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!

Book Summary

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...