Book Review: Seventh Inning Stretch

Reviewed By: Harriet Klausner

Seventh Inning Stretch     Amazon US PB Amazon US HC Amazon Canada PB Amazon Canada HC
Elizabeth Gunn
Class/Genre:   Mystery   Police Procedural
Series: Jake Hines # 5
Walker, June 2002, $23.95, 228 pp.

Jake Hines is a captain and the chief of Detectives in the Rutherford Police Department who loves his job only slightly less than he loves his significant other, Trudy Hanson. They live in a farmhouse that needs a lot of work but Jake isn’t worried about such trivial thing since he finally has what he always wanted since being a foster child a place to call home.

A group of grifters consisting of two men, two women and a child descend upon the citizens and merchants of Rutherford, conning them out of their hard-earned money. When two bodies are found in a home garbage can, the police believe that the two male drifters are involved in the crime. Jake and his teams try to solve a double homicide with very little evidence and no leads.

This is the fifth Jake Hines police procedural and it is definitely the best in the series. The police, a tight knit group, are truly baffled by the strange turns in the case and their collective and individual bewilderment humanizes the force. This allows the readers to empathize with and appreciate the hard, often unrewarding work cops do. The hero is a rarity as an person totally happy in his personal and professional life. Elizabeth Ginn continues to deliver an ingenious mystery.

Harriet Klausner

Reprinted with permission. Do Not repost without permission from the author, Harriet Klausner