Strike Three, You're Dead

February 11, 2013
Berk (Guy Langman: Crime Scene Procrastinator) returns with an entertaining mystery that, while somewhat predictable, captures the spirit and enthusiasm of baseball fandom. Twelve-year-old Lenny, with the help of his buddies Mike and Other Mike, enters and wins a contest to guest-announce a Philadelphia Phillies game. When the hot rookie pitcher drops dead, the kids suspect that it’s more than a previously undetected heart condition. They join another local sports fan and begin investigating the crime, helped by occasional assistance from Lenny’s cardiologist parents, while meeting their hero, flashy catcher Ramon Famosa, and other players in the process. Baseball aficionados will appreciate all the trivia Berk works into the story, with references to famous players and Phillies history scattered throughout. The wisecracking interplay between the boys is a strong point, though the solution to the mystery is really never in doubt, and the silly deus ex machina elements during the climax do the story no favors. Still, readers should enjoy both the baseball storyline and goofy but realistic characters. Ages 8–12. Agent: Ted Malawer, Upstart Crow Literary.

February 1, 2013
Twelve-year-old Lenny Norbeck thought the contest to win a chance to broadcast one inning of a Phillies game would be fun. But it is murder. Literally. The Armchair Announcer contest should have been a dream come true for Lenny. He's "the boy with the golden voice," who's always narrating his life: "And Lenny Norbeck puts ANOTHER piece of pepperoni into his mouth. The crowd goes wild! Ahhhh-ahhhh-ahhh!" Maybe becoming a baseball announcer would be his thing. He's not especially smart or athletic or handsome, but he can do this. And he does. He wins the contest, and on July 29th, he's in the announcer's booth. But it all goes downhill quickly. The Phillies' pitcher collapses on the mound and dies, and Lenny never gets to do any announcing. He does have a mystery to solve, though. Was it a heart attack? Murder? Though the story is too scattered and, at times, implausible to be an effectively developed mystery, it is a fast-paced tale, an ode to the pleasures of the game--the dreams, the disappointments, and the trials and tribulations of being a fan. An enjoyable baseball story that young fans will follow all the way to the bottom of the ninth. (Fiction. 8-12)

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April 1, 2013

Gr 6-8-Lenny loves baseball and dreams of being an announcer someday (because he's certainly never going to be a player). It's just a dream until his two best friends, Mike and Other Mike, convince him to enter the Phillies' Armchair Announcer contest. On the night of the big game-the biggest opportunity of Lenny's life-an up-and-coming player drops dead on the mound. It's written off as a fluke thing, but Lenny and his friends find it suspicious. Everyone who was in the stadium that night is a suspect, and anything could be a lead in this fast-paced murder mystery. The plot is fairly straightforward and the mystery is not difficult to solve, but the characters are engaging enough to carry the plot. Sports fans will enjoy the humor and will attempt to crack the case alongside the intrepid investigators. A good choice for most collections, particularly those needing more mysteries.-Brandy Danner, Wilmington Memorial Library, MA

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