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Book Summary and Reviews of Trail of Echoes by Rachel Howzell Hall

Trail of Echoes by Rachel Howzell Hall

Trail of Echoes

A Detective Elouise Norton Novel

by Rachel Howzell Hall

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  • Published:
  • May 2016, 320 pages
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Book Summary

Trail of Echoes: the latest Elouise Norton novel from critically acclaimed writer Rachel Howzell Hall.

On a rainy spring day in Los Angeles, homicide detective Elouise "Lou" Norton is called away from a rare lunch date to Bonner Park, where the body of thirteen-year-old Chanita Lords has been discovered. When Lou and her partner, Colin Taggert, take on the sad task of informing Chanita's mother, Lou is surprised to find herself in the apartment building she grew up in.

Chanita was interested in photography and, much like Lou, a girl destined to leave the housing projects behind. Her death fits a chilling pattern of exceptional girls - dancers, artists, honors scholars - gone recently missing in the same school district, the one Lou attended not so long ago.

Lou is valiantly trying to make a go of life after her divorce and doing everything she can to avoid her long estranged father. She races to catch a serial killer, but he remains frustratingly out of her reach, sending cryptic cyphers and taunting clues that arrive too late to prevent the next death. This one is personal, and it's only a matter of time before he comes after Lou herself.

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Reviews

Media Reviews

"Starred Review. The third and best of a finely wrought series ... that gives voice to a rare figure in crime fiction: a highly complex, fully imagined black female detective." - Kirkus

"Readers weary of the dour, pessimistic detectives so common to genre can relate to Lou. Those hungry for chills will be satisfied as the action builds to a surprising, terrifying climax." - Publishers Weekly

"This determined African American protagonist makes a wonderful addition to the genre." - Booklist

This information about Trail of Echoes was first featured in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.

Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.

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Author Information

Rachel Howzell Hall Author Biography

Photo: Andre Ellis

Rachel Howzell Hall is the author of the Los Angeles Times Book Prize– and Lefty Award–nominated And Now She's Gone; and the Anthony Award–, Lefty Award–, and International Thriller Writers Award–nominated They All Fall Down. She also writes the acclaimed Detective Elouise Norton series, including Land of Shadows, Skies of Ash, Trail of Echoes, and City of Saviors. Rachel is also the coauthor of The Good Sister with James Patterson, which was included in the New York Times bestseller The Family Lawyer. She lives in Los Angeles.

Link to Rachel Howzell Hall's Website

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