An alternative cover edition for this ASIN can be found here. The year is 1943 and war is in the air. The men are away, and the women are at home taking care of business. Mary Holland, the wife of John Holland, is in charge of managing her husband’s newspaper while he is away. But managing a newspaper in the sleepy town of Pineville, Tennessee isn’t exactly a daunting task. Pineville is filled with boring old stories and endless cups of coffee being drunk over checkerboards and local town gossip. Or so it seemed. When Mary Holland is approached by an FBI agent who tells her that Farmer Griffith has been killed and a note with her name on it was found on his body, the woman’s otherwise boring life is thrown into a sudden and dangerous adventure filled with spies, questions, mystery, bullets, and plenty of Lucky Strike cigarettes. But the adventure isn’t one Mary indulges in. Forced to face down a horrible evil, Mary is pushed to her limits while being chased by a danger that threatens her very life. Will Mary Holland survive her own war, or will she end up six feet under with an empty coffee cup? Will good defeat evil or will evil win over a sleepy little town filled with people who have no idea of the danger that is lurking among them?

Mary Holland is organizing a talent show to raise money for wounded soldiers. She manages to book a well-known actor to headline it. But when the actor ends up dead in her town, a dangerous mystery begins, thrusting Mary into a case that takes her to Los Angeles after a tornado tears through her town. When Mary arrives in LA, she becomes trapped between the past and present, caught in a horrible chase that takes her down a very dark path. Will Mary Holland find the killer before the killer traps her in a clever web?

Will Mary and Betty survive a deadly night lost in a mansion consumed with a horrific secret? Mary Holland is on her way to Maine to attend a funeral with her best friend Betty. At first the trip appears normal but when Betty ends up getting Mary lost on a stormy back road, the trip quickly turns into a nightmare that pulls them into a night filled with secrets, confusing questions, and deadly enemies. After running her car into a flooded ditch Mary and Betty set out on foot and end up at a spooky old mansion sitting alone in the middle of the woods. Desperate for help they approach the mansion and are quickly chased inside by a dangerous dog. Once inside they become trapped in a hideous game designed by a monster lurking within. With nowhere to run and no way out, Mary and Betty begin fighting their way through a long night, struggling to escape.

Will Mary be able to locate the truth just in time to save an innocent life? Mary Holland is back from the nightmarish trip she took to Maine with her best friend, Betty. Grateful to be home, she dives back into her world at the newspaper and tries to forget all of her problems. Life slowly starts to return to normal, but then Mary gets a call from her husband’s sick uncle, who insists she visit him at the hospital he’s staying at in Georgia. Mary, feeling obligated to visit a sick family member, agrees to leave her home and drive to Georgia with Betty at her side. What Mary doesn’t know is that the hospital her uncle is staying in is a mental hospital sitting alone in a remote countryside setting. As soon as Mary arrives, she realizes that something is horribly wrong. Things turn from bad to worse when a murder takes place minutes after she arrives, and her uncle is accused of being the killer. Thrust into a confusing mystery that connects the past to the present, Mary travels into a dangerous, confusing game that pushes her mind to the edge. This cozy mystery is a clean read: no graphic violence, sex, or strong language. Read all the Pineville Gazette cozy mysteries: 1\. Bought the Farm 2\. Clueless Chase 3\. Mary Had a Little Scare 4\. Finding a Killer

Will Mary and Betty survive their time at the camp, or will they become part of a spooky campfire story about two women who were swallowed by the woods? Mary Holland is excited about driving to Oregon with her best friend, Betty, and helping her cousin fix up a camp for children living in poverty. The drive from Tennessee to Oregon is peaceful and fun. But when Mary and Betty arrive at a wooden gate that separates the camp from the world, a strange and scary feeling washes over both of them. What is beyond the gate? What danger is lurking in the deep woods of Oregon? Desperate to shake away the fear, Mary decides to go ahead and drive to the camp, where to her relief, she finds her cousin and three other people having a picnic beside a beautiful lake. All seems well until one of the people at the picnic turns up dead. Then, to make matters worse, a strange figure cuts all the tires of the cars parked at the camp and then destroys the wooden bridge, trapping everyone at the camp just as a scary storm arrives. Mary and Betty are forced to seek the truth through wind, rain, and thunder, while running through dark woods. And just when the truth seems to have been found, a horrible villain appears and confesses a dangerous secret that traps everyone in a state of fear.

Will Mary be able to solve the murder before her husband returns home? Or will the killers hiding behind the mask of simple, small-town people grab Mary and pull her into a dark closet and close it forever? Mary Holland is excited about the winter pie eating contest. She loves the contest because everyone knows she bakes the best apple pies. Mary is also exuberant at the news of her husband being sent back to the U.S. to serve out the rest of the war stateside. Life, as far as Mary is concerned, is returning back to normal. That is, until a poisoned pie kills a stranger in town. Thrust into a confusing mystery, Mary sets out to capture the killer but soon becomes entangled in a complicated web holding more than one hungry spider. With news that her husband is returning home for a two-week furlough, Mary has twenty-four hours to figure out the murder case and set a trap to capture the real killer. Unfortunately, a hometown murder that seemed simple at first quickly turns into a pie eating mess. With the help of Betty—and an unexpected friend—she dares the icy fingers of winter and steps into a fierce storm.