""You must be our new neighbors!" Mrs. Lowell gushes and waves across the picket fence. I clutch my daughter's hand and smile back: but the second Mrs. Lowell sees my husband a strange expression crosses her face. In that moment I make a promise. We finally have a family home. My past is far, far behind us. And I'll do anything to keep it that way... I used to clean other people's houses - now, I can't believe this home is actually mine. The charming...

Seventy-seven-year-old Winchell Dear has made a good life for himself in south Texas as an honest poker player, including acquiring his 45,000-acre ranch (named "Two Pair" in honor of the hand he bluffed to win the land). So when his gambler's sixth sense tells him trouble is in the air, Winchell tucks a gun into his boot and waits out whatever's on the way.

The housekeeper for archaeologist Max Mallowan and his famous wife, Agatha Christie, former Army nurse Phyllida Bright is faced with murder and mayhem during a weekend party and assembles the household staff to find the killer among the Mallowan's guests. Devon. Mallowan Hall combines the best of English tradition with the modern conveniences of 1930. The manor is home to archaeologist Max Mallowan and his famous wife, Agatha Christie. Housekeeper...

From the Publisher: Elmore Leonard, a literary icon praised by The New York Times Book Review as "the greatest crime writer of our time, perhaps ever," has captured the imagination of millions of readers with his more than three dozen books. In this short fiction collection, Leonard demonstrates the superb characterizations, dead-on dialogue, vivid atmosphere, and driving plots that have made him a household name-and once again illustrates that the...

"Fourteen-year-old Joan Skraggs, just like the heroines in her beloved novels, yearns for real life and true love. But what hope is there for adventure, beauty, or art on a hardscrabble farm in Pennsylvania where the work never ends? Over the summer of 1911, Joan pours her heart out into her diary as she seeks a new, better life for herself--because maybe, just maybe, a hired girl cleaning and cooking for six dollars a week can become what a farm...

Phoebe and her sister Julia are eager for a summer getaway at High Head Lodge, the newly purchased estate of their cousin Regina. But Regina's odd friend, Olive, is far from friendly, and Regina's mother and brother-- bitter over the unequal distribution of her father's inheritance-- have descended on the house to confront Regina. Eva questions the loyalty and integrity of Miss Stanley, Lady Julia's new maid. When their hostess meets an untimely end--...

"Newly appointed as land agent to the youthful Lord Croft, Matthew Rowsley finds plenty to keep him busy as he attends to his lordship's neglected country estate. But he's distracted from his tasks by the disappearance of a young housemaid. Has Maggie really eloped with a young man, as her mother attests - or is the truth rather more sinister? What's been going on behind the scenes at the grand country estate . and where has his lordship disappeared...

Horton, an upstanding kitchen boy in a castle in nineteenth-century England, becomes embroiled in a mystery surrounding a series of thefts, which is also connected to the pursuit of a very eligible and wealthy young lady's affections.

Hilda Johansson is delighted by her reunion with her family, but when one of her brother's friends turns up badly beaten, Hilda turns sleuth to uncover the truth.