Aubrey Nye Hamilton Reviews: A Violent Masterpiece: A Novel by Jordan Harper

 

Jordan Harper’s newest piece of crime fiction is, like his last book, about the dark side of the entertainment industry and Los Angeles. In A Violent Masterpiece (Mulholland, 2026) three distinct voices narrate a graphic tale of grimy mayhem and amorality. Jake Deal comes alive when he livestreams the nightlife of Los Angeles to his sensation-seeking audience. Bloody crime scenes, devastating car crashes, nightclub brawls, all are grist to his mill. Of particular interest just now is a serial killer known as the LA Ripper. Kara Delgado works for a secret concierge organization that arranges for entertainment the upper crust of LA can’t buy on the open market such as, but not limited to, drugs and sex parties. She’s been quietly searching for her friend Phoebe who disappeared months earlier and has begun to fear Phoebe was a victim of the LA Ripper. Doug Gibson is a defense attorney who represents the underdog against a criminal justice system that overwhelmingly bulldozes over anyone without status or money.

One of the Hollywood elite normally supported by that system is arrested for pedophilia. The complaints have been piling up and the proof is undeniable. He hires Gibson to defend him, telling him he’s prepared to turn state’s evidence against the crowd he’s been supplying with underage girls to get a better deal for himself. Despite being on suicide watch, Gibson’s client is dead within hours of offering to rat out his friends to the authorities.

The paths of Jake, Kara, and Doug cross eventually and they realize they have common goals. They begin working together to expose the most privileged icons of Hollywood in a hair-raising and explosive resolution.

An explicit story of the worst of LA excesses, strikingly narrated in terse, mesmerizing prose. Expect to see this book on the 2026 best crime fiction lists and on multiple award nomination surveys. Starred reviews from Library Journal and Publishers Weekly.

 

·         Publisher: ‎Mulholland Books

·         Publication date: ‎April 28, 2026

·         Language: ‎English

·         Print length: ‎384 pages

·         ISBN-10: ‎0316458406

·         ISBN-13: ‎978-0316458405

 

 

Amazon Associate Purchase Link: https://amzn.to/41HqcVv

 

 

Aubrey Nye Hamilton ©2026

Aubrey Hamilton is a former librarian who works on Federal It projects by day and reads mysteries at night.

Aubrey Nye Hamilton Reviews: Left on Rancho: A Novel by Francesco Paola

  

I met Francesco Paola at Left Coast Crime last month during the Author Speed Dating event. For those who have not attended a mystery conference, author speed dating takes place in a large room, where readers sit at tables and authors in pairs walk from table to table and describe their latest book in two minutes. They generally give out bookmarks and other swag. The room usually holds around 30 or 40 tables, and the authors are talked out by the time they reach the last few groups. From the reader’s perspective, it’s a great way to learn about new authors, which is the point of the exercise.

Paola’s debut is Left on Rancho (SparkPress, 2025), an original tale based on Paola’s short-lived career in the California cannabis industry. Andrew Eastman spent 20 years in the Silicon Valley tech world. When his last company collapsed in flames, he was so bruised by the experience that he planned to live abroad for awhile. A call from his childhood best friend Charlie changed his mind. Charlie’s legal cannabis company Kannawerks is floundering. He needs Andrew to apply his corporate management expertise and his knowledge of mergers and acquisitions to shore it up until the company can be sold. Manufacturing is a different world from IT but Andrew’s bond with Charlie ran deep, so he agreed.

The Kannawerks manufacturing facility is on the edge of the Mojave Desert in a small town, with only a for-profit prison that holds immigrants waiting to be deported. Andrew quickly learns that the facility operations need rework, although the staff, many of whom are enthusiastic users of the cannabis gummies they produce, are resistant to structure and process.

The managers fill him in on the legislative side of the business. While cannabis has been legalized in California, the illegal sale of marijuana continues. Firms who have gone through the licensing process to become legal producers and who are subject to regulatory oversight are consistently undercut by their street competitors. Marijuana and its products are still considered illegal federally, which means the stores who buy merchandise from Kannawerks are generally an all-cash business, subject to frequent robberies. (See Light It Up by Nick Petrie, the third book in the Peter Ash series, for another look at this aspect of the legal cannabis industry.)

