Veteran Arson Investigators Walter Sharpe and former US Marshall Andrew Walker are partners examining a vacant home in a new housing development that exploded when they are called to a house fire with a body inside. There, they run into LA County Sheriff’s Department Homicide Detectives Eve Ronin and her partner Duncan Pavone, characters from another popular series by this author. Together, they team up to figure out what happened and prevent further loss of life.

I enjoy reading both series, and really enjoyed having all four characters appear in one book, which made for a suspenseful and action-packed book that I finished in one sitting, and I hope to see more character crossovers in future installments.

NetGalley and Thomas & Mercer kindly provided me an ARC of this book, which I have read and reviewed honestly and voluntarily.

Ashes Never Lie is the second book I have read by the prolific author Lee Goldberg, and I am already a fan.
His humor and writing style are ingenious, intriguing and extremely entertaining. This book is a new release in his Walter Sharpe/Andrew Walker series. LASD Detectives Eve Ronin and Duncan Pavone also have fun and integral roles in this novel. Two primary Investigations are going on basically simultaneously: who is staring fires in homes in Twin Oakes, a fairly upscale development and what started out as a potential investigation of a murder or suicide of an employee of a major bio-tech company, yetwhat had the potential to cause major devastation. The working relationship between Sharpe,a seasoned veteran arson investigator and Walker, relatively new to the position seemed so real to me. The repartee between them had me laughing out loud, and yet I liked that they were each dedicated and competent investigators. I enjoyed their collaboration with Ronin and Pavone, and Walker's relationship with his wife Carly, a psychiatrist, and her role in the Twin Oakes case. This is a fun read with a cast of likable characters, yet suspenseful and definitely very engaging. Thank you to NetGalley, Thomas & Mercer Publishing, and Lee Goldberg for the opportunity to read an ARC of Ashes Never Lie; my review reflects my honest opinion.
4 stars.

Ashes Never Lie is a fast-paced, hard-to-put-down crime/thriller!
Legendary arson investigator Walter Sharpe and his new partner, ex-US Marshal Andrew Walker, find themselves investigating several fires, including one at a vacant house in a new development and another in an older neighborhood involving a fatality. There is great chemistry between the characters, lots of action, a bit of humor, and good mystery elements. Although I have not read the first Sharpe & Walker book, I didn't feel like I needed to in order to follow this one. Since I have read Goldberg's Eve Ronin books, I enjoyed the cross-over involving her and her partner, Duncan Pavone. I'm going to have to get book 1, and I'll definitely be looking for book 3!

What do a series of house fires, caused by " household electrics" have to do with the death of Triax microbiologist Patrick Lopresti? Lopresti's house blew up just as Detectives Eve Ronin and Duncan Pavone (back from retirement) were going to talk with him regarding the theft a deadly virus that’s disappeared from Triax Biotech. L.A. County Sheriff’s Department arson investigator Walter Sharpe and his new partner, Andrew Walker, a former US Marshall, have plenty to keep them busy with the house fires. It seems that Lopresti had a gunshot to his head, suicide or murder? His lover, Justine, is missing, she has been exposed to the virus. Now these four detectives have to work together to find the threads that link the two investigations.

What fun to observe Walker and Eve, who have little patience and like action. Sharpe and Pavone work to rein them in. This is a great cross-over between the two series. The characters are well developed and the author keeps up the pace and suspense. This is the second installment of the Sharpe and Walker series and can be read as a stand-alone. I highly recommend reading the first that introduces the characters. I look forward to seeing more of these two detectives and, of course, of Eve Ronin and Duncan Pavone in their respective series.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher, Thomas & Mercer, for an ARC. The review is my own.

I just finished reading ASHES NEVER LIE, the second in Lee Goldberg’s new Sharpe & Walker series about a pair of arson investigators. It’s fantastic. Funny, smart, fast-paced — and with a special guest appearance by Lee’s other series character, Eve Ronin. On sale this Tuesday!

This is the second book in the Sharpe & Walker series, which I picked up purely because of the author—Lee Goldberg never disappoints. At first, I wasn't sure how exciting arson investigations would be compared to murders, but I should have known better than to doubt Goldberg. This second installment is just as entertaining and fast-paced as the first, maybe even more so.

