I kept hearing about this series and even purchased book one but hadn't had a chance to read it. I enjoyed this book and will definitely read more in this series.

This is a fun adventure travel series with this next in series set in Portland Oregon.
Our protagonist Meg suffers from claustrophobia but takes a new adventure to visit caves in Portland to examine a area in discussion about land rights. She finds a dead body and is soon dealing with the mystery surrounding the death and the mysterious caves.
I love the setting and feel of adventure of this series. I look forward to the next in series.

Northwest Extreme's Meg Reed heads to Bend, Oregon to explore the Lava River Caves for her next adventure. Despite her intense claustrophobia, Meg joins a congressman and several others on the underground cave tour. But the trip ends abruptly when Meg finds the body of Forest Service employee Kira. Is her death related to the debate on the use of public lands? Meg has a lot on her mind: the upcoming departure of her best friend to Italy, her boss Greg’s plan to sell the magazine and the ongoing questions about her journalist father’s suspicious death. Meg and her tech writer friend Matt do some in-depth snooping to try and find the truth.

This is another enjoyable entry in the Pacific Northwest mystery series.

I received an eARC via Netgalley and Kensington Books with no requirements for a review. I voluntarily read this book and provided this review.

In Cave Danger is the 5th in the Pacific Northwest series. I have not read the other books in this series and I still enjoyed the story. I usually like to read a series in order but I was still able to enjoy and follow. Just makes me want to dig the previous books out of my “to be read” pile. I love that the author vividly describes the scenery (have never been to the northwest but on my list now) and the mystery never gets dull. Meg is on a cave tour when she literally falls over a dead body and from there the start of discovering the killer begins. I like that I was unable to figure out who the culprit was until the author wanted me to. Will be reading the first four in this series and waiting for the next.

In Cave Danger

by Kate Dyer-Seeley

I found In Cave Danger interesting, but I didn’t love it. A lot of the reason is just personal taste. To start, the main character, Meg Reed, is just too froufrou, too much of a girly pink lover to be believable in her job as an adventure writer. I admire her independent fashion sense and love of vintage clothing, but even a “twenty-something” should understand that for most jobs there is a specific type of dress appropriate for the position and task. On your own time, you dress to please yourself.

My next problem with the book structure is the emphasis on beer. The craft beer culture in Oregon is interesting, but I honestly don’t admire a main character whose social life on a daily basis centers around beer.

Another problem is the choices and actions of the main character. Meg persists in doing obviously dangerous things. Things others have warned her not to do. Things she states are not smart to do. She also volunteers to cover a story on caving when she is a self-professed claustrophobic.

Lastly, I am sure there are people who give thanks to the Universe for the good things that happen, literally hug trees, and carry stones around to protect themselves. Those people would probably enjoy In Cave Danger much more than I did.

The initial mystery focuses on the murder of a forest ranger and the battle of environmentalists versus a politician and a rancher who have other plans for land use. Later the author makes a rather sudden jump back to events in a previous book that involve Meg’s deceased father, a newspaper reporter who was obsessed with researching a piece on meth. This abrupt plot switch is smoothed out as the author fills in the back story. Amazingly the two plot lines intersect.

On the positive side, the plot is engaging and the setting is interesting. The author offers closure to what appears to have been an old mystery. The book concludes with sections on tips for exploring caves and information for a scenic tour of Oregon’s high desert country where In Cave Danger takes place.

I would like to extend my thanks to netgalley.com and to Kensington Books for giving me the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an honest review.

Rating: 3/5

Category: Mystery

Notes: #5 in the Pacific Northwest Mystery Series; works as a standalone

Publication: November 28, 2017—Kensington Books

Memorable Lines:
The tips of old oak leaves faded into golden yellows, and red twinges glinted in the sunlight. Soon organic farm stands would pop up on street corners, where artisans would sell homemade apple and pear butter and carved festive gourds. The breweries would release their fall lines featuring pumpkin ales and hoppy Oktoberfest brews.

My past blunders were all my own doing, usually because I had overestimated my skill level or downplayed the danger. This felt different. This felt out of my control. I couldn’t shake the ominous cloud hovering over me.

