The Deadly Tools of Ignorance
Debs Kafka Mystery

By Robert Elias

     How to categorize this one… Philip Marlowe meets The Rookie, to a background chorus of James Earl Jones’ voice from Field of Dreams discussing life and baseball? But then there’s all the stuff about academia, the Catholic church, society…

      Debs Kafka is a PhD candidate in criminology at catholic Fairmount University. Which once seemed the right thing to do, but now he’s having doubts about academia, criminology, his thesis, and everything else in his current life. His real love is baseball, a constant undercurrent to his thoughts.

      Then Debs discovers the murdered body of his friend and department head. The police are satisfied with a usual suspect drifter, but Debs starts hearing things that make it clear there are other options and is driven to investigate. Which only adds to his confusion and unhappiness about things until chance gives him an out of the blue shot to leave it all behind and get a taste of pro baseball. Despite his love for the game, it’s not an easy decision until his current relationship goes sour, tipping the scales towards escape. But chasing baseball dreams doesn’t guarantee escape from real life. Inevitably the murder and other problems catch up with Deb -even threatening the life of a teammate- forcing him to sort out his love life, his future, and the various investigations while in the middle of a pennant race.

      As that skimming from the plot makes clear, there’s plenty of action. But there’s also a lot in the book about Debs’ observations on life – from a Luddite’s view of technology to a reformer’s perspective on crime and society. Sometimes too much - I like the book, but much as I enjoy some friends whose entertaining company can get borderline irritating from a continual stream of opinionated pronouncements on everything, few of which I agree with. Baseball filled or not, it’s not the book for someone seeking brainless mind candy. But for anyone who enjoys being made to think about a few things even as you’re being entertained with a real page-turner (especially if you love baseball), definitely recommended.