CANR
WORK TITLE: A Cold, Cold World
WORK NOTES:
PSEUDONYM(S):
BIRTHDATE:
WEBSITE: https://www.elenahartwell.com/
CITY: North Bend
STATE:
COUNTRY: United States
NATIONALITY:
LAST VOLUME: CA 421
RESEARCHER NOTES:
PERSONAL
Born in Bogota, Colombia; married.
EDUCATION:University of San Diego, B.A.; University of Washington, Tacoma, M.Ed.; University of Georgia, Ph.D.
ADDRESS
CAREER
Writer, editor, playwright, director, designer, educator. Also teaches writing workshops. Allegory Editing, senior editor.
WRITINGS
Also author of many plays.
SIDELIGHTS
Born in Colombia and raised in California, Elena Hartwell is a writer and playwright. She is the author of the “Eddie Shoes Mystery” series.
In 2016, Hartwell released the first book in the series, One Dead, Two to Go. In an interview with Jessica Driscoll, contributor to the Big Thrill website, Hartwell discussed her decision to switch from plays to books. She stated: “I’ve always wanted to write a novel. … I wanted something tangible. A book on a shelf instead of just the memory of a production.” Hartwell continued: “Mysteries can be done onstage, but it’s not that common. … Whereas, mystery novels and series are huge in the literary world. I wanted that experience.” She also highlighted other differences between writing plays and novels, stating: “As a novelist I’m writing in first person or third person limited. As a playwright, every character is written from their perspective because one living breathing actor is going to inhabit each character.”
In One Dead, Two to Go, Hartwell introduces her protagonist, Eddie Shoes, whose real name is Edwina Schultz. In the interview with Driscoll, Hartwell stated: “If Kinsey Millhone (Sue Grafton’s P.I.) and James Rockford (The Rockford Files) had a love child, she would be Eddie Shoes.” In an interview with Terri Nolan, another contributor to the Big Thrill website, Hartwell noted: “My protagonist was born on a road trip. My husband and I were driving across Washington State and for some reason he made up the name Eddie Shoes. I thought that’s a perfect name for a female private eye. I started to think about what this character would be like. What kind of person would be named Eddie Shoes? I realized she would be quirky and a little irreverent and not take life too seriously. She would also be independent and a bit suspicious of people. So that’s where I started with her.” Since she was a teenager, Eddie has had a tense relationship with her mother, Chava. She has never been close to her father, Eduardo Zapata, who left Chava before Eddie was born. As an adult, she works for a private investigator, learning the craft. When her mentor kills himself, she opens her own business in Bellingham, Washington. One of her clients is a woman named Kendra, who suspects that her husband, who owns a car dealership, may be cheating on her. Eddie tracks the husband to a motel, where she sees him with a woman named Deirdre. Deirdre is killed soon after, and her body is found the following day. As Eddie continues to investigate, she realizes that Kendra’s story may be more complicated than what she initially shared. Also, Eddie’s ex-boyfriend, Chance Parker, has recently become a homicide detective for the Bellingham police and is also investigating Dierdre’s murder. Meanwhile, Eddie must deal with her dysfunctional parents.
A reviewer on the NW Book Lovers website asserted: “Mystery readers can rejoice at this newcomer to this genre. Hartwell is a terrific new voice in the detective novel category.” “Hartwell has created quite a winner in the unique and clever Eddie Shoes,” commented Bridget Keown on the RT Book Reviews website. Keown also noted that the book featured “a twisting, turning, fast-paced plot.”
Two Heads Are Deader Than One finds Eddie having taken her mother in. She has also slowly begun to reconcile with Chance. Her life becomes more complicated when her best friend from her childhood in Spokane contacts her. The friend, Dakota, is asking Eddie to bail her out of the Bellingham jail. Eddie becomes concerned when she begins learning more about Dakota’s history. Dakota is claiming to have been framed for multiple crimes. Additionally, a mysterious person has been stalking her. Reluctantly, Eddie bails her out, and Dakota begins working at the tarot card reading business next door. A woman is found dead there, and evidence begins pointing to Eddie. She must clear her name and find out the truth about Dakota.
