A fifth-grader with a photographic memory and her friend Eric help solve the mystery of the stolen diamonds.

When Sam Spade's partner is killed, he goes after the murderer himself.

Darcy Rhone thought she had it all figured out: the more beautiful the girl, the more charmed her life. Never mind substance. Never mind playing by the rules. Never mind karma. But Darcy's neat, perfect world turns upside down when her best friend, Rachel, the plain-Jane "good girl," steals her fiancé, while Darcy finds herself completely alone for the first time in her life--with a baby on the way.

When the eldest son fell in the well and most of the time getting help was spent pronouncing the name of the one in trouble, the Chinese, according to legend, decided to give all their children short names.

In 1937, during the Depression, fifteen-year-old Mary Alice, initially apprehensive about leaving Chicago to spend a year with her fearsome, larger-than-life grandmother in rural Illinois, gradually begins to better understand and admire her grandmother's unusual qualities.

40-year-old nurse Terry Painter enjoys a solitary existence. Her tranquil life takes a turn, however, when young, vibrant Alison Simms rents the cottage behind her bringing friendship and excitement.