TAKE NOTE, LEE CHILD! CHECK THIS OUT, JOHN GRISHAM!

My husband — Mr. Wonderful — has been passionate about golf since he was a young boy caddying at the Webhannet Golf Club in Kennebunk, Maine. After pocketing $2 tips on those long-ago hot summer days, he and his buddies hoisted carry bags onto their shoulders, headed to the first tee, and played their hearts out until dark. 

In the years I’ve known him, there’s hardly been a day Mr. W. hasn’t swung a golf club — on the practice range at our club, in front of a Hampton Inn bathroom mirror, even on snowy afternoons here in our living room in Maine, somehow managing NOT to peel the paint off the ceiling as he finished his swing.

The man has aced 12 holes-in-one, shot his age countless times, won three club championships, including one for seniors, and even competed in the 1978 British Amateur Championship at Troon. His buddy Roger Peoples, who’s from Kentucky, frequently drawls, “Golf’s mah life.” Bob is more precise: “I’d play golf 365 days of the year, if I could.”

Several months ago as we were sipping our morning coffee, I assumed he was simply remembering a good round when he said, “I want to DRAW in golfers by using the right HOOK while giving them a SLICE of golf life when I sketch out my ROUGH draft.” Hmmm.

Over fireside cocktails that evening, he continued, “I want the spine to look good.” He was not referring to that thing in my back that has vertebra. He tossed around phrases like “revised interior” and “Beta reader” and “print formatting.” He told me he’d even bought a computerized program known as “Hemingway” which I quickly surmised had nothing to do with guitar playing. OMG, I realized: the man is starting another book.

PERFECT FAIRWAYS …. HIDDEN LIES by Robert Marier is a murder mystery involving golf. The plot opens with four beautiful young women being found dead in the same cities where golf events are being played. The FBI gets called in to solve the strange mystery and, in the process, the reader gets to vicariously visit some of the world’s greatest golf courses.

On a personal note, friends have asked me, the journalist and blogger, how I feel about my husband writing a book. “Are you jealous?” they ask.  Not at all, I answer.  Truly, I’m amazed that he comes up with plot ideas so quickly and then executes them. 

Okay … maybe a nuance of the green-eyed monster that he’s written TWO books. Perhaps a smidgen of envy that he’s now recognized as an Amazon author.  Oh for God’s sake, YES, because he’s having a book signing in Florida in January. Me? Jealous? In your Kindle dreams!

PERFECT FAIRWAYS …. HIDDEN LIES by Robert Marier is available on Amazon as a print book for $11.95, and as a Kindle book for $3.95. It’s a perfect Christmas gift for the golfer in your life.