Emma Lord is shocked to hear that the Advocate is embroiled in a ruthless takeover bid. Soon, battle lines are drawn and war is declared. Then the first casualty is discovered facedown at the Tall Timber Motel. The victim is Dylan Platte, front man for the buy-out offer Emma turned down cold. Naturally, Emma is a prime suspect. Then it turns out that the dead man has a big surprise for the living–one that involves the glamorous Ginger Roth, a bodacious Alpine newbie who can perform the dumb blonde act in her sleep. Emma’s ever-inquisitive House & Home editor, Vida Runkel, plumbs her extensive grapevine, from the Burger Barn to the Venison Inn, determined to connect the dots. But when an Advocate insider is next to take a bullet, Emma and the rest of the Alpiners make it their mission to find a killer.

"Editor-publisher Emma Lord finds out that running a small-town newspaper is worse than nutty--it's downright dangerous."—Carolyn G. Hart When a local girl, Dani Marsh, returns to Alpine a star to shoot a Hollywood film, the tension in the air is so thick it crackles. Then at the annual Loggerama, Dani's former husband, Cody Graff goes berserk with an axe and is later found dead. Reporting on on all the goings-on as the editor of the ADVOCATE, Emma Lord begins to suspect that neither she nor the sheriff, laconic Milo Dodge, is getting the real story. Why are there such strong feelings among those who knew Dani back when? Why so few tears for Cody Graff? Whence the impenetrable mystery that enfolds Alpine like a shroud? Emma's nose for a story leads her straight into trouble....

Welcome to mystery lovers’ favorite destination: Alpine, Washington, Mary Daheim’s picturesque old logging town in the foothills of the Cascade Mountains. From the Venison Inn to the Upper Crust Bakery, Front Street is jumping–and the nerve center of the community is the office of The Alpine Advocate, Emma Lord’s weekly newspaper, which keeps folks up to speed on everything from joyous weddings to sudden, violent death. THE ALPINE SCANDAL It’s a quiet morning at the Advocate until the mail brings shocking news: a formal obituary for Alpiner Elmer Nystrom. As far as anyone knows, Elmer is alive and well. But he hasn’t turned up for work, so Emma and her unstoppable House & Home editor, Vida Runkel, rush to the Nystrom home, where they find Elmer’s lifeless body in the henhouse, half buried under straw. Not only has he been murdered, but his obituary had been mailed before he died. Though Elmer was well liked by everyone, the same cannot be said of his standoffish wife or his son, the town’s new orthodontist. Rumors fly–straight into the office of the Advocate. Why did Dr. Nystrom’s new receptionist resign at the end of her first day? Why are the Nystroms’ neighbors so close-mouthed? Who mailed that prophetic obituary? With Sheriff Milo Dodge in the hospital, it’s up to Emma and Vida to get to the bottom of the tragedy. Alpiners love scandal, and with Elmer’s murder, they’ll get their fill. The Alpine Scandal, number nineteen in this bestselling series, is as suspenseful and charming as its predecessors, a delicious look into the life of a small town where all inhabitants know one another–just not as well as they thought.

