I always have a great time reading a book from Lee Goldberg. Hidden in Smoke is the third book headlining Sharpe & Walker and featuring Ronin & Pavone. The intrepid arson investigators are a great set of characters and the story gets even better when the duo from the homicide squad gets involved. I love the bantering and humor but also the authors eye for detail and imagination when it comes to creating a story. I can really recommend this series and I thank Thomas & Mercer and Netgalley for letting me have an advance copy of this great book.

This book is third in the series and it did not disappoint! The tie-ins from the first two, as well as Eve and Duncan from the Eve Ronin series just makes it even better! This story twists and turns around. I did not expect the ending at all.
Great read!!

I was thrilled when I found this on NetGalley!

His books read like an action TV series. And it was also fun to meet the main characters of his Eve Ronin series.

The fact that some pharmaceutical companies keep their prices unnecessarily high was also discussed...

The only drawback to his books are the too detailed descriptions of the environment where the story takes place at that moment.

I'm a big Lee Goldberg fan. I think Eve Ronin is one of the great contemporary California cop characters around these days. That said, it pains me to report that HIDDEN IN SMOKE is a very long way from Lee Goldberg's best.

There's something about the book that feels hasty and rushed, as if he was under such pressure from his publisher to get it out that he just pushed this thing out there as quickly as he could and washed his hands of it. Parts of the book didn't even read like Goldberg had written it, and I had to wonder more than once if his publisher might have called in a bit of ghostwriting help to meet whatever publication schedule they had established.

The narrative is frankly rather jumbled, jumping back and forth between two unrelated story lines which ultimately mate up. Well... sort of. The characters feel cartoony — not at all typical of Goldberg's characters — which is another thing which made me wonder occasionally if he had 'help' writing this one.

As much as I love most of Goldberg's work, this is a hard book to recommend. Read Goldberg by all means, but look to his other titles before you look to this one.

I was not familiar with this prolific author, Lee Goldberg, nor this series about Sharpe & Walker. I picked it up as a fast and dirty police procedural after a few more worthy reads, wanting some instantly engaging junk food reading. I actually really struggled to like or relate to the characters in the first half, but it got there in the end, as you'd expect from a writer with so many books behind them.

Hidden in Smoke mashes together two storylines that probably would make more senses if I had read the previous books. One is a James Bond-esque museum heist of a rare watch on a Japanese island, the other is a series of fires in Los Angeles: "This is urban arson, so we know the fires have got to be about revenge, money, or hiding a crime." There was fair bit of cognitive dissonance jumping between the two sorts of storytelling, but as I mentioned, they come together in the end.

The tone felt a bit brusque and flippant: "They wore matching blue LAFD windbreakers and matching sour expressions that suggested they both had heartburn." The characters felt a bit cartoony: "She was both the muscle and the eye candy on Danny's jobs. She felt cheated if she didn't get to sleep with someone or taste some blood along the way." There was dogwhistle misogyny in some of the writing about women: "Her breath smelled like a wet dishrag" or "I ran up the street screaming 'Fire,' barefoot and bare-assed, my cooch out there for everybody to see. It was the beacon that led everybody to safety." Probably the best bit of descriptive prose was about concrete: "Underneath the freeway, all the rubble was gone, exposing the damaged, crumbling pillars and the savaged underbelly of the overpass, where the blaze had violently clawed at the concrete like a ferocious animal, exposing the rebar and pebbly aggregate, the bones and sinew of the structure."

So I guess all in all, not what I was wanting or imagining, and slow to read as a result, but for fans of Lee Goldberg, I bet it scratches their itch. Maybe it'd appeal more to men...

Hidden in Smoke by Lee Goldberg is the third in the Sharpe and Walker series. As arson investigators, this time they are tasked with trying to find the arsonist behind multiple apartment fires. Then, when another fire starts near a homeless camp and shuts down the major highway above it, things get serious. As their investigation continues they bring in Eve Ronin to help with the police side. These stories get better and better and I hope continue for a long time.

