Fire blazes around Sonya Brighton when she returns to Linnville, Kansas, to visit her Uncle Alex and to settle her father's estate. First the Brighton Warehouse, in which Sonya is a partner, burns. When Sonya begins to investigate, fire rages again, this time to cover up an attempted murder.
To Sonya's dismay her uncle has become estranged from his stepson, handsome Dan Rathmell. Dan's mother has recently died, and Alex, stricken with illness, has remarried in haste to an opportunist, who moves in her sister and brother-in-law. This frightening trio has taken over the Rathmell house.
As Sonya attempts to clear herself and Uncle Alex from charges of arson, she finds herself encircled by flames of deceit.
Loretta Jackson, along with her sister Vickie Britton, is the author of over thirty-eight published novels. Their mysteries Path of the Jaguar and Nightmare in Morocco have been reprinted as Thorndike Large Print editions and have sold internationally. The sisters are also authors of the Jeff McQuede High Country Mystery series and the archaeological Ardis Cole Mystery Series.
Both writers are drawn to the western setting, which has provided a background for much of their recent work. The sisters are co-authors of Stone of Vengeance, a mystery which takes place in the modern-day West, as well as three traditional Westerns with a hint of mystery: The Devil's Game, The Fifth Ace and The Wild Card.
They are currently working on another Jeff McQuede High Country Mystery.
Loretta is a former teacher who spent several years on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota.
