A Cold, Cold World

A female sheriff tries to fill her late father's boots and be the sheriff her small Washington State mountain town needs as a deadly snow storm engulfs the town, in this dark, twisty mystery.

The world felt pure. Nature made the location pristine again, hiding the scene from prying eyes. As if no one had died there at all.

In the months since Bet Rivers solved her first murder investigation and secured the sheriff's seat in Collier, she's remained determined to keep her town safe. With a massive snowstorm looming, it's more important than ever that she stays vigilant.

When Bet gets a call that a family of tourists has stumbled across a teen injured in a snowmobile accident on a mountain ridge, she braves the storm to investigate. However, once she arrives at the scene of the accident it's clear to Bet that the teen is not injured; he's dead. And has been for some time . . .

Investigating a possible homicide is hard enough, but with the worst snowstorm the valley has seen in years threatening the safety of her town, not to mention the integrity of her crime scenes - as they seem to be mounting up as well - Bet has to move fast to uncover the complicated truth and prove that she's worthy of keeping her father's badge.

Elena Taylor spent several years working in theater as a playwright, director, designer, and educator before turning her storytelling skills to novels.

Her first series, the Eddie Shoes Mysteries - written under the name Elena Hartwell - introduced a quirky mother/daughter crime fighting duo.

The Bet Rivers mystery series returned Elena to her dramatic roots, with darker, more atmospheric novels.

Elena is also a senior developmental editor with Allegory Editing, a boutique editing house, where she works one-on-one with writers to shape and polish their manuscripts. She also writes the Wait, Wait, Don't Query (Yet!) series of short books on the writing craft.

Her favorite place to be is at Paradise, the property she and her hubby own south of Spokane, Washington. They live with horses, Jasper, Radar, and Diggy, dogs Polar and Wyatt, and 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.