Review: All We Buried by Elena Taylor

All We Buried

by Elena Taylor

Publisher: Crooked Lane Brooks

Pages: 304

Format: eARC

Buy the Book: Amazon

Goodreads:  Deep in the woods surrounding the Cascade mountain 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 six 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.

Kritters Thoughts:  The first in a mystery series where a young woman has returned to a small town in Washington state as her dad, the small town sheriff, has recently died and she has taken his place and returned home.  A professor who is in the area to research a lake in the small town finds a dead body wrapped in canvas and Bet is thrust into a murder investigation with a body that has been purposely altered to disallow identification.  With a small town, there are a lot of possible culprits and there is also history with Bet and each of them!

I am a sucker for a small town mystery as I grew up in a small town and I love the dynamics that happen in a small town.  With pent up history and feelings, I love that Bet as she investigates has these feelings impacting her investigation and her ability to see some of the clues.  While she is also trying to still deal with the recent death of her father and her mother who passed away a long time ago in a tragic way.  

The mystery in this book was self contained as they are typically in a mystery series.  I appreciated that the mystery in this book had some great ups and downs and tied into Bet's feelings from the past.  I am trying not to spoil, so I am vague to say that I loved what unfolded after the body was found in the lake and the road it sent Bet down.    

It was hard in this book to keep the three main families straight and I wished at the beginning of reading it that I had done a post it note to keep the families and their interminglings straight.  

For me part of my push to continue reading a series is a draw to the main character and I enjoyed Bet in this story and would love to know more about her.  I am excited to continue this series and follow Bet as she gets her feet grounded as the sheriff and has more cases come her way to solve.  

Rating: definitely a good read, but can't read two in a row

Ebook 2020 Challenge: 83 out of 100

Disclosure of Material Connection:  I received one copy of this book free of charge from Partner in Crime Tours.  I was not required to write a positive review in exchange for receipt of the book; rather, the opinions expressed in this review are my own.