Welcome to LITTLE HORTON, the one town in America where Halloween isn’t just a party. It’s a way of life.
If you live in North Wisconsin, I can already picture some raised eyebrows. “Little H’? Isn’t that the town where all these people keep dying, and something awful always seems to happen when October 31st comes a-knocking?”
You’ve heard the tales. You know the nursery rhymes.
Jeremy Krone was on a roll when he left home
That night.
Shots in his gun, death in his heart, they swore his eyes
Would bite.
Streets a riot with gowns and masks, candy galore
Spills out.
BANG BANG through the night, BANG BANG
What was that?
His ghost still haunts the town.
Well. You can put all that nonsenseout of your mind. Having been the first lady of Little Horton for a decade, I’m well-placed to say that our charming little town isn’t haunted. Not by Jeremy Krone, and not by any of the men and women who tragically met their ends on Halloween night.
It is true that our town has a history of being a little… unrestful, when that special time of year arrives. “No smoke without fire” is how the expression goes. But I assure you, those fires have all died out years and years ago. In fact, I invite you to come and see for yourself. I mean it. Take a look at our quaint downtown area, let your eyes roam over its Queen-Anne style houses, breathe in its smells of chimney fire and sugar maples. In the streets, be charmed by the welcoming smiles you will get from total strangers, walk into one of our local diners. (If Ruby’s pumpkin pie doesn’t melt the ice around your heart, I don’t see what might).
I challenge you to come to Little Horton, stay a day, a week—stay forever if you like—and tell me you can smell one thread of smoke in the air, tell me you can make out the slightest hint that a fire was ever there.
I certainly can’t.
As a matter of fact, we haven’t had a murder there in over seventy years!
Of course, unfortunate accidents do happen, especially when one is juggling with knives or wielding chainsaws. But I assure you, if you decide to join us on October 31st—and why wouldn’t you, who else does Halloween like we do?—the only tricks you will be treated to will have been carefully designed by the town committee and yours truly.
In fact, why wait? Come now. Come in. As you may have heard, in Little Horton, it’s Halloween every day of the year. Winter or summer, jack-o-lanterns keep an eye on our front yards, waiters sprinkle pumpkin spice in your drinks, and you can catch a famous slasher at our small movie theater every week.
Sit back, relax, crack open a bag of candy corn. And let us delight you. Let us surprise you. Because, you see, Little Horton isn’t some spooky town, where a curse compels people to lose their minds every Halloween. It’s a place that has heart. When you join us, you’ll see that heart is beating just as sane and sound as yours.
So come for the lore, come for the macabre (especially, remember, come for Ruby’s pie). But come also if you are in need of community. Sit at a table in any of our restaurants downtown—you won’t sit alone for a very long time. Ask waiters to tell you about some of the town’s legends or even some good-hearted gossip! Us Little Hortoners can’t keep a secret to save our lives.
Better yet, come directly knocking at the Hawthorne house. I’ll invite you in myself, with open arms.
If you look beyond the layer of pumpkin-colored frosting, you’ll find Little Horton to be full of kindness and warmth.
I give you my word—you’ll be perfectly safe in our town.
I’ll see you soon,
Post-scriptum: When you arrive at Little Horton, you will soon notice that our town is experiencing a bit of a problem when it comes to stray cats. They might rub against your legs or scuttle away when you draw near. Please don’t try to pet them. And, more than anything: DO NOT FEED THEM. I strongly urge instead that you contact the local police, who have made animal control one of their priorities. It’s been a couple of years now since cats started multiplying in our streets. No one wants to see this town overrun by feral beasts. The sooner we get a grip on this, the sooner cats can become again the friendly loveable pets who purr from our living room sofas.
I repeat: Don’t feed the cats. No matter how hungry they look.
On top of worsening our situation, you would be doing so at your own peril. Who knows what sort of pests these animals carry?
NO REST FOR THE WICKED by Rachel Louise Adams
With an expert hand, Rachel Louise Adams’s debut No Rest for the Wicked reads like an edge of your seat, heart-pounding scary movie.
In one Halloween obsessed Midwestern town, everyone’s on red alert after a local politician goes missing. Little do they know it’s only the beginning.
It’s been close to twenty years since forensic pathologist Dolores Hawthorne left her hometown of Little Horton, Wisconsin. The town is famous for its Halloween celebrations, but also its history of violent deaths linked to the holiday. To Dolores, it’s the place she fled, family, bad memories, and all. Until the FBI calls to tell her that her father—the former mayor turned US Senator—is missing under mysterious circumstances.
Some people count to ten to wake up from a nightmare. Dolores always counts the bones of her head instead: sphenoid, frontal, lacrimal. But no matter how many times she counts them, it doesn’t change the fact that her father is missing, that his final words of warning to her were to trust no one, and that now, the rest of her family is giving Dolores a chilling welcome. With Halloween fast approaching, Dolores must face the past she left behind before it’s too late.
Mystery Private Eye | Small Town [St. Martin’s Press, On Sale: September 16, 2025, Hardcover / e-Book, ISBN: 9781250362117 / eISBN: 9781250362124]
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About Rachel Louise Adams
RACHEL LOUISE ADAMS was raised in a small town in Brittany by a French father and a North American mother. After studying literature at university, she wrote her PhD thesis on American fast foods and meat-eating. When she isn’t writing or reading, she can be found advocating for animal rights, spending time with her fiancé, her friends, and her two cats.
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