Wild Inferno
A Jamaica
Wild Mystery
Sandi
Ault
Berkley Prime Crime (Hardcover)
ISBN-10: 0-425-21922-4 (0425219224)
ISBN-13: 978-0-425-21922-5 (9780425219225)
Publication Date: February 2008
List Price: $23.95
Synopsis (from
the publisher): Wildfire erupts on a patchwork of land including the
Southern Ute Reservation, and BLM agent Jamaica Wild is called away
from her normal duties to serve on the Incident Command Team. A
cantankerous old man from the Ute tribe named Grampa Ned has reportedly
snuck around barricades and entered an area to one side of the fire.
Jamaica risks danger to go after him, but before she can find him, the
fire crowns and torches through the area, forcing her to run for her
life. As she escapes, Jamaica discovers a firefighter smoldering and
wavering on the side of the road. The man, part of a hotshot crew that
is trapped in the burn area, sputters a cryptic message to Jamaica
before losing consciousness.
While the burned man lies comatose in a burn unit, the rest of his crew
is found deep inside the black—where the fire has burned
through—singed and suffering from smoke inhalation, but alive
thanks to their fire shelters. The charred body of Grampa Ned is
discovered nearby in the seared forest—but he has not died from
the fire, but rather from a blow to the head. The FBI investigates the
murder, and the agent in charge asks for Jamaica's help. The Chimney
Rock Fire intensifies, threatening homes, highways, and a major power
line feeding much of Southern Colorado.
Meanwhile, even as the fire threatens the high mesa on which they are
encamped, a determined gathering of Puebloans, descendants of the
ancient civilization that built the ruins at Chimney Rock, are doing
ceremony atop the high cuesta. They refuse to evacuate because the
sacred Lunar Standstill—an event that takes place every 18.6
years, when the moon rises exactly between the two spires of Chimney
Rock—is about to occur. One of them is Momma Anna, Jamaica's
medicine teacher from Tanoah Pueblo, who has brought Jamaica's wolf
Mountain with her to Chimney Rock and into the path of danger.
Jamaica must work to ensure that the Native Americans and her beloved
wolf are safe while she tries to discover what happened to both Grampa
Ned and the burning man. What was Grampa Ned doing on the mountain
before he was murdered—and why didn't the burning man stay with
his crew? What would make them risk incineration in a wild inferno?
Review: The
second mystery to feature Jamaica Wild, Wild Inferno by Sandi Ault, has the
Bureau of Land Management agent traveling to Colorado to assist in
battling a wildfire that has broken out on the Southern Ute Indian
reservation.
Jamaica's first assignment upon arriving is to locate, and evacuate, an
old Ute named Grampa Ned. Instead, she finds a badly burned firefighter
whose final words before slipping into a coma are, "Save the
grandmother." When Grampa Ned is later found dead, it's quickly
determined that he didn't die from the fires but from a shovel to the
back of the head. Now Jamaica has several puzzles on her hands: What
was so important to cause Grampa Ned to rush into a firestorm, shovel
in hand? Who killed him and why? And what did the downed firefighter
mean when he asked her to save the grandmother?
Wild Inferno would seem
to have all the elements of a terrific mystery. There's the suspenseful
environment in which the story takes place (a raging and unpredictable
wildfire), a murdered man (a whodunit), a mysterious plea ("save the
grandmother"), and compelling characters (Jamaica herself, the Ute
Indians, and in a not so minor role, Jamaica's wolf Mountain). But it
is really the characters, and particularly the stories and rituals of
the Utes, which make Wild Inferno a compelling novel.
With the exception of the opening and closing chapters, the wildfires
aren't really a factor in the story. The whodunit aspect is also
somewhat secondary; though it's mentioned that everyone hated Grampa
Ned, there really aren't that many characters in the book, and most are
Jamaica's colleagues, associates, or friends. With only a couple of
people left, it's not too hard to figure out who killed Grampa Ned.
What's left are the characters themselves. Ault cleverly weaves a
mystery plot into the tapestry that is a tale of the Ute people and
their customs. At one point, in reference to a conversation with Momma
Anna, a medicine woman and close friend, Jamaica says, "She spoke in
riddles, gave strange instructions, and generally set me off on
missions I didn't understand. As was often the case, I had absolutely
no idea what she was talking about, yet I sensed she expected me to act
on the information she had just imparted." The story in Wild Inferno is crafted in much the
same way. It's very well done and fascinating to read.
Special thanks to Blanco & Peace for providing a copy of Wild Inferno for this review.
Review Copyright © 2008 — Hidden Staircase Mystery Books — All Rights Reserved
Have you read Wild Inferno? How would you rate it?
Mysteries in this series ...
Wild Indigo
Berkley Prime Crime (Hardcover), January 2007
ISBN-10: 0-425-21369-2 (0425213692)
ISBN-13: 978-0-425-21369-8 (9780425213698)
Wild Inferno
Berkley Prime Crime (Hardcover), February 2008
ISBN-10: 0-425-21922-4 (0425219224)
ISBN-13: 978-0-425-21922-5 (9780425219225)
Omnimystery keywords for Wild Inferno ...
Location(s) referenced: Colorado.
