GCLS Goldie Winner "By far the best detective of the bunch." --Just Out Lillian Byrd has been searching her soul after the gut-wrenching experience of killing someone in self-defense. Scrabbling to make ends meet, she takes a job as a quasi detective, solving life's little mysteries for a pair of eccentric women in one of Detroit's last prestigious neighborhoods. When she spots a corpse on the next-door lawn, she jumps back into honest work as an investigative journalist. Her friend Mercedes reveals that the dead woman, Abby Rawson, played on a women's softball team she manages and pressures Lillian into taking her spot. Softball turns to hardball when Lillian not only plunges into a love affair with the team's sought-after pitcher but also goes undercover as an exterminator, a squatter, and a charity worker to investigate Abby's death and the corrupt medical organization she worked for. No one on the team is above suspicion, and as they get closer to snagging the coveted championship title--and Lillian gets closer to discovering the dark truth behind Abby's murder--she fights to keep her new love in her life and literally save her own. Filled with Lillian Byrd's trademark snark, nail-biting twists and turns, and a thrilling climax, Left Field scores a grand slam that'll leave readers cheering in the stands. This novel won a GCLS Goldie Award in 2015. Review Left Field is the fifth book in the Lillian Byrd Crime Series. Each novel can stand alone, so the reader doesn't need to worry about missing anything. The novel is filled with witty dialogue and humorous situations. The author is particularly accomplished in character development. The mystery is well done and complex but not overly so, and the author did an admirable job making us second-guess our assumptions throughout the book. This one is filled with deception, shady dealings, conspiracies, and questionable characters. What more could a reader ask for? -- Curve Magazine A great cast of unforgettable characters, lovely moments and brilliant dialogue. Plus there is softball, which every self respecting lesbian loves. The writing is well paced and clean following the typically format of a light who-dunnit. Despite this book being about a murder the story never gets too heavy, making it a perfect weekend or beach read. --The Lesbian Review About the Author Elizabeth Sims learned the art of fiction by listening to tall tales on her father's knee, and by reading all sorts of books brought home by her mother, a teacher. (These ranged from Grimm's Fairy Tales to the Canterbury Tales, from Laura Ingalls Wilder to Ernest Hemingway.) Today Elizabeth is the author of the Rita Farmer Mysteries and the Lambda and GCLS Goldie Award-winning Lillian Byrd Crime Series. She's been published by a major press (Macmillan) as well as several smaller houses, and she's written short works for numerous publications. In addition, Elizabeth is an internationally recognized authority on writing. She writes frequently for Writer's Digest magazine, where she's a contributing editor. Through her articles, coaching, and editing, she has helped thousands of fledgling authors find their wings. Are you a writer too, or would you like to be one? You might find inspiration in her book, You've Got a Book in You: A Stress-Free Guide to Writing the Book of Your Dreams (Writer's Digest Books). This lively, practical book has been specially recognized by NaNoWriMo and hundreds of other web sites and bloggers. Elizabeth earned degrees in English from Michigan State University and Wayne State University, where she won the Tompkins Award for graduate fiction. She's worked as a reporter, photographer, technical writer, bookseller, street busker, ranch hand, corporate executive, certified lifeguard, and symphonic percussionist. She is represented by the Donald Maass Literary Agency. Elizabeth belongs to several literary societies as well as American Mensa.
