Curveball

No gun. No mob connections. Just an encyclopaedic knowledge of the works of Charles Dickens and a mean pitching arm - can pitcher turned professor turned PI Ben Barklee save a senator's daughter from an out-of-control mob operator on Chicago's North Shore? Baseball pitcher turned English professor Ben Barklee now leads a quiet life teaching at Ridgehaven College, a.k.a. Dropout U, on Chicago's wealthy North Shore. When the rebellious Jane Macalester, daughter of a senator, enrols in his introductory Dickens class, Barklee has no idea that life is about to throw him a curveball. After Jane is kidnapped, Barklee becomes an accidental hero, saving her from her captors - but the college has another agenda, and he's dismissed, leaving him to support his family as a new-age PI, or 'Confidential Consultant'. Barklee will need every one of his new-found sleuthing skills when Jane disappears again and he discovers he's now become the target of a madman bent on vengeance, who hates the Senator and will happily remove anyone who gets in the way. With Jane's help and determination not to meet her end like a Dickensian woman, Barklee must succeed in outwitting and defeating the nasty characters chasing him through Chicago. But without a gun or mob connections, and with a suspicious cop longing to find something to charge him with, will his signature pitching skills be enough to save the day?