The Fire Tower

Two women watch the same burning forest from opposite towers. Only one of them knows the official story is a lie. Northern California, 1978. Forestry scientist Claire Whitaker arrives at remote Granite Peak carrying a private assignment: observe June Callahan, the fire lookout blamed for abandoning her post during the deadly Black Ridge fire three years earlier. June is guarded, difficult-and far better at reading the land than the men who wrote the official report. As summer heat deepens and radio warnings disappear from district records, Claire uncovers missing log pages, altered timelines, and witnesses who were pressured into silence. The closer she comes to the truth, the harder it becomes to separate her investigation from her growing desire for the woman she was sent to judge. June knows Claire is keeping notes. Claire knows June is concealing part of the past. Between two isolated towers, through static, smoke, and institutional pressure, they must decide whether trust can survive the betrayals committed in its name. When another wildfire begins repeating the same deadly pattern, Claire and June have one chance to act before command turns warning into delay again. The Fire Tower is a slow-burn sapphic historical romantic suspense novel about women in forestry, buried evidence, hard-won trust, and choosing the truth when the official record refuses to hold it. A standalone romance with a satisfying happily-ever-after.