Mr. Ronald J. Hutchison

Dallas by 3 1/2 Mr. Ronald J. Hutchison 1st edition

Hannah Kidd is a wildly popular television sportscaster for the SPCN sports channel in Chicago. There is good reason for Hannah's popularity?she accurately predicts the winners of NFL football games on the air, a blessing to millions of amateur and professional gamblers in America. There is a sinister downside, however, to Hannah's "gift" for picking winners. Big-time bookies are losing their shirts and they aren't too happy. It is decided at a clandestine Christmas meeting of the nation's biggest bookmakers that gentle persuasion might work best. They decide to talk to Hannah. "No rough stuff," declares Blackie Loffreno, a New York City bookie and head of the loosely organized mob of books. Talk, however, fails to remedy the problem. Hannah refuses to compromise herself and she continues to pick winners. How does Hannah predict NFL winners week after week? It baffles the bookies, and they are left with only one option?kill her.