Kathy Brandt is author of the underwater investigation series featuring SCUBA diver and underwater crime scene investigator, Hannah Sampson. Her books have an strong environmental themes.

"I think that addressing environmental issues in the mystery allows me to reach a wider audience than someone who is writing a strictly environmental piece. I love the ocean. This extraordinary place is packed with life. And stunning. The idea that thirty percent of the world's coral reefs has already been destroyed, that if the trend continues, sixty percent will be decimated by 2030 is frightening. And what a horrible loss. Species are being wiped out -- turtles, whales, sharks, dolphin. A lot of it is just senseless slaughter. My first book talked about the damage being done to the reef, the second deals with the killing of shark for their fins."

Kathy's favourite dive site is the wreck of the Rhone in the British Virgin Islands, and any site that is rich in sea life. She likes the Rhone because it is blanketed in colour -- encrusted in coral and sponges. You almost always see turtles and barracuda and it's teeming with fish: sergeant majors, angelfish, parrotfish, durgon. It's a popular dive site for other reasons as well. It is the wreck of a 310 foot steamer that went down in a hurricane in 1967. She's in two sections. The bow is about 150 feet long and at about 20-25 m of water. You can see the bowsprit, foremast with crow's nest, a cannon and can swim inside. Stern is 10 m with a huge propeller

Her most exciting dive was in the Sea of Cortez when she encountered a school of some 25 hammerheads which promptly ignored her and her buddies.

Kathy is an avid diver and sailor and taught writing at the University of Colorado before deciding to write full time. Her articles have appeared in Cruising World, Sailing, Yachting, Diver and many other publications. Her new book, Dangerous Depths, is published in May. It is the third mystery in the underwater investigation series. The environmental focus this time is sea turtles and their nesting grounds. Her other novels are Swimming with the Dead and Dark Water Dive.