Jane Stuart and Winky

The last thing a working mom like Jane needs is a call from her young son's school saying his nanny never arrived to pick him up. Now Jane's wondering what happened to pretty, blonde Marlene, the daughter of an old friend she recently hired on a trial basis. It looks as if the nineteen-year-old has left without giving notice, and no one seems to know where she's gone. Her mother can't track her down. The police figure she's run away. Jane thinks she'd better start snooping around.

After Jane's last brush with a murderer landed her with a feature in People magazine, she is eager to get back to her literary life as a book agent - reading book proposals, making deals, talking to authors. She's glad to put fame aside and now that her beloved son Nick's birthday is coming up, she's busy planning a birthday party for him. She selects one of her favorite spots, a local inn, but before anyone can sing Happy Birthday and say "make a wish," the body of a young woman is found hanging from a tree in the woods back behind the inn.

Book agent extraordinaire Jane Stuart finally crawls out from under a stack of unread manuscripts. She starts a much-needed vacation, when her late husband's cousin, Stephanie, calls. She's about to start a new job in Shady Hills and wants to stay with Jane for a few days. Stephanie's new job as book editor is at the hot new publishing house in house. No sooner does Stephanie unpack her file folders at the publisher than it's obvious something fishy is going on.

Jane Stuart and Ivy Benson were once best friends. Ever since Ivy's daughter Marlene was murdered, things have been rocky. To patch up their friendship, Jane invites Ivy to the writer's retreat Jane organized. Off-season Mt. Munsee Lodge is a mountain-top hotel which is perfect for relaxing and having fun. But Ivy brings Johnny, her new man, who turns out to be on the run. And when an unexpected blizzard leaves everyone marooned in the snow, there's no chance for escape.

Schemer Tina Vale, publisher of Corsair Books, slept her way to the top, making many enemies on the way. Now she's going after an old enemy, single mom and literary agent Jane Stuart. Tina and Joan are both at the annual RAT Convention (Romance Authors Together), where the hotel venue is struggling to handle all the romance authors as well as this year's featured cat show. But soon Jane has more serious matters to worry about. After Tina fails to make her grand entrance at the award ceremonies, her body is discovered in the bathtub, along with one of her prized collectible vintage toasters.

Jane couldn't turn down her nanny's sister when she needed a place to stay. Crystal Ryerson turns out to be more than a handful. In two short weeks as the new assistant director of the Shady Hills Public Library, Crystal proves herself to be trouble no matter how you spell it. A pain. Yes. Popular. No. Still, it's a shock when at the next meeting of Jane's book club at The Shady Hills Public Library, book shelves come crashing down and topple on poor Crystal.