While converting the Victorian home left by her great-aunt Edie into a library, Anne Gibson stumbles upon a fascinating find. Hidden behind an old star quilt is a tiny sealed-off room with a small writing desk and a faded photograph of Edie in a wedding gown. Anne is certain Aunt Edie never married, so who is the handsome young man with her in the photograph? Could he still hold claim to the house bequeathed to Anne? As Anne sets out to solve the mystery, she makes delightful new friends and runs into old ones - including a high school sweetheart who might not be happy that the woman who broke his heart is back in town.

While cataloging books at the library, Anne stumbles on an old, yellowed map of Pennsylvania tucked inside the pages of a historical book from Aunt Edie's private collection. When Anne studies the map, she sees markings that hint at its use by Lewis and Clark! Could it really be authentic? And if it is, how did Aunt Edie come to possess a map that had been stolen from the now-defunct Blue Hill Historical Society one hundred years ago? Meanwhile, Anne's son Ben, starts disappearing for long periods of time, though he's always close by and comes home when she calls. His furtive, increasingly strange behavior and - stranger still for a nine-year-old boy - frequent showering make Anne wonder what secrets her son is hiding from her.

When an unmarked envelope arrives at the library, containing a mock-up of a newspaper article, Anne is shocked to learn that she and several of her old high school friends are implicated in a crime that took place the night of their school's homecoming. Worse, the writer threatens to expose secrets that would ruin the classmates' reputations and possibly cost them their jobs. Who wrote this tale of hijinks, and what does the instigator want from Anne and her former classmates? Meanwhile, Ben and Liddie are covered in a miserable poison ivy rash, and Anne must balance caring for her children and running a library with racing to unlock the truth behind the cryptic news story before it's too late.

Anne Gibson is alarmed when identity thefts leave elderly Blue Hill citizens with bank accounts drained and credit cards maxed out. When a mysterious young woman arrives at the library's first book club meeting and starts asking personal questions of Anne's friend Mildred Farley, Anne wonders if the stranger is behind the thefts. As Anne sets out to uncover the truth, she discovers that there is far more behind the woman's curious behavior than she could have imagined. Meanwhile, when Anne learns that her parents can't come for Thanksgiving, she and her children plan a big dinner at the library for their new friends. But will their guests' last-minute cancellations make the family's first Blue Hill Thanksgiving a lonely one?

Anne is busy preparing for Christmas when she finds a delicate key among Aunt Edie's holiday decorations. Anne soon discovers that the key unlocks a cubby in the church's Advent cabinet, which contains a beautiful sapphire ring. Did it belong to her recently deceased great-aunt? If so, why was it locked away and not among Aunt Edie's jewelry? And why is Reverend Tom tight-lipped when Anne asks him about it? Her search for the truth uncovers new revelations about her beloved great-aunt and a trail of secrecy and intrigue that stretches from cozy Blue Hill to Philadelphia. Meanwhile, Anne is delighted when Ben and Liddie agree to participate in the church's annual Christmas play, but the production is in jeopardy when costumes go missing and the director becomes ill. Can they overcome the obstacles to ensure that the show goes on?

When the mayor of Blue Hill visits Anne to talk about a new tax proposal that will soon go before the town council, she's excited about the possibilities. The additional funding could provide more library resources and programs, as well as pay some of Anne's dedicated volunteers. But when popular children's books begin vanishing from the shelves, Anne discovers that it is just the tip of an iceberg of political intrigue involving the proposed levy. Can she find out who is behind the scheme and expose their plans before it's too late? Meanwhile, Ben befriends Joey, a new boy at school, who spends an increasing amount of time at the library and begins frequently staying overnight with Ben's family. As Anne observes Joey's unkempt appearance, she soon realizes there is more to his story thanb meets the eye.

