One of my favorite series. The writing evokes the often bleak events in Ackers Gap. ( )

Intense, depressing view of Appalachia (is there any other?) and very, very good. ( )

Jake, Bell, and Nick have a new missing persons case that leads Bell to the body in the old mental asylum in the woods. The discover opens old wounds and reveals old secrets while the 3 partners also try to navigate their personal lives in the confines of Aker's Gap.

This latest Bell Elkins book is a good murder mystery with Bell in a different role. I thought this book was better than the 7th one and more reflective of the characters I've grown to care about in the previous books. ( )

This is one of the rare series that I became attached after the first book. Now on number right, I am enjoying these more and more. These are not typical mysteries, but stories of a particular time and place. Yes, there is a murder, but it is a murder to hide secrets from over fifty years before.

Akers Gap, West Virginia has been hit hard by the opioid crisis, large number of unemployed and people with little about which to care. There are also good people, people who do care, sticking around to try to help the inflicted. It is also a town that harbors a dark secret. A mental institution that once stood in the woods, but now has crumbled to bare bones, nature overtaking much of what was left. A secret buried in the past of this once mighty institution.

The characters are fantastic, Bell, Jake and Nick, have been through much, but have now formed their own investigation agency. There back stories are interesting, some of the tendrils of their past are far reaching. These stories seem so very real, and I imagine things like what happen within, do happen in cities all over the US. Highlighting the plights of the Appalachians, a much marginalized people that are brought to the forefront in this series. Extremely well plotted and well written.

ARC from Edelweiss ( )