Intrigue at Every Swing: Elkins’ Nasty Breaks

P.D. Workman
3 min readSep 3, 2024

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Nasty Breaks is the first book that I have read in the Lee Ofsted Mysteries series by writing team Charlotte and Aaron Elkins. No problem reading it as a stand alone mystery; the plot and character dynamics were easy to grasp, allowing me to dive right into the story without any prior knowledge.

In this installment, Lee Ofsted unexpectedly finds herself entangled in a kidnapping and murder mystery while conducting a golf class on Block Island. Does she shy away from investigating it? I’ll give you a hint — not a chance. Boyfriend Graham Sheldon, a former cop, is there to help her out and give a few ideas from the law enforcement perspective, but he’s not there when Lee figures it all out.

What starts as a seemingly relaxing “working vacation” for Lee quickly turns into anything but a break!

…it was a pleasure, for a change, not to be fretting about some tournament she was on her way to. All she had to do for the next five days was give a few short-game lessons, do a little friendly coaching and collect her $5,000.

Charlotte and Aaron Elkins, Nasty Breaks

SUMMARY

Nothing proves that golf is a killer of a game better than the Lee Ofsted mystery series. With a feisty sleuth who is a pro in the Women’s Professional League, authors Charlotte and Aaron Elkin give an authentic insider’s view of the sport while they break par with witty humor, clever plots, and top-rated suspense.

The golf course on bucolic Block Island has only nine holes, its fairways are swaths of meadow open to gusty sea breezes, and the “greens” are just compacted sand. Surprisingly, Lee Ofsted, there to teach golf to the executives of a local salvage company, doesn’t mind. The setting is lovely, the rustic inn at which she is staying is charming, and the pay–$1,000 a day–will go a long way toward covering her expenses during her third year on the pro tour. but will it be compensation enough for solving a murder?

After a bizarre, botched kidnapping of his sexy wife, the owner of the salvage company turns up dead on the beach. Lee can’t resist doing a little nosing around, and soon discovers that nearly every manager at the company has a motive for murder. Plunging into the case, she asks her boyfriend, Graham Sheldon, a former California cop, for his expert help. Before long, the two of them are involved in a tale of greed and ruthless ambition that stretches back in time almost two hundred years, to the sunken treasure ship Good Hope, which went down in these very waters.

As the pieces of the puzzle come together, Lee has to size up her competition–just as she would in a golf match. Only this time clutching under pressure could be fatal. For Lee Ofsted knows too much for the killer to let her live….

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P.D. Workman
P.D. Workman

Written by P.D. Workman

Writing riveting mystery, suspense, and young adult fiction about real life issues.

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