Grumpy Old Man Fookwire's new neighbor has a cat that threatens his beloved birds, but some pesky squirrels figure out a way to solve the problem.

When James learns that his next-door neighbor and best friend, Sanj, is moving away, he is very sad--so sad he thinks he will feel that way forever.

Although he would rather be sipping an ice cream soda, Mr. Putter and his cat Tabby attend a cooking class with Mrs. Teaberry and her dog Zeke, where they learn 100 ways to cook beans.

When seven-year-old Bean plays a mean trick on her sister, she finds unexpected support for her antics from Ivy, the new neighbor, who is less boring than Bean first suspected.

"A reclusive woman opens up her home to her neighbors in the wake of a devastating earthquake, setting off events that reveal secrets, break relationships apart, and bring strangers together to forge powerful new bonds"--

"Two neighboring cats compete for first place in a pumpkin contest, but it takes a cat-astrophe to make them realize there's a lot more they can win than just a blue ribbon"--

Relates the surprising gifts bestowed on twelve-year-old Bob Barnhart and his family, who have recently moved to a small Illinois town in 1958, by their larger-than-life neighbor, Mrs. Dowdel.

The day before Christmas, everyone in Jose's neighborhood seems grumpy, including his mother who is homesick for Puerto Rico, but when he and his parents return from the pizzeria where they borrowed an oven to cook their roast, the heavenly aroma remindsthose they pass of all they have to celebrate.

Emotionally crippled by his obsessive-compulsive disorder, teenager Matthew Corbin rarely leaves his room on a cul-de-sac in London, and he passes the day observing and writing down his neighbors' doings from his window--but when a toddler staying next door disappears Matt is the key to solving a mystery and possibly saving a child's life...if he can manage to expose himself, and his secret guilt to the outside world.

Collects three stories, including "The Killer's Wife," in which Detective McGrath encourages a relationship with a suspect's wife in order to locate six missing girls.