by Heron Carvic
Part of Miss Seeton, book 10
First published 1991
Miss Seeton watches flames consume another building in Plummergen village. The retired art teacher has seen too many suspicious fires lately. When the arsonist targets her own cottage, she abandons her easel and watercolors. She must become a detective instead. The fires spread through the village with disturbing frequency. Each blaze seems random, yet Miss Seeton suspects a pattern lurks beneath the chaos. Her artistic eye notices details others miss. She studies the burn sites like compositions, searching for the common thread that connects them. The investigation pulls her deeper into village secrets. Neighbors she thought she knew reveal hidden grudges and buried resentments. The arsonist moves closer to home with each attack. Miss Seeton realizes she must solve the mystery before the flames claim more than property. Her quiet retirement depends on catching a criminal who threatens everything she holds dear.
Genres: fiction, mystery, cozy-mystery, amateur-sleuth
Vibes: cozy, suspenseful, thought-provoking
Tropes: amateur-sleuth, small-town
Setting: Plummergen
Period: 20th-century
188 pages · Mass Market Paperback · Berkley