FILE UNDER ARSON
Sarah Lacey
Hodder & Stoughton
ISBN 0 340 60787 411 0

Review by Jean Currie

Billy, who had been fascinated by matches, and curious to see what he could do with them when he was a child, grew up into a teenager who haunted the fire station, helping, getting in the way and making friends with the firemen. He went to every fire, kept notes of how long it took to get a blaze under control, how many appliances were needed and what kind of damage was caused. His diary was full of entries about fires and he bought second-hand books about fire raising and insurance frauds. What more natural than that he should be accused of starting the fire at the discount carpet warehouse? Why should the police look any further for a suspect?

Leah Hunter, who is supposed to keep her head down at the Inland Revenue, isn't convinced of Billy's guilt and as she stubbornly sets out to discover who has framed him, and who is at the bottom of a series of fires and deaths, she antagonises the villains. They get her suspended from her job, but that doesn't stop her, so they decide she shall die in a fire.

They ought to have more sense than to tangle with Leah Hunter, but villains never learn. Leah stands no nonsense from them, from her boss at work, or from her lover, D.I. Nicholls, yet, despite her biting tongue and ready wit, (nearly) everybody loves her - including me.

Any wannabe writers could learn a lot from this book. Plot, pace, suspense, characterisation, conflict, dialogue are unsurpassed.

This is the third Leah Hunter novel from Sarah Lacey (following FILE UNDER DECEASED and FILE UNDER MISSING).