Talking with 2011 FIBArk Parade VIP, writer Beth Groundwater. Author of Deadly Currents.

Talking with 2011 FIBArk Parade VIP, writer Beth Groundwater – Author of Deadly Currents, a murder mystery set in Salida.

Deadly Currents is a new outdoor adventure mystery that takes place in Salida, the Arkansas River and the local river culture. In the book, the heroine is a raft guide who leaves her job as a guide to become a river ranger with the Arkansas Headwaters Recreation Area (AHRA). While on duty, a river client dies under mysterious circumstances and the heroine tries to solve the crime.

Beth Groundwater is a resident of Colorado Springs and has been chosen as the VIP guest for the 2011 FIBArk Parade. She was a finalist for the 2007 Agatha Award for Best First Novel. Beth also will be selling and signing books on Friday and Saturday afternoons on the back deck of the Boathouse Cantina during FIBArk.  Stop by and meet her in person.

After reading Deadly Currents from a local’s perspective, here are a few questions we asked Beth Groundwater.

1. Your book takes place in Salida and on the Arkansas River. It’s obvious that you know the valley well. Can you tell us about your relationship to Salida and the valley?

I have been a frequent visitor to Salida, Buena Vista, and the Arkansas River Valley on my journeys to/from my first and second homes in Colorado Springs and Breckenridge, to go whitewater rafting on the Arkansas River, to soak in the Mount Princeton Hot Springs, to attend past FIBArk festivals, to conduct book signings at The Book Haven, and to do research for my Rocky Mountain Outdoor Adventure series, of which Deadly Currents is the first book.

2. Your bio says that you were a “river rat” on eastern rivers in the 1980s. Can you tell us about your whitewater experience out east and some of the highlights of your former river life?

When I attended the College of William and Mary in Virginia 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 Washington, DC metro 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 many 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 Shenandoah 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 pregnant with my first-born. I got out and walked around the rapids rated over class II.

(To learn more about my whitewater experiences, read my “River Story” on the “Meet Our Donors” page of the American Rivers website: Click here for link)

3. While researching this book, who were your local sources into the Arkansas River subculture? Did you run any trips with AHRA? Do they really use catarafts?

I list most of my local sources on the Acknowledgements page of Deadly Currents. My friend and fellow Girl Scout troop leader, Cynthia Hunt, shared stories from her years of river guiding on the Arkansas. Darren Olson, owner of Whitewater Encounters, let me tour his business, answered questions, and gave me information on regulations, licensing, and river equipment vendors.

Sean Shepard, River Section Supervisor of the Arkansas Headwaters Recreation Area (AHRA) at that time, and Stew Pappenfort, Senior Park Ranger of the AHRA, educated me about the career field of river rangering and explained rescue and tree-clearing techniques. Stew graciously allowed me to observe one day of the swiftwater rescue course he teaches each spring to seasonal river rangers. I took photos, devoured the class materials, and interviewed the trainees. Stew also reviews all of my Rocky Mountain Outdoor Adventures mystery manuscripts before I submit them to my publisher

And yes, the river rangers really use catarafts.

I also have scouted, by land or river, every rapid I describe in the books, have tramped through campgrounds and trails along the river banks, and have photographed the interiors of buildings in Salida, Colorado that I use in the books.

And, I read a great deal about the geology, flora and fauna, and history of the Arkansas River Valley and on whitewater rafting techniques, equipment, etc. Keith Pinkston, Lead Investigator of the Chaffee County Sheriff’s Department, educated me on how their procedures differ from those I learned in the El Paso County Sheriff’s Citizen’s Academy and explained how they work with river rangers in investigating deaths in the river.

Lastly, every time I go whitewater rafting, I take the opportunity to informally interview my raft guide and pick his or her brain.

