Teed Off (Commonwealth Publications, 402 pages, $7.99 paper), by Nicola Furlong, focuses on Riley Quinn, aged thirty-three, a former LPGA star whose career ended abruptly because of a car accident injury-an accident for which she blames her sister Halliday, a famous golf celebrity whose career has surpassed Riley's. Riley now gives golf lessons and runs the pro shop at the swank Sea Blush Golf Club owned by her wealthy brother-in-law Pitts Windermere. In addition, she moonlights-unbelievable as this might seem-as a part-time coroner with the province of British Columbia.

Furlong wastes no time hooking the reader: Pitts is receiving threats from an environmental group, a Japanese consortium is putting on pressure to buy the club (at which a major golf tournament is about to start), Halliday has left Pitts, and Pitts is drinking far too much as a result. When he's found dead, havoc ensues. Riley, who doesn't "take crap from anybody," suspects foul play and is determined to prove it.

It is to Furlong's credit that she keeps the reader guessing almost to the end, and those interested in golf will probably enjoy the golf jargon and long, descriptive golf passages. However, others might find the excessive attention to golf details tedious and unnecessary.