Dive Deep and Deadly

A child of Florida, I was drawn to this book for its setting and the presence of scuba diving. I was hooked from the first, intrigued by the characters, human, reptile and the swamp itself, as much as by the mystery. I'm embarrassed to say that I was almost two thirds through the first chapter before I realized that it was written in first person, something I tend to avoid as few writers can pull it off well. Alam has jumped to my must-buy list and I'm on my way to get the second in the series right now. If you love well rounded characterization as well as a engrossing story, buy this book. You won't be disappointed!

Luanne Fogarty is enjoying her time off from teaching by rebuilding her family home deep in the swamps of Florida when her occasional job diving for the police gets her involved in a mystery. She finds a body tied to an underwater cave, but the next morning, it's gone. Exploring a second cave, she finds a second body. Is there a connection? And if so, what is it? And who is the unidentified first woman and where is her body?This is a wonderful debut book. The plot develops nicely, and the characters are interesting as well. The real star here is the setting. Ms. Alam is able to bring the swamp to life using all five senses in a way that places you right there without overshadowing the characters or story. I was completely drawn into this world, enjoying every minute of it.I highly recommend this entertaining mystery and am looking forward to the second book in this series.

Late at night, when the crickets suddenly stop chirping, your skin crawls and your scalp and neck tingle as you feel the silent terror of an unknown interloper intruding into the secluded, telephone-free ancestral home. Will the crickets start their chorus again?Glynn Alam's writing is so rich and evocative that from page one, you are deep in the Florida swamp, sweating in the humidity, listening to crickets, driving down rutted roads, partaking of sumptuous southern feasts, dodging snakes of both the slithering and two-legged kind, warily avoiding gators of both the four- and two-legged kind, scuba diving in frosty cold spring water and stumbling upon dead bodies in the limestone caves of the cold swamp springs of the Florida Panhandle.Alam has crafted lots of plot twists and surprise turns that keep you moving through the swamp-fest as elderly Cajun swamp neighbor Pasquin helps Luanne Fogarty use her intellect, diving skill and Mother Wit to help otherwise pedestrian, balky Joe Friday-style cops solve a set of mysterious and bewildering murders, robberies and some nautical weirdness on the Gulf.Get the book, enjoy it, and hope that Alam hurries up with the sequel.

Like any mystery worth its salt, I couldn't put this book down. The thought of diving into caves is excitng enough by itself, but add to that the discovery of dead bodies and you have my full attention! I feel like I've been there with LuAnn. Been not only in the caves, but in the cabin in the swamp with all its freightening aspects. I think Luanne is just beginning to get her feet wet and I look forward to her next adventure in the swamps and caves. Can't wait!

What a compulsive pleasure this was to read! Alam goes and invents a whole new genre--the swamp noir--and then she plays it like a priceless fiddle. This book is so atmospheric that you'll end up knowing more about the swamps south of Tallahassee with their snakes and critters than you ever knew about your own home town--their sticky heat, the smells of their rotting vegetation, the quirky delights of the people who live out in their isolated cabins, and most of all the tidal surge of the cold springs that well up unexpectedly from a network of spooky limestone caves and keep offering up dead bodies to our heroine's startled gaze. The book is so accomplished and the writing so sure-footed that it's impossible to believe it was a first novel. The characters were real and poignant and fully developed, so convincing that I wondered what they were doing when I had to set the book down to make dinner. I can't wait to meet Luanne Fogarty again and find out what she's been up to.