Showing results by narrator "Julie McKay" in All Categories

While the Seaside Knitters get ready to showcase their new Danish-inspired event, locals can’t stop talking about Tess Bean - a bright-eyed environmental activist with a way of charming both animals and humans alike. Birdie’s granddaughter is mesmerized by ethereal Tess’ passion for saving the earth and ocean, and even Izzy’s old Irish setter becomes attached to the young woman’s gentle touch....

Winter in Sea Harbor is a feast for the senses—crackling bonfires, the scent of snow in the salty air, carols ringing out on the village green. This year, the Seaside Knitters have a sack full of obligations in addition to their usual Christmas preparations. Meanwhile, the holidays are kicking off in style at Mayor Beatrice Scaglia’s holiday party, where a well-dressed crowd admires the mayor’s new home and celebrity chef. An additional treat for Ben and Nell Endicott is reconnecting with a dear college friend. But it’s not just reunions and the appetizers that are to die for.

When pretty little Ina Kell arrived in Manhattan full of foolish dreams about making it big in show business, she had no idea how quickly she’d be in the headlines. But when TV personality Tony Fagan is murdered in the apartment building where she’s staying and she disappears shortly thereafter, the search is on, led by Inspector Oscar Piper and his long-time friend Hildegarde Withers.

In first grade, twins Alexis and Adam wrote down what they wanted to be when they grew up and put it in their teacher’s time capsule. Now entering their senior year in high school, they are surprised to find out what they wrote: Alexis wanted to "help people" and Adam wanted to be a fireman. But that was before Adam got sick and their family fell apart. Adam’s leukemia is now in remission but, sadly, so is the twins’ family. Their mother and father are always working - not only don’t they have time for Alexis and Adam, they don’t have time for each other. Alexis can’t even convince them to take a weekend off for one last family vacation to Disney World.

It’s autumn in Sea Harbor, and as the tourists leave, a mysterious guest arrives. When she’s implicated in a crime, the Seaside Knitters must quickly table their knitting project and search out a motif for murder. Fall is usually a relaxing time in Sea Harbor, but it’s turning out to be a busy season for Izzy Chambers Perry. Not only is she helping the Seaside Knitters make a magnificent throw to celebrate the 40th wedding anniversary of her aunt and uncle, but she and her husband are finally selling the cottage she lived in before she got married.

It’s an exciting time for yarn shop owner Izzy Chambers Perry. She and her new husband are expecting a baby, and all of Sea Harbor seems to be rejoicing with them. As a mother-to-be, Izzy is having a heady summer—full of bike rides, runs along the shore, and time spent with her aunt Nell and the other Seaside Knitters—until the day she spots an abandoned baby car seat and hand-knit blanket on the beach. Izzy immediately recognizes the blanket’s material—a soft yellow angora yarn she displayed in her shop window last fall.

Double standards are nothing new. Women deal with them every day. Take the common truism that women who sleep around are sluts while men are studs. Why is it that men grow distinguished and sexily gray as they age while women just get saggy and haggard? Have you ever wondered how a young woman is supposed to both virginal and provocatively enticing at the same time?

After retrieving fresh lobster nets from a local laundromat, Cass Halloran rushes to attend a last-minute gathering with her knitting circle. But Cass can't stop worrying about the lonely boy she saw hanging around the dryers and the school uniform he left behind in a hurry. When she and her friends return the lost clothing the next day, they find the child and his younger sister alone, seemingly abandoned by their mother.

With her shy manner and baggy jeans, Rose Malone becomes an unlikely superhero the night she stumbles into Izzy Chambers' shop and inadvertently saves a shipment of yarn from water damage. When the Seaside Knitters help the enigmatic handywoman settle into town and find work at a popular real-estate company, Rose proves she can fix just about anything - until a potential homebuyer is killed, and she becomes entangled in murder.

Hildegarde Withers, schoolteacher and amateur detective, stumbles onto the corpse of Jefferson Grammar School's attractive young music teacher. When Miss Withers goes for help, the body plays hooky, and when Homicide Inspector Oscar Piper starts to investigate, somebody tries to brain him with a shovel. The rest of the cops want to throw the book at the school janitor, who has flunked their pop quiz. But Miss Withers disagrees and decides to stay after school to ask her own questions.

