By the time her children came home, their mother had already been waiting thirty years too long. The call reached Graham Walker at 6:43 on a wet Tuesday morning, just...
By the time the last hymn faded at her husband’s funeral, Evelyn Mercer had already learned the terrible truth: the next thing her family planned to bury was her life....
The laugh that followed Frank Delaney’s final bid sounded a lot like dirt being shoveled onto a grave. The auctioneer barely looked up when he said, “Lot thirty-two. Two-point-eight acres...
By the time Mara Ellis arrived in Grey Harbor, the town had already decided two things about her. First, that she was from somewhere larger and noisier, because only people...
At the end of a narrow hill road in Minh Chau stood a watch repair shop so small that most people passed it without noticing. The paint on the wooden...
When Mara accepted the position at the little town library, she imagined her days would be simple. She would shelve returned books, stamp due dates, help children find adventure stories,...
When Nora first rented the house with the blue gate, everyone in the neighborhood had an opinion. “It sticks in winter.” “The roof sings when it rains.” “The jasmine is...
When June Ainsley rented the old shop on Willow Lane, people assumed she was opening a boutique. They were wrong in ways that became clearer over time. The shop had...
Every morning at six-thirty, before the bakery opened and before the buses began their grumbling loop around the town center, Simon Vale watered the flower beds in Market Square. He...
The houseboat was called Marigold, which suggested either optimism or a previous owner with a weakness for symbolic naming. Nina preferred not to ask. By the time she rented it,...