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It's the summer of 1961, and all eyes in the sports world are riveted on New York's Yankee Stadium, where young outfielder Marvin Wallace is mounting an assault on Babe Ruth's record of 60 home runs in a season. As the upstart slugger closes in on the legendary Sultan of Swat, the pressure begins building off the field: Someone is making death threats, and it's up to ballplayer-turned-private eye Mark Renzler to figure out who. With a lineup of possible suspects that includes New Jersey gambling interests, fanatical Ruth fans and even Wallace's own teammates, Renzler faces a full count in late innings. If he doesn't come through in the clutch, it could be Marvelous Marvin's last time at bat. Praise for Paul Engleman, Mark Renzler, and Dead in Center Field: "Paul Engleman is a deft storyteller with a quirky touch. Mark Renzler is a sociable Sam Spade: great company for the reader." -- Studs Terkel "A grand slam!" -- Lin Brehmer, WXRT Chicago "The wisecracks are funny and the allusions clever. Engleman, like Chandler, doesn't take himself too seriously." -- Publishers Weekly "This one's right in the ballpark." -- Los Angeles Times "It's a delight!" -- Playboy "An excellent baseball mystery and a legendary private eye." -- Sacramento Bee "Breezy and irreverent, Engleman works in 60s touches without wallowing in nostalgia." -- Chicago Sun-Times

Corralled into entering a handicapping contest at a seedy New Jersey racetrack by one of his dubious pals, New York private eye Mark Renzler is on hand when master handicapper Longshot Sam Natoli catches a sniper's bullet. Natoli was the odds-on favorite to win the $50,000 Super-Pick prize, and now the contest - and the murder investigation - is wide open. The field of suspects includes nasty ex-cons, sexy ex-wives, jealous rival handicappers, heavily armed security guards, and crooked local politicians. With Richard Nixon's final days unfolding in the background, it's up to Renzler -- abetted by his avant-garde artist pal Nate Moore and his teenaged seminary student nephew Herbie - to solve the puzzle of Who Shot Longshot Sam? Praise for Paul Engleman and Who Shot Longshot Sam? "A raffish, fast-moving tale, spun by a deft storyteller." -- Studs Terkel "A slick, wise mystery that starts at a clip and never falters. Engleman has a winning series in the Renzler chronicles." -- Chicago Magazine "The wisecracks are funny and the allusions clever. Engleman, like Chandler, doesn't take himself too seriously." -- Publishers Weekly "Renzler's easygoing, sardonic narration keeps things moving along on a jaunty, not-too-serious level." -- Kirkus Reviews "Crisply written, highly entertaining. Breezy and irreverent, Engleman works in 70s touches without wallowing in nostalgia." -- Chicago Sun-Times "Damon Runyon couldn't have created a more entertaining and colorful collection of characters." -- Playboy "An expert whodunit." -- Chicago Tribune

When retired firefighter Phil Moony receives a message intended for another man with his name, that man turns up dead and Phil becomes the killer's next target. By the author of Who Shot Longshot Sam?

New York private eye Mark Renzler was worried about getting enough money for some more beer. And to pay some bills. So when the call came from Chicago, asking if he would be willing to fly out on Arnold Long's personal jet and take on a job for the publisher of Paradise magazine, Renzler said sure. Then he called Nate Moore, his sometime partner, a.

"A Mark Renzler mystery." Renzler and his pal Nate Moore crash the Jersey country club world to clear a black ex-baseball player of murder.

When someone steals the feisty, unpleasant cat he inherited from his father, Phil Moony will turn Chicago inside out to catch the catnapper.

In December 1972, P.I. Mark Renzler is contracted to find Harpo, a paranoid former Black Panther who was involved in the break-in of an FBI office, and he must navigate his way through the political left in order to find his man.

Mark Renzler and his partner, Nate Moore, travel to 1969 Chicago to search for a missing centerfold model who had received threats even before her photographs were published

Mark Renzler and his partner, Nate Moore, travel to 1969 Chicago to search for a missing centerfold model who had received threats even before her photographs were published