On March 30, 2017, a 100-foot section of I-85 near downtown Atlanta collapsed because of a fire in a hazardous materials storage area underneath the overpass. Traffic was disrupted for nearly two months because of the collapse. However, the collapse may have had the indirect consequence of inspiring Lee Goldberg’s crime thriller, “Hidden in Smoke.” The book’s centerpiece is a similar fictional fire and collapse on a stretch of the Santa Monica Freeway in downtown Los Angeles. (That freeway partially collapsed because of a 1994 earthquake.) The Atlanta fire was accidentally set by a homeless man squatting underneath the overpass. The cause of Goldberg’s Los Angeles fire… That’s what his arson investigators must discover in this largely entertaining thriller.

“Hidden in Smoke” is the third novel in the author’s current series featuring arson investigators Walter Sharpe and Andrew Walker. They’re the typical mismatched set of cops found in much crime fiction. Sharpe is an experienced investigator, excelling in arson forensics but lacking in people skills or general police expertise. Walker is a former U.S. marshal who does the heavy lifting when the action starts in these novels. The overpass fire aftermath is actually the duo’s second investigation in the story. They first investigate a series of car and apartment building fires that occurred several days earlier. That arsonist used Duraflame firelogs to set his blazes, and when video footage reveals evidence of similar logs at the overpass fire, the still-at-large apartment arsonist becomes the prime suspect.

Sharpe and Walker’s investigation reveals the sordid underbelly of life beneath the overpass. That area was home to a homeless encampment and several shoestring businesses, including a barbecue restaurant where the investigators enjoy a couple of lunches. The tenants weren’t happy with the slumlord who charged them exorbitant rent, so Sharpe and Walker find some new suspects with possible revenge motives.

The sections of “Hidden in Smoke” that focus on the investigation of the overpass fire are fascinating. I wish the author had gone into more detail about the subculture of those living and working underneath the overpass. That’s the problem with the novel. Instead of focusing on one interesting investigation, “Hidden in Smoke” has an entirely unrelated subplot that takes place a continent away. The book also follows Danny Cole, the villain in “Malibu Burning,” the first novel in the Sharpe and Walker series. Cole is a master thief who pulls off a seemingly impossible robbery of a $40 million watch from a nearly impregnable museum.

Cole’s entire subplot belongs in an entirely different crime subgenre, the sophisticated heist thriller. “The Thomas Crown Affair” (either the original or the remake) is an excellent example of that genre. However, that subplot has a different style and tone from the down-and-dirty grittiness of Sharpe and Walker’s work. The robbery occurs at the Gallery of Curiosities, a museum on an island in Japan with limited ferry access. It’s the type of seemingly impossible crime that master thieves always pull off in caper thrillers. Either storyline alone could make a great crime thriller novel. However, when combined, readers wind up with two novella-length works that feel somewhat incomplete in places. The author ties the storylines together by the end of the book, but neither storyline affects the actions taking place in the other. (The heist and its preparations and immediate aftermath take place several weeks before the arson investigation.) I enjoyed the caper sections of “Hidden in Smoke” and the arson investigation. However, I didn’t enjoy the awkward way the author combined them, shifting from one storyline to another from chapter to chapter. The effect was like combining an ice cream sundae and a bowl of hot chili in the same container.

The car fires and apartment fires in the book’s first few chapters occur in various jurisdictions in the Los Angeles area. I’ve never been to Los Angeles, and I’m not familiar with the region’s overall geography. As a result, I wasn’t able to follow the squabbling that occurred among the various police and fire departments over whose responsibility the multiple investigations were. The author attempts to mine this material for humor, but I was left confused, rather than amused.

One enjoyable consequence of the sprawling investigation was the reappearance of Eve Ronin, another of the author’s series characters. She is a detective who is also the subject of a TV cop series titled “Ronin.” She teamed with Walker in his previous novel and is the author’s liveliest and most entertaining character. (Her partner, nicknamed “Donuts” for reasons that are easy to guess, also puts in a welcome appearance here.) When Walker discovers the body of a crooked building inspector in their jurisdiction, Ronin and Donuts join the team.

