Frank Carlson Library

She can’t recall what started her collection. Maybe it was in a fragment of conversation overheard as she cleaned a sink? Before long (as she dusted a sitting room or defrosted a fridge) she noticed people were telling her their stories. Perhaps they always had done, but now it is different, now the stories are reaching out to her and she gathers them to her… When Janice starts cleaning for Mrs B – a shrewd and tricksy woman in her nineties...

A modern-day homicide detective is working as an undertaker's assistant in Victorian Scotland when a serial poisoner attacks the men of Edinburgh and leaves their widows under suspicion. Edinburgh, 1869: Modern-day homicide detective Mallory Atkinson is adjusting to her new life in Victorian Scotland. Her employers know she's not housemaid Catriona Mitchell-even though Mallory is in Catriona's body-and Mallory is now officially an undertaker's assistant....

From the day she arrives at the Biltmore, Tillie Reese is dazzled - by the riches of the Vanderbilts and by Mack Danvers, a mountain man turned footman. When Tillie is enlisted to help tame Mack's rugged behavior by tutoring him in the ways of refined society, the resulting sparks threaten Tillie's efforts to be chosen as Edith Vanderbilt's lady's maid. But the stakes rise even higher when Mack and Tillie become entangled in a cover-up at the town...

Theodora is the matriarch of a family that has grown into "an insufferable bunch of truculent knuckleheads." While she's finally gotten them all together in South Carolina to celebrate, this Christmas looks nothing like the extravagant homey holidays of her childhood. Luckily someone shows up to help Theodora with pockets full of common sense and Gullah magic to make Theodora's Christmas the miracle it's meant to be. -- Publisher.

"At 28, Stephanie Land's plans of breaking free from the roots of her hometown in the Pacific Northwest to chase her dreams of attending a university and becoming a writer, were cut short when a summer fling turned into an unplanned pregnancy. She turned to housekeeping to make ends meet, and, with a tenacious grip on her dream to provide her daughter the very best life possible, Stephanie worked days and took classes online to earn a college degree,...

"Crazy Rich Asians meets The Help! From Reese's Book Club veteran Balli Kaur Jaswal comes an absolute tour de force--the wildly entertaining and sharply observed story of three women who work in the homes of Singapore's elite, and band together to solve a murder mystery involving one of their own"-- The wealthy island nation of Singapore seems like an oasis of luxury and order, but it owes everything to the immigrant women no one sees. Corazon, Donita,...

When Mrs. A. first enters the narrator's home, his wife, Nora, is experiencing a difficult pregnancy. First as their maid and nanny, then their confidante, this older woman begins to help her employers negotiate married life, quickly becoming the glue in their small household. She is the steady, maternal influence for both husband and wife, and their son, Emanuele, whom she protects from his parents' expectations and disappointments. But the family's...

"From the bestselling author of The Chilbury Ladies' Choir comes a new World War II-set story of four women on the home front competing for a spot hosting a BBC wartime cookery program and a chance to better their lives. Two years into World War II, Britain is feeling her losses; the Nazis have won battles, the Blitz has destroyed cities, and U-boats have cut off the supply of food. In an effort to help housewives with food rationing, a BBC radio...

From author Kathryn Springer comes a tale of starting over when life takes an unexpected turn. Winsome Lake, Wisconsin, is postcard-pretty, but for chef Jessica Keaton it’s also a last resort. Fired from her dream job, Jess is starting over as a live-in cook and housekeeper. When she arrives, she finds her new employer is in rehab after having a stroke, and Jess expects she’ll be all alone in Elaine Haviland’s quaint house. A chef with no one...

Suffering an intense year of public and police scrutiny after being wrongly implicated in his finance's murder, Boston lawyer Eli Landon takes sanctuary in a centuries-old family home and falls in love with resident housekeeper Abra Walsh, with whom he is entangled in an old, life-threatening mystery.