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Rabbit Shine
Jake Eliam spent a lifetime in baseball, until a chance turn that led him into the Atlanta neighborhood known as ChickenBone, where he ended up a part time private investigator thanks to a timely meeting with the man everybody called Catfish, the owner of the legendary 3 Pigs BBQ. Now Catfish feeds him a case every now and then, and pulled pork sandwiches almost every day.
When the top big league prospect for the Atlanta Peaches is killed in a car accident, two weeks after being called up to the Majors, the city mourns a future star. But then someone sends the team a handwritten note suggesting it was no accident and the team’s All Star bad boy outfielder Billy Joe Weede was somehow involved.
With a background and contacts in the game, Jake Eliam is hired to find out the truth, or at least that is what it seems like at first. The investigation takes him from the streets of ChickenBone, to the Peaches locker room, and to the tiny town of Birdsong Georgia, where he discovers that finding out the truth is just as hard as hitting a 90 miles per hour fastball, and just as dangerous.
So in between his part time job making custom baseball bats in his well-worn shop in ChickenBone, Eliam teams up with Catfish and his neighbor, a young photographer to figure out what really happened.
Along the way he runs into a wealthy former member of Congress with a penchant for quoting scriptures, two rednecks named Tater and Booger, an ex-con hired killer who scrapes up dead chickens for a living, a tattooed stripper, a flop eared dog named Chance, and a former sheriff turned moonshiner.
Wading in amongst this crowd to find the truth sends Jake Eliam into extra innings and the final score includes greed, ambition, jealousy, regret, and murder.
When the top big league prospect for the Atlanta Peaches is killed in a car accident, two weeks after being called up to the Majors, the city mourns a future star. But then someone sends the team a handwritten note suggesting it was no accident and the team’s All Star bad boy outfielder Billy Joe Weede was somehow involved.
With a background and contacts in the game, Jake Eliam is hired to find out the truth, or at least that is what it seems like at first. The investigation takes him from the streets of ChickenBone, to the Peaches locker room, and to the tiny town of Birdsong Georgia, where he discovers that finding out the truth is just as hard as hitting a 90 miles per hour fastball, and just as dangerous.
So in between his part time job making custom baseball bats in his well-worn shop in ChickenBone, Eliam teams up with Catfish and his neighbor, a young photographer to figure out what really happened.
Along the way he runs into a wealthy former member of Congress with a penchant for quoting scriptures, two rednecks named Tater and Booger, an ex-con hired killer who scrapes up dead chickens for a living, a tattooed stripper, a flop eared dog named Chance, and a former sheriff turned moonshiner.
Wading in amongst this crowd to find the truth sends Jake Eliam into extra innings and the final score includes greed, ambition, jealousy, regret, and murder.
131 pages, Kindle Edition
First published April 16, 2013
7 people are currently reading
42 people want to read
About the author
Cliff Yeargin
13 books45 followersABOUT Cliff Yeargin
Cliff Yeargin has spent his life as a ‘Storyteller, traveling the U.S. as a Writer/Producer/Photographer and Editor in Broadcast journalism.
He began his career in the mountains of Western North Carolina where he worked with two college buddies, both who went on to become Sports Broadcasting Legends. Yeargin did not, but he did shoot the only video of the first 3-Point goal in the history of NCAA College Basketball. This is NOT fiction…you can look it up!
His travels as a broadcaster have taken him to dozens of Major League ballparks, World Series, Super Bowls, Final Fours, NASCAR, National Championships and he managed to convince his bosses for many, many years that staying at a Baseball Spring Training camp for two months was hard work and sacrifice.
He has written stories in more places than you can count. In dugouts with rats under his feet, smelly locker rooms, planes, trains, hotel bars, buses at 4AM outside Detroit, or maybe it was Milwaukee. And even at a beachside open bar in the Dominican Republic, while sipping on an El Presidente beer. All while submitting a staggering number of falsified expense reports.
He grew up on a rural cattle farm in Georgia, which taught him many valuable life lessons, such as never poke a big bull in the rear with a big stick.
A proud Bulldog graduate of the University of Georgia, he has now returned to his native state and lives in a downtown Atlanta neighborhood.
There is no Atlanta neighborhood known as ChickenBone…but there should be.
Cliff Yeargin has spent his life as a ‘Storyteller, traveling the U.S. as a Writer/Producer/Photographer and Editor in Broadcast journalism.
He began his career in the mountains of Western North Carolina where he worked with two college buddies, both who went on to become Sports Broadcasting Legends. Yeargin did not, but he did shoot the only video of the first 3-Point goal in the history of NCAA College Basketball. This is NOT fiction…you can look it up!
His travels as a broadcaster have taken him to dozens of Major League ballparks, World Series, Super Bowls, Final Fours, NASCAR, National Championships and he managed to convince his bosses for many, many years that staying at a Baseball Spring Training camp for two months was hard work and sacrifice.
He has written stories in more places than you can count. In dugouts with rats under his feet, smelly locker rooms, planes, trains, hotel bars, buses at 4AM outside Detroit, or maybe it was Milwaukee. And even at a beachside open bar in the Dominican Republic, while sipping on an El Presidente beer. All while submitting a staggering number of falsified expense reports.
He grew up on a rural cattle farm in Georgia, which taught him many valuable life lessons, such as never poke a big bull in the rear with a big stick.
A proud Bulldog graduate of the University of Georgia, he has now returned to his native state and lives in a downtown Atlanta neighborhood.
There is no Atlanta neighborhood known as ChickenBone…but there should be.
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
July 13, 2018
Another reviewer called Cliff Yeargin the equivalent of a Lewis Grizzard when it comes to writing Southern mystery, and I could not agree more. I've read two of Mr. Yeargin's books and am about to embark on the third. Did not read them in order, but they for sure stood solid individually, each on its own merit. Not a baseball fan, Yeargin makes me feel comfortable in the jargon, makes me appreciate the adoration that Jake Eliam has for the sport. The backwoods crime and the questionable law enforcement plus the wealthy good-ole-boys who run counties behind the scenes... yeah, Yeargin gets the South. Fun stories about an ex-baseball player turned private detective. Fairly quick reads that will make you chuckle aloud, I promise.
August 18, 2017
Delightful story, in kind of a down home style. Mystery, totally believable. Well rounded characters, will read this old boy again.
June 10, 2014
I enjoyed the story, the characters and the location. It's not great literature, but it is a fun, quick read. I enjoyed the intermingling of a mystery story with a baseball background. The book needs some more careful proof reading and editing, however.
Give it a chance, you might like it too.
Give it a chance, you might like it too.
October 29, 2024
Deep fried southern fun!
If you’re looking for a down home detective story coated with southern goodness, look no further, these ChickenBone mysteries are for you!
If you’re looking for a down home detective story coated with southern goodness, look no further, these ChickenBone mysteries are for you!
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews