Sports Fact & Book Rec of the Day 6/11/2007

According to NASCAR veteran Dale Jarrett, it's best to play it safe when aggressive drivers are bunched up on the track. "These guys are going to wreck. You can bet on that. You've just got to make sure you're not around when they do."

Birthdays:
Ernie Nevers b. 1902
Vince Lombardi b. 1913
Jackie Stewart b. 1939
Joe Montana b. 1956
Scott Mellanby b. 1966

Superintendent Roderick Alleyn is on a par with Hercule Poirot and Lord Peter Wimsy. So why did Marsh never achieve the fame that Christie and Sayers did? It’s a mystery we’ll never solve. The mysteries in Marsh’s books, however, are all unraveled with great satisfaction, local color, and appropriate suspense. False Scent sends Alleyn to the world of the theater, where a diva has been murdered by her own perfume.

FALSE SCENT, by Ngaio Marsh (1960; St. Martin’s Dead Letter, 1999)

Marsh was born in New Zealand. Ngaio is a Maori word meaning “competent.”