Recommendations based on "Things in Jars"

With her student days behind her and her career well underway, Sue and Bill, now married, together try to run a little hospital in the New England hills that was presented to the community by the town's wealthiest citizen, Elias Todd. Sue is Superintendent of Nurses, and her old friend Kit is helping her along with many of her fellow students from her years of training.After all the exciting nursing adventures these two girls have shared together, one might think they would find their new work rather tame. It is anything but tame for Sue, however, with that irrepressible street urchin, Marianna, as a student nurse; with Jean Ditmarr, sophisticated New Yorker, thinking she could put something over on the young Superintendent; with Dr. Bill so busy being a good doctor that Sue feared for a while he might not prove such a good husband; and above all, with the mysterious disappearance of the hospital sheets! Sue Barton is at her best with all the excitement and fun that this nurse seems destined to find in her nursing profession. The authentic setting of rural hospital life is the perfect backdrop for another great Sue Barton story.

A present-day ghost leads China Bayles to a secret from Pecan Springs’s past in this haunting mystery from New York Times bestselling author Susan Wittig Albert.While helping Ruby Wilcox clean up the loft above their shops, China comes upon a box of antique handcrafted lace and old photographs. Following the discovery, she hears a woman humming an old Scottish ballad and smells the delicate scent of lavender.…Soon, strange happenings start to occur in Thyme and Seasons. When a customer sees a mysterious woman picking flowers nearby and then suddenly disappearing, China must finally admit what Ruby has always known—their building is haunted. But by whom?As China investigates, the tragic story of a woman in one of the old photographs unfolds. China delves into the century-old mystery and realizes that solving it could have unimaginable repercussions in the here and now.

Return to 1930s Burning Cove, California, the glamorous seaside playground for Hollywood stars, mobsters, spies, and a host of others who find more than they bargain for in this mysterious town.   Maggie Lodge, assistant to the reclusive advice columnist known only as Dear Aunt Cornelia to her readers, hires down-but-not-quite-out private eye Sam Sage to help track down the person who is blackmailing her employer. Maggie and Sam are a mismatched pair. As far as Sam is concerned, Maggie is reckless and in over her head. She is not what he had in mind for a client, but he can’t afford to be choosy. Maggie, on the other hand, is convinced that Sam is badly in need of guidance and good advice. She does not hesitate to give him both.   In spite of the verbal fireworks between them, they are fiercely attracted to each other, but each is convinced it would be a mistake to let passion take over. They are, after all, keeping secrets from each other. Sam is haunted by his past, which includes a marriage shattered by betrayal and violence. Maggie is troubled by intense and vivid dreams—dreams that she can sometimes control. There are those who want to run experiments on her and use her for their own purposes, while others think she should be committed to an asylum.   When the pair discovers someone is impersonating Aunt Cornelia at a conference on psychic dreaming and a woman dies at the conference, the door is opened to a dangerous web of blackmail and murder. Secrets from the past are revealed, leaving Maggie and Sam in the path of a ruthless killer who will stop at nothing to exact vengeance.

The first book in the series, this bestselling novel introduces Margaret of Ashbury, a fourteenth-century Englishwoman with mystical abilities Margaret of Ashbury wants to write her life story. However, like most women in fourteenth-century England, she is illiterate. Three clerics contemptuously decline to be Margaret’s scribe, and only the threat of starvation persuades Brother Gregory, a Carthusian friar with a mysterious past, to take on the task. As she narrates her life, we discover a woman of startling resourcefulness. Married off at the age of fourteen to a merchant reputed to be the Devil himself, Margaret was left for dead during the Black Plague. Incredibly, she survived, was apprenticed to an herbalist, and became a midwife. But most astonishing of all, Margaret has experienced a Mystic Union—a Vision of Light that endows her with the miraculous gift of healing. Because of this ability, Margaret has become suddenly different—to her tradition-bound parents, to the bishop’s court that tries her for heresy, and ultimately to the man who falls in love with her.

The final adventure in the beloved and bestselling Margaret of Ashbury trilogy, which began with A Vision of Light and In Pursuit of the Green Lion.Margaret of Ashbury is ready to settle down; the medieval healer is looking forward to an uneventful life in the country. And, indeed, life with her true love and a brood of rambunctious children is nearly perfect—except for her husband Gregory’s ever-meddling family. Finding himself deep in debt once again, Gregory’s father has plotted to sell Margaret’s daughter off in marriage to save his woodlands from a greedy abbot. In a panic, Margaret turns to her old friend Brother Malachi to help save her daughter by whatever means necessary. The tension within the feuding family rouses an ancient being that dwells in a spring at the center of the disputed woodland. The watery creature has its own plans, and its eye is on Margaret’s infant son.Favorite characters return, the stakes are high, and the air is thick with intrigue and danger. Written with the historical accuracy, supernatural plot twists, and humor that Riley’s readers have grown to love, The Water Devil is a high-spirited adventure that brings Margaret’s odyssey to a satisfying conclusion.

Writer's apprentice Lena London is back and better than ever when her friend bestselling suspense novelist Camilla Graham needs help solving a town murder that hits a little too close to home...It's summertime, and Lena and Camilla are busy working away while a town vandal runs amok. Things get even more complicated when Jane Wyland pays Camilla a not-so-friendly visit and gives her an ultimatum: reveal Camilla's husband James's family secret, or she will. Lena assures Camilla that nothing will come of the woman's threats, since the family has no secrets to hide.When Jane Wyland is later found dead, they're convinced that whatever secret she was planning to expose led to her death. With Lena's assistance, Camilla is determined to solve the case before the finger points at her...