Tanya Anne Crosby explores the lives of Caroline, Augusta, and Savannah Aldridge, three sisters who share a dark past and an uncertain future. After the death of their mother, a newspaper heiress, Caroline Aldridge steps up to head the paper. But a killer is making headlines, and Caroline may have unwittingly stepped into the crosshairs. Even as she mends the tattered bonds of sisterhood, a sinister force beyond their control may tear them apart forever....

As Izzy and the Seaside Knitters prepare her yarn studio for the tourist season, fellow knitter Birdie Favazza has her hands full with her granddaughter Gabby. The little girl soon becomes a fixture in the town and even strikes up a friendship with a reclusive local fisherman, Finnegan, who is the source of much local turbulence. Then lobsterwoman Cass Halloran stumbles over the old fisherman—his body covered with leaves and sea grass and wearing the yellow fleece vest she once made for him.

After decades of pushing away traumatic memories from childhood, Colette De Luca is ready to start a family of her own. It’ll be healthy, a wish come true, with a man she believes is the love of her life. Thankfully, she thought ahead when she was younger and froze her eggs for this very moment. Greta O’Brien, a wealthy hedge-fund manager, is forced to confront the making of her own family when tragedy strikes her twin teenage sons.

Chicago, 1938. Late one night, before the 10:00 show, the body of a prominent radio actress is found dead in the station's lounge. All the evidence points to murder and one young up-and-coming radio actress, Vivian Witchell, as the next victim. But Viv isn't the type to leave her fate in the hands of others - she's used to stealing the show. Alongside charming private detective Charlie Haverman, Vivian is thrust into a world of clues and motives, suspects and secrets. And with so much on the line, Viv finds her detective work doesn't end when the "On-Air" light goes out.

First published in 1988, the award-winning Trash showcases Allison at her most fearlessly honest and startlingly vivid. The limitless scope of human emotion and experience are depicted in stories that give aching and eloquent voice to the terrible wounds we inflict on those closest to us. These are tales of loss and redemption; of shame and forgiveness; of love and abuse; and the healing power of storytelling.

Hildegarde Withers is on the hunt again, as a vacation in California lands her a movie job and two dealers to clear up. Her own death brings Inspector Piper to the scene, and her resurrection cuts through Hollywood red tape as she becomes a target for the killer.

Izzy Perry’s Sea Harbor Yarn Studio is heating up, thanks to an upcoming fashion benefit. The show will feature hand-knit garments, and enthusiastic knitters flock to the shop for supplies to create runway-worthy pieces. Yet Seaside Knitter Birdie is enjoying flocks of a different kind, thanks to a rekindled interest in birdwatching. Along with a group of passionate birders, she often spends weekend mornings looking for warblers or keeping watch for gannets and grebes. It’s a lovely, special time—until Birdie makes her way through a tangle of vines and stumbles upon a fellow birder’s body.

When a company can get its best ideas to market faster, its leaders can be confident that their most important strategic decisions will be executed faithfully, and their visions for the company’s future will be realized. They are also able to be agile in response to market changes, pursue new opportunities, and achieve ambitious plans for growth.

Top model Violet Feverel should be a pretty picture riding the big red thoroughbred Siwash - but the front page photo on the tabloids is ugly as death. The police dub the tragedy an unfortunate accident. But Miss Hildegarde Withers, who stumbled across the girl's body on the Central Park bridle path, knows they are, unfortunately, wrong. Just plain horse sense tells her it was murder....

Hallie Elliot has a perfect life. She is an up-and-coming interior designer in one of San Francisco's most sought-after firms and has just recently become engaged to Peter, a brilliant, young journalist. But when she stumbles upon Peter and her boss in what seems to be a compromising position, her trust in her perfect life is shaken. So Hallie escapes to Lake Como, Italy, to spend time with her half sister, Portia Tesoro, an Italian blueblood dealing with the scandal of a public estrangement from her cheating husband.