Sharpe and Walker are juggling two cases that eventually turn into three. This time, they're joined by Eve Ronin and Duncan (from Goldberg's other series, and one of my personal favorites) after discovering a body in a burned house, which brings in the homicide detectives too. Meanwhile, luxury homes keep going up in flames, and while everyone assumes it's due to faulty wiring, Sharpe and Walker uncover something far more sinister.

I love these books because they’re fun and manage to tackle darker themes with humor. They’re always entertaining and well-written. Plus, they treat the reader with respect—they're realistic within their own world and never dumb things down.

Ashes Never Lie is an easy read, with lots of humor, mystery, arson and crime. Lee Goldberg put together peculiar characters, Sharpe who has a sharp tongue and looks like a shar-pei dog, Walker who is working on the arson team but really wanted to keep going on chasing the bad guys on the streets, his wife, Carly, a therapist that keeps on analysing everyone and even agrees to participate in a role playing that will lead to put people in jail, and Eve, a Police Detective who is hated by her peers because of her TV show and fast promotion. It looks improbable but they make a great team and put all the culprits behind bars. A good plot, entertaining and well written!
I thank the author, his publisher, and NetGalley for this ARC.

Ashes Never Lie is the second book in the 'Walker Sharpe Band' series and my first experience with these two ingenious, humorously witty arson officers. The gripping story follows multiple plots, carefully balancing both plot and character development. Initially, the book was a bit slow for me, but it picked up pace in the middle. As the officers begin their investigation, shocking revelations start to tumble out. At first, the plot seems to be going haywire, but things slowly come together, and suddenly it all starts to make sense. I love the narrative, it's pacey, thrilling, not the kind of thriller I wanted but definitely interesting to read. While the beginning was a bit boring and monotonous, I grew to like the characters. Overall, it was a fun, enjoyable read. If you love detailed police work with a bit of humor and wit sprinkled in, definitely pick up this book.

Arson investigation might seem to be a fairly stodgy subject at first glance, sifting through the ash and grime of a fire scene. But Ashes Never Lie, the second book in the Sharpe and Walker series by Lee Goldberg, is a completely absorbing crime thriller that had me flying from one page to the next.

Newly built houses in a new property development are suddenly going up in flames. The firefighters believe the cause is faulty wiring, Walter Sharpe is not so sure and, in his typically acerbic way, lets the firies know that he thinks they’re wrong.

Nearby, there’s a house fire that contains a dead body. It could be murder but, when Sharpe and Walker arrive on the scene, their investigation points to a suicide. Goldberg fans are going to be very pleased by the fact that also on the scene were homicide detectives Eve Ronin and Duncan Pavone, crossing over from their own series. They wind up teaming up to conduct a thorough investigation complete with the wit and banter that have made the Ronin series so popular. But the dead body is actually hiding a far more disturbing secret, one that could impact not only the rest of the suburb but, quite possibly, the rest of the world.

Faulty wiring and a straightforward suicide appears to make both of these cases look simple. But the digging done by our investigators reveals that, in both cases, there’s far more at play here and this makes for a couple of very interesting mysteries.

The events of Ashes Never Lie come one year after the heist drama enjoyed in Malibu Burning and the story is equally as upbeat, fast-paced and wholly enjoyable. Sharpe and Walker have been working together for some time now and they’ve discovered they make a pretty good team. There’s plenty of light-hearted banter to provide amusing moments as they make their way through the ash and charred remains of various fires.

A thoroughly intriguing mystery, the story is very well plotted employing some well concealed twists to keep you on your toes. The tension is built to dramatic levels at times, often dispersed in imaginative ways using the talents of each of the four main characters to their best effect. The interplay between each of them is one of the strong points of the story.

Ashes Never Lie is a strong police procedural that moves along at a great pace. This is looming as another crime series in which I’ll be looking forward to the release of each new volume.

My thanks to Thomas & Mercer and NetGalley for providing me with a digital ARC which allowed me to read, enjoy and review this book.

Ashes Never Lie by Lee Goldberg picks up about a year after the events of Malibu Burning. This second book in the series also works in Eve Ronin, and her partner, Duncan Pavone. It is also a really good read.

Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department arson detectives Walter Sharpe and Andrew Walker have pretty much finished at one fire scene where the fire crew is pulled off to go fight a house fire in the nearby Twin Lakes housing development. The house is unoccupied. There is also plenty of ground fuel, thanks to the weather. If firefighters don’t stop the fire now, it could go through the housing development, get into the bordering Santa Susanna Pass State Park and then take off for nearby Calabasas and the Santa Monica Mountains. The last time the fire roared through the Santa Monica Mountains, Sharpe and Wlaker barely escaped with their lives.

