“Don’t Play with Matches” by Chell~Linn Araya

Don’t Play with Matches

Chell~Linn Araya                  
Top Shelf Publishing (2026)
ISBN-13: 979-8998991516
Reviewed by Paul Knobloch for Reader Views (09/2026)

Chell~Linn Araya’s Don’t Play with Matches is a crime novel about a series of fires in Seaside and the detectives trying to determine whether they are connected. Detective Shawna Valentine and her partner, Tommy Cohen, are called to an abandoned warehouse where two people have died and several others have been injured. Fire investigators initially suspect an accident, but readers know that an unnamed man set the blaze and returned to watch it burn. For him, fire is a source of beauty and power; the people harmed by it are an inconvenience he would rather forget.

Shawna and Tommy begin reviewing other recent fires. A homeless veteran known as Gramps was inside the warehouse and appears on surveillance footage near a grocery store dumpster fire. He also lost his job at Johnny’s Auto after a fire there, making him difficult to dismiss as a suspect. Their questions lead them to Johnny Rigsby, whose evasive answers suggest that his shop is concealing something. At a barbecue restaurant damaged by a kitchen fire, the detectives learn that an employee named Mikey Swenson, who also works for Johnny, stopped coming to work after the fire. The recurring names seem to promise a solution, but the connections do not all point to the same crime.

A major fire at Seaside Agricultural Supply gives the investigation its first firm direction. A woman who sleeps near the property recalls seeing a man in a navy hoodie there days earlier. Surveillance footage confirms her account, while physical evidence establishes that the fire was deliberately set. Shawna realizes that the man in the video is not Gramps. She and Tommy must continue their investigation while the arsonist continues to move freely through town.

Araya alternates Shawna’s account of the investigation with chapters from the arsonist’s perspective. He plans his fires carefully, enjoys watching the emergency response, and prides himself on appearing helpful and ordinary to his neighbors. Memories of an abusive father reveal how closely he associates fire with control and personal worth. These passages sustain the suspense because readers can see both how dangerous he is and how readily he explains away the harm he causes. Nevertheless, the sense of power and agency the fires bring him does not make his indifference to the victims any less chilling.

Shawna’s multiple sclerosis is another important part of the novel. Her worsening symptoms make it harder to lift her wheelchair into her truck and sometimes prevent her from entering a damaged building. These obstacles frustrate her, particularly when she fears becoming a burden to Tommy or her firefighter boyfriend, Erik. Yet Shawna’s work remains essential to the case. She interviews witnesses, examines footage, challenges misleading connections, and finds ways to contribute when a scene is inaccessible to her. Tommy’s understanding of when to help and when to step back makes their partnership one of the book’s strengths.

The fires also expose the difference between being seen and being valued. The arsonist privately admires what he has created, even as he hides his part in it. Erik and the other firefighters receive public praise for risking their lives, while the unhoused people who suffer in the warehouse are easily overlooked. Shawna takes their deaths seriously and resists treating Gramps’s homelessness as evidence of guilt. Erik’s strained relationship with his father adds a more intimate version of the same concern: each man has lived for years with an incomplete understanding of what the other did during the fire that killed Erik’s sister.

The investigation occasionally slows when Shawna explains an interviewing tactic or revisits a suspicion the reader already understands. Several early visits to fire sites cover similar ground, and the resolution moves quickly after the more detailed work of identifying the culprit. Still, Araya keeps the personal stakes closely tied to the case, particularly when a firefighter is injured and Shawna must confront the possibility of losing Erik.

Ultimately, Don’t Play with Matches, part of Araya’s Detective Shawna Valentine series, combines an accessible police investigation with a thoughtful portrait of a detective facing changes she cannot control. Its strongest moments show how easily appearances mislead: a familiar face can conceal a dangerous person, while a convenient suspect may simply be someone the community has failed to see clearly. Shawna and Tommy’s easy, teasing dialogue makes their trust in each other feel earned. Their partnership gives the novel both its center and its heart.