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13/06/2025

Meet Wendy Winkworth, protagonist of The Stray Pitch by Marilyn Bos

Wendy is hired to investigate the murder of Betty Jane Wadlow, star pitcher for the Burton City Hornettes women's baseball team. To do this, she goes undercover as a utility player on the team, despite having no baseball skills.

Age: 24 years old
Profession: newly licensed private investigator
Nickname(s): the dickless dick—a self-deprecating play on detective slang; Winkie—by teammates
Origins: a farm in Arkansas
Current Home: a trailer on the outskirts of Iowa City, Iowa
Family History: due to her father's criminal past as a small-time crook, Wendy has certain skills, like lock-picking

Overall, Wendy is a determined sleuth who uses her intelligence and resourcefulness to prove herself in a male dominated profession.

You can find out more about the books in the Wendy Winkworth trilogy at the link in our bio.

09/06/2025

Praise for The Stray Pitch by the audio book's narrator

I couldn’t help but fall in love with 24-year-old Private Investigator Wendy Winkworth tackling her first job as a PI. She’s funny, fearless, irreverent, determined, with natural investigative instincts. I’m quite certain she was channeling Phillip Marlow as she narrates her inner thoughts on each piece of the puzzle she encounters working undercover in the Star-Spangled Girls Baseball league, where the star pitcher is murdered. The story got me interested in the real All American Girls Professional Baseball league (AAGPBL) operating from 1943-1954, made famous again by the movie A League of Their Own, with Tom Hanks, Geena Davis, Madonna and many others.

The Stray Pitch takes place in 1950 when girls professional baseball began showing signs of wear. Its heyday was during WWII when every able-bodied male went off to war giving space for girls to take the field and help to raise the spirits of war weary public. But by the 50’s the men were back and re-taking front stage on the field. The players Wendy encounters in the Star-Spangled Hornets are an extremely competitive bunch, fighting to keep their place in a game whose days are numbered, making the players edgy, defensive, and suspicious of any perceived underlying motives. This atmosphere makes Wendy’s job even more challenging and she is not welcomed with open arms into the league. But as you’ll see she doesn’t scare easy!

Wendy, grew up in the backwoods, on a dilapidated farm in Northern Arkansas, with two brothers, a rather absent Maw and a Paw she didn’t meet until age 12, who wasn’t known to be law-abiding. She learned quick the ways of outlawing and eventually decided maybe it was better to put this hard-earned knowledge to work on the right side of the law.

06/06/2025

Next week, we will be giving away free audio books downloads of The Stray Pitch by and narrated by Sherri Slater.

Simply signed up to our newsletter: http://eepurl.com/inELhs
and we'll be announcing winners next week.

Set in the 1950s, The Stray Pitch introduces Wendy Winkworth, a smart-mouthed female private investigator who's been hired to solve the murder of Betty Jane Wadlow, star pitcher for the Burton City Hornettes women's baseball team.

03/06/2025

🎧📚 It's AUDIOBOOK MONTH! 📚🎧

June is here, and that means it's time to celebrate the magic of storytelling through audio books!

Why we love audiobooks:
📱 Allows you to read while exercising or doing chores
🌍 Makes stories accessible anytime, anywhere
🎭 Brings characters to life with talented narrators

Ready to celebrate:

Try the audiobook version of your favorite book

Explore a new genre you've never listened to

Share your current audiobook with friends

Drop recommendations in the comments below! 👇

Gift an audiobook to someone special

That last one is something we plan to do. Flat Sole Studio has released three audio book this year, and during the month of June we will be giving away download codes for free copies of our audio books.

Just keep listening for details.

30/05/2025

The Stray Pitch is just the first book in Marilyn Bos's trilogy of Wendy Winkworth mysteries.

About the series: Born in a time female sleuths are a rarity, 24-year-old Wendy Winkworth becomes a private investigator, a "dicklesss" dick as some would say. She's a hard-boiled detective that knows how to get to the heart of any crime.

Wendy's a spirited heroine who’s as tough as she is resourceful

You can discover more about Marilyn Bos and her books at the link in our bio.

29/05/2025

Praise for The Stray Pitch by Marilyn Bos.

"The Stray Pitch hits a home run in this zany, colorful depiction of the end of women's baseball in the early 1950s. Private investigator Wendy Winkworth is literally on the ball in this fast-moving mystery."
—Mary Logue, author of Frozen Stiff

28/05/2025

Praise for The Stray Pitch by Marilyn Bos.

