The Mighty Johns and Other Stories

This book of football stories, including one about rugby, Europe's football, includes the mastery of David Baldacci in the lead story, The Mighty Johns. Football in college includes mystery and a long ago disappearance of the ultimate star of the Draven University football team. Tor North, brilliant science student and football player looks for the answers and the result is very close to home.

Additionally, Super Bowl Sunday and its importance to the teams and the fans enters several of our stories - including A SUNDAY IN JANUARY and NO THING. More college ball is the theme when college rivalries are at stake. MIT and Harvard have a rivalry, and when Harvard plays Yale, MIT wants the glory. What they do to top last year's prank is worth the read.

The naughty boys of football are the topics of THE EHRENGRAF REVERSE, THE ARCANE RECEIVER, HOLLYWOOD SPRING AND AXLE, GONE TO THE DAWGS AND RUMORS OF GRAVITY. Murder, theft, gunshots, larceny, drugs and more bad behavior are the best of football mystery.

GOOD SEATS, GONE DOWN TO CORPUS, WHATEVER IT TAKES TO WIN and SEMI-PRO are darker revenge stories of getting even at any cost. The people, the players, and football are merged into human ego and animal cunning.

Finally, THE END OF INNOCENCE by Anne Perry, recalls the days just before WWI and a rugby match between friends and acquaintances before the troops head off to war. The end of an era, the end of relationships and the adjustment of friendships come together in this tale of family pride and protection.

Otto Penzler the mastery mystery collector, has brought these stories together to pay homage to the most frenetic and inspiring game of America. The Mighty Johns and Other Stories is a superstar collection from the smartest mystery editor of them all.

Mystery Writers and their stories:

• The Ehrengraf Reverse by Lawrence Block
• Semi-Pro by James Crumley
• A Sunday in January by Brenda DuBois
• Whatever it Takes to Win by Tim Green
• Good Seats by Colin Harrison
• Gone Down to Corpus by Dennis Lehane
• No Thing by Mike Lupica
• The Empire Strikes Back by Brad Meltzer
• The Arcane Receiver by Carol O'Connell
• The End of Innocence by Anne Perry
• Hollywood Spring and Axle by Gary Phillips
• Gone to the Dawgs by Peter Robinson
• Rumors of Gravity by John Westermann