Reviews for Under the Sunset Rim

The average rating for Under the Sunset Rim based on 2 reviews is 2.5 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2017-07-27 00:00:00 Rhonda Pfaff Even before I discovered the world of books, my first love was baseball. While I follow the game regularly and have passed the love onto my kids, I also enjoy studying the history of the game. Last year I found the Mickey Rawlings Baseball Mystery series by Troy Soos. Set in the 1910s, the novels focus on a utility player named Mickey Rawlings as he moves from team to team in his attempt to hang on in the major leagues. Murder at Fenway Park is the first book in the series and Soos first novel as he takes readers back in time to the early days of America's pastime. It is 1912. Mickey Rawlings, age nineteen, has just been called up to the Red Sox to play in brand new Fenway Park. The first modern ball park, the Red Sox with the backing of Boston mayor Honey Fitzgerald and the Royal Rooters and hoping for a World Series victory. Assembling a stellar team featuring ace pitcher Smokey Joe Wood and batting star Tris Speaker, the Red Sox have the talent to win it all. Yet, as soon as Rawlings arrives in Boston, he discovers a dead body in one of Fenway's corridors, a plot that could possibly derail the Red Sox's special season. Rawlings soon finds out that the body is none other than Detroit Tigers third baseman Red Corriden, a young man just a little older than himself. Even though he only stumbled upon the body, Rawlings desires to identify Corriden's murderer and bring him to justice. With the help of his friend New York Times reporter Karl Landfors, Rawlings slowly pieces together a gambling ring lead by bookie Arnold Rothstein, which employs ball players to fix games. Rothstein, who was later involved with the 1919 Black Sox scandal, had placed a fix on the American League batting race in addition to the standings, and his well placed players attempted to derail the great Ty Cobb from winning. Corriden was in the wrong place at the wrong time, and, unfortunately, had to be eliminated. If Rawlings refuses to stay out of the way, he could be next. Soos series focuses on baseball during the 1910s. I have already read the novels about the Cubs and Yankees, and the books are historically accurate. This story predates the Red Sox curse when the Yankees were still the Highlanders, and the Red Sox battled the Cobb lead Tigers for the American League pennant on a yearly basis. In days before players unions, league president Ban Johnson held all of the power and could throw people out of the game on a whim. While the stories focus on Rawlings and perhaps a current love interest, I enjoy hearing about Hall of Famers such as Cobb, Nap Lajoie, Smokey Joe Wood, and Walter Johnson. Soos depiction of Cobb as a violent person is especially accurate, and having a murder cases focused around one of his batting titles was an interesting premise for a novel. Murder at Fenway Park is Soos' debut novel. For a debut, I thought the writing was above average and paced well for a murder mystery. Rawlings character is not as fleshed out as later in the series, but he is introspective for a ball player and an inquisitive wide eyed kid in this debut. Soos baseball mysteries are a perfect read for during the baseball season as they are fun, fast paced historical whodunits. I eventually would like to read the entire series and rate this debut effort 3.5 stars.

Review # 2 was written on 2019-05-27 00:00:00 Robert Van Dolder Eh. That is how I feel about this first book in the Mickey Rawlings Mystery series. I really love Baseball and heard a podcast about this book so I thought I would give it a try. Probably won't try others. So what did I like? Well it is a first time mystery author and so that is a good thing. The time period of the book, 1912, and the the use of the early days of baseball as the basis of the book. And some of the research. That also is bad, because some of the research is outdated and there is nothing that I dislike more than when an author uses real people as part of the plot and then changes their bio to fit the plot. Here the author had two different people murdered, a baseball player and a former player, back in 1912. Unfortunately those two individual were neither murdered nor died in real life at that time, as a matter of fact the player who was killed off actually continued playing baseball after 1912. See, that in itself turns me off. Either create a character or fit the book to actually portray the individual you are going to use in the plot. I do not know why the author did this, other than he felt that was the best way to write the book. The other issue is the actual character Mickey Rawlings, who is prone to being both hopeless in his bumbling into problems, as well as his thought process as to who was the killer. The author wants us to believe that Ty Cobb was a suspect according to Rawlings, then it was AL League President Ban Johnson. It just gets dumber and dumber. And by the end the actual solution is rushed and how he solves the mystery makes little sense. I was rushing to finish this book, not because it was a page-turner, but rather because I just wanted to get this over with! There are 5 more books in this series, and despite my love of old-time baseball and baseball players, I am just going to pass on any more.