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A Loon Lake Mystery #3
Dead Water
Loon Lake, Wisconsin, Police Chief Lew Ferris and her unofficial deputy, retired dentist Paul Osborne, investigate the bizarre double murders of two women and find themselves on the trail of an elusive and dangerous killer. Original.
288 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published June 1, 2001
132 people are currently reading
285 people want to read
About the author
Victoria Houston
36 books273 followersShe is the author of the Loon Lake Mystery Series -- DEAD ANGLER, DEAD CREEK, DEAD WATER, DEAD FRENZY, DEAD HOT MAMA, DEAD JITTERBUG, DEAD BOOGIE, DEAD MADONNA, DEAD HOT SHOT, DEAD RENEGADE. DEAD DECEIVER, DEAD TEASE, DEAD INSIDER, DEAD HUSTLER, DEAD RAPUNZEL, DEAD LOUDMOUTH, DEAD SPIDER, DEAD FIREFLY, DEAD BIG DAWG and WOLF HOLLOW in hardcover, trade paperback and as an eBook from Simon & Schuster. The mysteries are set in the Northwoods of Wisconsin against a background of fishing – fly fishing as well as fishing for muskie, bass, bluegill and walleyes.
Houston’s mystery series was featured in a story on the front page of The Wall Street Journal (January 20, 2004) and on NPR’s “Talk of the Nation with Neal Conan” (February 2, 2006). Both can be seen/heard on the website: www.victoriahouston.com.
She has also written or co-authored over seven non-fiction books. An award-winning author specializing in family issues, Houston’s non-fiction books include the highly recommended ALONE AFTER SCHOOL: A Self-Care Guide for Latchkey Children and Their Parents (Prentice Hall, 1985); the national bestseller, LOVING A YOUNGER MAN: How Women Are Finding and Enjoying a Better Relationship (Contemporary Books (1987); Pocket Books (1988); MAKING IT WORK: Finding the Time and Energy For Your Career, Marriage, Children and Self (Contemporary Books, 1990) -- which was published by Simon & Schuster's Fireside imprint in August 1991 as a trade paperback titled MAKING IT WORK: Creative Solutions For Balancing Your Career, Marriage, Children And Personal Life. Houston co-authored RESTORE YOURSELF: A Woman’s Guide to Reviving Her Libido and Passion for Life (The Berkley Publishing Group/2001) with Dr. James Simon, a Past President of the North American Menopause Society.
Houston’s mystery series was featured in a story on the front page of The Wall Street Journal (January 20, 2004) and on NPR’s “Talk of the Nation with Neal Conan” (February 2, 2006). Both can be seen/heard on the website: www.victoriahouston.com.
She has also written or co-authored over seven non-fiction books. An award-winning author specializing in family issues, Houston’s non-fiction books include the highly recommended ALONE AFTER SCHOOL: A Self-Care Guide for Latchkey Children and Their Parents (Prentice Hall, 1985); the national bestseller, LOVING A YOUNGER MAN: How Women Are Finding and Enjoying a Better Relationship (Contemporary Books (1987); Pocket Books (1988); MAKING IT WORK: Finding the Time and Energy For Your Career, Marriage, Children and Self (Contemporary Books, 1990) -- which was published by Simon & Schuster's Fireside imprint in August 1991 as a trade paperback titled MAKING IT WORK: Creative Solutions For Balancing Your Career, Marriage, Children And Personal Life. Houston co-authored RESTORE YOURSELF: A Woman’s Guide to Reviving Her Libido and Passion for Life (The Berkley Publishing Group/2001) with Dr. James Simon, a Past President of the North American Menopause Society.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 52 reviews
July 18, 2022
Dead Water by Victoria Houston contains some great fun dialogue between different generations. It has of course some mysteries to solve as well but the thing I like the best are the setting and interaction between the main characters. I had fun reading it and will continue this series.
December 27, 2008
The third book in the Loon Lake Fishing Mystery Series.
This book was a little more predictable than the first two books - but it introduced more characters and I got a sense that Victoria Houston was building a little background for further adventures (aka - books) so it's understandable. This one again features Chief of Police Lew Ferris, retired dentist Paul Osbourne and his fishing friend and good neighbor Ray. It also introduces Gina - an investigative reporter - who I can see adding a lot to this series in the future. As with all small town mysteries - you eventually need to bring in resources from bigger towns. Gina was a good addition.
I have read several of these books while at a cabin in Northern Wisconsin - and later in Minnesota. They are the perfect book to read in that setting.
