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Rockwell Return Files #3
'til Death: The Man Who Balked
A pennant is on the line and a life hangs in the balance!
When local baseball player Junior Jones receives death threats over the color of his skin, the team's wealthy owner hires Sam Rockwell to solve the case and stop a murder before it happens. Sam goes undercover as a minor league pitcher to strike out the culprit. Follow the clues along with Sam's curmudgeonly ghost of a father Frank Rockwell, and Sam's wife Amelia, who holds a secret that will forever change the lives of the entire Rockwell family.
It's another laugh-filled, madcap mystery in the warm, witty 1950's Hollywood-style of author Jason Anspach.
When local baseball player Junior Jones receives death threats over the color of his skin, the team's wealthy owner hires Sam Rockwell to solve the case and stop a murder before it happens. Sam goes undercover as a minor league pitcher to strike out the culprit. Follow the clues along with Sam's curmudgeonly ghost of a father Frank Rockwell, and Sam's wife Amelia, who holds a secret that will forever change the lives of the entire Rockwell family.
It's another laugh-filled, madcap mystery in the warm, witty 1950's Hollywood-style of author Jason Anspach.
- GenresMystery ThrillerFiction
242 pages, Kindle Edition
Published December 23, 2016
6 people are currently reading
46 people want to read
About the author
Jason Anspach
191 books850 followersJASON ANSPACH is the author of Galaxy's Edge, Wayward Galaxy, Forgotten Ruin. and more.
He lives in Puyallup, WA with his wife and their seven (not a typo) children.
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Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
November 13, 2019
I love this series! It blends a good mystery, some action, a little paranormal, a bit of humor and a dash of romance.
January 10, 2025
To not like baseball was the very height of Soviet evil.
3.500001 stars. Jason Anspach's "The Man Who Balked" - the third in his "'til Death" trilogy is a swell and nifty keen book even if by this stage the author has chosen to almost completely toss out any connection to his previous "cozy urban fantasy" offers. Sure, there's a couple of scenes where we deal with Returns aka ghosts aka Nightshades, including Rockwell Sr. ("He hasn’t really left no matter how hard we’ve tried."), but otherwise, they really play no role in this story which I'll call a "cozy suspense". Having said that, future readers should also be aware there's very little mystery to what transpires. Plus, you'd have to be pretty much braindead if you don't see the "Big News" coming but that was already obvious in Book 2 as well.
You hit our guy, so we hit yours. Don’t like it? Let’s fight.
I will add here at the beginning of my review that if you are triggered by any version of the N-word, then prepare yourself. This is a pretty honest look at how things were in the first days of integration in American sports … where I still think we have miles and miles to go before real equality and universal acceptance make their way into our lives. We're still a society that just accepts someone because they're a good athlete but then we tend to ignore that those same "fans" wouldn't want African Americans living in their neighborhood if there was any way to avoid it. It's sadly the same anywhere you go, with constant racial epithets thrown at players in soccer aka football being among the most egregious examples. Oh well, we won't get into that here… but yeah, overall, humans are pretty much trash imho.
He feels a certain disdain for c-words as a matter of principle.
Yes, Sam Spa… oops, I mean Rockwell is back and this time he's been hired by the Tacoma Tigers to find out who’s been sending death threats to one of their players… who just happens to be a very talented and humble black player. And naturally, the hate and vitriole this young man has to endure is all too accurate, whether or not this story had been set in the 50s, the 60s, or in 2025. But hey, every generation has their scapegoats for their own pathetic weaknessses - some are even passed on like heirlooms from generation to generation it seems to me - that are constantly blamed for the short-comings and outright stupidity of others. But hey, if you don't like my opinion about all that, I've got a couple of middle fingers I can show you to let you know how I feel. I'm already limbering them up for January 20th anyway.
You (d-word) makin’ a habit outta takin’ them opportunities from the white players.
Anyway… Look, this was a nice one-day read. If you like baseball, you'll probably even like it a smidge more than most folks. And I LOVE baseball! But otherwise it's kind of a fluff piece with a little too much Americana "Democracy Rules" rah-rah in it for its own good. Definitely not the strongest story of the trilogy but if the author has just let the series drop - and this last chapter was released in 2016 so I'm guessing that's a good sign that there won't be any more Returns (oh ha ha, it is to laugh!) - then it's not a bad way to sign out. As before, I enjoyed the characters though there was absolutely nothing in the way of earth-shattering surprises in this one. Heck, even the outcome of the 3 baseball games was obvious. So, it was kind of read to be read and viola, I've read it.
You could throw me a buttered pea in a snowstorm and I’d hit it out.
