Trace of Evil

By Alice Blanchard

Minotaur Books     2019

384 pages           Police Procedural

Trace of Evil is the first of a new series by the established author, Alice Blanchard. Natalie Lockhart is a detective in the small upper-New York town of Burning Lake. This is her hometown; she knows everyone and everyone knows her. She is actually living in the home where she was raised, and her sister and niece live in the neighborhood. Natalie has followed her father’s career path as a detective,  and his advice is always in her head—a nice touch, by the way.

Burning Lake has a violent history, beginning with the execution of three women for witchcraft  centuries ago. Teenagers in the community flirt with witchcraft, and it all seems quite innocent until a beloved high school teacher—and a lifelong friend of Natalie—is found murdered, and a voodoo doll is found buried in her garden.

One of Natalie’s assignment as a detective is to investigate the disappearance of nine transients over several years. Nine corpses of crows have just been found at the sites where the missing persons were last seen, and Natalie is convinced that the death of her other sister might be connected with the entire mystery. Is the high school teacher’s death somehow connected as well?

There is a lot of set-up involved in the novel, including a childhood trauma that continues to haunt Natalie. There are a lot of characters, a lot of crimes being investigated, a lot of past and present movement to wade through. I felt that the story lagged for the first half, in part because of the set-up. Finally, it picks up for a momentous, heart pounding finish.

Natalie is an appealing character. She is very empathetic as she becomes totally engulfed in the case. First and foremost, she is trying to solve her friend’s death, but at the same time, she is consumed with solving the other crimes. As a result, she almost loses touch with reality, but another detective on the case, an old friend and potential lover, keeps pulling her back. She worries constantly about her niece, Ellie, who seems to have gotten herself involved with a coven of teenaged witches who seem to know something about the teacher’s death and the voodoo doll. Blanchard describes Natalie thus: “In this cynical modern day and age, there was something almost subversive about Natalie’s desire to be good in a bad world, to hunt down the bad guys and expose their deeds to the light of day.”

I was particularly impressed with Blanchard’s description of the village of Burning Lake and its heritage. It reminded me of Louise Penny’s Three Pines, Quebec. I think that the village and the characters Blanchard has created will continue to draw readers to Natalie’s cases. On the other hand, I wasn’t particularly impressed with Blanchard’s cliff-hangers. Sometimes they felt really contrived and obvious. Other descriptions were tedious to say the least. For example, “They spilled out of the gym like a basketful of apples” or “’Could be,’ she said, thick braids of discomfort knitting into her muscles.”

I am probably being picky. These were small annoyances in an otherwise absorbing mystery. I was surprised at the ending—or endings—because several crimes were solved. I look forward to the next chapter of the series.

There is a good review in Kirkus, where they call Trace of Evil “a fast-paced, intricate, and atmospheric mystery that introduces a plucky, engaging detective.”

Alice Blanchard website.