Playing With Fire: A Claire Abbott Mystery

By Gail Anderson-Dargatz

Small-town journalist Claire Abbott has a sixth sense, what the fire chief calls a "radar for crime." When a string of suspicious fires breaks out in town, Claire thinks she knows who the firebug is. Or does she? She finds there is much more to the story than she imagined. Worse, no one will believe her. The firebug is getting bolder, and the fires he sets more dangerous. Claire is now in a race against time to catch the arsonist in the act before he takes a life.

Playing with Fire is the second in a series of mysteries featuring journalist and sleuth Claire Abbott.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Orca Book Publishers
• Release date: Oct 6, 2015
• ISBN: 9781459808423

Gail Anderson-Dargatz

GAIL ANDERSON-DARGATZ’s first novel, The Cure for Death by Lightning, was a finalist for the Scotiabank Giller Prize and won the UK’s Betty Trask Award, the BC Book Prize for Fiction and the Vancity Book Prize. Her second novel, A Recipe for Bees, was nominated for the IMPAC Dublin Literary Award and was a finalist for the Scotiabank Giller Prize. The Spawning Grounds was nominated for the Sunburst Award and the Ontario Library Association Evergreen Award and short-listed for the Canadian Authors Association Award for Fiction. Her thriller, The Almost Wife, hit the Canadian bestseller lists in 2021. She taught for nearly a decade in the MFA program in creative writing at the University of British Columbia and now mentors writers online. Gail Anderson-Dargatz lives in the Shuswap region of British Columbia.  

Book preview

TWELVE

ONE

My boss, Carol, was already at her desk when I opened our office door. I paused before entering. Crap, I thought. I’d only had a few hours of sleep the night before, and I knew it showed. Carol would undoubtedly grill me for details about my evening with Trevor. The thing is, I had spent most of the night with Matt instead.

Carol sat back, looking amused with me. Her black blazer was a bit too small and pulled at the shoulders. She was chubby from years of sitting at her laptop. Claire, you have someone waiting for you, she told me.

I turned to see Trevor Bragg leaning against my desk. His muscled arms were crossed. I could see the ridges of his stomach muscles under his T-shirt. The guy was a hunk, really fit. But then, he had to be. He was a firefighter.

I suddenly wished I had taken more care getting dressed that morning. I had woken up late and grabbed the first clean outfit I could find, a blue T-shirt and jeans.

Oh, Trevor, I said. I’m so sorry I didn’t get to the restaurant last night.

Didn’t you two have a date? Carol asked.

I never made it, I told her. Something came up.

Something always comes up, said Trevor. Doesn’t it, Claire?

I felt my face heat up in embarrassment. He was right, of course. I had stood Trevor up three dates in a row. Each time, I’d had to cover some news story.

I work as a reporter and photographer at the Black Lake Times, a weekly newspaper. Our town is so small that Carol and I are the only writers for the paper. I rarely get a full day off.

Trevor, I meant to call— I started, but he held up his hand to stop me.

The chief told me how you saved the Miller girl last night, he said. I ran into him when I picked up my morning coffee.

He meant Jim Wallis, our town fire chief and a family friend.

Trevor pushed himself up from my desk. Jim said you had some kind of vision that led you to find Amber in the woods, he said.

He stepped so close to me I could smell him. Boy, did he smell good, and not just of shampoo. He smelled like a man. The night before, I was ready to tell him that we were over. Now all I wanted to do was wrap my arms around his neck and kiss him.

Trevor clearly wasn’t in the mood. I also heard you and Matt Holden were pretty cozy over at Big Al’s burger joint last night, he said.

Matt was the search-and-rescue manager for our area. He had headed up the search for Amber Miller the night before. After I tracked down Amber, Matt saw me in a different light. He was interested in me now in a way he hadn’t been before. I wasn’t about to tell Trevor that.

We were hungry after the search.

You were at Big Al’s until two o’clock in the morning.

"Matt and I were talking, that’s all, I told Trevor. He wanted to know about my vision, how it worked."

Me too, said Carol. You’ve got the town buzzing. Everyone at Tommy’s Café was talking about you this morning.

Tommy’s Café is the hangout for cops in our town. Fire Chief Wallis was there most mornings. Matt was often there too. If I wanted to find news, Tommy’s Café was the place to go. I had avoided the café that morning, however. I knew I would be the topic of gossip.

I hear you knew Doug Connor had kidnapped Amber before anyone else, Carol said. Did you really see all that in a vision?

Yeah, but my vision didn’t tell me Doug would throw my camera bag into a gulley. I was still mad about that. My wallet was in there.

Carol raised her eyebrows to me, asking me to explain.

I don’t know how visions work, I told her. Last night was the first time I had one.

Your mom has them all the time, though, right? Or she thinks she does.

