A lot of hard work is involved in becoming an arson investigator for the Baltimore Police Department, but Catarina Reena Hale believes it's worth it. There is nothing she enjoys more than the unique challenges involved in discovering the reasons someone would commit arson. The only thing that Reena doesn't like is that it is extremely tough to find a man willing to accept her crazy schedule and -danger-filled job. Now, just when it seems that she has met a man--her new next-door neighbor, carpenter Bowen Goodnight--willing to accept her for who she is and what she does, Reena begins receiving anonymous calls from someone threatening to use fire to destroy everyone Reena holds dear. Roberts effectively opens the mind of her twisted villain to readers to create suspense, but she balances these violent scenes with equally powerful scenes of love and family as Reena gets the support she needs to defeat a sociopath, whose capacity for evil knows no bounds. Blue Smoke is another of Roberts' riveting combinations of danger and romance. --John Charles Copyright 2005 Booklist

When preteen Reena Hale witnesses someone torching her family's restaurant, it impacts her entire life. Now an adult, she's a top-notch arson investigator, and suddenly her job gets very personal. Fires have clues in her name, and the seemingly random deaths of people she's loved take on a more sinister meaning. Why is she being targeted? Joyce Bean reads smoothly, introducing each character with Roberts's cues to an emotional landscape. She maintains an easy rhythm, which complements the story. The plot crosses mystery, suspense, and romance genres, but each element has equal weight, and Bean allows the characters to play to their strengths. An essential purchase.-Jodi L. Israel, MLS, Jamaica Plain, MA (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Romantic suspense queen Roberts (Blue Dahlia, etc.) lights up Baltimore's Little Italy with this appealing story of love, family, food and arson. Eleven-year-old Reena Hale, watching her family's restaurant go up in flames, decides to become an arson investigator. The fire shapes another child's destiny, too, as Joey Pastorelli sees his father go to prison for setting the blaze. Reena's close-knit Italian family rebuilds; Reena grows up and completes police and firefighter training. Despite inheriting her mother's good looks, Reena proves unlucky in love, mainly because her beaux tend to die in fires, but her fortunes look up after she meets hunky carpenter Bo Goodnight. Bo gets along with Reena's family, friends and co-workers, and handles the demands of her career with patient humor, so nothing stands in their way except an obsessed, pyromaniac stalker determined to kill any man Reena loves. Although it does take Reena an inordinately long time to identify her nemesis, Roberts portrays investigative procedure more accurately than her many imitators. Well-sketched supporting characters with potential subplots of their own suggest that the prolific Roberts will put her feet to the fire again. Main selection, the Literary Guild and Doubleday Book Club. (Oct.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved