For many mystery readers, Alpine, Washington–Mary Daheim’s fictional small town in the foothills of the Cascade Mountains–has become a beloved second home, a delicious retreat from the stresses of life. Yet the editor of The Alpine Advocate, Emma Lord, knows all too well that the picturesque old logging town is loaded with scandal: family feuds, illicit romance, chicanery, and sometimes deadly violence. THE ALPINE RECLUSE In the middle of a hot midsummer night, Emma is awakened by fire trucks rushing to a blaze at the nearby home of newlyweds Tim and Tiffany Rafferty. At daybreak, Tiffany and her unborn child are safe, but Tim, never blessed with good luck in all his thirty-plus years, has perished in the fierce conflagration. Sheriff Milo Dodge suspects murder and arson, and rumors fly from the Burger Barn and Mugs Ahoy to the Grocery Basket and the Venison Inn. Some swear the Rafferty marriage was crumbling. Others hint at stock fraud. A few mention momentary sightings of a possibly mad recluse known as Old Nick. Sacrificing the heady enticements of a budding romance to nail down a great story, Emma shifts into high investigative gear while her fearless House & Home editor, Vida Runkel, rushes in where angels fear to tread: straight into the private lives of some of Alpine’s most respectable–and now terminally edgy–citizens. But neither Emma nor Vida suspects the unbelievable truth.

Welcome to mystery lovers’ favorite destination: Alpine, Washington, Mary Daheim’s picturesque old logging town in the foothills of the Cascade Mountains. From the Venison Inn to the Upper Crust Bakery, Front Street is jumping–and the nerve center of the community is the office of The Alpine Advocate, Emma Lord’s weekly newspaper, which keeps folks up to speed on everything from joyous weddings to sudden, violent death. THE ALPINE SCANDAL It’s a quiet morning at the Advocate until the mail brings shocking news: a formal obituary for Alpiner Elmer Nystrom. As far as anyone knows, Elmer is alive and well. But he hasn’t turned up for work, so Emma and her unstoppable House & Home editor, Vida Runkel, rush to the Nystrom home, where they find Elmer’s lifeless body in the henhouse, half buried under straw. Not only has he been murdered, but his obituary had been mailed before he died. Though Elmer was well liked by everyone, the same cannot be said of his standoffish wife or his son, the town’s new orthodontist. Rumors fly–straight into the office of the Advocate. Why did Dr. Nystrom’s new receptionist resign at the end of her first day? Why are the Nystroms’ neighbors so close-mouthed? Who mailed that prophetic obituary? With Sheriff Milo Dodge in the hospital, it’s up to Emma and Vida to get to the bottom of the tragedy. Alpiners love scandal, and with Elmer’s murder, they’ll get their fill. The Alpine Scandal, number nineteen in this bestselling series, is as suspenseful and charming as its predecessors, a delicious look into the life of a small town where all inhabitants know one another–just not as well as they thought.

SPECIAL EDITION: MURDER Not even in Alpine, Washington, could the death of octogenarian Jack Froland be considered big news—except by his drinking buddies at Mugs Ahoy. But that suddenly changes when in the middle of the funeral, Jack’s widow hysterically insists that he was murdered. Emma Lord, publisher of The Alpine Advocate, who is already investigating a threatening letter received by the town’s beautiful blonde judge, now suspects she has two hot stories to unravel. Backed by her House and Home editor, that bottomless repository of scandal Vida Runkel, she prepares for a triple-threat special: murder, blackmail, and—as wildfire sweeps the mountainside— possible arson as well. But success will not come cheap. With a killer roaming the woods, it may cost Emma her life. . . . READ ALL ABOUT IT! The Alpine Advocate Novels by Mary Daheim

Originally published in 1945, the triumphant novel of a great American family dynasty in the Pacific Northwest, by Pulitzer Prize winner Edna Ferber. Great Son tells the story of four generations of the Melendys, a family grown rich and ill at ease, who watched Seattle grow from a village to a skyscraper town, who felt the rhythm and sweep of America in the building, and the call of the Alaskan gold fields. There is Madam Exact Melendy, who saw Seattle grow from an Indian camp to the wonder city of the Northwest, and Vaughan, her son, who wrested three fortunes from the wilderness, but yielded to the domination of three women. Finally, there is Mike Melendy, a clear-eyed representative of the new generation, who, feeling there was no place to go but up, took to flying. With her signature colorful prose, Edna Ferber brings to life the triumphant story of the magnificent Melendy men and women.

TROUBLE IS BREWING… As the owner of Little Shop of Potions, a magic potion shop specializing in love potions, Carly Bell Hartwell finds her product more in demand than ever. A local soothsayer has predicted that a couple in town will soon divorce—and now it seems every married person in Hitching Post, Alabama, wants a little extra matrimonial magic to make sure they stay hitched. But when Carly finds a dead man in her shop, clutching one of her potion bottles, she goes from most popular potion person to public enemy number one. In no time the murder investigation becomes a witch hunt—literally! Now Carly is going to need to brew up some serious sleuthing skills to clear her name and find the real killer—before the whole town becomes convinced her potions really are to die for!

A brand-new novella in the Ghost of Granny Apples Mystery series, featuring Emma Whitecastle’s daughter, Kelly—only available digitally… Like mother, like daughter? Emma Whitecastle’s daughter Kelly just wants to live a normal life and pursue her studies at Harvard. But that’s not so easy when your mother is a famous medium who hosts a TV show on paranormal activity and when your frequent companion is a ghost named Granny Apples. When reporter Tanisha Costello approaches her, Kelly is understandably skittish. But Tanisha isn’t after a story—she needs help. She’s being haunted. Though Kelly doesn’t want to acknowledge she has the same gift as her mother, Granny Apples steps in to get her to take the case and get the scoop on the spirit. Includes an excerpt from the “delectable” (Publishers Weekly) first book in the Ghost of Granny Apples Mystery series—Ghost á la Mode.

As the quaint resort town of Warner Pier, Michigan, prepares for the Fourth of July, Lee McKinney and her aunt Nettie debut their latest confections: chocolate frogs, fish, and lizards. The first to buy a chocolate croaker is the town crank, Hershel Perkins - only minutes after having an altercation in the post office with Lee's boyfriend, Joe Woodyard. Then Hershel's canoe is found half submerged near Joe's boat shop. Hershel has disappeared - and the police presume foul play. A Cozy Mystery available only in Mystery 4.