Whitewater Experiences Motivate Mystery Author

by Beth Groundwater, Colorado, AR member since 1984

I was paddling whitewater rivers and contributing regularly to American Rivers long before I started writing mystery novels. So it made sense that eventually I would “write what you know” and develop a new series with a whitewater river ranger sleuth set on the nearby Arkansas River.

When I was young, my parents took me hiking to waterfalls and along swift creeks, boating on lakes and still rivers, and to swim lessons, so I became a strong swimmer. These activities formed the basis for my lifelong love affair with swift moving water. At the College of William and Mary in the late 70s, I took PE classes in canoeing and kayaking that included gate work and field trips on nearby Virginia whitewater rivers.

In the 80s, I worked at SAIC in the DC area and met legendary paddler H. Roger Corbett there. I still have copies of his Virginia Whitewater and The Delaware River (written with Kay Fulcomer) guidebooks. I became a frequent bow paddler with Roger on weekend trips, and learned even more about reading currents and controlling a canoe from him. I later taught many of those skills to my husband, in exchange for learning his favorite sport—downhill skiing.

My husband and I spent happy weekends paddling East Coast whitewater rivers with Roger and friends. We paddled a 2-man ABS Grumman canoe stuffed full of floatation bags. I bought it from a man who rebuilt it after it went over Little Falls on the Potomac River by itself. I have fond memories of that canoe serving as the “beer boat” for friends’ tubing trips down the Shenadoah River and of our week-long stay at the Nantahala Outdoor Center in North Carolina, paddling the Chatttooga, French Broad, Nantahala, and other rivers. My last whitewater trip in that canoe was while I was five month pregnantwith my first-born. I got out and walked around the rapids rated over class III.

It’s hard to find day care centers near whitewater rivers, so while my two children were young, we focused on making sure they learned how to ski and swim. Once they were strong swimmers and old enough, we introduced them to whitewater rafting on rivers in Colorado, where we now live. I’m proud to say they’ve caught the bug!

Back to my mystery writing. My first series, which is still ongoing, is a craft cozy series starring a gift basket designer living in my hometown of Colorado Springs. I soon found my love of the outdoors creeping into those books, though, with outdoor winter sports featured in To Hell in a Handbasket. So, I decided to develop a new series featuring my warm-weather sport of whitewater rafting.

I wanted a semi-professional versus amateur sleuth, so she would have a reason to be investigating murders. That’s why I made my sleuth an Arkansas Headwaters Recreation Area (AHRA) whitewater river ranger named Mandy Tanner. The river rangers become members of the county sheriff’s office investigative team if they find a body in or along the river.

To research the series, I interviewed whitewater river guides (from whose ranks river rangers are recruited), a whitewater rafting business owner, a local sheriff’s office investigator, and river rangers themselves. I also observed a day of river ranger training, and Stew Pappenfort, Senior Park Ranger of the AHRA, reviews all my manuscripts for accuracy.

The first book in the series, Deadly Currents, will be released in March, 2011. It takes place in Salida, Colorado during the First in Boating on the Arkansas (FIBArk) whitewater festival. A wonderful side benefit of writing this series is that my whitewater rafting trips are now “research” and are business deductions! If you’d like to learn more about me and the series, please visit //bethgroundwater.com/