Nestled in the foothills of the Cascade Mountains, the charming little hamlet of Alpine is welcoming Thanksgiving with open arms, while Emma Lord, editor and publisher of The Alpine Advocate, feels her spirits sink. With no family or friends to share the day, Emma wonders how she managed to screw up her life so badly. But on the Monday after the holiday, a call from Sheriff Dodge concerning a trio of alarming unsigned letters leaves Emma no time to...

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.

"At the first of every month, when the office has reached its pinnacle of hysteria, Maggie, Roxanne, and Candice meet at London's swankiest bar for an evening of cocktails and gossip."--Jacket.

Editor and publisher Emma Lord is fretting over how her brother and her son--both priests--will react when she confesses her passionate affair with Sheriff Milo Dodge; "House & Home" editor Vida Runkel realizes that her spoiled grandson has gone off the rails; and Emma's star reporter goes AWOL after learning that his son has escaped from prison. But the most disturbing holiday dilemma is the body found in the cave on Mount Sawyer.