A Wicked Slice

A Lee Ofsted Mystery

By: Aaron Elkins, Charlotte Elkins

Narrated by: Julia Farhat

Aaron Elkins, the author of the Edgar-winning Old Bones, teamed up with his wife, Charlotte, to fashion this lighthearted mystery - a fictional look at the less glamorous side of a golf tour.

In this first Lee Ofsted mystery, Lee is a "rabbit" golfer in the Pacific-Western Women's Pro-Am. She made it into the tournament by the skin of her teeth and suddenly she can't keep her long drives from slicing - veering sharply to the right. She is hitting the ball perfectly and it simply isn't going where it is supposed to. And if Lee can't get rid of this slice quickly, all the scraping and saving to enter the tournament and stay in it, all the Big Macs and cheap motels, will be for nothing. Then Lee discovers the body of the tour's star at the bottom of the course lake, and her own problems with golf techniques pale in comparison. Enter Lieutenant Graham Sheldon. He's charming, handsome, and determined to capture the killer - as well as Lee's heart. But the murder has triggered buried anger and petty jealousies among the players. Lee finds out just what wicked means are causing her drives to slice. And it looks like the murderer has barely begun to score....

©1989 Charlotte and Aaron Elkins (P)2013 Audible, Inc.

Fun golf listen

Any additional comments?

I'm an old golfer and I have a friend's daughter who is now working her way thru the LPGA. This was entertaining and enlightening:-)

Charlotte & Aaron Golf Mysteries are Delightful

I'd previously read "Nasty Breaks" (book 3 in the series) and enjoyed it. This is the first of the series and it's delicious. Lee Ofsted is a golfer who has borrowed money to follow her dream of becoming a professional. She stays in cheap motels and eats at McDonalds to stretch her short resources. She occasionally catches rides to tournaments (for which she has to qualify) from Kate, a well-known star. Lee is a "celebrity" that club members pay to play with in the tournament while she tries to qualify for the money game. Lee has a bad day -- she keeps slicing her shots. Things go from bad to worse when she finds Kate's body in a water hazard. And the next day she discovers her slice is caused by someone's having replaced her club with another (she didn't notice at first because her clubs and Kate's are the same brand -- because hers are Kate's old clubs. Kate got new to correct a problem with her swing and since Lee didn't have that problem Kate's club is causing her slice. Then Kate realizes the dark on the end of the club is not mud but blood -- she has found the murder weapon.
Lee is sweet and almost too innocent for to be a grown up. Luckily she has two allies: Graham Sheldon, a smart, protective homicide detective, and Peg, a cynical business woman and amateur on Lee's golf team who becomes her co-investigator. .
I like this series WAY more than Alix London one!!!

Wasn’t expecting to like it

I started out thinking I wasn’t going to complete it. Thinking that I wouldn’t like it. However I was so pleasantly surprised that didn’t want to put it down !

Old Fashioned (60’s)

This reminds me of a cross between Magnum PI and John Wayne. The female star is outgoing, daring, and sexy. (spoiler alert)


But she is only marginally competent at investigating, folds in the crunch, and then sleeps with the heroic male star. That’s not like the military women I knew.

Equally bad is how the hero compromises the investigation by being romantically involved with a suspect. In real life he would have been suspended.

Only great narration save it.

Very enjoyable read

Nicely done on many levels. A good story, very likable characters, and a perfect narrator for the book. A real joy.