A Book Addict's Musings by Readinghearts

Deadly Currents is the first in a new cozy mystery series by author Beth Groundwater. As most cozys do, this series has a focus, the town of Salida, Colorado on the banks of the Arkansas River and the types of sports that are prevalent in that area. In this particular edition the backdrop is the white water rafting tourist industry. The main character in the book is a seasonal river ranger on the Arkansas, and a former rafting guide. IF you are a cozy mystery reader who likes white water rafting, this book has plenty to interest you. The author certainly did her homework where the rafting industry is concerned and there is a lot of information pertaining to that as well as wonderful descriptions of the river and the surrounding area. In fact, in my opinion, that was the best part of the book. The plot was standard for a cozy mystery and as such gets good marks from me. On the other hand, while some of the characters were interesting, some of them were just plain annoying. An example is Rob, the love interest of main character Mandy Tanner. I found Rob overbearing and smarmy and I just could never quite trust him or understand what Mandy saw in him. And while I really enjoyed the detailed information about white water rafting and the descriptions of the river, when that same attention to detail was used to describe a cup of coffee I felt it was just a little too much. I will say, though, that I did read the second book in the series and found that the author's use of description was more balanced.