A month after the United States enters World War II, the country is in upheaval and so is the Erhardt family. Nine-year-old Lark, her mother Arlene, and Aunt Betty are heading for San Diego, far away from Harvester, Minnesota and Arlene s shiftless husband. In the booming wartime economy, Arlene and Betty are soon at work, leaving Lark alone to explore their new neighborhood, a wartime housing project full of others with similarly uprooted lives. Away from prying eyes and small town expectations, the two women begin to forge new lives and new dreams dreams that Lark isn t always comfortable with. This richly detailed novel, told through Lark s observant eyes, reflects the era s tumultuous events in the everyday dramas of its memorable, finely nuanced characters."

Abby returns to her childhood home in rural Louisiana, hoping to share the wisdom of her ninety-two-year-old grandma with her daughter Hannah, but instead of the wise, loving woman Abby remembers, she finds an old woman with the power to crush Hannah's spirit.

"Everybody has a story. You listen to that story, Honeygirl, and your story will come find you." Her Grand Lady spoke these words when Abby was just a girl, spending the summer in rural Louisiana, surrounded by an extended, loving family. She's been listening carefully ever since. Now Abby is raising her own family thousands of miles away. And even though Hawaii might seem like paradise to some, it's a long way away from those idyllic days she remembers, sitting with her grandmother, learning about the beauty and mystery of life. So Abby has just one wish: that her daughter Hannah might be touched by the beauty of her 92-year-old Grand Lady's stories, before it's too late. But when Hannah finally does spend time with Grand Lady, the old woman crushes her tender spirit. And a mother-daughter journey home becomes an adventure of discovery-about the importance of family and the healing found in forgiveness. In Gardenias for Breakfast, mothers and daughters may recognize a branch or two from their own family trees and find themselves wishing not only for Grand Lady's guidance but also for Hannah's ability to smell the clouds.

Country western singer-megastar Matson Daley had always been surrounded by gorgeous women-but the party was getting old. He was ready to find and fall in love with the right woman. His woman. He'd had thousands of miles of highway to think about what she'd be like, and the fantasy turned real when he met Leah Hayes. Matson believes he's found his true love in Leah, with her incomparable supermodel beauty, knowledge of the music business and kind, generous heart. Theirs is a whirlwind fairytale romance that evolves into something authentic and pure. But Leah possesses a terrifying, life-altering secret that she must reveal to Matson, though she's not sure how or when. And Matson Daley has demons of his own. Unknown to him, by becoming his lover, Leah has unwittingly become a target for murder. Will their dreams of being together ever come true?

Private eye Bill Crane is back, in his fifth and final case, working and drinking as usual with his old sidekick, Doc Williams, and a new member of the gang, Ann Fortune, who is posing as his girlfriend - and disapproves of his carousing. The trio has been sent to a Chicago suburb to investigate a murder and death threats made to the family of an industrial magnate. Alternately impeded and abetted by the many attractive women of the family, Crane cracks the case in his own inimitable way, following a trail of clues including the perfume of gardenias, the lipstick marks on the dead man's face and the crimson cat.