The Dying Ground

Dick Adler

Her setting—the scarred streets of Oakland in 1989—leaps to life with the force of recovered memory: Even if you weren't there, you'll think you were. Her lead character, a young man named Maceo Redfield with a remarkable talent for baseball that might just offer him a way out if he can tear away all the roots that hold him, is one of the most satisfying and frustrating figures in recent fiction…Tramble's writing is multidimensional, muscular and poetic, capturing the voices of African-Americans of many ages and backgrounds without slipping into pretense or parody. And her story has the depth and resonance of true legend: a modern myth filled with age-old pain and tears.
— Chicago Tribune

Jabari Asim

The author's sure sense of structure, keen knowledge of male behavior and exquisite sense of pacing all contribute to this novel's overall excellence. I read it fast, and I was sorry when the last page appeared.
— Washington Post

Library Journal

This debut mystery in the Striver's Row imprint features Maceo Redfield, a disillusioned baseball star who has dropped out of college. Investigating the murder of a childhood chum, Maceo finds himself in the thick of the Oakland drug wars of 1989. Copyright 2000 Cahners Business Information.\

From The Critics

In 1989 Oakland, teenager Maceo Albert Bouchaund has everything, coming from an upper middle class family. His grandfather Albert is considered as one of the city's patriarchs. He attends college at nearby Berkley though he is currently visiting at home. He also is a fine baseball player in spite of being small for the sport. However, Maceo's world changes when he learns that someone put a bullet into the head of his childhood buddy Billy Crane, a major local player in the lucrative drug trafficking. The murder of Billy is not a shocker as dealers are routinely killed in the competitive quest for customers. When Maceo learns that Billy's girlfriend Flea vanished, he decides he must do something because she is the unrequited love of his life. As he begins to investigate Billy's death and search for Flea, Maceo finds the enticing side of the drug world calling to him like a sexy siren. Will he fall to its lure in spite of his heritage? The Dying Ground is quite a coup as first time novelist Nichelle D. Tramble provides more than a very good urban amateur sleuth tale. The story line centers on the full picture, including glamour, of the drug industry that still holds on to many American communities. Maceo is a wonderful protagonist, struggling with the thin line between his moral upbringing and the instant gratification of the fool's gold drug world. Though many readers will need to adjust to the accents of the secondary cast, this approach provides a real feel to Oakland in the first year of what now seems like ancient history of papa Bush's administration.