Golf Mysteries

As we christen yet another New Year, many golfers around the country are counting the days until they can get the sticks out and hit the links again. A good way to pass the doldrums of winter, however, is to kick back in your RV and open a good book.

I recently discovered a Connecticut author—Roberta Isleib—who’s an avid golfer and novelist. She has developed a unique blend of golf and psychology that’s resulted in five mysteries since Six Strokes Under was published in June 2002. Her other novels offer golf-related titles like A Buried Lie, Putt to Death, Final Fore and Fairway to Heaven. Isleib has certainly captured the attention of golfers, though non-golfers are enjoying her books as well.
The main character in Isleib’s “A Golf Lover’s Mystery Series” is Cassandra Burdette, a struggling young golfer who happens upon murder after murder. The novels are entertaining, and if you don’t know much about golf, you’ll learn something about the game. A glossary of golf terms is found in each book, along with a sprinkling of explanations throughout the pages.

Isleib, a trained clinical psychologist, began her writing career after realizing how much she liked the game of golf. She soon began publishing golf-psychology articles in Women’s World of Golf, Golf for Women, Tee Time Magazine, Mystery Scene, and National Golfer. She then branched out into novels with the Cassie Burdette series, published by Penguin Putnam.

Her popularity has steadily grown over the last five years. Last spring, Sports Illustrated wrote a piece on her golf mystery novel series. A few months later, Golf for Women featured an essay by Isleib on writing, creating Cassie’s character and golf.

Book Summaries
In Six Strokes Under, Cassie battles her way through the sectional qualifying school in pursuit of her life’s dream—a position on the Ladies’ Professional Golf Association Tour. Along the way, she stumbles across illegal equipment and repressed memories, and begins to understand that competition can be murder.

The second Cassie Burdette mystery, A Buried Lie, takes place at the LPGA Shoprite Classic golf tournament in Atlantic City. When one of Cassie’s amateur partners disappears, she wades into a swamp of prostitution, gambling, and drug company motives to solve the mystery.

In the third mystery of the series, Putt to Death, published in April 2004, Cassie takes a temporary job as a touring pro at an exclusive New England country club. Asked to fill in at the board of directors meeting on her first night, Cassie soon learns that environmentalists are considered fanatics and that women are struggling with the old boys’ network for parity on the golf course. When one of the club members is found murdered, Cassie realizes that more than golf privileges and birdhouses must be at stake.

In Fairway to Heaven, Cassie is playing in the tri-tour team golf tournament at legendary Pinehurst, North Carolina. Her team—consisting of her father and her boyfriend—is driving her crazy. To add to her stress, she’s agreed to serve as maid of honor in her friend’s wedding. When the bride’s father disappears, not even her suddenly stellar swing can lift Cassie’s spirits.

In the fifth installment, Final Fore, at the bucolic Mount Holyoke College campus, Cassie Burdette is steeling her nerves for the U.S. Women’s Open, the most prestigious golf event in the world. She’s already rattled by the absence of Laura, her favorite caddie, and by a controversial invitation to a men’s pro tournament. But then a rival dies, and Cassie learns that in high-stakes golf, competition can truly be murder.

This March, Isleib will publish the first installment of her new series titled “Deadly Advice,” which features a psychologist/advice columnist. For more information about Roberta Isleib or to purchase her mystery novels, visit www.robertaisleib.com.

The 19th Hole (and a few chip shots)
Golf out of this world—A Russian cosmonaut recently hit a golf ball from the International Space Station while the craft was orbiting 218 miles above eastern China. The publicity stunt was arranged under a commercial deal between the Canadian golf equipment firm Element 21 Golf and the cash-strapped Russian Space Agency. NASA approved the stunt after a safety review. The event aired live on NASA television as Mikhail Tyurin managed to hit the ball on his first try. Golf enthusiasts noted that he shanked the ball badly. The cosmonaut used a gold-plated six-iron and an ultra-light golf ball that weighs three grams, or one-tenth of an ounce. Tyurin’s celestial golfing follows in the footsteps of U.S. astronaut Alan Shepard, who took two golf shots on the moon in 1971.

Rick Stedman is an avid RVer, golfer and writer who lives in Yakima, Washington. He can be reached at rick.stedman@charter.net