New Mexico has more than its share of unique and well-publicized
attributes, but the one they prefer to play down is the fact that they
lead the United States in lightning deaths per capita. Thus, the
Cottonwood Creek Country Club of Los Alamos, which is hosting the High
Desert Women's Classic golf tournament, takes elaborate measures to
ensure that the numbers don't go up during the high-profile tournament.
Nevertheless, disaster strikes. On the very first morning, Ted Guthrie,
the chairman of the club's board of directors, is killed when a bolt of
lightning strikes the umbrella he is holding aloft at the second tee; a
shocking, once-in-a-million accident. Or is it? Guthrie just happens to
be the most reviled man in town, and for all the best reasons, so that
his death is received more with relief than in sorrow, although most
would say they would have preferred a less sensational exit.
Struggling golfer Lee Ofsted, knocked out of the tournament by an elbow
injury and now scrambling to meet her expenses by providing color
commentary for the TV coverage, finds herself beginning to wonder--with
good reason--just how accidental Guthrie's death was. She takes her
fears to the police, but they are understandably unimpressed. How, they
ask, do you arrange someone's death via lightning bolt? No, this was
simply an unfortunate accident, nothing more. They advise Lee to stick
to her job and leave them to theirs. But her suspicions of foul play are
heightened when her friend Boyd Marriner, the TV producer, promptly
falls dead on consuming a takeout meal of chiles rellenos and black
beans.
Fortunately, her new love interest, Carmel police lieutenant Graham
Sheldon, shows up unannounced. Despite his better judgment he is pulled
into her hunt for the cunning killer that lurks behind the scenes.
Before they are through, the two of them will come frighteningly close
to being one more "unfortunate accident" statistic. Like its
predecessor, A Wicked Slice, Rotten Lies is set against a backdrop
of high-society country-clubbers, low-society golfers, and the travails
of earning a living on the professional golf tour.
