False Lightning

Lightning has an alibi. Does the killer? A cozy Pacific Northwest mystery with a storms worth of secrets.

A dry thunderstorm sweeps Sentinel Ridge, leaving a fresh burn, a failed emergency-radio system, and communications contractor Niko Brandt dead beside the county repeater. With the valley already divided over a new tower, explanations arrive almost as quickly as the morning coffee.

Wildfire investigator Mara Calder prefers evidence. A lightning-scarred tree proves the storm struck the ridge. The fire on the ground raises a different question. To find the answer, she must read two very different stretches of hillside—and listen to people who would rather talk about the tower fight than the work Niko was doing before he died.

Contract disputes, inspection records, and an old road that has disappeared from modern maps lead Mara into a case where a tidy explanation could leave an entire county trusting the wrong people. Sheriff Eli Mercer and investigator Priya Shah need a reconstruction they can prove. Retired lookout Midge Holloway remembers the roads everyone else forgot. Ember would prefer that the investigation leave time for a picnic.

Can Mara separate what the storm destroyed from what someone wanted hidden?

False Lightning is Book 3 of The Cascadia Fireline Mysteries, pairing a fair-play forensic puzzle with Oregon mountain scenery, dry humor, and the stubborn bonds of a small town.

For readers who love:

• Following the evidence beyond an obvious explanation

• Summer storms over the Oregon Cascades

• Old maps, forgotten roads, and disputed alibis

• An observant heroine and a mischievous dog

• Community-centered mysteries without graphic violence