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Murder at the Foul Line

by Otto Penzler

Murder at the Foul Line is a collection of basketball related stories by Otto Penzler, noted for his many compilations of mystery and murder. This particular collection will delight all those who are basketball as well as murder-mystery fans, and includes some very well-known authors. But even writers who aren't as famous make just as big a splash in this book with their gruesome tales, most equal to, or even better than leaders of the pack. Once more Otto Penzler has given us a volume to delight and intrigue, with this one related to a sport at its height in the winter months. Mr. Penzler's written introduction is especially eye-opening, requiring a different look at sports in general and the insanity of fans – the cause of team owners who pay their players millions more than the president of our country.

The basketball court today is primarily populated by African-Americans because of their height. So the stories included in this collection are mostly about them, and not always in favorable circumstances. Lawrence Block's story about a hit man is one of the exceptions. Jeffery Deaver's tale demonstrates that not all the tall black men in basketball are exactly stupid. The two Parker's give us a story of a player wrongly accused, and Dubois' tells us about a team member in the notorious 1972 Olympics.

Parnell Hall's tale concerns a basketball coach afraid of being found dispensable; Sue DeNymme presents a rather depressing look at a lowlife who bets on the outcome of a game. A girls basketball team and a female coach obsessed with the death of a cat is featured in King's 'Cat's Paw', then Mike Lupica tells us about the basketball star who favors extra-marital one-nighters and the bodyguard who finds the girls for him.

Michael Malone supplies a story about a woman on trial for murdering her basketball star husband, George Pelecanos writes about a policeman and a young guy who likes to play mostly pickup games, and Rosen tells us about a grandfather's Jewish team and an offer they couldn't refuse…

S. J. Rosen is the author of a story concerning a temporarily disabled basketball star, his avid sister, and the murdered team member who almost took his place. Scott's tale is about a basketball player during his game at Madison Square Garden and the memories of his father being shot down on the street in cold blood. Stephen Solomita, with the last story in the collection, weaves a yarn about a prison basketball game and murder of a prisoner who was harboring a stash of dope.

All in all, even though I'm not a basketball fan myself, I found Murder at the Foul Line a great collection, viewing the sport from every possible angle with the dangling carrot of unsolved murder always firmly in place.

Alan Paul Curtis

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