Reviews of Deadly Currents
“A rafting trip down the Arkansas River gives a young Colorado river ranger a lesson in murder.
Mandy Tanner learned plenty about Pine Creek, the Numbers and Wildhorse Canyon when she worked as a guide for her Uncle Bill’s adventure tours. Now she’s using her skills to protect paddlers from the dangers of whitewater. Even an experienced guide like Gonzo Gordon wipes out every now and then, and when he flips his raft in a class V, Mandy handily plucks Hannah Fowler from the rapids. Tom King isn’t so lucky; when Mandy hauls him ashore from her cataraft, his pulse is thready. After the land developer dies on the way to the hospital, his widow Paula threatens to sue Mandy’s uncle. By the time the coroner decides that King was poisoned, not drowned, Bill Tanner is dead too. And although Mandy knows that poor diet and lack of exercise were as responsible for her uncle’s heart attack as the stress of getting blamed for Tom King’s death, she still wants to find the culprit. Not her brother David’s eagerness to sell the business and get back to his accounting practice, not her boyfriend Rob Juarez’s overprotective concern, not Chafee County Sheriff's Detective Quintana’s pleas, not even the rock through her window warning her off can stop the young ranger’s need to find the truth about how Tom King died on her watch.
Groundwater (To Hell in a Handbasket, 2009, etc.) kicks off a new series that combines outdoor action with more than a modicum of old-fashioned detection.”
-- Kirkus Reviews, January 15, 2011
Groundwater (A Real Basket Case, 2007) launches a new, action-packed series featuring white-water guide Mandy Tanner. Mandy, a river ranger at her uncle’s white-water rafting business, pulls a man from the river as part of her first day on the job. The man dies, but he did not drown. The victim, Tom King, was a real-estate developer with lots of nasty rivals. He also cheated on his wife and refused to support his son, an avid kayaker. He managed to make many environmentalists very unhappy, too. When Mandy’s uncle dies suddenly, she suspects something more than a heart attack and wonders whether the two deaths are related. Her independent investigation leads her through some very rough water. Readers who enjoy fast-moving stories and wilderness environments will keep turning the pages of this promising series debut.
-- Barbara Bibel, Booklist Online, January 24, 2011
“This enjoyable first in a new cozy series from Groundwater (To Hell in a Handbasket) introduces Mandy Tanner, ‘a brand new seasonal river ranger’ on Colorado's Arkansas River.”
-- Publisher's Weekly, January 10, 2011
“With a fresh locale and a spunky ... heroine, this is a promising new series by the author of the gift-basket designer Claire Hanover mysteries (A Real Basket Case).”
-- Library Journal, March 1, 2011
“Groundwater’s novel is filled with river lore, vivid descriptions, and loving depictions of the varied characters who make up the tight-knit community.”
-- Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine, June, 2011
“The amiable cast, along with Groundwater's fascinating firsthand knowledge of rafting, makes this a series worth watching.”
-- Mystery Scene Magazine, Spring, 2011
“The Mild to Wild staff has discovered a great new book release called Deadly Currents. Combining murder mystery and the adventure of whitewater rafting in Colorado, we found this book to be a great read in the comforts of our beds, sitting around the campfire, or in on a cot and under the stars!”
(for full review, go to Mild to Wild, A Guide’s Life Blog)
-- Mild to Wild staff, April 18, 2011
“There’s lots of suspects, plenty of excitement, and even some time for romance. Groundwater knows her business and has made this not only exciting but also realistic.”
(for full review, go to Mysterical-E)
-- Mysterical-E, Summer, 2011
“Beauty abounds in Beth Groundwater's new novel. Beauty in the marvelous Colorado landscape, beauty in the symmetry of the story, and beauty in the language itself. Deadly Currents is a remarkable book by an author who clearly knows and loves her territory. Don't miss it!”
-- William Kent Krueger, author of the Cork O'Connor series
“If you've wondered what white water river rafting is all about, get ready for a wild plunge into Colorado's Arkansas River with Mandy Tanner, river ranger extraordinaire and dauntless sleuth. Beth Groundwater gets the mountain town of Salida and its cast of river denizens just right. Hurray for Deadly Currents, a heart-racing debut to a new series with as many twists and turns and unexpected upsets as a ride through the rapids itself.”
-- Margaret Coel, author of The Silent Spirit
“An exciting ride from the very first chapter, with a courageous heroine in a fascinating line of work.”
-- Nancy Pickard, author of The Scent of Rain and Lightning
“Beth Groundwater's Deadly Currents comes rushing at you from the first page like roiling whitewater, and culminates in a riveting climax that lives up to this book's name. If you like outdoor adventure and gripping characters, this one's a must-read.”
-- Sandi Ault, Mary Higgins Clark and WILLA Award Winning Author of the Wild Mystery Series, including Wild Indigo, Wild Inferno, Wild Sorrow and Wild Penance
“This was a wave-smashing soak-yourself-to-the-bone ride and I’m looking forward to the next adventure in this energizing series.”
(for full review, go to Dru’s Book Musings)
-- Dru Ann Love, Dru’s Book Musings, March 17, 2011
“White water rafting anyone? The novel itself moves like a category five: raging, foaming, and churning all the way to the end. Hold on to the covers of this novel, the pages turn quickly, as racing through this whodunit is not an option. …”
(For full review go to Gelati’s Scoop)
-- Giovanni Gelati, Gelati’s Scoop, March 1, 2011
“Those who enjoy environmental mysteries – Sandi Ault’s Jamaica Wild series, Nevada Barr’s Anna Pigeon series, C.J. Box’s Joe Picket series, Jessica Speart’s Rachel Porter series or Randy Wayne White’s Doc Ford series, to name just a few – will welcome this new addition to their ranks.”
