
Bitter River
A Bell Elkins Novel, Book 2
Failed to add items
Add to Cart failed.
Add to Wish List failed.
Remove from wishlist failed.
Adding to library failed
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed
$0.99/mo for the first 3 months

Buy for $25.00
No default payment method selected.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
-
Narrated by:
-
Shannon McManus
-
By:
-
Julia Keller
About this listen
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: sixteen-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 set against the stark beauty and extreme poverty of a small West Virginia mountain town.
©2013 Julia Keller (P)2013 Brilliance Audio, all rights reserved.Listeners also enjoyed...
-
The Tea Girl of Hummingbird Lane
- By: Lisa See
- Narrated by: Ruthie Ann Miles, Kimiko Glenn, Alex Allwine, and others
- Length: 14 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The thrilling new novel from number-one New York Times best-selling author Lisa See explores the lives of a Chinese mother and her daughter who has been abandoned and adopted by an American couple.
-
-
***EXCELLENT*** Six stars if I could !!
- By ROBIN on 04-10-17
By: Lisa See
-
The Sorority Murder
- A Novel
- By: Allison Brennan
- Narrated by: Amy McFadden
- Length: 12 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Lucas Vega is obsessed with the death of Candace Swain, who left a sorority party one night and never came back. Her body was found after two weeks, but the case has grown cold. Three years later while interning at the medical examiner's, Lucas discovers new information, but the police are not interested.
-
-
The tone…I almost quit
- By Jess M on 10-04-22
By: Allison Brennan
-
The Murphy Shepherd Starter Set: Books 1-2
- The Water Keeper and The Letter Keeper
- By: Charles Martin
- Narrated by: Jonathan K. Riggs
- Length: 21 hrs and 25 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Now packaged together in an exclusive audio bundle, discover the first two books in the riveting Murphy Shepherd series from New York Times bestselling author Charles Martin. Combining the heart-wrenching emotion of Nicholas Sparks with the edge-of-your-seat tension of John Grisham, The Water Keeper and The Letter Keeper explore the true power of sacrificial love to heal all wounds.
-
-
A great series by Charles Martin
- By Ronda on 04-14-25
By: Charles Martin
-
Before She Was Found
- By: Heather Gudenkauf
- Narrated by: Brittany Pressley
- Length: 10 hrs and 18 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
For 12-year-old Cora Landry and her friends Violet and Jordyn, it was supposed to be an ordinary sleepover - movies and Ouija and talking about boys. But when they decide to sneak out to go to the abandoned rail yard on the outskirts of town, little do they know that their innocent games will have dangerous consequences. Later that night, Cora Landry is discovered on the tracks, bloody and clinging to life, her friends nowhere to be found. Soon, their small rural town is thrust into a maelstrom. Who would want to hurt a young girl like Cora - and why?
-
-
Bad Bad Ending
- By Sue on 05-12-19
-
The Deep, Deep Snow
- By: Brian Freeman
- Narrated by: January LaVoy
- Length: 10 hrs and 6 mins
- Original Recording
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Deputy Shelby Lake was abandoned as a baby, saved by a stranger who found her in the freezing cold. Now, years later, a young boy is missing - and Shelby is the one who must rescue a child. The only evidence of what happened to 10-year-old Jeremiah Sloan is a bicycle left behind on a lonely road. After a desperate search fails to locate him, the close bonds of Shelby’s hometown begin to fray under the weight of accusations and suspicion. Everyone around her is keeping secrets.
-
-
Get this while it's the daily deal!!!!
- By shelley on 06-20-19
By: Brian Freeman
-
The Husband's Secret
- By: Liane Moriarty
- Narrated by: Caroline Lee
- Length: 13 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Imagine that your husband wrote you a letter, to be opened after his death. Imagine, too, that the letter contains his deepest, darkest secret - something with the potential to destroy not just the life you built together, but the lives of others as well. Imagine, then, that you stumble across that letter while your husband is still very much alive....
