When peaceful Alpine, Washington, is stunned by a case of arson, newspaper editor Emma Lord and Sheriff Milo Dodge soon discover that the fire had been used to cover up the more sinister crime of murder.

THE ALPINE ADVOCATE IS ON A ROLL.
The big story is the five million dollar luxury spa that Los Angeles real estate developers want to build around Alpine's mountainside mineral springs—hot news and fierce controversy for Advocate readers, and for the paper's editor and publisher, Emma Lord.
Pro-spa Alpiners cite the prospect of sorely needed new jobs. Those against it predict glitz, sleaze, and an avalanche of "Californicators."...

When Alpine's newspaper, "The Advocate," narrowly escapes a potential hostile takeover, Emma Lord finds herself on the top of the suspect list when the person behind the bid turns up dead.

For once, Emma Lord, editor-publisher of The Alpine Advocate, isn't thrilled by having an inside track. The Seattle strangling murder of Alpine native Carol Stokes is generating headlines, but the accused killer is Emma's long-lost cousin Ronnie, who swears he was out drinking when his girlfriend was strangled. But he can't prove it, and neighbors claim they heard the couple fighting moments before the murder. Now Emma and supersnoop Vida, the Advocate's...

When Alpine's newspaper, "The Advocate," narrowly escapes a potential hostile takeover, Emma Lord finds herself on the top of the suspect list when the person behind the bid turns up dead.

The debut of the Emma Lord murder mystery series.
After a year as publisher-editor of the Alpine Advocate, Emma Lord feels fine about her move to this small town in the foothills of Washington's Cascade Mountains. What she really needs for her paper, though, is a big story. And she gets it—when handsome Mark Doukas, grandson of rich, old Neeny Doukas is murdered. Emma discovers that trying to get straight answers out of Neeny and his thin-lipped...

An Emma Lord mystery by the author of "The Alpine Christmas."
When a beautiful young African-American nurse with a shady past takes a job in Alpine, some locals show their true bigoted natures, filling editor-publisher Emma Lord with disgust. But when a second newcomer — a young black man — is found shot through the head, Emma is stuck with a story she will never forget.
Though Sheriff Milo Dodge connects the victim to the nurse,...

When seventeen-year-old Emma's antique-collector parents vanish and her brother's college roommate shows up to become her guardian, he takes her from San Francisco to Boston, where she discovers that she is a powerful "ghostkeeper," which both explains troubling incidents from her past and presents difficult new dilemmas.

THE EDITOR OF THE ALPINE ADVOCATE GOES DIGGING FOR A MURDERER.
At forty-two, newspaperwoman Emma Lord decides she needs time off to do
some soul-searching. But her old Jag breaks down in the picturesque Pacific
Northwest town of Port Angeles, and instead of finding herself, she ,s helping
friends find the truth about a grisly discovery: a skeleton in their basement.
The bones belong to those of an unknown young woman, buried in a
crumbling...

BONUS: This edition contains an excerpt from Mary Daheim's The Alpine Winter.
Nestled in the foothills of the Cascade Mountains, the charming hamlet of Alpine is preparing for Thanksgiving, while Emma Lord, editor and publisher of The Alpine Advocate, feels her spirits sink. There will be no family or friends to share the day, but a call from Sheriff Milo Dodge on the Monday after the holiday weekend leaves her no time to wallow....