From Booklist
Most of the suspense in too many golf mysteries comes from anticipating the howlers, the on-course inaccuracies committed by writers unfamiliar with the sport. What a pleasure, then, to read the Elkins' Lee Ofsted series and watch two genre veterans work their way around a mystery plot and a golf course without any disasters. Almost. The story of LPGA pro Ofsted's experience at the fictional Stewart Cup (a Ryder Cup-like event in which women and men from the U.S and Europe compete against one another) is handled expertly from the beginning: the golf is spot-on, and the mystery, involving the murder of the U.S. captain's caddy, has a satisfyingly tricky conclusion. If only the Elkins hadn't slipped up on the eighteenth hole of the cup-deciding match. The action is perfectly realistic except for one problem: one of the player's scores is counted wrong. The tight finish isn't really all that tight. But let's be charitable: it's easy to miss a stroke, and that gaffe aside, the Elkins deliver a fine round of golf. Bill Ott
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Where Have All the Birdies Gone? FROM THE CRITICS
Kirkus Reviews
It's true: No caddie would miss a pro golfer's tee time unless he was dead. Despite a swing that Snead, Palmer and even Tiger Woods would envy, Roger Finley is suffering a nasty slump, slicing, hooking, whiffing and sliding way down in the rankings. Still, his reputation lands him captaincy of the American team playing against the Brits in the Stewart Cup, the four-day tournament being held at the posh Pinehurst Golf and Country Club. When Finley's caddie, Dylan Blanchard, is found bludgeoned to death, Graham Sheldon, head of Countermeasure, Inc., is on hand to supervise security and lend moral support to his girlfriend, golfer Lee Ofsted, and work alongside the local cops to figure out whodunit and why. Lee's caddie Knows Something. So does Peg, Lee's biggest fan. But before Graham can digest all their information, Lee is attacked in her hotel room. Meanwhile, although Finley's wife is clinging to him like Velcro, a leggy blonde is following the hapless pro around the course. Is someone less friendly out to sabotage Finley's career? Could it be a Brit? A rival on the American squad? When the tournament ends, so will someone's career. Lee's fourth (after Nasty Breaks, 1997, etc.) is plotted by the numbers. Duffers everywhere, though, will respond to her case of nerves when she tees off, her play in her first major event and her impossible shot on the eighteenth hole. Agency: Nat Sobel/Sobel Weber Associates