FLASHOVER

Spunky Fire Marshal Georgia Sheehan copes with a vengeful arsonist, a rocky love affair, a thorny career path, and tainted brass—in a satisfying sequel to last year’s The Fourth Angel.

Two doctors, known to each other, are killed by fires set in their respective homes only hours apart—puzzling fires, the precise causes not immediately apparent. But it isn’t until Georgia learns more about how the docs were connected that she gets that first unsettling whiff of arson. Before retirement, both doctors served on the One-B Board, a panel viewed darkly throughout the New York City Fire Department for the austerity of its dealings with compensation matters. Further, her veteran partner informs her, both were notorious “for turning down injured firefighters for line-of-duty pensions.” The idea that one of those rejected might be seeking vigilante justice is difficult to avoid. Nonetheless, Georgia learns that it’s an idea anathema to several of her bosses for reasons that have to do with the way power corrupts. Soon enough, she’s bumping into secret agendas every which way, and people who care about her are lining up to warn her off. Moving discreetly—she does understand that her career is at stake—she takes awhile to uncover the cover-up, but in the meantime there are all those auxiliary worries heaped on her plate. Like, for instance, the fact that she might be pregnant. Then, suddenly, Georgia’s investigation, sub rosa as much of it is, takes a violent twist in a terrifying direction and she finds herself hunting for a vanished best friend, hoping desperately that she’s still alive, and, if she isn’t, that the murderer isn’t who Georgia’s scared stiff it might be.

Authoritative settings—Chazin is married to a veteran firefighter—and an extremely likable heroine are enough to survive even a wildly melodramatic climax.