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Frankie Scarmazino Trilogy #1
Kicker: Going The Distance
Frankie Scarmazino, top kicker in the NFL and breaker of hearts, decides to spice up his life moonlighting as a PI.
His first case: after taking a major hit in a New York Giant's game, he nurses his wounds and heads to Jasper, Arkansas to investigate the death of a fellow player's brother. On arrival, he endures a different kind of hit. He's devastated by a stunningly beautiful lawyer who draws him into her battle against vicious wife-abusers and a serial killer.
Mira Strickland has just returned to her hometown in Jasper, Arkansas from NYC where she was exonerated from killing her abusive husband in self-defense. Her current conflict is with the local sheriff who’s convinced, because of the fact that she killed her husband, that she’s the murderer of the three local abusers, but he can’t prove it.
Frankie, initially, isn’t sure if she is the killer, but is suspicious, especially when he finds an engraved bracelet at the murder site. He knows that Mira was given a bracelet by her tennis coach.
Meanwhile another dangerous threat is surfacing. It unlocks a torrent of snowballing events that utilizes all Frankie’s skills to survive.
His first case: after taking a major hit in a New York Giant's game, he nurses his wounds and heads to Jasper, Arkansas to investigate the death of a fellow player's brother. On arrival, he endures a different kind of hit. He's devastated by a stunningly beautiful lawyer who draws him into her battle against vicious wife-abusers and a serial killer.
Mira Strickland has just returned to her hometown in Jasper, Arkansas from NYC where she was exonerated from killing her abusive husband in self-defense. Her current conflict is with the local sheriff who’s convinced, because of the fact that she killed her husband, that she’s the murderer of the three local abusers, but he can’t prove it.
Frankie, initially, isn’t sure if she is the killer, but is suspicious, especially when he finds an engraved bracelet at the murder site. He knows that Mira was given a bracelet by her tennis coach.
Meanwhile another dangerous threat is surfacing. It unlocks a torrent of snowballing events that utilizes all Frankie’s skills to survive.
354 pages, Kindle Edition
Published November 25, 2021
6 people are currently reading
26 people want to read
About the author
Cy Young
17 books13 followersCy performed on Broadway as a singer/dancer/performer working in Broadway reviews and appeared with Buster Keaton and Howard Keel in National Tours. Cy's recorded many songs for the Painted Smiles label, published three plays through Samuel French, three musicals produced off-Bdwy, and has a song on the Streisand Third Album. Cy's currently writing books: a thriller Deathload, a y.a. novel, Onions, and is working on a series called Kicker.
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
April 27, 2022
Wow! I really don’t even know how to begin this review. Getting my point across seems undoable. There’s a large cast of characters who are portrayed somewhat like super-heroes/heroines that come across the pages as a self-appointed justice league. And their Captain is the National Football League’s top kicker who leads the way in his 1971 Ford Pinto named Gilda (yes, you read that correctly) against fighting a band of country bumpkin wife beaters. It most definitely was not what I was expecting from the rather straightforward book blurb.
Advertised as a psychological thriller -- readers will find suspense with chills and spills, but "thriller" missed its mark. I guess you could say it had a psychological feel – there were certainly way too many crazies running around. And there's a touch or two of romance but no solid happily-ever-after in sight. Altogether, it all read like a comic book.
The message carried throughout the story is important and tragic – spousal abuse. And that’s no laughing matter or a subject matter to be trivialized. The author did pointedly address the seriousness of the matter with the time and attention it deserved. But he chose a rather far-fetched, quirky and unconventional way of telling this wild tale. And the methods of punishment were flung way “over the cliff.”
Delay of game and a time-out should have been called for the lack of editing. A swift kick penalty in the “endzone” was applied with a 2-star deduction in scoring.
May 14, 2022
When pro footballer Frankie Scarmazino sustains a serious injury bringing his season to a premature end, he decides to take a break and try his hand in the world of private investigations, specifically, the death of a friends brother out in Jasper, Arkansas.
However, it appears that this wasn’t the only slaying in the small south central county, and to find the killer Frankie will need to investigate the multiple murders of local men who were all suspected wife beaters.
What follows takes the ‘Kicker’ on a hunt that could cost him his life, particularly if the remaining members of the ‘Wife Beaters’ club have anything to say in the matter.
Aided by a women’s rights campaigner, a park ranger, a Vietnam veteran and the local deputy, Frankie has his work cut out to solve the case before the body count rises
Frankie Scarmazino is intelligent, quick witted and whilst able to handle himself in a confrontation he also shows a softer side with his liking for knitting and his willingness to help out the local school’s football team with some guidance and training for the rookie kicking trio.
Told mainly from Frankie’s viewpoint, the author also slots in interesting background biographies as each of the main characters in introduced which, whilst not absolutely necessary, adds an extra dimension that helps the reader understand the motives of those concerned.
The plot moves along at a nice pace and the characters are memorable. The majority of the clues are unearthed through diligent detective work and there is a healthy balance between the main plot and the side stories. I particularly enjoyed the sections dealing with Frankie’s work with the local school football team which helped to break up the murder investigation narrative.
