Murder, Mystery and Croquet

MAKE NO MISTAKE! THIS BOOK IS ABOUT MURDER. It includes over 80 true stories and mysteries based on croquet. In 1893 the United States courts established the croquet mallet as a deadly weapon. To lighten the book up, it has been sprinkled with old time radio quotes. you will hear from Jack Benny, Fibber McGee and the Shadow. THE UNEXPECTED: The true story of kids playing with an exploding croquet ball will leave you on the edge of your seat. Bonnie and Clyde's gang was taken out by a female croquet heroine. Her story was passed over by a male-dominated press and Hollywood films. Jacqueline Kennedy bashed her croquet opponent in the head with her mallet leaving the player comatose all day long Cardinal Richelieu in France successfully plotted the peculiar death of a "ball and mallet" croquet opponent in 1618. You will meet Egg and Bea, two well behaved children, who used their father's head as a croquet ball, ending his life. You will read about the curious croquet deaths of a horse, dog and cat. The eccentric man, who burned his home down over croquet rule arguments, will leave you wondering. Trained sparrows robbing unsuspecting croquet players may seem outlandish, but it was a top crime. There were three croquet cliques in Washington D. C., London and Berlin. It may seem fanciful now, but they virtually ran World War II. A croquet ghost lurks in a Scottish castle, where her murder was successfully covered up. Susan B. Anthony promoted "defending women's rights to own croquet mallets" as a part of her platform. A bigamist countess played croquet out of two English castles to great success, before her strange games were found out. The chapter on "how to cheat at croquet" or "detect a croquet cheat" explores the personal experiences of numerous players. Their humorous stories reveal sinister behavior. Bright spots of croquet are include the two croquet champions of the 20th century, whom you know well, This book has a PG rating.

MAKE NO MISTAKE! THIS BOOK IS ABOUT MURDER. It includes over 80 true stories and mysteries based on croquet. In 1893 the United States courts established the croquet mallet as a deadly weapon. To lighten the book up, it has been sprinkled with old time radio quotes. You will hear from Jack Benny, Fibber McGee and the Shadow. THE UNEXPECTED: The true story of kids playing with an exploding croquet ball will leave you on the edge of your seat. Bonnie and Clyde's gang was taken out be a female croquet heroine. Her story was passed over by a male-dominated press and Hollywood films. Jacqueline Kennedy bashed her croquet opponent in the head with her mallet leaving the player comatose all day long. Cardinal Richelieu in France successfully plotted the peculiar death of a "ball and mallet" croquet opponent in 1618. He talked him into going on a "wonderful adventure" to the new world - French America. You will meet Egg and Bea, two well behaved, small children who excelled in grade school. They used their father's head for a croquet ball and ended his life with perfect croquet mallet stokes. Then they turned on their mother. You will read about the curious croquet deaths of a horse, dog and cat. The eccentric man, who burned his home down over croquet rules will leave you wondering. Trained sparrows robbing unsuspecting croquet players may seem outlandish, but in England "sparrow thievery" was a top crime. There were three croquet cliques in Washington D. C., London and Berlin. It may seem fanciful now, but they virtually ran World War II. A croquet ghost lurks in a Scottish castle, where her murder was successfully covered up. Presidents such as Lincoln, Grant and McKinley were croquet enthusiasts and spread the love of the game through America and the Olympic games. Susan B. Anthony promoted defending "women's rights to own croquet mallets" as a part of her platform. A bigamist countess played croquet out of two English castles to great success, before her strange games were found out The chapter on "how to cheat at croquet" or "detect a croquet cheat" explores the personal experiences of numerous players - there, humorous stories reveal sinister behavior. Bright spots of croquet are included with the Connecticut eXtreme Croquet Society, St. John's College and the two croquet champions of the 20th century, whom you know well. This book is rated PG, as it believed that violence or bloodshed would not further the plots of these true stories. On the back book cover, it asks what Abraham Lincoln, Marilyn Monroe, Adolph Hitler and Mata Hari had in common. The answer is that they were croquet enthusiasts. Added to this list were King Charles II of England, The prince of Wales, President James Garfield and Blackjack the cat. They have something else in common, They all met early, untimely death.

William Roy Grandey lives in Palm Springs, California with his wife, Kathy, and the ghost of a crabby Amazon parrot. He was born in Ketchikan, Alaska and graduated from Linfield College. His summers are spent eating" Pastel de Nada" and "Francesinha" at a beach house in northern Portugal.* After a decade of playing level grass croquet, he started an eXtreme croquet club, with a group of friends in the Palm Springs area - now at 62 members. Their motto is "We have no boundaries!" and "Nothing is level!" It was during this time, that he began to hear about croquet murders. He decided to look into it and after looking a 5,000 murders, he was amazed to find them common. Grandey plays eXtreme croquet and likes eXtreme travel. Agatha Christie's Tommy and Tuppense accrued a "running away" savings account and they did the same. In his late '30's he and his wife quit their jobs and traveled for a year.They listed 50 cities around the world and went to them without a hotel reservation. Can you imagine leaving Bombay and arriving in Nairobe to walk the city to compare hotels. "It was easier than you might think, we arrived in places like Cairo and asked where the locals stay. We always stayed a week minimum and wanted to have no Americans, Brits or Europeans to break into our cultural immersion. At a large Cairo hotel the owner, being full up, gave us his room and slept on a couch in the lobby. He surprised us with a no charge chicken dinner in our room that evening," Being the only Americans has it's benefits. Travel stayed eXtreme for them with 3 and 5 month trips, until they finally settled down in a European house to travel in circles through various countries. Their home at Vila de Conde, (Village of the Count) Portugal leaves them the only Americans - No surprise. ___________________ * Pastel de Nada is the Portuguese national pastry, that comes in various forms in pastelarias (pastry shops). One method is to make the custard filling in a bain-marie, a bowl over boiling water rather than a saucepan. Some prefer the cream slightly "curdled" to give it a rustic appearance and texture. A favorite, when you can find it, is the rare chocolate center filled Nada. "The Francesinha" sandwich originated from French immigrants adapting to Portuguese taste. It means "Little Frenchie" in Portuguese. This complex sandwich came originally from the city of Porto. It consists of beef steak, cured ham, fresh sausage, fried egg and bread covered with melted, light cheese and a hot thick tomato and beer sauce with untold ingredients, Sauces are carefully guarded secrets by families and restaurants. The sandwich is cooked in a press and goes well with beer or the national cognac "Brandy Croft." If you want to push it, an order of French fries is a standard. It must be added, that a Francesinha prepared by Portuguese in their homes, with secret family recipes is a festival event. The guests get into the cooking. Grandey claims that his friend Oscar makes the best Francesinha on the planet. Family cats also love the Francesinha!