Lee Goldberg is a talented crime author, and he has written two highly entertaining novellas here. Although the arson investigation is a deadly serious matter, the author finds considerable humor in his characters. The problem is that he has combined his two storylines into one awkwardly joined-together 300-page novel. The result is not a flaming success. “Hidden in Smoke” is more enjoyable for its parts than as a whole. Still, the author’s cast of characters provides enough good entertainment for readers that, once the smoke clears, I can recommend the book.

NOTE: The publisher graciously provided me with a copy of this book through NetGalley. However, the decision to review the book and the contents of this review are entirely my own.

my first by LMG and definitely not my last. Also having met him IRL I am even more excited to dive into his backlist while he write his next adult thriller!

Hidden in Smoke was not my favorite book of the Sharpe and Walker series. I found the plot interesting but not gripping. I always enjoy this author's humor but something about this book fell flat. I fear I was spoiled by the first Lee Goldberg book I read, Lost Hills! However, rest assured, Mr. Goldberg's book will always be an automatic read for me.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Thomas & Mercer for an advance copy.

Another winner in the series. This one connects back to the first book in the series, Malibu Burning, and includes spoilers of that book, which the author warns the reader about at the beginning. While this book can be read as a standalone, I'd recommend reading them in order so that you can get the full enjoyment from the series.
In this edition, Walker and Sharpe are investigating a series of fires where cars in apartment parking garages are set on fire using Duraflame logs. They figure out that they are in retaliation for the landlords who painted over graffiti that an artist did, an artist who died after falling downstairs when chased by a security guard. The artist's boyfriend is now avenging his death by torching the properties that painted over his work. But before Walker can catch the guy, he and Sharpe are reassigned to another arson case. A large fire was set underneath a highway overpass, evicting a homeless encampment and some sketchy businesses, with each blaming the other for the origin of the fire. The homeless were stealing electricity using some dodgy wiring and the businesses were all breaking the permit rules by storing flammable materials underneath the highway. But the biggest problem is the traffic that the closure of the highway has caused and Walker and Sharpe have only 3 days to conduct their investigation. They pull in Eve and Duncan to assist them when they find the man who was in charge of the business permit inspections dead, hanging in his garage. Was it suicide or murder? Another side plot involved con artist Danny Cole from the first book in the series. The scheme involving Danny is unnecessarily elaborate, in my opinion, but entertaining nonetheless. Hopefully there will be more books in the series that cross over with the Eve Ronin series.

Having thoroughly enjoyed the captivating book featuring Walker and Sharpe, I eagerly anticipated this installment. The dynamic duo of arsonists emerges after a series of carports mysteriously catch fire. Their investigation takes an unexpected turn when a major freeway is set ablaze, causing widespread congestion in Los Angeles. Amidst the chaos, a gruesome discovery is made—a body lying dead. To assist in their investigation, they bring in Eve Ronin, a skilled investigator from another Goldberg series. As the story unfolds, characters and storylines from the first book make unexpected appearances, leaving me momentarily confused due to my limited reading of the series. Despite the numerous plot twists and turns, the stories seamlessly intertwine, ensuring that the narrative remains engaging and captivating throughout. After reading this book, I am eager to delve into the first installment of the series and eagerly anticipate Goldberg’s potential to create a standalone series centered around a particular character, as I thoroughly enjoyed his story in this book.

3.5 stars

This crossover novel, which features two of Lee Goldberg's Los Angeles detective teams, works fine as a standalone. In the book, Los Angeles Fire Department (LAFD) arson investigators Walter Sharpe and Andrew Walker. work with Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) homicide detectives Eve Ronin and Duncan 'Donuts' Pavone.

The story has three threads that merge towards the book's climax. I'm going to be a little vague, to avoid spoilers.

As the book opens, a master thief known to the police - who's taken steps to hide his identity - is relaxing in the spa of a luxury hotel. The perp thinks he's unrecognizable, but a cop tracks him down and makes a deal: 'I won't turn you in if you get the new owner of a pharmaceutical company to lower the price of Xylaphram. The drug used to cost $10,000 per year, and the greedy new owner raised the price to $150,000 per year....and my son needs the medicine.'

