LOCAL KNOWLEDGE

Years ago, Kieran Lenahan forsook the halls of justice for the fairways of the Milton Country Club, but he goes back into legal action when club co-owner Sylvester Miles is found sunk in a water hazard, and Pete O'Meara, the budding delinquent Kieran installed in the pro shop, is arrested for his murder. In short order, the set of Blitzklubs (Nazi issue, 1945, liberated by Miles and a few buddies) from the sizable estate are stolen from the pro shop; Miles's brother Jack, a WW II historian, insists his brother's tales of wartime glory are hokum, then is murdered himself; and rumors fly that the other club, the one Kieran works at, is all but sold to a Japanese combine. Though this debut has its share of bumps and lumps, Kieran ends up not only solving a knotty case but playing a few memorable holes of golf.