Well, here we are in the third installment of the Loon Lake Fishing Mysteries series and I have to say I absolutely adore this series. These are relatively simple, fun books that make great afternoon reading at any time of the year! I love the characters and there was less repetition in this book than there was in the second. The author is settling into an initial pattern which brings all three of our main characters into the story and makes them all an integral part of the investigation of a double murder right in the middle prime muskie fishing season. In addition to our traditional three for this series (Ray, Chief Ferris, and Doc Osborn), we are introduced to slew of new secondary characters and one additional “main character” who I believe we will see more of down the line. Gina, a friend of one of the murder victims (and an investigative reporter to boot) plays an integral part in the solveing of this particular mystery. The only disappointing thing here foe me in this book is I figured out who done it VERY early on, less than halfway through the book, so I new who did it and the unfoldment was rather obvious, but it was still enjoyable to see how the characters puzzled it out on their own and worked together to solve the crime.

Overall, I am quite enjoying this series. Its nice light reading that still manages to be both interesting and keep me mostly on the edge of my seat (usually). I love that these are older characters than one usually finds in this type of book (over 50 for the most part), it’s definitely nice to see people over 50 being the hero, instead of it always being some young, hot 25 year old…don’t get me wrong, those are fun too…but you don’t get middle aged all the way up to retired people in the murder-mystery/thriller genre too often anymore. Nice change of pace. I also like that these are REAL characters, they have flaws, faults and real life problems that they must also deal with while solveing the mystery…it really helps to cement that feeling that these aren’t just characters, they’re real people. Dead Water has good pacing, interesting details and is just plain fun to read, I give it an B+, it’d make a nice read for several afternoons curled up in a chair on the porch or the sofa with a nice cup of tea. ( )

The third Loon Lake Fishing Mystery will bait readers.

Loon Lake, Wisconsin's Police Chief Lew Ferris hits a snag while investigating a double murder--and pursuing a killer more slippery than any muskie she's had her hands on.