The perp agrees, and organizes an audacious plan that involves stealing a 40-million-dollar Infinitum watch from the world's most impregnable museum, the 'Gallery of Curiosities' on Surudoikiba Island in Japan. That's all I'll say about this sub-plot, except to note that it's VERY entertaining.

Meanwhile, back in Los Angeles, fires have been breaking out. A series of blazes have been set in carports under apartment buildings, and the LAFD assigns the case to Walter Sharpe - who's an arson expert, and Andrew Walker - a former U.S. Marshall who's an ace manhunter. Sharpe and Walker discover the carport fires were started with Duraflame logs, which are designed to burn steadily for at least three hours. This allowed the arsonist to move from site to site before the flames got big enough to attract attention. Sharpe and Walker collect clues and expect to get credit for a 'solve'. However a bigger crisis arises, and the carport arson case is transferred to LAFD investigators Pete Caffrey and Al Scruggs - who think they're hilarious when they call Walter Sharpe 'Shar-Pei' for his droopy features and dogged pursuit of perpetrators.

Meanwhile, a HUGE FIRE has immolated an overpass of the Santa Monica Freeway, which cuts across the center of Los Angeles. The road is one of the city's busiest and most important arteries, moving over 300,000 vehicles a day. The fire that shuts down the Santa Monica Freeway cripples the city, and the Emmy Awards are only two weeks away!! Thus the mayor of Los Angeles and governor of California are determined to repair the overpass at lightning speed.

Los Angeles County Sheriff Richard Lansing assigns the freeway case to Sharpe and Walker, giving them unlimited resources to investigate. Sharpe and Walker learn the land below the overpass, where the inferno started, is leased by Southland Premiere Properties. Southland, in turn, subleases parcels to many small businesses, including a car salvage operation, a painting company, and storage lots for resellers of old tires and pallets. All these businesses have flammable materials. To add to the danger, there's a homeless encampment alongside the businesses. The homeless enclave is "a firetrap full of half-assed electrical hookups, propane gas grills, and addicts freebasing smack." Worse yet, it seems Caltrans inspectors "saw what was going on down there and let it go."

It turns out the overpass fire was arson, and Sharpe and Walker examine the crime scene and interview witnesses/persons of interest. Along the way Sharpe and Walker find the body of a murdered Caltrans inspector.. and they team up with LAPD detectives Eve Ronin and Duncan Pavone to investigate the various related crimes.

As the story approaches its denouement, all three threads - the carport arsons, the freeway arson, and the watch thief - merge in a rather creative fashion.

I like Lee Goldberg's writing and I enjoyed the story. However, the book requires a HUGE suspension of disbelief. The 'champions' (so to speak) in this story are incredibly clever and super lucky, and EVERY situation falls their way - things that would never happen in real life.

So, though I recommend the book, I advise readers to just sit back and enjoy a tale that would be a pipe dream in the actual world.

Thanks to Netgalley, Lee Goldberg, and Thomas & Mercer for a copy of the book.

I thought the last entry in the Walker and Sharpe series was on fire (pun intended). The book felt like it stood not in the shadow of Crais and Connelly, but in their equal. So I was eager to get to this third entry in the series, and I felt feeling a bit burned. All the things that made book 2 so great were here, but it just didn't feel the same. I chalk it up to a big side plot from the first book involving a con artist and his heists. While that storyline was good, it just didn't fit in with the rest of the novel. I kept wanting to go back to our main characters. The heist plotline felt like something straight out of Goldberg's previous series co-authored with Janet Evanovich. I liked those, but when I'm in the mood to read a heist novel, I'll read one of those -- not the fire investigations series. This book wasn't bad at all, but I still felt like it wasn't as good as the other books. I'll keep reading it, and definitely want to start the Eve Ronin series (which I keep putting off for some reason). Next time, though, I'll keep my expectations a little tempered.

I enjoyed the separate parts of the story but didn’t like that the book was split into 2 different storylines which really don’t conjoin. It was annoying to have to switch mindsets from one to the either. #HiddeninSmoke #NetGalley

Another thrilling installment in the world of arson investigation! Walker and Sharpe are back investigating LA fires. You also have the subplot with Danny Cole, a bad guy you really like, who is helping to seek revenge/justice. Eve and Duncan also help out.

