Murder in the Rough: A Sarah Deane Mystery [Hardcover]

J. S. Borthwick (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 12, 2002

During an especially cold, rainy May, three families move to the recently opened Ocean Tide community on the coast of Maine. Not long after their arrival, a decaying corpse is found lying in the rough of their beautifully manicured golf course-disrupting the idyllic community.

When a second body is discovered in a fertilizer shed, just yards away from the seventeenth green, the local authorities are puzzled over the sudden rash of dead bodies and their link to Ocean Tide's newest arrivals.

Despite her own misgivings and her husband Alex's warnings, Sarah Deane, an English professor and sometime amateur sleuth, becomes entangled in the investigation. What she uncovers promises to rock the very foundation of the Ocean Tide community.

J. S. Borthwick keeps us guessing with another sharp and literate Sarah Deane mystery.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Ph.D. and soon-to-be English professor Sarah Deane reluctantly returns to sleuthing in this assured contemporary cozy by veteran Borthwick (Coup de Grƒce, etc.). Sarah's in-laws, Elspeth and John McKenzie, have left the academic world of Cambridge, Mass., to live in the new, perfectly planned and designed Maine community of Ocean Tide. With bike trails, golf course, pool, beach and a breathtaking view of Penobscot Bay, the place should be perfect for the couple, but John is having trouble adjusting. John's son, Alex, and Sarah hope that he'll eventually fit in, but his misgivings prove to be well founded. The discovery of a dead body (delicately depicted on the dust jacket with no traces of violence) on the pristine golf course is just the first in a series of catastrophic events that soon affect the whole family. Sarah, known for her past crime-solving experience, promises herself that she won't get involved in the investigation. As the family becomes more entangled, she remains resolute until circumstances lead her into personal danger. While the reader may be as frustrated as Sarah by her vow to remain aloof, her doing so helps us better understand the lovable, realistic McKenzie family. Their down-to-earth personalities provide a vivid contrast to the Disneyland-like community and its driven director and staff. From the fog that sometimes engulfs the land to the crystal clear Maine days, this novel will delight existing Borthwick fans and should attract new ones.
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

On the golf course of a retirement community on the coast of Maine, a dead body is discovered. In the latest Sarah Deane mystery, the recently out-of-work English professor and amateur sleuth looks into the mysterious goings-on at the development called Ocean Tide. Another body promptly turns up, and Sarah discovers that there are secrets among some of the community's residents. Like the previous entries in the series, this is a gentle novel with a stately pace and comfortable characters. (Think Murder, She Wrote without Jessica Fletcher.) The story is told in the classic whodunit format, bringing together a large cast of characters, all of whom are suspects in a drawing-room mystery (this time without the drawing room). Readers are encouraged to settle in, get to know the players, soak up the cozy ambience, and see if they can figure out the solution. Those who favor past-paced plots, hard-edged dialogue, and plenty of action may find this novel a tad lethargic, but one reader's lethargy is another's cozy. David Pitt
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 336 pages
• Publisher: Minotaur Books; 1st edition (March 12, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312288298
• ISBN-13: 978-0312288297
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.9 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,125,205 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Light but pleasant mystery--good Maine atmosphere, May 14, 2002

By 

booksforabuck "BooksForABuck" (Long Beach, CA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Murder in the Rough: A Sarah Deane Mystery (Hardcover)

Recently retired from college life, John and Elspeth McKenzie move to a planned community in Maine where they can be near their son Alex and daughter in law Sarah. Neither counts on Sarah's uncanny ability to turn up bodies and, in fact, Sarah doesn't actually find the first body. Soon, however, she is involved, especially when Elspeth's expensive new bicycle is stolen and vanishes from the gated and guarded community.

More murders lead to police mystification and Sarah's increasingly desperate attempts to do something--anything--to come up with a solution. But not only are there no suspects--there aren't even any good motives. Both of the victims are habitual losers but, oddly enough, both are related to two of the families who have recently moved into the development.

Author J. S. Borthwick writes convincingly of Maine life and weather, and presents murder with a light touch. John and Elspeth, in particular, are engaging characters, each with their own foibles, uncertain about their decision to leave their old life and take up this new and organized one. MURDER IN THE ROUGH is light fluff, but it is enjoyable reading.

3.0 out of 5 stars MURDER IN THE ROUGH, August 30, 2007

By 

Wylee1959 - See all my reviews

This review is from: Murder in the Rough (Sarah Deane Mysteries) (Mass Market Paperback)

Did anyone else notice that the authour intermittently started calling Uncle Fergus, Uncle Felix about three quarters of the way through the book????? Sort of a mystery within a mystery???

1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars A well-written cozy., September 23, 2004

By 

frumiousb "frumiousb" (Amsterdam, the Netherlands) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (TOP 500 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Murder in the Rough (Sarah Deane Mysteries) (Mass Market Paperback)

Borthwick writes a great cozy, and her Sarah Deane mysteries are some of the best when I'm in the mood for this kind of book. I gave it three stars instead of four since this is not my favorite Sarah Deane (those would be Coup de Grace and Dolly Is Dead) and since it seemed like there were a number of small avoidable flaws in the book.

The biggest problem I had was with the large number of characters and the ridiculously high body count. I'm part of the school of thought that believes a good cozy should limit the corpses. The golf course in this book seems to have more dead people than live ones. It strained the imagination and I eventually found it irritating.

However, the book still gets you where it needs to go and it has its moments of laugh-out-loud funny. A good book by a good writer.