Cozy Reads

There's no place like home for the holidays - even if home is sleepy beachside Brigid's Island, North Carolina. During this season for giving, the town wakes up to a welcome throng of shoppers - and Beach Reads is no exception. But bookseller Summer Merriwether's Christmas cheer turns to cringing fear when she uncovers a deadly secret about her late mother - a secret someone will kill to keep.

This Christmas, Callie Aspen returns to her childhood hideout Heart's Harbor, Maine, where her great aunt runs Book Tea, a vintage tearoom where every sweet treat contains a bookish clue. Upon arrival in the fairy-tale snowy town, Callie is drawn into the preparations for a special tea party at Haywood Hall, the rambling house of Heart's Harbor's oldest resident, rich but lonely widow Dorothea Finster, who invited her estranged relatives, old friends, and the elite of the town to make a mysterious announcement about her will.

Last Christmas, Callie Aspen left her tour-guide job and settled in Heart's Harbor, Maine. Now, she helps out at Book Tea, her great aunt’s vintage tearoom, where each treat has a bookish clue. Although she’s excited to start her new life, Callie worries she may regret having burned her bridges behind her. Fortunately, she finds immediate distraction in the preparations for a spectacular Fourth of July tea party, which will recreate key moments from the town's rich history.

It's Mardi Gras, and ace crime reporter Sam Adams has flown to New Orleans to visit her old college roomie, Kitty, whose debutante niece is about to be crowned queen of Comus. At the airport, Sam first glimpses Harry Zack, a songwriter-turned-insurance-investigator, who's way too cute. When death stalks St. Charles Avenue in the wake of Comus' ball, Sam and Harry's paths collide...and sparks fly in more ways than one.

After her husband dies, Lydia Krause sells her company and moves to an upscale retirement community on Long Island to start a new life. At her first Twin Lakes event, she meets the community's financial advisor, whom she recognizes as the convicted embezzler who drove her sister to suicide. After exchanging heated words with the man's wife, Lydia flees the scene. When the woman is found dead the following morning, Detective Sol Molina considers Lydia suspect number one.

Angie Deacon was the last to see Nolan Little alive. Which makes her a prime suspect in his death. Sure, he was gruff and insensitive. Treated his wife like dirt. But besides Valerie, why would any of the five strangers on board want him dead? None of them knew him before today. Or did they? Police detective Colby Jarvis storms the boat determined to unveil the killer before they get back to shore. What a feather in the widower's cap that would be. He falls hook, line, and sinker at his first sight of Angie, but she is married and off limits.

After the remains of a teenaged boy are unearthed on newly acquired Twin Lakes property, Lydia Krause has a worrisome conversation with her elderly neighbor. Daniel Korman hints at having known the dead boy and wonders if he should let sleeping dogs lie. Then Daniel dies under suspicious circumstances, and Lydia suspects that his two surviving childhood friends are responsible for both deaths. Or did one of Daniel's money-hungry relatives decide to end his life?

When Randolph Percy, a silver-tongued charmer with manners to burn, comes sniffing around Felicity Morris, a wealthy fading flower of Atlanta's elite, Samantha Adams, reporter for the Journal-Constitution, rides to the rescue of her old family friend. On the other side of town, young debs are playing a dangerous game stripping, and more, for thrills and pocket change. There's dirt here aplenty for Sam to unearth, including a 50-year-old scandal...and murder.

This loner teen is haunted by a secret. One that forces her to continuously be on the move. As Penny settles into a new town, she realizes something much darker is afoot. The Raven, her nemesis, has tracked her down once again. She finds herself in a race against time to vanquish the darkness and save those around her.

A sudden Christmas flurry has Penny spinning her wheels. Can she risk reaching out for help? Or will meeting new people put her and them in peril? Find out what the season holds for Penny and her ominous ability.