According to the U.S.
Croquet Association, the game of croquet (pronounced crow-KAY) is a tradition
of backyard recreation in America.
Wikipedia explains that
croquet is an international sport involving "hitting plastic or wooden
balls with a mallet through hoops (often called "wickets" in the
United States) embedded in a grass playing court."
Now that you know croquet,
you need to know about "Murder, Mystery and Croquet," a newly (Nov.
2014) published ebook. The print edition became available January 2015. Its author is
Linfielder Bill Grandey, Class of 1965, who lives in California and
Portugal.
As a Linfield student,
Grandey -- born in Alaska and grew up in San Mateo, Calif. -- was a member of
the Linfield cheer squad. As such, he got to know Paul Durham, Linfield
athletic director and coach. And, he also knew Durham's favorite athlete, Ooney Gagen. The Durham-edited sports
pages of the McMinnville News-Register often included columns and
stories about and photos of Gagen.
An ATO fraternity member,
Grandey recalls reading the News-Register in the original ATO house,
across Baker Street/99W from the Linfield campus. In Durham's articles,
"Ooney could play any position better than anyone and would often save the
day for Linfield," said Grandey.
The book includes a quote
from Gagen and is also interspersed with information on Linfield sports going
back to the earliest days of the college, which was founded in 1858.
Gagen, who played croquet
despite being busy as a Linfield student and student-athlete, is with amazing company
in the book. His croquet enthusiasm was shared by Abraham Lincoln, Marilyn
Monroe, Adolph Hitler and Mata Hari.
Ruth Stotter, author of
"Murder on the Croquet Lawn," praises Grandey's work. "Who would
have dreamed this innocent appearing game has historical and global true
stories with the suspense of fiction detective novels! I applaud and recommend
this entertaining and compelling book," she wrote.
Learn more about the book at
the Grandey Mysteries website
www.grandeymysteries.com and at Amazon
Have questions for author Bill Grandey? Email him at bgkm2@yahoo.com
This originally posted 12/23/2014 and updated 1/26/2015.
This originally posted 12/23/2014 and updated 1/26/2015.