When Anne finds a roll of undeveloped film in an old camera of her great-aunt Edie's and has it processed, she makes a startling discovery. Anne's father's cousin Carl was reported killed in action in Vietnam in 1970. So how is it possible that he is standing next to Aunt Edie in a photograph taken at the bicentennial celebration in Washington, DC? While digging through the newly revealed family photographs and the storehouse of albums and scrapbooks in the library's vast attic, Anne and her parents decide to put together a family reunion as well as an exhibit of Aunt Edie's photography of Bill Hill and beyond. In their search for answers to the mystery of Cousin Carl, what other family secrets will be exposed?

While scouring Aunt Edie's attic for supplies to help Wendy with her latest project, Anne discovers a receipt for two dozen top-of-the-line sewing machines paid for with cash. Anne has seen only one sewing machine in Aunt Edie's house, and it's a different model than the ones listed on the receipt. Why did Aunt Edie buy so many sewing machines? What happened to them? Did someone take advantage of her? Meanwhile, when kindergartener Liddie notices that one of her classmates doesn't have a winter coat, her heart is touched and she sets out on a mission to collect as much clothing as possible for needy children in their community.

After a heavy rain, Anne discovers that one of the walls in the library basement is crumbling. She asks Alex to evaluate the damage, but while they're examining the hole, they uncover a human skeleton! Anne finds an arrowhead buried with the skeleton, as well as Aunt Edie's bow and arrow hidden nearby. Surely her beloved relative had nothing to do with this mysterious person's death, did she? Anne must dig deep into the library's past in order to learn the truth. Meanwhile, Anne stumbles on a flyer for the church's father-son retreat in Ben's trash and is determined to find a way for him to participate, despite his protests. As she researches Aunt Edie's love of archery, she discovers a new link to her aunt who can help Anne pass on a very special legacy to Ben.

It's early February in Blue Hill, and Anne Gibson is surprised to receive a Valentine's Day postcard from an exotic locale addressed to her late aunt Edie. What puzzles Anne even more is the year-old postmark. The sender, whose scrawled first name is illegible, references a reunion at an undisclosed location in two weeks. Anne doesn't want the mystery correspondent to travel halfway around the world for a meeting that can't happen, but how can she figure out who this person is in time? Meanwhile, Anne must deal with Liddie's extreme enthusiasm for Valentine's Day as well as Ben's dread of it. And everyone in her life seems to be pushing her to attend the annual sweetheart dinner with Alex. But does she want to risk their friendship when she's not yet ready for romance?

Following a meeting of the Blue Hill Library's writing group. Lucas Miller disappears. His teenage daughters, Remi and Bella, who are also part-time library employees, are unable to console their distraught mother when Lucas' car is found crashed into a tree outside of town, without him in it. Anne reluctantly agrees to look into the published author's disappearance, but the mystery gets more tangled with each clue she finds. What does the strange code in Lucas' last manuscript mean? How is his disappearance related to the rash of break-ins happening around town? Meanwhile, Ben and Liddie's grandparents are coming to town to spend time with them. Their presence floods Anne with bittersweet memories of her late husband, and their attempts to encourage her to consider dating again upset Ben. As the case keeps pulling Anne's attention away, she struggles to give her family the time they deserve.

When a powerful storm blows through Blue Hill, Anne's children are rescued by a drifter named Jack Kendall. Anne doesn't want this stranger near her children, but they immediately grow attached to him, enthralled by stories of his adventures. Jack claims to have known Aunt Edie, but Anne finds his stories too outrageous to be true. Meanwhile, Ben and Ryan want to help raise money for their classmate Caden, who has leukemia. The town rallies around the family, who need help paying the medical bills. Inspired by Jack's tales of prospecting in Alaska, the boys begin searching the creek behind the library for gold. Soon they have a large collection of rocks flecked with shiny metal. Could they really have struck it rich?

