WHERE THERE'S SMOKE...

A New Jersey library volunteer is moved to investigate when the young-adult collection goes up in flames.

The Sea Breeze volunteer fire department puts out the blaze before it does further damage to the town’s small library. But Laura Meehan, who moved back to the Jersey Shore community to run her late father’s paint store, is incensed that the authorities aren’t taking the incident more seriously, especially considering the online threats against library staff in the weeks before the fire. Part of the problem is jurisdictional. Det. Hannibal Watson, who’s as personable as a starfish, reports to the Sea Breeze Police Department, while the even more taciturn Lt. Andre Delacorte belongs to the Atlantic County arson squad. Even when library director Evelyn Melbourne vanishes, Watson and Delacorte play Alphonse and Gaston until an infuriated Laura cashes in her trump card, enlisting her ex-cop father who, although dead, continues his spectral activities, at least within the confines of Breezeway Paint and Wallpaper. The interplay between firecracker Laura and her ghostly dad on the one hand and the ostensibly living but otherwise inert authorities on the other should make for a lively round of trademark mayhem from Copperman. For once, however, the author chooses to play it cool. With the help of Roy, her computer geek husband, Laura traces leads, roots through financial records, and hunts down known associates—doing things a police investigation would typically consider routine but the Point Breeze/Atlantic County crew seem to have overlooked. It’s an odd day in Copperman town when nerdy Roy’s dad jokes are the zaniest thing going.

A low-key adventure offers Copperman fans a walk on the mild side.