Most Popular Books by Julia Keller

High summer in Acker''s Gap, West Virginia—but no one''s enjoying the rugged natural landscape. Not while a killer stalks the small town and its hard-luck inhabitants. County prosecutor Bell Elkins and Sheriff Nick Fogelsong are stymied by a murderer who seems to come and go like smoke on the mountain. At the same time, Bell must deal with the return from prison of her sister, Shirley—who, like Bell, carries the indelible scars of a savage past. In Summer of the Dead, the third Julia Keller mystery chronicling the journey of Bell Elkins and her return to her Appalachian hometown, we also meet Lindy Crabtree—a coal miner''s daughter with dark secrets of her own, secrets that threaten to explode into even more violence. Acker''s Gap is a place of loveliness and brutality, of isolation and fierce attachments—a place where the dead rub shoulders with the living, and demand their due.

"[An] emotion-charged mystery.... Keller''s sleuths are easy to like and the murder story is moving; but the object of fascination here is Wellwood, a state-run mental institution with a dark history as a repository for ''rebellious, unruly women.''" —The New York Times Book Review Pulitzer Prize-winning author Julia Keller welcomes readers back to West Virginia, where her lyrical and moving stories of the people of her native state have unfolded since A Killing in the Hills, the acclaimed first novel in the series. Deep in the woods just outside Acker''s Gap, West Virginia, rises a ragged chunk of what was once a high stone wall. This is all that remains of Wellwood, a psychiatric hospital for the poor that burned to the ground decades ago. And it is here that Bell Elkins – prosecutor turned private investigator – makes a grim discovery while searching for a missing teenager: A dead body, marred by a ghastly wound that can only mean murder. To solve the mystery of what happened in these woods where she played as a child, Bell and her partners – former sheriff Nick Fogelsong and former deputy Jake Oakes – must confront the tangled history of Wellwood and its dark legacy, while each grapples with a private torment. Based on a true chapter in the troubled history of early treatment for psychiatric illness, The Cold Way Home is a story of death and life, of despair and hope, of crime and – sometimes, but not always – punishment.

Prosecuting attorney Bell Elkins and her estranged teenage daughter, Carla, try to protect their town and each other in the aftermath of a shocking triple murder committed by an unknown shooter whose identity is gradually realized by Carla.

Documents the life of the inventor of the Gatling gun--the first machine gun--and the impact of his invention on the expansion of the United States as a superpower and the international boom of the arms industry.

Want to quit? Good. Learn to shape your life without fear—at work, at home, in relationships, and beyond. “Compelling,” (Cal Newport) “Liberating,” (Amy Dickinson) and “as entertaining as it is important” (Steven Levitt). Simone Biles quit the Olympics. Prince Harry and Meghan Markle quit The Firm. Millions of people have quit their jobs, seeking happiness and defining success on their own terms. Is it a mistake? As Pulitzer prize-winning journalist Julia Keller found out, it’s not. And, in fact, it might even save your life. Diving into ‘the neuroscience of nope’ and the cultural messages that drive our reluctance to throw in the towel, Keller dismantles the myth of perseverance once and for all. Because grit isn''t always great. Sticking it out doesn''t always pay off. And quitting can be an unexpected act of self-love. Quitting: A Life Strategy reminds us that, in order to live meaningful, satisfying lives, we have to be able to say “no”—full stop. With Keller’s guidance, readers will learn: The art of the quasi quit. How quitting makes space for key breakthroughs. Why bootstrapping is a lie. How to manage guilt and shame. Weaving cutting-edge scientific research with incisive pop culture commentary and conversations with people who have made profound change in their own lives, Keller gives readers the confidence they need to pull the plug. "If you’re thinking about quitting a job or leaving a marriage, don’t—at least not until you have read this book.” ―Joseph T. Hallinan, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and bestselling author of Why We Make Mistakes

