An amateur sleuth in her late 60s who’s bored with her staid life continues to look for trouble.
May Bell List’s latest destination is Moody Lake, where a body has been hooked by a fisherman. Her favorite policeman, Mike Murphy, is on the scene, although he’s less than thrilled to see her. She recognizes the body as that of avid golfer Moira Finch. Perhaps it’s fitting that the murder weapon appears to be a sawed-off golf club. Convinced that going undercover at the Northside Country Club is the best way to ferret out clues, May (A Wrinkle in Crime, 2007, etc.) pretends to have financial problems. Soon she’s hired by kindly grounds supervisor Jeff Gullikson as part of the crew. Back at the campgrounds where Moira was fished from the water, a thief has been at work and the campers are furious. Meanwhile, May is busy finding another body in the country-club pond. This second victim is the club manager, also killed by a golf club reworked as a garden tool. Moira was wealthy and left a great deal of money to the country club. Is that the motive for her murder? Or could it have something to do with her secret career as an author? May gets help from her zany grounds-crew friends as she takes some dangerous chances in her search for the guilty party.
A mildly amusing tale that telegraphs its killer’s identity too early on.
