The protagonist, Mary Emma Moody, widowed mother of six, has taken her family east in 1912 to begin a new life. Her son, Ralph, then thirteen, recalls how the Moodys survive that first bleak winter in a Massachusetts town. Money and prospects are lacking, but not so faith and resourcefulness. "Mother" in Little Britches and Man of the Family, Mary Emma emerges fully as a character in this book, and Ralph, no longer called "Little Britches," comes...

An old woman is killed in a suspicious fire, some works are stolen from the new Art Center, and Jim Qwilleran and his two Siamese cats have another mystery on their hands.

Carson Drew takes Nancy on a cruise to Rio de Janeiro. Once on board the Emerald Queen his attention turns to the beautiful widow, Nina da Silva. The problem is, Nina happens to be Nancy's top suspect in a strange case of stolen gems. As Nancy investigates, someone tries to kill her with a poisonous spider, the cruise director is wounded by a poisoned dart meant for her, and she is stalked by a phanton hit man. But Nancy is determined not to be...

Emmaline tries to find her little brother who has been sold into servitude as a chimney sweep.