Presumption of Death (Hardcover)

I liked the undercurrents of the complex relationships of the six neighbors in this book, who live near where a fire occurs that provides the story's setting. And Nina's feelings of restlessness and transition after leaving Lake Tahoe come across as authentic.

But I had a hard time with the ultimate resolution of the crime in this one. Without giving away the ending, the "perp" struck me as a bit implausible, as I feel the criminal plot would have unraveled on it's own much earlier in the story, the way the author has set it up (I can't say more without giving away the ending).

Overall, an entertaining & well-written book; not the best in the series, but not the worst either.

I found Nina Reilly's new venue (or old, depending on how much one has followed this character through the series) and new circumstances to be fascinating--I felt that a whole new burst of life had been injected into the series. Not only did I not find it boring, I zipped through the book in record time.

Other reviewers have described the plot in detail...ominous forest fires, obviously the result of arson, are decimating the forests around the Carmel area--and young Wish Whitefeather, whom we have followed through all the books and brought to young adulthood, is arrested for setting the fires, with one count of murder to boot. It is up to Nina, who wanted nothing more than to take a hiatus from her career and explore her personal relationship with her lover and PI partner Paul, to take the case and save Wish from almost certain conviction.

As Paul and Nina struggle to find a center to their relationship and to solve the increasingly thorny mystery of who really set the fires and why, a whole subcast of characters is explored. The end was sufficient enough for this reviewer to be on tenterhooks for the next book. I know this is not a popular point of view among other reviewers, and again, I don't know why. My reaction to this book was wholly positive, and I would definitely urge those who follow the series to read it. For those who have not been Nina Reilly fans in the past, my view is that this will turn the tide.

Enough said!