This novel has one colossal character: Harry Carr, football coach at then-imaginary Georgia A&M University (the book is so good that I googled to make sure it was imaginary, and confirmed it was, in terms of the old-established Georgia university once spared by Sherman's march where Harry supposedly coached. There was an article saying people were thinking of naming a new merged school Georgia A&M (for arts and medicine) in 2012. That is not Harry's school.) There is a note at the beginning saying Harry Carr is not a long list of legendary coaches, including Woody Hayes and Bear Bryant "but if Harry Carr had lived, he would have been of their generation, and they would have feared him." When the story opens. Harry is 64, still drinking whiskey and chasing women, his team is Number One in the nation, and his star quarterback just quit when Harry ordered him back into the Alabama game with a broken nose. Veteran sports sportswriter John Morris goes to Sparta, Georgia, to interview the ex-quarterback, Trapwell, and finds him dead in Morris's hotel bathroom. Later a corrupt student team manager is killed, and finally --after proclaiming he will get the killer --Harry Carr is killed while apparently watching an old game tape. Morris and his quasi-girlfriend Sullivan finally solve the case, along with an attractive female police lieutenant who had been having sex with Carr. But what makes to story is Harry Carr. Just one vignette --how Harry beats a strong Tennessee team despite losing his star quarterback the week before -- makes the book well worth reading. Harry gives a whole new meaning to smash-mouth football.
Note" One weakness I noticed on rereading. A key clue is the name Oberon. A surprising number of people including 2 history professors do not know the name from Shakespeare (one knows it from the original medieval legends)-- it takes a high school English teacher to know it from Midsummer Night's Dream. Hard to believe so many educated people would not know the play. ( )