Dead in the Water [Mass Market Paperback]

Julie Smith (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 21, 1991

"A first-rate tingler."
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Attorney and exotic fish fancier Rebecca Schwartz would love to relax in picturesque Monterey, California, with her friend Marty. But when Marty's boss, the woman who's been sleeping with her husband, is found dead in a giant tank and the aquarium where Marty works, she looks sunk. Rebecca takes on her friend's case, and has some serious clue-harpooning to do. As she swims closer to the line, her friend looks more and more guilty, and Rebecca begins to wish she had just gone fishing....

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Things look bad for Rebecca Schwartz's friend Marty Whitehead when a murdered woman is found floating in the famous kelp forest in the Monterey Bay Aquarium. Not only is the victim Sadie Swedlow, Marty's boss at the Aquarium and the seducer of Marty's husband, but she appears to have been stabbed with Marty's distinctive letter opener.16,18 As Rebecca sets out to prove her client's innocence, a plethora of unsavory rumors makes her wonder how well she really knows Marty. Is she a promiscuous, coldblooded woman who drove her husband into Sadie's arms and neglects her children? Would she have murdered Sadie to get her job? Or is the killer Marty's colleague, the devastatingly handsome Julio Soto? When another murder occurs and a valuable gem is missing, suspicion begins to focus on Julio. Meanwhile, Rebecca inexorably falls for the handsome suspect and develops maternal feelings for Marty's two children and for Julio's little girl. A true shocker of an ending sends this well-crafted, if familiar plot into the stratosphere as Rebecca connives to save herself and other would-be victims from a homicidal maniac with gruesome plans for all of them. A first-rate tingler from an Edgar-winning author ( New Orleans Mourning ).
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From the Inside Flap

"A first-rate tingler."
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Attorney and exotic fish fancier Rebecca Schwartz would love to relax in picturesque Monterey, California, with her friend Marty. But when Marty's boss, the woman who's been sleeping with her husband, is found dead in a giant tank and the aquarium where Marty works, she looks sunk. Rebecca takes on her friend's case, and has some serious clue-harpooning to do. As she swims closer to the line, her friend looks more and more guilty, and Rebecca begins to wish she had just gone fishing....

Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 226 pages
• Publisher: Fawcett (October 21, 1991)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0804108552
• ISBN-13: 978-0804108553
• Product Dimensions: 6.7 x 4.1 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 2.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,120,281 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Author of the Skip Langdon and Talba Wallis mystery series; Edgar-winner; New Orleans resident.

Also founder of www.booksBnimble.com, an electronic publishing start-up, and author of the YA paranormal adventure, CURSEBUSTERS!

Latest adventure:
I've reworked my writing class as an ebook called WRITING YOUR WAY (http://amzn.to/o6XN3T), with special emphasis on first chapters and marketing. You can see The Prose Nazi video below for an idea of my approach--i.e. flexible; designed to find YOUR best writing method, not force mine on you. We also have outtakes for your amusement. The third video, which I'll call GTFA, is a trailer for a fun parody book booksBnimble couldn't resist doing one rainy afternoon. Check out my websites, www.cursebustersbook.com, www.booksBnimble,com (where I also blog) and www.casamysterioso.com.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars By the numbers, May 31, 2006

By 

Tim Lieder "Founder of Dybbuk Press" (New York, NY) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Dead in the Water (Mass Market Paperback)

To criticize a detective novel for being formulaic is a little like criticizing a Biblical movie for being too religious or a Tarantino movie for being too violent. Detective novels are supposed to be formulaic. You're supposed to see the dead body before chapter 3. Everyone expects romantic entanglements that break off as the detective expects the "perfect" guy to be a serial killer. There are supposed to be red herrings. And then 30 pages before the end, the villain reveals him/herself and does the whole muhahaha routine complete with twirling mustache and (ultimately failed) attempt to kill the protagonist.

We read detective novels because the formula is comforting, but still the writer must make the formula feel fresh (even as we know where we are going) and Julie Smith fails in this case. Reading this book feels like suffering through the last 3 or 13 James Bond movies. There are no surprises. No new ways of telling the story. She doesn't even pick very interesting characters to act as victim and murderer. They have the barest sketches of backgrounds and one feels like she picked the murderer out of a hat.

All in all, a light book that doesn't even live up to the light reading bar that it sets for itself.

2.0 out of 5 stars not smith's best work, July 15, 2010

By 

birdwalker "birdwalker" (Friday Harbor, WA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Dead in the Water (Mass Market Paperback)

I was so pleased by Julie Smith's first Rebecca Schwartz book, Death Turns a Trick (see my review), that I bought the rest of this five book series. Books two and three were still in line with the traditional cozy, i.e., no gratuitous sex or violence, but this book, Dead in the Water, number four of the Rebecca Schwartz books, ends with horrific scenes of violence. I don't think this is a spoiler, as I'm not giving away motive or perpetrator: Rebecca, her current boyfriend, and two ten-year-old girls are subjected to physical and psychological torture that will probably give them nightmares -- and daytime shivers, too -- for the rest of their lives. Yes, it's fiction, but if I want to read about the worst human behavior I would prefer to get it from great 19th century English and Russian novels.

I've already sent for the last book in this series, and I will read it. Perhaps it will give me a clue as to why Smith stopped writing about Rebecca and essentially downplays this character on her website. Julie Smith: why not have Rebecca come back older and wiser? You've put on a few years and gained more experience: give us back a decent protagonist with loving mother, father, sister, law partner; a steady boyfriend or husband; a good law practice; perhaps some nice courtroom scenes -- and no noir.

0 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars This book is very adventerous!, November 9, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Dead in the Water (Rebecca Schwartz Mysteries) (Mass Market Paperback)

This book was about Mr.Mann, who was kidnapped! His granddaughter Anita was suspecting he was! The Hardy boys,Frank and Joe, were visiting Mann, they are friends. They knocked and knocked but nobody answered. They came back later, and someone answered the door. It was Anita. They heard these weird noises comeing from outside, they looked and Anita's tires were flat! For days weird stuff had been happening to Anita.

My opinion of this book is it was exciting, you didn't know what was going to happen next. I suggest that you read this book to find out what happens at the end of the book.