Nell Pratt is the president of the Pennsylvania Antiquarian
Society, located in Philadelphia. This job normally has her
scrambling, as her position requires her to fundraise, keep
a
board of directors happy, and keep what staff she has
satisfied -- all with minimal funding. Because she's been
so busy, she hasn't paid much attention to the string of
recent arsons in the area, until one of them affects another
non-profit in the city. The warehouse where the Fireman's
Museum had been storing some pieces has been set on fire,
and this time a guard was killed.
The museum's president comes to Nell and asks she assist
them in locating some records to help them figure out
exactly what was lost in the blaze. Now that's she has a
more direct interest in the case, she notices a picture in
the paper featuring one of the museum's major's pieces - an
antique horse-drawn fire engine. But what catches her
interest is that the one burnt in the fire is not the
original one in her records. Further, no one at the museum
seems to catch this discrepancy. Are they trying to cover
this up, or have they honestly not noticed this?
FBI agent James Morrison (who shares a mutual attraction
with
Nell) becomes involved in the case as several more arsons
are committed. James asks Nell to discreetly ask around, as
she is much more familiar with the non-profit world than he
is, and she already has reason to be asking some questions
about some of the lost and damaged artifacts. But it seems
the more answers Nell gets, the more questions need to be
asked.
FIRE ENGINE DEAD was an exciting mystery to read, with a
really well
thought-out plot. The characters were written in such a way
that all were relatable, and Nell was easy to root for. As
I live in Philadelphia and work for a non-profit, this was
especially fun for me to read, and I was simultaneously
annoyed and amused by Nell's relationship with Marty. I
also enjoyed reading the realistic portrayal of how
leanly-staffed offices work, rather than how some books tend
to portray a Pollyanna-type office environment.
When I read FIRE ENGINE DEAD, I did not realize it was the
third in
a series, which is a great compliment since I did not need
background to be able to know the characters. That being
said, I will definitely be backtracking to find the first
two books in the series, as quickly as possible, as well as
keeping an eye out for future books in
series!
Nell Pratt, president of the Pennsylvania Antiquarian
Society in Philadelphia, gets involved in an explosive
mystery when an arsonist sets a series of warehouse fires
that results in the death of a guard--and involves the
Fireman's Museum's most prized possession.
When the entire collection of the Fireman's Museum
ironically goes up in flames, Nell Pratt discovers one of
the charred pictures isn't the one that was originally
exhibited. But getting to the bottom of the mystery is bound
to get Nell burned...
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