Suicide Squeeze

Robert Miles's baseball career is barely a footnote in the annals of America's pastime, but as an Illinois P.I., he's a heavy hitter. That's why he finds himself in the starting line-up of a baseball fantasy camp "dream" game at Wrigley Field. Blackballed major leaguer Dewey Farmer is quietly trying to make a comeback with the Chicago Cubs -- but he's been warned that if he pitches, he'll catch a bullet.Miles is none too pleased to be baby-sitting a bum like Farmer, especially when the Illinois House Speaker has him chasing down the son of a political rival involved in vehicular manslaughter. What does hitting home runs have to do with a case of hit-and-run? Maybe plenty. Enough, at least, to make the infamous Cubs-Mets "black cat" game of '69 look like Little League, as Miles steps up to bat against crime and corruption with the bases, and a sniper's gun, loaded . . . . "Witty . . . Entertaining." -- Publishers Weekly