-
-
Soap Opera Digest
- By FanB14 on 02-06-14
By: Liane Moriarty
-
The Tea Girl of Hummingbird Lane
- By: Lisa See
- Narrated by: Ruthie Ann Miles, Kimiko Glenn, Alex Allwine, and others
- Length: 14 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The thrilling new novel from number-one New York Times best-selling author Lisa See explores the lives of a Chinese mother and her daughter who has been abandoned and adopted by an American couple.
-
-
***EXCELLENT*** Six stars if I could !!
- By ROBIN on 04-10-17
By: Lisa See
-
The Sorority Murder
- A Novel
- By: Allison Brennan
- Narrated by: Amy McFadden
- Length: 12 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Lucas Vega is obsessed with the death of Candace Swain, who left a sorority party one night and never came back. Her body was found after two weeks, but the case has grown cold. Three years later while interning at the medical examiner's, Lucas discovers new information, but the police are not interested.
-
-
The tone…I almost quit
- By Jess M on 10-04-22
By: Allison Brennan
-
The Murphy Shepherd Starter Set: Books 1-2
- The Water Keeper and The Letter Keeper
- By: Charles Martin
- Narrated by: Jonathan K. Riggs
- Length: 21 hrs and 25 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Now packaged together in an exclusive audio bundle, discover the first two books in the riveting Murphy Shepherd series from New York Times bestselling author Charles Martin. Combining the heart-wrenching emotion of Nicholas Sparks with the edge-of-your-seat tension of John Grisham, The Water Keeper and The Letter Keeper explore the true power of sacrificial love to heal all wounds.
-
-
A great series by Charles Martin
- By Ronda on 04-14-25
By: Charles Martin
-
Before She Was Found
- By: Heather Gudenkauf
- Narrated by: Brittany Pressley
- Length: 10 hrs and 18 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
For 12-year-old Cora Landry and her friends Violet and Jordyn, it was supposed to be an ordinary sleepover - movies and Ouija and talking about boys. But when they decide to sneak out to go to the abandoned rail yard on the outskirts of town, little do they know that their innocent games will have dangerous consequences. Later that night, Cora Landry is discovered on the tracks, bloody and clinging to life, her friends nowhere to be found. Soon, their small rural town is thrust into a maelstrom. Who would want to hurt a young girl like Cora - and why?
-
-
Bad Bad Ending
- By Sue on 05-12-19
-
The Deep, Deep Snow
- By: Brian Freeman
- Narrated by: January LaVoy
- Length: 10 hrs and 6 mins
- Original Recording
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Deputy Shelby Lake was abandoned as a baby, saved by a stranger who found her in the freezing cold. Now, years later, a young boy is missing - and Shelby is the one who must rescue a child. The only evidence of what happened to 10-year-old Jeremiah Sloan is a bicycle left behind on a lonely road. After a desperate search fails to locate him, the close bonds of Shelby’s hometown begin to fray under the weight of accusations and suspicion. Everyone around her is keeping secrets.
-
-
Get this while it's the daily deal!!!!
- By shelley on 06-20-19
By: Brian Freeman
-
The Husband's Secret
- By: Liane Moriarty
- Narrated by: Caroline Lee
- Length: 13 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Imagine that your husband wrote you a letter, to be opened after his death. Imagine, too, that the letter contains his deepest, darkest secret - something with the potential to destroy not just the life you built together, but the lives of others as well. Imagine, then, that you stumble across that letter while your husband is still very much alive....
-
-
Soap Opera Digest
- By FanB14 on 02-06-14
By: Liane Moriarty
-
The Patient's Secret
- A Novel
- By: Loreth Anne White
- Narrated by: Brittany Pressley
- Length: 11 hrs and 18 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Lily Bradley is a respected psychotherapist married to a distinguished professor. They live in a dream house with their two children in close-knit Story Cove. Lily lives a well-ordered life. Or so it seems. As a therapist, she knows everyone keeps things hidden. Even her. Then sensual and free-spirited Arwen Harper rolls into town in her hand-painted VW van, her sixteen-year-old son riding shotgun. Overnight, Story Cove’s secrets are no longer safe. Because Arwen might know her new neighbors better than they know themselves.
