Bell Elkins
8 primary works • 13 total works
Book 1
Pulitzer-prize winner, Julia Keller's first crime novel - the first in a series featuring prosecuting attorney Bell Elkins - set in the beautiful crime-ridden town of Acker's Gap.
Nestled in the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains, visitors see only its stunning natural beauty. But for those living there it's a different story. The mountain roads harbour secret places, perfect for making the prescription drugs that tempt its desperately poor.
Bell Elkins left a broken teenager, savaged by a past she couldn't forget. But, as prosecuting attorney for Raythune County, Bell is back and determined to help clean up the only home she has ever known.
As winter sets in and her daughter is witness to a shocking triple murder, Bell finds her family in danger. Can she uncover the truth before her world is destroyed again?
Book 2
Bell Elkins returns in this electrifying thriller from Pulitzer-prize winner Julia Keller. For fans of Dennis Lehane and Linwood Barclay.
When tragedy hits Acker's Gap, no one escapes its effects.
In Acker's Gap, West Virginia, a high-school student - sixteen, full of promise, and pregnant - is found murdered in a car at the bottom of the Bitter River. Her death devastates the community, but one among them must be responsible. Bell Elkins, Raythune County's prosecuting attorney, is determined to bring the killer to justice.
But someone else has their own agenda. Amid the shadow of the Appalachian Mountains, another act of violence is about to strike. As Bell and Sheriff Nick Fogelsong work to uncover the truth, one thing is certain: no one can truly understand Acker's Gap until they are in the thick of it.
Bell returned to her hometown to make a difference. But just how much is she willing to risk?
Book 3
The first death came unexpectedly.
An old man attacked outside his home, his murder a shock to the town.
Then the second death came and, with it, fear.
For Raythune County's prosecuting attorney Bell Elkins, the inexplicable killings in Acker's Gap are all she can think about. Everything - the oppressive summer heat, her absent daughter, her troublesome sister - fades into the background as she tries to work out who could be responsible.
As the tension escalates, and suspects begin to emerge, Bell will have to face demons from her own past as she comes head-to-head with a killer bent on destroying all those who stand in their way...
Book 4
Karin Slaughter has called Julia Keller 'a rare talent' and Dennis Lehane has praised her 'remarkable writing'. Now Bell Elkins returns.
A high-end resort being built on the outskirts of Acker's Gap, West Virginia, a town desperate for jobs and prosperity, should have been welcome. But following the Buffalo Creek disaster of 1972, where a coal company's mistake tragically claimed the lives of many Raythune County's citizens, opinions and tensions are running high.
When Ed Hackel, Mountain Magic's marketing manager, is found brutally murdered, suspicion quickly falls on Royce Dillard. An acknowledged loner orphaned by the disaster, Dillard had made his opposition clear by refusing to sell a parcel of his land deemed critical by the developers for access to the resort.
With all evidence pointing to Dillard, Bell Elkins, the County's prosecuting attorney, feels she has no choice but to charge him. When a person dies his last ragged breath always tells the truth -- but is the truth always what it seems to be?
Book 5
Book 6
Book 7
Book 8