I love this third installment in the Walker /Sharpe series, with Duncan and Eve, for the explosive
entwining plots. It’s also familiar to the fans of the series, and we got more than we could ask
for as we have three separate fires & explosions along with theft, murder and some great
barbecue that will have you checking that address to see if it might actually be there!
There are several stand out characters, beginning with my favorite,: Sharpe. He has some
great lines and has to really work hard to deal with some of the ‘investigators’ who might
be working against the best intentions of the capturing the crimes/criminals.
This book is one of brilliant quips and quotes, none of which I will be sharing until the
books meets the world.
Lastly, Eve, the decorated 26 year old ‘murder cop,’, begins to show some of her
maturity and her innate investigatory chops.
What can I say except that this is another ‘hot’ book !
My thanks to Thomas & Mercer via NetGalley for the
download copy of this book for review purposes.

Thanks to Lee Goldberg, Thomas & Mercer, and NetGalley for access to the Advanced Reader Copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I love this series. Sharpe and Walker are great characters (along with Eve Ronin and others) and the action is associated with arson and arson investigations, which I find is a refreshing change from homicide detective based stories.

The plot involves a series of carport arsons, a freeway fire and a stolen watch. The plot comes together nicely as all three threads intertwine to this story and some continued action from the first novel. The dialog and pacing are top notch, and I especially like the interplay between the characters. Recommended.

This book is the third in the excellent Sharpe and Walker series and can be read independently of the other two, although action from the first book is mentioned and will give away the ending of that book.

Hidden in Smoke by Lee Goldberg is the latest in the very enjoyable Sharpe & Walker series that began in Malibu Burning. If you have not read that book, you really need to as a major character from that book is resurrected here. In fact, as the author note at the start of this read explains, the ending of that book is addressed here on page one.

Danny Cole is alive and well in Japan, though he might be a tad bored. After several surgeries, he has a different face and has various names to go by as he moves about. The 35-year-old thief and grifter is retired and is, per doctor’s orders, trying to find inner peace and tranquility as he sits in the bathhouse. Any hope of that is gone when Los Angeles County Sheriff Department Arson Investigator Andrew Walker lumbers into the water next to him.

Walker isn’t there to arrest him. In fact, Walker wants Danny Cole to finish the job he started. If he does and gets even for what happened, he will help Walker as a certain drug price will come way down. A drug that Walker’s young son desperately needs to control his seizures.

For Danny, it is a chance to once again, experience the thrill of his old life. It will take months to pull off this heist. Doing so is one of the two main storylines in the book.

The other is dealing with the aftermath of a string of fires across Los Angeles. A number of fires has been set and caused damage at car ports in West Hollywood. The car ports had apartment buildings above them which provided fuel for the car port fire. Fire after fire happened and Walker and Waller and Sharpe are working the case when a catastrophic freeway fire pulls them onto another case.

A portion of I-10 in downtown Los Angeles burns and the freeway is severely damaged. Various materials were stored under the multilane overpass as the area was subleased to a business which also leased the area out to others. That resulted in folks running their small businesses under it. There was also a homeless encampment nearby and underneath the bridge.

With such a mix of fuels, it isn’t surprising a horrific multi alarm fire erupted. It burned so hot that the freeway in that section is severely damaged and will have to be repaired to the cost of millions and considerable time.

It has resulted in massive gridlock and a city wide and beyond traffic nightmare for residents. LA County Sheriff Richard Lansing reassigns Walker and Sharpe to the case as he sees a chance to score points with the public after they are tasked with determining what happened. He wants the fire investigated fast and, as he wants to be Mayor, is using, Walker and Sharpe to restore his scandal filled reputation. It’s complicated and Sharpe is sure that no matter what they find and do, they are going to get burned.

Not to mention, they have a case already that they have put a lot of legwork in on and have identified the suspect. Not that it matters as Lansing wants the best on the case, and Walker and Sharpe are the best. Seeing that other case to the finish line is not an option, so they get to work on the freeway fire, and find far more than expected.