Diana Borse offered a favorable assessment of Two Heads Are Deader Than One on the Reviewing the Evidence website. Borse suggested: “There are enough quirks in the characters and twists in the development of the story to keep things satisfyingly interesting all the way through. Elena Hartwell has conjured up a plausible protagonist and done a good job of plunking her into a setting and plot that nicely suit her.” “Eddie Shoes is an interesting, strong protagonist. The story is well written and the plot moves you forward,” wrote L. Kane on the InD’tale website.
Eddie returns in Three Strikes, You’re Dead. This volume finds her traveling with Chava to vacation in the Cascade Mountains. There, she has a dangerous encounter with a wounded man in the woods that leaves her in the hospital. Eddie is determined to find the wounded man’s daughter, as he asked her to do. Her father unexpectedly appears, and he and Chava help with the investigation. In an interview with Cathy Perkins, writer on the Big Thrill website, Hartwell discussed creating diverse characters in the series. She stated: “My hope is that through spending time with my fictional characters, readers will come away with a little more compassion for others in the real world. … I like to remind people that we have more in common than we realize with people who don’t look like us.” Hartwell told Perkins: “I get to write about the complexities of our culture in a different way than if my characters were white and middle-class. … Eddie looks like her father—dark hair, dark skin—but her upbringing was as a white person, which is how she identifies herself.”
A Publishers Weekly critic described Three Strikes, You’re Dead as “uninspired.” The same critic concluded: “Hartwell’s appealing portrait of rural Washington compensates only in part for the rickety plot.” However, a contributor to the Long and Short Reviews website remarked: “Hartwell did a really good job of making her characters come alive in this book. You begin to know them and to enjoy them due to the well-written and humorous dialog she creates between them.”
Hartwell told CA: “Being a voracious reader made me want to be a writer. My parents read to us every night. My dad would sit in a rocking chair between my door and my sister’s, so we could both hear. We graduated from chapter books to the “Narnia” series, The Hobbit, and The Lord of the Rings. I always had my nose in a book. Luckily, I lived in a family where reading at the dinner table was encouraged. I started writing stories when I was about five, and I never stopped.
“I like to say my protagonist Eddie Shoes is the love child of Kinsey Millhone and James Rockford. I grew up in the 1970s and 1980s, watching the early detective shows on television and reading Sue Grafton. My grandmother was a mystery reader. She got me started with Agatha Christie, Tony Hillerman, and Zane Grey. The wild west sneaks into my work at times as well.
“I write almost every day. My typical day starts about 7:30 or 8: 00. I write as soon as I wake up. A couple days a week I head to the gym at 9: 15. Then I come home and write some more. On non-gym days, I write straight through. Afternoons I head to the stables where my hubby and I keep our two horses. I spend an hour or two with them, then I come home and go back to my computer. Often I do ‘business’ in the later part of the day. Blog posts, social media, articles, and other housekeeping items. I also do one-on- one manuscript critiques and work with authors, so if I have a project due, I intersperse my day working on that. On the weekends I have a similar routine, but no gym and less writing time. I try to balance my work life and my personal life.
“I tend to write a very, very messy first draft, rewriting sections I wrote the day before and then adding on. Then I rewrite, rewrite, rewrite. Send drafts out to trusted beta readers. Incorporate their notes and rewrite, rewrite, rewrite. I go through that process until I feel ‘done.’ That takes roughly a year from start to finish.
“The most surprising thing I have learned as a writer you are only as good as the book you are working on today.
“I love the first book because it was the first I wrote. I also love whatever book I’m working on now.
