Nine years ago, a hit-and-run driver killed Casey's mother. Casey swears revenge if she ever finds out the identity of the driver. Complicating her feelings, every year on the anniversary of her mother's death, Casey receives an anonymous envelope full of money. Is it blood money—from her mother's killer? Casey, who shares her mother's passion for basketball, is busy with practice and her new team. Still, she finds time to spend with her beloved neighbor, Megan, who helped care for her when she was younger, and with Megan's daughter Dulcie. When it looks like Megan's computer might contain a clue to the identity of her mother's killer, Casey feels confused and betrayed.

"In classic sports story fashion, Patneaude tucks subplots involving friendship issues and family tragedy in around plenty of high-velocity basketball action. Readers will be pulled into the old mystery when new hints surface that someone close to Casey has been keeping secrets, but it's the hard-fought, well-described games, founded on clear demonstrations of the value of practice and teamwork that will provide the strongest draw." —Booklist

When David Patneaude was a youngster, his favorite story was Robert Louis Stevenson's Treasure Island, a tale of adventure, suspense, mystery, and best of all, buried treasure. David never found pirate plunder of his own, but now he digs for a different kind of hidden loot—story ideas. David lives in Woodinville, Washington, with his wife, a junior-high-school librarian. They have three grown children and two grandsons.