"For a male author to create a believable female protagonist can be tricky, but K.J. Egan accomplishes the feat with finesse. ... He accurately portrays the worlds of golf and crime. "Where It Lies" is skillfully played."

 -- Jay Strafford, Richmond Times-Dispatch (blog)

"Jenny Chase is a strong heroine for whom readers' affections grow as she careens through life."

-- Peter Bassano, White Plains Times

Local Knowledge

After sinking the winning putt in the Metropolitan Golf Championship, golf pro Kieran Lenahan learns that Sylvester Miles, the owner of the country club where Kieran works, has been found dead in a water hazard. The police quickly focus on Kieran’s shop assistant, an ex-juvenile delinquent that Kieran has taken under his wing. As if that isn’t enough, Kieran finds himself entangled in Miles’ peculiar will, which designates Kieran to auction off a rare set of golf clubs and give the proceeds to Miles’ sexy young widow. Kieran isn’t sure which is more trouble – the beautiful Blitzklubs or the beautiful widow. When two more bodies turn up, and the Blitzklubs vanish, Kieran needs to scramble – not just for his golf career but for his very life – in a case that stretches from post-war Germany to the modern Japanese mob. 

“The pseudonymous Daly, a practicing attorney, scores a birdie with this spirited first mystery, set in the world of pro-am golf. Even non-golfers will delight in Lenahan's love of the game and the fairway world.”
– Publishers Weekly

“Like all good mysteries, Local Knowledge is full of colorful characters with motive and opportunity. ... Daly is superb at pacing and building suspense.”
– The New York Law Journal 

“Local Knowledge is a punchy page-turner chock-full of colorful characters and snappy language.”
– Golf Magazine 


“A fast-paced mystery.”
– The New York Times

Buried Lies

When Kieran Lenahan quit practicing law to become a professional golfer, he aimed to play on the PGA Tour someday. Six years later, his attempts have become legend, but he still hasn’t given up. Finally, he has managed to qualify for the PGA Championship, which is being played at the renowned Winged Foot Country Club. Then Kieran’s life takes a dreadful turn. First, a sudden fire destroys Kieran’s pro shop. A fireman is killed, and the fire marshal rules it is arson. Then Kieran’s caddie falls in front of a commuter train. Deirdre O’Meara, Kieran’s ex-girlfriend, insists the caddie was pushed. But who would kill a caddie? And is there a connection between the caddie’s death and the fire? Somewhere along the manicured fairways, saltwater inlets, and neatly trimmed greens, some of the most exclusive country clubs on the East Coast lies the shocking truth about the bad side of the good life. To prove his pro status on – and off – the green, Kieran needs to be better than good and more than lucky. He needs to stay alive.


“Despite attempts by a variety of crime writers, no one has been able to produce a convincing mystery series set in the world of golf. After all, bodies just can't keep turning up in sand traps indefinitely. Now in its second installment, Daly's Kieran Lenahan novels just may break the pattern. ... Daly mixes a believable plot involving illegal aliens (the caddies at Lenahan's club) with the on-course drama of a club pro qualifying for the PGA. The fact that Lenahan is a former lawyer lends credibility to his sleuthing and allows the two plot lines to coexist peacefully. Of equal importance, the golf scenes ring true and are vividly described.”
– Booklist

“A quirky and amusing page-turner”

– The New York Law Journal

“Good golf scenes and a believable mystery make this second Kieran Lenahan novel the best golfing mystery on the market – and a sure bet for fans of the game and the genre.”
– Booklist

Outside Agency

After seven years' exile, Kieran Lenahan is back on the PGA Tour--or he would be if somebody hadn't bashed his head at a Gainesville apartment complex. In a sense, Kieran's a lucky guy: He came out of his adventure a lot fitter than Cindy Moran, who was found lying next to him but never woke up. But his good luck isn't enough to save him from the baying tournament staff, who disqualify him from the current event, Orlando's Bay Hill Classic, and announce their willingness to bounce him from the Tour on account of his questionable, possibly immoral, behavior. And Kieran's got no defense, because he can't remember what he was doing in Cindy Moran's apartment; he can't even remember how he traveled the hundred miles from the 17th tee at Bay Hill to the Camelot Apartments. Though he's solved mysteries before, Kieran's never had a more urgent reason for tackling a case--so he uses the time he would have spent at Bay Hill tracking down accusations of beta-blocker use, unmasking a blackmail plot, and unearthing a 20-year-old scandal. Now if only he could just find out Cindy Moran's real name, and remember just what he was doing when she got killed. . . . [from Kirkus Reviews]


“Conscientiously plotted, with a well-concealed killer. Golfing wannabes will be happy to see that Daly paints the PGA Tour as an endless round of backbiting, name-calling, and endorsement-chasing, with hardly a moment for a quiet 18 holes.”
– Kirkus Reviews

“A nicely evolving plot, smoothly told; of special interest to sports fans.”
– Library Journal

“If mystery fiction has taught us anything, it's that, to paraphrase Michael Corleone, you can stage a murder anywhere--even in the notoriously antiseptic world of professional golf. This third Kieran Lenahan adventure finds the former lawyer now touring pro with a nasty bump on his head and a case of amnesia: he can't remember a thing about the dead woman found on the floor beside him. No, this isn't Mike Hammer, it's the Players Championship, and the PGA bureaucrats don't like their charges involved in murder cases. With the help of his no-nonsense caddy Meg, Kieran attempts to figure out what happened before he loses his spot on the tour. Although there isn't much actual golf played here, fans will enjoy the view of corporate chicanery within the PGA Tour's infrastructure. Daly pretty much sticks to formula in this series, but he does so competently and efficiently.”
– Booklist

 --John R. Corrigan, author of the Jack Austin PGA Tour mystery series.