Fire on the Island: A Romantic Mystery - Paperback

by Timothy Jay Smith (Author)

Set against the very real refugee crisis on the beautiful, sun-drenched Greek islands, Fire on the Island paints a nuanced and loving portrait of a community in crisis while shedding light on the challenges of life in contemporary Greece.

After a string of mysterious fires breaks out on a small Greek island, undercover FBI agent Nick Damigos arrives to investigate, showing up just in time to save a beloved truffle-sniffing dog from the most recent inferno. But as Nick searches for the arsonist responsible, he finds himself navigating a community rife with conflicts, some of which go back generations. As the threat of the next fire looms, Nick begins to uncover the villagers' countless buried secrets. But Nick has secrets too, and as he falls for a young bartender who becomes his prime suspect, he becomes entrenched in the very mystery he's trying to solve. With time running out to prevent catastrophe, will Nick expose the truth and save the village, or will the island be engulfed in a blaze of vengeance and heartbreak?

Author Biography

Timothy Jay Smith was raised traveling across America in a small trailer, sparking a lifelong wanderlust that has taken him around the world and inspired the vivid, international characters in his work. His extraordinary career includes smuggling banned plays from behind the Iron Curtain, navigating occupied territories, representing the United States at high diplomatic levels, and even stowing away on a "devil's barge" to Africa - experiences that inform his award-winning writing. Smith has earned top honors across novels, screenplays, and stage plays, including the Gold Medal in the 2017 Faulkner-Wisdom Competition for Fire on the Island, the 2023 Leapfrog Global Fiction Prize for Istanbul Crossing, and the Paris Prize for Fiction for A Vision of Angels. His novel Cooper's Promise was named one of Kirkus Reviews' Best Books of 2012, and he was nominated for the 2018 Pushcart Prize. A dedicated playwright and theater enthusiast, his play How High the Moon won the Stanley Drama Award, and he founded the Smith Prize for Political Theater. Timothy lives in Nice, France.