Bill Hill is celebrating its first-ever Railroad Days Festival, and the main event is an antiques appraisal and auction. Contributions come from many of the townspeople, but the most valuable item - an ancient Chinese vase worth ten thousand dollars - has been donated anonymously. The benefactor has asked that the proceeds from the vase go to the Blue Hill Library, but Anne barely has time to wonder who could be so generous before the vase is stolen and replaced with a fake. Worse yet, Wendy seems to be the prime suspect in the crime! To clear her friend's name, Anne must find the real thief and the missing vase before the auctioneer starts the bidding. Meanwhile, Grace Hawkins, editor of the Blue Hill Gazette, asks Anne to write a monthly book column. She uses the library's display featuring the civil rights movement as the inspiration for her first piece but is surprised to see several letters condemning the display and her judgment as a librarian. As Anne struggles with how to respond to her detractors, she finds inspiration, as always, from Aunt Edie.

Coraline Watson brings her yellow-naped Amazon parrot to the library one night for the Birder's Club meeting, and Liddie takes an instant liking to the beautiful bird. Anne doesn't pay much attention to Coraline's wild stories about spies from a nearby chemical company, until the next morning, when the parrot, Lorenzo, appears at Liddie's window. Anne tries to return the bird, but Coraline's house is dark and empty, the front window is broken, and no one knows where Coraline has gone. Did she stumble across some actual intrigue? Are her theories true about the chemical company trying to steal a local bird refuge for its own use? Or has Coraline managed to abscond with the Birders Club funds? Meanwhile, Liddie is taken with Lorenzo and wants a parrot of her own. There's even a cage in the attic it could live in. When Anne examines the cage, she realizes it was built for carrier pigeons. Did Aunt Edie own them? Anne's research leads to a fascinating discovery in the great anut's past.

When Alex Ochs receives a bank overdraft statement on an account in his sister's name, he brings it to Anne for help. After his sister, Marla, and her husband died in a car accident four years ago, Alex made sure all of their accounts were closed. He never knew of this overdrawn account until now but quickly learns it is tied to Marla's work at Heaven's Child, an organization that provides funding to families planning to adopt. Someone is clearly still using this account ... and stealing money from Heaven's Child. Can Anne and Alex find the thief and recover funds that should be going where Marla intended - to help orphaned children join their new adoptive families? Meanwhile, missionaries from India tell Anne that Aunt Edie once visited them. Curious about her great-aunt's trip, Anne delves into Edie photographs and discovers that she was working to found an adoption agency and even adopt a child of her own, a boy named Thomas Gee. But where is he now?

Blue Hill is in an uproar because a rep from Beau-Mart is in town looking for a place to build the next big box store. Wendy leads a protest against Beau-Mart.

Annie is assisting Wendy Pyle and Maggie Sloan plan a ceremony for the opening of Blue Hill's time capsule. The capsule is stores in a statue of Lois Stover, one of the town's most famous citizens. Stover not only served as a special agent during World War I, but she also was the first female architect registered in Pennsylvania and provided inspiration for many of Aunt Edie's adventures. But mere days before the ceremony, both the statue and its time capsule disappear! How did the thieves manage to steal the life-size statue right off of its stone base and why? Could rumors about a treasure trove of hidden jewels inside it be true? Meanwhile, Ben desperately wants a metal detector, but Anne isn't comfortable with the idea of her son wandering all over town, digging up dubious finds. Besides, metal detectors are expensive and they simply can't afford one. When a neighbor offers to sell his used one for next to nothing, though, Anne can't refuse. To her surprise, Ben's new hobby might help solve the mystery of the missing statue.

A Civil War reenactment group has turned Blue Hill's park into a historic battlefield, but there's a battle of a different type brewing after a precious heirloom goes missing. Elderly sisters Nellie Brown and Betty Warring share a home and the biographies they regularly check out from the library, but when an antique dueling pistol awarded to their ancestor during the Civil War disappears, the siblings turn against each other. It's up to Anne to find out what happened to the valuable pistol and mend their relationship. Meanwhile, Anne, Ben, and Liddie befriend a family participating in the reenactment, but suspicions regarding the missing pistol might ruin their new friendship before it even begins.