“The current series is funny, so I hope readers have fun with them. But each book also has more serious social issues underlying their stories. My hope is that people perceive my work on multiple levels. The interactions of the characters are very important, with a lot of attention on familial relationships and the complexities of growing up and growing older. There is a focus on how the characters navigate the dynamics between parents and children once the child is an adult. I think I have the only mother/ daughter crime-fighting duo in the mystery genre, so that’s a unique perspective in crime writing.”
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Hartwell, writing as Elena Taylor, launched the “Sheriff Bet Rivers Mystery” series with the 2020 All We Buried. Los Angeles cop Elizabeth “Bet” Rivers returns to her small hometown of Collier, Washington, to take over as interim sheriff after the death of her father and predecessor. She’s had a nightmare since her childhood of someone throwing something into Lake Collier, but chalked it up to an overactive imagination. But when the body of a woman is pulled from the lake, Sheriff Bet is on her first murder case. A second body in the lake pulls Bet into subplots involving secret caves, hidden gold, and old rivalries. A reviewer in Publishers Weekly called the book a “well-crafted series launch” and that “The introspective, conflicted Bet proves her mettle.”
In the second installment in the series, A Cold, Cold World, newly elected Sheriff Bet Rivers is determined to keep her small town safe from a devastating snowstorm. Braced against the storm, Bet travels out to a mountain ridge where tourists have discovered local teenager Grant Marsden injured in a snowmobile accident, but Bet realizes the teen has been murdered. Meanwhile, someone has broken into the Collier estate and left a sleeping bag covered in blood. Another theft of supplies from an ambulance makes Bet consider the incidents are all related, as the storm around her fells electrical wires and trees. Bet gets help from a newly deputized former military police officer, a septuagenarian secretary, and her dog, Schweitzer. As Bet’s heavy caseload forces her to put her life on the line, the book is “An exciting combination of multiple mysteries and a thrilling fight to survive nature’s wrath,” according to a Kirkus Reviews critic. “The weather conditions are an essential component” and readers will “appreciate the strong woman police chief,” declared Lesa Holstine in Library Journal.
In an interview on the Pauline Yates website, Hartwell revealed that she draws from her blue collar jobs, academic life as a professor, and artistic jobs for her writing: “This diverse background has allowed me to see people from a variety of walks of life in a more comprehensive way… I think I bring a mindfulness to what makes people think certain ways.” She added that she also brings “a deep curiosity about the human condition, an ability to frame people who are not like me as authentic rather than stereotypes, and a love of research and investigation into aspects of a story with which I’m unfamiliar.”
On the ShoutoutDFW website, Hartwell explained the intricacies of the writing process: “Writing is a tough business. To craft a book-length piece, whether fiction or memoir or narrative nonfiction, requires months if not years of work. There are no clear steps to take for success and no guidebook to walk you through the process.”
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BIOCRIT
PERIODICALS
Kirkus Review, July 1, 2024, review of A Cold, Cold World.
Library Journal, July 2024, Lesa Holstine, review of A Cold, Cold World, p. 78.
Publishers Weekly, February 12, 2018, review of Three Strikes, You’re Dead, p. 60; February 10, 2020, review of All We Buried, p. 49.
ONLINE
Big Thrill, http://www.thebigthrill.org/ (March 31, 2016), Jessica Driscoll, author interview and review of One Dead, Two to Go; (May 31, 2017), Terri Nolan, author interview and review of Two Heads Are Deader Than One; (March 31, 2018), Cathy Perkins, author interview and review of Three Strikes, You’re Dead.
Elena Hartwell website, https://www.elenahartwell.com/ (June 18, 2018); https://www.elenataylorauthor.com/ (November 1, 2024).
InD’tale, http://www.indtale.com/ (May 27, 2018), L. Kane, review of Two Heads Are Deader Than One.
Long and Short Reviews, http:// www.longandshortreviews.com/ (February 5, 2018), review of Three Strikes, You’re Dead.
NW Book Lovers, https://nwbooklovers.org/ (October 26, 2017), review of One Dead, Two to Go.
