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Death by Blue Water

A Hayden Kent Mystery by Kait Carson

Death by Blue Water by Kait Carson

Review: Hayden Kent, a paralegal living in Key West, is stunned. Kevin, the man she loves, had just phoned her and abruptly told her their romance was over. He had fallen in love with someone else. She is devastated, as she loved him very much and believed he loved her, too. Her ritual when she has a problem to solve, or a difficulty facing her, is to go diving. The warm water and a noiseless atmosphere gives her what she needs to think and to give her peace … but not this time … in Death by Blue Water, the first mystery in this series by Kait Carson.

Her favorite place to dive is an old wreck called The Humboldt that is anchored one hundred and twenty feet deep in the waters off the coast of Marathon. Though she was alone, she had done this dive many times before and she is comfortable with it. She wants to be free to feel the healing powers of the waters. As she is swimming around the boat, she watches the colorful fish around her. She spots a huge grouper trying to nose its way into the boat's wheelhouse. When she nears him to see what he wanted she is shocked to see a bloated man attached to an anchor inside the room. He is wearing swimming trunks and his eyes seem to have been eaten out by the fish. When she resurfaces she tells Cappy, her friend and diving instructor, of what she has seen. He immediately calls the Coast Guard, and three law enforcement agencies show up at the site. Hayden thinks she will dive back down, show them the body, and they will take over, her role over in the investigation. As she suspected, the man had been murdered. What she did not expect that he would be identified as Kevin's brother … and that she was the prime suspect in his murder. She claims never to have met him, though Kevin insists otherwise. Worse for Hayden, she was suffering from a migraine when the police believe the victim was killed, and she has no memory of that time. Desperate for answers, she looks to her friends to help her prove she is innocent.

The characters and setting are well-drawn in this first of a new series set in the Florida Keys. The storyline is an interesting one, a combination of greed, corruption and murder all tied together in a compact package. Quite a bit of time is spent on the subject of diving, much of it informative though little tied to the primary plot. The number of suspects is large and for the most part credible, but trying to pin the crime on Hayden is a bit of a stretch and really isn't necessary anyway. On balance, Death by Blue Water is a solid start to this series and is recommended.

Special thanks to guest reviewer Betty of The Betz Review for contributing her review of Death by Blue Water.

Acknowledgment: Henery Press provided a copy of Death by Blue Water for this review.

Review Copyright © 2015 — Hidden Staircase Mystery Books — All Rights Reserved

Location(s) referenced in Death by Blue Water: Key West, Florida

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Death by Blue Water by Kait Carson

Death by Blue Water by A Hayden Kent Mystery

Publisher: Henery Press
Format: Trade Paperback
ISBN-13: 978-1-940976-46-4
Publication Date:
List Price: $15.95

Buy the Book (purchase options)

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Page Author: Lance Wright
Site Publisher: Mysterious Reviews

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