Summer Stalk

When his younger brother is killed by a fire that may have been deliberately set, L.A. cop Gene Murphy goes undercover in a remote northern California forestry camp. Although well written and authentic in its details (the author is a former employee of the U.S. Forest Service), this novel has several significant flaws. Lyon ( White Crow ) fails to provide the major fire scene that the book's setting and plot have led the reader to expect, and he tells rather than shows key events; two murders occur offstage. His handling of onstage scenes suffers from uncertainty of tone, as when a raucous town dance, which seems at first to be a comic interlude, turns disconcertingly violent. An ill-advised attempt to keep the arsonist's identity hidden until the last sentence, plus the out-of-left-field death of a secondary character, make for an extremely contrived ending. ( Dec. )