Therapist Kate Sinclair expertly deals with her Palm Beach clients, but her own family is flying apart. Her delusional half-sister Jo Lynn, who marries and divorces abusers, is now obsessed with Colin Friendly, an accused serial rapist-killer. Sara, Kate's wily and buxom daughter, escalates teen rebellion to new heights, seeking the unstable Jo Lynn for support, and Kate's husband of 24 years retreats into avoidance. When Robert, an old flame, turns up the heat by offering Kate her own therapy show on one of his radio stations, her prim assisted-living mother wigs out. Kate worries that if she keeps giving pieces of herself away, there won't be anything left.
While walking her poodle, Olivia Limoges discovers a dead body buried in the sand. Could it be connected to the bizarre burglaries plaguing Oyster Bay, North Carolina? At every crime scene, the thieves set up odd tableaus: a stick of butter with a knife through it, dolls with silver spoons in their mouths, a deck of cards with a missing queen. Olivia realizes each setup represents a cliché. And who better to decode the cliché clues than her Bayside Book Writers group?
After weeks of rain, Chief Inspector Wexford has just finished moving his books and furniture upstairs to protect them from the rising waters when the telephone rings. Two local teenagers and their babysitter have gone missing. Wexford isn't particularly worried, since these things usually sort themselves out. But as hours stretch into days, he begins to suspect he has a kidnapping on his hands. The stakes get even higher when a member of the missing trio turns up dead in the woods nearby.
The mysterious disappearance of a reclusive neighbor's cat involves the Boxcar children in some complicated detective work. The children look for Spotzie the cat.
Two of the Hardy Boys's chums take a motor trip down the coast. They disappear and are almost rescued by their friends when all are captured. A thrilling story of adventure.
