Dangerous Depths is a fast paced thriller that’s well written, exciting, and, best of all, involves a whole bunch of diving. The story explodes onto the opening page (quite literally) and by the end of the first chapter, Brandt’s heroine is breathless and the reader is hooked.

Hannah Sampson, police diver and investigator, has left the streets (and murky lakes) of Denver for the crystalline waters of the British Virgin Islands. As Dangerous Depths opens, she is thrown from her bunk by a violent explosion. She scrambles from the cabin of her live-aboard and sees the boat of her friend and neighbour, Elyse, engulfed in flames. As the boat goes down, Hannah manages to pull Elyse from the water. Everyone thinks Elyse, now comatose in hospital, is the victim of an unfortunate accident – everyone except Hannah, who is certain that her environmentalist friend was the victim of an attempted homicide. Hannah begins her own investigation, donning her tanks and starting at the crime scene. From arson to sea turtles to charter yachts to island politics, Hannah follows her instincts, gets in not a little bit of trouble, and narrowly misses more than one attempt on her own life.

Dangerous Depths is the third in the Hannah Sampson series, but if you haven’t encountered Kathy Brandt’s character before, don’t worry: Brandt weaves all of the pertinent background information into the story, and does so with great subtlety (so many novelists get bogged down rehashing the details of prior plots that their stories end up reading like Icelandic Sagas – not so here).  Those familiar with Brandt’s work will be pleased to find the familiar characters even more fleshed-out, and the plot every bit as exciting as previous ones. Like her previous two novels, Dangerous Depths has an environmental edge, but again the message is so intertwined with the plot as to make the point without appearing to do so. With good plots, believable and interesting characters, and the ability to convey a real sense of setting (perhaps her greatest talent), Brandt’s novels are a real treat to read.

From a diver’s point of view, it’s even better: Brandt’s descriptions of the underwater investigations really make you feel like you’re in the water with her, and remember, this is the BVI – some of the best diving around. And there’s some pretty exciting underwater action to boot! Brandt takes a lot of time and effort over the details. She spent time observing and assisting sea turtle researchers for Dangerous Depths (see her article “Diving Can Be Murder” in the February 05 issue of this magazine), and from the outset she took the trouble to get the goods on police diving. She went through Dive Rescue training (in a class with 15 fire department scuba divers), where she learned the basics in rescue and recovery in zero vis, interviewing witnesses, developing search patterns, and the like. She made it her business to find the experts in the field of underwater CSI - people like the late Bob Teather (RCMP, retired), a pioneer in the field, to whose memory Dangerous Depths is dedicated. Brandt’s finished work reflects this care and attention, but isn’t fussy for it. It’s what makes Dangerous Depths (all comments by fellow editorial staff members on my usage of “dark and stormy night” clichés aside) a really good read.