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

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

Review: Malibu Burning by Lee Goldberg

While I told you about this book before back in February, tomorrow is publication day, so I am running my review again. Make sure you read Lesa Holstine's review here. 

 

If you have read Lost Hills by Lee Goldberg, you know that a part of that book involves a wildfire on the rampage through the Santa Monica Mountains in Malibu. That book, part of the Eve Ronin series, is from the perspective of law enforcement. Malibu Burning is that same fire from the perspective of arson investigator, Walter Sharpe, and his new partner, Andrew Walker.

Walker is a former United States Marshal who has taken what he thinks will be a quieter job as an arson investigator tied into the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department. Mentally he is having a hard time with it as he left the service and changed jobs to ally his wife’s fears as she is pregnant and had a lot of concern over his safety and the way he did the job. Bad knees and other issues means he can’t be as physical as he would like and has to slow it down a little bit. He prefers to work alone, as does his new partner, Walter Sharpe.

The fact that both are loners by nature means nothing to the powers that be who have chosen to put them together. From the start, they do not exactly mesh well, but Walker needs Sharpe to teach him what he does not know about fire investigation. And Walker can teach him a few things about man hunting as they have arsonists to chase.

One of which is somebody known to Walker. A former prisoner by the name of Danny Cole. He is a superb con man and a very good thief. He should have gotten away on the last job, but made a choice to help someone. That choice cost him his freedom. Now he is out and looking for a big payday and to settle a score. He is planning to do it with a team pf highly motivated folks, some of whom he has worked with before, and a wildfire.

Not that Walker and Sharpe knows this from the start. The reader knows far more than the investigators do as numerous flashbacks are sprinkled liberally through the read all the way up to present day. That is intermixed with Sharpe teaching Walker, and by extension the reader, basics surrounding fire and the dynamics of a wildfire through a couple of other cases and the early stages of this fire.

The first of what clearly is intended to be a series, Malibu Burning, is an enjoyable read. While it comes across as a vehicle for a tv series more than anything, there is enough complexity and action to hold the reader’s interest. This reader much prefers the Eve Ronin series. However, this was a good book in its own right and I will be looking for the next one.

Amazon Associate Purchase Link: https://amzn.to/3ZjzK9j

 

My reading copy was an ARC by way of NetGalley. 

 

Kevin R. Tipple ©2023

Lesa's Book Critiques: MALIBU BURNING BY LEE GOLDBERG

 Lesa's Book Critiques: MALIBU BURNING BY LEE GOLDBERG

A Writer's Life....Caroline Clemmons: DEATH IN THE PERFECT HOUSE Release Day!

A Writer's Life....Caroline Clemmons: DEATH IN THE PERFECT HOUSE Release Day!: By Caroline Clemmons Celebrate with me! This is my book’s birthday— DEATH IN THE PERFECT HOUSE releases today! I’m so excited and eager to...