I’m a huge Kendra Elliot fan, and have worked through the Mercy Kilpatrick series, and a couple of the Columbia River books, but not as familiar with these characters - I also keep meaning to read her co-written crossover with Melinda Leigh (Echo Road)! What I really need to do is go back to the start and read everything again from the beginning, in publishing order…

Rowan and Evan made a great team in this latest Columbia River series installment, when Evan turns up to his call to find his old boss and mentor as the victim, and Rowan comes in as the K-9 specialist to help locate the family. It’s twisted and unexpected, and even quite unsettling at times.

The Next Grave was an extremely chilling read, made even more-so with great narration by Teri Schnaubelt. She really makes you feel like you’re in Rowan and Evan’s heads! Definitely a recommended suggestion from me - for anyone who enjoys getting the pulse pounding and enjoys trying to figure out who dunnit with great clues added to throw the reader off the track. Elliot is fantastic with the red herrings!

Thanks for the early read and listen copies from NetGalley, Montlake, and Brilliance Audio. This is my honest opinion.

Thank you to the publisher for the free book in exchange for my honest opinion.

This book just did not do it for me. It didn't hold my attention like it should have. I will continue to read her books. I liked my previous reads of hers.

A huge thank you to Netgalley and Brilliance Publishing for giving me a chance to read The Next Grave by Kendra Elliot as an audiobook narrated by Teri Schnaubelt in exchange for my honest review. 
Not my first rodeo with Kendra Elliot's writing but it was my first time experiencing her writing as an audiobook. I have to say ,I enjoyed it immensely. Teri Schnaubelt gave life to the characters in a beautiful way and it was the best company I could have asked for on my way to work every day. I loved the chemistry Evan and Rowan had with each other and I really liked Evan as a character through and through. His integrity, his morals and his dedication to find his mentor's killer and bring them to justice without ever deviating to any stray morally grey thoughts ,amazed me. Rowan and Thor -my favourite character by default- were the best supporting characters Kendra could have given Evan, both bookwise and as in character support. I will not lie, I almost DNF'd the book, but that was only because Thor was in danger and animal death/torture is a trigger for me. Other than that, it was flawless. I wish I could have any guesses as to had been the one to kill Rod to begin with ,but the fact that that I had no idea who it was is something that's really fresh for me, in the way that it was an unknown character that I couldn't see coming. I also loved the cameos from Kendra's other characters from her previous book At the river, which I was delighted to recognise and see again in this story. Not knowing at first that this is the sixth book in the Columbia series and that the one I'd read before was the exact one prior to the one I was listening, made me all the more excited and made me want to have a go at the whole series. 
If you want an audiobook to keep you on your toes and keep you entertained, then definitely give this one a go !

Thank you so much to @brilliancepublishing @netgalley for the ALC!

𝗧𝗶𝘁𝗹𝗲: The Next Grave (Columbia River, 6)
𝗔𝘂𝘁𝗵𝗼𝗿: Kendra Elliott
𝗡𝗮𝗿𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗼𝗿: Teri Schnaubelt
𝗣𝘂𝗯 𝗗𝗮𝘁𝗲: December 10, 2024
4⭐️

♦️ 𝙈𝙮 𝙏𝙝𝙤𝙪𝙜𝙝𝙩𝙨 ♦️
Detective Evan Bolton is assigned a rough case for him - a former mentor and friend has been murdered and the detective’s daughter and grandson are also missing. Evan discovers his old mentor has been researching old crimes that he investigated and Evan suspects not everyone in law enforcement can be trusted.

Evan is living with his girlfriend, Rowan Wolff and her search and rescue dog Thor. Rowan enlists Thor’s help whenever she can. We also see Evan’s detective partner Noelle Marshall in action, helping as Evan gets sidelined in the investigation. I enjoyed seeing Noelle in action, and I noticed she is getting her own series this summer so yay!

The twists in this one weren’t crazy, but I was still intrigued and interested in the story. I always enjoy a good detective/police procedural so this author is one I always look to for those!

🎧 𝙉𝙖𝙧𝙧𝙖𝙩𝙞𝙤𝙣 🎧
Teri Schnaubelt did a good job narrating this police procedural. She was easy to understand as she narrated both Evan and Rowan’s POVs. She also brought out emotion in the dialogue when needed!

