Trace of Evil is a police procedural that revolves around the murder of Daisy Buckner, a high school teacher in Burning Lake, New York. I’m relatively new to the mystery genre and this is the first book I’ve read starring a detective. I was never a fan of shows like Criminal Minds and NCIS, so I was skeptical that I would enjoy Trace of Evil, but I ended up loving it.

The first thing that drew me into this book was Alice Blanchard’s writing style. Her use of descriptive language is impeccable. I was transported to Burning Lake, a midsize town in upstate New York that’s basically a second-rate Salem, famous for the wrongful execution of a trio of alleged witches in the eighteenth century. These days, the fictional town has embraced its occult past, and it’s common for Burning Lake teens to go through a witchy phase of their own.

Blanchard’s second strength is her characters, who leap off the page. The story is told entirely from the perspective of Detective Natalie Lockhart, the BLPD’s only female detective. Her father was a police officer, and her sister was killed by her violent ex-boyfriend when they were both teenagers. Blanchard’s side characters were as complex and three-dimensional as Natalie was. I thought the romance between Natalie and her childhood friend and fellow detective, Luke, was poorly integrated at times, but it was a relatively minor plot point so it wasn’t egregious.

In addition to the murder of Daisy Buckner, there were a few other mysteries that made for intriguing subplots. One of these subplots focused on the Missing Nine, nine transients in Burning Lake whose disappearances or deaths were never solved. Another focused on an unidentified boy who attacked Natalie when she was a child. I sped through this book; it was well-paced and the ending took me completely by surprise. Every time I thought I had figured something out, I was proven wrong.

I had only a few minor complaints. The dialogue was occasionally awkward and the narration occasionally cheesy. The narrative was unquestioningly pro-police, which I always find a little iffy, but I guess that’s to be expected from a procedural. The e-ARC I received had some formatting issues, but I’m confident those won’t appear in the final draft and I’m not counting them toward my rating.

This book moved steadily along in the way many mystery books do, but ended in an unexpected crescendo that felt slightly disjointed, but not necessarily in a bad way (hey, I did give it four stars after all). To me, this story centered on Detective Natalie Lockhart and her town of Burning Lake, NY was a solid read and if, in fact this is the first of a series I will certainly keep reading to see where this leads.

When I love an author's stand-alone books and all of a sudden he/she starts a series, I'm always a bit worried. If I don't like the character or his/her situation, than I'm sadly out of luck when it comes to their books in the future. I"ve really enjoyed Alice Blanchard's previous books and this one was no exception! What a relief! Natalie is a wonderful character that was well-developed and the mystery was great too. I can't wait to read more!

Thank you to Minotaur Books and NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review the novel Trace of Evil. It is the first in a new series that is thrilling and an edge of your seat mystery. Natalie Lockhart, is a newly promoted rookie police detective in her hometown of Burning Lake, New York, a town that has a connection with the Salem witch trials. Wicca and covens are popular there, especially with the local teenagers and even Natalie herself experimented with it when she was a teen. Natalie is drawn into the past and must revisit the murder of her older sister when a popular teacher is found murdered. Natalie thinks the deaths may be connected to a string of unsolved local deaths of young women over the last ten years. Trace of Evil focuses on these two interwoven cases. I did enjoy the mystery and atmosphere of this book and I liked how everything seemed to intertwine with Natalie's personal life. The characters of this book are well written - especially Natalie. I'm excited to know that this will be a new series and look forward to the next book in the series! I give this book a 4 star rating.

Excellent psychological thriller! It moved at a fast pace with twists and turns throughout! Well-developed characters and plot. Highly recommend!

This book had a twist at the end that I did NOT see coming! I read a lot of mysteries and I'm hugely grateful when the author makes it difficult or impossible for me to guess the ending. This author pulled definitely pulled it off! The book starts slow, but if you hang in there it picks up speed in each chapter and has an explosive ending. The book takes place in a smallish town in upstate New York that is trying to transition from farming and forestry to tourism, using the killing of three local women for witchcraft centuries ago as the basis for the tourist industry. The main character is a young local woman who grew up with a cop dad and is now a detective herself. The book opens with the murder of a young woman who was a teacher, the wife of a cop, and the best friend of the detective's sister. As the detective investigates the murder, many strange things related to the town's obsession with witchcraft are revealed. Disclosure - I received a digital ARC from the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for my honest review.

