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All We Buried by Elena Taylor Series: A Sheriff Bet Rivers Mystery #1
Published by Crooked Lane Books on April 7, 2020
Genres: Mystery
Pages: 301
Format: eARC
Source: NetGalley
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Reading Challenges: 2020 Alphabet Soup Challenge - Author Edition, 2020 Cloak and Dagger Reading Challenge, 2020 For the Love of eBooks Challenge, 2020 New Release ChallengeFor fans of Julia Keller and Sheena Kamal, All We Buried disturbs the long-sleeping secrets of a small Washington State mountain town.
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.
Schweitzer: A Story About a Dog
I am a working dog and Earle Rivers was my person. He taught me how to sniff out all kinds of things so I could help him in his job as the Sheriff of Collier. We made a great team. He was my person and I would do anything for him.
Then Earle went away. I don’t really understand what happened. He left on a walk. I know that’s what he was doing, because I know what he looks like when he’s planning a long walk in the woods. I wanted to go with him, but he wouldn’t let me. He said. “You stay with Bet. She’s your person now.”
I’m not sure why he said that. Bet is his daughter. I can tell that because they look the same and they smell the same. She started living with us a few months ago when Earle got sick. I knew he was sick before he did. I could smell it on him. I tried to tell him over and over that something was wrong, but he thought I just wanted to play.
Sometimes not having words to speak with makes communication really hard.
But Earle was my person and I did everything I could to save him.
So, Earle went for his walk and didn’t come home. Then a man showed up at the house. I know he was talking to Bet about Earle because I kept hearing his name. My person’s name. Earle. He kept saying, Earle.
Then he left and Bet cried. I knew something bad had happened.
Earle and I have been together since I was just a puppy. He could communicate with me better than any other person I know. Even Alma, who is almost like my person, but not quite. She’s part of my herd, but she’s not my person, if you know what I mean. We all have a herd and then we have our person. Earle was mine.
Bet got down on the floor with me and rubbed my face. She said Earle was gone. Then she did something Earle never did. She hugged me. I liked that a lot. Earle and I would tussle and play, which was great, but Bet put her arms around me and let me lean on her all I wanted. I leaned against her like I was just a puppy and she was my mom.
Then my life changed. Bet was really sad for a while. I think she missed Earle too, just like I did. But she started taking me to work with her like Earle used to do. She doesn’t know how to speak my language, the language I had with Earle, but she tries. She tries really hard.
I would do anything for Bet because she tries so hard. I try hard too. I try to tell her what we should do and sometimes she understands. I watch her face and her hands. I listen to her voice. She tells me things. She promises she will never leave me.
We are getting better every day. She doesn’t talk to me like Earle did. It’s not better or worse, it’s just different. We are starting to be partners, just like I was with Earle.
But there are some things I really like now.
Bet lets me sleep on the bed with her. I’m a really big dog, so the two of us fill up the bed pretty good. It makes me feel safe. Like back when I was a puppy and slept with my brothers and sisters.
She also feeds me cookies. Earle never fed me very many cookies. He gave me a lot of praise, which was good, but I like the cookies too.
Bet and I have a lot to learn about each other still. It was hard to lose my person, but sometimes I think Bet and I can be even better partners.
Earle never lied to me. He was honest with me my whole life, so I know what he said is true.
Bet is my person now. I’m a working dog, and Bet Rivers is my person. Together, we take care of Collier. That’s our town. That’s my herd. But Bet Rivers is my person. And I’m her dog.
My Thoughts
This is one of those books that I forced myself to read slower because I didn’t want to leave the story. I was instantly hooked with the characters and the gorgeous setting. The author does an amazing job of painting the scenery – I felt like I could see the lake and smell the trees. The mystery was awesome – I love that there were past secrets coming to light as the current investigation unfolded. Bet is an easy-to-like character and I am looking forward to more in this series.
About Elena Taylor
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.When she’s not writing or coaching writing, her favorite place to be is at the farm with her horses, Jasper and Radar, or at her home, on the middle fork of the Snoqualmie River in North Bend, Washington, with her husband, their dog, Polar, 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.
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Reading this book contributed to these challenges:
- 2020 Alphabet Soup Challenge - Author Edition
- 2020 Cloak and Dagger Reading Challenge
- 2020 For the Love of eBooks Challenge
- 2020 New Release Challenge
