's trickier than an R.A. Dickey knuckleball.

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