Thank you Macmillan Audio for the ALC and Minotaur Books, #partner for the advanced copy of Where There’s Smoke in exchange for my honest review.
Publisher: Minotaur Books / Macmillan Audio
Published: October 6, 2026
Summary:
Following the USA Today bestselling series debut, No Rest for the Wicked, Rachel Louise Adams returns with Where There’s Smoke.
A lot has happened in Dolores Hawthorne’s life since the events of last Halloween. She’s divorced, traded being a forensic pathologist for a job as a medical examiner, and now lives in small-town Wisconsin, close—but not too close—to her family.
Dolores doesn’t have much in the way of work, but that all changes when a body is found at the local slaughterhouse. Benedict Marcy owned Marcy’s Meats, and is affectionately called Mr. Mercy across the region. This high-profile case quickly catches the attention of Dolores’s friends at the FBI.
From the very beginning, this case is full of contradictions and surprises, and the team quickly learns someone is willing to go to extreme lengths to stop them from finding out the truth behind Benedict Marcy’s murder.
My thoughts:
This is the second book in Rachel Louise Adams’s Coldren Country series and I am such a fan! The first book really grabbed me and this second book sealed the deal…this is a series that I will be reading until the end! And I just have to mention those covers…they are amazing! Totally eye-catching and so menacing!
This latest installment starts shortly after where the first book ends, so while you technically don’t have to read No Rest for the Wicked as the author provides just enough backstory to fill you in so you aren’t lost, I think you’d have a much richer reading experience if you did. But either way, this one does have a self-contained case and boy is it a doozy! It’s all set around a slaughterhouse – cue the cover! I loved that for a small-town setting, it’s anything but cozy. There is such darkness hidden here, so many secrets and that just heightens the tension and suspense as the investigation continues.
I also loved that while this was very action-packed, we still do get a little bit of character development on our main gal, Dolores. She continues to be a great FMC, haunted by her past and the trauma that just won’t go away. There are some familiar faces from the previous book and some new ones and it will be interesting to see who continues to make appearances in future books and who doesn’t.
It seems this series is perfect for SpookySeason – the town itself is all about Halloween and each book lends itself to that spooky nature. This is a series I definitely recommend to anyone that likes dark, twisted reads.
Audio thoughts:
I was thrilled to see that Jeremy Carlisle Parker was back to narrate this as she had narrated the first book. Her consistency with the voices was amazing and she continued to infuse just the right amount of tension, emotion and suspense into her voice as needed.
Books in this series:
- No Rest for the Wicked
- Where There’s Smoke
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