Still Waters: A Riveting Novel of Suspense

by Sara Driscoll

Overview

Fans of Melinda Leigh and Kendra Elliot will love this page-turning thriller featuring an FBI Special Agent and her search-and-rescue Labrador, as a training session in the Minnesota wilderness becomes a fight for survival . . .

Keeping their search-and-rescue skills honed isn’t just a job requirement for FBI Special Agent Meg Jennings and her Labrador, Hawk—it’s essential to saving lives. A water search training weekend in the Boundary Waters area of Minnesota has attracted participants from all levels of law enforcement, each vying to win. The races are challenging, the rivalry is intense, and Meg is already under pressure when Hawk alerts to a scent in the water—and discovers the fresh body of one of Meg’s fellow competitors.

The contest is called off, but Meg’s still feeling the heat. The victim had made an unfounded complaint about her, one that could cost Meg her job and see Hawk removed from her care. The field of suspects is daunting, and all of them are experts in throwing others off the trail. And though Meg’s team flies out to Minnesota to help uncover the truth, they’re on unfamiliar territory, pitted against a killer with the skills, and the motivation, to stay hidden in plain sight…

“Includes fascinating details about search dogs and their work as well as unique settings and a colorful cast of recurring characters.” – Library Journal

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781496735065
Publisher:	Kensington
Publication date:	11/29/2022
Series:	FBI K-9 Series , #7
Pages:	352
Sales rank:	185,618
Product dimensions:	5.80(w) x 8.30(h) x 1.30(d)

About the Author

Sara Driscoll is the pen name of Jen J. Danna and Ann Vanderlaan, authors of the Abbott and Lowell Forensic Mysteries. Jen is an infectious disease researcher at a cutting-edge Canadian university near Toronto, but loves to spend her free time writing the thrilling and mysterious. Ann lives in western North Carolina with five rescued pit bulls, including Kane, now a certified therapy dog. She also trains with Kane for competitive nose work. You can follow the latest news on the F.B.I. K-9 Mysteries at SaraDriscollAuthor.com.

Editorial Reviews

09/26/2022

Driscoll’s entertaining seventh FBI K-9 novel (after 2021’s Under Pressure) takes the FBI Human Scent Evidence Team of Meg Jennings and her Labrador, Hawk, to a lake in Minnesota’s Superior National Forest for a water search training program. The weekend event, which has drawn law enforcement dog handlers from around the country, includes a contest. Among those pitching their tents in this rugged wilderness is someone who’s determined to win at all costs. Meg has a run-in with this person, whose body Hawk later discovers submerged in the lake, and Meg becomes the prime murder suspect. Though Meg’s supported by her ever-faithful partner, firefighter/paramedic Todd Webb, and her sister’s partner, Washington Post investigative reporter Clay McCord, she struggles to prove her innocence. The mystery solving sometimes gets lost amid the loads of information about water search training and tips on setting up campsites, and the end comes in a bit of a rush during an extended boat chase, but Driscoll touches a chord with those who deeply love and respect their pets. A happy personal development for Meg will delight series fans. Agent: Nicole Resciniti, Seymour Agency. (Dec.)

Publishers Weekly

Praise for Sarah Driscoll’s F.B.I. K-9 Novels

“Fans of the series will enjoy this entry, which includes fascinating details about search dogs and their work as well as a unique settings and a colorful cast of recurring characters.” —Library Journal on Still Waters

“Entertaining . . . Driscoll touches a chord with those who deeply love and respect their pets. A happy personal development for Meg will delight series fans.” —Publishers Weekly on Still Waters

“A routine training weekend for FBI search-and-rescue dog handler Meg Jennings and Hawk, her black Lab, turns out to be anything but . . . Reams of logistical detail about the training and handling of these superskilled canines.” —Kirkus Reviews on Still Waters

“The stakes rise when the Mafia comes after Meg in her home—and it turns out there are more than the gems involved.” —Publishers Weekly on Under Pressure

“Driscoll’s niche—think Margaret Truman meets the mob—is all her own.” —Kirkus Reviews on Under Pressure

