Hidden in Smoke by Lee Goldberg
Reading Hidden in Smoke is like reading two very separate and distinct novels. One is a museum heist in Japan, and the other, an arson investigation in Los Angeles. I kept reading for a long time wondering when the two would come together.
The museum is the fictional Gallery of Extraordinary Things on an island in Japan. The object of the heist is $40 million watch on display, albeit a heavily secured display. That makes it interesting. Danny Cole leads a small team to steal it.
The arson investigation in LA leads the investigators, Walter Sharpe and Andrew Walker, through some petty fires to a major one that shuts down a major highway.
For me, the arson investigation is a dry police procedural. The real action is in the museum heist.
When preparing this review, I found the previous novel, Malibu Burning, is where Danny Cole meets Sharpe and Walker, plus an evil billionaire, Roland Slezak. Oh, by the way, Goldberg wrote a series of books featuring an investigator, Eve Ronin. Eve appears in Hidden in Smoke.
So, if you want to read all the associated books in order:
1. Lost Hills — Eve Ronin
2. Bone Canyon — Eve Ronin
3. Gated Prey — Eve Ronin
4. Movieland — Eve Ronin
5. Malibu Burning — Sharpe & Walker
6. Ashes Never Lie — Sharpe & Walker
7. Dream Town — Eve Ronin
8. Hidden in Smoke — Sharpe & Walker - an Eve Ronin crossover
9. Fallen Star — Eve Ronin - another crossover
10. Split Screen — Eve Ronin
But Hidden in Smoke stands on its own.
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