Pauline Yates, https://paulineyates.com/ (April 25, 2024), Paula Yates, “Author Spotlight: Elena Hartwell Taylor.”
Reviewing the Evidence, http:// www.reviewingtheevidence.com/ (March 1, 2017), Diana Borse, review of Two Heads Are Deader Than One.
RT Book Reviews, https://www.rtbookreviews.com/ (May 27, 2018), Bridget Keown, review of One Dead, Two to Go.
ShoutoutDFW, https://shoutoutdfw.com/ (May 3, 2022), “Meet Elena Hartwell Taylor.”
Suspense Online, http://suspensemagazine.com/ (July 1, 2018), review of Three Strikes, You’re Dead.
Elena Taylor lives on the Moran Prairie south of Spokane, Washington. When she's not writing or working one-on-one with writers as a developmental editor, she can be found hanging out with her husband, their horses Radar, Jasper, and Diggy, their dogs Polar and Wyatt, and cats Cocoa and Coal Train.
Elena Hartwell was born in Bogota, Colombia, while her parents were in the Peace Corps. Her first word was "cuidado." At the age of nine months, she told two men carrying a heavy table to be careful in their native tongue. She's been telling people what to do ever since. After almost twenty years in the theater, Elena turned her playwriting skills to novels and the result was her first book "One Dead, Two to Go," followed by "Two Heads Are Deader Than One" and "Three Strikes, You're Dead." Elena is also a developmental editor and the author of The Foundation of Plot and the upcoming The Construction of Character, the first two books in her Wait, Wait, Don't Query (Yet!) series. For more information on Elena, who also writes under Elena Taylor, visit elenahartwell.com or like her Facebook Page Author.Elena.Taylor. You can see cute pictures of her dog, cats, and horses.
Elena Taylor
Elena Taylor Mystery writer, avid reader, animal mom.
Genres: Mystery
New and upcoming books
August 2024
thumb
A Cold, Cold World
(Sheriff Bet Rivers Mystery, book 2)
Series
Sheriff Bet Rivers Mystery
1. All We Buried (2020)
2. A Cold, Cold World (2024)
Elena Hartwell
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 the Sheriff Bet Rivers Mysteries, Elena returns to her dramatic roots and brings readers much more serious and atmospheric novels. Located in her beloved Washington State, Elena uses her connection to the environment to produce tense and suspenseful investigations for a lone sheriff in an isolated community.
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.
(Photo credit: Mark Perlstein)
Her favorite place to be is at Paradise, the property she and her hubby own south of Spokane, Washington. They live with their horses, dogs, and cats. 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.
Author Spotlight: Elena Hartwell Taylor
CREDIT MARK PERLSTEIN
Welcome back to my Author Spotlight series where I shine the light on fabulous authors from around the globe to gain insight into the person behind the writer and peek into their writing world.
Today I chat with crime and mystery writer, Elena Hartwell Taylor.
Elena Hartwell, also writing as 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 introduces a quirky mother/daughter crime fighting duo.
With the Sheriff Bet Rivers Mysteries, Elena returns to her dramatic roots and brings readers a much more serious and atmospheric series. Located in her beloved Washington State, All We Buried uses Elena’s connection to the environment to produce a forbidding story of small-town secrets and things that won’t stay buried. The second book, A Cold, Cold World launches August 6.
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.
Her favorite place to be is at Paradise, the property she and her hubby own south of Spokane, Washington. They live with their horses, Jasper, Radar, and Diggy, their dogs Polar and Wyatt, 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.
Welcome Elena
Tell us about yourself. Who is the person behind the writer, and what do you bring from your real life into your stories?
This is a great question, and of course a complex one. I would say that the most fundamental things that I bring to my stories is a deep curiosity about the human condition, an ability to frame people who are not like me as authentic rather than stereotypes, and a love of research and investigation into aspects of a story with which I’m unfamiliar.