The picturesque town of Alpine in the foothills of Washington state’s Cascade Mountains—home to Emma Lord and her weekly newspaper The Alpine Advocate—has long charmed and enthralled mystery lovers. Now, with The Alpine Zen, Mary Daheim has at last reached the anticipated letter of Z. Her legion of avid armchair sleuths will relish this deliciously gripping novel. As an early summer heat wave beats down on Alpine, Emma and her staff are treading very lightly. For unfathomable reasons, the paper’s House & Home editor, Vida Runkel, is in a major snit, refusing to speak to her colleagues, or even her boss. So when a peculiar young woman walks in claiming her parents have been murdered, and that she’s in mortal danger, too, it fits right in with the rest of the craziness. Then, to the utter bafflement of her colleagues, Vida vanishes without a word to anyone. And just when Emma and her husband, Sheriff Milo Dodge, start to unsnarl these tangles, a male body, dead too long to identify, surfaces at the town dump—making what seemed merely weird feel downright sinister. Has the hot weather driven everyone nuts, or are cold-blooded forces committing deadly misdeeds? The Alpine Zen tingles with all the mystery and allure that only Mary Daheim’s brand of small-town life can provide. Gossip, love affairs, feuding, and plenty of dirty secrets make for an intriguing adventure every Alpine fan will want to read all about. Praise for The Alpine Zen “A complex plot and a cast of vivid characters will keep readers turning pages.”—Publishers Weekly “Lively and satisfying.”—Library Journal Praise for Mary Daheim and her Emma Lord mysteries “Always entertaining.”—The Seattle Times “Mary Daheim writes with wit, wisdom, and a big heart. I love her books.”—Carolyn Hart “Daheim writes . . . with dry wit, a butter-smooth style, and obvious wicked enjoyment.”—The Oregonian “The characters are great, and the plots always attention-getting.”—King Features Syndicate “Even the most seasoned mystery fans are caught off-guard by [Daheim’s] clever plot twists.”—BookLoons “Witty one-liners and amusing characterizations.”—Publishers Weekly

Mary Daheim’s bestselling novels, set in Alpine, a picturesque village tucked away in the Cascade Mountains, have charmed a generation of mystery lovers with suspenseful tales of the peril that bubbles up from below the serene surface of small-town life. An ill wind blows through Alpine, but Advocate publisher Emma Lord and Sheriff Milo Dodge seem immune to the prevailing angst. The newlyweds’ domestic idyll is most definitely over when a dead man is discovered near the fish hatchery and nobody has a clue as to his identity. Vida Runkel may have insight, but Emma’s redoubtable House & Home editor is mad at the world and saying little. Moreover, whispers of scandal travel through the quaint streets when some high school girls mysteriously take a walk on the wild side. And then Milo’s dedicated deputy, Sam Heppner, a true yeoman, suddenly goes AWOL. What’s happening in Alpine? If Milo knows, he’s not telling Emma. And Emma’s again headed for trouble when she starts snooping. The situation grows even more fraught when a shocking link is revealed between the mystery corpse and one of Alpine’s own, unearthing a long-buried dark secret. Tongues are wagging on Front Street—and the gossip contains an air of menace. Meanwhile, Mary Daheim has written her best book yet. Praise for The Alpine Yeoman “Daheim injects enough wit and color to make her tale more entertaining than the standard small-town mystery.”—Kirkus Reviews “A core of familiar characters adds charm to all Daheim’s ‘alphabet’ stories. Readers will find this new one similarly enjoyable.”—Fredericksburg Free Lance–Star “A witty and wonderful story that will keep readers glued to the pages . . . This author should be given a pat on the back considering this is the twenty-fifth novel in the Emma Lord series . . . and each one just keeps getting better and better!”—Suspense Magazine “This is the twenty-fifth Alpine mystery and Mary Daheim continues to delight readers with new twists and a wonderful and ever-evolving cast of eccentric characters. Highly recommended.”—I Love a Mystery Praise for Mary Daheim and her Emma Lord mysteries “Always entertaining.”—The Seattle Times “Mary Daheim writes with wit, wisdom, and a big heart. I love her books.”—Carolyn Hart “Daheim writes . . . with dry wit, a butter-smooth style, and obvious wicked enjoyment.”—The Oregonian “The characters are great, and the plots always attention-getting.”—King Features Syndicate “Even the most seasoned mystery fans are caught off-guard by [Daheim’s] clever plot twists.”—BookLoons “Witty one-liners and amusing characterizations.”—Publishers Weekly

THE ALPINE ADVOCATE SCOOPS A MURDER Emma Lord, the Advocate's editor, finds the body in the facial room of Stella's Styling Salon *anonymous under a mud pack, throat slashed. The victim turns out to be the sister-in-law of Sheriff Dodge's girlfriend, who had initially made the appointment for herself. Perhaps she was the killer's intended target. After all, no one in Alpine really knew the dead woman personally. Then rumors begin to fly, shady strangers turn up in town, and a young woman disappears into thin air. What looks like the story of the year is fast developing, and Emma means to have it *or die trying . . .

