Bad Lie Review
Golf is a mystery to everyone who plays it, from Tiger Woods to my brother, who has a 12-handicap and once had a memorable four-hole stretch in which he went 9-6-8-1. John Corrigan, a columnist for Golf Today, writes mysteries in which his detective is a golfer on the PGA Tour. Life on the tour sure looks good to weekend hackers, and Jack Austin, ranked 99th in the world, knows it is.
In Bad Lie, Corrigan's fourth book, the mystery concerns Austin's former caddie, Nash Henley, who grew up in Roxbury and is now on the Curry College football team. When his father is murdered, Nash turns to Austin, who vows to find the killer.
Along the way, a lot of golf is played, from Texas to a charity tournament in Maine that Austin organizes. For this, he gets a lot of big names to come play, probably for the lobster dinner he hosts for the players at his home.
But while Jack tries to concentrate on the weekly tour stop, the leads he gets on the dead man are making him uneasy. His wife and daughter are threatened, and the victim is turning out to be somewhat less than a saint.
There's a nice subplot about a fellow golfer who has gone 27 events without making the cut but finished in the top 50 of the money list the previous year. He missed a 2-footer to get into a playoff in the US Open and has never been the same. His confidence is shot, and he struggles with quitting the game altogether.
Corrigan really knows the game, and is willing to share the good, the bad, and the ugly with us.