The Darkwater Lake Mysteries by Tannis Laidlaw

 A few years ago I had the opportunity to read several of  the Madeline Brooks mystery series by Tannis Laidlaw. It is about a Senior Probation Officer starting over in the English countryside as a real estate agent. But as in all good stories in the English countryside, Madeline finds some bodies and gets mixed up in a disappearance or two. 

So when Tannis asked me if I would like to read her new series I quickly raised my hand.

There are two books in The Darkwater Lake Mystery series.

#1: A Writer is Dead

About: "A media host with secrets to hide...
A pop singer who is not who she pretends to be...
A slimy politician who will do anything for power....
Jodie and Iris were writing a series of wildly popular exposés for a London publisher under a fake pen name. The media host, the singer and the politician are the subjects of a book each. Then Iris is murdered. Could one of the subjects of the books have killed her? Each has the strongest of revenge. But the police think Jodie has powerful motives, with Iris gone, she would earn much more money and she hated Iris’s maddening ways.
That’s one worry for Jodie – the police’s mistaken focus on her. But there’s has the killer finished the job? Does she have a target on her back, too? Jodie escapes England back to Darkwater Lake to hide in the Canadian wilderness.
But, is anywhere safe?"

As above, Jodie is writing under a a pen name on a "tell all" with Iris in England. She has gone to her family cabin on Darkwater Lake in Canada. You have to take a boat from the mainland to reach these cabins. Everyone has their own small boat. Most people are only there for the summer because the cabins are not winterized. Jodie is a non practicing psychologist.

 

Jodie is enjoying her summer, living at the cabin on Darkwater Lake and is working on the book. When Iris, is found dead and foul play is suspected, Jodie is called back to busy London as the publishing company needs to regroup. As discussions go on, the team speculates that Iris may have been murdered by one of the persons a biography was written about. Now Jodie is worried she may be next. She flees back to Darkwater Lake to hide but will the person who killed Iris, come looking for her? I loved the description of life in the summer living on the lake. We get to know the people in the village across the lake and her neighbors including Charlotte. Charlotte becomes Jodie's good friend and sounding board. There are lots of twists and tension in the story.

#2: A Swimmer is Dead

About: "The lake’s tranquillity shattered by the murder of a swimmer

A boy’s false confession...

An amateur sleuth must prevent an injustice.

Jodie Hill lives at her lakeside cottage, revelling in the seclusion that Darkwater Lake offers Late one afternoon, two teenaged boys, larking about on jet-skis, head towards her. To her horror, they dump the lifeless body of a swimmer on her dock. The younger boy confesses to killing him accidentally with his jet-ski. As the boys roar off, a rush of disbelief and distress engulfs Jodie.

 After she’d reported the death and calmed down enough, she questions whether a jet-ski could cause the sort of awful damage that killed the swimmer? In short, no.

So why did the boy confess? Was this some sort of staged scene contrived to hide the truth?  Was the swimmer’s death no accident? The possibility it was a cold-blooded murder weighs heavily on Jodie's heart. Someone needs to look out for the boy whose confession is patently false and that means discovering the truth.

A book perfect for enthusiasts of intriguing amateur sleuths, a picturesque lakeside setting and a plot thick with red herrings and enthralling twists. If you adore atmospheric edgy cozy mysteries with an Agatha Christie vibe, A Swimmer is Dead promises an enthralling journey into the heart of a gripping, suspense-laden mystery."

Jodie is once again spending her summer at the secluded cottage at Darkwater Lake. She will be working on her latest unauthorized biography about her former boss, a man who had less than scrupulous business practices. Her good friend Charlotte returns. They pick up where they left off, last summer, having daily late afternoon Tea, usually with a good wine and nibbles. Swimming in the lake. Taking boats to town rather than driving. So relaxing.

Then two teenagers from across the lake, the jet ski over to Charlotte's dock, frantic and calling for help. Their friend has been hurt and is laying on a jet ski. It quickly becomes clear that he is dead. The two boys said the friend had been swimming and must have been hit by a jet ski. The authorities are called, everyone goes into to town to make statements. As Jodie spends more time with the two boys at the police station, it becomes evident to her that there is much more to this than they are saying. The boys are acting suspicious and and the older brother of one was in charge has taken off with the his sister - who was the girlfriend of the dead boy.

The authorities write the incident off as an accident. As more and more things are said around this small town, Jodie is sure it was not an accident. She is determined to find out the truth, especially for the sake of young Gavin who has taken the blame.

I enjoyed reading how Jodie, uses her experience and knowledge of  psychology, to tweeze out the truth. Lots of twists and turn which will keep you guessing.

I really enjoyed this new series. It reminds me of northern Wisconsin where I lived as a young child then spent every summer there for a week or two. There too people own cabins only used in the summer on various lakes. It is very calm and peaceful. People fish, swim, boat and just relax. So the setting spoke to me and I look forward to more in the series.

I also really liked the Madeline Brooks mysteries. She also has written some psychological thrillers that I have not read...yet. 

About Tannis Laidlaw: 

"Born in Winnipeg in Canada, Tannis Laidlaw visits the family cottage at the lake every summer, but lives in Auckland in New Zealand - that's right - two summer's every year. She has a history of writing academic papers mostly psychology in medicine, plus a few poems but mostly, now, novels. She's married with grown-up kids and 2 grandchildren. Tannis loves to travel, read and, of course, write."

https://tannislaidlaw.com/