A Swimmer is Dead is book two in Tannis Laidlaw’s Darkwater Lake Mystery series. Main character Jodie Hill is a former academic, now working as an author. She spends the warmer months in her lakeside cottage on Darkwater Lake in the Canadian wilderness. Her dear friend Charlotte lives in the cottage next door and the two enjoy each other’s company in the late afternoons, drinking wine on Charlotte’s dock. 

One afternoon the peaceful atmosphere is upset by the sound of jet-skis on the peaceful lake. Jodie looks out to see two teenage boys heading towards her and shockingly they are pulling the lifeless body of a swimmer with them. The boys are sure they must have accidentally hit the swimmer and killed him. Jodie stay’s with the boys as the police come, but something just doesn’t add up. How could a jet ski cause the injuries the dead swimmer sustained? Why were the boys left alone? 

This is a perfectly spooky mystery–similar to a locked room mystery in that all the mystery takes place in and around Darkwater Lake. Laidlaw’s descriptions of the setting, especially of the dark lake water, add to the mystery. I could easily visual the scenes and characters. It’s also a well-plotted mystery, full of red herrings and many twists so that I did not know who to believe! It was fun to read a summer mystery in winter and this would also make a great summer read as well. While this is book two, it easily stood on its own as a standalone read. 

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