Hidden in Smoke is another complicated and fast moving solidly good read. There are many moving parts here and they slowly come together as Danny works on his heist and Walker and Sharpe work their cases.

Not only is the book an enjoyable read, it makes you think as you drive under the overpasses in your city what could, potentially, happen. That fact alone is more than enough to creep you out.


My reading copy came from the publisher, Thomas & Mercer, by way of NetGalley, with no expectation of a review.


Kevin R. Tipple ©2025

Excellent! I love how this book brought in Eve Ronin (I love her). I cannot wait for the next installment!

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for allowing me to read this arc in exchange for an honest review!

Legendary Lee Goldberg has given us another fiery Sharpe & Walker adventure. It's a scorcher of a story. Of course, to be fair, we'd expect nothing less than that from Goldberg at this point. There are two different tales 'Hidden in Smoke' in this book which Goldberg deftly ties together at the end.
There are scenes of dramatic derring-do which will knock your socks off. The action is so hot it presents Goldberg with the perfect opportunity to reunite his fantastic foursome of Sharpe, Walker, Ronin, and Pavone. It's an exciting story bolstered by the usual charm, whimsy, and wit of Goldberg.
Thanks to Thomas & Mercer & NetGalley for the advance reading copy in exchange for my honest opinion.

This book has Danny Cole returning to help Walker and a second storyline with a freeway arson. The arson part was very good with very good deduction by both Sharpe and Walker in their ways. The Danny part was cinematic, forced and felt like an unnecessary appendage. While I liked the first book in the series with Cole where he was embedded in the plot here he is just sticking out.

I am so pleased that two of my favorite detectives, Eve Ronin and Duncan Pavone, are working alongside two of my favorite arson investigators, Walter Sharpe and Andrew Walker (although I honestly haven’t read any books with any other arson investigators) in this third mystery thriller in the series by the always entertaining Lee Goldberg. In this all too short story, Sharpe and Walker must find a serial arsonist after dozens of Hollywood apartment buildings are set on fire on a single night. The arson investigators begin the hunt on their own until a massive fire engulfs a freeway and Detectives Ronin and Pavone are assigned to the case. Now they must determine the cause of the freeway fire, catch the torcher who is out for revenge, and end his goal to endanger the city.
Hidden in Smoke is fast moving with clever dialogue and engaging characters. Walker is a stetson-wearing former US Marshall. Sharpe is the senior arson investigator who is assigned Walker when Walker transfers to the department as a rookie. Walker tries to win Sharpe’s respect and asks his new partner lots of questions about fires, fire fighting and fire investigation. They have learned how to work well together as a team since their first investigation together. Eve Ronin, Los Angeles County Sheriff’s homicide detective,is the main character in a series of her own. In the first book in which her character appears, she arrests a movie star and is rewarded with a promotion and, to her dismay, a TV show based on her exploits that brings her recognition and fame.
The action is exciting with twists and turns, the characters are engaging and likeable, the arson plot is interesting and adds the element of danger. Hidden in Smoke is a fun, quick read with a good story to tell. I look forward to the next Sharpe and Walker book as well as the next book centering on Eve Ronin and Duncan Pavone.
I would like to thank Thomas & Mercer, Publishers as well as NetGalley for an advance copy of Hidden in Smoke.

My Best Read for the year comes at the end of 2024. Thank you Lee Goldberg, NetGalley and the Publishers for this early Christmas gift. All 3 books in the Sharpe and Walker series get a resounding 5 * from me. This is just perfect and hugely entertaining.
The author has written many series and I am amazed by his consistency of plot, characters and keeping up with the latest trends. It is well researched, and it was surprising to learn some things like the asthma inhaler with geo-locator. I first thought that the author had made it up. As always the plot is brilliant. There are 2 different tracks, one with the Sharpe and Walker investigating the carport arson and the freeway arson and the other one , the heist by Danny Cole, the con-artist. I was hold my breath through the daring heist. Eve and Duncan make and appearance, but they have a much smaller role than in the previous book "Ashes never lie". I am not complaining as this is Walker and Sharpe's story.

