A Moth to Flame

by Joe Clifford

Spanning twenty-five years, A MOTH TO FLAME tells the story of two sisters, Lydia—and Jessica Barrett, who is found, dead, at the bottom of a ravine in 1991 after attending a protest in a support of a recently fired, popular teacher.

Twenty-five years later, Lydia, who suffers from nyctophobia (a fear of the night), is a coroner’s investigator on the graveyard shift in Los Angeles. A promotion awaits. Her mentor Maureen Gearon is grooming Lydia to take over as county medical examiner. If Lydia can conquer her fear of the dark.

Early one morning Lydia encounters a woman, whose neck has been broken like her sister’s. Checking a missed voicemail, Lydia hears a message from the dead woman who claims to have information about Jess.

While researching her sister’s accident, Lydia stumbles upon a true-crime YouTube channel, Night Shade, hosted by a former classmate, Shane Ellet, who maintains Jess’ death wasn’t an accident; it was murder. Caught in a web of lies and deception are Cam Rawls, Jess’ ex-boyfriend and current hometown sheriff; Brad Pearce, the handsome, young English teacher who was sexually involved with students; and a recovering addict, Mark Burns, employed by Richard Fontaine, Mom Gloria’s new boyfriend and general contractor. As Lydia grows closer to the truth, the Sand Wildfire breaks out, encroaching, and threatening to burn everything to the ground. Will Lydia learn the truth in time?

In the modern vein of authors such as Thomas Harris, Jeffrey Deaver, Paula Hawkins, and Tana French, A MOTH TO FLAME tells the story of a woman in a man’s world, set against the illusion of perfect suburban lives that are anything but, populated with the scariest monsters of all: the ones right in front of our faces that we cannot see through the dark.

Genres: Mystery

333 pages, Kindle Edition

First published February 1, 2024

About the author

Joe Clifford is the author of several books, including Junkie Love, the Jay Porter Thriller Series, Say My Name, All Who Wander, as well as editor of Trouble in the Heartland: Crime Stories Based on the Songs of Bruce Springsteen and others. Joe’s writing can be found at www.joeclifford.com.

Reviews

[C. Brian · Rating 2 out of 5]

I am not a fan of these "jumping backwards and forwards in time" novels. This one was particularly annoying.
A number of errors that a good- or even mediocre - proofreader would have picked up. The "beta readers" - is that the new name for proofreaders? If so, I would suggest replacing them!
I never give 5 stars to authors who seem to think that as long as blasphemy is not Islamic (memories of Salman Rushdie!), it is acceptable. Not to many people, even today. The English language is rich with alternative expletives.
I certainly won't be rushing to obtain another of these books. I only gave a second star because the ending was the last thing that I had expected.

[Manny Acino · Rating 1 out of 5]

Rambles

Too much rambling pros and commentary. Could have been much shorter !
I appreciate an author that gets to the point fire.

[Benoit Lelièvre · Rating 3 out of 5]

A straightforwardly enjoyable mystery featuring themes familiar to Joe Clifford novels: the long-term grief of a sibling, deterministic trauma, a lingering sense of melancholy and whatnot.

I found it to be a little busy and fragmented to really dig into the characters like Jay Porter novels, which I believe is the appeal of Clifford's fiction. The characters were also a little far from what I personally enjoy reading, but otherwise it's one of the most technically sound and commercially driven novel he's ever read. If his previous material was TOO melancholic to be commercial, A Moth to Flame hits the right spot. The ending was also gleefully shambolic, but a little too melodramatic for my taste.

Not my favorite Clifford novel, but I'd definitely recommend it to people who usually find him too bleak.

[Suanne · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’ve read most of Joe Clifford’s works and found this to be his best so far. He tells the story of two sisters: Jess, the elder, who had beenfound dead at the bottom of a ravine twenty-five years earlier, and Lydia, an investigator for the coroner’s department..

Lydia and her family are somewhat estranged; her mother always preferred Jess and feels her death was Lydia’s fault. Helping her deal with this angst is her professional mentor, Maureen Gearon, who’s also grooming Lydia for a promotion.

As Lydia investigates a new murder, she realizes the woman’s cause of death was a broken neck with a fractured hyoid bone—just like her sister’s. She finds further clues when she discovers a true-crime YouTube channel hosted by Shane Elliot, a former high school classmate. On air he reveals that Jess’s death wasn’t an accident. The local police department, with Jess’s former boyfriend and current police chief, seems trapped in a web of lies. His father, the former police chief, did an inadequate job of investigation possibly because his son was a suspect in the murder.

This is an action-packed read with an unusual ticking bomb: a wild fire ravaging the area around Lydia’s home. An excellent read.

[V · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’m a big fan of Joe Clifford’s writing style and this story is filled with his attention to detail and painting a word picture you can smell, feel, taste and see. The characters range from gritty to heartbreakingly emotional. The California wildfires rage in the background. Lydia has divorced parents, rich inattentive father, a mother who drinks to dull her sorrow since the good daughter died. There is no shortage of family drama in this story. I don’t have a sister and was touched by Lydia’s search for answers about her sister’s death during high school. She gets involved with a has-been YouTube channel host who’s drug addled mind isn’t as sharp as he pretends. He was there the night Lydia’s sister died. He’s a wannabe reporter whose dreams of being famous are never going to become reality. He does manage to play a part in unearthing clues to what really happened. Lydia gets other answers from unlikely sources which raise even more questions. In her search for the truth she’ll learn things about herself. It’s a touching story of family, expectations, perceptions and grief. I was immersed in the plot and the many distinctive people who played a part in Lydia’s life. I was surprised by the outcome and will continue to read more compelling books by this author.

[Siesta · Rating 2 out of 5]

Turgid. Took ages to get anywhere - let alone get going - with plot holes and an inept investigator as MC, who, as seems the norm now, continues “investigating” despite conflicts of interest.
The clues given to the reader often came in the form of pov from random characters whose significance was hard to establish, especially as the pace was so slow and disengaging.
I skip-read to the end, where the final reveal was limply handled even while it was potentially a neat twist - hence a 2 star, not a 1.

[Pedro Bedro · Rating 5 out of 5]

The story was a bit broken up by the jumping back and forward through time and I sometimes struggled to relate to the characters and their part in the story. The end was a bit of a surprise with the fire and thinking that her mother and "boyfriend?" may have been partly responsible for the death (that was the vibe I got anyway) but the reveal was well done and the justice by fire was probably apt.

[Beth · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved this book! And wow the ending took me by complete surprise which is hard to do to me :P

[Craig Kingsman · Rating 5 out of 5]

First thing I've read by Jow Clifford and he did not disappoint. It appears he agonized over every word as the writing was top notch. And the twist was unexpected. Well done.

[Annie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Unexpected ending!

[Judy Richardson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great Read

It was a thriller and it had so many twists. I never suspected who was the enemy. The characters were genuine and seemed honest. People can be decieving.