Andrew recognizes the company is in an impossible situation. He intends to help Charlie find a buyer and make a quick exit until circumstances shift beyond his control.

While the narrative is mostly fresh and unexpected, the theme of immigrant abuse is unfortunately nothing new and downright depressing. Despite Andrew’s extensive experience in the tech world, he is astonishingly naïve in this new setting, mostly due to his loyalty to his childhood friend whom he comes to see he doesn’t really know.

I have mixed feelings about the depth of industry information in the story, which covers the California state legislative quagmire, the production process, the relationships with retail sellers, and funding for start-ups. On one hand it all informs the plot, on the other it approaches the level of a data dump.

I found the ending both surprising and deeply satisfying. Not the usual thriller, readers who enjoy financial crime fiction or who are looking for something new will want to look at this one.

 

• Publisher: SparkPress
• Publication date: ‎February 11, 2025
• Language: ‎English
• Print length: ‎352 pages
• ISBN-10: ‎1684632927
• ISBN-13: ‎978-1684632923

 

 

Amazon Associate Purchase Link: https://amzn.to/4tHLEWr

 

 

Aubrey Nye Hamilton ©2026

Aubrey Hamilton is a former librarian who works on Federal It projects by day and reads mysteries at night.

Bookblog of the Bristol Library: Cat’s Claw by Dolores Hitchens

Bookblog of the Bristol Library: Cat’s Claw by Dolores Hitchens:   Reviewed by Jeanne Rachel Murdock is an apple-cheeked, white-haired little old lady who lives with her prim sister Jennifer in Los Ang...

Friday's Forgotten Book: Bury the Past: A Detective Penley Mystery by James L’Etoile

 

It has roughly been a year since the events of At What Cost: A Detective Penley Mystery by James L’Etoile occurred as Bury the Past: A Detective Penley Mystery begins. The repercussions of those events have rocked Detective Penley, professionally and personally, but the work is keeping him going. The ongoing work of solving cases is also keeping Detective Newberry going as well though the fact that she used to work in Internal Affairs is still an issue for many that work with her. They like to play petty harassment games and did so again this morning as her and Penley were dispatched to a murder scene.

 

Larry Burger never made it home from his night shift job at a local truck stop. His car suddenly broke down on an isolated and dark road as he made his way home. A person or persons unknown had then attacked him. From the clues at the scene, it appears that he was beaten to death.

 

A few years ago, Larry Burger was a cop. He turned informant in a case that Paula Newberry handled in her role of working in Internal Affairs. A case that she thought she was done with and over.  

 

It isn’t. That case is now back and back in a really bad way for Detective Puala Newberry and the Sacramento Police Department.

 

This second book in the very good police procedural series builds on the first. Storylines begun there continue here as does the further evolution of several characters. Thus, it is best, as it always is with quality series, to read the previous book first.

 

Strongly recommended.

 

Amazon Associate Purchase Link: https://amzn.to/4jL805m

 

 

My hardback reading copy was provided by the author with no expectation of a review.

 

Kevin R. Tipple ©2026

Publication Day Review: Illusion of Truth: A Novel by James L’Etoile

 

The third book of the police procedural series that began with The Face of Greed delivers in every possible way for the reader. Illusion of Truth: A Novel begins a few months after River of Lies and starts with a bang.

 

The call out to a local church was a ploy to get police officers to respond. Allegedly, according to the caller to dispatch, there was some sort of disturbance involving a large crowd looting a church in North Sacramento. The church is located on the edge of the territory held by a certain gang though the church itself is supposed to be neutral territory and safe from all the gangs. For the several officers that responded to the scene, the place was anything but safe. Within minutes of their arrival, two separate improvised explosive devices are detonated.

 

Several officers are seriously injured in the blasts. That includes Sergent Brian Connor who recently asked Homicide Detective Emily Hunter to move in with him. She said she wasn’t ready. With his injuries now, she may never have the chance to change her mind.

 

Homicide Detective Emily Hunter is very used to getting the middle of the night call to go to a crime scene. This time the call is from a lieutenant who tells her to respond instead at the hospital. It was supposed to be his night off. Instead, Brian Connor is fighting for his life in the trauma unit.

