Fire Girl

Kinton is young, smart, dedicated and Native American. She is also recently promoted. Those factors don't sit well with some people. Shortly after her promotion, there is a major fire at a hemp farm near her home. She starts to investigate and finds potential witnesses, some more helpful than others, and evidence that the fire might not have been accidental.

Despite being threatened, Kinton continues to investigate and makes some people angry and vindictive toward her. Despite pressure and threats, she is tenacious in pressing forward, continuing to gather evidence and to interview people.

Although I had to push myself through the first few pages of the book I'm happy that I did. The book is a great read, full of suspense, frustration, and ultimately success for Kinton and the truth.

cannabis-farming, PTSD, arson, arson-investigators, MMIW, MMIP, Oregon, indigenous-people, Native American, firefighters, fire, anger-issues, friendship, friction, frustration, rural, relationships, relatives, revenge, revenge-killings, NamVets, contemporary, murder, attempted-murder, law-enforcement, riveting, thriller, suspense, suspicion, investigations, investigators*****

I hope you don't mind knowing who the arsonist is at the very beginning, because the suspense and twistiness come from the two opponents doing their best to keep each other from winning. Kinton Brulee has enough experience in the Fire Service and has recently been promoted to the job of Oregon state deputy fire-marshal, a division of the Oregon state police. Her determination and expertise are pitted against a disabled NamVet who torched the cannabis barn and shot the owner. Lots of personal issues, including that of her being Lakota and a female with a disabled child. I learned a lot about the fire service and also about the legal and logistical problems of growing the stuff. For instance, I had no idea how much of a drain on water resources this crop was. The book was riveting.
I requested and received a temporary EARC from Black Rose Writing via NetGalley. Thank you!

“Fire Girl” by Carole T. Beers was a little bit of a slow start for me, but once I got into the book, I couldn’t put it down. Lakota Kinton Brulee, the newly appointed fire marshal in Oregon, gets called in when a fire breaks out at a canabis farm. Kinton faces opposition of all sorts as she tries to do her job: from a misogynistic police detective to scary people in the drug trade. When a dead body turns up at the crime scene, it is more than arson: it’s murder.

The arsonist and murderer, a disabled elderly veteran will also do what it takes to ensure his crime is unsolvable, even if it means silencing Kinton. After all, he has is reasons for committing this crime.
I really liked Kinton—a single mother raising her Trisomy 21 son with the help of her grandmother and niece. She is exactly the kind of character that would be the backbone of a hit TV series. I learned a lot about the fire service and, to be honest, I had no idea about how shady the the business of legalized weed is. As I read, I felt so grateful to live in a place where such drugs are not legalized and drug addictions and drug business violence are practically nonexistent. In many ways, this book was a real eye opener.
Many thanks to Net Galley and to the publisher for an ARC of this book. I’m looking forward to seeing reading more about Kinton Brulee in the future.