All We Buried: A Sheriff Bet Rivers Mystery

by Elena Taylor

Overview

An amateur sheriff confronts the long-sleeping secrets of her small Washington State mountain town in this dark, twisty mystery for fans of Julia Keller and Sheena Kamal

Interim sheriff Elizabeth “Bet” Rivers has always had one repeat nightmare: a shadowy figure throwing a suspicious object into her hometown lake in Collier, Washington. For the longest time, she chalked it up to an overactive imagination as a kid. Then the report arrives. In the woods of the Cascade mountain range, right in her jurisdiction, a body floats to the surface of Lake Collier. When the body is extricated and revealed, no one can identify Jane Doe. But someone must know the woman, so why aren't they coming forward?

Bet has been sitting as the interim sheriff of this tiny town in the ill-fitting shoes of her late father and predecessor. With the nightmare on her heels, Bet decided to build a life for herself in Los Angeles, but now it’s time to confront the tragic history of Collier. The more she learns, the more Bet realizes she doesn't know the townspeople of Collier as well as she thought, and nothing can prepare her for what she is about to discover.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781643852911
Publisher:	CROOKED LANE BOOKS
Publication date:	04/07/2020
Series:	A Sheriff Bet Rivers Mystery , #1
Pages:	304
Sales rank:	1,149,151
Product dimensions:	6.10(w) x 9.30(h) x 1.30(d)

About the Author

Elena Taylor worked in theater for twenty years before she turned her storytelling skills to fiction. Elena was a playwright, director, designer, technician, and educator. Elena taught a variety of theater classes at the college/university level, as well as Popular Fiction. She also teaches workshops on writing and works one-on-one with writers as a developmental editor and writing coach. She is also the author of a private eye series, published under the name Elena Hartwell. When she's not writing, she can be found playing with her horses, dog, cats, and hanging out with her husband at their home on the Middle Fork of the Snoqualmie River.

Editorial Reviews

02/10/2020

This well-crafted series launch from the pseudonymous Taylor (the Eddie Shoes mysteries as Elena Hartwell) introduces Bet Rivers, an LAPD detective who has returned to her hometown of Collier, Wash., population “less than a thousand,” to be the new sheriff after the death of her ailing father, Sheriff Earle Rivers. The discovery of the body of a young woman floating in Lake Collier, wrapped in canvas, plunges Bet into her first murder investigation. The action starts slowly as Taylor skillfully sets the scene, describing the distinctive local landscape and the large cast of characters, past and present, one of whom may be a murderer. After a second woman’s body is found in the lake, Bet shifts into high gear and uncovers secret caves, hidden gold, a hoarder’s den, and old rivalries. Meanwhile, in an intriguing subplot, Bet’s deputy plans to run for sheriff against her in the next election. The introspective, conflicted Bet proves her mettle. Readers will look forward to her next outing. Agent: Madelyn Burt, Stonesong Literary. (Apr.)

Publishers Weekly

Praise for All We Buried:
“Well-crafted…Taylor skillfully sets the scene, describing the distinctive local landscape [while] the introspective, conflicted Bet proves her mettle. Readers will look forward to her next outing.”
—Publishers Weekly

“This spooky and suspenseful story should be a must-read for fans of Lisa Unger, J. A. Jance, and Julia Keller.”
—Booklist

“Extremely hard to put down...Would recommend this to anyone who loves mystery thrillers.”
—San Francisco Book Review

“A thrilling start to a mystery series.”
—BookTrib

“A wonderful protagonist [and] a stellar mystery with a current of tension and suspicion powerful enough to quicken your pulse.”
—Allen Eskens, USA Today bestselling author of The Life We Bury

“As the facts of an old mining tragedy emerge, alongside all-too-modern secrets of adultery, betrayal, and abandonment, Bet realizes that this crime is as personal as it gets. For there are things more valuable than the gold in Collier's caves that must be uncovered—and Elena Taylor's gutsy new heroine is just the one to do it. Let's hope this is the start of a long-lived series!
—Jenny Milchman, USA Today bestselling author of Cover of Snow

“Dark and atmospheric, this novel will keep you reading all night!”
—Sheena Kamal, author of The Lost Ones

“Fast-paced and impeccably plotted, the story keeps you guessing as it sinks ever deeper into the community’s troubled past. A late-night read that mystery lovers will devour.”
—Lili Wright, author of Edgar-nominated Dancing with the Tiger
                                                
“Sheriff Bet Rivers stole my heart and captured my imagination.”
—Roger Johns, award-winning author of the Wallace Hartman mysteries
 
“Atmospheric and addictive . . . A suspenseful slide into the heart of a remote mountain town where the residents are as deep and dark as their glacial lake. You'll stay up all night to finish this novel.”
—Nichole Christoff, author of The Kill Chain
 
“In this seductive mystery Sheriff Bet Rivers homecoming to Lake Collier after the death of her father raises secrets as deep and cold as the glacial lake in which the body of a young woman is found—a  discovery which leads Bet down the most dangerous path of all—that of her repressed childhood memories.”
—Nina Sadowsky, author of The Burial Society
 
"Long-buried secrets in a small town – combined with a young female sheriff who has disturbing questions about her own past – make this tense, twisty thriller a real page-turner . . . Elena Taylor an exciting new voice in mystery fiction."
—R. G. Belsky, award-winning author of the Clare Carlson mysteries

From the Publisher

Narrator Teri Schnaubelt initially uses a warm yet terse tone for the dialogue of Interim Sheriff Bet Rivers of Collier, Washington. Bet’s first homicide investigation as the top cop revolves around a body found floating in a glacial lake in the Cascade Mountains. The scratchy male voices Schnaubelt adopts reflect the outdoor lifestyles of the deputies, townsmen, and Bet’s late father, the former sheriff of Collier. When the investigation turns to the sunless caves of an abandoned mine, Bet’s voice takes on a subtle tension that reflects its hidden underground rivers and long held secrets. Schnaubelt unstintingly takes on Bet’s persona as she relentlessly investigates what’s buried below. M.B.K. © AudioFile 2020, Portland, Maine

JUNE 2020 - AudioFile