Book ~ "Last of the Seals" (2012) Greg Messel

From Goodreads ~ Mystery, romance and baseball in 1957 San Francisco. Sam Slater is a lifetime minor league baseball player for the San Francisco Seals. The Seals have just one more season left as San Francisco is about to become a major league city. Sam has come to the end of his baseball career and is going to join the private detective agency of his best friend. 

When Sam's partner inadvertently sees something he shouldn't have, he is brutally murdered. Sam must go it alone and try to find out why. Along the way he is swept off of his feet by a beautiful, Elvis-obsessed TWA stewardess named Amelia Ryan. Sam and Amelia try to unravel the mystery together. On dark and foggy San Francisco nights, trouble is lurking just around the next corner.

When the New York Giants move to San Francisco, that spells the end of the San Francisco Seals (it was a real team who had been there more than fifty years).  Sam (a fictional character) is a pitcher.  Because his arm isn't what it used to be, he knows he won't get drafted by the Giants.  He joins the private detective agency of Jimmy, one of his best friends.  Unfortunately, Jimmy gets murdered, leaving Sam to run the agency alone. Around this time as his life is changing dramatically, he meets and falls in love Amelia, a TWA stewardess.

I like mysteries and it was interesting to read one that is set in 1957.  Such an innocent time ... so different from today.  Can you imagine no Internet or cell phones?!  No ipods ... you bought records (apparently Johnny Mathis and the Platters played the "dreamiest make-out" music).  Plus stewardesses had rules ... they couldn't be older than 30, be married or engaged, or weigh more than 135 pounds.

I enjoyed the writing style.  It was appropriate for its time period with its mention of dames, the clothing worn, manners, etc.  I liked the characters ... it was cute to experience the budding relationship of Sam and Amelia.  Though attracted to each other, they only "made out" and never the crossed the line ... so refreshing to not get the details we would have gotten had the book been set in today's time.  Scattered throughout the book were pictures from that time of the Seals' stadium, TWA stewardesses, San Francisco, etc.


There are pictures from that time period which help set the time period of the book.

This is the first in the Sam Slater series and I look forward to reading more (I've already read the second one in the series, Deadly Plunge.

Book ~ "Deadly Plunge" (2012) Greg Messel

From Goodreads ~ Former baseball player and newly-minted private investigator, Sam Slater is hired to find out why a rich, politically-well connected San Francisco man, Arthur Bolender, suddenly ended his life by plunging off of the Golden Gate Bridge. All those who know Arthur say unequivocally that he did not commit suicide. However, Bolender's body was found floating in San Francisco Bay and his car was abandoned in the traffic lane of the bridge. 

Meanwhile, Sam's romance with glamorous TWA stewardess Amelia Ryan continues to blossom and deepen. She is now his secret fiancee. Amelia also eagerly helps Sam solve his cases when she's in town. 

The key to unraveling the mystery seems to be a strange old Victorian-style house. Bolender's widow, a rich, seductive socialite named Maggie Bolender, was not even aware that her husband owned the house. What is really going on behind the doors of the mysterious house? Finding the answers will plunge Sam and Amelia into a dangerous world of political intrigue in the exciting sequel to "Last of the Seals".

It's 1958 ... Sam has left his baseball career behind and is moving forward as a private detective.  He is hired by the widow of Arthur Bolender to figure out why Arthur went over the Golden Gate Bridge.  Was it suicide or murder?

As Sam investigates, he discovers Arthur was involved in a possible plot to kill the Russian leader when he visits San Francisco. It was an interesting story with lots of intrigue given the time period with the cold war.  It was such a different time than today ... everyone was suspicious of the Russians then.

Sam and Amelia are engaged but keeping it a secret except to family and friends so she can continue to work as a TWA stewardess (according to their rules, stewardesses must be under 30 and single).  She helps him with the case when she's in town.


Throughout the book are pictures from that era which is a nice touch.

I found Amelia a tad immature and annoying at times.  She's 25 and Sam is always telling her how much he loves her yet she "snarls" at him while demanding that he stay away from Maggie.  Granted Maggie does put the moves on Sam but he rebuffed her and gave Amelia no reason to be jealous.  Then Amelia snapped out of it immediately and is all loving.

I found the love scenes a bit odd.  Amelia is a good Catholic girl in the 1950s and is saving herself for marriage yet things do get hot with Sam ... and then she'll suddenly bounce up and fix her hair and lipstick or make breakfast like nothing happened.

This is the second in the Sam Slater series (Last of the Seals was the first).  You can read this as a stand alone ... there are lots of references to things that had happened in the first book so you aren't lost and wondering what's going on.