Sports Fact and Book Rec of the Day 7/14/2007

7/14/1956:
Sensational four-year-old Swaps, Bill Shoemaker up, sails to victory in the Hollywood Gold Cup, winning by two lengths and setting a new track record for a mile and a quarter. Running his typical race, Swaps lay back off the pace until the final turn, then surgest to victory down the stretch. He'll win 8 of his 10 races in 1956 and be named Horse of the Year.

Birthdays:
Rosey Grier b. 1932
Lee Elder b. 1934
Billy McCool b. 1944
Robin Ventura b. 1967
Tim Hudson b. 1975


Cliff Janeway is alone of his kind. He’s a detective and a rare-book dealer. And if you think the rare-book trade is a gentleman’s profession, think again. Janeway discovers the ugly underbelly as he searches for evidence to put away the killer of a rare-book scout. Dunning is a two-time Edgar Award nominee and antiquarian bookseller himself (check him out at www.oldalgonquin.com), so expect him to get the police procedural as well as the book trade details just right. “A joy to read,” promises The New York Times Book Review, a “whodunit in the classic mode.”

BOOKED TO DIE, by John Dunning (Pocket Star, 2001)