In the summer of 1976, former minor-league baseball player Jimmy Bailey leaves prison after serving four years for a crime he didn't commit.
He's expecting to start his life over and possibly even get back to playing baseball again. His sister, Debbie, who's what some people in the early 1970s would call "a women's libber," is highly accomplished and well connected in government and social justice circles in Massachusetts. She's an expert in
urban planning
. On Jimmy's last day in prison, she picks him up when one of the guards tried to harass her. She puts him in his place and embarrasses him in front of a few other guards. Little do either Jimmy or Debbie realize that this incident will change their lives.
While he was in prison, Jimmy clung to a letter he'd received from the man who owned the
Boston Red Sox
, promising him a job at
Fenway Park
when he was finally finished with his sentence. Jimmy also worked with his cellmate, a Black man who couldn't read, to help him earn his high school diploma. Jimmy observed, first-hand, the
social justice issues facing Black people following desegregation efforts in Boston
in the early 1970s.
Both Jimmy and Debbie discover they're being stalked and followed by mysterious people around Cambridge and their home town of
North Weymouth, Massachusetts.
Jimmy's former cellmate is badly beaten by inmates after Jimmy leave the prison; the prison warden is killed, leading to a major investigation by state and federal authorities.
Cameo appearances by
then-Governor Michael Dukakis, as well as Red Sox pitcher Bill Lee
, appear in this book. Massachusetts landmarks such as
Castle Island, Fenway Park, the State House in Boston, Wessagusset Beach, and scenes in North Weymouth and Quincy (on Boston's South Shore)
also play roles in this novel.
Conspiracies, intrigue,
baseball,
and even some
romance
come together as the main characters delve into the mysteries behind this book.