Sharpe, as senior investigator and still teaching Walker, insists they have to check out the house fire. Walker doesn’t see much point, as they have not been called in to investigate, but Sharpe wants to see it because fire guys flush away evidence and won’t know if it is arson or not.

When they arrive, they find firefighters hard at work fighting a fire that has fully engulfed the two-story home. The house is completely empty and yet is burning like crazy. Power had only been turned on that morning and there were no workman inside or around it. In fact, nobody had been working on it. The weather was fine as it was dry and clear. So, the questions are—What caused the fire and what caused it to spread so fast and burn so hot?

While the crew works, Sharpe and Walker look at a nearby home that is identical to the one that is burning. Sharpe has some questions after the house tour, questions that are reinforced when Captain Guyette tells him it must have been an electrical as there were multiple ignition points also over the house next to the electric sockets, light switches, and lighting. Sharpe isn’t buying it.

Not that he can investigate much right now, as he and Walker are suddenly pulled off to go to a house fire in Calabasas where there is a body.

LASD Homicide Detective Eve Ronin and Duncan Pavone are also there and waiting for them. The four gear up and go into the house. It is believed that Patrick Lopresti was home alone and is the dead person in the fire. The question Eve wants to know is where he got murdered, killed himself, or was committing arson and screwed up?

That question is soon answered in an unexpected way and becomes one of two complicated storylines in the book. The first being the house fire scene they were working before being pulled here.

Ashes Never Lie is the second book in the Sharpe and Walker series and a very good read. Complicated and fast moving it roars along at a rapid pace to a satisfying and explosive conclusion. In short, a fun read, and very much well worth your time.


Amazon Associate Purchase Link: https://amzn.to/4gjCcm5



My reading copy was a digital ARC from the publisher, Thomas & Mercer, by way of NetGalley.



Kevin R. Tipple ©2024

📚 #BOOKREVIEW 📚
Ashes Never Lie (Sharpe & Walker, Book 2) by Lee Goldberg
⭐️⭐️⭐️ / Pages: 286 / Genre: Mysteries & Thrillers
Release Date: September 17, 2024

In the first book in the Sharpe & Walker series, Malibu Burning, I thought it was strange that the series was about the arson investigators rather than the exciting and charismatic criminal Danny Cole. And sure enough, this second story featured Sharpe and Walter as the leads and even had a special guest tie-in of Eve Ronin from Goldberg’s other series. But alas, these are not leading men. This arson story included a biological toxin, a comic convention, and superhero costumes, yet still did not really hold my interest. I’ll go back to waiting for that Danny Cole series.

Thank you, @NetGalley for my gifted copies.

Ashes Never Lie by Lee Goldberg is a gripping thriller that keeps you hooked from start to finish. The story revolves around arson investigator Walter Sharpe and his partner Andrew Walker, who are trying to solve mysterious fires in new housing developments. When a man’s body is found in the ashes of a separate fire, detectives Eve Ronin and Duncan Pavone join the investigation. The twists and turns in this book are non-stop, leading to a surprising conclusion as the team uncovers an arsonist's clever tricks and a larger scheme.
Goldberg does an excellent job weaving the characters' stories together, creating an intense mystery that leaves you on edge. I particularly loved how the team worked together to outsmart the arsonist.
If you enjoy fast-paced thrillers with complex investigations and high stakes, this is definitely a must-read!

The second Walker and Sharpe outing. A new development house goes up in flames as they investigate another house burns to the ground only a body is discovered in comes Ronin and Pavone. All four join forces to investigate. Lots of twists in this excellent well plotted thriller. Keeps you hooked till the end. Thanks to Thomas and Mercer and Netgalley for this review copy.

Blazes be blazin'.

Ashes Never Lie welcomes back the arson detectives, Walter Sharpe and Andrew Walker, in this second addition to the Sharpe & Walker Series. You must grab Malibu Burning #1 (2023) in order to get the full flavor of this partnership. Ashes Never Lie does read as a solid standalone though. But, hey, get in on the ground floor as this series takes off.

Sharpe and Walker have now partnered for over a year together. Sharpe is a seasoned investigator who is twenty years older than Walker. Walker is an ex U.S. Marshal who wears a Stetson hat and promised his wife, Carly, that he's backing away from the dangerous stuff npw. Memo to Carly: The dangerous stuff is still following your hubby. Beware.