"From the small towns of Appalachia they came, the young men who joined the fight for liberty in World War II. Now they are elderly, and some of them--like Harmon Strayer, father of prosecutor Bell Elkins''s former law school classmate--suffer from Alzheimer''s. When Harmon dies in an Alzheimer''s care facility from what appear to be natural causes, Bell confronts a mystery that brims with questions about memory, grief, and the lethal cost of burying the past. During a winter of record snow and cold, Bell and the people of Acker''s Gap, West Virginia, face isolation and hardship--and the threat from a killer who preys upon the old and the sick and the helpless"--

"Royce Dillard doesn''t remember much about the day his parents--and one hundred and twenty-three other souls--died in the 1972 Buffalo Creek disaster. He was only two years old when he was ripped from his mother''s arms. But now Dillard, who lives off the grid with only a passel of dogs for company, is fighting for his life one more time: he''s on trial for murder. Prosecutor Bell Elkins faces her toughest challenge yet in this ... story of vengeance, greed, and the fierce struggle for social justice"--Amazon.com.

In the next stunning novel from Pulitzer Prize-winning Julia Keller, following the popular A Killing in the Hills, a pregnant teenager is found murdered at the bottom of a river. Phone calls before dawn are never good news. And when you''re the county''s prosecuting attorney, calls from the sheriff are rarely good news, either. So when Bell Elkins picks up the phone she already knows she won''t like what she''s about to hear, but she''s still not prepared for this: 16-year-old Lucinda Trimble''s body has been found at the bottom of Bitter River. And Lucinda didn''t drown—she was dead before her body ever hit the water. With a case like that, Bell knows the coming weeks are going to be tough. But that''s not all Bell is coping with these days. Her daughter is now living with Bell''s ex-husband, hours away. Sheriff Nick Fogelsong, one of Bell''s closest friends, is behaving oddly. Furthermore, a face from her past has resurfaced for reasons Bell can''t quite figure. Searching for the truth, both behind Lucinda''s murder and behind her own complicated relationships, will lead Bell down a path that might put her very life at risk. In Bitter River, Pulitzer Prize-winner Julia Keller once again weaves a compelling, haunting mystery against the stark beauty and extreme poverty of a small West Virginia mountain town.

Pulitzer Prize-winning author Julia Keller continues her Dark Intercept science fiction series with Dark Mind Rising, a thrilling, speculative murder mystery set in a chilling future where citizens believe they''re free after years of emotional surveillance only to discover a killer is targeting their deepest fears. When the state is no longer watching, what will you give to feel safe? New Earth, 2296. Two years after the destruction of a universal surveillance system called the Intercept, New Earth struggles to keep crime under control. The citizens are free, but not protected. Violet Crowley, the eighteen-year-old daughter of New Earth''s founder, has opened Crowley & Associates, a private detective agency, to handle the overflow from the overburdened police force. Violet''s first case—a death written off as a suicide—becomes an obsession. Soon a series of similar deaths leads Violet to believe the Intercept is not only still running—it''s in the hands of a killer. "In this fast-paced book, Julia Keller shows she''s at the top of her game—and her game is creating chills and absolute terror." — New York Times bestselling author R.L. Stine The Dark Intercept #1 The Dark Intercept #2 Dark Mind Rising #3 Dark Star Calling The Tablet of Scaptur (novella) At the Publisher''s request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

By day, she''s a tough-minded prosecutor in Raythune County, West Virginia, a region scarred by poverty and prescription drug abuse. By night, Bell Elkins takes on a softer role. She volunteers at an auxiliary intensive care unit where nurses deal with the youngest and most vulnerable victims of drug abuse: the children born to mothers addicted to painkillers. The place is known as Evening Street, and it is here Bell comes whenever she can spare the time. She rocks ailing infants to sleep, and she provides what medical science-for all of its marvels-cannot: A simple human touch. One terrifying night, the distraught father of an Evening Street baby breaks into the facility. Gun in hand, he holds the staff hostage and demands a reckoning for a family grudge--with helpless infants only inches away. And so begins a standoff at Evening Street. Bell Elkins is swept up into the crisis, as the drama escalates toward a lethal flashpoint. At the center of it all is a baby, only hours old, but already ancient in his knowledge of pain.

