Fire & Water

by Leo D. Stapleton

Someone is trying to burn down the South End and Back Bay sections of Boston. And people are dying. The Boston Fire Department knows who the homicidal torch is. They know it's Kenny Harlet—known to every Boston jake as Kenny the Whore. They just have to catch him—which is exactly what Captain Billy Simpson of Ladder 17 in District Four and his pal Oakie O'Connor, a BFD arson investigator, plan to do. The chase is on from Boston to San Francisco where Billy's old friend Fred Strauss, with whom he served in the US Navy during World War II, is a member of the SFFD Arson Squad. As Kenny's MO surfaces in San Francisco, Fred joins forces with Billy and Oakie in their relentless pursuit to catch Kenny the Whore. Stapleton intertwines compelling reflection of Billy's days as a young seaman with Fred on a supply ship in the Pacific. Fire & Water is vintage Stapleton. Written with the same meticulous attention to detail and with the same sense of humor he brought to "Thirty Years on the Line" and "Commish".

255 pages, Kindle Edition

First published October 16, 2014

Reviews

[ED Anthony · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good read but a bit disappointing. This book is really not mainly about firefighting as I supposed. It is more of a historical fiction novel that deals with how several friends served together in the Navy at the last of WW II. It follows their ship board service in the pacific and the lasting friendship in their ultimate firefighting careers. One becomes a Chief in Frisco and another becomes a Chief in Boston. A good portion of the book is like a travelogue as they, with family and friends, visit each other. Their trips are describe in exacting detail. There is a firefighting theme that attempts to gather all this together as the story surrounds an attempt to catch a dedicated arsonist. I have read most of Leo Stapleton's books that deal strictly about firefighting and find them much more entertaining and educational about that subject. All his other books are well deserving of a five rating. All his books are well written but the Naval history was a a bit to much for a book supposedly centered on firefighting.