An exhilarating installment in Mary Daheim’s beloved and long-running small-town murder mystery series set in Alpine, Washington, and featuring unforgettable newspaper editor Emma Lord Winter in the small mountain aerie of Alpine should be as quiet as new-fallen snow on the Cascades, but from the Grocery Basket to the Venison Inn, the town is humming. At the Alpine Advocate, editor Emma Lord and her staff are on deadline with a feature about the opening of RestHaven, a new rehab and mental health facility. Front Street is buzzing with gossip about Emma’s recent engagement to Sheriff Milo Dodge. And now that fool Wayne Eriks has climbed an electric pole in the middle of a storm and got himself electrocuted. Sheriff Dodge doesn’t buy the idea that Wayne’s death is an accident. But how—and, more important, why—he died is only one of the conundrums that keep the sheriff and Emma working overtime. Why is RestHaven giving Alpine so many restless nights? What to make of allegations that someone’s trying to kill the richest man in town . . . or whispers of a rash of indecent behavior at the local high school? After Vida Runkel, the Advocate’s stalwart House & Home editor, disappears into thin air, Milo and Emma suddenly have too many loose ends to solve before they can even think about tying the knot. The Alpine Xanadu features beloved characters from the series alongside some sinister new ones—not to mention a mystery that will shake Alpine to its core. Praise for Mary Daheim and her Emma Lord mysteries “Always entertaining.”—The Seattle Times “Mary Daheim writes with wit, wisdom, and a big heart. I love her books.”—Carolyn Hart “Daheim writes . . . with dry wit, a butter-smooth style, and obvious wicked enjoyment.”—The Oregonian “The characters are great, and the plots always attention-getting.”—King Features Syndicate “Even the most seasoned mystery fans are caught off-guard by [Daheim’s] clever plot twists.”—BookLoons Reviews “Witty one-liners and amusing characterizations.”—Publishers Weekly

THE EDITOR OF THE ALPINE ADVOCATE GOES DIGGING FOR A MURDERER. At forty-two, newspaperwoman Emma Lord decides she needs time off to do some soul-searching. But her old Jag breaks down in the picturesque Pacific Northwest town of Port Angeles, and instead of finding herself, she ,s helping friends find the truth about a grisly discovery: a skeleton in their basement. The bones belong to those of an unknown young woman, buried in a crumbling mansion nearly a century ago. A crushed skull, a garnet earring, a locket containing a telltale keepsake *all whisper of tragedy. Ancient photographs reveal more. But Emma has to fish in dark and dangerous waters to get the whole story of a wealthy, ruthless family, a story that twists and turns to a shocking conclusion that should never be told....

Includes an excerpt from the author's The Alpine Xanadu.

Nestled in the foothills of the Cascade Mountains, the charming hamlet of Alpine is preparing for Thanksgiving, while Emma Lord, editor and publisher of The Alpine Advocate, feels her spirits sink. There will be no family or friends to share the day, but a call from Sheriff Milo Dodge on the Monday after the holiday weekend leaves her no time to wallow. Three alarming letters, sent to the sheriff from an anonymous writer, assert that the murder conviction of Alpine resident Larry Petersen ten years earlier was the result of a wrongful arrest. Adding to the miscarriage of justice, Petersen recently died behind bars. Then a fourth letter arrives, threatening retribution in the form of another death—most likely Emma’s or Milo’s. Mary Daheim’s Emma Lord novel is a rich and authentic blend of small-town life and chilling menace.