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The Yuletide
doesn’t bring a rash of good will when Greg
and Jill McKenzie are hired to investigate
rumors that something shady is involved in a
deal to bring an NBA basketball team to
Nashville. Their client is the attorney for
a group of Nashville Predators NHL hockey
fans who don’t think there’s room for both
pro hockey and pro basketball. When Greg
goes to meet an informant, he finds him shot
to death. What information did he have that
would “blow your mind?” Things turn deadly
serious when a bomb goes off beneath Greg’s
Jeep. Complicating matters, a disgruntled
felon Greg helped send to prison during his
Air Force career shows up in town with
revenge in mind. The explosive situation
reaches a climax on Christmas Day.
What they're saying...
"Plenty of
suspense and excitement."
Bestsellers World
"Red herrings,
plenty of action, and a smooth narrative."
Gumshoe Review
"Expect
surprises, crackerjack action and a
breathless pace."
Thriller Author Ben F. Small
"A Sporting Murder
kept this reviewer focused right to the
spine jarring end."
Military Writers Society of America
"The plot moves at a fast pace."
Midwest Book Review
"Combining a terrific mystery with
professional sports – what could be better?"
Spinetingler Magazine
"(Greg and Jill
are) good folks to spend an afternoon with -
or to have along in a gun fight."
The GenReview
"A welcome departure from recent genre
pieces, which automatically turns A
Sporting Murder into a must-read."
The Deepening
"A fast-reading book and it's a pleasure to
revisit Nashville with Jill and Greg as
'whodunit' hosts."
Mysterious Reviews
More Detailed
Reviews
"Campbell provides red herrings, plenty of
action, and a smooth narrative. It makes a
nice change from foul-mouthed detectives and
gritty settings. Some characters verge on
stereotypes, however most readers won't
care. It's refreshing to see a mystery set
in the middle of the country instead of on
either coast."
Mel Jacob, Gumshoe Reviews
"In Chester Campbell's new mystery, A
Sporting Murder, Greg and Jill McKenzie
receive a phone call from someone who says
he has critical information about
Nashville's pending acquisition of an NBA
franchise. Nashville's a small market for a
sports franchise, and it's already got a pro
football and pro hockey team, both fighting
for the same season an NBA franchise would
occupy. The McKenzies are investigating the
deal, and know the caller. Greg arranges to
meet him, but arrives to find the caller
dead, murdered. Suspects abound, and Greg
and Jill are soon caught up in a conspiracy
where they're wearing bullseyes for a killer
both brutal and subtle.
Expect surprises, crackerjack action and a
breathless pace. A Sporting Murder is
Chester Campbell at his very best."
Ben F. Small, author of The Oliver
Horseshoe
"Readers of Mr. Campbell’s previous books
will be pleased to be back in his Nashville
with Greg and Jill McKenzie. His writing is
clean and spare, giving us enough sense of
place and character to feel as if we’ve
settled in with friends, and then in turn
ratcheting up the tension and suspense. Greg
McKenzie is not a hard-boiled private
investigator, but he’s tough and smart, well
aware of the qualities Jill brings to the
partnership. The way the case plays out
against the backdrop of their lives gives
them a genuineness that makes the reader
feel these would be good folks to spend an
afternoon with - or to have along in a gun
fight. Once again, Campbell has hit the
mark."
Copyright ©2010 Larry W. Chavis - from
The GenReview
"Campbell
knows how to spin a good yarn, and it
shows. There are the murderous plot
involving the NHL team and the engaging
sub-plot of the man with a grudge. There
is some back-story and some lovin’.
Keeping all the balls in the air at all
times, the parallel investigation makes
for an exciting read, especially since
there is never a shortage of action.
"The protagonists are a charming couple
of seasoned professionals (not the
bumbling ‘chick lit’ characters that
mystery writers of late seem to favor).
They are also not the brooding private
eyes with the haunting past, which make
up pretty much the other half of the
genre.
"Just like the plot, they are straight
forward in a most refreshing way, which
leaves the darker twists and turns to
the plot without allowing the main
characters to get in the way. The story
is a welcome departure from recent genre
pieces, which automatically turns
A Sporting Murder into
a must-read."
Sylvia Cochran - from The Deepening
"Christmas,
the NBA, Hockey, a mysterious informant and add murder. Mix
well, with a cunning P.I. and his not so shrinking Violet of a
partner wife and you have a not so cozy mystery. The past comes
calling to bake the mix into a read to tingle the toes of all
the fans Chester D. Campbell. New readers may find the landscape
a bit bare so reading the previous books is suggested. A
Sporting Murder kept this reviewer focused right to the spine
jarring end. Read at your own peril. You might find it hard to
get anything else done."
David Brown,
Military Writers Society
of America Reviewer
"This series is cozy mystery's answer
to Dashiell Hammett's Thin Man series. Greg and Jill
McKenzie are a charming couple who complement one another and
work well together. Their interactions are heartwarming and
refreshing and a nice bonus to the story. The plot moves at a
fast pace, offering a mystery readers will be challenged to
solve.
Christy Tillery French,
Midwest Book
Review
"Chester D. Campbell has written four
previous Greg McKenzie mysteries. There
is plenty of suspense and excitement to
be found in the McKenzie mysteries and
A Sporting Murder is no
exception. It is also a pleasant
experience to read about a couple that
works so well together both in their
marriage and in their business
dealings."
Patricia Reid, Bestsellers World
"Combining a terrific mystery with
professional sports – what could be
better? ...Greg is determined, on both a
personal and professional level, to
track down the killer. In the process,
they survive a couple of serious
attempts on their lives. And there is
also the presence of a ubiquitous [and
somewhat menacing] black Escalade to add
to the mystery. As Greg says, 'the
professional sports franchise business
[is] getting deadly.'
"This reader by now feels an affinity
for this husband-and-wife team, and
cannot also help but feel a knowledge of
and affection for their creator and his
wife, who seem to be the models for the
protags. A thoroughly satisfying
holiday read [it is the week before
Christmas as the book opens], and
recommended."
Gloria Feit, Spinetingler Magazine,
Midwest Book Review
"Jill and Greg make for a charming
investigative couple, getting into and
out of scrapes on regular basis, and
providing the entertaining foundation
for the book (and series). But their
investigation in A Sporting Murder
seems rather far afield for them and not
entirely credible. The overall story arc
never quite comes together; a simpler
plot with fewer elements would likely
have resulted in a more satisfactory
mystery. Still, this is a fast-reading
book and it's a pleasure to revisit
Nashville with Jill and Greg as
'whodunit' hosts."
Betty from The Betz Review,
Mysterious Reviews
READ 0PENING CHAPTERS HERE
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