Sudden Death
Authors: Rita Mae Brown
SUDDEN DEATH
RITA MAE BROWN
“LOVE, SEX AND LUST FOR FAME AND MONEY compete in this humane, seriocomic romp through the world of women’s professional tennis.”
—
The Detroit News
“ROMANTIC FICTION WITH A VENGEANCE.”
—
The Denver Post
“A SCATHING NOVEL.”
—
The Seattle Times
“AT ONCE [A] POLITICAL MANIFESTO AND A COMIC NOVEL OF MANNERS.”
—
Philadelphia Inquirer
“A SHARP, INSIDER’S VIEW of the pressures and pleasures of the women’s professional tennis circuit.”
—
The San Francisco Chronicle
“DESCRIBES MATCHES AS GRIPPINGLY AS ANY SPORTSWRITER … Very good on the commercial huskstering and hustling that plague professional tennis.”
—
The Chicago Tribune
“LOVE, CORRUPTION, BETRAYAL AND AMBITION INTERTWINE to create a real-life panorama of personal and professional relationships.… Outrageously interesting characters that transcend the page … Razor-sharp.”
—
The Toronto Sun
“HER BOOKS ARE FUNNY, OUTRAGEOUS, BAWDY, TENDER AND FILLED WITH LOVE.
Sudden Death
is no exception.… Through it all, Brown writes so beautifully of that special and mysterious feeling we call love.”
—
The Cleveland Plain-Dealer
B
OOKS BY
R
ITA
M
AE
B
ROWN
WITH
S
NEAKY
P
IE
B
ROWN
Wish You Were Here
Rest in Pieces
Murder at Monticello
Pay Dirt
Murder, She Meowed
Murder on the Prowl
Cat on the Scent
Pawing Through the Past
B
OOKS BY
R
ITA
M
AE
B
ROWN
The Hand That Cradles the Rock
Songs to a Handsome Woman
The Plain Brown Rapper
Rubyfruit Jungle
In Her Day
Six of One
Southern Discomfort
Sudden Death
High Hearts
Starting from Scratch:
A Different Kind of Writers’ Manual
Bingo
Venus Envy
Dolley:
A Novel of Dolley Madison
in Love and War
Riding Shotgun
Rita Will:
Memoir of a Literary Rabble-Rouser
Loose Lips
Outfoxed
SUDDEN DEATH
Bantam hardcover edition / May 1983
Bantam export edition / April 1984
Bantam paperback edition / April 1984
All rights reserved
.
Copyright © 1983 by Speakeasy Productions, Inc
.
Library of Congress Catalog Card Number 85-45948
.
No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form by any
means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by
any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing
from the publisher
.
For information address: Bantam Books
.
eISBN: 978-0-307-79396-6
Bantam Books are published by Bantam Books, a division of
Random House, Inc. Its trademark, consisting of the
words “Bantam Books” and the portrayal of a rooster, is Registered
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Marca Registrada. Bantam Books,
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York
,
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York 10036
.
v3.1
Dedicated to
J
UDY COOK LACY
She had no intention of leaving this earth;
Death kidnapped her
.
J
udy Lacy was constantly on my case to write a book about the tennis circuit. I scoffed at this idea since I considered it the material for her first novel. She was a sports columnist for the
Boston Herald American
. She was a lot else as well—a good athlete, a woman of solid integrity, and a buoyant friend. A few days before she died, she asked me to write a book using tennis as a theme. I didn’t know how sick she really was, so I declined. She insisted I write this book. I finally said yes.
Sudden Death
is the result. It began as a book about women’s tennis today, but as the work took shape, I realized there was far more I wanted to portray than could be done by basing it on my own experiences and relationships. And so, the story evolved in an entirely different direction.
Although this novel uses as its theme the world of women’s tennis, the problems and pressures the characters confront are faced by lesbians in all sectors of our society. The characters and incidents of this book are, then, merely illustrative and entirely imaginary. None of these events actually occurred and any resemblance to individuals of the circuit is purely coincidental.
This is really Judy’s book. Whatever virtues the novel possesses are more Judy Lacy’s than my own. The faults, however, are mine alone and no reflection upon my inspiration.
Ten percent of the author’s royalties derived from the sale of this novel go to:
The Judy Lacy Memorial Fund
Massachusetts General Hospital
Oncology Department, Cox Building
100 Blossom Street
Boston, Massachusetts 02114
Should any reader wish to contribute to this fund, the author would be grateful.
T
he following people contributed to this book and I thank them: Susie Baker Adams, Donald Alex, Jerry Astrove, Julia Ellen Brown, Rebecca Brown, Betty Burns, Elaine and Don Candy, Doodles, Linda Damico, Trish Faulkner, Joan and Jim Freeman, Lee Jackson, Baylor Johnson, Larry King, Bill Leach, John Lowe, Regina McCormack, Colleen Moreland, Martina Navratilova, Tove, Troost, Elizabeth and Karin Parker, Rachel and Phil Rogers, Marion Roth, Clare Schaefer, Susan Scott, Elaine Spaulding, Rita Speicher, Alice and Jimmy Turner, Mona Vold, Ruth Weeks, Martin Weiss, Cazenovia and Baby Jesus, the only real character in my novel.
Louise, one of the cats, went into heat for one month. This may or may not be reflected in
Sudden Death
.
Bud Collins, by his example of courage, kept me going.
I am especially grateful to Deborah Mogelberg for not giving up on me while this book took shape.
And thank you, reader, you contribute to my book because I imagine you as I write. I imagine you looking like a latter-day Carole Lombard, Vivien Leigh, or even a Latter-Day Saint and falling in love with me, overcome by my talent. Or I imagine you as a born-again Ronald Colman or Douglas Fairbanks, falling in love with me, overcome by my talent just like your female counterpart. If not overcome by my talent, then how about overcome by my ego?
Are writers really that egotistical? No, but if I don’t believe
in myself, it’s a sure bet you won’t believe in me at all. Unfortunately, a lot of people confuse that with conceit. I’m not conceited, but I am vain. I expect you to frame the photo on the back of this book and swoon at regular intervals. Go on, a little worship is good for the soul—mine.
ONE
