Following the opening of an adult business on an interstate highway off-ramp into a sparsely populated rural village, total crime in the village rose by approximately 60 percent. Two years later, when the business closed, total crime in the village dropped by approximately 60 percent. The only plausible explanation for the effect reported is that, like adult businesses in urban and suburban settings, adult businesses in sparsely populated rural areas generate ambient crime-related secondary effects. This finding was not unexpected. Put simply, adult businesses attract patrons from wide catchment areas. In particular, rural areas ordinarily have lower levels of visible police presence causing rural hotspots to be riskier than their suburban and urban counterparts. A recent U.S. Tenth Circuit Court decision questions whether the routine-activity theory of hotspots applies to adult businesses located in sparsely populated rural areas. To address the threshold question, the hotspot theory is analyzed to demonstrate its generality to urban, suburban, and rural locations. Tables, references