-
-
I’m left speechless!!
- By Kay on 03-12-22
-
Sworn to Silence
- A Thriller
- By: Linda Castillo
- Narrated by: Kathleen McInerney
- Length: 11 hrs and 45 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In the sleepy rural town of Painters Mill, Ohio, the Amish and "English" residents have lived side by side for two centuries. But 16 years ago, a series of brutal murders shattered the peaceful farming community. Kate Burkholder, a young Amish girl, survived the terror of the Slaughterhouse Killer but came away from its brutality with the realization that she no longer belonged with the Amish. Now, a wealth of experience later, Kate has been asked to return to Painters Mill as Chief of Police. She's certain she's come to terms with her past - until the first body is discovered in a snowy field.
-
-
Surprised me!
- By karen on 09-07-12
By: Linda Castillo
-
The Perfect Husband
- FBI Profiler, Book 1
- By: Lisa Gardner
- Narrated by: Sarah Zimmerman
- Length: 10 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
What would you do if the man of your dreams hides the soul of a killer? Jim Beckett was everything she'd ever dreamed of...But two years after Tess married the decorated cop and bore his child, she helped put him behind bars for savagely murdering ten women. Even locked up in a maximum security prison, he vowed he would come after her and make her pay. Now the cunning killer has escaped - and the most dangerous game of all begins....
-
-
Terrible
- By Kelli Petri on 03-31-19
By: Lisa Gardner
-
The Last Sister
- Columbia River, Book 1
- By: Kendra Elliot
- Narrated by: Cassandra Campbell, Mikael Naramore
- Length: 10 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Twenty years ago Emily Mills's father was murdered, and she found his body hanging in the backyard. Her younger sister, Madison, claims she was asleep in her room. Her older sister, Tara, claims she was out with friends. The tragedy drove their mother to suicide and Tara to leave town forever. The killer was caught. The case closed. Ever since, Emily and Madison have tried to forget what happened that night - until an eerily similar murder brings it all back.
-
-
It was ok
- By Kelly C. on 01-15-20
By: Kendra Elliot
-
The Joe Dillard Series Box Set, Part 1: Books 1-4
- The Joe Dillard Box Sets
- By: Scott Pratt
- Narrated by: Tim Campbell
- Length: 31 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Books one through four in Scott Pratt's iconic Joe Dillard series are offered in a bundle. An Innocent Client, In Good Faith, Injustice For All, and Reasonable Fear.
-
-
in all truth, I only read a couple chapters.
- By Julie Lattimer on 10-14-22
By: Scott Pratt
-
Louisiana Longshot
- A Miss Fortune Mystery, Book 1
- By: Jana DeLeon
- Narrated by: Cassandra Campbell
- Length: 7 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
It was a hell of a long shot.... CIA assassin Fortune Redding is about to undertake her most difficult mission ever - in Sinful, Louisiana. With a leak at the CIA and a price placed on her head by one of the world's largest arms dealers, Fortune has to go off-grid, but she never expected to be this far out of her element.
-
-
Clever, funny and fun
- By Pamela on 06-08-16
By: Jana DeLeon
-
When Never Comes
- By: Barbara Davis
- Narrated by: Shannon McManus
- Length: 11 hrs and 43 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
As a teenage runaway and child of an addict, Christy-Lynn learned the hard way that no address was permanent, and no promise sacred. For a while, she found a safe haven in her marriage to bestselling crime novelist Stephen Ludlow - until his car skidded into Echo Bay. But Stephen’s wasn’t the only body pulled from the icy waters that night. When details about a mysterious violet-eyed blonde become public, a media circus ensues, and Christy-Lynn runs again.
-
-
A great story about healing and new starts in life
- By Virginia Kilmer on 08-18-18
By: Barbara Davis
-
The Perfect Child
- By: Lucinda Berry
- Narrated by: Christine Williams, Erin Bennett, Dan John Miller
- Length: 10 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Christopher and Hannah are a happily married surgeon and nurse with picture-perfect lives. All that’s missing is a child. When Janie, an abandoned six-year-old, turns up at their hospital, Christopher forms an instant connection with her, and he convinces Hannah they should take her home as their own.
