A Controlled Burn

A perfect spring burn. An impossible death. A cozy mountain mystery the wind refuses to explain away.

At Camas Meadow, a carefully planned restoration burn brings Alder Ridge together to watch the forests next chapter begin. Then burn boss Silas Crowe collapses after the days work and dies that night. Smoke exposure seems a tragic, believable explanation.

Wildfire investigator Mara Calder has a problem with believable explanations: she checks them. The weather record and the ground Silas worked tell a story that refuses to fit. As Mara follows that discrepancy, the meadows promise of renewal gives way to questions about missing money, disputed decisions, and who stood to lose if Silas kept asking for an audit.

The more she learns, the less welcome she becomes. A grieving town wants someone to blame, and the woman challenging its comforting answer is close at hand. With retired lookout Midge Holloway dispensing blunt advice, Ember lending steadfast company, and Sheriff Eli Mercer willing to listen, Mara must turn an uncomfortable suspicion into a case that can withstand the truth.

The fire followed the plan. Did someone count on everyone believing the death did, too?

A Controlled Burn is Book 2 of The Cascadia Fireline Mysteries, blending a clue-driven outdoor investigation with small-town loyalties, spring renewal, and a quietly growing connection between Mara and Eli.

For readers who love:

• Solving a puzzle through weather and observation

• Spring landscapes and forest restoration

• Small-town loyalties tested by uncomfortable truths

• Wry humor and a quietly developing romance

• A thoughtful whodunit without graphic violence