I am a big fan of police procedural thrillers, as evident by the extensive list of novels that I have read in the genre. Trace of Evil was not as good as I had hoped, as the author included elements of the story that were both predictable and cliche. Natalie Lockhart is a rookie detective in a small, upstate New York town, so I am not surprised to see the amount of autonomy that she has, but the main part of the story is basically flawed from the outset. Natalie is tasked with investigating the murder of her colleague's wife, but that case should have never been looked into by her department because of the conflict of interest. I did not really care for the elements of witchcraft because their inclusion seemed more like a plot point than an integral part of the story itself. Overall, Trace of Evil missed the mark for me, but those who like police procedural thrillers may like the story.