A review by vkemp
Valley of Ashes by Cornelia Read

5.0

Cornelia Read does it again. Madeline Dare has moved to Colorado with her husband after he gets a job with Ionix. She is completely bowed under with caring for twins under a year old and life in Boulder is just way too granola for an East Coast girl like Madeline. She gets a job writing restaurant reviews for a small Boulder newspaper and ends up following around an arson investigator who becomes her friend. Mimi is on the trail of a serial arsonist and Madeline wants to help. She is encouraged by another friend, Cary, who knows how much it means to Madeline to be involved in writing again. Meanwhile, Dean is too absorbed in work and work-related travel to really be paying attention to Madeline and their relationship becomes more and more strained. Then Cary is murdered and Madeline knows something is very wrong at Ionix. Cornelia writes so very well; I like to read sentences out loud because the words are things I would say in the same situations in which Madeline finds herself. Another great entry in this series of books, highly recommended.