Love Big Country: Tales of Wildfire, Wildlife & Wild Timesby Mark FletcherPublished by YNWPReview by Shelley A. Leedahl$29.95 ISBN 9781778690471 At 398 pages, I harboured reservations about reviewing Love Big Country: Tales of Wildfire, Wildlife & Wild Times, a memoir conveyed in storiesby Mark Fletcher. What if it was dull and/or poorly written? Then I began reading, and before I’d turned the first page, I was rapt, as Fletcher—wildland firefighter, smokejumper and adrenalin junkie extraordinaire—not only writes exceptionally well, this natural storyteller’s lifetime of intense experiences could make for blockbuster movies. He was in a helicopter that “flew directly through a residual cottonwood tree” and crashed. He’s shared rivers with grizzlies, was threatened by armed criminals, and, most terrifyingly, experienced burnovers: “fire penetrated the surrounding green fuels in a rush of flying embers, licking flames and loud, thick, wind-driven smoke. Burning trees fell close with muted thuds. The dragon was upon us.” His “beloved profession … nearly killed [him] a number of times,” and he earned ten concussions in the 1980s. “Parachuting into forest fires and firefighting in general come with risks,” he asserts. “Everyone knows I push boundaries.” But there’s no braggadocio here: the author regularly credits his associates,…

A Study in Redby Connie GaultPublished by Thistledown PressReview by Brandon Fick$24.95 ISBN 9781771872904 A Study in Red is aptly named. It evokes Arthur Conan Doyle’s first Sherlock Holmes novel. Literally, the novel is a study of red emotions like lust, anger, and jealousy. Edgar Degas’ painting, Combing the Hair, nicknamed “the big red monster,” is a subject of fascination for one of A Study in Red’s protagonists, the painting’s ambiguity and eroticism key to understanding the novel’s aims. The word “study” is also well chosen, as this is a highly intelligent work of fiction that circles a crucial event in the past, putting its two female leads under the microscope. Summer is the perfect time to read this mystery that generates considerable suspense without resorting to genre-specific tropes. There are two narrators in A Study in Red, Amy and Carol, and part of the suspense comes from the alternating nature of their narration. Connie Gault renders their voices with precision and considerable difference. It is a masterclass in psychological writing. Amy is introduced first, on the run, speaking in terse sentences: “I left Hattie’s place after everyone else. I left the cabins empty, the pool drained. I’d like to…