- Hardcover: 224 pages
- Author: Barbara Casey
- Publisher: ArcheBooks Publishing (August 22, 2004)
- Genre : Mystery/Suspense
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 1595070427
- ISBN-13: 978-1595070425
- Product Dimensions: 9 x 6 x 0.6 inches
BLURB:
Another deafening roar exploded
from the coliseum, and when it did Marla threw down her partially smoked
cigarette and ground it into the polished tile floor with the toe of
her shoe. Quickly she reached for another cigarette from the opened pack
in her small red handbag. She lit it, sucked the smoke into her mouth,
held her breath, coughed, and then slowly released it. Marla didn't
smoke, but when she paced up and down the hallways of basketball
coliseums, puffing on cigarettes seemed appropriate. It gave her
something to do with her hands, and it helped keep her sane.
Marla Connors, recently married to head basketball
coach Neal Connors, travels with her husband to Albuquerque, New Mexico,
where the Piedmont State University Coyote team is playing in the NCAA
Finals. Marla has not been accepted by the Coyotes, that loyal bunch of
fans who follows the university team, partly because she is almost
twenty years younger than Coach Connors and a divorcée, but also because
the fans are afraid she will distract her husband from his duties as
head coach. They see her as someone who married Coach Connors just for
his money. Only Gale, the older wife of assistant coach Stu Simmons,
goes out of her way to be a friend to Marla.
The Coyote team is plagued with problems from the
very beginning of the season, and when they finally manage to reach the
NCAA Finals, it's even worse. Their center is caught using drugs,
Athletics Director Charlie Morgan, who is also in Albuquerque for the
games, makes a pass at Marla in her hotel room, and Coach Connors comes
down with the flu. No one believes that State can win the big game.
With so much happening, Marla can't shake the
feeling that something evil is taking over her life. She tries to
convince herself that it is emotional anxiety left over from the abuse
she experienced during her first marriage to Dr. Martin Andrews and that
the stress from the tournament has brought it once again to the
surface. She soon learns, however, that the evil is real and it
threatens not only everything she loves, but her very life.
Illegal drugs, illicit affairs, murder, and scandal
that shakes the entire university system are woven inextricably into
Marla’s life until eventually she comes face to face with her real
tormentor. It is only then that she realizes the full depth of her love
for her husband--and his love for her.
My Impressions:
Marla and her husband Neal married after her abusive marriage ended and Neal was already in his 60's. His career as the head coach of the State University Coyotes has been his sole focus up to the point that Marla walks into his life, then everything changes drastically. Marla quickly takes to the other coach's wives and shares in the latest gossip, but at her own expense. She has endured some gossip regarding the age difference between herself and Neal. Only one lady really seems to understand Marla and they take to becoming really good friends. But, there is serious trouble lurking and Marla and Neal will find themselves front and center in a basketball scandal involving drugs, sex , and murder.
You would have to be deaf and blind though in order to avoid the highly anticipated March Madness hoopla in our city. Weather you enjoy basketball or not, everyone loves all the fun surrounding the games and the scandals around college level basketball. I honestly think they take college ball more serious than pro ball here.
The attempts to cast the coach in a bad light, to create trouble for the players, to leak information to the media, to handing out perks to certain people , especially if they have deep pockets and of course a little cheating , in more ways than one.Pretty standard for real life I am sure. We also have the backstabbing other wives, the gossip, expectations , envy and of course tons of greed, that make this a novel that is really hard to put down.Not only do we get a glimpse at the behind the scenes politics and corruption, we also get a few tense moments on the basketball court.
This is a crime novel so we have alot of elements at plat here a murder, a trial, and really terrible secrets come to light as a result. The crime of course snowballs into bigger and bigger problems and is woven all through the story as we struggle to understand who is trying to corrupt the game and what one earth has motivated someone to carry things this far. This was justa really great book around, minus the cover that I really did not like.
About the Author
My Impressions:
Marla and her husband Neal married after her abusive marriage ended and Neal was already in his 60's. His career as the head coach of the State University Coyotes has been his sole focus up to the point that Marla walks into his life, then everything changes drastically. Marla quickly takes to the other coach's wives and shares in the latest gossip, but at her own expense. She has endured some gossip regarding the age difference between herself and Neal. Only one lady really seems to understand Marla and they take to becoming really good friends. But, there is serious trouble lurking and Marla and Neal will find themselves front and center in a basketball scandal involving drugs, sex , and murder.
You would have to be deaf and blind though in order to avoid the highly anticipated March Madness hoopla in our city. Weather you enjoy basketball or not, everyone loves all the fun surrounding the games and the scandals around college level basketball. I honestly think they take college ball more serious than pro ball here.