Investigating a series of suspicious overdose deaths in her Appalachian hometown, Bell Elkins uncovers evidence of a tainted batch of heroin and begins a desperate race against time to track the source of the drug.

Bell Elkins, prosecuting attorney and small-town heroine of Pulitzer Prize winner Julia Keller''s A Killing in the Hills, Bitter River and Summer of the Dead, faces one of her most challenging days in this exclusive digital short story. Featuring an exclusive extract from her new full-length novel Last Ragged Breath. For Bell Elkins no day is ever the same. But on this day, for the third day running, Bell has woken up from the same dream. A dream about a boy needing her help, reaching out to her. Bell, always unable to help. Already unsettled, she becomes embroiled, in her role as prosecuting attorney for Raythune County, in an investigation into a couple running a local day-care centre, and Bell suspects that her day is only going to get worse. A suspicion that is compounded when she''s forced to confront a friend''s treachery and a ghost from her past. No day is ever the same, but will Bell be forever changed by this one?

Bone on Bone, the next powerful chapter in Pulitzer Prize-winner Julia Keller''s beloved Bell Elkins series, sends readers headlong into the thick of a mystery as young as today''s headlines -- but as old as the mountains that hold these lives in a tight grip. How far would you go for someone you love? Would you die? Would you kill? After a three-year prison sentence, Bell Elkins is back in Acker''s Gap. And she finds herself in the white-hot center of a complicated and deadly case -- even as she comes to terms with one last, devastating secret of her own. A prominent local family has fallen victim to the same sickness that infects the whole region: drug addiction. With mother against father, child against parent, and tensions that lead inexorably to tragedy, they are trapped in a grim, hopeless struggle with nowhere to turn. Bell has lost her job as prosecutor -- but not her affection for her ragtag, hard-luck hometown. Teamed up with former Deputy Jake Oakes, who battles his own demons as he adjusts to life as a paraplegic, and aided by the new prosecutor, Rhonda Lovejoy, Bell tackles a case as poignant as it is perilous, as heartbreaking as it is challenging.

In a town ravaged by deception, can one woman make a difference? From Pulitzer-prize winner Julia Keller comes A Killing in the Hills, the first in a series featuring prosecuting attorney Bell Elkins, set in the beautiful, crime-ridden town of Acker''s Gap. Perfect for fans of Linwood Barclay and Henning Mankell. ''A terrific debut - atmospheric, suspenseful, assured. I hope there''s more to come in the story of Bell Elkins and Acker''s Gap'' - Laura Lippman Nestled in the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains, visitors see only Acker''s Gap''s stunning natural beauty. But for those living there it''s a different story. The mountain roads harbour secret places, perfect for making the prescription drugs that tempt its desperately poor. Bell Elkins left a broken teenager, savaged by a past she couldn''t forget. But, as prosecuting attorney for Raythune County, Bell is back and determined to help clean up the only home she has ever known. As winter sets in and her daughter is witness to a shocking triple murder, Bell finds her family in danger. Can she uncover the truth before her world is destroyed again? What readers are saying about A Killing in the Hills: ''A mesmerizing book'' ''The intertwined plots play out against a beautiful portrayal of this rural area, a wonderfully conveyed portrait'' ''I am an avid thriller reader and in my opinion this ranks among the best of them''

The Devil''s Stepdaughter, a story from Pulitzer Prize-winning author Julia Keller, takes us back into beloved prosecuting attorney Bell Elkins''s past. The year Bell turns eleven, she''s living with a foster family in the beautiful but poverty-stricken mountains of West Virginia, and Keller draws a heartbreaking portrait of the time in Bell''s life that shaped her into a woman who believes in fierce justice and fighting back.

