Forging Fire

June 22, 2020
In Preston’s lively third outing for charmingly unpretentious Rainy Dale (after 2019’s Dead Blow), the Oregon horseshoer agrees a few day before her wedding to cook Guy Kittredge, “the jelly to my peanut butter,” to deliver a “bad news bull” to a sale in California. Charley, her faithful working dog, accompanies her on the trip. After handing over the bull at the sale, Rainy is knocked unconscious by someone who takes her truck and her dog. Coming to by the side of a country road, she makes her way to the nearby Beaumont ranch, where she finds her truck and Charley. She bonds over a love of dogs with ranch owner Ivy Beaumont, though she takes a dislike to a hired hand, whom she describes as “six feet stupid in a five-nine body.” Charley leads her to a place on the ranch where a body has been buried, and she’s soon investigating murder and more. A subplot involving Ivy’s shady L.A. lawyer husband adds further intrigue. This contemporary western mystery is a must for those who occasionally realize they prefer animals to most humans. Agent: Mark Gottlieb, Trident Media Group.

August 1, 2020
This is the third delightful mystery (after Dead Blow, 2019) featuring sassy horseshoer Rainy Dale, who works the barns of Central Oregon. It's the week before her wedding, but Rainy jumps at a chance to visit the legendary Black Bluff bull sale and heads for California in her truck, Ol' Blue, to deliver her neighbor's killer bovine. Her dog, Charlie, gets to show off his herding skills, and Rainy is busting her buttons with pride, but then it all goes terribly wrong when she is clunked on the head and wakes up miles away on a ranch where Charlie's peculiar behavior leads to the unearthing of a body. Everyone for miles around had a motive to kill the victim, and the ever-resourceful Rainy stays on, ostensibly for the thrill of using the ranch's old-fashioned forge, while she figures it all out. Fans of Craig Johnson and J. A. Jance will appreciate the environs, and readers should take this chance to saddle up with Rainy and enjoy her cracking-good narrative. Bound to sugar your grits.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2020, American Library Association.)