On her Web site, New York Times bestselling author Sandra Brown doesn't quite give away the plot of her forthcoming book, Play Dirty, which arrives in bookstores August 14. The Arlington-based, Simon & Schuster-published, Texas Medal of the Arts-winning novelist drops a few hints here and there: It's about a guy named Griff Burkett -- "former all-star quarterback for the Dallas Cowboys [who's] released from prison after serving a five year sentence in federal prison for racketeering." Broke and disgraced and fresh out of prospects, he's offered a "doozy" of a job, but, dang it, Brown never says just what it is.

Thank God for the Kirkus Reviews then. No dicking around with these people -- they're straight to it, right in the headline. So what's Play Dirty about? Says the subscription-only piece: "Fallen gridiron great, fresh out of prison, reluctantly agrees to impregnate the wife of a disabled millionaire." The missus wants her a copy, pronto. So proud. --Robert Wilonsky

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