 

Detective Hunter wants in on the investigation. One that is being led by her partner, Javier Medina. Not that he is not a good detective. He certainly is. But, she can’t just sit by. She is going to be involved, no matter what. Since that will happen anyway, her Lieutenant gives her the go ahead to work the case, but she has to follow Medina’s lead to the letter or she is benched. She agrees. Before long the case leads them in ways they never saw coming.

 

This third book in the police procedural series published by Oceanview Publishing is a good one. A read that could stand on its own if you are new to the series. But, those who choose to read the series in order will get far more out of the book.

 

One aspect of this series is the developing relationship between Hunter and Connor. So too is the evolving political scene as well as the fallout from earlier cases Hunter has worked. There are other aspects as well that continue to be developed and evolve. Those aspects are why this is a series that should be read in order.

 

Bottom Line---A very good read and strongly recommended.

 
 

Amazon Associate Purchase Link: https://amzn.to/3YynS1j

 

 

My digital ARC came from the author with no expectation of a read or a review.

 

 

Kevin R. Tipple ©2026

Aubrey Nye Hamilton Reviews: Illusion of Truth by James L’Etoile

  

James L’Etoile has nearly 30 years of experience within the criminal justice system as associate warden in a maximum-security prison, hostage negotiator, facility captain, and director of California' s state parole system. His writing is laden with the authoritative detail only someone with that kind of background can supply. His series characters include Detective Nathan Parker of the Maricopa County, Arizona, Sheriff Department; Detective John Penley of the Sacramento, California, Police Department; and Detective Emily Hunter of the Sacramento, California, Police Department.

The third book about Detective Hunter will be released on 6 January by Oceanview, a publishing house I’ve come to rely on for good crime fiction.

Illusion of Truth (Oceanview, January 2026) finds Detective Emily Hunter at a crossroads in her relationship with Detective Brian Conner. He wants to share living arrangements and she isn’t ready. With that on his mind, Conner and his partner respond to a call about a crowd and an active burglary near a church in a rough section of the city. Several units respond, only to find no crowds and no evidence of criminal activity. They are dispersing when a bomb explodes under one police unit and another goes off in the church doorway where Conner and his partner are standing. Both are injured, Conner severely.

The residents of the area are among those demanding a reduction of police funding and accusing the force of overzealous monitoring. A councilman named Davis speaks up whenever possible, accusing the police of brutality and improper behavior. The bombings are seen by some as the natural outcome of abusive law enforcement.

Emily and her partner Javier Medina dive headfirst into the investigation, despite her supervisor’s urging to let others lead. However, I can’t credibly believe she would be allowed anywhere near a case in which she had such a personal investment. Yes, I know this is fiction.

The councilman’s involvement is questioned when Emily and her colleagues learn that the components for the bombs were purchased from the electronics store that the councilman owns. Some good detail throughout about mobile explosive devices, their construction, and the ways they can be deployed.

An original story with a realistic scenario. The push to defund police departments in some areas is quite real and its inclusion here as a major plot point is timely. The links between street gangs and unethical police are known, if not always acknowledged, sometimes with adverse public safety impact. The changing misdirection, especially in regards to the retired captain, is nicely handled. Emily’s mother continued deterioration is a sad situation that many readers will recognize from first-hand experience.

Emily herself is intelligent, quick-thinking, and a natural for the detective role. Her willingness to take risks, though, sometimes borders on the foolhardy.

For fans of contemporary police procedurals. No need to read the earlier books in the series, this one is fine as a stand-alone. Starred review from Kirkus.

·         Publisher: ‎Oceanview Publishing

·         Publication date: ‎January 6, 2026

·         Language: ‎English

·         Print length: ‎366 pages

·         ISBN-10: ‎1608096491

·         ISBN-13: ‎978-1608096497

 

 

Amazon Associate Purchase Link: https://amzn.to/45uiD6D

 

 

Aubrey Nye Hamilton ©2026

Aubrey Hamilton is a former librarian who works on Federal It projects by day and reads mysteries at night.

Review: Fallen Star by Lee Goldberg

  
This comes out Tuesday...