Non-stop action and a satisfying ending.

Thank you to NetGalley, Thomas & Mercer, and Lee Goldberg for the eARC.

Hidden in Smoke begins with Los Angeles arson investigator Andrew Walker calling in a favor. After letting con artist extraordinaire Danny Cole escape following his mission to rob millionaires and pursue vengeance, Walker is asking Danny to complete his act of revenge. Megamillionaire Roland Slezak built his fortune by unethically raising his companies’ pharmaceutical prices for pure profit, and destroying Slezak’s life would lower the cost of an anti-seizure medication desperately needed by Walker’s two-year-old son.

Walker already has a lot on his plate, as a night erupts with a series of car fires set near apartment buildings in West Hollywood. Walker’s partner Walter Sharpe always – loudly – laments the fire departments who wash away evidence while putting out fires, but in this case it doesn’t take long for the arson investigators to track down the likely culprit. They have to pass on the actual capturing of the criminal when they are assigned to investigate a fire underneath the I-10 Santa Monica Freeway that shut down traffic for hours. In a town that lives and dies by its freeways, the freeway closure has the mayor, governor, and head of the Department of Transportation demanding that it be resolved and the freeway rebuilt as soon as possible. This puts Walker and Sharpe in conflict with the small industrial businesses and homeless encampment underneath the freeway, both who blame the other for starting the fires. The trail of clues eventually leads them to a dead body, which has them once again meeting Lost Hills homicide detectives Eve Ronin and Duncan Pavone. The four investigators are as effective in their investigations as they are frustrating to their supervisors, caring more about results than public relations or politics.

This 3rd in the Walker & Sharpe series (but 7th in the Eve Ronin, who has her own books) is an exhilarating blend of an Ocean’s Twelve caper and the movie Backdraft, with plots coinciding into a satisfying end. Danny Cole – with a new face and a new name – enlists his own crew of honeytrap/muscle Tamiko Harada and Sam Mertz, and together they conduct an elaborate scheme to steal a priceless watch out of a museum on a Japanese billionaire’s private island. This clever and exhilarating romp is as engaging as Walker and Sharpe’s more grounded and practical investigation, but both are as witty and hilarious as one expects in the books written by Lee Goldberg. California natives will feel at home with the descriptions of freeways and familiar landmarks, with the latter including action-packed surveillances in a shopping mall and drive-thru. The dialogue is always witty and the plots so entertaining that readers will be eagerly anticipating the next adventures of these characters who are as much fun together as they are in their own separate books. The more the merrier though, and here’s to hoping that they all team up again to deal out justice to criminals and an incompetent bureaucracy.

Lee Goldberg has written another exciting novel that is almost perfect to play out on the big screen. His writing reads like screenplays and the action is non stop. In the third installment of the Sharpe & Walker partner series, the duo needs even more help from some of Goldberg's other characters (Det. Eve Ronin) in order to solve an arson case in Los Angeles in this cross-over novel. Because this is the third book in the Sharpe & Walker series, readers may have trouble understanding all of the backstory at first, but Goldberg does a good job of catching everyone up in the first few chapters.

Arson investigators, Walter Sharpe and Andrew Walker, have the skillset and intelligence of Gerritson's Rizzoli & Isles and the humor of the Lethal Weapon guys, Riggs & Murtaugh, making for an enjoyable read. It is a great novel for fans of police procedurals, both in print and media forms.

Thank you to NetGalley and Thomas and Mercer publishing for the chance to read this novel.

While the plot may be a bit complicated, this is another good novel from Goldberg. I like the dialogue and banter. There are two lines running through the book. One involves a thief from Malibu Burning and the other arson investigations. The plot line of investigating arson fires is a welcome change from the more typical murder mysteries. The plot had some good twists and turns. This novel was perhaps a bit less engaging than the previous one I read but it was still enjoyable. I did feel the characters were well developed. It was interesting characters were brought in from another series. Goldberg's scene descriptions are great. This novel makes one think twice about driving on highway overpasses.

