A bloodied body buried on Cape Cod. A cold case in Kansas.

Can Leila track down a killer?

After a blinding snowstorm, artist and amateur sleuth Leila Goodfriend wakes early in the morning for a walk in the woods to think, to escape. When she stumbles on the bloodied body of a woman buried in a snow bank, Leila digs desperately, her fingers bleed, shaking with fear, she knows who it is.

It’s Susie, the ex-girlfriend of Steve, a failed photographer she dumped months before.

Leila was at a creative retreat with her eccentric group of Red Barn artist friends, on a remote island off Cape Cod. On the rebound from a relationship, Leila found herself attracted to Detective John Grace, a partner in both romance and crime investigation.

However, when the police arrive on the crime scene, Detective Grace warns her not to investigate a murder case, again.

As an artist, Leila knows that bodies have a story to tell. Leila slips into Susie’s autopsy—and the body reveals an enigmatic clue:

Susie died on a bed of long-stemmed roses.

Steve, the police’s prime murder suspect, begs Leila to help him—swearing he has evidence that Susie’s killer is a suspect in a cold case in Kansas. Leila confronts the suspect, pocketing an intriguing piece of evidence—an arrowhead.

Tracking the trail of blood and revenge from Cape Cod to a Native American casino in Kansas, where a ritualistic murder reveals a cold case killer—and a deadly secret from Leila’s past.

Death In Smoke, the new, fast-paced psychological thriller from acclaimed author Barbara Elle, takes you on a twisted journey, challenging assumptions about what is truth—what remains a mystery.