is actually the duo's second investigation in the story. They first investigate a series of car and apartment building fires that occurred several days earlier. That arsonist used Duraflame firelogs to set his blazes, and when video footage reveals evidence of similar logs at the overpass fire, the still-at-large apartment arsonist becomes the prime suspect.  

Sharpe and Walker’s investigation reveals the sordid underbelly of life beneath the overpass. That area was home to a homeless encampment and several shoestring businesses, including a barbecue restaurant where the investigators enjoy a couple of lunches. The tenants weren’t happy with the slumlord who charged them exorbitant rent, so Sharpe and Walker find some new suspects with possible revenge motives.

The sections of Hidden in Smoke that focus on the investigation of the overpass fire are fascinating. I wish the author had gone into more detail about the subculture of those living and working underneath the overpass. That’s the problem with the novel. Instead of focusing on one interesting investigation, Hidden in Smoke has an entirely unrelated subplot that takes place a continent away. The book also follows Danny Cole, the villain in Malibu Burning, the first novel in the Sharpe and Walker series. Cole is a master thief who pulls off a seemingly impossible robbery of a $40 million watch from a nearly impregnable museum.

Cole’s entire subplot belongs in an entirely different crime subgenre, the sophisticated heist thriller. The Thomas Crown Affair (either the original or the remake) is an excellent example of that genre. However, that subplot has a different style and tone from the down-and-dirty grittiness of Sharpe and Walker’s work. The robbery occurs at the Gallery of Curiosities, a museum on an island in Japan with limited ferry access. It’s the type of seemingly impossible crime that master thieves always pull off in caper thrillers. Either storyline alone could make a great crime thriller novel. However, when combined, readers wind up with two novella-length works that feel somewhat incomplete in places. The author ties the storylines together by the end of the book, but neither storyline affects the actions taking place in the other. (The heist and its preparations and immediate aftermath take place several weeks before the arson investigation.) I enjoyed the caper sections of Hidden in Smoke and the arson investigation. However, I didn’t enjoy the awkward way the author combined them, shifting from one storyline to another from chapter to chapter. The effect was like combining an ice cream sundae and a bowl of hot chili in the same container.

The car fires and apartment fires in the book’s first few chapters occur in various jurisdictions in the Los Angeles area. I’ve never been to Los Angeles, and I’m not familiar with the region’s overall geography. As a result, I wasn’t able to follow the squabbling that occurred among the various police and fire departments over whose responsibility the multiple investigations were. The author attempts to mine this material for humor, but I was left confused, rather than amused.

One enjoyable consequence of the sprawling investigation was the reappearance of Eve Ronin, another of the author’s series characters. She is a detective who is also the subject of a TV cop series titled Ronin. She teamed with Walker in his previous novel and is the author’s liveliest and most entertaining character. (Her partner, nicknamed “Donuts” for reasons that are easy to guess, also puts in a welcome appearance here.) When Walker discovers the body of a crooked building inspector in their jurisdiction, Ronin and Donuts join the team.

Lee Goldberg is a talented crime author, and he has written two highly entertaining novellas here. Although the arson investigation is a deadly serious matter, the author finds considerable humor in his characters. The problem is that he has combined his two storylines into one awkwardly joined-together 300-page novel. The result is not a flaming success. Hidden in Smoke is more enjoyable for its parts than as a whole. Still, the author’s cast of characters provides enough good entertainment for readers that, once the smoke clears, I can recommend the book.  

NOTE: The publisher graciously provided me with a copy of this book through NetGalley. However, the decision to review the book and the contents of this review are entirely my own.