Six Strokes Under

A Golf Lover's Mystery #1

by Roberta Isleib

First in the Cassie Burdette Golf Lover's mystery series. Cassie battles her way through the sectional Qualifying School in pursuit of her life's dream--a position on the Ladies' Professional Golf Association Tour. Along the way, she stumbles across illegal equipment and repressed memories, and learns that competition can be murder.

Genres: Mystery, Cozy Mystery, Sports

272 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published June 1, 2002

About the author

New Jersey born clinical psychologist Roberta Isleib (who also writes as Lucy Burdette) took up writing mysteries to justify too much bad golf. Her Cassie Burdette series was nominated for an Agatha and two Anthony awards. Her new series debuted in March with DEADLY ADVICE, starring a psychologist/advice columnist. PREACHING TO THE CORPSE will follow in December. Roberta is the president of Sisters in Crime National.

Reviews

[Camilla Harry]

Struggled thru this book, but near the end I was more into it. I like her latest series under the Lucy Burdette pen name much better. That could be because there's a 10+ year difference as this was written much earlier; author's style has improved much. And I can't blame it on the setting. I do enjoy golfing myself, however I'm a complete hacker (failure)! And the latest series (Key West food critic series) is not near my style - I do not enjoy cooking. Probably wouldn't enjoy some of the strange dishes the main character tries in her food critic role either, but I do enjoy going out to eat. Guess I'm just not that adventurous.
Anyway, I did have the culprit pegged in this book (for a change). And if I come across any of the other books in this golf lovers series, I'll probably read them too. Looks like our county's libraries only have one of the authors Advice series books. So, ???? I'll probably check it out sometime to give it a try.

[Renee Collins]

Took me forever to find this book! It’s wonderful and well worth the search!

[Linda]

Never passed golf in high school, but I enjoyed this book. Cassandra is trying to make the cut at the Qualifying School for the LPGA Tour is almost stopped tying to get there. She discovered a body before she is scheduled to leave.

[Howard Brazee]

1st person protagonist is trying to qualify for the LPGA witnesses murders. The victims are a competitor who announced repressed memories of her father molesting her, and her psychiatrist.

[Allisin Bahr]

This was a fun and little cheesy read.
Some parts were unrealistic but we can look past that.

[Mary]

I would relate to this book whether I golfed, or not. Happens that I do. I savored every character, description, and storyline in Six Strokes Under.

As if Q School isn’t stressful enough, add a murder mystery in which you are a suspect. Hoping to create distance from a nightmare scenario of having witnessed the dying breaths of a local doctor and the disturbing police interrogation that followed, Cassandra Burdette heads to Sarasota with much trepidation. After all, golf is a game of concentration, and hers wasn’t that great under normal circumstances.

Being asked to watch after rising star golfer, Kaitlin Rupert, a former patient of the deceased psychiatrist, didn’t help Cassie’s chances of earning a spot on the LPGA tour. A local sheriff-wanna be added more distraction.

I thoroughly enjoyed the book, the writing, the acerbic wit, and self-deprecating humor of the protagonist. Under the most trying circumstances, Cassie keeps her eyes on the prize.

Highly recommended for those who love a good murder mystery.

[Kathryn]

Cassandra Burdette is a bit like me: she's slouching towards her late thirties, unfettered by gainful employment, and surrounded by cranky relatives (for me, two out of the three ain't bad). Cassie, however, is fortunate in that she has the opportunity of a lifetime practically handed to her - she's off to Q-School, where the future of women's golf meets to qualify for spots on the LPGA Tour.

This should be the most exciting time of her life. Instead, she is forced to play the game under suspicion of murder, as she happens to be the unfortunate soul who happens upon various dead bodies, on and off the course. No pressure there. That one of the dead was the favorite to win the Q-School tournament turns more heads toward the rest of the camp; who wouldn't kill to go pro?

I don't consider myself a golf nut, but I do dabble in the game (I'm lousy, but I dabble). Isleib appears to have the beginning of a fascinating series here; though lacking in the self-esteem department, Cassie is an endearing character, too weary with the world to make lemonade with the lemons handed her. Isleib's narration is crisp, and her knowledge of the game is evident in accurate descriptions of Cassie's environment. The actual mystery itself was somewhat simple to pick out for me, but I would not necessary say that this novel in under par (Or is that over par? I told you I'm lousy at the game.).

[Micky Cox]

It was entertaining enough, but it wasn't a favorite of mine. The story line was decent and well thought out, but the main character is bumbling drinker who fancies herself a future pro golfer. While the golf lingo was fine and fit the story well, this gal's game is unrealistic as a successful pro golfer. I had a hard time liking the main character as well as some of the other characters and some of the scenes or sequencing didn't ring true. I believe this is an older book of this author's so I would assume her writing improved as she matured as a writer. Her character development was decent and she has a good underlying story line so I'll not write her off. She was able to keep me entertained and I'll give her books another shot before making a final decision.

[Kristen]

This is another one of the Cassie Burnette series, the first one actually. Good insight on golf lingo wrapped up in the world of golf and a mystery.

[Mendy]

I'm not a golfer but I liked this one.

[J]

Cute book with deals about making it in the professional league.

[Donna]

Not bad - I will likely read another one in the series.

[Betsy Panayides]

This author is speaking at our library next month. Not too impressed with this book. Will try her other series.

[Pat]

Cute mystery about golf. About Q School for the LPGA Tour.

[Candace Davidson]

This book was really slow, I couldn't get past pg 80. It had some humor but it dragged on too long.

[Jack Heath]

Synopsis: Cassie Burdette used to be a golf caddy on tour, now she’s in LPGA Qualifying. When a psychiatrist is murdered, she's the suspect!