Double Switch

November 30, 2015
In Monday’s solid follow-up to 2014’s The Setup Man, the major league baseball career of San José Dogs Bay reliever Johnny Adcock is winding down. Meanwhile, Adcock has earned a reputation as a problem solver for his teammates and other athletes, but he’s still surprised when Tiff Tate, a high-paid sports consultant “who designs a custom on-field look for each of her clients,” approaches him for help with Cuban refugee Yonel Ruiz, the Colorado Rockies’ star rookie outfielder. According to Tate, Ruiz is being blackmailed by Venezuelans who are holding his family hostage. Ruiz won’t talk to Adcock, Tate isn’t telling him everything, and the person who does dare talk to him about Ruiz is murdered. Adcock’s investigation rubs the MLB’s new director of personnel security the wrong way, which is bad enough, but it also offends others who are much more dangerous. Monday handles the baseball action flawlessly with this timely look at the influx of Cuban ballplayers and those eager to take advantage of them. Agent: Jennifer Carlson, Dunow, Carlson & Lerner.

January 1, 2016
Johnny Adcock, a relief pitcher moonlighting as a private investigator--or is it the other way around now that he's nearing retirement as a big leaguer?--investigates a Cuban slugger who may or may not be who he says he is. A left-handed specialist for the fictional San Jose Bay Dogs, Johnny is spending time with Connie, his librarian "girl in Denver," during a road trip. There, he becomes involved in the case of Yonel Ruiz, a prodigious rookie outfielder who's being blackmailed by the Venezuelan cartel that smuggled him out of Cuba on a powerboat. They're said to be holding his family until he gives them all his baseball money. Is Ruiz's beautiful, mysterious sister, Enriqueta, who's with him in Colorado, involved in the scheme? (Is she, in fact, the assassin known as La Loba?) After being offered an open invitation to come to her hotel room, Johnny has to take her up on it, at 4:30 a.m., after sleeping with Connie, right? It's all part of the job. And when vivacious marketing expert Tiff Tate, who customizes players' images for big money, needs to have sex with him to relax herself before discussing important things about the case, he has to comply if it helps his sleuthing, right? With all this coupling going on, it's no wonder the suspicious death of Rockies hitting coach Erik Magnusson, a former teammate of Johnny's, quickly fades into the background. But as oversexed and plot-imperfect as the book is, it's a fun read. Monday is at ease in moving among crime, baseball, and romance. The book gains authenticity from its references to real-life figures and situations. And the first-person narrator makes for good company. Monday's second effort, following The Setup Man (2014), is an enjoyable, easygoing sequel that shows off the author's skill at seamlessly mixing genres.

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February 1, 2016
The second novel featuring Johnny Adcock, an aging relief pitcher who does pro bono work for his baseball friends as an unofficial PI. This time Adcock's client is Yonel Ruiz, a recent defector from Cuba and one of the great young talents in the game. Ruiz doesn't know he's Adcock's client. Tiff Tate, a public-relations specialist, has taken Ruiz under her wing. She tells Adcock that Ruiz's family is being held hostage in Cuba and will be killed unless Ruiz starts handing over the money he's now making as a major-league star. The investigation starts badly: Adcock asks an ex-teammate and Ruiz's current hitting coach a few questions, and the next day the man is found dead. Often mysteries set in the world of professional sports seem contrived. Not this one. Monday (a pseudonym for novelist Nick Taylor) knows his baseball well, creates a mystery out of the very real exploitation of Cuban baseball defectors, and has an ear for dialogue. Good enough that readers who missed the first Adcock mystery (The Setup Man, 2014) will be eager to catch up.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2016, American Library Association.)