The Cora Tree Murder: An Outer Banks Mystery

by Joe C. Ellis

Overview

One of the oldest trees on the Outer Banks is an ancient live oak known as the Cora Tree. According to legend, in the early 1700s the townspeople of Frisco, North Carolina accused a strange woman of witchcraft, tied her to the tree and attempted to burn her. Before they could light the match, lightning struck the tree, leaving a heart-shaped hole and the name CORA burned into the bark.

On a training run, Detective Angie Stallone sees a strange woman leaning on the Cora Tree and staring into the heart-shaped hole. Angie learns that the woman calls herself Cora and lives in a old cabin in the Buxton Woods. When a young girl's body is discovered near Cora's cabin, the townspeople and authorities conclude that Cora is the prime suspect. Angie and local bookstore owner, Mee Mee Roberts, team up to prove Cora's innocence. During their investigation they uncover a more diabolical conglomerate responsible for casting the shadow of terror and death on the shores of the Outer Banks.

The Cora Tree Murder is one of ten Outer Banks mystery novels that Joe C. Ellis has written over the last twenty years. The novels have become bestsellers in the bookstores on the Outer Banks and are also available in ebook format on barnesandnoble.com

Product Details

BN ID:	2940186038467
Publisher:	Upper Ohio Valley Books
Publication date:	08/21/2024
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
File size:	315 KB

About the Author

Joe C. Ellis, a big fan of the North Carolina’s Outer Banks, grew up in the Ohio Valley. A native of Martins Ferry, Ohio, he attended West Liberty State College in West Virginia and went on to earn his Master’s Degree in education from Muskingum College in New Concord, Ohio. After a thirty-six year career as an art teacher, he retired from the Martins Ferry City School District.
Currently, he is the pastor for the Scotch Ridge Presbyterian Church and the Colerain Presbyterian Church. His writing career began in 2001 with the publication of his first novel, The Healing Place. In 2007 he began the Outer Banks Murder Series with the publication of Murder at Whalehead (2010), Murder at Hatteras (2011), Murder on the Outer Banks (2012), Murder at Ocracoke (2017), and The Treasure of Portsmouth Island (2019).
Most recently Joe has completed the Outer Banks Detective Series which includes three books: Roanoke Island Murders (2020), The Singer in the Sound (2021), Kitty Hawk Confidential (2021), and A Nags Head Murder (2023).
Joe credits family vacations on the Outer Banks with the inspiration for his stories. Joe and his wife Judy have three children and nine grandchildren. Although the kids have flown the nest, they get together often and always make it a priority to vacation on the Outer Banks whenever possible. He comments, “It’s a place on the edge of the world, a place of great beauty and sometimes danger—the ideal setting for murder mysteries.”