Paul Auster wrote a PBO as Paul Benjamin that features Max
Klein as "a tough New York shamus who delivers wisecracks as
fast as his one-two punch" according to the cover. It's been
awhile since I read it so I don't know how tough Klein is.
The book has become very collectible. Steve Hamilton's
Edgar-winning first novel, A Cold Day in Paradise, and his
second, Winter of the Wolf Moon, features a former pro
catcher who is a reluctant private eye in the Michigan Upper
Peninsula. He must be hard-boiled if he put on hockey goalie
equipment for the first time at about age 40 and played goal
against some top players. To a hockey player like myself,
that's science fiction. Dead in Center Field by Paul Engleman
has a P.I. named Mark Renzler. This week while sorting
through my library, I came across a TPBO called Frisco Blues
set in 1947 that features P.I. Riley Kovachs. I haven't read
it, but the storyline revolves around baseball integration
and the death of a player from the Negro Leagues who is
killed in a racially troubled shipyard. Kovachs, who has been
arrested three including once in connection with a waterfront
murder, appears to fit the rare-avis requirements. I'll do
more research in Andy McCue's Baseball by the Books fiction
bibliography and my own collection.
Kent Morgan in Winnipeg
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