A week of "mayhem-as-usual" at Hillside Manor kicks off with the arrival of a mysterious "Mr. Smith" and his floozie "Mrs." from New York City—and it accelerates into chaos when Mr. Smith himself kicks off, a victim of the foulest of plays. Hostess Judith McMonigle Flynn is shocked to learn that her now-defunct roomer was actually "Legs" Benedict—hit man for the notorious Ronzini Family—and that virtually every other guests at her B&B had good...

Judith's worst nightmare comes true when Vivian Flynn--husband Joe's first wife--moves back into the neighborhood, bringing along her newest spouse, Billy Blunder Buss, a former minor-league baseball player who is many years younger than his shop-worn bride. Still, the B&B business is going well and the newlyweds don't seem to be causing problems for the Flynns--that is, until somebody checks out permanently. The somebody isn't a Buss family member,...

Suspicious of a reclusive family that lives in a ramshackle Spanish villa, cousins Judith and Renie find themselves framed for murder when Judith discovers the body of a local milkman in the trunk of her car.

A conclusion to the long-running mystery series finds Emma investigating the arrival and illness of a young woman who is searching for the mother who abandoned her, a case that is complicated by Vida's altered state, a stalker and a reclusive artist. "The picturesque town of Alpine in the foothills of Washington state's Cascade Mountains--home to Emma Lord and her weekly newspaper The Alpine Advocate--has long charmed and enthralled mystery lovers....

Editor/publisher Emma Lord is in Alpine, Wash., revisiting an old crime to solve some new ones, including maple tree poaching and the shooting of an old friend, eccentric and reclusive artist Craig Laurentis.

"After a relatively calm and cozy holiday season, neither Emma Lord, editor and publisher of The Alpine Advocate, nor her husband, Sheriff Milo Dodge, are surprised when their new year gets off to a rocky start. A woman's body has been found in a squalidmotel. Her driver's license shows that Rachel Jane Douglas was in her late thirties and lived in Oakland, California--and the only connection between that town and Alpine is their gold-mining and logging...

Members of the Burl Creek Thimble Club, a quilting circle in small-town Alpine, Washington, are planning a fete to welcome back Genevieve Bayard, who left Alpine, decades ago. But Gen's homecoming is cut decidedly short when she dies at a dinner party. Emma Lord, owner and publisher of the local newspaper, arrives on the scene to report the incident and sleuth her way to the truth.

A bum hip has bed-and-breakfast hostess Judith McMonigle Flynn limping off to Good Cheer Hospital -- a questionable "haven of healing" where two recent patients didn't make the cut after routine surgery. Judith's trepidation at undergoing the knife is eased only by sharing a room with cousin Renie, who's in for rotator cuff repair. Though the cousins survive their surgeries, the ex-pro quarterback next door is permanently sacked after minor knee surgery....

When peaceful Alpine, Washington, is stunned by a case of arson, newspaper editor Emma Lord and Sheriff Milo Dodge soon discover that the fire had been used to cover up the more sinister crime of murder.

Christmas is anything but quiet in Alpine, Washington, after a body turns up in a cave and Emma Lord and her beau, Milo, are stalked by a killer.