Fallen Star by Lee Goldberg is the sixth novel in the Eve Ronin series that began in January 2020 with Lost Hills. As the author points out in his note at the beginning of the book, there are major spoilers in the read for two of his books. He does not mention the fact that there are also other spoilers for previous books, though they are not as significant as the ones he cites.

 

He also mentions in his note that reading about Duncan eating all the time in this series makes some folks hungry. He suggests that one should have some carrots or celery on hand for those moments. How eating rabbit food is going to work when Duncan is eating a breakfast sandwich and hashbrowns, a burger and fries, and other great meals is never explained. Maybe that is being saved for the next book. It could also be an unsolvable case.

 

It also comes to mind that a book that featured crime locations mentioned in the series as well as food locations that Duncan has eaten at and thereby endorsed, would also make a great book for those in the Los Angeles area. Maybe something the author and publisher should consider. Just a thought.

 

Homicide Detective Eve Ronin of the Los Angeles County Sherrif’s Department is looking forward to a quiet evening at home with her boyfriend, Daniel Brooks. That is once they get through the grocery shopping. A chore he seems to enjoy and one that she ready to have finished on this drizzly Sunday evening in early November. Pay for the stuff, get out, and get the heck home. At least that was the plan until, as they were working their way through checkout, she noticed a numerous cars swarming the parking lot.

 

There has been a string of flash-mob smash-and-grabs across the area and the beauty store next to the grocery store where they are has been hit before. Homicide Detective Ronin thinks it is about to happen again. As the hooded and masked occupants step out of the many cars and start heading for the store carrying trash bags for their planned loot, she knows she can’t stop them easily as she is far outnumbered. After getting backup started her way, she does the next best thing.

 

She proceeds to move from car to car, shooting tires along the way, making the numerous vehicles undriveable for the moment. With no way of leaving as they exited the store, short of their own two feet, a number of the thieves surrender immediately, while others attempt to flee and are soon caught.

 

Of course, in the aftermath, Eve Ronin is in trouble yet again as her actions violated numerous policies. It is not the first time her actions have violated policies. She also didn’t see any other way to stop the thefts from happening and it got the job done.

 

(It also caused this reader to laugh out loud like crazy.)

 

Suspended, and probably facing a quick termination and the end of her career, she is quickly returned to duty by Sheriff Richard Lansing. A political animal and a mayoral candidate, the optics of what she did can’t be ignored. Videos of her actions went viral and the people of Los Angeles are expressing how thrilled they are with what she did. For a department that has been through some things, Eve Ronin is again generating good publicity, and they need it.

 

That means she is back at work that Monday morning when a fifty-five-gallon plastic drum was pulled onshore at the Malibu Lagoon. Once he got it on shore and out of the way, the lifeguard went and opened the drum. What he found means that Homicide Detective Eve Ronin and her partner, Duncan “Donuts” Pavone have a murder case. This is the first of several deaths and other cases they will handle in Fallen Star by Lee Goldberg.

 

The latest installment in this series is another very good read. It contains numerous references to previous books in this series as well as events in the Sharpe and Walker series and both the arson investigators are well involved here. As a result, if you are like me and have read all the material, you are ready for this one. If you have not, make sure you read this series, at the very least, before embarking here.

 

A great book in a great series, Fallen Star by Lee Goldberg, is definitely worth your time.

 

 

Amazon Associate Purchase Link: https://amzn.to/4ltUWlm

 

 

 

My digital ARC reading copy came from the publisher, Thomas & Mercer, through NetGalley, with no expectation of a review.

 

 

Kevin R. Tipple ©2025

Friday's Forgotten Book: At What Cost: A Detective Penley Mystery by James L’Etoile

A serial killer is active in At What Cost: A Detective Penley Mystery by James L’Etoile. Not just your average run of the mill serial killer either as West Sacramento Police Detective John Penley and his partner, Detective Paula Newberry, have discovered. They already knew a killer was dumping bodies and those bodies were found missing organs. The latest victim, a well-known gang member going back many years, and a guy who did a lot of horrible stuff in his past regardless of what he was doing in the here and now, is missing his head and his limbs. His extremely distinctive tattoo on his chest made what is left of him easy to identify.

