Smoke Eaters

Andreae brings to her fourth thriller even more of the high tension, dark mystery and tight plotting that earned her a 1995 Edgar Award nomination for Trail of Murder. Set in the midst of a raging forest fire in the rugged mountains of Montana, this gripping tale pits a hard-boiled female firefighter against roaring flames, gender hostility, professional jealousy, political interference and a murderous, psychotic arsonist. Mattie McCulloch is the first female Forest Service firefighter to command a major firefighting effort. The Justice Peak blaze is out of control and so are some male co-workers, the media and a colony of gun-toting nudists. To add to her problems, Mattie's son, Jimmy, is on one of the hotshot fire crews, and the man she replaces as the on-scene commander hates her guts. Then Jimmy's crew is overwhelmed and wiped out by a suspicious wildfire, and tragedy turns to murder when arson is indicated and Jimmy's body cannot be found. Despite her best efforts to keep a stiff upper lip, Mattie is fired for political reasons, and her career is jeopardized. Undeterred, she vows to find the murderer and is aided by a wise, weatherbeaten state cop and a gimpy, tormented journalist whose life Mattie saved in a forest fire 20 years earlier. The arsonist is watching, however, and soon Mattie and everyone else is in grave danger. Packed with suspense, action, drama, convincing characters and, best of all, boasting a tightly woven plot with clever foreshadowing and no loose ends, this is the consummate nail-biter. Andreae is a skilled writer whose prose pounds the senses: flames leap, trees pop, heat sears and the smell of smoke suffuses the tale. (Feb.)