🎧 𝙔𝙤𝙪 𝙬𝙞𝙡𝙡 𝙡𝙞𝙠𝙚 𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙨 𝙗𝙤𝙤𝙠 𝙞𝙛 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙡𝙞𝙠𝙚:
♦️ Police Procedurals
🦮 Search and Rescue Dogs
♦️ Missing Persons
🦮 Found Family

Three small stars for this book, because the story moved along and held my interest along the way. However, a few things bothered me: first, the internal dialogue was awkward and stilted. The characters asked a lot of questions of themselves, in their heads. It was eye-rollingly annoying, and continued through the book.
Second, this is the sixth book in a series, and while I don't think its necessary to have read the previous books, it seems that several members of the main characters' families have been abducted by criminals at some point in their lives. It was a little weird, and again awkward.

Thank you NetGalley for the chance to read and review this audiobook.

I enjoyed this book to an extent. I did not love the trope with the main character that he "is a good guy and would never do anything wrong" which kind of threw me out of this book. I also did not connect to the storyline with the dog. I found it very strange that she entered a house on fire to save her pup even though other people were yelling at her not to. I think there were just a few elements of the story that resulted in me not feeling very connected to the characters. In addition I do not think that I enjoyed the conclusion of the mystery just being some crazy dude. I wanted it to be a corrupt police officer storyline a bit more and I did not get that out of this story. I understand that is just a different conclusion, so I am not upset about it, I just did not love it.

However, most of this book was entertaining and fast paced even if it had some elements that I did not love. For that I would give it 3.5 stars.

If I had known this was the sixth book in a series, I may not have picked it up. While reading, I did feel like I was missing some context, so that explains it. I liked Evan - he was well developed an nuanced - but I found Rowan to be quite grating.

This book was an emotional rollercoaster. Also a very good who-done-it. Evan is investigating the death of his good friend. Rowan and Evan end up in the thick of it. Kendra Elliot does a good job making you think about who the killer is and why they are doing it. I really enjoyed this book. I listened to it on audio.

The Next Grave by Kendra Elliot is the sixth book in the Columbia River series, blending suspense, mystery, and romance. Detective Evan Bolton is deeply impacted by the murder of his mentor, retired detective Rod McLeod. McLeod was looking into cold cases that showed patterns of similar crimes, which could point to a larger, ongoing criminal operation. Investigating old cases might uncover links that were previously overlooked, such as similar victims, locations, or methods used in past crimes. When Evan goes to notify Rod’s daughter and grandson they are both missing. Evan enlists the help of Rachel Wolff, who he has both a professional and personal relationship with. Rachel and her dog Thor’s involvement in tracking the missing family is a key part of the investigation. Overall, The Next Grave is an exciting audiobook with a solid mystery, interesting characters, and a great narrator.

This review was originally posted on Books of My Heart


Review copy was received from Netgalley. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

The Columbia River series is a mix of stories utilizing characters from some of the author's other series or supporting characters. Mercy Kilpatrick makes a very brief appearance here from the Mercy Kilpatrick series.

The primary characters in The Next Grave are Evan and Rowan. They have both featured in other books in the series. Evan is a sheriff's deputy. He is saddened when they find the body of his old mentor, Rod. Then Rod's daughter and grandson go missing. His girlfriend, Rowan and her dog, Thor, are in search and rescue. Rowan tries to help track them but both were put into cars and taken away.

The suspense and terror continue to build as more things happen but the information is not enough to locate the missing. There is definitely both skill and chaos demonstrated by law enforcement in this story. I don't want to say too much about all the other events as they should be discovered by the reader.

I really enjoy this series and these characters so much. The pacing was steady with plenty of action and events. I hope the series will continue. These are great characters with good hearts, working their hardest to save people and make lives better.

Narration:
The narrator has narrated the books 3-6 in the series, so her performance and character voices are comfortable. She infused emotion into the characters' words and made them distinct. I listened at my usual 1.5x speed.

I haven't read this series and I was excited to discover that The Next Grave can be read as a stand alone. I plan on reading the entire series soon. This story follows Detective Evan Bolton, and his girlfriend Rowan, and let me tell you these two are adorable and I immediately loved them as individuals and Rowan's dog sounds just as adorable as well. I was immediately pulled into the story and I thoroughly enjoyed Teri Schnaubelt narration. The tones and inflections used were great and I could differentiate characters throughout the book. It was great catching a glimpse of Mercy in this book as well. Addicting mystery that I was eager to solve and I was shocked to find out who was helping the bad guys too.

