Sports Stories

Baseball

Three Strikes and You’re Dead by Donald Bain (Mystery)
While visiting friends in Arizona and attending a minor league baseball game, Jessica Fletcher investigates when her friends' foster son, Ty Ramos, becomes the prime suspect in the killing of his archrival.

Underworld by Don DeLillo
Opening with the famous Giants-Dodgers playoff game of 1951, Bobby Thompson's "shot heard round the world" and a Russian detonation of an atomic bomb.

All the Stars Came Out That Night by Kevin King
A tale based on the 1934 World Series traces the machinations of legal genius Clarence Darrow to bring about the Cardinals win, an achievement also marked by the contributions of such figures as Babe Ruth, Joe DiMaggio, and Henry Ford.

Shoeless Joe by W.P. Kinsella
Ray Kinsella's fanatic love of baseball drives him to build a baseball stadium in his corn field and kidnap the author, J.D. Salinger, and bring him to a baseball game.

Diamonds by Shari MacDonald (Inspirational)
Casey Foster inherits a minor league team and is quickly drawn into crazy promotions events, major league expectations, player egos, and romance with the pitcher .

The Natural by Bernard Malamud
Roy Hobbs, and his bat, “Wonderboy” have great success on the field. After being injured, he returns to baseball in hopes of bringing his team a winning season.

Waiting for Teddy Williams by Howard Frank Mosher
On the eighth birthday of Ethan "E.A". Allen, who lives with his mother and Gran in a Vermont town decades behind the rest of New England, a drifter named Teddy comes into their world, teaching E.A. how to play ball and the secrets of baseball.

Double Play by Robert B. Parker
In 1947, as Jackie Robinson breaks the major league baseball color barrier by playing for the Brooklyn Dodgers, Joseph Burke, a World War II veteran, is hired by Dodgers manager Branch Rickey to be Robinson's bodyguard.

Slider by Patrick Robinson
Hotshot young college pitcher Jack Faber returns after a stint in a summer baseball league to find a new baseball coach who resents his success, cockiness, and talent and who sets out to destroy Jack's confidence in himself and his pitching ability.

Be the One by April Smith
Cassidy Sanderson, a scout for the Los Angeles Dodgers, hops on a plane to Santa Domingo to check out Alberto Cruz, a promising Dominican player. When she returns to Los Angeles, Cassidy finds that her life has been turned upside-down and she is caught in the middle of a blackmail scandal and possible murder plot.

Basketball

Homecourt Advantage by Rita Ewing & Crystal McCrary
Written by the wives of two NBA superstars, this novel introduces Casey Rogers, wife of the NBA star forward and "captain" of the wives and girlfriends club, who will face adversity at the hands of players, wives, coaches, and even coaches' wives.

Too Far by Mike Lupica
Eddie, a scout for the New York Knights, goes to Europe and finds Dee Gerard, bringing her back to be the first woman player in the NBA. At first, owner Michael De La Cruz looks at this as a money-making publicity stunt, however, he along with the rest of the league, soon finds out that Dee is talented.

Foul Lines by Jack McCallum
Presents an NBA-inspired tale of Yale senior Jamal Kelly, who lands a job with the Los Angeles Lasers and finds his former life of poverty transformed into a maelstrom of charter flights, high living, and attractive women.

Murder at the Foul Line (find in the Mystery section under MURDER)
An original collection of short basketball tales, written by some of the mystery genre's top authors, includes contributions by such figures as Lawrence Block, Jeffery Deaver, and Robert B. Parker.

The Team by Dawson Perkins
When ex-basketball star Xavier Dean unexpectedly reenters her life, CPA Gwen Fagan finds it increasingly difficult to continue to repress memories of her brutal rape by his teammate Terry Stuart ten years earlier.

The Last King by Nichelle Tramble
After being away two years, Maceo Redfield returns to Oakland at the urging of his aunt Cissy. Basketball star and childhood friend Cotton has been arrested for murder after a dead woman was found in his hotel room. Maceo agrees to investigate in order to help his best friend and Cissy’s former lover, Jonathon “Holly” Ford.

Football

Third and Forever by Lowen Clausen (Mystery)
While attending college for an advanced degree, Officer Grace Stevens, along with her partner Katherine Murphy, investigates a charming football hero who is also a serial rapist, forcing them both to enter the competitive world of college sports where certain athletes are untouchable.

Playing for Pizza by John Grisham
Cut from the Cleveland Browns after the worst performance in the history of the NFL, Rick Dockery, desperate to play football, is hired by the Panthers of Parma, Italy, and finds himself confronted by the confusing diversity of Italian culture, language, and romance.

Hometown Legend by Jerry Jenkins (Inspirational)
Years after Athens City, Alabama, lost the state high-school football championship and suffered a devastating tragedy, the former coach returns to head up one final season, aided by a local who teaches him a lesson about love, reconciliation, and winning.

The Sweet Spot by Kayla Perrin
Kahari Brown, the ace wide receiver for the Oakland Raiders, finds his career in trouble after meeting Zöe Andrews, an ambitious broadcast journalist out to make her mark on the world of men's sports.

Sudden Death by David Rosenfelt (Mystery)
When the Giants's new star running back is accused of murdering a Jets rival, attorney Andy Carpenter works for the athlete's defense, a task that is complicated by the discovery of additional player killings and death threats from a drug mobster.

Golf

Lost in the Garden by Philip Beard
Enjoying a relaxed life with his wife and daughters, under-motivated lawyer Michael Benedict suffers a personal crisis when his wife becomes unexpectedly pregnant at the age of forty, a situation that reveals the fault lines of his marriage, sparks obsessions over his golf swing and stock investments, and tempts him to have an affair.

Dead in Vineyard Sand by Phillip Craig (Mystery)
When the body of a radical environmentalist is discovered in a golf course sandtrap, J.W. Jackson finds himself named a prime suspect and sets about identifying the killer from among a horde of developers, golfers, and other potential culprits.

Final Fore by Roberta Isleib (Mystery)
While preparing for the U.S. Women's Open, Cassie Burdette finds herself on edge when her favorite caddie goes missing, a rival player is poisoned, and threatening e-mails and messages dodge her every move, proving that the competition is deadly.

Miracle on the 17th Green by James Patterson & Peter De Jonge
Travis loves golf but all of a sudden he is playing like a pro. When he is fired from his job, he decides to join the Senior PGA Tour.

Shanks for Nothing by Rick Reilly
Raymond "Stick" Hart's life is turned upside down when his hated blue-blooded father drops dead, his friend loses money to a hustler funded by the Russian mob, his wife throws him out, and he must qualify for the British Open to solve his problems.