★A Cold, Cold World. Elena Taylor. Severn House. (Sheriff Bet Rivers, Bk. 2). Aug. 2024. 256p. ISBN 9781448314065. $29.99. M

A devastating winter storm is bearing down on Collier, WA, and Sheriff Bet Rivers is determined to ensure the safety of her fellow citizens. She’s the latest in the Rivers family to be elected sheriff, following in the footsteps of her forefathers, who served the small mountain town since its founding. But she’s been in charge for less than a year, and her only support team is a single deputy, a septuagenarian secretary, and one big dog. When tourists report finding an injured teen on a snowmobile out in the snow, Rivers goes out looking for the teen, but he’s already dead. She doesn’t have time to process the crime scene due to the approaching storm and the next emergency: a cabin has been broken into, and there’s a sleeping bag there, dripping with fresh blood. In the middle of a snowstorm, cut off by fallen electric wires and trees, Rivers has two crime scenes that she can’t fully process, and a desperate suspect tied to all her cases. VERDICT The weather conditions are an essential component in this sequel to All We Buried. Readers who appreciate the strong woman police chief in Linda Castillo’s Kate Burkholder books or the vivid landscapes of Craig Johnson’s Walt Longmire mysteries will appreciate Taylor’s riveting crime novel.