A romantic side plot, and a few red herrings all added in to the mix, gave the story a degree of depth that I wasn’t expecting. The author has a way with dialog and descriptive prose which allows the story to flow.
Chapter length is kept relatively short which encourages the ‘just one more’ attitude in the reader and made the book difficult to put down.
The final reveal and inevitable confrontation felt a little bit rushed but didn’t detract from the overall enjoyment of the story. I look forward to the next installment of The Kicker’s adventures.
However, it appears that this wasn’t the only slaying in the small south central county, and to find the killer Frankie will need to investigate the multiple murders of local men who were all suspected wife beaters.
What follows takes the ‘Kicker’ on a hunt that could cost him his life, particularly if the remaining members of the ‘Wife Beaters’ club have anything to say in the matter.
Aided by a women’s rights campaigner, a park ranger, a Vietnam veteran and the local deputy, Frankie has his work cut out to solve the case before the body count rises
Frankie Scarmazino is intelligent, quick witted and whilst able to handle himself in a confrontation he also shows a softer side with his liking for knitting and his willingness to help out the local school’s football team with some guidance and training for the rookie kicking trio.
Told mainly from Frankie’s viewpoint, the author also slots in interesting background biographies as each of the main characters in introduced which, whilst not absolutely necessary, adds an extra dimension that helps the reader understand the motives of those concerned.
The plot moves along at a nice pace and the characters are memorable. The majority of the clues are unearthed through diligent detective work and there is a healthy balance between the main plot and the side stories. I particularly enjoyed the sections dealing with Frankie’s work with the local school football team which helped to break up the murder investigation narrative.
A romantic side plot, and a few red herrings all added in to the mix, gave the story a degree of depth that I wasn’t expecting. The author has a way with dialog and descriptive prose which allows the story to flow.
Chapter length is kept relatively short which encourages the ‘just one more’ attitude in the reader and made the book difficult to put down.
The final reveal and inevitable confrontation felt a little bit rushed but didn’t detract from the overall enjoyment of the story. I look forward to the next installment of The Kicker’s adventures.
March 19, 2022
I received this book free in order to review it honestly. This would have been a book I would have selected anyway to read which is about an injured NFL kicker doing some private eye work, looking into the murder of a team mate’s brother, in a small town in Arkansas. The book does nothing for the Arkansas tourist board and describes a bigoted, wife beating, drunken town with an inept sheriff’s department. Not living in, nor having ever visited Arkansas, I have no idea if this description is accurate however the book certainly doesn’t make me want to add it to my list of places I want to visit! The story itself was easy to read, with a big surprise, if highly unlikely, towards the end however I felt the writing was almost bullet point in style and didn’t flow as fluidly as I would have hoped for. Hopefully this will improve with subsequent books. I would add that I have never had the imagination and certainly not the discipline to write a book myself. This book was off the scale in improbability and clumsily dealt with domestic abuse. I don’t know if it is the case, but the book very much felt like a debut novel written to a formula and could have done with better editing. Again, I’ll qualify that by saying I’ve never written a book so kudos to the author for having done so. I’ve given the book a rating of three stars and probably won’t look to read the subsequent books in the series.
November 27, 2021
An injured NFL kicker heads to the Ozarks to check out a teammate’s brother’s death, he discovers someone has taken justice into their own hands to fight domestic abuse.
The year is 1997, and when the NFL New York Giants kicker, Frankie “Scar” Scarmazino, is injured in a game against the Philadelphia Eagles, he must take time off to heal and recuperate. In his heart, Scar believes he’s lost his nerve to return to the game, but as he’s still in his early 30s knows he’s got to come up with a backup plan.
He confides to a good friend and teammate that he wants to be a private detective, and the friend tells him of the perfect place to start. The teammate’s brother had been murdered back home in his hometown, and the killer was never caught. So Frankie loads up his old Ford Pinto, Gilda, and heads to Jasper, Arkansas, to see if he can catch a murderer.When Frankie rolls into Jasper, he inadvertently becomes embroiled in the shady goings-on of the small town. He witnesses a man, baseball bat in hand, chasing after a battered and bleeding woman, and jumps to intervene. The sheriff, a personal friend of the abuser, turns a blind eye to the crime, and Frankie finds himself the target of the abusive husband and his gang of similarly-minded wife-beating buddies.
But Frankie is on a mission and will not be run out of town. In the process of his investigation, he discovers that his teammate’s brother isn’t the only recent and unsolved murder. Someone is taking justice into their own hands when the sheriff fails to act and is murdering the men who are abusing their wives and girlfriends.However, the sheriff is taking an interest in the murders of his buddies and has a local attorney working to help the victimized women in his sights. One meeting with Mira Strickland has Frankie’s senses reeling and his fervent hopes that the sheriff is wrong.