There's a car fire on historical land in the Chatsworth Nature Preserve in San Fernando Valley. It's also a ceremonial ground for the Chumach tribe. Watch where you step with endangered foliage as well. A complex investigation in a complex area.

Next comes a big ticket investigation when a corpse is found in a burned out home in Calabasas. This brings in the L.A. County Sheriff's Department with homicide detectives Eve Ronin and Duncan "Donuts" Pavone. (If you're in a reading slump, get unslumped with Goldberg's Eve Ronin Series. Oh, so good.) Our reader antennae goes up in nano seconds at the thought of these four detectives working together on a case. WoWzers!

The flames continue as break-out fires and unexpected explosions are getting their attention in a model home development not far away. Sharpe and Walker fear for the safety of those already in occupied homes in the vicinity. Just who is responsibile for all this? And most of all, why?

The life of a reader usually includes some expected hits and some expected misses. With Lee Goldberg, it's hits ringing out all the time. There's a reason why he has "Gold" in his last name. Goldberg has us readers flippin' pages with laugh-out-loud moments. (We need more of that in this knotted up world of ours.) The flame is lit in this one. Grab a seat and toast your marshmellos to a just right moment.

I received a copy of this book through NetGalley for an honest review. My thanks to Thomas & Mercer and to the talented Lee Goldberg for the opportunity.

Lee Goldberg combines a couple of different character arcs in Ashes Never Lie. Detective Eve Ronin crosses cases with arson investigators - Sharpe and Walker.

"Vacant homes in a new development are going up in flames. While Walker and Sharpe are investigating, they get called to another house. Except this one has a body in it. Eve and her partner, Duncan, are also called to the scene to investigate. The four investigators end up chasing an arsonist, a swindler and someone with a terrifying secret."

Goldberg has an easy-to-read (or listen) writing style. This is crime fiction, but there's a layer of humor running through the story from hilarious characters to insane situations. There are several storylines but Goldberg never gets bogged down and brings them all together. The scene at Comic Con alone makes this book worth it.

Don't miss this wildly, entertaining story from Lee Goldberg.

If you enjoy crime action thrillers and well-done series cross-overs, then look no further than Ashes Never Lie by Lee Goldberg. Vacant homes going up in flames, a dead body, and plenty of suspense are just the beginning of an action-packed story. This is the second book in the Sharp and Walker series, but it also features Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department Homicide Detectives Eve Ronin and Duncan Pavone.

Walter Sharpe and Andrew Walker are arson detectives with the same department. Sharpe is brilliant at his job, methodical, observant, and self-confident. However, he tends to speak his mind and isn’t diplomatic when dealing with others, Walker craves action and the independence he had as a US Marshal. He’s bored and uses humor and honesty to gain trust. Ronin likes action and excitement and tends to be impatient. She’s also not afraid to take on the establishment. Pavone hasn’t retired so he can look out for and protect Ronin.

The author’s writing style continues to hook me quickly with a twisty plot combined with humor, great characters, and excellent world-building. The plot is absorbing and intriguing with a storyline that packs a punch. The fast pace and sense of urgency kept me rapidly turning the pages.

Overall, this is a tense, gritty, atmospheric, and engaging novel with wit, suspense, action, and some great twists as well as some violence. It is fast-paced and action-packed. If you enjoy excellent crime thrillers and police procedurals, then I recommend that you check out this one.

Thomas & Mercer and Lee Goldberg provided a complimentary digital ARC of this novel via NetGalley. All opinions expressed in this review are my own. The publication date is currently set for September 17, 2024.

3.5 stars
I reviewed the previous book and wasn't sure if I would continue on, but I'm a sucker for a series so here we are. I am pleased to report that I liked this one much better. There is a lot going on with the plot, but it makes complete sense in the end, I promise. I felt that the characters are starting to come into their own (less cartoonish), and I am interested in where this series can go from here. The addition of Eve Ronin was genius. I could see this being a really good TV series.
I will recommend this series to others.

Thank you to NetGalley and Thomas & Mercer for the ARC!

This brings together the detectives from two of Goldberg's series in a fast paced and twisty read where an arson investigation opens up bigger questions. Goldberg clearly likes his characters and Los Angeles. Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC. This is atmospheric and entertaining. And even better, it works as a standalone.