From Pulitzer Prize-winning author Julia Keller comes A HAUNTING OF THE BONES, another suspsenseful 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?

Julia Keller''s Dark Star Calling is the third and final book in the Dark Intercept Trilogy, a high-concept YA science fiction saga. Out in the observatory, protruding from the vast gap in the roof, was the giant telescope. It stared unblinkingly into the night sky, its gaze peering deep into the wilderness of stars. Somewhere within that wilderness was the single star Rez was determined to find. New Earth, 2297. A year after the resurrection of a universal surveillance system called the Intercept, New Earth is collapsing. Humanity is depending on a group of five friends to find them all a new home. Humanity''s fate rests in the hands of Violet Crowley, a headstrong rebel and former detective turned hopelessly mediocre politician; Shura Lu, scientific genius and magnificently gifted artist; Kendall Mayhew, New Earth''s Chief of Police; Tin Man Tolliver, Kendall''s top deputy; and Steven J. Reznik, aka "Rez," NESA Director and Chief Technologist. Together they discovered their utopian home is on an unstoppable collision course with Earth. Together they look to the stars to find a world suitable for human life and what they find there—or rather who—will change them all forever. At the Publisher''s request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

In the 23rd century, there is a radiant world of endless summer where peace is maintained through emotional surveillance performed by a peculiar device called the Intercept. When Violet Crowley, the sixteen-year-old daughter of New Earth’s Founding Father, is smuggled an artifact covered mysterious markings, it''s up to her and her friends to decipher the message. Julia Keller''s "The Tablet of Scaptur" is a standalone story set before the events of The Dark Intercept. At the Publisher''s request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

The earth is in ruins. Years of warfare, plague, and disaster have ravaged the planet and driven its people into despair. The powerful and wealthy have abandoned Earth and created New Earth, a utopia in the sky where the last of the elite can start fresh. On New Earth, citizens are free from danger thanks to a surveillance device that lives beneath their skin. A device that keeps their new home crime-free through meticulous emotional surveillance. A device called the Intercept.Violet Crowley has never gone hungry. She''s endured neither violence nor fear. As the only daughter of New Earth''s Founding Father, Violet has spent her entire life in comfort and safety. That is, until her friend, colleague, and long-time crush, Danny Mayhew, gets into a deadly altercation on the streets of Old Earth. In an instant, Violet risks her father''s fury and intercedes to rescue Danny. When Danny can''t explain his actions, Violet launches a secret investigation to find out what he''s hiding. An investigation that will lead her to question everything she''s ever known about Danny, her father, and the power of the Intercept.

O-H-Oh-No! Fourteen storytellers reveal a gritty side to C-Bus in this collection of crime tales. Akashic Books continues its award-winning series of original noir anthologies, launched in 2004 with Brooklyn Noir. Each book comprises all-new stories, each one set in a distinct neighborhood or location within the respective city. With stories by: Lee Martin, Robin Yocum, Kristen Lepionka, Craig McDonald, Chris Bournea, Andrew Welsh-Huggins, Tom Barlow, Mercedes King, Daniel Best, Laura Bickle, Yolonda Tonette Sanders, Julia Keller, Khalid Moalim, and Nancy Zafris. Praise for Columbus Noir "Moments of humanity shine through in many of the tales in this collection, and epic takes on pride and greed make many of the stories in this collection go beyond small miseries into the realm of Shakespearian tragedy. Urgent, beautiful, and not to be missed." — CrimeReads, included in CrimeReads'' Most Anticipated Crime Books of 2020 "This superior Akashic noir anthology gathers 14 dark snapshots of Ohio''s capital, a very dangerous place indeed, with heavy drug use and murder touching down everywhere, from the German Village neighborhood to the statehouse. One highlight is Craig McDonald''s "Curb Appeal," one of several invoking the homicidal search for housing. In the editor''s effective "Going Places," a security man who covers up affairs for the governor gets pulled into a murder plot . . . . Noir fans should be well satisfied." — Publishers Weekly