Wildfire Warning

A sixty-foot fall. A ranger who never made mistakes. And a retired mystery novelist who refuses to call it an accident.

Claire Hartley has found her rhythm in Ridgeline, Colorado—morning coffee at the dog park with her golden retriever Boone and her suspicious rescue Pepper, evenings at The Buzz with the enigmatic bartender Mick. She's done with mysteries. At least, that's what she keeps telling herself.

But when forest ranger Margaret Sutton is found dead at the base of a fire lookout tower—a tower she'd climbed hundreds of times without incident—Claire's novelist brain refuses to stay quiet. Especially when her friend Hank, Margaret's colleague of thirty years, insists the most careful ranger he ever knew didn't simply fall.

As fire season tightens its grip on the mountain town, Claire is drawn into a web of corruption, falsified reports, and decades of carefully hidden payments. A husband facing a divorce that would destroy him. A logger whose business was ruined by Margaret's enforcement. An environmental consultant whose career depends on reports that don't hold up to scrutiny. And a supervisor six months from retirement—with everything to lose if Margaret's investigation went public.

Someone climbed that tower in the dark. Someone Margaret trusted enough to turn her back on.

With the mountains shrouded in smoke and secrets buried deeper than the tree roots, Claire must untangle thirty years of compromises before the person who silenced Margaret Sutton decides she's asking too many questions.

Perfect for fans of cozy mysteries with smart sleuths, loyal dogs, and small-town secrets.

Wildfire Warning is the fifth book in the Ridgeline Dog Park Mysteries series. Each book features a standalone mystery with no cliffhangers.