Three Strikes, You're Dead

Slots Resnick, the hero of Major League Murder and previous mysteries, evades a strikeout here, but his latest caper is not quite a home run. The half-Jewish, half-Irish former ballplayer, a cop turned private investigator, is hired by the New York Mets to do a background check on an outstanding prospect who turns out to be a talented but troubled young woman. When her wealthy stepmother is bludgeoned to death with the girl's favorite baseball bat, Resnick is dragged into the case a lot farther than he bargained for. As in his past appearances, Slots proves a resilient narrator, wisecracking but not a wiseguy and appealingly self-deprecating. Geller keeps the action moving swiftly but not improbably, although the book's initial premise of a major-league team signing a female player (a sort of Jackie Robinson of gender) strains credulity a little, and at least two characters--a reformed mafia hitman and his blind psychic wife--are fairly preposterous, if amusingly so. Still, Three Strikes offers an entertaining read with a satisfying, if predictable, denouement and an easy-to-take protagonist. (Nov.)