Kathy Lynn Emerson

In this unique compilation of 115 essays written between 2011 and 2021, Kathy Lynn Emerson, author of over sixty traditionally-published books in a variety of genres and under several names, writes about everything from how to conquer the sagging middle of a work-in-progress to the adoption of her current cat-in-residence. Other topics highlight eccentricities--her own, a few from her family tree, and those to be found in the rural Western Maine mountains where she lives. Best known for her cozy mysteries, written as Kaitlyn Dunnett, and for historical mysteries written under her own name, Kathy Lynn Emerson has also been published in non-fiction, including the award-winning How to Write Killer Historical Mysteries.

"Someday, Kristy, if you stay as sweet and innocent as you are now, you're going to make some lucky guy a great wife." That's what the boy Kristy Russell is crazy about tells her. Insulted, sixteen-year-old Kristy embarks on a journey of self-discovery, trying to figure out why he rejected her. In the attempt, she comes to realize that her own self-esteem is more important than what anyone else thinks of her. But will that knowledge enable her to make the right choice when a potentially life-altering decision is required of her? It isn't just her own future she holds in her hands. Set in Maine in 1992,

Twelve-year-old Katie Brant is used to getting everything her own way. She lives with her grandparents, two uncles, and her Aunt Mattie in a farm/boardinghouse in the foothills of the Catskill Mountains of New York State in the early 1920s. With the exception of her formidable grandmother, everyone spoils her because her mother died when she was born and her father is away for long stretches of time, working for the O&W Railroad. But this year, as the tourist season starts and the family, including Katie's cousins Nellie and Muriel, beds down in the attic to make room to take in summer boarders, Katie's world changes in ways that force her to take a hard look at herself and the way she treats both friends and family. She soon learns that choices have consequences.

Publishers Weekly "Julia's recovery . . . parallels a deeper change--adaptation to a new kind of family life and eventual friendship with Grace, her "beastly" cousin. Julia's realization that she has behaved in a snobbish, self-centered, unlikeable fashion--and her subsequent maturity--is fully delineated and the 19th century setting is effectively evoked. . . . well sustained . . . a light, seamless style." The year is 1887 and twelve-year-old Julia Applebee has been shipped off to her cousin's home in the small rural New York town of Liberty Falls while her parents go to China as missionaries. Used to living in New York City, Julia wants nothing to do with her "country cousins." To make matters worse, on her second day on the farm she falls through the hay hole in the barn and breaks her leg. At first, Julia has only one wish--to be rescued. But as her broken leg mends, so does her attitude. Her anger and frustration slowly subside and she begins to understand the importance of family. Reading level 4.9

"The Finder of Lost Things" is the name Blanche Wainfleet's three sisters bestowed on her when they were young, not only for her ability to locate missing handkerchiefs and runaway pets, but also because she was so good at finding solutions to all manner of puzzles. Now, in the winter of 1590-1, twenty-eight-year-old Blanche, a London merchant's wife whose husband is traveling abroad, is faced with a much more serious mystery, one she is desperate to solve. Late Elizabethan England is an era rife with treason and conflicting political and religious loyalties. Priest-catchers target Catholic households in the hope of being able to arrest and execute priests. The householders themselves have to pay ruinous fines if they do not attend Anglican services. And yet leaders of both faiths agree that a bewitched person can be cured by exorcism. When Blanche's youngest sister, Alison, fell in love with a Catholic gentleman, she converted to Catholicism and went to live at Otley Manor as Lady Otley's companion. Arrested for illegally hearing mass, she died under mysterious circumstances while imprisoned in Colchester Castle. Some say she was bewitched to death. To discover the truth about how Alison died, Blanche contrives to have herself confined with Lady Otley and other members of the Otley household in Colchester's dungeon. She tells no one of her connection to Alison, but does pretend that she, like her sister, wishes to convert. Still without answers when a royal pardon sets all women prisoners free, Blanche accepts Lady Otley's invitation to join her household and take instruction in the Catholic faith. She's just begun to make progress when a second murder puts her in mortal danger from powerful figures on both sides of the religious divide.

Spending three weeks in rural Maine listening to the sound of bagpipes isn't 12-year-old Kim Hanlon's idea of fun, but her father has signed up to attend classes in playing that instrument at the estate of an eccentric millionaire and he's brought his family with him to the adjacent campground. When a valuable set of antique bagpipes disappears, Kim's new friend Woody is suspected of the theft. Refusing to believe he's guilty, she's determined to discover who really committed the crime. Set in 1986. Reading level 5.2. Originally published by Avon Camelot in 1991. from the reviewers: Bangor Daily News: "an excellent summer choice for that niece or nephew."Booklist: "Emerson weaves much food for thought into the narrative through Kim's willingness to trust in Woody and her search to understand her own goals and talents."

Kerry Odell and her younger brother Lyle are not enthusiastic about spending the next six months in rural western Maine. It seems like a pretty dismal place, especially in March, and means entering a new school in mid-year. The house their mother has rented, with its locked tower, has all the makings of a haunted "castle" with mysterious comings and goings, odd noises in the night, and a landlord who seems to have it in for them. Set in 1982. Reading level 4.9.from the reviewers: "Emerson writes with suspense and spins a clever plot. The book is full of action and shows a certain pre-teen authenticity in its portrayal of adolescent relations and concerns.""Emerson is to be commended for realistically portraying a young girl's anxiety over the possibility of her widowed mother's remarriage, and the potential rift in the mother-daughter relationship that may ensue as an important new family member is absorbed."

Mistress Rosamond Jaffrey is summoned to Cornwall and finds herself embroiled in an investigation involving smugglers, piracy - and rumours of treason.June, 1584. On hearing news of the sudden death of her stepfather, Sir Walter Pendennis, Rosamond Jaffrey must leave London for Cornwall to look after the interests of her young half-brother and try to mend her strained relationship with their mother. However, on arriving in Cornwall, Rosamond makes the shocking discovery that Sir Walter was in fact murdered - and reluctantly she agrees to work with an agent of the queen's spymaster, Sir Francis Walsingham, in order to unmask the killer. Rosamond's investigations will lead her into a dangerous maelstrom of smuggling, piracy - and rumours of treason.

Mistress Rosamond Jaffrey is recruited by Queen Elizabeth I's spymaster to be lady-in-waiting to Lady Mary, a cousin of the queen who is being courted by Russia's Ivan the Terrible. However, there are some nobles at court who will do anything they can to thwart such an alliance and Rosamond must put herself in mortal peril to protect her ward . . .

A female spymaster will face mortal danger to protect her husband and her queen. . .Mistress Rosamond Jaffrey is recruited by Queen Elizabeth I's spymaster to be lady-in-waiting to Lady Mary, a cousin of the queen who is being courted by Russia's Ivan the Terrible. However, there are some nobles at court who will do anything they can to thwart such an alliance and Rosamond must put herself in mortal peril to protect her ward . . .