This book was a little more predictable than the first two books - but it introduced more characters and I got a sense that Victoria Houston was building a little background for further adventures (aka - books) so it's understandable. This one again features Chief of Police Lew Ferris, retired dentist Paul Osbourne and his fishing friend and good neighbor Ray. It also introduces Gina - an investigative reporter - who I can see adding a lot to this series in the future. As with all small town mysteries - you eventually need to bring in resources from bigger towns. Gina was a good addition.
I have read several of these books while at a cabin in Northern Wisconsin - and later in Minnesota. They are the perfect book to read in that setting.
July 2, 2019
My library had this paperback on offer in a bunch of selected summer reads, so I checked it out. Yes, it qualifies if you are interested in fishing. Very Midwestern, something I am quite familiar with having grown up in those environs...just not the north woods of Wisconsin. There are some great descriptions of the waters, the boats, the fishermen who get to enjoy those catch and release experiences and talk about them. This book was a quick read, has some primary character development that sets it up for a series of many books. Strong female lead. murder investigation, older man gets the girl, other simple themes that go down easily as summer reading. If you are not into fishing, this might not appeal.
April 1, 2017
Poignant entry in the series. Another enjoyable visit to Loon Lake.
Kindle Unlimited, read & listen.
Kindle Unlimited, read & listen.
September 9, 2018
Reads like a beautiful travelogue with a fun mystery attached.
August 6, 2014
For once, our main protagonist does not discover the body in this third entry of the Loon Lake series. However, he is just around the bend in the creek when he hears the screams of the woman who has discovered the body. As a part-time deputy for the Loon Lake police department, Paul Osborne secures the scene then rows his kayak back to phone it in.
The situation he relates to Lew Ferris is a grisly one: a young woman is half-nude and tangled upside down in a hedge, having apparently been tossed off an old railroad trestle into the creek. A small bullet hole is in the back of her head, but her face has been blown away as a result of the bullet’s exit. Then there are the bite marks on her shoulders, four sets of marks by four distinctly different sets of teeth. Paul also notices that the way her blood has pooled in her body is counter to the position of her body, indicating that she has been killed elsewhere and dumped here.
Before Paul and Lew, the Chief of Police, can finish examining the crime scene and get a CSI team in place, a second body is reported. Again, the victim is a young woman. Again, there is the bullet to the back of the head, the blown-out face, the four bite marks and the inconsistent blood pooling. Apparently, Loon Lake has a serial killer in current residence.
Even without complete facial structures, tentative identification of the bodies comes quickly. The first woman Paul identifies by her dental structure as a former patient of his, Sandy Herre. The second body is identified, based on her clothing, by the owner of a B&B near where the body was found. Ashley Olson has been a guest at that B&B for several days, coming in from Kansas City. Sandy had been a struggling entrepreneur, just getting her accounting service started. Ashley had been an established entrepreneur, owning a highly successful marketing firm and worth millions at her death.
Then a third body shows up, but this one is alive and undamaged, at least not physically. Sixteen-year-old Nick (no last name provided) has just found out that his mother is really his aunt. He has learned that his biological mother, a prominent figure who escaped Loon Lake in her teenage years, does not want him in her life until after she has secured her next husband. And he has just been told that Ray Pradt is his father and that he has to live with Ray for the summer. Coincidentally, Ray Pradt didn’t know any of this either.
The final body shows up in the form of Gina Palmer, an investigative reporter from Kansas City and Ashley’s best friend. Like Nick, Gina is also alive and kicking and has been expecting something like this to happen to Ashley for several months. It is her intimate knowledge of Ashley’s background and recent circumstances that enables Paul and Lew to focus the direction of their investigation into both deaths, even though the victims are seemingly unrelated personally or professionally.
And while we’re talking about Gina, you will want to pay attention to her personality, particularly in the scenes where she first encounters Paul and Lew. You might want to pay even closer attention to the way in which she describes her job and the concealed weapon she carries. Because, later in the book, you will witness one of the most realistic transformations I have ever seen an author craft, when Gina’s ego and bravado come face to face with another person holding a gun, a person who not only craves the hunt but who lives for the kill.
Unfortunately, the author telegraphs the identity of the killer before Paul and Lew have even finished their examination of the second murder scene. Any experienced mystery reader, whether their favorite genre is cozy, hardboiled, romantic suspense or detective-based, will be able to spot the tell. It is subtle and not the result of the killer exposing himself or herself through an internal monologue. Since the book is told from Paul’s POV, we only know what Paul sees, hears and thinks. And something he observes provides the reader with the identity. Paul is just too inexperienced as an investigator to understand what he has seen.