On a more practical level, throughout my life I’ve worked blue collar jobs (auto mechanic/carpenter/electrician), academic jobs (professor), and artistic jobs (novelist, playwright, actor, designer, director). This diverse background has allowed me to see people from a variety of walks of life in a more comprehensive way. I’ve interacted on a daily basis for years with people from different social, economic, and educational levels along with ethnic and racial diversity. I think I bring a mindfulness to what makes people think certain ways. For example, as a crime writer, I often consider how gun laws in Manhattan don’t always make sense in rural Eastern Washington. We can have legitimate reasons for our beliefs that legitimately don’t work for another person.
You have a talent for creating enticing opening lines. Out of all the first lines you’ve written, which is your favourite?
Oh wow, no one has ever asked me that before. Also, thank you! I had to go back and look at the first lines of my books. I really like the opening of the third Eddie Shoes book, Three Strikes, You’re Dead: “As a private investigator, I often dealt with the misery of others.”
“As a private investigator, I often dealt with the misery of others.”
Three Strikes, You’re Dead/Elena Hartwell
Outside of writing stories, are you involved in any other areas in the writing industry? Eg editor/publisher/blogger etc.
My other job is as a developmental editor for Allegory Editing, where I am also the Director of Programming. I love working with writers at any stage of their process, including the business aspects. I am our resident business expert and work with writers during the query process to help get their work in front of agents and editors in the best possible light. I also write a blog called The Mystery of Writing, where I host author interviews, spotlights, guest posts, and other writer-centered information.
What does a typical writing day look like?
I’m at my desk by 7:00 or 7:30 and typically catch up with emails, do Wordle, Connections, and the Mini Crossword, then I work on my own writing or a client project until 10am. Then I do about an hour of horse chores, then I’m back at my desk until 1pm. Then I feed the dogs lunch and start the second half of my day. That work depends on what I have going on. I often work on my blog, promotions, and marketing. Or, if I’m up against a deadline, I might be back at writing or client projects. I do that until 4pm, then I go bring the horses in from the pasture. That’s usually it for my “work” day unless I’ve blown a deadline!
When you first started writing, did you have a goal, have you met it, and how long did it take?
My original writing life started in the theater. I wore a lot of hats, but as a playwright, my goal was professional productions, and I did meet that goal. My first equity production was in 2002. I started working as a playwright in about 1994, so six years. I had several equity and non-equity productions, and worked in theater until about 2015, when I moved over to fiction and working as a developmental editor. I wrote my first “novel” in 2007 and had my first novel published in 2016, so as a novelist my goal was publication and that took nine years.
What is your proudest writing achievement?
My proudest writing achievements came as a playwright. I have had a lot of proud moments, but the one that came to mind first was at a reading of one of my plays about a Vietnam Vet. A veteran I know was in the audience. He came up afterward and said, “How can you know how I feel?”
What did your path to publication look like?
In a word, rocky. My first series came out with a very small press. I had artistic differences with the editor, and the rights came back to me. My fourth book went to another press, but came out in April of 2020, which was about the worst time for a book to launch during lockdown. We had not yet shifted to online events, bookstores and libraries were shut down, but the hardbacks were already printed, and had no outlets. I had terrific eBook and Audio sales, but the hardbacks didn’t move, which cost my publisher, and I feared would cost me that series. But things are looking up! My agent placed my first series with a new publisher, and I was able to fix what I was unhappy with the first time around and placed the second book of my other series with a new publisher. I’m finally feeling like I’m on a better trajectory.
Was there ever a time when you thought you wouldn’t make it as a writer and what kept you going?
I think what you mean is wouldn’t make it as a money-making writer. The reason I say that is publication isn’t what makes a writer, it’s finishing projects and doing the work. I have had thoughts that I’d never find a publisher for my work, but that wouldn’t mean I wasn’t a writer. What keeps me going in terms of submission and the business side is a combination of things. First, I’m going to write whether I publish or not, so I might as well keep submitting things to my agent and let her continue to submit things to publishers. Before I had my agent, I was just going to keep looking for an agent, so I wasn’t going to stop then either. Then, I’m good at what I do. I have seen so many times that tenacity lands the book deals as much as talent. I know I’m good enough, so the rest was just time.
