A cosy murder set on the northern coast of Germany. Enna is training with her fellow lifeguards when she sees a body floating in the sea, handy that Enna is also a police officer so is able to start dealing with her find straight away.
Enna and her new boss Pavel, start to investigate the death already identified as a local man. The story takes a few twists as they interview and dismiss various people from their suspect list.
A quirky story but an interesting read, although there are a few things that obviously don’t translate properly, the use of 50mph, which surely should be 50kph as it is set in Germany, also a reference to bringing in the FBI.
That aside, I enjoyed the book.

Thank you to NetGalley for an advanced digital copy of this book.

Inspector Enna Koopman is on vacation from the police, but is conducting a rescue training exercise for her other job as a lifeguard in the tumultuous North Sea off the coast of Germany. She rescues her partner, but then spots a body drifting offshore. The man is either asleep or dead, but it is not easy to reach him and finally bring him ashore, where it is obvious he is dead. But how did he die? When it becomes clear he did not die of natural causes, Enna meets her new partner, Detective Chief Inspector Pavel Neuhof and they start putting the pieces together. But it is a puzzling case and no one seems to have a motive to murder Toni Sattelmacher. He had recently sold his parents' house for a large amount of money and relocated them to a retirement village, where they seem content. His brother did not receive anything from the sale, but there had been a settlement years ago and he didn't expect anything. Tracking down his girlfriend seems tricky, but when finally reached, she has no motive and in fact they were planning to marry soon.

But Enna and Pavel keep digging and finally figure out what happened, after following many winding roads.

This is a first novel for the author and I think there will be something worth following, but I would love to see it as TV series, where it would be easier to keep track of all the foreign names.

This is definitely one of those cosy crime mysteries you can curl up with on the sofa on a Sunday afternoon and read! A nice 'who dunnit' as the detectives work their way through the list of suspects. This is the first book in a series and therefore introduces the two main detectives, Pavel and Enna. The characters were interesting, and I really warmed to them and found them quite witty. It would have been nice to have had a bit more depth to the detectives, but perhaps this gets explored in subsequent novels.
At times, I was rather confused by all the character names, locations and the plot about the money/house. But I got the gist!
It was an entertaining crime story, and I would read the next in the series to see how the main characters develop.

Honest review in return for an ARC
3.5/5

Enna is an inspector in a relatively quiet town. She also helps in water recuses. As she is out on the water she runs into a body floating. Thus the case is opened on who and why. Enna has a new boss so he wants to be involved every step of the way. The story follows the case and the results. So sad what family does to each other.

Quirky investigator Enna is trying to understand her new boss, Pavel as they investigate two cases. One appears to be a simple suicide, the other most likely a murder. When Enna pulls an old acquaintance's body out of the North Sea she must be the one to tell his elderly parents. As Pavel escorts her to the nursing home, he observes a few things about the couple that seem a bit "off." Being on the behavioral spectrum himself, Pavel is tuned into items and places which strike him as not fitting correctly in the situation. Enna is the "people" person in this work relationship who finds a way to get each of the suspects to share a bit about their interactions with the dead man; who is turns out owed quite a lot of money to some not very nice people.
Follow along as Enna and Pavel unravel the motives, alibis and suspects in Toni's murder.
I really wanted to like this as the setting is unique. I don't feel that there was enough backstory for the characters to really feel invested in them. The author notes that the character of Pavel is based upon her husband who is also on the spectrum. Perhaps that is why the book seems to move rather slowly as Pavel needs time to process each new piece of information.

A pleasing cosy crime procedural set in a German coastal town. I liked the contrast between the quirky, enigmatic detective Enna and her new boss, the neurodivergent Pavel. The pace was a bit slow but I liked the setting and the police pricedures.

My thanks to Net Galley and Book Whisperer for a copy of this book to review.

Not a bad start to this new series. I look forward to more from this author. A body is found during a training exercise and Enna Koopman , a police officer is teamed with her quirky new boss Pavel to find the culprit. They are polar opposites which infuses some good humor. A decent read but I wasn't wowed. I hope more character development occurs in future novels.

“Deep Waters”, by Heidi Hinrichs

Northern Shores Cozy Mystery book #1
(Murder in the Dunes)

The story in a few words:

Germany North Sea

During a routine rescue dive, Inspector Enna Koopmann stumbles on a dead man drifting in the waves. It is evident the man did not die of natural causes. So, Enna and her extremely meticulous partner, Detective Chief Inspector Pavel Neuhof need to find a motive and the culprit…. launching an investigation.

My thoughts:

The author lays the groundwork for her trilogy while in the background the investigation moves along at a very snail pace. It dilly-dallies quite a bit so much so that at times my mind was someplace else and I had to reread some passages. Having said this, the book is a police procedural first then a people behavior study. I particularly love how the author depicts Pavel’s odd behavior and how Enna manages to deal with him. This is well done. This cozy mystery gives us some humour along the way and in general also well plotted. Enna is an original she wears shorts and very colourful socks, not the usual attire for a policewoman but hey she made me smile or maybe giggle a little bit.


