Last of the Seals

By Greg Messel

Mystery, romance and baseball in 1957 San Francisco. Sam Slater is a lifetime minor league baseball player for the San Francisco Seals. The Seals have just one more season left as San Francisco is about to become a major league city. Sam has come to the end of his baseball career and is going to join the private detective agency of his best friend. When Sam’s partner inadvertently sees something he shouldn’t have, he is brutally murdered.

• Language: English
• Publisher: BookBaby
• Release date: Apr 23, 2012
• ISBN: 9780985485917

Greg Messel

Greg Messel is the author of Sunbreaks. "Expiation" is his second novel and he has also written an unpublished memoir. Sunbreaks was recently featured at the American Library Association Conference in Boston and the author is doing a signing and an appearance at the Los Angeles Time Book Fair. Messel has spent most of his adult life interested in writing, including a career in the newspaper business. He won a Wyoming Press Association Award as a columnist and has contributed articles to magazines. Messel lives in Edmonds, Washington, with his wife, Carol.

Reviews for Last of the Seals

[celticlady53 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Is this book about the Navy Seals or the animal seals?? No, it is about the baseball team the Seals, a minor league team in San Francisco in 1957.I had no idea that there was a baseball team, the Seals, nor do I know much about baseball. However, that did not stop me from reading and reviewing this book. This book is not only about baseball, although it has a great part in the story, it is about romance and murder. The Seals are soon to be disbanded as a major league team is coming to town, the Giants and Sam Slater will soon be playing his last game with the team. He will soon start working as a private investigator for a Jimmy, a good friend of his. Before this can happen though, Jimmy is murdered and no one knows why.Sam meets Amelia Ryan, a stewardess, who he finds himself getting more and more attracted to. As they become closer they find themselves embroiled in trying to find out who killed Jimmy and why. Their determination to solve this murder and bring some closure to Jimmy's family, puts their own lives in danger and they have to get out of some serious situations. This novel is a murder mystery and love story all in one. This is 1957 and therefore the relationship between Sam and Amelia is very proper, but the sexual innuendos are certainly there. I really liked this book and I learned a bit about baseball that I didn't know before and found myself liking both Sam and Amelia and hope to read more adventures with this couple. The author is certainly knowledgeable about the topic he writes about, baseball. I highly recommend this book.

[emkemi23 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This was a fun and easy read. Last of the Seals is an interesting story that is founded on baseball's glory days. Mr. Messel did a nice job of weaving the end of a locally loved minor league baseball team with the end of a pitcher's career that leads to a new romance, a new job as a private investigator, and a search for a murderer.

I received a free copy of Last of the Seals through Goodreads first-reads.