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In the last few decades the game of tennis has gone through several evolutions. This sport is no longer limited to the upper class, now anybody can get in on the game. One does not have to wear white, or even hold their tongue after an umpire makes a bad call on you. All you need to play is will, determination, a good pair of sneakers, a partner, and a racquet. The goal for most players is to murder their opponent in the court by attacking a poor, defenseless yellow ball across the net hoping it will not come back to them. Mysterious Press editor and founder Otto Penzler takes advantage of peoples' love for the sport by introducing a collection of 14 new stories written by some of the most popular crime fiction writers out there today. They can serve it good just like anyone else. Some of the best stories in the anthology are Lawrence Block's Terrible Tommy Terhune, a story of a professional tennis player with serious anger management issues when it comes to hitting the court. When he is not playing he's the perfect gentleman until he plays again. Terhune finds an interesting remedy to help with his problem; the side effects are what are the killer. Then there is a short story by sports writer and novelist Mike Lupica called The Chair, a tale of what happens when line judges decide to finally take action against the abusive behavior unruly players unleash on them. Finally, there is a good story by Jeremiah Healy, one of the most underrated authors out there today, about an explained death at an exclusive country club. And a special shout-out goes to Lisa Scottoline who writes some of the best and funniest short stories in mystery anthologies today. Her Love Match is certainly no exception. The main concern with this book is that some of the stories in the anthology deal with tennis on a tangential level and it does not play heavily inside the plot structure of some of these works. Another thing is that some of these stories do not even include a murder, something that one would expect from a book titled, MURDER IS MY RACQUET. Regardless, some of the tales inside the book are winners.
Reviewed by Angel L. Soto, August 2005
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Contact: Yvonne Klein (ymk@reviewingtheevidence.com)
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