Where There's Smoke

A dark, suspenseful, Wisconsin-set thriller with a rich (opened) vein of pitch-black humour, this standalone novel sees No Rest for the Wicked’s pathologist heroine Dolores Diaz return to the Midwest to investigate a suspicious, grisly death in a small-town slaughterhouse. Perfect for fans of Ronald Malfi and Rachel Harrison.

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.