ARC Review: Innocence Road by Laura Griffin

Innocence Road
Author: Laura Griffin
Publication: Berkley (November 11, 2025)

Description: Detective Leanne Everhart swore she’d never go back to her hometown near Marfa, Texas—but she returns when her brother needs her, only to find a town in need too, still torn apart by a decades-old crime.

Leanne Everhart knows women have something to fear in her artsy hometown, especially so if they’re not rich, white locals. Returning to town after her father’s death, she sees the ugliest sides of an area that draws people for its severe, untamed natural landscape.

While her department faces mounting backlash over a recent wrongful conviction in the long-ago murder case of a popular local teenager—which is now unsolved—Leanne is called to a fresh crime scene at the edge of the desert. A nameless woman was found murdered, with no clues as to her identity. As Leanne digs into the crime scene evidence, she grows convinced this latest murder case is linked with the local teenager’s murder. And to multiple cold cases, all unnamed female victims, that have all been shelved by her department without leads.

Now, with conflicted loyalties and without allies, Leanne must hunt down a serial killer, one who’s been preying on local women for two decades, growing bolder and more ruthless with every strike.

My Thoughts: INNOCENCE ROAD takes place in rural Texas. Leanne Everhart has returned to her small hometown after serving as a police officer in Dallas. She has joined the local police department as the only female officer. Her father who recently died in a car accident was once the chief of police. 

When the man convicted of killing a pretty local teenager fifteen years earlier has his conviction overturned because he claimed he was coerced into a confession, the local PD is in an uproar. The current chief is more worried about the possible law suit the man is poised to bring than he is about any current crimes. 

Leanne has a current crime to investigate. The body of a battered young woman has been discovered. She is unidentified. When Leanne begins to investigate, she learns that this body is not the first to be found in the area. None of the deaths have been sufficiently investigated and Leanne faces pushback from the chief when she wants to dig deeper. 

Already feeling isolated in the department, Leanne goes outside it to people she knows in the sheriff's department and a friend in the local FBI to find out more. Her investigation leads her to believe that the old murder was the first of a series of serial killings that have been going on for years. Proving it puts her in danger from unknown enemies. 

Meanwhile, Leanne is dealing with family issues. She and her mother have never gotten along, and tensions are building again as Leanne looks into her father's role in the young man's conviction fifteen years earlier. Leanne is also dealing with a younger brother who is dealing with an addiction issue.

This was an engaging mystery. I liked the setting. I wasn't as fond of Leanne though I could see that her personality was a result of the various stresses in her life and job. 

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