"Burning Paradise" by Spokane author Terry Hughes is an exciting, quirky mystery story based on the infamous Painted Cave Fire that destroyed over 500 homes in Santa Barbara, California on June 27, 1990.
Hughes was a volunteer fire chief in the Santa Barbara area at the time of the fire. On his blog, he said the beginning of his novel was inspired by radio dispatches during the incident.
"Burning Paradise" is the story of independent fire investigator Monte Raleigh and his efforts to catch Smoke, a serial arsonist terrorizing the fictional city Santa Marta, California.
Five people died when Smoke set a fire that is called the Paradise Incident. Now the city is in an uproar and the mayor is eager to spend whatever it takes to catch Smoke. Raleigh learns he has a month to find the arsonist. Time is of the essence, because Smoke has threatened to strike again.
Raleigh soon finds himself in the middle of a tense situation as fire fighters from the city, the local volunteer fire department and the U.S. Forest Service all point fingers at each other. Almost everyone is convinced that overeager volunteer fireman Henry Cooper is the culprit, but they don't have enough evidence to make an arrest. Or could it be the convicted arsonist living in the bad part of town? Or could it be another fire fighter? Raleigh has too many suspects and the only one he trusts is Forest Service Smokejumper Darcy Delaney. Even with all his skills and his high tech gear that makes local fire fighters jealous, the challenge he faces is almost impossible.
"Burning Paradise" is an excellent example of the old adage "write what you know." The book works very well on one level as a procedural story full of interesting details about fire fighting and how arson investigators are different from police officers. Hughes does a great job of realistically portraying what it's like to work for the US Forest Service and how volunteer fire fighters are different from full-time professionals.
The book is also simply a lot of fun as Raleigh interacts with the eccentric locals and goes around acting sort of like a hard boiled private investigator. There is also a great budding romance between Raleigh and Delaney. As Raleigh gets closer to finding Smoke, Hughes does a masterful job of building suspense in action sequences that deftly shift between things happening to Raleigh and things he is observing with his surveillance equipment.
"Burning Paradise" is Hughes' first novel. He is already better at writing suspense thrillers than many authors with more novels under their belts. This impressive debut should have readers looking forward to his next book.
"Burning Paradise" is available now from the Spokane-based publisher Gray Dog Press.
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