Estelle Reyes-Guzman, undersheriff in Posadas, New Mexico, has an eventful Christmas when medical emergencies sideline the police chief and the sheriff, the fiancee of one of her deputies is murdered on Christmas Day, and former sheriff Bill Gastner is attacked that night, leaving her little time to pursue the criminals, and no time at all for her family.

No sooner has Alexis Stone been sworn in as the interim chief deputy for Russell County, Tennessee, than a serial killer dubbed the Queen's Gambit Killer strikes again--this time in her hometown. Pearl Springs is just supposed to be a temporary stop along the way to Alex's real dream: becoming the first female police chief of Chattanooga. But the killer's calling card--a white pawn and a note with a chess move printed on it--cannot be ignored. Pearl...

Returning to her role as an amateur detective is the last thing library director Amy Muir wants. She's already buried under an avalanche of responsibilities, including sharing the directorship of the local public library, parenting her holiday-obsessed five-year-old twins, and helping her choreographer husband, Richard, present The Nutcracker as part of the town's festivities. With her frosty mother-in-law, Fiona, visiting for the holidays, Amy definitely...

Some years ago, in Dodge, I was a sporting woman. I didn't mind whoring--it can be good work in the right house--but it demands a great deal of keeping still, and I'm one of those itchy, fidgety sorts who's always looking out the window or glancing toward the door, so it was only a matter of time until I had to move on. In the Spring of 1877, Bridget--sixteen years old and already disillusioned after caring for her alcoholic father--is orphaned while...