The attempts to cast the coach in a bad light, to create trouble for the players, to leak information to the media, to handing out perks to certain people , especially if they have deep pockets and of course a little cheating , in more ways than one.Pretty standard for real life I am sure. We also have the backstabbing other wives, the gossip, expectations , envy and of course tons of greed, that make this a novel that is really hard to put down.Not only do we get a glimpse at the behind the scenes politics and corruption, we also get a few tense moments on the basketball court.
This is a crime novel so we have alot of elements at plat here a murder, a trial, and really terrible secrets come to light as a result. The crime of course snowballs into bigger and bigger problems and is woven all through the story as we struggle to understand who is trying to corrupt the game and what one earth has motivated someone to carry things this far. This was justa really great book around, minus the cover that I really did not like.
About the Author
Originally
from Carrollton, Illinois, author/agent Barbara Casey attended the University
of North Carolina, N.C. State University, and N.C. Wesleyan College where she
received a BA degree, summa cum laude, with a double major in English and
history. In 1978 she left her position
as Director of Public Relations and Vice President of Development at North
Carolina Wesleyan College to write full time and develop her own manuscript
evaluation and editorial service. In
1995 she established the Barbara Casey Agency and since that time has
represented authors from the United States, Great Britain, and Japan.
Ms.
Casey's two middle-grade/young adult novels, Leilani Zan and Grandma Jock and
Christabelle (James C. Winston Publishing Co., Trade Division) were both
nominated for awards of excellence by the SCBWI Golden Kite Award, the National
Association of University Women Literary Award and the Sir Walter Raleigh
Literary Award. Shyla's Initiative
(Crossquarter Publishing Group), a contemporary adult novel (occult
romance/mystery), received the Independent Publisher Book Award and also an
award of special literary recognition by the Palm Beach County Cultural
Council. The House of Kane (ArcheBooks
Publishing) was considered for a Pulitzer nomination. Another contemporary novel for adults, Just
Like Family, received “Special Recognition from the 7-Eleven Corporation.” Most recently, her young adult novel, The
Cadence of Gypsies, was reviewed by the Smithsonian for its List of Most
Notable Books. The Gospel According to Prissy, a novel for adults, has received
excellent reviews and received an IPPY Award for Best
Regional
Fiction. Warner Brothers Studio has also
expressed interest. Newly released in paperback, The Coach's Wife (ArcheBooks
Publishing), also a novel for adults (contemporary/mystery), was semi-finalist
for the Dana Award for Outstanding Novel and listed on the Publisher’s Best
Seller List.
Her
award-winning articles, short stories, and poetry for adults have appeared in
both national and international publications including the North Carolina
Christian Advocate Magazine, The New East Magazine, the Raleigh (N.C.) News and
Observer, the Rocky Mount (N.C.) Sunday Telegram, Dog Fancy, ByLine, The
Christian Record, Skirt! Magazine, and True Story. A thirty-minute television special which Ms.
Casey wrote and coordinated was broadcast on WRAL, Channel 5, in Raleigh, North
Carolina. She also received special
recognition for her editorial work on the English translations of Albanian
children’s stories.
Ms.
Casey's award-winning science fiction short stories for adults are featured in
The Cosmic Unicorn and CrossTime science fiction anthologies. Ms. Casey's essays and other works appear in
The Chrysalis Reader, the international literary journal of the Swedenborg
Foundation, 221 One-Minute Monologues from Literature (Smith and Kraus
Publishers), and A Cup of Comfort (Adams Media Corporation).
Ms.
Casey is a former director of BookFest of the Palm Beaches, Florida, where she
served as guest author and panelist. She
has served as judge for the Pathfinder Literary Awards in Palm Beach and Martin
Counties, Florida, and was the Florida Regional Advisor for the Society of
Children's Book Writers and Illustrators from 1991 through 2003. She is a frequent guest lecturer at
universities and writers’ conferences around the country including the SCBWI
Regional Conference, the Harriett Austin Writers Conference in Athens, SIBA
(Southeastern Independent Book Sellers Association), Florida Writers
Association, and the University of Auburn, Montgomery. She makes her home on the top of a mountain
near Trion, Georgia, with her husband and Benton, a hound-mix who adopted her.
www.barbaracaseyagency.com
www.amazon.com
www.barnesandnoble.com
www.archebooks.com
Disclaimer:
The Coach's Wife by Barbara Casey is an Archebooks publication. I was provided a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
http://www.goddessfish.comThe Coach's Wife by Barbara Casey is an Archebooks publication. I was provided a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
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