 

Evidence leads them to believe more and more that the killer is also a collector. They think he is collecting body parts from the kills. In a way, he is. In another way, he is a harvester. He, somehow, is aware of the needs of patients on the national transplant list. He is harvesting organs to fill those needs and others on the black market.

 

He soon makes it very clear that he knows Penley’s son is on the transplant list for a kidney and the need is critical. His disease progression is such that the window for his son to survive the surgery is closing a little each day. The killer makes it very clear that he can get a kidney for Penley’s son, but it is going to cost in many different ways.

 

What follows is a complex and often disturbingly intense police procedural. For those of us who have been through the transplant process, the read can be a bit much at times. While it is all fiction, one wonders just how strong are the safeguards to prevent what happens in the read.

 

At What Cost: A Detective Penley Mystery by James L’Etoile is the first book of this police procedural series. Published in 2016 by Crooked Lane Books, the read is just as powerful and relevant today.

Strongly Recommended.

 

Amazon Associate Purchase Link: https://amzn.to/4mX79Pv

 

My hardback reading copy came from the Central, or Downtown Branch, of the Dallas Public Library System. Book two of the series, Bury the Past, is on hold for me at the library.

 

 

Kevin R. Tipple ©2025

Review: River of Lies: A Novel by James L’Etoile

 

River of Lies: A Novel by James L'Etoile is the second book in the Detective Emily Hunter Mystery series that began with Face of Greed. Like any good police procedural series does, this read builds on previous events and ongoing issues so I strongly recommend reading that book first before you get to this one.

 

Detective Emily Hunter of the Sacramento Police Department has had her date for the evening with Brian Conner ruined as he got called into work suddenly. She is familiar with the problem and understands that things happen. Still, she is a bit bummed when she gets back home. She is barely inside the house when she gets her own call from the Watch Commander.

 

Other folks have had a far worse horrible evening than a cancelled date. The disturbance that her date was called in to work for has turned into some sort of mass casualty event at a local homeless camp. Fire swept through the camp displacing many who were already having a very hard time. There are casualties tonight at the third fire in a homeless camp in the last two weeks. Lieutenant Terri Williams does not yet know if they have any homicides, but the Chief wants her out there and working the case. She has a reputation and that is playing a major role in this situation. She heads out the door and calls her partner, Javier Madina, to arrange picking him up on the way to what is left of the homeless camp.

 

When they arrive at the still smoldering scene along the banks of the river, it is clear that it is a bad deal. The number of ambulances makes it clear that many folks were hurt. As they talk to witnesses and fire personnel, it is clear that the fire was a deliberate act of arson intended to do a lot of damage and burn everyone out of their shelters. If that wasn’t enough, various witness state that there was also a person attacking folks with a baseball bat Not only that, they have at least one body with a clear gun shot wound to the head.

 

While Detectives Simmons and Taylor had been the primary on the first two fires, those incidents and this new one are now all Hunter’s and Medina’s. The fires are obviously linked and escalating. Even the media has figured that much out and the public pressure is mounting by the hour. As things heat up in Sacramento, literally and figuratively, it is up to Hunter and Medina to find the culprits responsible and put an end to it.

 

This second book in the Detective Emily Hunter Mystery Series is another solidly good read. I am skipping a lot of things so as to not ruin the read for others, but this book, and the series, has a lot of storytelling meat on the bones. Detectives Hunter and Media are fully fleshed out human beings with their own personal lives beyond the job. The same is true for many of the secondary characters. Interpersonal relationships matter as these are not cookie cutter caricatures. Such details add a richness to the read that does nothing to slow down the story in any way.

 

River of Lies: A Novel by James L'Etoile is well worth your time.

  

Amazon Associate Purchase Link: https://amzn.to/44kSq9u

 

I picked this up awhile back at Amazon using funds in my Amazon Associate account.

 

Kevin R. Tipple ©2025

Publication Day Review: Hidden in Smoke by Lee Goldberg

Hidden in Smoke by Lee Goldberg is the latest in the very enjoyable Sharpe & Walker series that began in Malibu Burning. If you have not read that book, you really need to as a major character from that book is resurrected here. In fact, as the author note at the start of this read explains, the ending of that book is addressed here on page one.