A cluster of lies compile into numerous secrets to cover them up. A lot of inaccuracies made this one harder to like.

"Butterflies as symbols of evil. How could that be?"_________3 1/2 stars

Natalie Lockheart is conflicted. She has a list of hard things she'd faced in her life. Natalie's now back in her hometown of Burning Lake as a detective. Burning Lake a town where everyone knows everyone, but in the end, they didn't.
A town with a history of witchcraft that drew tourists and troubled the teenage population. The attraction of witchcraft for the teenagers of the town is like a rite of passage. All partake, not all relinquish it.
"On the surface, it would appear that Burning Lake had a sparse Wiccan population, but that was due to the fact that many of them were still in the broom closet."
We have disappearances, we have secrets, we have dead bodies and we have concentric circles linking everything together.
"Death was like a secret. You could bury it deep underground, but it wouldn’t stay buried for long. Eventually, our secrets—like old bones—had a way of knuckling out of the earth and into the sunlight. You had to make your peace with fate."
Twenty years after their sister Willow's murder, Natalie, her sister Grace and her niece Ellie gathered at the cemetery as they did each year to celebrate Willow's deathiversary.
Later that same evening, Daisy Buckner is found "in a puddle of blood" on the kitchen floor by her husband Detective Brandon Buckner and Natalie. Daisy was a longtime friend of Grace's and a co-worker teaching at the same school. The hunt for Daisy's murderer leads to all sorts of possibilities, including Wiccan curses.
Always in the background, humming away, is the town's love-hate affair with its witchy history, the secret covens and the chant kids have grown up with, "By air and earth and fire and rain, we will remember you.”
But that's not all, there's also the "Missing Nine." "Nine transients [who] had gone missing from Burning Lake." "These pitiful victims were mostly unloved and forgotten."
As the newbie on the force one of Natalie's tasks is to review the files--just in case!
Then there's Natalie's recurring memory of a childhood trauma that occasionally overwhelm's her.
I am conflicted about this story. It was exhausting but I just had to kept reading, feeling that around another corner might lie the answer! Question! Do answers lie? Some do! Some lay in wait ready to trip us up. The truth revealed here will trip most of us up.

A St. Martin's Press ARC via NetGalley

I really wanted to really like this book. Smart female detective, breaking into the boys' club, and supporting characters to help fill in background stories. But I felt like the book wandered around too much. Story lines were introduced and then somewhat forgotten for large chunks of the book. Some story lines I didn't feel were resolved that should have been and some story lines that would have provided great arcs to continue the series were wrapped up. Then the ending felt rushed and forced, not the "ah" moment of pieces falling in to place but rather like someone realizing they only have a short time to finish their story so toss it all together with a swipe of their hand and move on. Was this the case? I hope not because I would like to continue seeing what Natalie Lockhart gets into next.

In books like this one, I typically prefer reading the story when it is told in first person point of view. I especially enjoy when the author swings back and forth between the POV of the main characters. This book is told in third person, which is only good, in my opinion, if the story is told well enough that I stay interested in the plot and characters. The author, Alice Blanchard, has done a good job with this, and I am impressed by that.

The characters were brought to life through conversations and actions in a way that made me feel as if I understood them because of how they behaved in present situations and conversations they had with each other. There was also glimpses into their thoughts. The author did a very nice job of setting scenes.

There is some cursing and mentions of sex acts that I don’t care for in books. While I’ve noticed that many readers feel the same way I do, the popular authors who don’t resort to this, never have complaints in reviews about there not being cursing or sex. Please authors, don’t go there.

Thank you to Minotaur Books for sending me a free review copy of Trace of Evil by Alice Blanchard.

