Elena Taylor

All We Buried

For fans of Julia Keller and Sheena Kamal, All We Buried disturbs the long-sleeping secrets of a small Washington State mountain town.

“A lifeless lake, a floating corpse, a small-town sheriff trying to make her mark, ALL WE BURIED is a gripping mystery about memory and the dark secrets we can’t leave behind. 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.

Eddie Shoes Mystery Series

New eBook release now available!

About the Book

A Sheriff Bet Rivers Mystery

Deep in the woods surrounding the Cascade Range, a canvas-wrapped body floats in a lake, right in Elizabeth “Bet” Rivers’s jurisdiction. Bet has been sitting as interim sheriff of Collier after her father’s–the previous sheriff’s–death four months ago. Everyone knows everyone in a town like Collier. She has made it her duty to protect the people she’s come to see as family. And she intends to hold her title in the upcoming election, but she’s never worked a murder investigation on her own before and her opponent and deputy, Dale Kovac, isn’t going down without a fight.
Upon unwrapping the corpse, Bet discovers the woman is from out of town. Without an identification, the case grows that much more puzzling. Determined to prove herself worthy, however, Bet must confront the warped history of Collier. The more she learns, the more she 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.

The Buzz

“Sheriff Bet Rivers stole my heart and captured my imagination when her investigation of a body in a lake revives haunting memories and forces her past, her town, and even the earth itself to give up their long-held secrets.”
Roger Johns
Award-winning author of the Wallace Hartman mysteries
“Atmospheric and addictive, Elena Tayor’s All We Buried is 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
“Let’s hope this is the start of a long-lived series!”
Jenny Milchman
USA Today bestselling author of Cover of Snow and Wicked River
“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.”
Nina Sadowsky
Author of The Burial Society and The Empty Bed

Join the Community

Elena Hartwell

Elena Taylor spent several years working in theater as a playwright, director, designer, and educator before turning her storytelling skills to fiction. Her first series, the Eddie Shoes Mysteries, written under the name Elena Hartwell, introduced a quirky mother/daughter crime fighting duo.
With All We Buried, Elena returns to her dramatic roots and brings readers a much more serious and atmospheric novel. Located in her beloved Washington State, Elena uses her connection to the environment to produce a forbidding story of small town secrets and things that won’t stay buried.

Elena is also a senior editor with Allegory Editing, a developmental editing house, where she works one-on-one with writers to shape and polish manuscripts, short stories, and plays. If you’d like to work with Elena, visit www.allegoryediting.com.

Her favorite place to be is at Paradise, the property she and her hubby own south of Spokane, Washington. They live with their horses, Jasper, Radar, and Diggy, their dogs Polar and Wyatt, and their cats Coal Train and Cocoa. Elena holds a B.A. from the University of San Diego, a M.Ed. from the University of Washington, Tacoma, and a Ph.D. from the University of Georgia.
(Photo credit: Mark Perlstein)

A Story About

Mystery

All We Buried contains not just a mystery in the present, but also connects back to mysteries of the past. Join Sheriff Bet Rivers as she uncovers the secrets of her tiny hometown, unraveling multiple threads, to culminate in a powerful and satisfying ending.

Suspense

Unlike the humor in the Eddie Shoes Series, All We Buried brings a more serious and literary tone to Elena's storytelling. Called "atmospheric" in its writing, All We Buried places the reader in the dark forest, the deep lakes, and the craggy cliffs of Washington's highest mountain range. Elena peoples Collier, Washington, with off-beat characters, any of whom could be capable of murder.

Procedure

One of my favorite aspects of writing fiction is research. I love to learn about police procedures and the psychology of the criminal mind. While I use a lot of research for Chance Parker, homicide detective, in my Eddie Shoes books, it was both a challenge and a thrill to create a sheriff as the protagonist for All We Buried. I'm lucky to have experts in the field to call upon to fact-check my work. I'm grateful to all the experts who have helped me throughout my career.

Contact The Author

For media and press inquiries:

Marissa DeCuir
President & Partner
(615) 576-0709

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