Shamus Award
2020 · P.I. Novel · Nominee
About This Book
In the next powerful mystery from Julia Keller, former West Virginia prosecuting attorney Bell Elkins investigates the murder of a teenager while continuing to rebuild her life.
Bell Elkins and Jake Oakes make a good team, so good that they decide after years of working together to hang out their shingle: BJ Investigations, LLC. With his former-cop's instinctive approach and her former-prosecutor's affinity for facts, they're a perfect fit for the routine clients who come their way. It's not until Amber Slight's body is uncovered face down in the West Virginia woods that they get their first real challenge.
With most of the forensic evidence at the scene destroyed by a week of rain, Bell and Jake have to rely on their wits to figure out what really happened to Amber, a mystery that may lead back to the halls of Ackers Gap High School. As Bell tries to uncover the truth, an old friend returns to town with motives Bell doesn't quite trust. It's up to Bell to face both challenges, those that could impact the living and those that honor the dead.
Pulitzer-prize winner Julia Keller returns to her acclaimed series that is as much about the life of a small Appalachian town as it is about the lives and deaths of its citizens.
Bell Elkins and Jake Oakes make a good team, so good that they decide after years of working together to hang out their shingle: BJ Investigations, LLC. With his former-cop's instinctive approach and her former-prosecutor's affinity for facts, they're a perfect fit for the routine clients who come their way. It's not until Amber Slight's body is uncovered face down in the West Virginia woods that they get their first real challenge.
With most of the forensic evidence at the scene destroyed by a week of rain, Bell and Jake have to rely on their wits to figure out what really happened to Amber, a mystery that may lead back to the halls of Ackers Gap High School. As Bell tries to uncover the truth, an old friend returns to town with motives Bell doesn't quite trust. It's up to Bell to face both challenges, those that could impact the living and those that honor the dead.
Pulitzer-prize winner Julia Keller returns to her acclaimed series that is as much about the life of a small Appalachian town as it is about the lives and deaths of its citizens.
