title: Murder in the Rough: Original Tales of Bad Shots, Terrible Lies, and Other Deadly Handicaps from Today's Great Writers
author:  Otto Penzler 
description: Too often authors of crime stories rely on bodies buried in bunkers (there's not enough sand) or on wily caddies exposing the pomposities of country-club fat cats (way too easy). Penzler, who has made a cottage industry out of sports-themed mystery anthologies, doesn't totally avoid these hazards, but the original stories he has commissioned for this volume have one big thing going for them: the writers are all top drawer, from Ian Rankin and Ken Bruen, on the hard-boiled side, to Jonathan Gash and William G. Tapply, on the more relaxed, over-easy side. But these stories all have an edge, often using our stereotypical images of golf to help create it. Bruen does it best, in a story that begins, "I hate fuckin' golf," and then proceeds to explain why. Lawrence Block isn't far behind, in "Welcome to the Real World," in which a retired executive, happy to hit balls at Chelsea Piers Driving Range in Manhattan, is forced onto a real course. For golf and crime fans, Penzler's exhaustive bibliography of golf mysteries is almost as much of a treat as the stories. <i>Bill Ott</i><br /><i>Copyright  American Library Association. All rights reserved</i>
zlib_text: > > > TIME TO DIE
  
  > > > A GRIPPING SERIAL KILLER THRILLER - WITH A TWIST
  
  > > > CAROLINE MITCHELL
  
  > > > ![](Images/image00170.jpeg)
  
  > > _This book is dedicated to my father Niall Mitchell,_
  
   _who taught me the value of hard work and determination._
  
  > > > > CHAPTER ONE
  
   **Bert**
  
  * * *
  
  ‘ _Please don’t hurt me._ ’ Mother’s voice rang in his ears as Bert drove
  through the inky rain-drenched streets. The wipers of the rusty orange van
  whipped back and forth like a metronome, conducting his thoughts into a
  symphony of torment.
  
  ‘ _Please Bertram don’t …_ ’
  
  Bert turned up the radio to drown out the memory. It blended in a mind crowded
  with dark thoughts, surfacing as the maddening itch that threatened the
  remains of his sanity. He swore as the Volkswagen hit a pothole and jolted him
  in his seat. The moonless sky did little to ease his journey, and he peered
  through the rain-streaked windscreen at the road sign ahead. _Haven_. Bert
  bared his teeth in a sharp smile. It was almost bibli