(For full review go to Mystery Series Examiner)
-- Carol Thomas, Mystery Series Examiner, February 20, 2011
“The scenery around Salida and descriptions of all the activities based on the nearby Arkansas River make for an interesting and exciting read. Beth Groundwater has introduced a number of interesting characters in Deadly Currents. I hope to meet some of these same characters in future additions to this series.”
(For full review go to Bestsellersworld)
-- Patricia Reid, Bestsellersworld, February 28, 2011
“Deadly Currents is one of those mysteries that leaves the readers thirsty for more. The writing is simple but superb, the characters come alive--rising from the pages because of their realistic depictions and dialogue.”
(For full review go to Miami Books Examiner)
-- Rosa St. Claire, Miami Books Examiner, March 5, 2011
“In Deadly Currents you will be taken through the rapids just as fast and just as deadly as the river itself. She will also give you one last Class IV ride at the very end as she reveals the true killer. Reading Deadly Currents has made me feel as though I’ve actually ridden the river myself.”
(for full review, go to A Book and A Dish)
-- Martha Cheves, A Book and A Dish, March 16, 2011
“This was an interesting read as the author knows her subject backward and forward. There are many twists and turns in the story... Getting to the end of the book is like riding the whitewater, many ups and downs.”
(for full review, go to Once Upon a Romance)
-- Mary Lignor, Once Upon a Romance, March, 2011
“Groundwater launches this first entry in her new mystery series the way a starter's gun begins a kayak race and the action carries the reader along until, all too quickly, the final page is reached.”
(for full review, go to ALMs and Entertainments)
-- ALMs and Entertainments, March 20, 2011
Beth Groundwater has left wicker for water in Deadly Currents. Her new series features a river ranger (and former guide), Mandy Tanner of Salida, Colorado as she helps to make the Arkansas River safe for tourists and casual and more ardent adventurers who love (or just want to try) whitewater rafting. Mandy tries to save two people that go overboard. She, with the help of the young woman rescued, pick up the second man overboard, but it is too late. When it turns out to have been murder, it still hurts her beloved uncle's rafting business. She is determined to find out who killed the murdered man. He had many enemies. As he was a real estate developer who was ruthless enough to make business enemies, but also has made enemies of the environmentalists who see his plans as a very beg threat to their beloved river, which also offers jobs and recreation and beauty to the local population and draws in the tourists. Fast-moving and exciting, Deadly Currents is a most enjoyable mystery with a strong heroine of whom I wish to see more. From the blurb on the back of the book, I had no trouble seeing Beth as a "river rat" and find these adventures more entertaining than gift baskets.<g> Get on board for this series.
-- Doris Ann Norris, the 2000-year-old librarian
“In the acknowledgments section at the start of DEADLY CURRENTS, her new mystery, Beth Groundwater thanks her agent and her publisher for working so hard to launch a new series in these challenging economic times.
After reading the novel, though, I’m not surprised that they made the effort. DEADLY CURRENTS is great. Here’s how. …”
(for full review, go to Juliet Kincaid’s Fiction Addict blog)
-- Juliet Kincaid, Fiction Addict, August 4, 2011
“The debut novel in the Rocky Mountain Outdoor Adventure mystery series by Groundwater takes you on a ride fraught with danger at every bend.”
(for full review, go to Buried Under Books)
– Stephen L. Brayton, Buried Under Books, September 2011
“Deadly Currents by Beth Groundwater
Running the Arkansas River rapids in the Colorado Rockies is not for the meek. A Class V rapid can toss a raft and its riders head-over-heels into the foaming water and turn them into human debris dodging rocks and other dangers in the whitewater.
Deadly Currents protagonist, Mandy Tanner, has left her river guide job to turn to law enforcement as a river ranger. In her twenties and new to the profession, she has much to learn, both on the job and in her personal relationships. But she is gutsy and hardworking, so the reader feels she can tackle any task she takes on. Except for one. Struggling to rescue two whitewater “swimmers,” she’s only able to save one. The other, Tom King, dies.
At first, King’s death looks like possible negligence on the part of the rafting company, owned by Mandy’s Uncle Bill. She’s grateful to learn that it wasn’t Bill’s fault because King was murdered.
Even though Mandy is warned to stay out of King’s death investigation, the young woman gets involved with the possible suspects, stirring up more turmoil than even a Class V rapid can cause. King, a rich developer, had no love for the river or the natural beauty near Salida, Colorado, which earned him enemies. He also had business rivals. Plus a wife, a mistress and a son, who all had problems with him. There’s a virtual plethora of people who could have wanted him dead. And some of them don’t like Mandy asking questions.
The author creates colorful characters to people this small Rocky Mountain town. My only dislike with characterization was that sometimes Mandy’s reactions to her boyfriend and brother were on the immature side. On the other hand, that makes her more human and leaves her room to grow in future books.
Groundwater has definitely done her research in the world of rafting on the Arkansas near Salida. She brings it to a frothy, churning life, which is one reason I loved the book. My husband and I have rafted the Arkansas through the Royal Gorge twice, having exciting incidents happen each time, once culminating with my husband becoming a “swimmer.” Even though Mandy wasn’t there to pull him out of the water, he survived. Deadly Currents makes me wish I could go again, but with a bum knee, that’s out of the question for me. So when I get the urge to go for another wild ride, I’ll just have to pick up a Mandy Tanner RM Outdoor Adventure Mystery.”
-- Kari Wainwright, June, 2011