DANGEROUS PLAY

A sports reporter’s links to a high-profile murder compel her to investigate.

Kate Green, a former Olympic gold medalist in soccer, is covering a high-stakes match the U.S. Women’s National Team is playing at Yankee Stadium. Reconnecting with old colleagues brings up some unsettling memories, and several controversies surround the current roster, including threats they’ve allegedly made against a competing team. The U.S. team’s celebration after their victory is short-circuited when Kate’s former teammate Alexa Kane, now a celebrity jewelry designer, is found dead in an ice bath in the training room. The death, which is clearly murder, triggers intermittent flashbacks for Kate about her complicated relationship with Alexa, which ended after a hazing incident 30 years ago. Kipness adds suspense by doling out the details of the hazing gradually through the rest of the story. When she’s questioned by aggressive special agent Mae Flynn, Kate fails to mention that she and Alexa have a history. Could her failure to disclose it jeopardize her journalistic career? She decides to probe the mystery on her own, motivated by a combination of guilt, curiosity, and an unexpected email that she had received from Alexa shortly before her death but that Kate didn’t discover till later, after she returned home. The plot in Kate’s second case is a bit unwieldy, featuring an overabundance of suspects past and present, each with an attendant backstory. But Kipness’ depiction of the world of women’s sports, featuring crisp character portraits, is both relevant and well executed.

A brisk whodunit set in the world of women’s soccer that arrives at an appropriate moment.