Night Smoke is the fourth book in the Night Tales series. It was originally published in 1994 by Silhouette Books. It was released about a year ago with the first three books of the series in a volume called Night Tales. The volume contains the first four books of the Night Tales series. Night Smoke had it’s own plot so it can stand on it’s own. Someone who hasn’t read the first three books in the series could read this one and know what was going on. Some of the characters from the first three books showed up briefly in this book. Natalie, Boyd’s sister, was one of the main characters in this book. Boyd was a man character in the first book, Night Shift.
PLOT
The books begins with a prologue that talked about fire. Then it describes a man getting ready to set a building on fire. He was very excited about what he was doing. He started the fire and then left in a hurry.
When the first chapter begins, Natalie Fletcher was arriving home after a late business meeting. She stopped at the office on her way home to do more work. She was getting ready to expand Fletcher Industries with Lady’s Choice, a lingerie company. Natalie considered Lady’s Choice to be her baby, and she was determined it would be successful. She was getting ready for bed when she got a call telling her that a warehouse was on fire. The warehouse was being used for Lady’s Choice.
Ryan Piasecki was the arson investigator on the case. He didn’t make a good impression on Natalie because he was a bit rude and he didn’t answer Natalie’s questions. At the time, she didn’t seem to care that he just arrived at the scene and hadn’t had a chance to do any investigating yet. Natalie left the scene, but was back in the morning with her insurance adjustor. Ryan was not happy to see her at the site again. Much of the inventory for the upcoming opening of the Urbana Lady’s Choice that was in the warehouse was lost in the fire. Natalie was already making plans to work overtime and pull inventory from other stores for the opening in Urbana.
Ryan was interested in and attracted to Natalie. She was annoyed by him, but saw him because of the investigation. They got to know each other better, and became involved. The book was mainly about Natalie and Ryan’s developing relationship and the arson investigation, but other things were going on too. The site of the Lady’s Choice store in Urbana was also hit, though there wasn’t much damage to the store. A factory for the company was a target. The fires weren’t being set randomly. Someone wanted to keep Lady’s Choice from opening on time. Ryan had to work thorough some issues he had concerning being involved with Natalie. He didn’t think he was good enough for her. Natalie had to learn to cut back on her work load.
**End of Plot Discussion**
Night Smoke was a good book. I really enjoyed it. Characters from the first three books appeared in this book. Natalie had dinner with Deborah and Gage one night. After learning about the fires, Boyd arrived with Cilla and their children. He was worried about his little sister. Later in the book, Natalie made a trip to Denver, checking out locations for a Lady’s Choice there. While there she visited a very pregnant Althea, who went into labor. Nemesis even made a return appearance too. I really liked how the characters from the earlier books showed up again in this one. I like to know what happens to them after the book ends. I still want another book with Deborah and Gage as the main characters. I really loved their characters.
Night Smoke was very descriptive, making the scenes come to life for me. Again, the city of Urbana was described very well, and the city added to the story again. This book was very well written, like all of Nora Roberts’ books. Parts of the book were predictable, which is normal for a romance, but there were a few suspenseful moments in the book too. The book was interesting to me. Once I started reading it I couldn’t put it down.
Night Smoke had some mystery in the book related to who the arsonist was. The mystery wasn’t the most complex, but it was enjoyable to read. This was a short book, so there wasn’t as much time for the mystery to be more developed. Considering how short the book was, the mystery was fairly good. It wasn’t as strong as the mysteries in longer books by Nora Roberts though, so people who have only read her longer more complicated books may be a little disappointed with this book. There were a few suspenseful moments in the book related to the mystery. There was a little bit of swearing in the book, but it wasn’t excessive. A word was used here and there and that was it. The word that rhymes with luck was never used in the book.
The relationship between Natalie and Ryan provided some romance for Night Smoke. They did get to know each other before they started a sexual relationship. There were some sexual situations in the book, as well as some descriptions of some sexual acts. There were only a few of those scenes in the book, and the descriptions weren’t explicit. The sexual scenes weren’t as descriptive as similar scenes in longer books by Roberts. I didn’t think the descriptions were explicit enough to offend anyone, but I could be wrong. Anyone who has read a book by Nora Roberts and not been offended by the descriptions of sexual things shouldn’t be offended by them in this book.
The characters of Natalie and Ryan were the main characters in Night Smoke and were well developed. Some of the characters from the first three books did show up in this book. It was nice to see the characters again. There wasn’t much development added to those characters from the earlier books. There were other characters in Night Smoke, but they weren’t in much of the book, so they weren’t developed much at all.
CHARACTERS
Natalie Fletcher - Younger sister of Boyd. She is running the family business, Fletcher Industries, She enjoys her work. She has been working very long hours getting ready to open a new division of the company, Lady’s Choice. She isn’t going to let anything, even the fires, delay the opening. She is dedicated to her job, and very focused on her work. She does seem to yearn to have her own family at times.
Ryan Piasecki - Arson investigator working on the fire that was started in the Lady’s Choice warehouse. He was a fire fighter for years before becoming an arson investigator. He’s had that job for five years. He prefers to work alone. He is considered to be very good at his job. He is attracted to Natalie and interested in her. He is determined to find the person setting the fires and protect Natalie.
Deidre - She is a minor character in the book. She works for Natalie. She in an accountant for the company. After the first fire, she is trying to recreate files that were lost in the fire.
Donald - He also works for Fletcher Industries. He has been an executive with the company for years. He and Natalie work together a lot and are friends.
Night Smoke was a very good, enjoyable book. Fans of Nora Roberts should enjoy this book. Anyone who has read the first three book in the series should enjoy this book. I do think the books in the series should be read in order, even though each can stand alone. When the books are read in order, the reader will know background about some of the characters, and see how some of them change and develop over the course of the books.
The Night Tales series had five books in it. The first four books in the series were released in one volume in 2001. I still see that book in stores, so it can be found if you are interested.
Night Smoke
Nora Roberts
Originally published in 1994
Night Tales series
Night Shift
Night Shadow
Nightshade
Night Smoke
Night Shield
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