Kicker One: Going the Distance is a fast-paced, easy-to-read, and exciting story featuring a likable hero, dastardly villains, and some very smart and sexy women. Frankie Scarmazino is an interesting guy, a professional football player with some hidden characteristics. When he takes off for the Ozarks, he does so in his old 1971 Pinto and not some flashy, celebrity-worthy luxury vehicle. Beside him on the passenger seat is his most recent knitting project: a sweater he’s creating for his ex-wife as a gift.In the story, Frankie’s nemeses include town bully Buddy Haymes, his backwoods buddies, and their close friend, Sheriff Bill Burrows. Happily, there’s not much to like about these guys, so it was easy to cheer for Frankie to beat them every step of the way.
The women of Jasper have their own hometown hero in attorney Mira Strickland. After having grown up in Jasper, she left town to pursue her law degree and, until recently, successfully practiced on the East Coast before returning home after having her own husband troubles. Frankie’s immediate attraction to her was fun and created tension and a significant conflict later when her actions and motives begin to look suspicious to him.I recommend KICKER ONE: GOING THE DISTANCE to mystery readers looking for something light and easy-to-read for a fun and engaging diversion. The football theme was fresh, the setting in the Ozark region of Arkansas different, and despite the underlying crime, fun to read.
March 23, 2022
Great book!!
This book has Mystery yet is not dark.
I recommend this book on a trip
or a rainy afternoon.
This book has Mystery yet is not dark.
I recommend this book on a trip
or a rainy afternoon.
January 4, 2022
Fun book to read if you’re willing to believe almost anything. Murders are being committed. Wife abusers are the victims. So an NFL kicker comes to the rescue. Lots of interesting characters. Important topic is almost trivialized by the story. I received an advanced copy of this book from NetGalley and the publisher and voluntarily provided an honest review.
September 2, 2024
written like a movie
I went ahead and rated this 3.5 stars (rounded up) because of the characterization and the imagination. But this was written like a movie and when I say that, I mean with camera shots described…and angles. At the end of the big event, we’re literally “zooming out” in the description. We get close ups on props (we see a newspaper with an ad circled in red). There’s all caps for yelling.
And we sometimes skip out of POV to “see” what happened in pieces of backstory - like we would in a movie.
POV issues aside, in a highly improbable turn, a pro football player, after being injured, longs for a low-pay street-wise stint as a psuedo Marlowe or Hammer instead of his league minimum almost half-a-mil paycheck. And so off he goes to a backwoods noplace town near the Ozarks - where a bunch of wifebeaters live and are being killed off. He’s been asked to investigate the death of a dear friend’s brother.
(The Ozarks are actually lovely by the way, and probably don’t have an above-avg population of wife-beaters. But I suppose the view of the entire South as being some extended version of Deliverance prevails).
The main cast held an interesting and eclectic bunch. The mystery was twisty. It’s hard to be a “lite, fun read” when it’s written in a genre meant to shed light on some of the darker parts of the human condition. But if you’re in the mood to follow along with a mystery-theater production that’s a little gritty and a lot of football, this could be your diamond in the rough.
I went ahead and rated this 3.5 stars (rounded up) because of the characterization and the imagination. But this was written like a movie and when I say that, I mean with camera shots described…and angles. At the end of the big event, we’re literally “zooming out” in the description. We get close ups on props (we see a newspaper with an ad circled in red). There’s all caps for yelling.
And we sometimes skip out of POV to “see” what happened in pieces of backstory - like we would in a movie.
POV issues aside, in a highly improbable turn, a pro football player, after being injured, longs for a low-pay street-wise stint as a psuedo Marlowe or Hammer instead of his league minimum almost half-a-mil paycheck. And so off he goes to a backwoods noplace town near the Ozarks - where a bunch of wifebeaters live and are being killed off. He’s been asked to investigate the death of a dear friend’s brother.
(The Ozarks are actually lovely by the way, and probably don’t have an above-avg population of wife-beaters. But I suppose the view of the entire South as being some extended version of Deliverance prevails).
The main cast held an interesting and eclectic bunch. The mystery was twisty. It’s hard to be a “lite, fun read” when it’s written in a genre meant to shed light on some of the darker parts of the human condition. But if you’re in the mood to follow along with a mystery-theater production that’s a little gritty and a lot of football, this could be your diamond in the rough.
January 21, 2023
A very different PI and one with a secret career?
This was a great story with so much to offer in terms of chara ters and opportunities for further stories. Fast paced like the sport, a bit rough like the sport and hot ..like the players get?
So yes, a good story to get those sports mad people into a different genre.
This was a great story with so much to offer in terms of chara ters and opportunities for further stories. Fast paced like the sport, a bit rough like the sport and hot ..like the players get?
So yes, a good story to get those sports mad people into a different genre.
July 31, 2024
I really enjoyed this story, written from the perspective of a medically retired pro football player who settles down in a small town to recover only to get wrapped up into solving a murder mystery. The pain and the glory of his past career feature prominently in the book as he rises to the occasion in his new surroundings. The small town politics, characters and ambience are all spot-on. You will find this a hard book to set aside, and will want to race to the end!
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews