Recently, Martins Ferry resident, Joe Ellis, received good news from bookstore owner Gee Gee Rosell of Buxton Village Books on Hatteras Island. His latest novel, A Nags Head Murder, has become the store’s number one summer bestseller. For the last twenty years Ellis has been writing mystery novels and annually stops by the independent bookstores along the Outer Banks to sign books and meet readers. This June he was surprised at the number of readers waiting for him when he arrived at the shops.

He began his novel writing career with a local mystery entitled The Healing Place set in Martins Ferry. The plot focuses on a legendary monument in the Scotch Ridge Cemetery known as the Chair. In the story, the preacher’s daughter sits in the Chair at midnight and is abducted the next day. Ellis has been the lay pastor at the Scotch Ridge Presbyterian Church for the last thirty-one years and walks past the legendary monument every Sunday morning when he shows up to preach. He published 700 copies of The Healing Place, and they sold out within a month.

After vacationing on the Outer Banks in the late 1990s, he discovered the barrier islands to be a place of beauty, majesty and mystery. He decided to set his next novel, Murder at Whalehead, there. He submitted the novel to several literary agencies and signed with Writers House, a major New York agency. His agent, Michele Rubin, tried for eighteen months to sell the book. After several close calls, she encouraged him to self-publish and sell the books to the stores on the Outer Banks. Ellis followed her advice and started his own publishing company, Upper Ohio Valley Books. Murder at Whalehead became a best seller for the Outer Banks bookstores.

Over the years Ellis has written nine Outer Banks novels: Murder at Whalehead, Murder at Hatteras, Murder on the Outer Banks. Murder at Ocracoke, The Treasure of Portsmouth Island, Roanoke Island Murders, The Singer in the Sound, Kitty Hawk Confidential and A Nags Head Murder. They are available in hardcopy in all the bookstores along the Outer Banks and in all the online stores. He is currently working on an Outer Banks detective novel called The Cora Tree. Being a lay pastor for the Upper Ohio Valley Presbytery, Ellis has also written several popular children sermon books and Christmas Eve programs.

A Martins Ferry High School retired teacher and distance running coach, Ellis is now a fulltime pastor at Scotch Ridge and Colerain Presbyterian Church.