Strike Three You're Dead by Josh Berk

Lennie has two good friends:  Mike and Other Mike.  You'd think he'd have found someone with a slightly different name, but no.  And Other Mike doesn't even like baseball, how weird is that?

Alfred A Knoph sent me a copy of this book for review (thank you).  It's been published, so check with your local bookstore for a copy.

This is a mix of baseball from the present to the past.  Lenny is a hardcore fan who wants to know EVERYTHING about baseball players and statistics and more.  Unfortunately, Lenny is not good at playing baseball.  So he mimics the sportscasters and does his own announcing.  Then the opportunity of a lifetime opens before him.  There's a contest where one young person will get to announce an inning of the game.  With the help of his friends, he produces the winning video and gets to make the trip.  What he can't anticipate is that the pitcher will fall over dead on the mound and it's not a natural death; he was murdered!

There are lots of twists and turns in this story and it's fun to read even if you're not a big baseball fan.  Boys will be boys, and these three are normal kids who almost get into big trouble.  I didn't guess who the killer was until the end.  How good is the detective who lives in your household?  Can they guess the murderer before I did?

Happy reading.