Murder in the Rough

By J.S. Borthwick

Book Overview

After weeks of relentless rain and fog, summer graces the Maine coast. Sarah Deane wants only to help her in-laws adjust to living in Ocean Tide, an "architect-designed home-town community," and enjoy the warm weather before she returns to teaching in the fall. She absolutely does not want to become embroiled in another murder investigation. Even when police find the body of an 18 year-old on Ocean Tide's golf course, Sarah vows not to let it sidetrack her from an agenda of rest and relaxation. But after a frightened boy causes her to discover a second murder victim, her curiosity-and protective impulses toward a child who may have seen too much-overpower her better judgment. Tiptoeing into territory better left to the authorities, Sarah unearths disturbing family ties and a lethal secret hidden just beneath Ocean Tide's veneer of squeaky clean community values...

• Format: Mass Market Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0312984537
• ISBN13: 9780312984533
• Release Date: August 2003
• Publisher: Minotaur Books
• Length: 352 Pages
• Weight: 0.40 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 6.4" x 6.8"

Customer Reviews

Light but pleasant mystery--good Maine atmosphere

Recently retired from college life, John and Elspeth McKenzie move to a planned community in Maine where they can be near their son Alex and daughter in law Sarah. Neither counts on Sarah's uncanny ability to turn up bodies and, in fact, Sarah doesn't actually find the first body. Soon, however, she is involved, especially when Elspeth's expensive new bicycle is stolen and vanishes from the gated and guarded community. More murders lead to police mystification and Sarah's increasingly desperate attempts to do something--anything--to come up with a solution. But not only are there no suspects--there aren't even any good motives. Both of the victims are habitual losers but, oddly enough, both are related to two of the families who have recently moved into the development. Author J. S. Borthwick writes convincingly of Maine life and weather, and presents murder with a light touch. John and Elspeth, in particular, are engaging characters, each with their own foibles, uncertain about their decision to leave their old life and take up this new and organized one. MURDER IN THE ROUGH is light fluff, but it is enjoyable reading.

Borthwick's Murder in the Rough

I have enjoyed all of Borthwick's books since I ran across the first one shortly after its publication. And this latest one is an enjoyable read as we follow Sarah's good and evil twin journey. HOWEVER, this has to be one of the most slovenly-edited books I've ever read. Not only are there typos which a spellchecker couldn't possibly get (vice for voice)so some human intervention is needed, but Uncle Fergus occasionally becomes Uncle Felix. Not what one expects from a respectable publishing house! I do hope enough people complain that they haul up their socks and get down to business!

enjoyable sports amateur sleuth

Dr. Sarah Deane is between assignments. She just completed a substitute teaching job at a Massachusetts girls' boarding school and has not yet started her English classes at Maine's Bowmouth College. Her mother-in-law Elspeth has invited Sarah to come to their Maine home for several family celebrations. However, instead of an idyllic respite, Sarah arrives in time for father-son homicides on the community golf course forcing the police to close the course as a crime scene. Sarah finds a third corpse that of her father-in-law's uncle and not long afterward observes a lad vanish. Sarah searches for the missing person only to be caught by the criminals. Unless she escapes, Sarah could become part of the greens. Though MURDER IN THE ROUGH is quite simplistic especially the way everything falls into place for Sarah, readers will enjoy this sports amateur sleuth tale. The story line engages the audience as the eccentric cast makes for a fine coastal Maine tale similar to the Murder She Wrote crowd. Sarah is a likable individual and her inquiries are fun to follow. J.S. Borthwick avoids sand traps and the rough while shooting par.Harriet Klausner