While the hockey players in the NHL get the glory, those who are Black Aces are in the game's gulag. Back in 1991, Brad Shade was in the limelight in L.A., but his roommate, Martin "Whisper" Mars, was the team's Black Ace, one of those luckless spare players forced to work harder than every other player, stuck on the sidelines forever, but always ready - just hoping for that one moment when they might get called and get in on a game.

Now, after being out of touch with Martin for twenty years, Brad is working as pro-hockey scout with a small sideline business of being a private investigator. Hockey is tough and none is tougher that professional hockey and promises made to Sandy, his girlfriend, to be home more often are left like garbage after a game as another roadtrip or gander at a potential player comes first. Brad respects her professionally as she helped his daughter, but dislikes her unsolicited advice, especially about hockey, but she gets him thinking about Whisper. So, after hearing that Whisper had committed suicide, he coerces Warren Bear ( "Chief" as almost all Aboriginal hockey players get called) , one of his regional scouts, to drive him out to Swift Current, Saskatchewan, so he can pay his respects.

When he gets there, things are different from what he expects. Martin Mars is not a loser, but a wealthy business with a string of gas stations, good prospects for future business deals and a very attractive wife who he has loved. Mitzi, the widowed wife is heartbroken and can't stop crying. In her heart, she knows Martin didn't kill himself. If he didn't then, who did?

After a rough and violent welcome to the town, Brad realizes that the RCMP are too quick to pass the death off as a suicide and starts to do a quick check himself for Mitzi's sake. He knows it is murder, but what can he do when he finds himself beaten down by the small town closing ranks on an outsider as well as by thugs intent on getting him out of town?

THE BLACK ACE is the second book in a popular new mystery series featuring Brad Shade written by G.B. Joyce who is very well known and highly regarded for his considerable sports knowledge and non-fiction writings. While Joyce's fans will certainly relish this follow-up book to THE CODE, the first book in this exciting new series, it also reads very well as a standalone novel.

Having been a scout himself, Joyce skillfully develops this intriguing story of an old and odd friendship of two ex- hockey players and the mystery that is Whisper. The backstory of their early days of playing in L.A. and Brad's current job as a talent scout with ruined knees provides powerful and realistic insights to the dark side of hockey and how brutal it can be on and off the ice.

Joyce also paints a stark story of small town meanness that covers the Saskatchewan gamut from hockey to Hutterites, casinos to churches, uncaring RCMP to Aboriginal racism with a sprinkling of sharp wit and small town sports politics for good measure. As the tech savvy and still lusty Brad chases down clues with his ever handy Blackberry and google searches, Martin's story gets revealed as to why he had a crushed larynx and an old Mercedes that he cared for as it was his first born child.

While the writing varies in consistency at times, I still found THE BLACK ACE to be highly engrossing mystery with a very intriguing plot, sharp wit and I am not even a hockey fan. I am sure sports fans will find this fast paced story with its short chapters to be highly engaging and entertaining. The title, THE BLACK ACE, is interesting as it references not only the lowly status of spare hockey players as well as linking it to the gambling "Dead Man's Hand and Martin's death. Definitely will be a hit with hockey and mystery loving fans, so for a winner of a book in the hand, do check out THE BLACK ACE!