Therefore, the reader spends 90% of the book watching and waiting while the team puts the clues together and navigates the red herrings thrown in their path. They are good red herrings, too, so the read goes quickly.
After having read the first three books in the Loon Lake series now, I can say one thing about this author’s style. Victoria Houston really knows how to craft an exciting, tension-filled denouement. You know the main characters survive because there are seven more books currently in the series, but you are certainly on the proverbial pins and needles wondering how they will be able to do it without the author succumbing to an illogical save. But, in the end, she manages the scene realistically and in keeping with the personalities and skills of the characters involved.
My only real complaint with this book (the early knowledge of the killer’s identity could be deliberate on the author’s part) is that Victoria Houston seemed to forget her own biography of Ray Pradt. For two books previously, he has been 6 feet 6 inches tall and about 36 years old. In this book, however, she repeatedly – and I do mean repeatedly – reports his height as one inch shorter and he has lost about three years in age.
It’s bad enough that the author doesn’t remember her own characters or doesn’t refresh her memory by re-reading her previous novel before writing the next. But, quite frankly, her editor and her beta readers should have caught the discrepancies immediately. If they are that obvious to the casual reader, they should practically jump out at a professional. And, by the way, Houston has reinvented the wheel with Lew Ferris also, as the physical description of Lew has significantly changed since the first novel.
But, on a good note, before the novel is over, Houston actually steps up the romance between Paul and Lew. The advance wouldn’t even rate a 0.5 on the Richter Scale, but it is touching and telling nevertheless. And it also sets the hook for the next book.
The situation he relates to Lew Ferris is a grisly one: a young woman is half-nude and tangled upside down in a hedge, having apparently been tossed off an old railroad trestle into the creek. A small bullet hole is in the back of her head, but her face has been blown away as a result of the bullet’s exit. Then there are the bite marks on her shoulders, four sets of marks by four distinctly different sets of teeth. Paul also notices that the way her blood has pooled in her body is counter to the position of her body, indicating that she has been killed elsewhere and dumped here.
Before Paul and Lew, the Chief of Police, can finish examining the crime scene and get a CSI team in place, a second body is reported. Again, the victim is a young woman. Again, there is the bullet to the back of the head, the blown-out face, the four bite marks and the inconsistent blood pooling. Apparently, Loon Lake has a serial killer in current residence.
Even without complete facial structures, tentative identification of the bodies comes quickly. The first woman Paul identifies by her dental structure as a former patient of his, Sandy Herre. The second body is identified, based on her clothing, by the owner of a B&B near where the body was found. Ashley Olson has been a guest at that B&B for several days, coming in from Kansas City. Sandy had been a struggling entrepreneur, just getting her accounting service started. Ashley had been an established entrepreneur, owning a highly successful marketing firm and worth millions at her death.
Then a third body shows up, but this one is alive and undamaged, at least not physically. Sixteen-year-old Nick (no last name provided) has just found out that his mother is really his aunt. He has learned that his biological mother, a prominent figure who escaped Loon Lake in her teenage years, does not want him in her life until after she has secured her next husband. And he has just been told that Ray Pradt is his father and that he has to live with Ray for the summer. Coincidentally, Ray Pradt didn’t know any of this either.
The final body shows up in the form of Gina Palmer, an investigative reporter from Kansas City and Ashley’s best friend. Like Nick, Gina is also alive and kicking and has been expecting something like this to happen to Ashley for several months. It is her intimate knowledge of Ashley’s background and recent circumstances that enables Paul and Lew to focus the direction of their investigation into both deaths, even though the victims are seemingly unrelated personally or professionally.
And while we’re talking about Gina, you will want to pay attention to her personality, particularly in the scenes where she first encounters Paul and Lew. You might want to pay even closer attention to the way in which she describes her job and the concealed weapon she carries. Because, later in the book, you will witness one of the most realistic transformations I have ever seen an author craft, when Gina’s ego and bravado come face to face with another person holding a gun, a person who not only craves the hunt but who lives for the kill.
Unfortunately, the author telegraphs the identity of the killer before Paul and Lew have even finished their examination of the second murder scene. Any experienced mystery reader, whether their favorite genre is cozy, hardboiled, romantic suspense or detective-based, will be able to spot the tell. It is subtle and not the result of the killer exposing himself or herself through an internal monologue. Since the book is told from Paul’s POV, we only know what Paul sees, hears and thinks. And something he observes provides the reader with the identity. Paul is just too inexperienced as an investigator to understand what he has seen.
