Pines and Plains Libraries

It's 1936 and the Great Depression has taken its toll. Eighty-six-year-old Hennie Comfort has lived in Middle Swan, Colorado, up in the high country of the snow-covered Rocky Mountains, since before it was Colorado. When she first meets seventeen-year-old Nit Spindle, Hennie is drawn to the young grieving girl. Nit and her husband have come to this small mining town in search of work, but the loneliness and loss Nit feels are almost too much to bear....

In a twist on the classic tale of "There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly," a ravenous old lady swallows a bell, some bows, gifts, a sack, a sleigh, and finally some reindeer.

"When eighty-six-year-old Adele Woodmore moves to Les Barbes to be near the Broussards, she wants nothing more than a comfortable, quiet life. Employing men from Father Vince's halfway house to do odd jobs and landscaping, she delights in the fledgling friendships she's developed and the idea that she is helping these men get back on their feet. Then a series of murders in Les Barbes casts a pall over the town, and one of Adele's handymen becomes...

In Partonville, a tiny southern Illinois farming town, 87-year-old Dorothy Jean Wetstra is the self-proclaimed town matriarch. She's a regular in the main street cafe, where she helps herself to doughnuts and gossip. And she's a Wild Musketeer on the senior citizens' softball team. Aware of her own limitations, she often asks "the Big Guy" in heaven for help with the town's problems: "Dear Lord, DO SOMETHING!"

A seventy-five-year old widow, Sarah finds new meaning brought to her life after her home becomes a kind of refuge for her restless granddaughter, an Israeli pacifist, a homeless mother and son, and a victim of domestic violence.

Miss Julia's own home is not immune to shock waves--the arrival of Latisha, housekeeper Lillian's five-year-old pistol of a great-granddaughter, sets off sparks in Miss Julia's household. But what could shake them all up even more is if anyone finds out the most troubling gossip of all--more tall tales about Miss Julia's late husband. Can Miss Julia turn the town's attention away from herself before she becomes the center of scandal? Can her cool-as-a-cucumber...

"Popular blogger and foodie queen Lavender Wills reigns over Lavender Honey Farms, a serene slice of organic heaven nestled in Oregon wine country. Lavender is determined to keep her legacy from falling into the profit-driven hands of uncaring relatives, and she wants an heir to sustain her life's work after she's gone. So she invites her three closest online friends--fellow food bloggers, women of varied ages and backgrounds--out to her farm. She...

Colorado, January 1977. Eighty-year-old Edith Goodnough lies in a hospital bed, IV taped to the back of her hand, police officer at her door. She is charged with murder. The clues: a sack of chicken feed slit with a knife, a milky-eyed dog tied outdoors one cold afternoon. The motives: the brutal business of farming and a family code of ethics as unforgiving as the winter prairie itself.

Bakerhaven, Connecticut, seems like the ideal place to host a charity crossword-puzzle tournament-after all, the town is home to Cora Felton, the beloved puzzle columnist known as the Puzzle Lady. A slew of celebrity contestants are on the way, and the locals have been invited to challenge the veteran puzzlers head-on. But the town's attention is fixated on something far more gripping than crosswords when the body of the town tart is discovered lying...

"Lucille Howard is getting on in years, but she stays busy. Thanks to the inspiration of her dearly departed friend Arthur Truluv, she has begun to teach baking classes, sharing the secrets to her delicious classic Southern yellow cake, the perfect pinwheel cookies, and other sweet essentials. Her classes have become so popular that she's hired Iris, a new resident of Mason, Missouri, as an assistant. Iris doesn't know how to bake, but she needs to...