So signing out forever from the 1950s - and using the "Detective Noir Speaking Style Translator" for the last time (ha! NEVER!) : Here’s to a weekend that sparkles like cheap gin! aMay you muddle through these endless 90 days till the catchers and pitchers show up, ready to take the stage for another season of heartbreak and glory.
3.500001 stars. Jason Anspach's "The Man Who Balked" - the third in his "'til Death" trilogy is a swell and nifty keen book even if by this stage the author has chosen to almost completely toss out any connection to his previous "cozy urban fantasy" offers. Sure, there's a couple of scenes where we deal with Returns aka ghosts aka Nightshades, including Rockwell Sr. ("He hasn’t really left no matter how hard we’ve tried."), but otherwise, they really play no role in this story which I'll call a "cozy suspense". Having said that, future readers should also be aware there's very little mystery to what transpires. Plus, you'd have to be pretty much braindead if you don't see the "Big News" coming but that was already obvious in Book 2 as well.
You hit our guy, so we hit yours. Don’t like it? Let’s fight.
I will add here at the beginning of my review that if you are triggered by any version of the N-word, then prepare yourself. This is a pretty honest look at how things were in the first days of integration in American sports … where I still think we have miles and miles to go before real equality and universal acceptance make their way into our lives. We're still a society that just accepts someone because they're a good athlete but then we tend to ignore that those same "fans" wouldn't want African Americans living in their neighborhood if there was any way to avoid it. It's sadly the same anywhere you go, with constant racial epithets thrown at players in soccer aka football being among the most egregious examples. Oh well, we won't get into that here… but yeah, overall, humans are pretty much trash imho.
He feels a certain disdain for c-words as a matter of principle.
Yes, Sam Spa… oops, I mean Rockwell is back and this time he's been hired by the Tacoma Tigers to find out who’s been sending death threats to one of their players… who just happens to be a very talented and humble black player. And naturally, the hate and vitriole this young man has to endure is all too accurate, whether or not this story had been set in the 50s, the 60s, or in 2025. But hey, every generation has their scapegoats for their own pathetic weaknessses - some are even passed on like heirlooms from generation to generation it seems to me - that are constantly blamed for the short-comings and outright stupidity of others. But hey, if you don't like my opinion about all that, I've got a couple of middle fingers I can show you to let you know how I feel. I'm already limbering them up for January 20th anyway.
You (d-word) makin’ a habit outta takin’ them opportunities from the white players.
Anyway… Look, this was a nice one-day read. If you like baseball, you'll probably even like it a smidge more than most folks. And I LOVE baseball! But otherwise it's kind of a fluff piece with a little too much Americana "Democracy Rules" rah-rah in it for its own good. Definitely not the strongest story of the trilogy but if the author has just let the series drop - and this last chapter was released in 2016 so I'm guessing that's a good sign that there won't be any more Returns (oh ha ha, it is to laugh!) - then it's not a bad way to sign out. As before, I enjoyed the characters though there was absolutely nothing in the way of earth-shattering surprises in this one. Heck, even the outcome of the 3 baseball games was obvious. So, it was kind of read to be read and viola, I've read it.
You could throw me a buttered pea in a snowstorm and I’d hit it out.
So signing out forever from the 1950s - and using the "Detective Noir Speaking Style Translator" for the last time (ha! NEVER!) : Here’s to a weekend that sparkles like cheap gin! aMay you muddle through these endless 90 days till the catchers and pitchers show up, ready to take the stage for another season of heartbreak and glory.
August 20, 2017
Fantastic Series
Absolutely love this series. All have been fantastic reads and hard to put down. Romantic comedy detective series, definitely not my typical cup of tea but very glad I gave them a shot.
Absolutely love this series. All have been fantastic reads and hard to put down. Romantic comedy detective series, definitely not my typical cup of tea but very glad I gave them a shot.
March 20, 2024
Different from its two predecessors, this one has less focus on the Returns and more on the living. A nice wrap-up to the Rockwell story.
December 24, 2016
'til Death is such a great story. Covering one of the most tumultuous times in baseball... The Negro League has just disbanded and black players are playing in the regular leagues... And as you can believe, not everyone is on board with the new way! Including the Russians... Sam Rockwell is up to his neck with plenty of hijinks even playing baseball to try to stop a murder!
Don't tell Jason Anspach I'm not even a sports minded girl... but how could I not love this story... it takes place locally and part of a heritage that should not be forgotten! Plus with it's noir style it's like Thorn Smith's Topper & Father Knows Best meets Babe Ruth.
Don't tell Jason Anspach I'm not even a sports minded girl... but how could I not love this story... it takes place locally and part of a heritage that should not be forgotten! Plus with it's noir style it's like Thorn Smith's Topper & Father Knows Best meets Babe Ruth.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews