The day started like every other. I stopped by Randy’s Donuts in Pasadena to pick-up a half-dozen and two take-out coffees, drove to the convenience store parking lot at the corner of Valley Boulevard and Highbury Avenue, and waited for Sid, my confidential informant, to arrive.

At 7:15, he pulled his car up beside mine, driver’s-side to driver’s side, and we rolled our windows down. Sid was a dispatcher for the Los Angeles County Fire Department and was on his way home after his night-shift. He was in his fifties, like me, but he was easily thirty pounds heavier, if not more. Someday Sid would need to use the jaws of life just to get in and out of his car.

“Good morning, Shar-Pei,” Sid said.

I ignored the dig. “You look tired. Busy night?”

“No more than usual. I was born tired.”

I believed that. People often said that about me, too, because I’d never lost the baby-fat on my face, which was adorable when I was a kid but, as I aged, became craggy, droopy folds of skin that made me look perpetually weary.

Or like a Shar-Pei.

Some people interpreted my default expression as cynicism, disapproval, or general disinterest, misconceptions about me and my attentiveness that often worked in my favor.

Sid handed me a file folder in exchange for a bag of donuts and a cup of coffee.

“They were out of maple bars this morning,” I said. “I got you apple fritters instead.”

“It’s okay. The doctor says I need more fruit in my diet.”

“Maybe cut out the donut part and just go with the fruit.”

“What kind of diet is that?” Sid took a big bite out of the fritter and nodded appreciatively. “It’s unnatural and inhumane.”

I held up the file. It was all the incident reports from the night before, which I wasn’t supposed to see. “Any work in here for me?”

“Nope,” Sid said between chews.

It’s what he always said. So that meant that I’d find at least two, or maybe more, arsons that some clueless fire house Captain had missed and classified as accidents or acts of nature. “We’ll see. Don’t fall asleep at the wheel.”

Sid held up his coffee cup. “That’s what this is for. See you tomorrow.”

We both drove off our separate ways. Sid, to his home in West Covina, and me to my office only a few blocks away, in the Arson & Explosives unit of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department. I’m an arson investigator. And if I followed the rules, and waited for a Fire Captain to spot something suspicious and then call me in, 80% of the arsons in the county would never get noticed or solved.

So, I didn’t wait. I bribed the dispatcher with donuts.

Firefighters didn’t like me much. But I was not in the job to be liked. I did it to catch arsonists. And I was very, very good at it.

Malibu Burning, A Sharpe & Walker Mystery Book #1
Genre: Thriller
Release: September 2023
Format: Print, Digital, Audio
Purchase Link

For a professional criminal and a relentless arson investigator, fear and revenge spread like wildfire in an incendiary thriller by #1 New York Times bestselling author Lee Goldberg.

Hell comes to Southern California every October. It rides in on searing Santa Ana winds that blast at near hurricane force, igniting voracious wildfires. Master thief Danny Cole longs for the flames. A tsunami of fire is exactly what he needs to pull off a daring crime and avenge a fallen friend.

As the most devastating firestorms in Los Angeles’ history scorch the hills of Malibu, relentless arson investigator Walter Sharpe and his wild card of a new partner, Andrew Walker, a former US marshal, suspect that someone set the massive blazes intentionally, a terrifying means to an unknown end.

While the flames rage out of control, Danny pursues his brilliant scheme, unaware that Sharpe and Walker are closing in. But when they all collide in a canyon of fire, everything changes, pitting them against an unexpected enemy within an inescapable inferno.

About the author
Lee Goldberg is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of over thirty novels, including True Fiction, Lost Hills, 15 Monk mysteries, five Fox & O’Hare adventures (co-written with Janet Evanovich), and the new thriller Malibu Burning. He’s written and/or produced many TV shows, including Diagnosis Murder, SeaQuest, Monk, The Glades, and co-created the hit Hallmark series Mystery 101. Visit his website at leegoldberg.com.

All comments are welcomed.