The setting is during the torrid summer of 1918 in Chicago where anti-German sentiment was at a high point due to World War I.

Professional baseball is being threatened with being tagged as non-essential meaning that the players would suddenly be out of a job. However, during the time of the story, baseball was plodding along with some of the players working a second job to support the war effort.

Mickey Rawlings is a ballplayer with the Chicago Cubs when promising player and roommate Willy Kaiser was ironically killed on the Fourth of July. Mickey promises Willy's family that he'd find out who killed their son and brother and this leads Mickey into the underbelly of anti-German sentiment and various interesting characters.

The author deftly intermixes his fiction with actual ballplayers, making this a fun read.

Definitely recommended for those who enjoy historical mysteries and baseball.