Giltter of Diamonds — N.J. Lindquist

In Glitter of Diamonds, the second book in her Manziuk and Ryan series, N. J. Lindquist once again hooks us with deftly-drawn characters, complex story-lines and thought-provoking issues, served up with her unique mix of tongue-in-cheek humor and gentle compassion. This time, she takes readers into the world of major league baseball and its surrounding media. She also asks subtle questions about the prices people are willing to pay to see their dreams come true.

After Stasey Simon, an outspoken sports talk-show host, asks on-air for a volunteer to knock some sense into the home team's temperamental new pitcher, Toronto Detective-Inspector Paul Manziuk and Detective-Constable Jacqueline Ryan have to hustle to catch a murderer swinging a lethal bat before the case escalates into an international incident.

Manziuk is a 47-year-old life-long cop with Ukrainian ancestry,with a very patient wife and three young adult children. Ryan is a 28-year-old black woman with an MA in criminology, Jamaican ancestry and a serious attitude.

Lindquist grew up reading Trixie Belden, Ginny Gordon, and Nancy Drew; switched to the works of Agatha Christie, Erle Stanley Gardiner, Georgette Heyer, Dorothy Sayers and P. D. James; and eventually decided to try her hand at writing a contemporary mystery in the classic style. Reviews from Publishers Weekly, Library Journal and other locations comparing her work to the best of Agatha Christie, assured her she had been successful.

The Manziuk and Ryan series owes more, however, to Georgette Heyer, another British queen of mystery-writing. Lindquist has done what Heyer did in many of her mysteries: tell the story on two levels―giving both the characters' viewpoint and the detectives' viewpoint and showing the effect violence can have on a group of people―both how they react initially, and how it impacts them.

While keeping the characters and plot in the forefront, in Glitter of Diamonds, Lindquist also manages to explore the intricate, almost symbiotic relationships between the management, players, fans and media that make Major League Baseball a vital part of the North American culture.

As the crime threatens to escalate into an international incident, Manziuk draws on his own knowledge of baseball while his partner, Jacquie Ryan, tries to understand a game she's never watched.