Review: A Haunting of the Bones: A Bell Elkins Novella (Bell Elkins #3.5) by Julia Keller

• File Size: 1696 KB
• Print Length: 79 pages
• Publisher: Minotaur Books (December 2, 2014)
• Sold by: Macmillan
• Language: English
• ASIN: B00LRXCF5W

Book Description

 From Pulitzer Prize-winning author Julia Keller comes A HAUNTING OF THE BONES, another suspenseful and provocative story that will keep readers up all night...Bell Elkins, prosecuting attorney for Raythune C1ounty, West Virginia, had always believed what she’d been told: Her mother abandoned the family when Bell and her sister, Shirley, were children. Later, Teresa Dolan died somewhere out West.

And then comes a shattering discovery.

During an excavation in a remote area of the county, a skeleton is found. DNA testing proves it is related to DNA already on file: that of a convicted felon named Shirley Dolan. Along with the age and approximate time of death, the DNA link leads to a chilling conclusion: These are the remains of Bell’s mother, Teresa Dolan. She didn’t run away. She was here all along. And further examination reveals that she was a homicide victim.

Bell automatically pins the blame on her late father, Donnie Dolan. But evidence emerges that it could not have been him. And so Bell must solve the most agonizingly personal case of her career: Who murdered her mother?


About the Author

Julia was born and raised in Huntington, West Virginia. She graduated from Marshall University, then later earned a doctoral degree in English Literature at Ohio State University.

She was a Nieman Fellow at Harvard University and has taught at Princeton and Ohio State Universities, and the University of Notre Dame. She is an essayist for The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer on PBS. In 2005, she won the Pulitzer Prize for Feature Writing.

Julia lives in a high-rise in Chicago and a stone cottage on a lake in rural Ohio.

My Review

I am a big fan of Julia Keller's books. The Bell Elkins series set in rural West Virginia is a compelling series. Keller has been utilizing novellas to tell some of Bell Elkins stories. This one, A Haunting of the Bones, is set in the present with flashbacks to the past. What happened to Bell's mother? It had been assumed that Bell's mother ran off to get away from her abusive husband. Now bones are discovered by archaeology students. Could it be Bell's long lost mother? Was she murdered? And who murdered her? Initially Bell assumes that her abusive father killed her mother...but is it that simple?

Very enjoyable book for fans of Julia Keller Bell Elkins series. I really enjoyed it.