You’ve published several books. Do you have a favorite, or which was the most fun to write?
They all have good things and challenging things about the writing. I would say that the second Eddie Shoes book was the “easiest” to write, in that it flowed better from the beginning, but I still started out with the wrong person committing the murder and had to rewrite to a different killer. My favorite book is always whatever I’m working on now.
What effect has writing had on your life and/or those around you?
Interesting question. When I met my hubby I told him, I’m a writer, I may never make any money, but that’s who I am, take me or leave me. You’d have to ask him how that has gone.
What are you currently working on, what’s coming out, and do you have any future writing goals?
I’m currently working on a couple things. First, a historical novel that I’d set aside a long time ago but still believe in. Then I’m working on a synopsis of a third Bet Rivers book. A Cold, Cold World, the second Bet Rivers book, comes out on August 6. I have a few standalone novels that I would like to see find a home. My future goals are always finding a home for my work.
Where can we read more about you and your books?
www.elenataylorauthor.com
www.elenahartwell.com
www.themysteryofwriting.com
https://allegoryediting.com
Final question:
Do you have a furry friend support crew? Who are they and how much do they distract you from writing?
So many furry friends! Dogs Polar and Wyatt. Cats Cocoa and Coal Train. Horses Diggy, Radar, and Jasper. I would say they are less of a distraction and more of a way to ground my life. I get up from my computer several times throughout the day to walk, feed, groom, ride, clean up after, and play with everyone. That helps keep me healthy, active, and happy. Spending all one’s time on one thing isn’t good for anyone! Plus, they make me laugh every single day.
That brings us to the end of today’s Author Spotlight. Learn more about Elena and her publications via the links above. Perhaps you’ll find your next great read.
Until next time, happy reading.
Meet Elena Hartwell Taylor | Author & Developmental Editor
May 3, 2022
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We had the good fortune of connecting with Elena Hartwell Taylor and we’ve shared our conversation below.
Hi Elena, what makes you happy? Why?
A good cup of coffee. Watching my animals play. Having a good ride on one of my horses. The beauty of a sunrise or a sunset. The sound the river makes as it flows through my backyard. These things make me happy in the moment, either during the experience or reflecting on it later.
For me, contentment, on the other hand, is a state of being. While happiness comes because of an event or an experience, contentment comes through a life well lived. To know that my day will be peaceful, I have work that I love and that gets me up in the morning. Relationships with people who matter. To know that I make a positive impact on others and that I have everything I need for my health and well being.
In my professional life, successes make me happy, but it’s the continual enjoyment of the work itself that keeps me content. I think those two things work hand in hand. Moments of happiness strung together into a contented life. And that makes me happy.
Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
I am a novelist and developmental editor, both of which are part art and part craft. As a novelist, I published my first series, the Eddie Shoes mysteries, under Elena Hartwell. My latest novel, All We Buried, is out under the name Elena Taylor.
Writing is a tough business. To craft a book-length piece, whether fiction or memoir or narrative nonfiction, requires months if not years of work. There are no clear steps to take for success and no guidebook to walk you through the process. Once a writer has a solid manuscript, the process of getting an agent and an editor interested in that manuscript can be even harder. Writers are all sitting alone at their computers trying to figure out what to do next.
There’s a lot of rejection in a writer’s life. Rejection of the manuscript, then, if a writer does land with a published book, rejection by readers and critics through bad reviews or a lack of sales. All of that rejection requires a commitment to the work that transcends immediate gratification. A writer needs to be able to handle other people not appreciating their work and the fact their career will be continually impacted by things far outside their control.
On the other hand, when the successes come, they are truly sweet, because of all the hard work put in to achieving that success. Then it’s back to the computer to start all over again. I would say I overcome those challenges through grit and determination.
