A selection of new and favorite poems celebrates the canine companions who have enriched the author's world, exploring how they have accompanied her walks, inspired her work, and served as life guides.

Minnesota baker and amateur sleuth Hannah Swensen searches for the killer of newly divorced Martin Dubinski's new Vegas showgirl wife--stabbed with Hannah's mother's antique Christmas cake knife--while stranded by a blizzard at the Lake Eden Christmas Buffet with half the town.

In 1860, the Henry Wadsworth Longfellow family celebrated Christmas at Craigie House, their home in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The publication of Longfellow's classic Revolutionary War poem, "Paul Revere's Ride," was less than a month hence, and the country's grave political unrest weighed heavily on his mind. Yet with his beloved wife, Fanny, and their five adored children at his side, the delights of the season prevailed. In present-day Boston, a...