I’m so claustrophobic that I refuse to ride in elevators. I’d rather huff and puff up twenty flights of stairs than be stuck in a moving coffin.

In Cave Danger is the fifth novel in Kate Dyer-Seeley's Pacific Northwest series. This adventure finds our sleuth, Meg, traveling to Bend, Oregon, to cover a story about underground caves and land rights for her employer, Northwest Extreme. Meg, with her penchant for murders and investigation, unravels much more than she had anticipated, including the conclusion of her father's mysterious death.

Meg has greatly matured over the course of the series, and the relationships amongst the characters have nicely matured. Many twists have occurred, and Dyer-Seeley has done a fantastic job intertwining all of the books with the theme of Meg's father's death and his relationship with her employer. As a former resident of the Pacific Northwest and extreme sports participant, Dyer-Seeley effectively captures the landscape and lifestyle of this region and population. These books were fantastic for curing my bouts of homesickness.

While I am very sad that this book concludes the Pacific Northwest series, I will highly recommend all of them to cozy mysteries aficionados. Thank you for such a great series and thank you to Netgalley and Kensington Press for an ARC of this novel in exchange for a review.

Wow. This is definitely the best book in this series to date! I have always felt this was a solid 3-3.5 star series, but the Pacific Northwest setting kept me coming back for more. This book really took it up a notch. The depth of emotions in this one, on top of and because of, the completion of a multi book story line about Meg’s father’s death was to captivating!
I found myself not wanting to put it down.

A thrilling finale, so many great moments with the classic characters in Meg’s life like Greg, Matt and Gam. There were some strong new side characters (something I’ve always found in this series) like Dupree.

Highly recommended. If you were unsure on this series definitely read it until this book as the writing and character development gets stronger and stronger. I can’t wait to see where Kate takes this next considering one of the series underlying themes/mysteries is now solved.

In Cave Danger
Pacific Northwest Mystery, Book #5
Kate E. Dyer-Seeley
5 Stars

Synopsis:

On an expedition into Oregon's Lava River Cave, outdoor journalist Meg Reed stumbles across a body buried way more than six feet under . . .

A debate is raging over the use of public lands, and to cover the story for Northwest Extreme magazine, Meg joins a congressman and several others on a subterranean adventure--despite her intense claustrophobia. The thoughts of cave-ins and cougars are unnerving, but at least it's a distraction from her other anxieties, like her best friend's departure for Italy, her boss's plan to sell the company, and the ongoing questions about her father's suspicious death. But in the chilly darkness of the volcanic rock, she discovers a Forest Service employee, stabbed with a trowel. Now Meg will need to do some in-depth investigating or the truth may never come to the surface . . .
PRAISE FOR SCENE OF THE CLIMB
"A splendid overview of the greater Portland and Columbia River Gorge region, perfect for travel buffs. Her protagonist shows promise with her determined attitude and moxie." --Library Journal
"A fun, terrific adventure."--Suspense Magazine
INCLUDES ADVENTURE GUIDES! (Goodreads)


Review:

Meg is a brave, smart, spunky and quirky woman. Although she is not really an outdoorsy adventurous person, she is willing to do things outside of her comfort zone for her job. That is how she finds herself inside the Lava River Cave where she stumbles upon a dead body, yet again. It will take all of her skills to figure out who the killer is before something bad happens to somebody else.


The characters are well rounded and well developed. It was great to get to spend more time with Meg and her friends, Jill and Matt. I will say that after a while I got a little tired of reading about what they were drinking and how often they were drinking. That’s only my opinion and other readers may not feel the same. And Gam is still the grounding force in Meg’s life, and not your typical grandmother.

The author is very talented in writing suspense with just the written word, and there was plenty of it contained within the pages of this book. There are a lot of suspects to consider and clues to sift through and the mystery is not an easy one to solve. And we get more details involving the murder of Meg’s dad, which is another mystery in the book and series.

I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys a well crafted cozy mystery. If you like the outdoors and extreme sports, this book and series is for you.

I received a free copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for a honest review. I would like to thank NetGalley and Kensington Books for the opportunity to read and review this book.