As a developmental editor, the most challenging part isn’t knowing what a manuscript needs to shine, but finding how to best define that for the writer so that they can grow and rewrite their best work with their own voice and their own skills. My role isn’t to “fix” a manuscript, it’s to provide a writer with the tools to do that themself. My job is part keen critical eye, part teacher, part psychologist. I strive to balance those three things. Some projects I manage that balance better than others. I try to always learn from my mistakes. I overcome that challenge by knowing that I always give my best for my clients, and that while I’m not perfect, I do the best I can every single time.
Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
I live in Western Washington not far from the Cascade Mountain Range. My little town of North Bend was made famous by the television show, Twin Peaks. So I would start out here with visits to some of the places featured in the series. That would definitely include a trip to Snoqualmie Falls, which drop 268 feet just outside the Salish Lodge, better known to David Lynch fans as the Great Northern. The falls are stunning any time of year and a meal inside the Lodge with views of the water is not to be missed.
Then I’d take visitors up and over nearby Snoqualmie Pass to visit some of the places east of the Cascade Mountains. First up, Roslyn, home to another quirky tv show, Northern Exposure. It’s a funky old mining town with the most amazing cemetery—26 separate sections for different ethnic groups. My novel All We Buried is loosely based on the town and its history.
A little farther east, we’d visit Thorp Fruit & Antique Mall, then finish up in Ellensburg, Washington, for bar-b-que. Taking our journey north, we’d land in Leavenworth, a Bavarian-style Village ringed with rugged mountain peaks. In the winter, the town is filled with decorations and Christmas lights, and in the summer the occasional bear can be seen wandering around down at the river that runs nearby. We’d grab a bite in any of the wonderful Bavarian restaurants before heading west on gorgeous Highway 2.
We’d end the loop on the west side. First a stop in Skagit Valley to see the tulips if it’s spring, or just hang out on the waterfront in La Conner for a great meal and a view of the tidal changes of the Swinomish Channel and the Rainbow Bridge. Then we’d cut south and east and head back to North Bend through Issaquah, stopping for chocolates at Boehm’s.
The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
As a writer, I am grateful for my publishers, editors, beta readers, and my agent. I’m indebted to all my readers, who support me by reading my books. As a developmental editor, I’m grateful to Allegory Editing, the home that allows me to do the kind of work I love to support other writers. And a shout out to all the writers who trust me with their words.
Website: https://www.elenataylorauthor.com/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/elenataylorauthor/
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/elena-taylor-0540585/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/Elena_TaylorAut
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ElenaTaylorAuthor
Other: I blog about books, writing, and writers at: https://www.themysteryofwriting.com/
Image Credits
Photo with horse: Mark Perlstein
Nominate Someone: ShoutoutDFW is built on recommendations and shoutouts from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you or someone you know deserves recognition please let us know here.
Elena Hartwell Taylor
About
Elena Hartwell/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, introduces a quirky mother/daughter crime fighting duo.
She also writes the Sheriff Bet Rivers Mysteries under the name Elena Taylor. The Bet Rivers books return to her darker more atmospheric roots.
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.
Her favorite place to be is at Paradise, the property she and her hubby own south of Spokane, Washington. They live with their horses, Jasper, Radar, and Diggy, their dogs Polar and Wyatt, 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.
All We Buried: A Sheriff Bet Rivers Mystery
Elena Taylor. Crooked Lane, $26.99 (350p) ISBN 978-1-6438-5291-1
This well-crafted series launch from the pseudonymous Taylor (the Eddie Shoes mysteries as Elena Hartwell) introduces Bet Rivers, an LAPD detective who has returned to her hometown of Collier, Wash., population "less than a thousand," to be the new sheriff after the death of her ailing father, Sheriff Earle Rivers. The discovery of the body of a young woman floating in Lake Collier, wrapped in canvas, plunges Bet into her first murder investigation. The action starts slowly as Taylor skillfully sets the scene, describing the distinctive local landscape and the large cast of characters, past and present, one of whom may be a murderer. After a second woman's body is found in the lake, Bet shifts into high gear and uncovers secret caves, hidden gold, a hoarder's den, and old rivalries. Meanwhile, in an intriguing subplot, Bet's deputy plans to run for sheriff against her in the next election. The introspective, conflicted Bet proves her mettle. Readers will look forward to her next outing. Agent: Madelyn Burt, Stonesong Literary. (Apr.)
