Amen Corner [Hardcover]

Rick Shefchik (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 9, 2007

The body of the Masters rules committee chairman is found floating in the pond in front of the 12th green on the morning that Sam Skarda arrives at Augusta National Golf Club to play in his first Masters. Skarda, a 37-year-old police detective on medical leave from the Minneapolis police department, is an accomplished amateur golfer who won the U.S. Publinx and an invitation to play in the Masters while rehabbing a shooting injury suffered on the job.

Evidence left at the crime scene suggests the murder might have been tied to the ongoing protest by a women's group that has been demanding that the club admit women members. Then a crusading New York Times columnist is murdered on the grounds of the club two days later. Local police suspect the murders might have been committed by a member and begin pressuring the new Augusta National president for access to the club's membership information.

The club chairman asks Skarda for help finding the killer before the police thoroughly invade Augusta National's legendary privacy. Skarda looks for answers from members, veteran journalists, longtime caddies and ex-employees who may know why someone is determined to bring this year's Masters to a halt.

He also falls for Caroline Rockingham, the soon-to-be ex-wife of one of the pre-tournament favorites, a former college golf teammate of Skarda's. Sam and Caroline themselves become targets as the murders continue and pressure to cancel the tournament builds. Meanwhile, the killer methodically prepares for a spectacular and deadly Sunday climax.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Minneapolis police detective Sam Skarda, on leave after being shot, has been invited to participate as an amateur in the Masters golf tournament in this middling debut from sports writer Shefchik. Also visiting Augusta, Ga., is recently released convict Lee Doggett, out for revenge against the man who fathered but didn't raise him. When two people associated with the tournament are murdered in the first three days, club officials hire Sam to find the killer—quietly please, with minimal publicity. Because Shefchik reveals Doggett's identity and motive from the get-go, the payoff should be the edge of suspense to Sam's investigation—will Doggett harm more people before the police learn what the reader already knows? The unfolding of the investigation, when it finally gets going, however, is buried under a dense layer of Masters minutiae. Golfers may appreciate all the detail, but others may find it distracting. (Mar.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist

The Masters golf tournament has taken a beating in recent crime fiction, first in William Bernhardt's Final Round (2002), which gets almost everything wrong, and then in Todd Sentell's Toonamint of Champions (2007), a broad satire in which the tournament and its fat-cat sponsors take a royal lampooning. Shefchik also takes his share of shots at the green-jacketed elite who run the Masters, but he makes a game attempt at realism, both in his portrayal of the tournament itself and in his premise: a Minneapolis cop, on medical leave, wins the U.S. Publinx Championship and qualifies for the Masters. Knowing he's overmatched, Sam Skarda goes to Augusta for the experience and finds himself in the midst of a murder investigation when the club's Rules Committee chairman is found facedown in the pond fronting the famous twelfth green. Shefchik combines a surprisingly grisly plot and a convincing villain with plenty of more or less realistic golf action. Knowledgeable fans will still need to suspend some disbelief, but all in all, this one makes the cut. Entertaining and, if not exactly believable, not a total howler, either. Bill Ott
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 323 pages
• Publisher: Poisoned Pen Press (March 9, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1590584112
• ISBN-13: 978-1590584118
• Product Dimensions: 8.6 x 5.7 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,040,255 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Rick Shefchik was born and raised in Duluth, Minnesota, graduated from Dartmouth College in 1974 and worked at the Duluth News-Tribune for three years. He then spent 26 years at the St. Paul Pioneer Press as a media critic, features writer, columnist and sportswriter.

He left the Pioneer Press in December 2006 to become a novelist and freelance journalist. "Amen Corner," set at The Masters, was published in 2007 by Poisoned Pen Press, and is the first in a series of sports-related thrillers featuring ex-Minneapolis police detective Sam Skarda. The second, "Green Monster," was published by poisoned Pen in 2008 and involves the Boston Red Sox. His third Sam Skarda novel, "Frozen Tundra," is about the Green Bay Packers, and was published in 2010 by North Star Press. His fourth novel, "Rather See You Dead," is a rock 'n' roll thriller published in September 2011.

He lives in Stillwater, Minnesota, with his wife, Barbara. They have two children -- Claire, who is a freelance writer and editor, and David, who is a computer scientist. His main hobbies are golf and playing the guitar, at which he's equally adequate, but some distance from accomplished.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Amen!, May 7, 2007

By 

chip putt "books and golf" (San Francisco, CA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Amen Corner (Hardcover)

Fun read. Well crafted story that takes many surprizing turns. Don't need to be a golfer to enjoy the drama but the National and its April tourney are so well known to golfers worldwide, the story acquires added richness to many. A good gift to a golfer. I have no doubt that we will see more stories from Shefchik. All to the good.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Golfers will love the courses, and the murder.., June 4, 2007

By 

Armchair Interviews (Minneapolis, MN) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Amen Corner (Hardcover)

Sam Skarda is a Minneapolis homicide detective and an excellent amateur golfer. A bullet to the knee while on duty requires long rehabilitation and a lot of walking--which for Skarda means golf. His dedication to practice gives him a shot at the U.S. Publinks championship--and when he wins an invitation to play in the Masters.

And this is a Masters like no other as he runs into his old Duke roommate, Shane Rockingham, now a star of the PGA tour and recently separated from his wife and caddy, Caroline. He connects with an old Augusta caddy, Dwight, who has caddied for former Master's champions, and who will be on the bag for Sam--if he's healthy enough. And there's a group of women protesting the Masters because the National doesn't allow women members.

But then things turn ugly. First one person critical of the "no-women" policy turns up dead at Amen Corner, and scarred into the green are the words "this is the last Masters." When a second turns up dead, the authorities are forced to look at the possibility that it is someone from the National's membership that is responsible for the murders. Augusta's chairman retains Skarda as a private advisor to work alongside of--and if possible, ahead of the police to find and stop the killer. No stone is to be left unturned, even though the chairman is convinced that no member could be behind the murders.

Though Shefchik identifies the murderer early in the book (and I prefer to keep guessing), he does lead the book's characters on a merry chase through a series of logical (and wrong) conclusions. Any avid murder mystery reader will enjoy watching he various characters follow the false trails and will admire Skarda's commitment to finding the truth--regardless of the cost.

Any golfer who's been to the Masters (and I have) will delight in the accurate descriptions of the course, the town, and the event itself.

Armchair Interviews says: Murder, intrigue, romance, a balancing of the books, and a moral to the story (several in fact) will leave the reader hoping that Shefchik has another book in the works.

4.0 out of 5 stars Great suspense novel, April 4, 2010

By 

Roscoe Coltrain "Roscoe" (Oregon) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Amen Corner (Hardcover)

This is a page turner. I couldn't put it down. As a golfer I loved the setting of a suspense story at Augusta National. One amusing thing that I noticed was the author's use of "y'all" to address a single person (I found this three times). Having been raised in the South, this was easy to pick up on. I will look for more Shefchik's work.