Where Have all the Birdies Gone? [Kindle Edition]

Aaron Elkins (Author), Charlotte Elkins (Author)

Editorial Reviews

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
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Product Description

If there is one thing the young golfer Lee Ofsted doesn't have on her mind, it is her chances of being selected for the Stewart Cup Tournament--the competition that pits the greatest American golfers, male and female, against their British counterparts. Lee is on no one's list of the 'greatest American golfers,' so it comes as a surprise when the great Roger Finley, captain of the American team, invites her to play. She's on the team, but exhilaration soon gives way to anxiety. Can she deliver? However, as play begins, Lee's worries about making a fool of herself take second place when Roger's devoted long-time caddie is found murdered, and Lee herself is the victim of an attempt on her life. It takes all of Lee's nerve and natural talent to see the competition through, to keep out of the gunsights of a resourceful killer, and, in the end, to make sense of a bizarre and paradoxical mystery.

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Product Details

• Format: Kindle Edition
• File Size: 321 KB
• Simultaneous Device Usage: Unlimited
• Publisher: Westlake Press; Third edition (November 30, 2009)
• Sold by: Amazon Digital Services
• Language: English
• ASIN: B00193T1IY
• Text-to-Speech: Enabled
• Lending: Enabled
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #92,547 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)
  • #88 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Nonfiction > Sports > Golf

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The latest and best of the Lee Ofsted series, December 11, 2005

By 

Jean Erickson (Oklahoma) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Where Have All the Birdies Gone? (Hardcover)

I have greatly enjoyed Aaron and Charlotte Elkins series of golf mysteries featuring Lee Ofsted, but this one was the best so far. The characterizations have deepened and become even more believable. The plot displayed heightened complexity and, as always, the reader is drawn into an interesting and emotionally satisfying story. With so many mystery writers succumbing to the formulaic approach, it is a great pleasure to read the work of a storyteller. Not that it reaches "great novel" status - it wasn't intended to! But it does offer an engaging and enjoyable mystery for the intelligent reader.

As for the monomaniac reviewer who dinged the book for a one-stroke golf "error," may your birdies be gone forever! Get a life. For the rest of us who care more about the overall quality of a book than in self-important nit-picking, this book delivers a hole in one!

4.0 out of 5 stars Non-Golfers do not beware but read and enjoy, November 12, 2010

By 

drkhimxz (Freehold, NJ, USA) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Where Have all the Birdies Gone? (Kindle Edition)

The talented Elkins family produced a series of books starring a very junior professional golfer. This is a most entertaining and congenial entry. I doubt if anyone is less informed than I or less interested in golf as a participant or viewer; nevertheless I never felt myself an outsider. The book is written for anyone who can read, golfers welcome.
That reminds me!
In fact, one need not know how to read, since it is a recent book whose publisher did not restrain robotic reading on the Kindle. Robotic reading does not achieve the dramatic effects produced by the trained actors who, so often, magnify the impact of the prose they are reading. The male robotic voice on Kindle (there is also a female one which can be chosen) is understandable and, in general, creates a straightforward reading. It does take time, however, for the average person with no previous experience to develop the mind-set that allows one instantaneously to translate the mechanical reproduction into an acceptable text. I imagine that Amazon's electronics consultants (or staff) can easily tweak the process so as to produce better pronunciation of common words and better recognition of sentence modifiers. I have been pretty well satisfied with the kindle on this score.
My own enjoyment of the book centered on an appealing central character, the lady golfer, and the straightforward character of the text which does not linger lovingly on intricate details of no interest. So for a quick, easily read, light detective story, I can commend this book to you.

2.0 out of 5 stars Review of Kindle version, March 28, 2010

By 

M. Detlefsen - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Where Have all the Birdies Gone? (Kindle Edition)

An entertaining book, marred by some formatting problems. There are multiple instances of strikeovers from the editing process that have left in the book. There are left-hand margin problems, also. The book was apparently taken from the British version, as it uses single-quotes all the way through (very distracting). It doesn't look as though anyone proofed this work as an ebook.

This is the fourth (?) volume of the adventures of Lee Olmstead, golf pro. I've enjoyed them all. I'm knock off one star for formatting issues that should have been caught.