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"All We Buried: A Sheriff Bet Rivers Mystery." Publishers Weekly, vol. 267, no. 6, 10 Feb. 2020, pp. 49+. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A615363513/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=3277d809. Accessed 27 Sept. 2024.
Taylor, Elena. A Cold, Cold World. Severn House. (Sheriff Bet Rivers, Bk. 2). Aug. 2024. 256p. ISBN 9781448314065. $29.99. M
A devastating winter storm is bearing down on Collier, WA, and Sheriff Bet Rivers is determined to ensure the safety of her fellow citizens. She's the latest in the Rivers family to be elected sheriff, following in the footsteps of her forefathers, who served the small mountain town since its founding. But she's been in charge for less than a year, and her only support team is a single deputy, a septuagenarian secretary, and one big dog. When tourists report finding an injured teen on a snowmobile out in the snow, Rivers goes out looking for the teen, but he's already dead. She doesn't have time to process the crime scene due to the approaching storm and the next emergency: a cabin has been broken into, and there's a sleeping bag there, dripping with fresh blood. In the middle of a snowstorm, cut off by fallen electric wires and trees, Rivers has two crime scenes that she can't fully process, and a desperate suspect tied to all her cases. VERDICT The weather conditions are an essential component in this sequel to All We Buried. Readers who appreciate the strong woman police chief in Linda Castillo's Kate Burkholder books or the vivid landscapes of Craig Johnson's Walt Longmire mysteries will appreciate Taylor's riveting crime novel.--Lesa Holstine
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2024 A wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
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Holstine, Lesa. "Taylor, Elena. A Cold, Cold World." Library Journal, vol. 149, no. 7, July 2024, p. 78. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A800536082/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=d2ffc486. Accessed 27 Sept. 2024.
Taylor, Elena A COLD, COLD WORLD Severn House (Fiction None) $29.99 8, 6 ISBN: 9781448314065
A small-town Washington sheriff fights the elements while seeking a killer and several missing persons.
Bet Rivers, the latest in a long line of sheriffs named Rivers in Collier, left LAPD after her father died to take over his job. Now she faces her first big challenge in an unusually heavy snowstorm that may close down the town. With only her dog, Schweitzer, one deputy, and a septuagenarian secretary for help, she heads out to investigate a snowmobile accident first discovered by a visiting couple and their son. Arriving on the scene, Bet finds local teen Grant Marsden dead under suspicious circumstances. Next, George Stand, the caretaker of the Collier estate, shows up to report a break-in, a sleeping bag covered in blood, and a missing shower curtain. Soon afterward, someone breaks into the local ambulance and steals supplies, making Bet wonder if there's a connection to that bloody sleeping bag. At the Marsden house, Bet finds 21-year-old Bodhi Marsden partying and claiming that Grant was staying with a friend while their father and younger sister are out of town. When her deputy leaves to be with his wife, who's gone into labor, the shorthanded Bet takes a chance by deputizing George's great-nephew Kane, a former military police officer who's having a hard time adjusting to civilian life. Her heavy caseload forces Bet to put her life on the line in arduous conditions.
An exciting combination of multiple mysteries and a thrilling fight to survive nature's wrath.
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"Taylor, Elena: A COLD, COLD WORLD." Kirkus Reviews, 1 July 2024, p. NA. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A799332967/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=b430b63a. Accessed 27 Sept. 2024.