I absolutely love a good female detective book and this one was no exception. I loved the lead character, Natalie Lockhart, and really enjoyed learning about her history and being immersed in her small town in upstate New York.

Natalie followed in her father’s footsteps to become a cop on the Burning Lake Police Force, and work her way up to be their only female detective. She catches a rough case when she arrives at the house of someone she grew up with, only to find they’ve been brutally murdered.

The book has loads of twists and turns, witchcraft, and suspense but I won’t spoil it for you, you’ll just have to read it for yourself.

And do you want to know the best bit? Trace of Evil is the first book in the Natalie Lockhart series, so we can expect to read more of her (hopefully soon)!

‘Death was like a secret. You could bury it deep underground, but it wouldn’t stay buried for long. Eventually, our secrets—like old bones—had a way of knuckling out of the earth and into the sunlight.’

TRACE OF EVIL is the first book that I have read by Alice Blanchard, and I’m excited to delve into more of novels. I like Blanchard’s writing style; there’s a scene towards the end with imagery that, to me, felt creepy as hell – Loved it!

Thank you, NetGalley and Minotaur Books, for letting borrow an advanced copy (eBook) of TRACE OF EVIL in exchange for an honest review.

Available for pre-order now, release date: December 3, 2019

Does Burning Lake have more secrets than other small towns- especially small towns that are dependent to a certain degree on tourist dollars? Well, Natalie Lockhart is about to discover how many there are. She's been assigned a cold case involving the disappearance of nine people over the years, her own sister's murder has never been solved, and now Daisy, who was her sister's friend, has been murdered. Oh, and there's a witchcraft thing since one (the main) reason tourists come is that it is where three witches were killed during that hysteria. The teens in town muddle around with the occult, the adults have their own issues, and Natalie's just trying to figure it all out. It's a well done mystery with an intriguing heroine in Natalie. Thanks to the publisher for the ARC. Try this one for novel set in a town with a lingering sense of unease.

Wow...it's hard to categorize this book! Natalie is a rookie detective in the police department of Burning Lake NY, a small town in the Adirondacks. She's tasked with working on a series of cold cases, 8 transients have been killed in the area going back many years. Then a beloved teacher, who is her sister's best friend, is murdered and she's the lead in the new case. Complicating matters is the fact that the murdered woman's husband is also a member of the Burning Lake PD. She also is having to deal with a group of teenage witches...The town of Burning Lake is an important character in this book. It's history is full of superstition and witches. Black magic, spells and hexes. And hovering in the background is the murder of Natalie's oldest sister Willow years ago. There's alot going on but the author does a great job bringing everything together in the end and giving us not one but two shocking conclusions. If you enjoy good crime fiction, well developed characters, a strong sense of place and an ending that will blow you away this is the book for you.
Thank you Netgalley for the opportunity to read an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you to Netgalley and Minotaur Books for a copy of the eARC in exchange for a fair review.


Natalie is a small town cop just like her father. Her oldest sister was tragically murdered when Natalie was just ten, but they know who did it so they have just dealt with the loss all these years. However, when Daisy is murdered. Natalie begins to wonder what is going on in her small town. Added to that is the cold case files she has that she has nicknamed the Missing Nine.


As Natalie digs into Daisy's life, she begins to undercover all kinds of secrets. Making her wonder if Daisy was murdered by her cop husband or if she had a jealous lover. Plus with the town history being steeped in witchcraft there is a lot she has to face as she begins to undercover all the dark secrets.


This is the first book in a new series, it had a lot going on. A new murder, an old murder, plus several old missing persons cases. Following all the threads really requires you to pay attention and I am not afraid to admit that I missed some clues to some of them, but it didn't take away from my enjoyment of reading this either. I was really shocked when Daisy's murderer was uncovered and by some other revelations as well.


Not going to lie I had a couple of moments where I really couldn't wrap my head around some of the characters. Not that it wasn't believable, but that the motivation was just something I could not relate to at all. So it made me really annoyed with some of the characters and not all that unhappy at some of the revelations. On the other hand, I felt that some of Natalie's feeling about some of these revelations was kind of glossed over or just not dealt with it.


