DROVER AND THE ZEBRAS

Defrocked sportswriter Jimmy Drover (Drover, 1991) is back for a visit to Chicago, where he is unable to resist an appeal for help from an old college flame who has problems with her brother, her ex-husband, the mob, and the NCAA. Ducking out of a predictable DePaul basketball game, reporter- turned-private-investigator Drover hears a voice from the past. Fionna O'Neill, still as beautiful as she was years ago at St. Mary's College, has followed Drover from the gymnasium to plead for his professional assistance. Fionna's brother Paul, who inherited St. Mary's basketball team from Fionna's philandering ex-husband Neil, is the undeserving target of an NCAA investigation into recruiting violations at the school. There's also been a charge of point shaving and the possible corruption of a referee whose brains were blown away, perhaps by his own hand. With some help from a retired Chicago police captain and from a Las Vegas computer, Drover quickly learns that St. Mary's basketball team turned in surprising scores in games at which the late referee officiated. Then, on a trip back to the alma mater, he hears from Fionna's rather weepy brother that the team's very hot star player was indeed unfairly and illegally lured to the school. What isn't immediately clear is who dropped the dime on the unfortunate coach and why some of Chicago's most violent wiseguys are so interested in a Catholic college in the middle of the Indiana cornfields. Businesslike sports-thriller distinguished by flawless midwestern accents. Granger is on surer ground with Drover than with his more mannered November Man series.