Enjoyable and engaging cozy mystery. It is fun to tag along with Meg as she pursues her adventures for her job. I could totally relate to her aversion to caves and elevators, as I suffer from the same phobia. Yes, I have been in more elevators than I like. And also several caves. The fear remains. I could feel her anguish as she traversed the tube/cave. Of course, that wasn't her biggest enemy. Humans are, as usual. Lots of human, political, scientific, and drug interests are involved.

As soon as I saw the description of this book, I requested a review copy. With Lava River Cave as part of the plot, I definitely wanted to read it. Our family tried to visit last summer, but there wasn't a single space left in the parking lot so I figured that a vicarious visit through one of my favorite genres was going to be the closest I came until at least next spring.

I had a hard time getting through the book. There is soooo much beer, and so much time spent describing the types and flavors of different brews. I was there for the cave, not the trendy restaurants and the other mystery that seemed to get more story time than the murder that this particular book is about. Maybe if I'd started with the first book in the series, I'd have been more involved with the main character and her life. Or maybe if the author had invented her own cave instead of taking one that's found in online lists of places to go with young children and trying to make it frightening, I would've felt differently about it.

This was the first book I have read in the Pacific Northwest mysteries, and I really enjoyed it. The main character, Meg, is a journalist for Northwest Extreme magazine in Portland Oregon. Her father was a well-known investigative journalist who died doing a story methaphetamine sales. Meg has never gotten over his death and believes he was murdered.

Her latest assignment takes her Bend to investigate the lava caves. As she's exploring the caves with a group, she literally falls over a dead body. Meg starts to investigate the murder while continuing to try to find out what happened to her father.

The plot was well-written and had lots of twists, and the ending was a total surprise to me in the best way. The characters were interesting and quirky. I highly recommend this book and will be reading the others in the series.

Thanks to Kensington Books and NetGalley for the ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This is a well done tale which falls in the cosy genre by virtue of Meg being an amateur detective who keeps finding dead bodies but it's also more. Meg's got a lot going on in this installment and, if like me, you haven't read the whole series, you'll be able to catch up quickly because Dyer-Seeley won't make you feel left out. She's a journalist who has taken a job with an outdoors magazine even though that's really not her thing, nor are the caves she finds herself exploring as part of an assignment. The caves and Bend, Oregon location are terrific settings. The mystery of the murdered Forest Service employee she finds is less interesting than her quest to know what happened to her dad but it's twisty enough. Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC. Nevada Barr fans will like this one, as will cozy readers who like an outdoor setting.

This is a great mystery with interesting characters, a compelling plot and a strong sense of Portland and the Pacific Northwest, interesting geologicla information and especially the craft beer. Meg Reed is a writer for Northwest Extreme outdoor magazine, despite the fact that she is not really all that athletic. Things in her life are about to change, the magazine may be sold to a group of Japanese investors and her two best friends are moving away, and she is still investigating the reason behind her father's death.. One of them, Matt, is going to Bend Oregon and encourages Meg to pitch the magazine on the idea of her going on a special tour of the lava cave in a protected forest area. This came about because Congressman Riley wants to open up the protected land. In an orientation meeting the night before the cave tour Meg meets Kira, a forest service ranger and immediately feels a connection to her. But when the tour takes place and Meg is in the lead of the group she finds Kira's murdered body. Meg, as she has in the past, becomes involved in the investigation in order to honor her feelings of friendship with Kira. Meg is an intrepid heroine with a good sense of humor and this well written mystery had me interested all the way through.

Journalist Meg, a lawmaker and several other interested parties go on a spelunking expedition to investigate claims of misuse of public lands. It should be a great story for Meg, if she can get over her fear of enclosed spaces. It’s also a welcome distraction from her life, where everything seems in danger of falling apart. Sadly, Meg won’t have any time to relish being away from all her other worries, because she soon finds the body of a land management employee, stabbed to death. I really enjoyed the setting of this book, I’ve read horror stories about BLM employees not wearing their uniforms for fear of being attacked in the western U.S. by people want to use federal lands as their own. Creepy fun