Fire Raiser

Smalltown politics and big-city newcomers mix badly with a family of rural magicians in this dreary modern fantasy. Bestselling author Holly Lachlan has come home to Pocahontas County, Va., with her adoring husband, Evan (a former U.S. marshal, now the county sheriff). Together they attend a fund-raising party at an antebellum mansion turned into an upscale inn by a strange German investor. Herr Weiss’s hotel is chock-full of sinister secrets, and the assembled guests—including a charming DA and some of Holly’s magically endowed relatives—must combine forces to investigate. The premise has promise, but the mystery elements don’t gain much of a foothold until late in the game, and Rawn (Spellbinder ) frequently interrupts them with vast swaths of left-wing political pontification, elaborate matchmaking attempts and cutesy fawning between the protagonists. (Apr.)