Thank goodness! I have read several books this week and was getting so disappointed that there wasn't one book that stood out. They were all just "meh" and I was beginning to worry that it was all me. Well, now I can say that I finally read a book that not only kept me interested and intrigued, but it made me laugh. I totally enjoyed this book.

This is the second book in this series - about 2 men who are "arson detectives" for the LACPD. Sharpe is a brilliant fire investigator who has been on the job for a REALLY long time. Walker is a fairly new arson investigator, having moved over from the US Marshall's at the request of his wife. They just had a new baby and his wife had been really nervous about the danger that he constantly faced as a "hunter of men". Walker, on the other hand, is not taking the transition as well. He misses the adrenaline and the rush that came with the job and is having a hard time making everyone else think that he is happy in his new job.

The partnership itself is wonderful to experience. The two of them are really funny. Sharpe is so brilliant at what he does, but he is completely lacking in the social skills department. Walker, while full of character, is not used to not being an expert in his field and is also not used to the actual monotony of the everyday duties of his job. And the criminals are too easy to catch.

What makes this book so great is that we actually have a crossover with another series that Mr. Goldberg has currently going on. The two of them pull up to a house fire that has a dead body in it and meet Eve and Duncan, who are the homicide detectives on the case. Eve Ronin is a LACPD Homicide Detective and the lead of the Eve Ronin Series (which if you haven't read this series, you need to go out and find book 1).

It appears that this house fire is the event that sets off an entire new case involving a Biotech company, a potential deadly virus, and the FBI. The four of them make a really good team and Eve and Walker immediately hit it off as partners. Eve and Walker are both eager to dive into the case, even though they may or may not have the correct jurisdiction. They both can't seem to just turn the case over to the FBI especially when it becomes apparent that they are coming up with better results.

This book is extremely fast paced and really, really interesting. There are several cases going on at the same time and the addition of Eve and Duncan only make things better. There are several instances where we have a huge tension build up and I loved every minute of it. After having 4 or 5 books in a row this week that did nothing to excite me, it was wonderful to jump into this world with these characters. The writing, the setting, the cases......all of it was so well done.

Thank you to NetGalley and Thomas & Mercer for the opportunity to read and review this ARC. The opinions above are mine and mine alone. This book will be out for publication on September 17, 2024.

3.5 stars rounded down.

WARNING: it's another unpopular opinion review!!

I really should stop requesting sequels when I haven't started a series yet... Especially if it's a new-to-me author. I've been meaning to try Lee Goldberg's writing for quite some time now though, and I loved the sound of the arson investigator angle of this series. Sadly, my experience with the first Sharpe & Walker book wasn't completely positive, and now that I've read this sequel I've come to the conclusion that his writing or at least his crude and often sexist humor just isn't for me.

Like I mentioned before, I really like the premise of this series. It's not often that we get to join arson investigators during their job in crime thrillers, and I definitely loved this aspect in both books. One of the two lead characters being an ex-US marshal also added a nice touch, as it gave credibility to his suspect hunting skills. In Ashes Never Lie we once again get to see both types of investigations, which made the plot feel more dynamic. I did like the cases a bit more this time around, as there was a bit more focus on the arson investigation this time around instead of a wildfire battle.

That said, things definitely get farfetched and over the top along the way, and especially when it comes to the motivations of the suspects and their background. It caused more than one eyeroll, and especially when certain aspects were clearly supposed to be funny... The thing is: I really disliked the humor used in Ashes Never Lie. I have no issues with dark or sarcastic humor, but this was just way too crude and often sexist and demeaning. It really started to grate on me, and it also made it harder to warm up to the characters. I know humor is personal, and most people do seem to enjoy it, but for me it was a real turn off.

I did like the introduction of the new character duo with Eve and Duncan (I understand Eve Ronin has her own series), and I liked what especially Eve added to the dynamics. Especially Sharpe was even harder to like in this sequel though, and I think this also had to do with the humor used. There were quite a few stereotypes involved in general, both physical and with the way the characters behave. It often felt almost petty and definitely demeaning in certain cases as well.

After having read the first two books of this series, I'm pretty sure that Lee Goldberg's writing and his use of crude humor just isn't for me. It's a shame, because I did love the arson investigator angle! I seem to be in the minority though, so definitely don't give up on my account if you don't mind this type of humor. There is a lot of action and suspense to be found along the way, that's for sure!