I received a complimentary egalley of this book from the publisher. My comments are an independent review.

Hidden in Smoke by Lee Goldberg
Sharpe & Walker #3

Arson, theft, murder, and more are cases that overlap and need to be solved ~ Sharpe & Walker are on the job and what a job it proved to be ~ Great addition to the series!

What I liked:
* The first chapter that set the hook and indicated the direction of the story
* Andrew Walker: two years as an arson investigation, ex-US Marshall, loving husband and father, “hunter” of men, prefers action to downtime
* Walter Sharpe: senior arson investigator, intelligent, puzzle solver, experienced, looks for clues and facts to verify when investigating fires, willing to share knowledge, doesn’t jump to conclusions
* That Eve Ronin & Duncan Pavone were part of the story
* Brian Lockwood: a new face who was introduced in book one – wonder if he might get a series of his own – intrigued by him
* The birds eye view of how the pivotal heist was carried off and what part it played in the story – loved seeing the team again and watching them in action
* The supporting characters and the part they played – wonder if Deputy Carter will show up again
* The police procedural aspects of how the arsons were solved
* The plot, pacing, setting, and writing ~ great characters
* Returning to Southern California where I grew up – it all seemed so familiar
* That fires in California are a big issue, great losses occur, can become political issues and all of this is covered a bit at a time in this series

What I didn’t like:
* Who and what I was meant not to like
* Thinking about the greed of the bad guys and what they were willing to do to make their fortunes
* Having to wait for the next book to be finished

Did I like this book? Yes
Would I read more by this author? Definitely

Thank you to NetGalley and Thomas & Mercer for the ARC – This is my honest review.

5 Stars

Lee Goldberg has done it again. This book is perfect for fans of Bosch - it’s a police procedural done absolutely right. I felt a pull to Walker and Sharpe from book one, even though I really didn’t expect to. The addition of Eve Ronin and Duncan is icing on the cake. Must read.

I discovered this book and the characters Sharpe and Walker through Lee Goldberg’s highly enjoyable Eve Ronin series set in Southern California. This book has two plots - an arson investigation and a subplot that is a heist style story. This particular series of arsons involve the destruction of cars and murals and Sharpe and Walker, with help and interference from a range of colleagues, eventually work out the connections. The heist plot was great fun - a revenge plot against a big pharma money-grabbing type. As a reader outside the US I find the free-market approach to selling medication quite shocking and perhaps this is why I found the subplot so compelling, caring about the outcome.

Sharpe and Walker are back! And they're joined by Eve Ronin and Duncan Pavone. Oh, and master thief Danny Cole as well. What more could you ask for?

This was a thrillride of a book full of fires and heists and incredibly quick people, both in their thinking and on their feet. I would absolutely recommend this one. And shhhh, don't tell but I actually like the team of Sharpe and Walker more than Eve and Duncan.

I received an ARC from NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.

Walker & Sharpe have done it again. This story has two separate plots woven together into a cohesive story. I didn’t necessarily care for the second plot, but it doesn’t take away from anything. I villain was unexpected & so good. I cannot wait for the next one.

I was captivated by this one and was so excited to see there’s a new book coming out soon.
Hidden in Smoke is a story full of interesting characters, a fast-paced action and a very character driven plot.
I wasn't prepared for the tense, cinematic finale which kept me on the edge of my seat.

What an excellent crime thriller! This book takes you on a rollercoaster from arson and the investigation to high stakes robbery. It’s fast-paced and suspensfeul and full of twists that keep you guessing. Hidden in Smokey’s the 3rd book in the Sharpe & Walker series. I read it as a standalone book.

I enjoyed the characters and how they developed. This is my first book by Lee Goldberg and will be going back and reading some of his previous novels.

Thank you to NetGalley & Thomas & Mercer for letting me read this ARC.

I love anything Lee Goldberg writes. His tales are so far fetched, full of action and suspense with great quirky characters and Hidden In Smoke is no exception. I love that he writes different series in the same fictional world so the supporting casts of characters seem like old friends to me. I love the smart, funny dialogue and the shocking twists I didn’t see coming. I’m never disappointed by his writing!