JF

Megan Jenkins isn’t looking forward to Christmas. The holidays will forevermore remind her of what she had and lost. Her husband, and love of her life, died a few days after Christmas the year before, leaving her a young widow with a fatherless son to raise. During the course of this Christmas Eve, Megan experiences her own Christmas Miracle as she learns the true meaning of giving with the help of Kevin Murdock, a long-time friend who’s always been there for her.

Angie Reynolds' heart aches for a husband and family of her own. Unfortunately, she's looked for love in all the wrong places with nothing to show for it but disappointment. None of the guys she's dated is worthy of her, including her ex-husband. This Christmas season looks to be another one spent alone. Yet until Angie realizes her own worth, she will never be able to accept the gift of love from someone like Brad Miller.

Before she even turned 40, Florence Nightingale was the darling of the British public, the heroine of the Crimea. She could have sailed home to England and comfortably lived out her days. Instead she conducted a postmortem on every moment of her wartime service. She sought to broadcast her mistakes so everyone would understand what happens in unsanitary medical facilities. One hundred and fifty years ago, the respect we now have for nurses and the intense training that nurses must undergo was nothing but a seed in Florence Nightingale's imagination.

Christmas used to be the happiest time of the year in the big house on the hill. But this year when the clock strikes midnight on Christmas Day, it will all be over. Can Sebastian, a wily Maine Coon cat, find a way to bring his people back home or will this holiday be their last?

Times are changing in Pickax, and it all makes for some newsworthy notes for the "Qwill Pen". A new senior center is in the works, and a frisky production of Cats is set to delight Moose County residents, human and feline alike. Polly Duncan is off to Paris, momentarily leaving Qwill without a companion for his apple-barn concerts, and The Librarians Who Lunch are getting read to put on a show of their spectacular Art Hats to help unite Pickax with its Lockmaster County neighbors.

Autumn has arrived, and the citizens of Pickax find themselves amid a clamor of activity. In addition to the opening of its latest theatrical production, the town is celebrating the dedication of a new bookstore and park built in memory of Pickax's beloved bookshop owner Edd Smith. Columnist Jim Qwilleran, participating in the festivities, is also busy with his latest book project: an account of a uniquely historic guest residence, the Hibbard House.

Rachael will do anything to protect her bakery from the evil Bakermatic Baked Goods Company, but does that include murder? When a food critic dies after sampling a pie from Rachael's bakery, she is quickly labeled the prime suspect. When the police doubt her story of innocence, she has no choice but to find the real killer. With carefree best friend, Pippa, Rachael sets out on a mission to save her bakery, but it could ultimately cost her and her best friend everything.

Ms. Christie introduces us for the first time to Hercule Poirot as he solves the mysterious demise of Mrs. Alfred Inglethorpe at her country estate, Styles Court. Many suspects come under his scrutiny but it is his genius to unravel all the intricacies and end up solving the crime in a very surprising ending.