The dark side of college championship sports hits the news far too often, highlighting a world of driven coaches, academic cheating, rule-breaking boosters, and failed dreams. In a new mystery by the author of the acclaimed Death Pans Out, the murder of a star basketball forward propels journalist Neva Leopold into the troubled heart of this deeply competitive world. The boosters “want to touch us, they want to put their hands on us, to feel our muscles,” player Frankie Budd tells Neva, his hand cinching tight on her shoulder. “That’s why we call them grippers. That’s why I hate the bastards. That’s why I took everything I could get.” Cars, cash, housing, travel, clothes, passing grades—the players get it all while they’re hot. But when it’s over, when the scholarships end and 98.8% of the players fail to make the NBA draft, what happens then? What happens when they go from being heroes to nobodies overnight and find themselves wielding a broom instead of a basketball? Is such a downfall grounds for murder? Or is the gripper situation at PAC-12 Conference member Valley State University a long way—a very long way—out of hand?

Gripper

Mystery, Thriller & Suspense

Graves, Ashna

Mystery

Lychgate Press

While recovering from a double mastectomy, journalist Jeneva Leopold seeks solitude and healing at her uncle's idle gold mine in the sagebrush desert of Eastern Oregon. Hiking the rocky ridges, swimming in the old mining pond, and ignoring the outside world save for occasional letters, Jeneva gains strength and a new will to live. As her interest in life returns, so do Jeneva's journalistic habits. And though the locals are at first puzzeled by all of her questions, she soon gets to know a young woman rancher, various miners, a quirky old artifact hunter, and an itinerant priest and medieval scholar. These people and other colorful locals give her the inside story on living in the harsh landscape of sagebrush and coyotes and revealing how the old west is changing under new economics and regulation. But the Oregon desert is also a place of secrets. The more Jeneva talks with the locals, the more she wonders about her uncle's mysterious disappearance. Why did her uncle and her mother stop talking so many years ago? Does she know more than she is acknowledging? The murder of a young miner sends her on a quest for answers, leading her to an elderly woman artist living in a converted chicken house, a tongue-tied funeral home owner, and a swashbuckling sheriff with rule-bending tendencies. The appalling business she uncovers shocks the region and nearly claims her life, but it also brings closure to an old family misunderstanding and the enigma of her uncle's fate.

Death Pans Out

Poisoned Pen Press

While recovering from breast cancer, journalist Jeneva Leopold seeks solitude and healing at her uncle's idle gold mine in the sagebrush desert of Eastern Oregon. Hiking the rocky ridges, swimming in the old mining pond, and ignoring the outside world save for occasional letters, Jeneva gains strength and a new will to live. As her interest in life returns, so do Jeneva's journalistic habits. And though the locals are at first disturbed by her questions, she soon gets to know a young woman rancher, various miners, a quirky old artifact hunter, and an itinerant priest and medieval scholar. She learns the inside story on living in the harsh landscape of sagebrush and coyotes and how the Old West is changing under new economics and regulation. But the Oregon desert is also a place of secrets. The more Jeneva talks with the locals, the more she wonders about her uncle's mysterious disappearance and why he and her mother stopped talking so many years ago. Then the death of a young miner sends Jeneva on a quest for answers, leading her to an elderly woman artist who lives in a converted chicken house, a tongue-tied funeral home owner, and a swashbuckling sheriff with rule-bending tendencies. What she finally uncovers shocks the region and nearly claims her life.

While recovering from a double mastectomy, journalist Jeneva Leopold seeks solitude and healing at her uncle's idle gold mine in the sagebrush desert of Eastern Oregon. Hiking the rocky ridges, swimming in the old mining pond, and ignoring the outside world save for occasional letters, Jeneva gains strength and a new will to live. As her interest in life returns, so do Jeneva's journalistic habits. And though the locals are at first puzzeled by all of her questions, she soon gets to know a young woman rancher, various miners, a quirky old artifact hunter, and an itinerant priest and medieval scholar. These people and other colorful locals give her the inside story on living in the harsh landscape of sagebrush and coyotes and revealing how the old west is changing under new economics and regulation. But the Oregon desert is also a place of secrets. The more Jeneva talks with the locals, the more she wonders about her uncle's mysterious disappearance. Why did her uncle and her mother stop talking so many years ago? Does she know more than she is acknowledging? The murder of a young miner sends her on a quest for answers, leading her to an elderly woman artist living in a converted chicken house, a tongue-tied funeral home owner, and a swashbuckling sheriff with rule-bending tendencies. The appalling business she uncovers shocks the region and nearly claims her life, but it also brings closure to an old family misunderstanding and the enigma of her uncle's fate.

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Graves, Ashna. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by Graves, Ashna

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Graves, Ashna. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Gripper

Death Pans Out

Death Pans Out

Death Pans Out