ARC Review: The Next Grave by Kendra Elliot

The Next Grave
Author: Kendra Elliot
Series: Columbia River (Book 6)
Publication: Montlake (December 10, 2024)

Description: Following a murder and a woman’s sudden disappearance, investigations into old crimes and new collide in an alarming novel of suspense by a Wall Street Journal and Amazon Charts bestselling author.

Detective Evan Bolton is gutted by his latest investigation. His friend and mentor, retired detective Rod McLeod, has been murdered, his body left in the trunk of a junkyard car. When McLeod’s daughter and grandson abruptly vanish, Evan knows it’s not a coincidence. Search and rescue canine specialist Rowan Wolff agrees as she and her dog, Thor, track the missing family.

The two cases converge in a puzzling twist. Evan discovers that McLeod has been reinvestigating old crimes―solved but not forgotten. Evan takes them on, one by one, and a disturbing suspicion forms that someone in law enforcement has something to hide and would do anything to keep those secrets buried.

But Evan and Rowan’s time is slipping away. They have to find the killer now. Before someone else disappears. Before someone else dies.

My Thoughts: The sixth Columbia River book begins with Evan Bolton discovering the body of his friend and mentor Rob McLeod in the trunk of a car in a junkyard. He was tortured before his death. Then it is discovered that his daughter has disappeared. At first, it is assumed that his grandson was taken too but he returns from a couple of days with friends and is placed in a remote location with friends until his mother is located. 

With the death of a someone in law enforcement, the pressure to find the killer is extreme. Many are going through Rob's old cases and the strange assortment of case files in his home office to try to identify who would want him dead. 

Evan is facing additional pressure at work when fingerprints discovered at both Rob's house and his daughter's house indicate that he was on the scene. Rob knows the prints indicate someone probably in law enforcement is trying to frame him. However, he's relieved of duty and then kidnapped.

His live-in lover Rowan is certain that the same person who killed Rob has taken him. She and her search and rescue dog Thor have been involved since the beginning of the case when she was called in to see if she could track the missing daughter. And she's called in again later when the grandson goes missing from the supposedly safe location. 

This story was fast paced, filled with action, and filled with tension as law enforcement tries to find answers before it is too late. 

I loved the relationship between Evan and Rowan. I thought Rowan's emotions when Evan disappeared, harrowing though they were to read, were realistic. Fans of suspense will enjoy this story.

I received this one in exchange for an honest review from NetGalley. You can buy your copy here.