Loved this one. Really liked Evan and was rooting for him to solve this immediately—his emotional response to finding Rob felt very real. Love the romance but appreciate it being off the page. And the dog liver in me loves hearing about Thor.

Thanks to Netgally and the publisher for an advanced copy of the audio book in exchange for honest review!
This story, if I had read it as an ebook or a physical book, would have been a solid 4 stars for me. The audio version, in my opinion, was not great. There are several instances where the characters have internal thoughts. These thoughts would be clear with the written word, but with the audio version, it was hard to follow. Sometimes, characters would say things, or i would think they said something out loud, only to realize that it was an internal thought.
This is the first book in this series that I've read, and I think it could be read as a standalone. I really enjoyed the mystery, and I loved the dog. I am a fan of the author, and I will continue reading books by her and in this series. From now on, though, I will be sticking to the ebook versions.

I love a good police procedural series, and Kendra Elliot's Columbia River series is one of the best. With The Next Grave, the 6th installment in this series, Evan Bolton, Rowan Wolff and Thor are both emotionally involved in the investigation and personally targeted. When Rod McLeod's body is found, Evan is immediately obsessed with finding out who and why his friend and mentor was brutally murdered. When the investigation reveals that Rod was looking into old, solved cases and then Rod's daughter disappears, the case becomes personal.

Like any good detective series, the characters are relatable, and I enjoy the relationships between recurring characters throughout. The romance between Evan and Rowan, being completely off-screen, is one of the aspects of this series that I enjoy. As a dog lover I especially love Thor's small role in the story, he is such a smart canine.

The audiobook, narrated by Teri Schnaubelt was terrific, well-paced with a good voice for a detective novel. Thank you to Netgalley and Brilliance Audio for the audio ARC of The Next Grave by Kendra Elliot. The opinions in this review are my own.

First, I would like to thank both the Author and Brilliance Audio for the opportunity to read this as an Audio ARC.

Now for the review. This book helped me out of a slump. I could not get into anything until I started this, and right away, I was sat for it. From the moment we find Rod's body until the moment the story is over, you will continue to be tossed around on what is going to happen and who is the one that did all of this. Then, near the end, you discover who and why the person did it. With everything that happened, it constantly felt like something was going wrong for the main detective when his fingerprints were discovered I went to the point of "How much more could go wrong for this man" just was a bit redundant with stuff going on.

Overall it was still an amazing book and easily, I would give this book a 4.75/5 as my only gripe is just that it always seemed that something was going wrong for him. It did help push the story you just get annoyed with it.

I listened to the audio of this book which I note is the sixth in a series. I've not read the previous 5 and I don't think you need to. The characters do mention earlier exploits but it doesn't appear to bear much relation to the storyline.

Evan Bolton, a detective, has to find out why his retired mentor Rod McLeod has been killed and who has abducted Rod's daughter, Sophie. He has the help of girlfriend, Rowan, a dog handler who specialises in finding missing people. The story basically follows the investigation in which Evan himself becomes a target.

The series appears to be set in Oregon, a state I know very little about but they do seem to have terrible problems with people getting kidnapped. There is mention of Rowan's brother who was held for decades then another relative who was rescued much more quickly. And in this book there are several abductions.

This part of the plot seemed very unlikely as we're the kidnappers methods of extracting information and even the reasons for the abductions. In all, I spent quite a bit of time rolling my eyes and talking back to the book.

The actual narration by Teri Schnaubelt, was okay but fell into the category of female narrators who overdramatise. Her "male" voice was a tone I often find offputting - either in pain or constipated. I wish narrators would merely leave gaps between characters rather than "do" voices.

I also found the character of Rowan quite irritating as she would listen to what someone said then repeat it in her mind. It got a little annoying at the end.

For me, the book was just average as was the narration hence the 3 stars.

Thankyou to Netgalley and Brilliance Publishing for the audio advance review copy.

Pretty darn good read! This book had me breathing hard and biting my nails! I'm going to say it was wrong on who I thought it was! I was screaming about the wrong person the whole time LOL! But darn!! This book at me on the edge of my set! I felt like the person wasn't reading the book fast enough for me to figure out what was happening for me! Goodness! Heart was racing! I need to find more by this author!

This was my first book by this author. I really enjoyed this audiobook, it was easy to follow and kept me guessing till the very end. I will definitely check out the rest of the series

Really enjoyed this installment of the Columbia River series! A great mystery plot that personally impacted our main characters so the stakes were high. Fast paced and kept me guessing - no complaints here!