 

Danny Cole is alive and well in Japan, though he might be a tad bored. After several surgeries, he has a different face and has various names to go by as he moves about. The 35-year-old thief and grifter is retired and is, per doctor’s orders, trying to find inner peace and tranquility as he sits in the bathhouse. Any hope of that is gone when Los Angeles County Sheriff Department Arson Investigator Andrew Walker lumbers into the water next to him.

 

Walker isn’t there to arrest him. In fact, Walker wants Danny Cole to finish the job he started. If he does and gets even for what happened, he will help Walker as a certain drug price will come way down. A drug that Walker’s young son desperately needs to control his seizures.

 

For Danny, it is a chance to once again, experience the thrill of his old life. It will take months to pull off this heist. Doing so is one of the two main storylines in the book.

 

The other is dealing with the aftermath of a string of fires across Los Angeles. A number of fires has been set and caused damage at car ports in West Hollywood. The car ports had apartment buildings above them which provided fuel for the car port fire. Fire after fire happened and Walker and Waller and Sharpe are working the case when a catastrophic freeway fire pulls them onto another case.

 

A portion of I-10 in downtown Los Angeles burns and the freeway is severely damaged. Various materials were stored under the multilane overpass as the area was subleased to a business which also leased the area out to others. That resulted in folks running their small businesses under it. There was also a homeless encampment nearby and underneath the bridge.

 

With such a mix of fuels, it isn’t surprising a horrific multi alarm fire erupted. It burned so hot that the freeway in that section is severely damaged and will have to be repaired to the cost of millions and considerable time.

 

It has resulted in massive gridlock and a city wide and beyond traffic nightmare for residents. LA County Sheriff Richard Lansing reassigns Walker and Sharpe to the case as he sees a chance to score points with the public after they are tasked with determining what happened. He wants the fire investigated fast and, as he wants to be Mayor, is using, Walker and Sharpe to restore his scandal filled reputation. It’s complicated and Sharpe is sure that no matter what they find and do, they are going to get burned.

 

Not to mention, they have a case already that they have put a lot of legwork in on and have identified the suspect. Not that it matters as Lansing wants the best on the case, and Walker and Sharpe are the best. Seeing that other case to the finish line is not an option, so they get to work on the freeway fire, and find far more than expected.

 

Hidden in Smoke is another complicated and fast moving solidly good read. There are many moving parts here and they slowly come together as Danny works on his heist and Walker and Sharpe work their cases.

 

Not only is the book an enjoyable read, it makes you think as you drive under the overpasses in your city what could, potentially, happen. That fact alone is more than enough to creep you out.

For another perspective on the book, be sure to read Lesa's review at Lesa's Book Critiques.

Amazon Associate Purchase Link: https://amzn.to/3W5FH7p 

 

My reading copy came from the publisher, Thomas & Mercer, by way of NetGalley, with no expectation of a review. 

 

Kevin R. Tipple ©2025

Mystery Fanfare: AUTHORS FOR LA

Mystery Fanfare: AUTHORS FOR LA: From Daniel Palmer:  Ok, Authors...the time has come. It has been quite an undertaking to put together a live charity auction in such a shor...

Aubrey Nye Hamilton Reviews: Malibu Burning by Lee Goldberg

Malibu Burning by Lee Goldberg (Thomas & Mercer, 2023) finally drifted up my TBR stack and I tackled it over the weekend. I didn’t know anything about the book and I was delighted to see that the primary characters are arson investigators. I have wondered for years why arson investigators are not considered interesting enough to feature as leads in crime fiction. Homicide detectives, private eyes, department store detectives, insurance investigators, even food inspectors and railroad detectives, but I don’t remember seeing arson investigators as anything but incidental characters. Much of what they do is based on science, and I can understand that analyzing burn patterns and checking for accelerants does not make a scintillating read but I always thought it was fascinating.

Walter Sharpe is an old hand in the arson shop. He draws Andrew Walker as his new partner. Walker is a former U.S. Marshal, a bit of a cowboy, but his pregnant wife pressured him to find a job that would bring him home at night and arson seemed to be a likely alternative. With the wildfires in southern California never-ending and the winds whipping the smallest spark into an inferno that consumes acres of forest and millions of dollars in real estate, the arson department did not lack for work.