The Stray Pitch is an intriguing novel of the women's baseball league and the 1950s. Young Wendy is hired into the league, despite her lack of skill; her true purpose is not on the diamond but rather to find a murderer!

The Stray Pitch is a must for historical fiction collections focused on mystery and history.
—Small Press Bookwatch

27/05/2025

Here's a for :

📚 Pick up a mystery by an author you've never read
🕵️ Try a new subgenre (cozy, noir, historical, sci-fi mystery?)
📖 Join a mystery book club or online discussion
🎧 Listen to a mystery podcast while commuting

You can also check out the link in our bio to find a few books with mysteries to them.

— The Stray Pitch by Marilyn Bos: novice PI Wendy Winkworth
is hired to solve the murder of Betty Jane Wadlow, star pitcher for the Burton City Hornettes

— Chasing AllieCat by (Rebecca Fjelland Davis): When her friend suddenly disappears, Sadie digs into the mystery surrounding Allie’s past.

— Nemesis by and Nate Burns: Every superhero has a Nemesis, and Sam's must be the person sending him mysterious texts,

23/05/2025

The Stray Pitch by Marilyn Bos was an Independent Publishers Book Awards Gold Medal winner for Best Regional Fiction.

Now available as an audio book, this set in the 1950s, introduces the world to Wendy Winkworth, a smart-mouthed female private investigator. The Stray Pitch is an atmospheric mystery that captures the world of post-war women's baseball, bringing to life the struggles and triumphs of female athletes in an era when they were fighting to be taken seriously. With witty dialogue, romantic tension, and escalating suspense, The Stray Pitch delivers both a compelling whodunit and a vivid portrait of a fascinating moment in sports history.

To learn more about The Stray Pitch, visit the link in our bio.

23/05/2025

🕵️‍♂️ Happy Birthday to Sir Arthur Conan Doyle! 🎂

Born on this day in 1859, Doyle gave the world the legendary Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson—characters who continue to captivate readers more than 100 years later. How fitting that his birthday falls during !

From "A Study in Scarlet" to "The Hound of the Baskervilles," Doyle didn't just write detective stories—he practically invented the modern mystery genre. His brilliant deductive reasoning, atmospheric Victorian London, and the iconic partnership at 221B Baker Street set the template that countless authors still follow today.

Beyond Holmes, this physician-turned-author wrote historical novels, science fiction, and even championed real-world justice cases. His legacy proves that the best mysteries aren't just puzzles to solve—they're windows into the human condition.

"The game is afoot!" 🔍

21/05/2025

Marilyn Bos, Emeritus Professor at Minnesota State University, Mankato, is the author of three books on violin playing.

—Country Fiddle (1988)
—Advanced Country Fiddle, 36 Easy Lessons (1989)
—Beginning Country Fiddle (1997)

Along with her love of playing and teaching violin, Marilyn enjoys mystery novels, baseball, and cats.

While Wendy Winkworth, the main character of The Stray Pitch, does not have a cat, Marilyn's debut mystery novel does combine those other loves: mystery novels and baseball. Wendy is hired to solve a mystery that center around The Star Spangled Girls Baseball League.

The Stray Pitch is the first of a trilogy of Wendy Winkworth mysteries and is now available as an audio book. For more
information about Marilyn's books, visit the link in our bio.

20/05/2025

As part of , we are releasing our first audio book, The Stray Pitch by Marilyn Bos and narrated by .

Summary: Set in the 1950s, The Stray Pitch introduces Wendy Winkworth, a smart-mouthed female private investigator. She’s been hired to solve the murder of Betty Jane Wadlow, star pitcher for the Burton City Hornettes women's baseball team. To crack the case, Wendy goes undercover as a rookie player, despite her limited baseball skills

This atmospheric mystery captures the world of post-war women's baseball, bringing to life the struggles and triumphs of female athletes in an era when they were fighting to be taken seriously. With witty dialogue, romantic tension, and escalating suspense, The Stray Pitch delivers both a compelling whodunit and a vivid portrait of a fascinating moment in sports history.

You can find out more about The Stray Pitch (audio book) at the link before or visit the link in our bio.
https://www.audible.com/pd/B0F79ZN9PD/?source_code=AUDFPWS0223189MWT-BK-ACX0-446865&ref=acx_bty_BK_ACX0_446865_rh_us

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