Toby Bromberg
An emotionally involving story always hallmarks the Sharon McCone stories an this especially true of A Walk Through the Fire. The mystery is an exciting one but readers will also find themselves caught up in McCone's emotional dilemma as well, and will agonize with her as she makes her decisions.
— Romantic Times
Jeri Wright
Kauai is a magical setting for this story of mystery, danger, and passion. The multi-layered mystery has Sharon investigating several seemingly unconnected events that eventually come together, showing her how past tragedies have influenced current ones. Though a bit less intense than some earlier titles in the series, this is still very, very good.
—Mystery Reader.com
Library Journal
In her 20th appearance, Sharon McCone is seduced by the legends of Hawaii and nearly by one particular Hawaiian. Brought to Kauai initially to investigate "accidents" on the set of her filmmaker friend's documentary, McCone finds herself dealing with murder, Hawaiian militants, and drug dealers. At times deliciously devious, the plot, which combines past and present la Ross MacDonald, ultimately may be too complex even for diehard mystery readers. Nevertheless, Muller fans will await this.
San Diego Union Tribune
Marcia Muller invented the hard-boiled, female private-eye genre....Many have followed her lead, but Muller remains the best.
Kirkus Reviews
Marketing strategy for Sharon McCone's San Francisco investigative agency seems confined to waiting around for friends or relatives to get in trouble. Not to worry, they never fail her. This time out, in Sharon's 18th case (Both Ends of the Night, 1997, etc.), it's Glenna Stanleigh calling. She's in a state (Hawaii) because someone's trying to stop her from filming her documentary. There have been accidents (rigged), stolen equipment, and finally a near-death experience. All warnings, Glenna feels certain. She wants Sharon to hire on as resident sleuth. As special inducement, she suggests that Sharon bring along hunkish Hy Ripinsky, Sharon's long-time lover and make it "a vacation of sorts." (Marlow, Spade, cover your ears.) Sharon, who is in the p.i. because helping people, she tells us, "makes me feel valuable," finds the proposition irresistible. Glenna's film is about Ellson Wellbright, an anthropologist of considerable renown. Wellright family members take a dimmer view: not much of a husband, low marks as a father, is the consensus, thus it's there that Sharon first looks for Glenna's nemesis. But her investigation soon widens to include a coterie of militant Hawaiian radicals and the inevitable gaggle of plot-thickening drug dealers. For a time, a charming and virile helicopter pilot has the detective in a whirl. Sharon, usually so locked into Ripinsky that thoughts of straying never enter her mind, entertains thoughts of, well, straying. There are murders, a sting, a chase, and a gasp-free surprise ending, during which the killer is unmasked. The plotting is heavy-handed, the pace heavy-footed, but McCone admirers will remain unshakeable.
