Synopses & Reviews
The follow-up to the critically acclaimed A Tight Lie---a darkly funny, fast-talking mystery with a dash of sports and no shortage of action
Golf is a game of consistency, and after too many missed fairways, missed putts, and missed cuts, Huck Doyles career as a Tour pro is on life support. The sometime private eye has lost his full-time PGA player status and is back to scraping it out on minor tournaments. So its only by the generosity of the father of an old law-school pal, Rick Wong, that Huck finds himself in paradise with a rare sponsors exemption, gearing up to play in the Sony Open in Hawaii. But when his benefactor keels over dead from a gunshot during a practice round, Huck is obligated to find out who killed the millionaire banker and pillar of the community. Is it the young wife? A competitor trying to stop a secret bank merger? Or was it an assassination ordered from some distant shores?
With his brother undergoing an experimental spinal-cord treatment and his relationship with a beautiful medical examiner showing some strain, Huck has more than enough on his mind as he tees off in a career-changing match. As the investigation carries him into the murky waters of international finance, computer encryptions, and the dark side of paradise, Huck finds himself playing the game of his life, on and off the golf course.
In the footsteps of Tim Green and Mike Lupica, Don Dahler has once again written a riveting mystery that brings the world of sports into crime fiction. Water Hazard will satisfy thriller readers and golf fanatics alike.
Review
Advance Praise for Water Hazard
"Dahler has done it again. PGA tour pro and danger-magnet sleuth, Huck Doyle, once again finds trouble at every turn, both on the golf course and off. This mystery is more captivating than each new hole of a sudden death playoff."
---Michael Balkind, author of Sudden Death, and Dead Ball
“If you like mystery, action, golf or Hawaii (that includes just about everyone, doesnt it?) youll enjoy Water Hazard. Don Dahler hits it long, straight and suspenseful.”
---Mary Jane Clark, author of Dying for Mercy
Praise for A Tight Lie
“A terrific hard-boiled LA story---with a bonus peek into the world of pro sports.”
---Lee Child, New York Times bestselling author of Nothing to Lose
“An absolute thriller! Once I started reading it, I could not and did not put it down!”
---Bill Evans, author of Category 7
“Many will enjoy the company of the garrulous Huck with his passion for golf and eye for the telling social or cultural detail.”
---Publishers Weekly
“A Tight Lie isnt some mystery about golf. Its a sharp, funny, well-crafted thriller about a private investigator who just happens to make pretty good with the sticks. In L.A. talk: Think Chinatown meets Tin Cup. Dahler had me hooked with his in depth meditations on sports psychology, Pamela Andersons breasts, and fine Scotch. Pour yourself a single malt, kick back, and enjoy this notable debut.”
---Ace Atkins, author of White Shadow and Wicked City
“The action, which moves as briskly as the beverage cart on a July day, careers from mansions to freeways to strip clubs. But theres also plenty of time on the links. . . . Its realistic---remarkably so.”
---Golf.com
“Dahler manages to weave golf into a dark tale of Los Angeles vice and crime…. Best of all, we find out exactly what the hardest stroke in all of golf really is—and the answer will bring a murderer down.”
---Mystery Scene
“A promising debut whose hero, tough and literate as Spenser and cool as Freddie Couples, will appeal to golfers and hard-boiled fans alike.”
---Kirkus Reviews
“A cant-put-it-down thriller filled with many twists and turns. The game of golf has its own set of highs and lows---but never like this! Wow---get ready for the wildest ride of your life!” ---Jim Nantz, CBS Sports
About the Author
Don Dahler is a news anchor for WCBS-TV News in New York. In 2001 he was the first network correspondent to report live from the scene of the World Trade Center during the attacks of September 11. As a correspondent for ABC News during the war against the Taliban in Afghanistan, Dahler covered the triumphs and travails of the mujahedeen of the Northern Alliance. He was an embedded war correspondent during the Iraq War, filming and reporting on dozens of combat missions with army and marine units. Dahler lives with his wife and two children in the New York City area, where he also frequently plays golf. Water Hazard is his second novel.