"No one in the town of Whitby, North Carolina was excited when Jonas Merchant returned to town. Jonas was an effective muckraker; an expert at uncovering secrets, rumors, and undercurrents. Even worse, he'd fallen on hard times and was desperate for easy cash. It was a decidedly dangerous combination. It was perhaps not the biggest surprise when Jonas was discovered dead one day. More shocking, at least to local librarian Ann Beckett, was the fact...

The Whitby Library has been a busy place lately, between book clubs, children's storytimes, and students working on research projects. Ann has been busy, too, which is why she's so glad to see some new volunteers to help the staff out. One of the volunteers is worried, though, and comes to Ann with a problem. She's seen something odd . . . maybe even suspicious. Ann tries advising her, but the volunteer still seems troubled. The next day, the woman...

"At first, librarian Ann Beckett is delighted her director hired another full-time staff member. The Whitby Library is a busy place and another librarian should make life much easier there. Instead, she soon discovers that the new hire, Ellie, seems to be bent on creating issues instead of solving them. When she's found dead at the library, no one is as shocked as they might have been. With time running out and a desperate killer on the loose, Ann...

"The Whitby Library is a hive of activity. The basement of the old building is under construction and there are smaller projects on the main floor, too. The work is being done practically pro-bono by Cornelius, a Friends of the Library member who's a local real estate investor and builder and now a philanthropist. Then Cornelius is found dead in an elevator shaft under mysterious circumstances. The focus falls on his family after his will is read...

Dwindling membership has the Village Quilters hanging by a thread, and group leader Meadow Downey is desperate to recruit some new folks. With Beatrice's blessing, she attempts to weave frequent quilt show judge Jo Paxton into their fold. As the town's irascible mail carrier, Jo delivers trouble wherever she goes. And with all that mail at her fingertips, she knows everyone's business. Soon Beatrice wonders if they've made the right choice

Although the small town of Dappled Hills is better known for its quilt shop, bakery, and other small shops, it is also home to some larger ones. When a prominent local businessman decides to sell his family business, his family isn't as thrilled as he'd first expected. Some of them would rather hand the company over in exchange for a nice infusion of cash. But when Wyatt discovers the businessman murdered before the sale goes through, Beatrice must...

"The Village Quilters of Dappled Hills, North Carolina, are desperate to finish their quilts before an upcoming show. To help, fellow member Posy has opened the back room of her shop, the Patchwork Cottage, for everyone to use. But the ladies are less than thrilled when Phyllis Stitt and Martha Helmsley-members of their rival quilting guild, the Cut-Ups-ask to join them. Phyllis is hoping to leave the Cut-Ups and join up with the Village Quilters...

"Sometimes a novel idea can turn out to be a bad one. Sally Simmons was rather misunderstood in the small town of Whitby, North Carolina. An awkward woman with a sly countenance, she became a regular at the library, spending a good deal of time scribbling in a notebook and staring vacantly off into space. It turned out, to everyone's surprise, that Sally had been industriously penning a novel. To their greater surprise, it became something of a sensation,...