Baseball, opera, literary antiquities, and acts of violent retribution all converge in John Conlee's THE HEATER. Set in the present, this novel traces events through an entire baseball season while at the same time re-enacting the ancient Celtic tale of "Deirdre of the Sorrows." The novel's protagonist is Ty Duffy, the opera-loving second baseman of the Bay City Grays, whose unswerving loyalty to his friend and teammate culminates in a violent denouement on a wind-swept island off the west coast of Ireland.