Burning Meredith

Retired school teacher Alice Adams, the heroine of this underwhelming series launch from Gunn (Denny’s Law and five other Sarah Burke police procedurals), works part-time at the Guardian, a newspaper in Clark’s Fort, Mont., where her 22-year-old nephew, Stuart Campbell, is employed as a reporter. When a horrific fire breaks out on Meredith Mountain, Stuart grabs his camera and sets out to record the action, while Alice takes his written notes and knocks them into passable shape. During the postfire cleanup, the charred remains of a man are found. The subsequent autopsy determines that the man did not die in the fire. Soon Alice and Stuart are out to discover the victim’s identity and scoop the big-city news organizations. Readers will have fun watching the appealing Alice realize that, rather than baking cookies or doing yet more gardening, her true interest lies in her budding career as a journalist. On the downside, Gunn’s approach to the story’s drug element and the radical about-face in the behavior of a key character are naïve and forced. An abrupt ending doesn’t help. Hopefully, the sequel will be better. (June)