I can't wait for the next book by Lee Goldberg.

Someone’s starting a series of fires across part of Los Angeles including one that cripples a major freeway. Meanwhile, Walker asks a favour of an old ‘friend’. ‘Hidden in Smoke’ is another solid and thoroughly enjoyable page turner exploring the grey area of justice. It’s also a bit prescient given an American health insurer CEO was executed and people from both sides of the political spectrum think the man charged was justified.

I breezed right through this book with its tight plotting, naturalistic dialogue and well-paced action. I also love the banter between characters. Best of all Eve Ronin and her scene-stealing partner Duncan Pavone make a cameo.

Aside from the characters and mystery is also the strong sense of place in Lee Goldberg’s writing. As always Los Angeles is the star and I find my reading experience is enhanced searching street view. I also guessed immediately that MONA was the inspiration for a fictional Japanese museum (and sure enough confirmed in the author’s note).

When’s the next one, cause I’m looking forward to more!

Thanks to Thomas & Mercer and NetGalley for the ARC.

Thank you to the author, publisher and NetGalley for an ARC of the book in exchange for an honest review.

Having been a huge fan of the Eve Ronin series, I wasn't sure how she and Duncan would mesh would Sharpe and Walker, but quite frankly across 3 books, I think the author has done a fantastic job. This was very entertaining and I finished it in one sitting. I very much look forward to their next adventures. Likeable and relatable characters and interesting plot - great combination! 4-stars

My favorite arson investigators are back. While Sharpe and Walker are battling arson fires, Danny Cole is planning a big con. He needs closure from the last one. Slezak was still prospering. This series keeps me coming back for more. Witty dialog and elaborate cons make it a non-stop thrill ride. Love the crossovers when we get to see Eve and Duncan, too! Lee Goldberg is one of my must read authors!

*ARC provided by NetGalley for an honest review.

It's like Christmas every time I have a book by Mr. Goldberg on my TBR list and Hidden in Smoke was no exception! Someone is setting cars in carports on fire in Hollywood and Walker and Sharpe are called in to investigate. Just as they are starting to make a small dent into solving that crime, someone sets a huge fire under the overpass of one of the major freeways in Los Angeles undermining the safety of the overpass and shutting it down.

I enjoyed it tremendously when Eve and Duncan joined the investigation. (I'm still happy-dancing that Duncan chose not to retire, yet.) If that weren't enough, there was a side story that made me feel as though I had been plopped into a James Bond movie!

Hidden in Smoke is a great read that explores dealing with life-threatening situations, and the gray areas between good and bad. The characters are complex and interesting, plus there are many laughs, preventing the book from becoming too dark. I loved it and recommend it!

Huge thanks to #ThomasAndMercer for providing this book for review consideration via #NetGalley. All opinions are my own. This book is #3 in the Sharpe & Walker series and has an expected publication date of April 22, 2025.

#FireInvestigation #Crime #Mystery #LeeGoldberg

Hidden in Smoke by L. Goldberg, published by Thomas & Mercer, is book three in the Sharpe and Walker Series. The books are best read in order.
An intriguing, suspenseful book, a fast paced, action packed and drama laden story that had me on the egde of my seat right from the start. 5 stars.
Blurb: After dozens of Hollywood apartment buildings erupt in flames during a single night, arson investigators Walter Sharpe and Andrew Walker are assigned to catch the serial torcher and end his spree. But then a catastrophic fire destroys a major freeway, crippling the city and forcing Sharpe and Walker to take on another massive case.
Desperate for help, they know exactly who to homicide detectives Eve Ronin and Duncan Pavone. Together the four detectives must quickly figure out whether the freeway disaster was a tragic accident…or the work of a mastermind with a horrific plan.
As the investigations collide, an old foe with a revenge scheme enters the fray, igniting a race against time to stop a conspiracy of deception, corruption, and murder.

Another winner from Lee Goldberg. His books are always funny and exciting, and this one is no exception. I hope he keeps putting out fantastic books for years to come..