Marilee never thought she'd see Cross Roads, New Mexico again. But when her husband dies she finds herself on the road home, pregnant and penniless, only to discover that her father has been dead for six months and her mother hasn't been sober since. With nothing and no one to fall back on, Marilee determines to make a good life for herself by fixing up the family's Wayside 66 Motor Court, now run down and overrun by outlaws. But bootlegger Jeb Pierce has other ideas and Marilee will be forced to endanger herself and those she loves in her fight to claim back what is hers....

When Venetian detective Commissario Guido Brunetti is called to investigate a presumed suicide in Venice's elite military academy, his enquiries are immediately met with a wall of silence. The young man is the son of a doctor and former politician, a man of an impeccable integrity all too rare in Italian politics. Dr Moro seems devastated by his son's death, but neither he nor his wife appears eager to talk to the police or to involve Brunetti in any kind of investigation into the death. Is the silence that confronts Brunetti the natural reluctance of Italians to involve themselves with the authorities... or is there a conspiracy?

Miss Julia's longtime beau, Sam Murdoch, wants to tie the knot. But Miss Julia isn't about to give up her independence so easily. There are other matters to attend, such as Dwayne Dooley's plans to build the Walk Where Jesus Walked Christian theme park. Meanwhile, the town is buzzing with rumours. The preacher's secretary was spotted leaving a sleazy motel with the mayor's car parked nearby. The preacher's wife is suddenly sporting a complete makeover. Even Miss Julia's own home is not immune to shock waves-the arrival of Latisha, housekeeper Lillian's five-year-old great-granddaughter, shakes up Miss Julia's household. But can Miss Julia's cool-as-a-cucumber head help her heart make the decision of a lifetime?