Natalie Lockhart has been through a lot in her 30 years and is one strong woman especially given what she has been through. The murder of her sister and the circumstances surrounding her death that has never added up, and then there is her fathers death and the wanting to follow in the footsteps of her father in law enforcement. Now a new cop on the force in Burning Lake she is given the case called “the Missing Nine”. It has been passed from officer to officer with little clues to get them closer as to who taking them. To add to her already full caseload, a fellow officers pregnant wife and popular school teacher is murdered. She as well as the town are in shock but she has a job to do.
The town of Burning Lake is no stranger to scandal or in this case murder because there has always been a cloud over the town because of the past it carried. The whispers of witchcraft, rituals and of course, the witch trials brings people out to check out the grounds where it all happened. Now with the case of missing people and the newest murder and now another missing person, it is clear that there is a serial killer in the town who is not done. And during the course of Natalie’s investigation, she starts to piece together the cold case, the new murder and soon realizes that maybe she right about her sister murder, and finds herself in a dangerous situation. But she is going to do what she needs to do catch the killer.
The pacing of this story was a slow burn at first and it worked well with the story. There was a lot of little details that needed to be gotten to a little at a time. It was all part of the mystery and I enjoyed the slower pace. Well, that is until it got closer to the end and the pace picked up and quite suspenseful and I was on the edge of my seat waiting to see how everything work out. Would Natalie figure out who murdered Daisy and was she right all along about her own sister’s death? The ending revealed a shocker that I didn’t see coming and wow was is freakin’ fantastic!
Trace of Evil is the first in the series and it was a really good setup too with a great cast of character. Some you love and others you question everything about and there is a hint of a little bit of romance for Natalie but it takes a backseat to cases, so we’ll have to see what happens in the future books. The story had just the right amount of suspense too and the mystery is one that pulls you in from the start and doesn’t let go. And I am curious what new case Detective Natalie Lockhart will find herself on next!
The town of Burning Lake is no stranger to scandal or in this case murder because there has always been a cloud over the town because of the past it carried. The whispers of witchcraft, rituals and of course, the witch trials brings people out to check out the grounds where it all happened. Now with the case of missing people and the newest murder and now another missing person, it is clear that there is a serial killer in the town who is not done. And during the course of Natalie’s investigation, she starts to piece together the cold case, the new murder and soon realizes that maybe she right about her sister murder, and finds herself in a dangerous situation. But she is going to do what she needs to do catch the killer.
The pacing of this story was a slow burn at first and it worked well with the story. There was a lot of little details that needed to be gotten to a little at a time. It was all part of the mystery and I enjoyed the slower pace. Well, that is until it got closer to the end and the pace picked up and quite suspenseful and I was on the edge of my seat waiting to see how everything work out. Would Natalie figure out who murdered Daisy and was she right all along about her own sister’s death? The ending revealed a shocker that I didn’t see coming and wow was is freakin’ fantastic!
Trace of Evil is the first in the series and it was a really good setup too with a great cast of character. Some you love and others you question everything about and there is a hint of a little bit of romance for Natalie but it takes a backseat to cases, so we’ll have to see what happens in the future books. The story had just the right amount of suspense too and the mystery is one that pulls you in from the start and doesn’t let go. And I am curious what new case Detective Natalie Lockhart will find herself on next!