Starred Reviews for A Killing in the Hills

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A KILLING IN THE HILLS is Julia Keller's debut novel, but she's far from new to writing. As a journalist with the Chicago Tribune, Killer won the Pulitzer Prize. Now that she's turned her skilled pen to fiction the starred reviews are stacking up!

In Acker's Gap, West Virginia three elderly men are gunned down over their coffee at a local diner. No one knows if it was random or if it was connected to the spate of drug violence plaguing poor areas of the country just like Acker's Gap. One of the witnesses to the brutal incident is Carla Elkins, 17-year-old daughter of Bell Elkins, the prosecuting attorney for Raythune County, WV. Carla is in shock over the events, but soon recovers enough to believe that she might be uniquely placed to help her mother do her job. After all, what better way to repair their fragile, damaged relationship? That is, unless Carla sacrifices her life to solve the crime.

"Chicago Tribune Pulitzer-winning journalist Keller has fashioned a debut mystery with an impeccably paced plot, supple prose, and indelibly drawn characters [...]. A page-turner with substance and depth, this is as suspenseful and entertaining as it is accomplished." -Booklist (starred review)

"Keller does a superb job showing both the natural beauty of Appalachia and the hopeless anger of the people trapped there in poverty. Some characters turn out to be better than they appear, some much worse, but the ensemble cast is unforgettable. So is this novel." -Publishers Weekly (starred review, Pick of the Week!)

A KILLING IN THE HILLS will be available in August from Minotaur Books.