On The Fringe [Kindle Edition]

Charlotte Elkins (Author), Aaron Elkins (Author)

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

All professional golfer Lee Ofsted wants to do when she arrives in Hawaii is fulfill her duties as the celebrity attraction at the Mauna Kea Golf Club's centennial and then relax until her impending marriage to security consultant Graham Sheldon. But shortly after she arrives, the body of Mauna Kea's oldest member, Hamish Wyndham, is found in the club's billiards room. Inevitably, Lee, whose propensity for snooping has led her into several murder investigations, embarks on a bit of amateur detecting, with the help of her friend and fellow snoop Peg. The pair soon learns that there were plenty of people who had good reason to hate Wyndham. Also figuring into the murder could be a spooky local legend, a long-lost trophy designed by Louis Tiffany, a secret passage or two, and some truly bizarre initiation rituals at the Mauna Kea. Effortless writing, humorous banter, intriguing characters, and a well-formed plot make the Elkinses' latest a solid addition to most mystery collections. Emily Melton
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Product Description

A Lee Ofsted mystery. Lee Ofsted and Graham Sheldon, her ex-cop fiance, have decided to take advantage of the glorious setting of the historic Royal Mauna Kea Golf and Country Club to have a quiet wedding ceremony. But from the start things go awry, partly on account of the influx of treasure hunters determined to find the club's most famous lost possession, the Cumberland Cup, commissioned from the great Louis Comfort Tiffany in 1908. Then real disaster strikes. During the Centennial Ball, Hamish Wyndham, the ancient and irascible chairman of the club's board of directors, is discovered bludgeoned to death. When the club pro, Wally Crawford, is targeted by the police as the most likely suspect, Lee is dragged into the maelstrom. And it doesn't take her long to turn up a host of suspects, motives, and simmering resentments...

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Product Details

• Format: Kindle Edition
• File Size: 256 KB
• Simultaneous Device Usage: Unlimited
• Publisher: Westlake Press; Third edition (November 14, 2009)
• Sold by: Amazon Digital Services
• Language: English
• ASIN: B001DTWQCM
• Text-to-Speech: Enabled
• Lending: Enabled
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #122,467 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Keeps the wrong parts of the formula, April 5, 2006

By 

Mike Garrison (Covington, WA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: On the Fringe (Severn House Mysteries) (Hardcover)

This is the latest in the series of books about young professional golfer Lee and her boyfriend (now fiancee) detective Graham. Until now, the formula has been that a murder happens at a golf tournament in which Lee is involved, which she solves with the help of Graham and her friend Peg. However, this time what is missing from that is the "golf tournament" part.

Lee has been invited as a guest to an exclusive Hawaiian private golf club. There are a few amusing bits where Lee (who grew up poor and playing on public courses) is exposed to the traditions of a private golf club where the "club" aspect is really more important than the "golf" aspect.

There is a mysterious lost treasure, and then there is a murder. Lee becomes involved, as do Graham and Peg. But without the narrative structure (and implied pressure) of the golf tournament in the background, the story does not have the same intensity that the previous books have had. And Graham seems less and less a character and more and more a convenient plot device.

Peg and Lee are more developed characters, but they also are starting to seem a bit stale. The best bits in the novel concern the wacky old codgers who run the club, but they are really only the supporting cast. There should be some central structure for everything else to hang off of, and it seems to be lacking. In short, there is a large, golf tournament shaped hole in the middle of the plot.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A nice pleasant read, December 7, 2006

By 

T. Serrill (Edison, NJ) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: On the Fringe (Severn House Mysteries) (Hardcover)

I am not at all disappointed there is no tournament. I failed to figure out whodunit, which is good, because if on rare occasion I do, I tend to think the author has not been sufficiently clever. The author's plogs came up, apparently only because I looked up the review. I am sorry there will be no more of this series, but happy Elkins continues to write, and hopefully will continue to be published. I have been a fan since day one - library books, I'm afraid - and recently have been catching up. I had been hoping more would be in audio, but that's not to be, apparently. So much to read, but Aaron Elkins is near the top of my "must" list. Only one to go and then I will await the title next August.