I know that is all super vague, but I hate spoilers and I probably have raised many suspicions with some of the things I have been alluding too. I really want to see where the author is going to go with this series. I like Natalie and I can't to see what finds her next.

Wow what an ending this book was! This book was creepy but intriguing. I couldn't wait to find out who the killer was! Never guessed! I can't wait to read the rest of the series!!

A murder, of beloved school teacher Daisy, occurs in Burning Lake. Detective Natalie is tasked with the case. She has ties to Daisy as she is one of her sister Grace's friends. The cas3 doesn't start out great as the first suspect falls into a coma.
There is more to the story. There is a dark history in Burning Lake. There were 3 hanged woman suspected of witchcraft. Young girls form covens and perform Wiccan rituals. No one is untouched by the consequences of such things.
Alice has a way of writing so well that I'm immediately drawn into the story and it doesn't let me go.
I can't believe the ending.... The killer is someone I NEVER expected. That's the sign of a good mystery for me. I hope she writes more of Detective Natalie in the future .

This one blew my mind because it’s mystery wrapped in more mystery!

Thank you @stmartinspress and @netgalley for an ARC of this one in exchange for an honest review.

Trace of Evil follows Natalie Lockhart, a rookie detective in a small town that is haunted by a dark past of witchcraft. Not only has she had to live with the scars left by her sisters murder 20 years ago, but now a beloved school teacher has been found murdered! While Natalie starts to try to solve the mystery of the teacher death, she stumbles upon something much more sinister.

This book was a great thriller because it contains so many elements! We learn a great deal about Natalie and how the death of her sister affected her. We have an addicting; quick paced murder of the school teacher and we have a surprisingly sinister other mystery added in! There is so much happening it’s impossible to put down!

While usually I’m not a fan of the mystic stuff in my books, here it just added even more drama to the story! It adds to the setting by having so many of the towns landmarks part of a dark magic past.

I love a good mystery that blows my mind and this one did a fantastic job at that! This is the start of a series of books following Natalie. She’s a great character so expect me to be keeping up with this series to get more of Alice Blanchard’s writing!

This one comes out December 3rd 2019

You doesn’t love a rookie detective story, especially with an engaging female character? The story is intriguing, the ending rather unexpected, but the writing is rather mediocre, too much tell rather than show. Overall I enjoyed the read and will recommend for our library to add it to the collection.

5 out of 5 stars


I would first like to thank NetGalley and St. Martins press for allowing me to read an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I really have had a great year of reading and "Trace of Evil" has kept the streak going. Natalie Lockhart is a cop in the sleepy town of Burning Lake in upstate New York. Burning Lake is a tourist town that tends to make most of it's money from the history of killing witches. There are magic shops everywhere and graveyard tours for those interested, Heck, the police cars even used to have a witch riding a broom painted on them. The town is always full of teenagers in covens and it also tends to attract satanists as well. While people often want to leave their small towns behind Natalie has no desire to ever leave. She loves the town and the people that live there. She even became a cop so she could follow in her Father's footsteps to protect the people of the town.

We first meet Natalie, her sister Grace and her niece Ellie as they gathered to pay their respects to Willow, their older sister who was murdered as a teen by her boyfriend. That night as Natalie give a ride home to one of her coworkers they find his newly pregnant wife Daisy dead on the kitchen floor. Even though Natalie is covering a cold case of "The Missing Nine" (nine people who have vanished over the years) she is assigned the case of Daisy's murder along with a childhood friend/boss. As they begin to put the clues together they find that they did not know their friends as well as they thought because everyone in Burning Lake has a secret.

This is very well written with characters. Natalie is a very strong, smart lead and the people in Burning Lake are all interesting. I really hope this becomes a series because I would love to find out what happens to Natalie and the town after the events of this novel.

If you love creepy mysteries I think you would really enjoy this book.