This killer is so evil, he wears the most deceptive face of all…. Legacy of Masks Ex-prosecutor Mary Crow didn’t expect a hero’s welcome when she returned home to Pisgah County, North Carolina. But what she did expect was the job she’d been promised in the D.A.’s office. Instead she found she’d worn out her welcome before she even arrived–and that she has more than a few enemies among the supporters of the corrupt sheriff she’d caught sidelining in murder years before. The new sheriff was one of Mary’s childhood schoolmates, timid and nerdy Jerry Cochran. Only Cochran is neither nerdy nor timid anymore. And when a young girl is found brutally murdered and everyone, including the girl’s parents and the police, is sure the killer is a young, mystical Ani Zaguhi Cherokee named Ridge Standingdeer, Mary’s first case in her own law firm slams her into the heart of a controversy. As a prosecutor, Mary was used to tenaciously tracking down the guilty. Now she finds herself on the other side of the law, defending a client she’s sure is innocent against a merciless system, a bigoted town…and an even more ruthless killer. With her old lover Jonathan Walkingstick, Mary will have to go where she’s never gone before–a place where a psychopath with the perfect mask and a shocking secret is waiting to add Mary herself to his growing collection of silent victims. From the Hardcover edition.

"MAY GOD STRIKE ME DOWN WITHIN THE HOUR!"To the guests at the mourning feast for Thomas Chaucer, the last words of Sir Clement Sharpe had been enough to damn him in the eyes of God. Detested by all who knew him, his final blasphemy had turned even God's anger against him and his death would be a lesson well-remembered. None among them would ever forget the sight of God striking down a sinning man, and each would keep in their heart the need to honor God's charity and love in all the hours of their lives.But the crafty Dame Frevisse and cunning Bishop Beaufort suspect that there may be an all-too-mortal hand at work in Sir Clement's death. If their suspicions can be proved, then the only lesson to be learned is the bleakest secret of the blackest heart.PRAISE FOR THE BISHOP'S TALE"The setting for another tale of mystery, intrigue, jealousy and ambition, well drawn, well paced, and a pleasure to read." - Historical Novels Review"Rich period detail, canny characterization, and a lively plot should endear Sister Frevisse and her tales to anyone who enjoys historical mysteries." - Minneapolis Star Tribune"Truly this is a winter's tale, wintry in setting and in themes. The most powerful emotions are chilled and subdued: Cool authority, icy determination, cold despair - these are stronger than the widow's stormy, self-pitying grief, the petulant anger of a pair of young lovers, the heat of a proud man's anger, and the fiery rash which clutches and kills him." - Jeanne M. Jacobson, Drood Review of MysteryPRAISE FOR THE SISTER FREVISSE MEDIEVAL MYSTERY SERIES"Frazer is writing one of the most consistently excellent historical series in print today." - Murder Ink"Frazer successfully captures the essence of 15th century England - the sights, smells, and sounds fill the pages, drawing us in as we become immersed in the language, manners, and customs of a far off time and place." - Rendezvous"Dame Frevisse, the pious and perspective nun gives focus to this sober series... [Frazer] shows a meticulous detail that speaks of trustworthy scholarship and a sympathetic imagination." - New York Times Book Review"Once you begin to read this series, you will want to follow your new friends to the end of their personal story." - Cross Point Book Reviews"Exquisitely written... A superbly researched medieval mystery series!" - Publisher's Weekly"Everything about it bespeaks quality and care... Frazer draws us into a medieval village in England with a story of lust, greed, and murder." - St. Paul Pioneer PressA Romantic Times Top Pick.Twice nominated for the Minnesota Book Award.Twice nominated for the Edgar Award.

"In the summer of 1448, when Sir Ralph Woderove is found murdered near his estate, not even his family mourns. A hard, vicious man of many quarrels, Sir Ralph was most likely done in by a poacher - although it could have been almost anyone. Most of the funeral guests are attending simply for the pleasure of seeing him dead. And though the consensus is that his soul has surely gone to Hell, Sir Ralph will continue to infuriate his heirs in death as much as he had in life through the grossly inequitable terms of his estate's settlement." "Dame Frevisse's role in all this is merely to accompany Sir Ralph's widow and daughter - a pupil at St. Frideswide's - back to the manor to provide comfort, when another death occurs under questionable circumstances. It now becomes clear that not all grievances have been laid to rest. And as family secrets are dragged out into the light, Dame Frevisse realizes that there is a murderer among them who will not rest until the Woderove legacy has been settled once and for all."--Jacket.

Hope is the next historical novel from the acclaimed Lesley Pearse. Her existence would be the ruin of her mother . . . Baby Hope, the unfortunate proof of Lady Harvey's adultery, is smuggled out of a privileged aristocratic household to a nearby village. There, her true identity a secret, she grows up in the arms of the poor, but loving, Renton family. But the day comes when Hope must pay her way. What could be more natural than being taken into service by the Harveys? However when she sees something she should not, she is threatened and blackmailed into leaving her beloved Rentons forever. Destitute on the streets of an unfriendly city, Hope's courage and kindness are recognized by a doctor. A talent for healing sees her taken on as nurse and destined for the horrific battlefields of the Crimea. But will Hope ever come home and uncover the true story of her birth? Hope by Lesley Pearse - author of bestsellers Gypsy and Remember Me - is a historical novel of past scandal and its consequences in a compelling nineteenth century setting. Fans of Susan Lewis will love the twists and turns of Lesley Pearse's work. Praise for Lesley Pearse: 'With characters it is impossible not to care about ... this is storytelling at its very best' Daily Mail 'Lose yourself in this epic saga' Bella 'An emotional and moving epic you won't forget in a hurry' Woman's Weekly Find Lesley on Twitter @LesleyPearse or find out more on her website, www.lesleypearse.co.uk.