Customer Reviews

Rotten Lies

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I love Lee Ofstead, and I mean that in the romantic sense. Smart, gorgeous, athletic, a bit headstrong, she's my kind of woman. I read this very engaging story from cover to cover, and found myself laughing out loud at some of Lee's wry humor. A classic murder mystery with a romantic tension subplot, it was perfect. I started with this second book of the series, but plan to go back to the first, Wicked Slice, and follow Lee on her entertaining path.

Struggling pro golfer, Lee Ofstead is playing the best round of golf of her career. When she hurts her arm administering CPR to Ted Guthrie, the most hated man at the golf course, Lee cannot finish the game. When her lover, California cop Graham Sheldon, joins her at the tournament, they join together to solve the murder. This was a light, cozy mystery. What appealed to me was the setting and the characters. I don't play golf but the setting was fresh and interesting without overwhelming you with golf information and the budding romance between Lee and Graham was nicely done. The authors are a husband and wife team. Aaron Elkins has written several fine mysteries and Charlotte is a serious amateur golfer and writer. The first in the series was A Wicked Slice.

The second installment of the Lee Offstead series from Charlotte and Aaron Elkins is a delightful, easy read. Though not a golfer myself, the material revolving around the course was not lost in lingo and jargon but was instead presented clearly. The authors do a good job of developing the characters and the plot lines, both those integral to the story and those developing for the book series. I enjoyed the down-to-earth character of Lee and the predicaments she faces in the story. I've been a long-time fan of the Elkins' and look forward to the third installment in this series.

Soso. I found it slow and a little boring. Aaron Elkins' books are normally more enjoyable that this one.

I like the Elkins, separately or apart. Not surprising, therefore, that I liked this little romp on the golf course as young Lee Ofsted, apprentice professional, first leads, then is forced to drop out of the competition, only to find herself color announcer on the event. Murder naturally ensues and Lee finds herself in the middle of it without knowing why. The usual cast of boyfriend, best woman friend, caddy and assorted supporting players associated with golf and the police help make this a somewhat puzzling, generally amusing and always entertaining light read. I heard, rather than read it on the Kindle. By now I am well adjusted to the male voiced robot which is factory set to a light baritone which is the right pitch for aged ears, not only for clarity of sound but because it sounds male or female with listeners designation of a character as male or female. There are improvements that could be made by Amazon without having to adjust the enunciation for each particular book forcing the price to prohibitive levels, but I value their text-to-talk system sufficiently to have chosen the kindle over e-book readers without the device. While I have hundreds of audio-books professionally read on the servers of audible.com from before it was purchased by Amazon, they are too expensive for me now. I find this a quite acceptable alternative though no match for the vivid characterizations the stars of audio-book performers can produce. I do listen to this as to all other media, ipod, DVD on TV monitor, music from player, etc., through headphones which should be considered by anyone using the Kindle in this way. (Sound production seems adequate for normal hearing without their use.)
In all, I commend either reading or listening to this golfing mystery for anyone who wants to fill a few hours with light, and light hearted, content.