4. As the story progresses and heats up, we learn that the mystery stems from the everyday issues that all people in Colorado mountain towns face, the fight over the future of water.  What are your thoughts about water rights in the mountain areas of the west?  What part can environmentalists play?  What part should developers play?  What are your thoughts on monkey wrenching?

I am personally an environmentalist. I am a lifetime member of the Sierra Club and a longtime generous contributor to American Rivers. Also, I have turned some of my signings for Deadly Currents into fundraisers for water conservation organizations. One reviewer even called Deadly Currents an “environmental mystery,” which I think is a misleading generalization.

I do try to include an interesting social/political issue as a subplot in my mystery books, so book clubs that decide to read one of my mysteries can have a lively and informed discussion on the issue. But, I don’t get on a soapbox and preach one side of the issue. Instead, I show how that issue affects all of the characters’ lives in the story and let the readers draw their own conclusions from what they observe.

In Deadly Currents, this issue subplot is water rights. I did a lot of research in water rights law, the history of water rights in the American West, and current problems and disagreements regarding water rights. But it’s a huge, complex issue, and I don’t claim to be an expert. It’s obvious that compromises will need to be made among the competing interests who can all make an impassioned case for why they need more water. Environmentalists, recreation interests (boating, fishing, etc.), farmers and ranchers, city planners, and developers will need to work together to find creative solutions because the plain fact is that we already don’t have enough water in the American West to support our current population.

The problem will just get worse as our population grows. Regardless of how impassioned people feel about the issue, though, I can’t support breaking the law and destroying property out of anger.

5. Mystery writing seems like a very difficult process, weaving various pieces of a tale together without actually giving away what is happening. What advice do you have for other mystery writers who are just starting out?

There are a couple of great mystery-writing how-to books that I like to recommend. The first is Don’t Murder Your Mystery by Chris Roerden and the second is How to Write a Damn Good Mystery by James N. Frey.

6. Are there any groups in Central Colorado that aspiring writers can join to network with other writers? What can you recommend about this type of peer collaboration?

There are two primary Colorado-based writing groups, and I know writers in central Colorado who belong to one or the other or both. The first is the Rocky Mountain Fiction Writers (http://rmfw.org/), based in Denver, and they host an annual “Colorado Gold” writing conference there in the fall. The other is Pikes Peak Writers (http://www.pikespeakwriters.com/), based in Colorado Springs. Membership in PPW is free, and they have an annual writing conference there in the spring.

I always recommend that writers join three writing groups, at least: 1) a small local critique group of fellow writers so you can read and review each other’s chapters, 2) a somewhat local writing organization like RMFW or PPW that has meetings and conferences on the craft and business of writing that you can learn from, and 3) the professional writing organization for your genre so you start thinking of yourself as a professional writer. In my case, I’m a member of both RMFW and PPW and of Sisters in Crime and the Mystery Writers of America, and I’ve been in the same critique group for about 11 years.

7. What is a river that you’d like to run and why?

BG doing research in the Royal Gorge of the Arkansas River.

 

 

 

I have two rivers on my short-term bucket list. The first is the Colorado River through Cataract Canyon, because I’m thinking of setting a future book there, and the second is the Rogue River in Oregon. My daughter lives in Oregon, so running the Rogue could be combined with a visit to her. Running the Blue River in Summit County was on my list for a few years, because it can only be run for a few weeks each year, if at all. I finally got a chance to run it last year and it was a blast!

8. In your book, you mention raft guides frequenting local bars, do you plan on getting ”victimized at the Vic” during FIBArk this year?

My husband and I will be spending the whole weekend in Salida during FIBArk this year, and I’m sure we’ll have a few drinks in one or more of the fine drinking establishments in town. Hopefully the Vic will be one of them. :)

If you’re a fan of mysteries, please stop by and meet Beth Groundwater in person during FIBArk.  She’ll be signing books on the back deck of the Boathouse Cantina on Friday and Saturday afternoons.  If you can’t make it, check out her work at www.BethGroundwater.com.