In Louise Penny’s murder mystery, “The Black Wolf,” there is a complicated, multilayered scheme to ignite massive Canadian wildfires in a plot to instigate a U.S. military invasion of our northern neighbor. Honestly, the plot is so convoluted that I found it hard to suspend my disbelief. Then I read the New York Times in the midst of a smoky haze engulfing the Finger Lakes.

“As smoke from forest fires in Canada have darkened skies south of the border, lawmakers in Michigan, Ohio and other U.S. states have accused the Canadian authorities of inaction and poor forest management.” (NYT, July 18). The same day President Trump threatened to impose “smoke tariffs” on Canada to pay for clean up — talk about slamming the victim. Such official ballyhooing is all the more embarrassing when smoke from wildfires in Oregon and Washington is drifting northward into British........

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