“Driscoll offers a fascinating look at the training of working dogs, who are depicted as uniformly brave and obedient. The romance between Meg and her unbelievably patient boyfriend, firefighter Tom Webb, adds some depth. Fans will look forward to Meg's further adventures.” —Publishers Weekly on Leave No Trace

“A tense and fast-paced investigation for both the human and canine investigators . . . Fans of the series and fans of dog-focused mysteries will enjoy this outing with plenty of details of the workings of search dog teams as well as lots of local and historical color.” —Library Journal on Leave No Trace

“Dogs-in-action junkies will be transported.” —Kirkus Reviews on Leave No Trace

“This is the sort of crime novel that gives readers a little bit of everything: it's a thriller, a procedural, and a detective story—and a good yarn, too, featuring a smart heroine.” —Booklist on No Man's Land

“Exceptional . . . Readers will hope this series has a long run.” —Publishers Weekly, STARRED REVIEW, on Storm Rising​

“This page-turner will keep you up all night!” —Modern Dog on Before It’s Too Late

“Meg and Hawk prove themselves a formidable team the readers will want to see more of.” —Publishers Weekly on Before It’s Too Late

“A wonderfully readable series launch.” —Publishers Weekly on Lone Wolf

“Tense and exciting, Sara Driscoll has created a new power couple, Meg and her FBI K-9, Hawk." —Leo J. Maloney, author of Arch Enemy, on Lone Wolf

From the Publisher

10/01/2022

In the seventh "FBI K-9" mystery (after Under Pressure) FBI search and rescue team Meg Jennings and her black Labrador Hawk are in the Boundary Waters wilderness area in Minnesota, learning how to do searches on the waters and participating in a competition with other teams. After some odd happenings in the first round, Meg and Hawk are doing better in the second when Hawk detects an odd scent on the water. After locating the source, the diver on board their boat goes down to investigate and discovers the body of one of the other contestants. Unfortunately, it is one who has alienated most of the competitors (including Meg), so there is no shortage of potential suspects. The location in the remote north woods also complicates the investigation. Suspicion even falls on Meg, which prompts her friends and coworkers to aid her in clearing herself and finding the real killer. VERDICT Fans of the series will enjoy this entry, which includes fascinating details about search dogs and their work as well as a unique settings and a colorful cast of recurring characters.—Dan Forrest

Library Journal

2022-08-31
A routine training weekend for FBI search-and-rescue dog handler Meg Jennings and Hawk, her black Lab, turns out to be anything but.

Meg and Brian Foster, another handler on the Human Scent Evidence Team, have asked Craig Beaumont, the special agent in charge who heads their unit, to authorize their participation in an event to help their canine charges sharpen their skills at finding human remains in and under water. The weekend in Minnesota’s Superior National Forest, organized under the auspices of the Search Dogs of America, brings them into competition with half a dozen other person-and-pooch pairs from New York, Connecticut, Chicago, Wyoming, and California. Disappointed by Hawk’s performance on their first search, Meg is horrified that night to see preening Deputy Rita Pratt, of the Laramie County Sheriff’s Office, choking Ava, her Malinois partner who’s taken the lead. The next day, she learns that Pratt has responded to her threat to report the incident by preemptively filing a similar report against Meg. What makes the turnabout particularly awkward is that in between the two shocking moments, Pratt’s corpse has been discovered by none other than Hawk. Called from the Minneapolis FBI office to investigate, Special Agent Jonathan Brogan wastes no time establishing his institutional impartiality by casting Meg as the prime suspect, and she’s stripped of her official status pending a formal investigation. Without missing a beat, she sends out an SOS to Washington Post reporter Clay McCord, her sister’s partner, who joins Brian and D.C. firefighter/paramedic Lt. Todd Webb, Meg’s own romantic partner, to search for clues against the only other suspects: the event’s organizers and other participants. As usual, though, it’s the dogs who carry off detecting honors.

Not much mystery but reams of logistical detail about the training and handling of these superskilled canines.

Kirkus Reviews