Dive Deep and Deadly

Dive Deep and Deadly opens Glynn Marsh Alam's long Luanne Fogarty series, set in the spring-fed cave-diving subculture of the Florida Panhandle. Luanne is a professor at a small college who is also a certified cave diver, which gives Alam a refreshing setting and a heroine whose physical competence is genuine.

The book is at its best in the underwater sequences and in the small-town geography of the unnamed Panhandle county where Luanne lives. Alam clearly knows the cave-diving world and writes it with the kind of specific terror it deserves. The mystery itself is competent and the small-town politics are handled with affection.

Three stars. A pleasant regional cozy with a setting you do not often see. Recommended to mystery readers looking for something a little geographically off-center.