Therefore, the reader spends 90% of the book watching and waiting while the team puts the clues together and navigates the red herrings thrown in their path. They are good red herrings, too, so the read goes quickly.
After having read the first three books in the Loon Lake series now, I can say one thing about this author’s style. Victoria Houston really knows how to craft an exciting, tension-filled denouement. You know the main characters survive because there are seven more books currently in the series, but you are certainly on the proverbial pins and needles wondering how they will be able to do it without the author succumbing to an illogical save. But, in the end, she manages the scene realistically and in keeping with the personalities and skills of the characters involved.
My only real complaint with this book (the early knowledge of the killer’s identity could be deliberate on the author’s part) is that Victoria Houston seemed to forget her own biography of Ray Pradt. For two books previously, he has been 6 feet 6 inches tall and about 36 years old. In this book, however, she repeatedly – and I do mean repeatedly – reports his height as one inch shorter and he has lost about three years in age.
It’s bad enough that the author doesn’t remember her own characters or doesn’t refresh her memory by re-reading her previous novel before writing the next. But, quite frankly, her editor and her beta readers should have caught the discrepancies immediately. If they are that obvious to the casual reader, they should practically jump out at a professional. And, by the way, Houston has reinvented the wheel with Lew Ferris also, as the physical description of Lew has significantly changed since the first novel.
But, on a good note, before the novel is over, Houston actually steps up the romance between Paul and Lew. The advance wouldn’t even rate a 0.5 on the Richter Scale, but it is touching and telling nevertheless. And it also sets the hook for the next book.
April 3, 2025
This series got off to a great start - the characters were likeable, the settings were enjoyable, the circumstances were believable. But as I read more and more of the series, little things started bugging me - time had passed, but characters didn't age... tiny stuff like that - It was almost as if Victoria Houston had contracted other writers to keep the stories going, and they didn't do their homework... or follow the style book... As I was reading these recovering from an illness, I was reading them one right after the other, so those inconsistencies would be more apparent....just my two cents.
June 13, 2018
Another good book in an interesting series. It surprises me that I enjoy books that are so heavy on fishing, but the Loon Lake series always has an interesting plot and are an entertaining departure from the usual cozy mystery.
In this book, Ray has a teenager dropped on him that he is told is his son.
Gina is a journalist who came north to find the man she is convinced has killed her friend. She falls fast and hard for the area, and possibly for Ray. She purchases a run down cottage on Loon Lake.
In this book, Ray has a teenager dropped on him that he is told is his son.
Gina is a journalist who came north to find the man she is convinced has killed her friend. She falls fast and hard for the area, and possibly for Ray. She purchases a run down cottage on Loon Lake.
October 19, 2017
Dead Water is a fun easy read. I figured out the murderer early on, but the path to solving the murder kept me reading. Born and raised in the northwoods of Wisconsin, Victoria Houston has the ability to weave colorful real life scenarios into a murder plot. The fictional Loon Lake is the perfect setting and you can almost feel the fishing pole in your hands. Dead Water is one of many in the Loon Lake murder mysteries and I will be reading more.
November 16, 2019
more complex but less believable than the other 2 from the series which I recently read, peopled by interesting supplemental characters; after 3 the plots are blending. These will be good easy-read breaks every now and then, but not engaging enough for me to want to know what happens next to the main characters. In a way, just like the real communities around northern lakes - great for relaxing and sitting around watching the dragonflies on the lake, no tension or overwhelming drama.
April 24, 2021
Another adventure in crime for Lewellyn and Osborne. Their developing relationship is such a delight compared to the loss of that in todays world. All things of course involve angling and I am learning a lot. Enough to know that this sport has passed me by.
This series of books are the perfect answer to wanting to escape for just a little while. No stress reading and actually a lot of education is different subjects. I am on to book #4.
This series of books are the perfect answer to wanting to escape for just a little while. No stress reading and actually a lot of education is different subjects. I am on to book #4.
October 1, 2023
I absolutely hate giving 1 star reviews so I won’t. But it was soo obvious from the beginning who it was. The characters were all over the place. The main character Doc was in. Miserable Marriage but started binge drinking after??? No way. I had to finish it just to get it off my list. Literally the worst book I’ve read all year. Also the dentist is a 63 year old going after a 30 year old?? His daughters are that age???
December 25, 2017
Another excellent read from a good author, although I may have to downgrade it to 3 1/2 stars as I worked out who the villain was fairly early in the story. The back story was good as were the newly introduced characters.
