Mixed Foursome: The Zach Roper Mysteries (Paperback) (ISBN-13: 9781479357086)

As a young man Zach Roper dreamed of becoming a professional golfer and he might have had the talent to make the grade, but an early marriage and children sent him in a different direction. He became a cop, pounding a beat at first, then graduating to detective work. He was a damned good detective and took pride in his work. Then came a well-earned retirement and, at age 50, he decided to take a whack at making the PGA's Championship Tour. There was nothing to hold him now, divorced, children grown, nothing to keep him from focusing on his golf game...nothing except murder, sexual stalking, embezzlement, fraud, international intrigue, and some other general nastiness. He can hardly find his way to the green without stumbling over a body. Who knew the genteel world of the Country Club set could be so dangerous? He could keep his mouth shut. Nobody knows of his police background. They think he's just another pro wannabe with marginal skills and grand delusions. The very thing he fears that he might be, but these new cases draw him in despite the damage they might do to his pro prospects. In "Murder in the Deep Rough" Zach finds himself one tournament away from failure after a run of missed cuts, when the body of the owner of the Iron Ridge Country Club is found nestled deep in the pines next to his golf bag. Zach tries to sidestep the case, but has to 'put his oar in' when a dimwitted local Sheriff is ready to call it 'natural causes' dispite abundant evidence to the contrary. Can Zach hang onto his pro card and solve a murder mystery at the same time? In "Murder on the 19th Hole" Zach gets some time on the driving range and practice green before he has to solve any crimes. The tournament, however, goes poorly as a five-foot-two-inch Thai "Princess" whips his ass in what is billed as "The Battle of the Sexes". A former LPGA pro returned to the States in search of a fat payday, she cleans Zach's clock on the links and then rings his chimes in bed. She's got him trading his golf books for sex manuals when the crime...murder again...finally occurs just as the tournament is ending. Then she becomes his sidekick, bringing a distinctly raunchy feminine eye to the case, an eye that is much needed as the victim is female, and so, perhaps, is the murderer. Roper and the Princess have to go all the way to a remote island off the coast of Sweden to find out whodunnit. "Murder Takes a Mulligan" finds Zach and the Princess on her home turf in Thailand for another round of golf's "The Battle of the Sexes" at a demanding course on Phuket Island. By now he has found out what a marvelous lover she is, and how far she is from being a real Thai Princess. He's about to find out that her crime solving skills go several levels beyond what he has already come to appreciate. The Princess has found him up to her demanding standards in the sack, and a lot tougher mentally than she had imagined. Passionate in both love and in his pursuit of the truth. Together they dive feet first into the murky world of political intrigue that is Thai politics to solve a case that starts with an assassination attempt and goes downhill from there. "Murder Goes for the Green" finds our oversexed duo trying to hustle some bucks from the filthy rich at a "Fiesta" of golf in the Arizona desert. They cash in handsomely by sandbagging and outdrinking their affluent opponents until a body turns up in a sand trap. A new case? But this one has a twist. The body is the would-be murderer, not the intended vicitim, and the victim has disappeared. Nobody knows where he is. Nobody is even sure who he is. Not a whodunnit this time, a whydunnit. There will be more golf, more sex, more murder mysteries to solve for Zach and the Princess in the future. You can count on it.

Author: M. H. Burton
ISBN-10: 1479357081
ISBN-13: 9781479357086
Publisher: Createspace Independent Publishing Platform
Language: English
Published: 09/30/2012
Pages: 246
Format: Paperback
Weight: 0.74lbs
Size: 9.02h x 5.98w x 0.52d

Review Citation(s):
Kirkus Reviews 12/15/2012