“Personal drama handled, my heart found its regular pace, and I
shoved the phone back into my bag. I muttered another “thank you,” then jammed
up the hill, following a dank river of water and ashes that would end in blood.”
(Skies of Ash, Rachel Howzell Hall, Chapter Two, Page 20)
It is
almost mid-December and six months after Land of Shadows when Detective Elouise
“Lou” Norton is called out to a house fire in Baldwin Hills. There are bodies
in what is left of the house ravaged by a horrific fire most likely caused by
an arsonist. As it happens, the scene is a short three miles away from her home.
While she has directions, she could have just followed the smoke plume over the
area.
Much of
the house at 6381 Don Mateo Drive is gone. What remains and still barely stands
hides the bodies of Juliet Chatman and her kids, Chloe and Cody. All three were
found dead. The smoke got to them before the flames worked their way to them.
But, there are troubling aspects that indicate Juliet Chatman knew they were in
serious danger. One is the fact that while she clearly was holding on to her
daughter, Juliet Chatman died while clutching a gun in the other. Then there is
the 911 call Juliet made where she said somebody was trying to kill her. The name
of that person is not discernable on the tape.
Clearly,
person or persons unknown, did kill the mom and her kids. Somebody did it.
While law enforcement always starts from the proposition that the spouse did it
in this case that initially seems unlikely. Christopher Chatman, a commodities broker,
arrived as the fire was blazing and was injured fighting firefighters in attempt to go into the inferno
after his family. His alibi for why he was not home stands up to scrutiny.
If he
didn’t do it, then who did? And why are the neighbors being so weird about the
Chatmans? Two of the many questions for Detective Norton and her partner Colin
Taggert to answer in Skies of Ash.
Often
the second book in a series is weaker than the first. That is certainly not
remotely the case here. Skies of Ash builds on Land
of Shadows and adds further depth to the Norton character as well
as most of the other characters.
Like a
lot of really good series, this second book continues everything regarding
personal relationships while offering a brand new intriguing case to solve.
Such is the case here with what is definitely a horrific tragedy in the deaths of
two children as well as their mother. Author Rachel Howzell Hall does not focus
on the gruesome details of what happens to a body in a fire and instead keeps the
focus on the reason why things like this happen.
Skies of Ash is a very good book. Interested potential readers are strongly
encouraged to read Land of Shadows as major plot points from the first book carry
over here amongst the new case and that investigation. There are a lot of
things going on in this second book that tie directly into the first making
both books well worth your time and effort. Good stuff and very much
recommended.
Skies of Ash
Rachel Howzell Hall
Tom Doherty Associates, LLC
May 2015
ISBN# 978-0-7653-3636-1
Hardback (also available in paperback and digital formats)
336 Pages
$25.99
Material supplied
by the good folks of the Dallas Public Library System.
Kevin R. Tipple © 2018
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