Review
A second appearance for attractive, divorced Angus Straun (Dead Ball, 1989) - police inspector, writer of historical novels, and wizard golfer. Here, a chance meeting at an auction of ancient armor and golfiana renews his acquaintance with Charles MacLiven - and brings an invitation to join a pro-celebrity golf weekend on the tiny Scottish island of Sarne, where MacLiven has turned his ancestral castle into a post hotel. Trouble starts on Straun's journey to the island when - an hour from his destination - he's pushed off the train by a fellow passenger - a seeming non-event producing nary a ripple from anyone aboard, including his solicitous porter. The last leg of his trip is a hitched boat ride with the menacing Donovan twins, divers looking for an old Armada wreck, the Santa Marina. Then, once at the castle, Straun finds MacLiven playing host in full Scots regalia but with guests dying all around - Piet Werner, a castle-collecting South African found at the bottom of the castle's oubliette (a deep basement well once used as a prison); West German golf pro Luther Koch - fallen from a cliff. Only Straun's quick intervention prevents a third fatality. Meanwhile, MacLiven, his reporter-fiancee Kirstie Stewart, and housekeeper Ailsa McCrae keep things going, with nuisances like disappearing newspapers and a nonworking TV adding to the difficulties. Straun's probing eventually produces a kind of rationale behind the mayhem - going back to WW II, MacLiven's true roots, and the real objective of the Donovan boys. There are aging hippies, a local guru, and echoes of the IRA to complicate a plot already near chaos. A zingy, tension-filled windup and the author's chatty, unhackneyed first-person narrative style hold the reader through too many unresolved complexities. Flawed but fun. (Kirkus Reviews)
Product Description
Invited to participate in a Pro-Am tournament at a Hebridean castle-hotel, golfing Inspector Angus Straun discovers mystery and murder past, present and future - the destined future victim being himself. The author has also written "Dead Ball".
