Slugger: An Odle Agency Mystery

by Chuck Barrett, Lyric Kite (Illustrator), Melody Sears (Editor)

With hardscrabble histories from the coal fights of the ‘30s through the ‘50s, Ray and Margaret Odle found each other in the autumn of life and then found a niche together investigating murder. With “neither fear nor favor” for the unions that hire them they sort out the issues on the shop floor—not to mention in the management suite and the boardroom—and let the chips fall where they may.
It’s 1966 at the Louisville Slugger baseball bat factory where two workers have been murdered in gruesome fashion. Called to investigate, Ray and Margaret face threats by long-time enemy thugs from the coal wars and nothing is as it seems— “strike” means you’re in not out, “sundown” means neighborhoods where black-owned houses are bombed, and “slope of the grain” has a deadly angle that goes way beyond radio’s familiar crack of the bat.
The Baltimore Orioles and the Atlanta Braves are in the running for the World Series, as Mel Allen and Red Barber tell it, while the killer is running foul at Slugger. It will take all of the brains, guts and plain old mountain-tough determination of Ray and Margaret to track him down—unless the killer knocks them out of the park first!

294 pages, Kindle Edition

Published October 2, 2019

About the author

Chuck Barrett is the award-winning author of The Savannah Project, The Toymaker, Breach of Power, and Disruption of his Jake Pendleton series, and Blown, and Last Chance of his blockbuster Gregg Kaplan series. He is a graduate of Auburn University and retired air traffic controller. He also holds a Commercial Pilot Certificate.

He and his wife, DJ Steele (also an author) currently reside in Northern Colorado.


Awards:
—BLOWN
2016 Writers Digest Self-Published Book Awards

—Breach of Power
Winner of the 2013 Indie Excellence Award in Political Thrillers.
Finalist in the 2013 International Book Awards Thriller/Adventure category.

—The Toymaker
Finalist in the 2013 International Book Awards Thriller/Adventure & Mystery/Suspense categories.

—The Savannah Project
Finalist in the 2011 International Book Awards Thriller/Adventure category.
Second Place in the 2011 Reviewers Choice Awards Mystery/Thriller/Suspense/Horror category.
Honorable Mention in the 2011 ForeWord Reviews Book-Of-The-Year Awards Thriller/Suspense category.

Reviews

[Bill DeMay · Rating 5 out of 5]

Interesting labor / management story set in the “bad old days “

Well done for a first book. A little preachy some times, especially related to AA. Kept my interest throughout. Well done!

[Tom Barrett · Rating 5 out of 5]

Interesting book, a good mystery. Written from a blue-collar point of view which the author lived according to the bio at the end. The story becomes a page-turner as we get deeper into the plot. Looking forward to the next Odle Agency book.