Nine people gather at a remote health resort. Some are here to lose weight, some are here to get a reboot on life, some are here for reasons they can’t even admit to themselves. Amidst all of the luxury and pampering, the mindfulness and meditation, they know these ten days might involve some real work. But none of them could imagine just how challenging the next ten days are going to be. Frances Welty, the formerly best-selling romantic novelist,...

In the words of Alexander McCall Smith: 'You feel the rocking of the train, you hear the sound of its wheels on the rails; you are in the world rather than suspended somewhere above it. And sometimes there are conversations to be had, which is what the overarching story in this collection is all about. It is a simple device: people brought together entertain one another with tales of what happened to them on trains. It takes place on a journey I frequently...

Philip Horkman is a happy man, the owner of a pet store called The Wine Shop and on Sundays a referee for kids' soccer. Jeffrey Peckerman is the sole sane person in a world filled with jerks and morons and he's having a really bad day. The two of them are about to collide in a swiftly escalating series of events that will send them running for their lives, pursued by the police, soldiers, terrorists, subversives, bears and a man dressed as Chuck E....

Amber--thirtysomething and barefoot--shows up at the door of the Norfolk cottage that the Smarts are renting for the summer. She talks her way in. She tells nothing but lies. She stays for dinner. Eve Smart, the author of a best-selling series of biographical reconstructions, thinks Amber is a student with whom her husband, Michael, is sleeping. Michael, an English professor, knows only that her car broke down. Daughter Astrid, age twelve, thinks...

Border dawn: Joe Alvarado's family has occupied his land for generations. Joe is an old man now, and has always lived in peace with his neighbors. But Grant Mitchell of the Bar M thinks now is the time to make his move. He orders the irrigation system on Joe's land to bed stoppered. It is only the first step in a plan to force Joe to sell out. A bullet is another way. Joe is badly wounded. Town Mashall Greg Hudson for the first time in his life has...