Murder lurks in the ancient game of golf. After her husband was strangled, Mary Queen of Scots went out to play with Bothwell, her lover. Her enjoyment of the game in troubled times is not recorded in annals which say she lacked decent feeling. These days crime writers believe enjoyment in reading about crimes as vicious as murder engenders good feelings because right prevails as the good person wins. Hence in these difficult days, Cerina Nichamin, Lady Captain of Hankley Common Golf club, hopes the story OUTSIDE INFLUENCE by Lucy Abelson will also inspire generosity because it is being sold in aid of The Meath Epilepsy Charity. The talented Lady Captain designed the book’s cover.

With honesty and courtesy enshrined in the rules of the game, many golf clubs have been choosy about their members, hence the fictional Elmsleigh Park, where many worthy men and women belong, is such a club. Yet after a spate of thefts followed by a couple of sinister deaths, members wonder whether there is an Outside Influence amongst them.

Although both The Meath Epilepsy charity and Hankley Common Golf Club are based in Surrey, no club members need worry they are depicted in the story; it is set in next door Hampshire at an imaginary club, not unlike the beautiful Alresford pictured.

Whilst some publishers struggle to deliver books, Lucy and Cerina will take the book to friends keeping a safe distance with the ever versatile golf equipment. On walks, they will hold the book out to buyers held in the mouth of the golf ball grabber, used for retrieving balls from awkward places in rough grass or prickly gorse bushes. Their readers can then pluck Outside Influence from its jaws.