-
-
You can see it coming... but how bad is it?
- By shelley on 03-02-19
By: Lucinda Berry
-
The Outsider
- By: Stephen King
- Narrated by: Will Patton
- Length: 18 hrs and 41 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
An 11-year-old boy's violated corpse is found in a town park. Eyewitnesses and fingerprints point unmistakably to one of Flint City's most popular citizens. He is Terry Maitland, Little League coach, English teacher, husband, and father of two girls. Detective Ralph Anderson, whose son Maitland once coached, orders a quick and very public arrest. Maitland has an alibi, but Anderson and the district attorney soon add DNA evidence to go with the fingerprints and witnesses. Their case seems ironclad.
-
-
Will Patton great - story so so
- By Randall on 06-19-18
By: Stephen King
-
The Life We Bury
- By: Allen Eskens
- Narrated by: Zach Villa
- Length: 8 hrs and 23 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
College student Joe Talbert has the modest goal of completing a writing assignment for an English class. His task is to interview a stranger and write a brief biography of the person. With deadlines looming, Joe heads to a nearby nursing home to find a willing subject. There he meets Carl Iverson, and soon nothing in Joe's life is ever the same. Carl is a dying Vietnam veteran-and a convicted murderer. With only a few months to live, he has been medically paroled to a nursing home after spending thirty years in prison for the crimes of rape and murder.
-
-
Good listen!
- By Lori K. on 12-14-15
By: Allen Eskens
-
The Drowned Girls
- An Angie Pallorino Novel, Book 1
- By: Loreth Anne White
- Narrated by: Julie McKay
- Length: 16 hrs and 21 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Detective Angie Pallorino hasn't forgotten the violent rapist who left a distinctive calling card—crosses etched into the flesh of his victim's foreheads. When a comatose Jane Doe is found in a local cemetery, sexually assaulted, mutilated, and nearly drowned, Angie is struck by the eerie similarities to her earlier unsolved rapes. Could he be back?
-
-
Excellent New Series
- By Lia on 10-05-17
-
The Long Call
- A Detective Matthew Venn Novel
- By: Ann Cleeves
- Narrated by: Ben Aldridge
- Length: 11 hrs and 36 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In North Devon, where two rivers converge and run into the sea, Detective Matthew Venn stands outside the church as his estranged father’s funeral takes place. On the day Matthew left the strict evangelical community he grew up in, he lost his family, too. Now, as he turns and walks away again, he receives a call from one of his team. A body has been found on the beach nearby: a man with a tattoo of an albatross on his neck, stabbed to death. The case calls Matthew back to the people and places of his past, as deadly secrets hidden at their hearts are revealed.
-
-
Excellent story and narration
- By jeanne on 07-10-21
By: Ann Cleeves
Critic reviews
What listeners say about Bitter River
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Avid series reader
- 12-23-23
It’s a thought-provoking story
I liked the character development and the editorial stance about the prejudice many have for the poor, rural residents of states such as West Virginia. The author is a champion of their worth as we all should be.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Sandra
- 08-06-18
Great listen.
I really love this narrator and the story keeps me going right up to the end.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Jean
- 11-27-15
Gripping Suspense
This is book two in the Bell Elkins’ series. Bell is a West Virginia prosecutor for Raythune County who lives in Acker’s Gap. Sheriff Nick Fogelsong called to report the murder of 16 year old Lucinda Trimble whose body was found in a car in the Bitter River. Ike’s diner is blown up and a sniper shoots at Bell at the Courthouse, so the fun begins.
The book is well written, the plot is interesting with lots of twists and turns and lots of suspense. Keller provides lots of background material about West Virginia, its people and poverty. In fact, I think there is too much detail; some could be cut out to make the story tighter.
Keller is a Pulitzer Prize winning journalist. Shannon McManus does a good job narrating the book.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
3 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Catherine
- 04-03-16
Liked the writing but not the story
I like the characters and place in this series, but I didn't like the spy / terrorist subtext in this story.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
1 person found this helpful