Rock Bottom

What should be a dream vacation—a honeymoon rafting trip through the Grand Canyon—rapidly becomes anything but for Em Hansen in Andrews’s well-paced 11th mystery featuring the Utah geologist (after 2005’s Dead Dry). It doesn’t help that Em hasn’t told hunky new husband Fritz Calder, the trip leader, about her deep-seated fear of moving water. That Fritz’s needy 13-year-old son will be among the motley 15-member party is also cause for concern. But the real spoiler is mystery man George “Wink” Oberley, who manages to put a damper on the entire expedition—when he’s not sneaking off to do heaven knows what with another group of rafters from the God’s Voice fundamentalist church. Then Wink vanishes—and suspicion falls squarely on Fritz. Andrews layers the story with generous geological data as well as striations of such familiar themes as the potential conflicts between science and faith. On the down side, to spot the bad guy you don’t exactly have to be a rock scientist. Agent: Deborah Schneider, Gelfman Schneider. (Aug.)