With a brutal winter storm bearing down on the small valley town of Collier, Washington in the Cascade Mountains, Sheriff Bet Rivers struggles with her own insecurities, and her determination to keep the citizens of Collier safe. A Cold, Cold World by Elena Taylor is the sequel to All We Buried, but readers can jump right into this compelling story.
Bet Rivers has a tradition to live up to. A Rivers has been sheriff since the founding of Collier, and she’s following in the footsteps of those men, including her father. She was a police officer in Los Angeles, and planned to stay, until she came home due to her father’s illness. She was elected sheriff, but has one full-time deputy, a septuagenarian secretary, and her large dog. Will that be enough to help the town during a weather crisis?
Before the storm gets too bad, Rivers receives a call that tourists have found an injured teen on a snowmobile. But, when she responds, the scene seems a little off, and the teen is already dead. She recognizes the dead teen as a local boy, but can’t reach his father. Before she can investigate, she’s called to the scene of a break-in at a summer rental property. The caretaker has found a blood-soaked sleeping bag. Another crime scene, or something else?
As Alma, Rivers’ secretary, reports one “problem” after another, Bet starts to feel desperate with only one deputy. Then, she sends him to the next town due to a family situation. She agrees to take on a military veteran, a man who was a military police office, on a temporary basis, because she’s desperate for help. Situations escalate with a missing local man and his young daughter, a bar fight that ends in arrests, and lies from the tourists who found the teen on his snowmobile.
A Cold, Cold World is a compelling story of the elements fighting a struggling sheriff, a woman who is determined to protect her community, while doubting her abilities. Does she measure up to her ancestors and her mentor? Fans of the Longmire boosk, or Kerri Hakoda’s new book, Cold to the Touch, might want to try this one.
Elena Taylor’s website is https://www.elenataylorauthor.com/
A Cold, Cold World by Elena Taylor. Severn House, 2024. ISBN 9781448314065 (hardcover), 256p.
FTC Full Disclosure – I received a galley through NetGalley in order to review the book for a journal.
I read the first one and have a hold for this one. Alma, the secretary, is a fun character. The quantity of crime played out in this remote location would make a person nervous to actually go there.
MM, I didn’t read the first book, but I totally agree with you. It might be worse than Cabot Cove!
I tried long ago to read the first book and never got into it. I quit pretty quick. I don’t remember getting to anything with the secretary.
Am going to circle back, via the library, and try again. The same library that does not have this one listed yet.
I never read the first one, Kevin, so I don’t know how it compares. I liked this one.