Mr. David A. Todd brings his book to What's This ...the minute blog.
Mostly in Chicago, but also in other cities with major league baseball teams and in southwestern Kansas. The time is contemporary.
Ronny Thompson breaks into the Big Leagues with the Chicago Cubs. He’s a phenomenal pitcher, and he wins almost all the time. He leads the Cubs to heights they haven’t seen in years. But, he was raised on a farm in rural Kansas, and is not prepared for life in the big city, or for the estrangement he feels with his parents.
Tony Mancini inherited leadership of his father’s Mafia Family, but he’s not cut out to be a Don. He dislikes killing, though will order a hit on occasion. He has no business sense, and his Family is slowly going downhill. People in his organization have noticed, though he hasn’t.
Colt Washburn was a southside Chicago gang member who stepped up to big time organized crime. He is ambitious and astute, and usually makes moves that make business sense of his crime syndicate. He doesn’t mind killing at all, and in fact may use it a bit too often.
Sarah Riley was raised on an Iowa farm, but moved to Chicago and fell in with the wrong people. She hides her criminal background and becomes Ronny’s girlfriend. She sees this farm boy as so much like the boys she detested at home, but compared to what she’s had the last few years he looks pretty good.
John Lind is a sport reporter for the Chicago Tribune, but he would prefer to be an investigative reporter of crime stories. He sees Ronny Thompson as something other than a farm boy, and cultivates a relationship with him, but starts an investigation to see what he’s all about.
The Chicago Cubs haven’t won a World Series in over a century, but this new pitcher, Ronny Thompson, has the ability and stamina to take them to the Series and win it. However two Mafia Dons have made a huge bet about the Cubs and the Yankees.
The New York Don isn’t about to lose, so he interferes in Thompson’s life, while the Chicago Don tries to counter the moves of his rival. Thompson is confused about it all, chalks it up to big city life, and relies on the strength of his relationship with his girlfriend to get through it. Meanwhile an aggressive sports reporter is watching Thompson—investigating him, actually—and waiting to catch him in the wrong place at the wrong time. It all culminates in the World Series, in Yankees Stadium, with the $80 million bet riding on whether Ronny can win just one more game.
Smashwords: http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/220680, and through Smashwords wherever it is distributed in their premium catalog.
I’m a civil engineer by profession (38 years) but a writer by passion. I have both fiction and non-fiction published, though I see myself more as a novelist. I'm currently suffering from genre identity crisis, and hope to settle in somewhere soon.
Here's where you can find out more about David Todd the writer.
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