Water Hazard

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 Doyle’s 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 it’s only by the generosity of the father of an old law-school pal, Rick Wong, that Huck finds himself in paradise with a rare sponsor’s 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.

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 Doyle’s 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 it’s only by the generosity of the father of an old law-school pal, Rick Wong, that Huck finds himself in paradise with a rare sponsor’s 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.

Publishers Weekly

Readers should be prepared for lengthy golf descriptions in Dahler’s slightly better follow-up to 2009’s A Tight Lie, which introduced pro golfer Huck Doyle, a nonpracticing lawyer who works as a PI in Los Angeles. Sing Ten Wong, the wealthy banker father of Rick, an old law school buddy of Huck’s, has secured him a place in the Sony Open in Hawaii, an opportunity for the struggling Huck to regain his lost status on the PGA Tour. Before the start of the tournament, during a practice round at Waialae Country Club, someone shoots the senior Wong in the back, apparently with a high-powered rifle, from the direction of the ocean. Rick asks his friend to investigate, suspecting that the killing may be connected with a huge bank merger his father was working on. Huck’s digging soon triggers a hostile response from some bad guys, who ransack his hotel room and attempt to warn him off. The solution may disappoint mystery fans. (Mar.)

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.