Fifty years after Roger Maris set a new Major League record for home runs in one season, the SHAMUS Award Winning mystery novel Dead in Center Field by Paul Engleman is available once again.
Set in New York in 1961, Engleman's first novel captures the drama of that season's historic home run race and introduces readers to baseball player-turned-private detective Mark Renzler, a character whom the late Studs Terkel called "a sociable Sam Spade: great company for the reader."
First published in 1983, Dead In Center Field won the Private Eye Writers of America SHAMUS Award for best original softcover. The Japanese edition of the book won Japan's FALCON Award.
THE STORY: It's the summer of 1961, and all eyes in the sports world are riveted on New York's Yankee Stadium, where young outfielder Marvin Wallace is mounting an assault on Babe Ruth's record of 60 home runs in a season. As the upstart slugger closes in on the legendary Sultan of Swat, the pressure begins building off the field: Someone is making death threats, and it's up to ballplayer-turned-private eye Mark Renzler and his avant garde artist sidekick Nate Moore to figure out who. With a lineup of possible suspects that includes New Jersey gambling interests, fanatical Ruth fans and even Wallace's own teammates, Renzler faces a full count in late innings. If he doesn't come through in the clutch, it could be Marvelous Marvin's last time at bat.*
CRITICAL PRAISE FOR PAUL ENGLEMAN, MARK RENZLER, AND DEAD IN CENTER FIELD:
"Paul Engleman is a deft storyteller with a quirky touch. Mark Renzler is a sociable Sam Spade: great company for the reader." -- Studs Terkel
"A grand slam!" -- Lin Brehmer, WXRT Chicago
"The wisecracks are funny and the allusions clever. Engleman, like Chandler, doesn't take himself too seriously." -- Publishers Weekly
"This one's right in the ballpark." -– Los Angeles Times
"It's a delight!" -- Playboy
"An excellent baseball mystery and a legendary private eye."
-- Sacramento Bee
"Breezy and irreverent, Engleman works in 60s touches without wallowing in nostalgia."
-- Chicago Sun-Times
"Engleman has a winning series in the Renzler chronicles."
-- Chicago Magazine
OF NOTE: The cover for this new edition of the book was designed by the author's son Joe Engleman, a student at Grinnell College in Iowa.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Paul Engleman is the author of eight novels, including Dead in Center Field, winner of the Private Eye Writers of America SHAMUS award and Japan's FALCON award. His other books featuring New York detective Mark Renzler include Catch A Fallen Angel, Murder-in-Law, Left for Dead, and Who Shot Longshot Sam? A second series, with Second City sleuth Phil Moony, includes The Man With My Name and The Man With My Cat. A two-time winner of the Peter Lisagor award given by the Society of Professional Journalists, Engleman's articles, essays and interviews have appeared in numerous publications, including AARP, Playboy, Chicago magazine, the Chicago Tribune, Crain's Chicago Business, the Chicago Reader, the Huffington Post, and The Rotarian. His weekly column Diary of a Dad Housewife ran in the Chicago Sun-Times. Originally from Wayne, New Jersey, Engleman attended Beloit College in Wisconsin. He lives in Chicago with his wife and two sons.