September 11, 2017
It was Ok but nothing exceptional. An easy read with a believable plot and characters
October 22, 2017
A most excellent 5 star read! still loving the series and the people of Loon Lake
September 13, 2019
Third in the series, much better flow than the second. She was able to fill in background info without word for word repetition from the previous book.
November 5, 2019
Great mystery. Love the characters in this series. And it is fun to read about places I know well.
February 19, 2020
Loved it hope she writes more
December 1, 2021
Quite enjoyable.
October 25, 2022
Not as good as the first novel but still a fun read.
March 16, 2023
I’m working my way thru this series- enjoying the setting in northern WI, the small town, the mysteries, and the budding romance between Doc and Lew
March 28, 2023
Great read
Great book easy read well done . I love following her series of adventures. Would recommend. Have a hard time putting it down.
Great book easy read well done . I love following her series of adventures. Would recommend. Have a hard time putting it down.
September 26, 2024
great book, really enjoyed it...
September 16, 2025
Entertaining mystery series
March 8, 2017
Another good Northwoods mystery, on to #4
April 12, 2014
This is the third in the Chief Lewellyn Ferris series set in fictional Loon Lake, Wisconsin near Rhinelander. Lew loves to fly fish and has developed a relationship with retired dentist Doc Osborne who she often deputizes along with Ray Pradt (a hunting and fishing guide, grave digger and neighbor to Doc Osborne who wears a large stuffed trout on his hat) to help on cases. In this case, the bodies of two women are found within hours of each other, seemingly not connected in that one is a local and the other from Missouri, yet they have the same bite marks on their shoulders and both were shot. These stories are wonderful for their setting and characters. It is simply a pleasure to spend time with them. In this outing, MILD SPOILER...
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the murderer is rather predictable.
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the murderer is rather predictable.
December 27, 2018
Another great Loon Lake mystery. Dr. Paul Osborne--retired dentist--is out kayaking and runs into a woman paddling out with her son who tells him she saw some horrific remains. He investigates then goes to find Lew--the police chief. Pretty soon after, another body is found who turns out to be of a woman who was searching for a con man she had been engaged to.
Everytime I want a relaxing and enjoyable mystery, I read one of these. I know that the mystery will be good, but also that the small town feel will come through and I love the characters--especially Chief Llewellyn, Dr. Osborne and Ray. In this one, we also meet Gina--someone who will appear in later novels from time to time.
the novel is told from Dr. Osborne's point of view. There are a few times when his thoughts about Lew (a woman) go a bit far in description, but not as openly as other books.
Everytime I want a relaxing and enjoyable mystery, I read one of these. I know that the mystery will be good, but also that the small town feel will come through and I love the characters--especially Chief Llewellyn, Dr. Osborne and Ray. In this one, we also meet Gina--someone who will appear in later novels from time to time.
the novel is told from Dr. Osborne's point of view. There are a few times when his thoughts about Lew (a woman) go a bit far in description, but not as openly as other books.
March 16, 2014
The 3rd book in the Loon Lake Mystery series has chief of police Lew Ferris with a double murder on her hands. The two dead women seem to have no connection but do they? Both have identical bite marks on their shoulders. She again finds herself deputizing retired dentist Paul Osborne and his neighbor, fishing guide Ray Pradt in order to get the cases solved. They manage to get some fishing in during the evenings, this time it's the elusive muskies they are fishing.
I don't fish but I find it interesting how this series, in addition to having a good mystery in each book, provides a lot of information about fishing. I've spent plenty of time in a boat or canoe with my now ex-husband while he musky fishes, too bad I didn't know some of the tips in this book back then.
I don't fish but I find it interesting how this series, in addition to having a good mystery in each book, provides a lot of information about fishing. I've spent plenty of time in a boat or canoe with my now ex-husband while he musky fishes, too bad I didn't know some of the tips in this book back then.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
July 25, 2014
The premise for this mystery was definitely intriguing, however, the murderer was glaringly obvious really early on. Made the main characters seem a little dense for taking so long to pick up on the clues, and since they're portrayed as being very intelligent, that made it feel a little unbelievable. I really enjoy this series, however. The mysteries are interesting but are light enough to avoid that gruesome thriller genre. Plus, the main characters are quite appealing. And no cooking or needlework, which is nice for a change. :-)
May 5, 2016
a book about mystery, murder and a little bit of fly fishing. the book is about a retired dentist who ends up helping the sheriff of loon lake (who he has a secret crush on). because he came across a murder and then as they start to investigate there is another murder both have strange bite marks on their shoulder. there is also a man named ray pradt who helps in finding the man who murdered the two women. i think its a good book and would maybe request it to a friend.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 52 reviews