Book description
The body of the Masters rules committee chairman is found in the middle
of the 10th fairway on the morning that Sam Skarda arrives at Augusta
National Golf Club to play in his first Masters. Skarda, a 33-year-old
police detective on medical leave from the Minneapolis police
department, is an accomplished amateur golfer who won the U. S. Publinx
and an invitation to play in the Masters while rehabbing a shooting
injury suffered on the job. Evidence left at the crime scene suggests
the murder might have been tied to the ongoing protest by a women's
group that has been demanding that the club admit women members. Then a
crusading New York Times columnist is murdered on the grounds of the
club two days later. Local police suspect the murders might have been
committed by a member and begin pressuring the new Augusta National
president for access to the club's membership information. The club
chairman asks Skarda for help finding the killer before the police
thoroughly invade Augusta National's legendary privacy. Skarda looks for
answers from members, veteran journalists, longtime caddies and
ex-employees who may know why someone is determined to bring this year's
Masters to a halt. He also falls for Caroline Rockingham, the soon-to-be
ex-wife of one of the pre-tournament favorites, a former college golf
teammate of Skarda's. Sam and Caroline themselves become targets as the
murders continue and pressure to cancel the tournament builds.
Meanwhile, the killer methodically prepares for a spectacular and deadly
Sunday climax. Rick Shefchik was born in Duluth, Minn., in 1952 (in
the same hospital as Bob Dylan, 11 years later.) He graduated from
Duluth East High School in 1970 and attended Dartmouth College in
Hanover, N. H., where he received a B. A. in English/Creative Writing.
After working in public relations and as a full-time musician, he began
his journalism career at the Duluth News Tribune in 1978. He moved to
the St. Paul Pioneer Press in 1980 as a television critic, and became a
feature writer and columnist in the 1990s, writing a weekly syndicated
parenting column for the Knight Ridder Newswire. He lives in Stillwater,
Minn., with his wife and two children.