Set in Germany the author tried too much to please the North American audience in doing so tripped by using Fahrenheit instead of Celsius and FBI instead of BND or some other agencies. I may be picky but although fiction I prefer reading something closer to reality for those little details.

Definitely this book was not one of my preferred I found it somewhat boring but again this is me. I said it before this is my opinion judge for yourself you may love it.

This is the first in a new cozy mystery series. In her spare time Enna is a life guard and on a training session finds the body of Toni Sattelmacher. Her old boss has just retired and is replaced with Pavel Neuhof. Pavel is kind of quirky, probably on the spectrum, but as the two learn each others ways of handling a case they work pretty well together. I have to admit I was a little confused about all the money floating around but, in all fairness, I probably should have paid more attention. Since this is the first of a series I find that the author is usually laying the groundwork for future books and I look forward to reading more in the series.

Thank you to Netgalley and BookWhisperer for providing me with a digital copy.

A cross genre that includes elements of police proceddurals, cozy mystery and a little humor. It's a much better read than the description led me to believe. A training exercise is interupted by the discovery of a dead body. Luckily the exercise is being conducted as a police training, so there's plenty of police response immediately available. Luckily if you're the police, not the body!!!
This is the first book in a series. The next two books in the series are to be released before the end of 2024, so you'll not have to wait long to see where this duo of seemingly unmatched investigators will take us. The story is well plotted, with the characters earnest in their efforts and endearing in their differences. I'd recommend to cozy mystery lovers but it will also be an excellent read for someone bored with their usual mysteries.

This was a strong start to the Murder in the Dunes series, it had that concept that I was looking for in this type of book. The overall story worked with the mystery element that I wanted, and that the characters had that feel that I was looking for. It left me excited to read more in this series and from Heidi Hinrichs. Heidi Hinrichs was able to weave a great story and I’m glad I got to read this.

Germany, North Sea, procedural, criminologist, verbal-humor, sly-humor, situational-humor, embezzlement, working-partners, neurodivergent, autism-spectrum, suspense, investigation*****

On her day off, Police Inspector Enna Koopmann (of the colourful socks) was practicing with the German Lifeguard Assn when it got too real. Someone she used to know was dead in the North Sea and she had to bring in the body and start the investigation.
Her new, extremely meticulous partner, Detective Chief Inspector Pavel Neuhof, is today transferred to lower Saxony in from CID, is rather OCD and somewhat neurodivergent, has some odd behaviors, and is decidedly too literal. This is their first case together and it is as strange as the pair of detectives. Sometimes this is a real gigglesnort (I love it!), but the investigation is spot on.
I requested and received a temporary advance review copy from Book Whisperer via NetGalley. Thank you! Avail now
#DeepWaters #NetGalley Book 1 of #MurderInTheDunesBk1 by Heidi Hinrichs #Germany #NorthSea
#ANorthernShoresCozyMystery

“Deep Waters” is a “cozy mystery” by Heidi Hinrichs. This book takes place in Germany, but was written for a US audience (temperatures are in Fahrenheit, for instance). This book is a police procedure/investigation one, so the main characters are police people. Luckily these police people are pretty dang smart, so that was a good thing to read (sorry, I’ve read too many where the cops are inept lately). I cannot say that I found this book a fantastic read - the pacing is a bit slow - but I did like the insight into one of the characters, who is most likely on the spectrum. There were some odd things where I think a conversion of some sort happened (a height is described very precisely - like 8.9 feet, opposed to “about 9 feet”; ditto for a weight - something like 248.6 pounds opposed to “about 250 pounds”). I did find myself engaged with the mystery - and getting to know the two police characters better, but I need to be in the mood for a cozy mystery. I think if you are a reader who likes both police procedural mysteries along with cozy mysteries, this book may be one you’d like. This book is the first in a series, so there will be more opportunities to know more about this police duo.

I hate to say it but I found this book boring. It’s slow, not much happens & the characters aren’t really developed. I just couldn’t get into it. Also at one point Pavel makes a comment “we might have to call the FBI in”. Really??? They’re in Germany, what do the FBI have to do with anything ? #DeepWaters #NetGalley

This was a great book! I like how it was a book about some pretty serious topics, but they were still able to bring in some humor and make you laugh while reading this book. I really like the pacing of it, and how the characters were written.

Thank you to NetGalley, to the author, and to the publisher for this complementary ARC in exchange for my honest review!!!

Heidi knows how to write a very suspenseful, wonderfully written thriller! It was fantastic! I could not put this book down. Highly recommend.

This book is beautifully written and the author has created a team of detectives who will win readers’ hearts. Pavel is a particularly endearing character, reminiscent of Will Trent, Karin Slaughter’s magnificent creation. The mystery in this case is all too credible and seems a very relevant and modern crime involving the complexities of property management as families age. I can’t wait to read more and see what these characters do next!