I felt my face flush in embarrassment. Mom had claimed she had visions for years. I had thought

Reviews for Playing With Fire

[19anne44 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I received this book to review for LibraryThing. I also reviewed the first book about Claire Abbot,"Search and Rescue", and found it more interesting than this one since I was able to guess who the "bad guy" was right from the beginning. Claire Abbot is a journalist with a sixth sense in a small Canadian town. In this book her sixth sense leads her to the arsonist in town with a few misteps on the way. There is also a romantic element which would appeal to teenage girls. This is part of the Rapid Reads series designed to appeal to reluctant or ESL readers but interesting enough to appeal to anyone wanting a quick read. I'm looking forward to the next addition to the series to be published in 2017.

[ckgs_1 · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

Claire is a reporter for the weekly Black Lake Times. She has visions just like her mother and she is sure she knows who the arsonist is who has been setting small sheds on fire. Claire currently is dating rugged firefighter, Trevor and search and rescue manager, Matt. Can she figure out who is setting the fires before someone is killed? A novella sized high interest story will appeal to high school students who are not big on reading.

[raineybird · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

We meet Claire Abbott, local reporter and photographer at Black Lake Times, the local towns weekly paper. Clair has at 30yrs old just found her gift of "visions". This being new to her, Claire has not yet gotten the hang of being able to read these visions clearly.Someone is setting fires in and around Black Lake and Claire is determined to find the culprit. So between trying to figure out her social, love life and reporting, she is hot on the trail of the arsonist.This is a Rapid Read, just over 100 pages. I found the story line well written with just enough backstory to be able stand on its own. The short Bio. for Gail Anderson-Dargatz states the next book in this series will be out in 2016. I have to wonder since these are such short stories why they do not come out more often then once a year.

[carriehh · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I received this book as an early reviewer. I didn't really understand that it was a rapid reads book until I started the first in the series. I like the idea that these books are for ELA or just learning to read adults. This book picked up almost immediately after Search and Rescue, the first book about Claire Abbott finished off. While they are easy to read there is a plot to them and good characterization and they're a little bit on the grown-up side which is a good thing. There is some romance, some paranormal stuff: It was a fun read

[crazy4reading · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I enjoyed this book. It was a nice quick read. A Claire Abbot Mystery. I have never read any books by Gail Anderson-Dargatz. I found myself not wanting to put the book down.This mystery was of an arsonist setting fires. Claire Abbott has visions and she thought she knew who was the firebug. I will be looking for more books by Gail Anderson-Dargatz

[aztwinmom · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Playing with Fire is a short, quick read. Claire, a local reporter, has begun having visions, but is she misinterpreting what she "sees"? She also is torn between two romantic interests. A simple mystery with an obvious conclusion, it was a pleasant read and contained nothing objectionable for a young adult reader.

[npjacobsen · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I received an advanced reading copy of this book through Library Thing's early reader program. This was an easy book to read and I finished it in less than three hours. It seems that the target audience is middle school girls, and I think it would be enjoyable to them. In such a short book it would be hard to develop the characters and thus I found them to be one dimensional.The mystery was interesting and Claire's sixth sense added an interesting twist. I thought the fact that she could not control when her visions would come and that she could not always interpret them correctly to be a nice touch. However, I thought the book centered more on Claire's love triangle with Matt and Trevor and how it was eventually resolved.I would categorize this book more as a romantic mystery. I would recommend it to middle school girls and I plan on giving it to my niece. I don't believe this would interest many male readers.

[candyh_64 · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

I received this book from LibraryThing. This was a story that was so very easy to figure out from the beginning pages. I'm sorry, it just as not the kind of book I am used to reading and it really didn't hold my interest as I read it. I would not recommend this book about someone who had visions that tended to make enemies rather than friends. It just was not a good, page devouring book.

[pgchuis · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I received an ARC of this book through the Early Reviewers scheme. This is the second time I have unintentionally requested a "Rapid Reads" story (I must check the publishing imprint details more carefully!). I am not the sort of reader these stories are intended for. I found the writing style to be very simple, in places so much so that it felt as if I were reading a children's book. I appreciate that Rapid Reads are meant to be easy to read, but I wondered if this one in places crossed a line.Claire Abbott is a reporter on a weekly paper in a small town and, as the story opens, has helped locate a missing girl by having a "vision" of her lost in the woods. This ability she has inherited from her mother and she uses again in this story, where she helps uncover an arsonist setting fire to sheds and later more significant buildings in the town. Claire's "help" consists in having partial "visions" which lead her to accuse more or less all the available suspects (and there aren't many) in turn, before deducing the real culprit, a deduction I had managed much earlier. She is supposed to be 30 years old, but her romantic musings read like those of a teenager and were very wearing. I'm not sure who I wold recommend this book to, although I concede that it is indeed quick and easy to read.

[librarycin · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

This is the second book in the Claire Abbott mystery series. It's also a “Rapid Reads” book, so meant as a quick read or for adult literacy learners. I have an Advanced Reader's Copy here. Claire is a reporter in a small town. She is dating one of the firemen, Trevor, but Matt is interested in her, as well, so she decides to date both at the same time, while constantly being warned that she'll have to choose between them. There is also an arsonist in town and she is trying to figure out who it might be. It was ok. I read and enjoyed the first in the series more. It is very simple and it took less than an hour to read. I was able to figure out the arsonist without too much trouble.