Danny Cole is a likable and talented thief, aided in his chosen profession by a significant degree of intelligence and creativity. His attention is drawn to the mega mansions in Malibu. These over-the-top residences (20 bedrooms! 40 bathrooms!) are full of valuable collectibles, art, jewelry, and cash. He decides that a well-placed wildfire would force the residents to flee, leaving the contents of their homes open to plunder.

The narrative moves back and forth between the investigators and the thieves. Along the way it draws attention to the political maneuvering that directs scarce fire protection resources to the wealthy and away from those who need them more. An informative thread describes the California convict firefighting program in which prisoners have the option to join a firefighting unit instead of living in a cell. A quick internet search says at least 14 states have programs that use inmates as firefighting resources and that they are considered essential in rural areas.

With over 50 books and multiple popular television series to his credit Goldberg is a master at character development, consistent pacing, and inventive plotting. I liked it!

The second adventure of Sharpe and Walker was released in September 2024 and the third is scheduled for April 2025. A promising new series. Starred review from Library Journal.

·         Publisher: ‎Thomas & Mercer (September 1, 2023)

·         Language: ‎English

·         Hardcover: ‎304 pages

·         ISBN-10: ‎166250067X

·         ISBN-13: ‎978-1662500671

 

Amazon Associate Purchase Link:  https://amzn.to/3Csm2qW

Aubrey Nye Hamilton ©2024

Aubrey Hamilton is a former librarian who works on Federal It projects by day and reads mysteries at night.

Review: Ashes Never Lie by Lee Goldberg

Ashes Never Lie by Lee Goldberg picks up about a year after the events of Malibu Burning. This second book in the series also works in Eve Ronin, and her partner, Duncan Pavone. It is also a really good read.

 

Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department arson detectives Walter Sharpe and Andrew Walker have pretty much finished at one fire scene where the fire crew is pulled off to go fight a house fire in the nearby Twin Lakes housing development. The house is unoccupied. There is also plenty of ground fuel, thanks to the weather. If firefighters don’t stop the fire now, it could go through the housing development, get into the bordering Santa Susanna Pass State Park and then take off for nearby Calabasas and the Santa Monica Mountains. The last time the fire roared through the Santa Monica Mountains, Sharpe and Wlaker barely escaped with their lives.

 

Sharpe, as senior investigator and still teaching Walker, insists they have to check out the house fire. Walker doesn’t see much point, as they have not been called in to investigate, but Sharpe wants to see it because fire guys flush away evidence and won’t know if it is arson or not.

 

When they arrive, they find firefighters hard at work fighting a fire that has fully engulfed the two-story home. The house is completely empty and yet is burning like crazy. Power had only been turned on that morning and there were no workman inside or around it. In fact, nobody had been working on it. The weather was fine as it was dry and clear. So, the questions are—What caused the fire and what caused it to spread so fast and burn so hot?

 

While the crew works, Sharpe and Walker look at a nearby home that is identical to the one that is burning. Sharpe has some questions after the house tour, questions that are reinforced when Captain Guyette tells him it must have been an electrical as there were multiple ignition points also over the house next to the electric sockets, light switches, and lighting. Sharpe isn’t buying it.

 

Not that he can investigate much right now, as he and Walker are suddenly pulled off to go to a house fire in Calabasas where there is a body.

 

LASD Homicide Detective Eve Ronin and Duncan Pavone are also there and waiting for them. The four gear up and go into the house. It is believed that Patrick Lopresti was home alone and is the dead person in the fire. The question Eve wants to know is where he got murdered, killed himself, or was committing arson and screwed up?

 

That question is soon answered in an unexpected way and becomes one of two complicated storylines in the book. The first being the house fire scene they were working before being pulled here.

 

Ashes Never Lie is the second book in the Sharpe and Walker series and a very good read. Complicated and fast moving it roars along at a rapid pace to a satisfying and explosive conclusion. In short, a fun read, and very much well worth your time. 

Make sure you check out Lesa Holstine’s review here. 

Amazon Associate Purchase Link: https://amzn.to/4gjCcm5

 

My reading copy was a digital ARC from the publisher, Thomas & Mercer, by way of NetGalley.

Kevin R. Tipple ©2024