Maple Grove Gazette - June 13, 2026

Maple Grove's Only Newspaper of Record—Vol. 1 No. 9—Edited by Mr. Ellison, Town Archivist & Historian

FROM THE EDITOR'S DESK

It has been, by the standards of this publication, a quiet week in Maple Grove—provided one is willing to classify several hundred cans of silly string and an undisclosed tonnage of water balloons as "quiet." The final bell of the school year rang Friday afternoon, and the annual Battle of the Town Square commenced before the buses had fully cleared the lot. The Gazette notes, as it does every June, that this tradition is tolerated with remarkable good humor by the citizenry, most of whom had the sense to watch from a porch. The village maintenance crew turned out in full force by evening and reports the square restored to order, though the brooms involved are said to be considering retirement. Charlene—who, the record should reflect, was asked by no one to patrol the square, supervise the square, or attend the square in any official capacity whatsoever—stationed herself at its exact center for the duration of Friday's hostilities, presumably so that justice might have a witness. Justice instead had a casualty. A direct silly-string strike to the head necessitated an emergency appointment at Marcy's salon, where the matter was resolved at, the Gazette is told, considerable length and volume. The Gazette would offer sympathy, but Charlene has historically preferred being right to being comforted, so we will offer strategy instead: a darker dress next June—or, daringly, slacks—as pale florals have now been field-tested and found to function chiefly as a target. Graduation season, meanwhile, has begun in earnest. The Tobias family reports their party rental business is booked solid every weekend through the beginning of August, and anyone who has watched the Tobias boys work knows why—they have set-up and breakdown refined to a science. Folding chairs vanish before the last slice of cake is served. The Gazette congratulates this year's graduates and their exhausted, proud families.

📜 POLICE BLOTTER

Chief Carter reports zero citations issued in connection with Friday's hostilities. Two formal complaints regarding water balloon fire were received. One was subsequently withdrawn when the complainant was observed to be holding a balloon at the time of filing. The second was dismissed as Chief Carter had previously reminded citizens to steer clear of the square. He informed the second complainant that wet clothing does not constitute destruction of property. He also suggested that the individual filing the complaint wear something other than a white floral dress on the last day of school if she intends to occupy the square when school is dismissed for the summer. Lastly, the Chief reminds residents that the town square fountain is not a reloading station.

📋 COMMUNITY NOTICES

‍ ‍GRADUATES Families wishing to announce graduates in next week's edition may send names to the Gazette. TOBIAS PARTY RENTALS Booked through early August; the boys suggest reserving September dates now. FOUND One can of silly string, unspent, on the library steps. Inquire within.

🏛️ HISTORICAL NOTE

Several readers have inquired as to when, precisely, the last-day-of-school engagement became tradition. The Gazette's archives record the first organized skirmish in June of 1972, when a graduating class—emboldened by sunshine and the end of final examinations—emptied what the local Ben Franklin's (now defunct) later confirmed was its entire seasonal inventory of silly string in under eleven minutes. The instigator's name is preserved in the archives and will not be printed here, per an agreement this newspaper has honored for fifty-four years. He knows who he is.

🔍 Fellow Sleuths Worth Following

Fellow sleuths, this week's Guest Sleuth Spotlight is a brand-new find: The Poisoned Petal Express by Finley Page. A librarian who lives by lists and schedules inherits a mystery bookstore, boards a train to claim it, and rescues a shivering golden retriever named Bessie—right before a blizzard turns the whole elegant train into a locked room on rails. A poisoned influencer, a magician with a grudge, and a dog with impeccable timing.

It's free right now, and the full spotlight has everything you need: Read the full spotlight →‍ ‍

FREE READS—JUNE TITLES NOW LIVE

Willow's June Free Books are live and waiting on the website. A fresh batch of free cozy mysteries has just gone up on the Free Books page—perfect for loading up the e-reader before the heat sends you indoors with the shades drawn and the fan going.

Help yourself: Browse June's Free Books →‍ ‍

✍️ Behind the Scenes

School's out here too, which means it's officially feet-in-the-kiddie-pool reading season—and my pick for your towel bag this summer is Harvest of Shadows and Dark Brews. Set in the thick of a Maple Grove summer, this is the book where the sunshine gets a shadow. Jenna gets tangled up with the closest thing our little town has ever seen to a cult—and I'm saying no more than that, because watching it unfold is the whole fun. The coffee is strong, the Jeep gets a workout, and Jenna's "Biscuits!" budget runs dangerously low by the final chapters. Same friends, same town square you'd recognize from this very newspaper—just with something moving underneath it.

It's in Kindle Unlimited →‍ ‍

— Willow 🌿

Meet Willow

Author, School Board member, and gluten-free baker. I write the Jenna McGregor mysteries from my home in Michigan, fueled by coffee and Peloton PRs.

Want to stay in the know? Get the Weekly Notebook

Maple Grove Gazette - June 6, 2026

Maple Grove's Only Newspaper of Record—Vol. 1 No. 8—Edited by Mr. Ellison, Town Archivist & Historian

FROM THE EDITOR'S DESK

This editor is obliged to report that the long stretch of agreeable weather is, by every account he trusts, about to end. The forecasters promise a heat wave by the middle of next week—the genuine article, the kind that wilts the hanging baskets on Main Street and sends the whole town in search of shade and a cold glass of something. Maple Grove is preparing in its usual fashion, which is to say the hardware store is selling sprinklers, the café is selling ice cream, and roughly everyone else is selling opinions on how hot it is actually going to get.

It would be a quiet enough week, were it not for the matter at Belle's antique shop, where a single item in the front window has become, in the space of three days, the most discussed object in town. Charlene has taken the position that the piece is a family heirloom, sold without her knowledge, and has expressed this position by walking back and forth on the sidewalk out front with a hand-lettered sign. Belle maintains, with paperwork, that the item is nothing of the kind. The two accounts do not agree, and the sign, this editor notes, is getting larger.

This editor takes no position on the ownership of antiques, the sincerity of grievances, or the meaning of objects that merely resemble one another. He reports the record. He observes only that the heat is coming, the picketing is outdoors, and these two facts may yet resolve the matter without any help from the rest of us.

📜 POLICE BLOTTER

THE INCIDENT AT THE FARMERS' MARKET

Saturday last—Village Green, Maple Grove

The Maple Grove Police Department responded Saturday to a disturbance at the weekly farmers' market, originating at the booth of Mrs. Keller, purveyor of handmade soaps, lotions, and candles, who had on this occasion brought two of her goats for the enjoyment and education of the town's children.

The enjoyment, this editor is told, was considerable, right up until one of the animals took an interest in a length of scarf worn by Lisa, who had stopped to admire the lavender soaps. A disagreement followed between woman and goat as to the rightful ownership of the scarf, conducted at both ends simultaneously, and what began as a tug-of-war concluded—by the time Officer Wilson arrived—as a general collapse of three neighboring booths, a quantity of soap underfoot, and two goats at large on the Green.

The children, by all reports, were briefly inconsolable. The goats were recovered within the hour, one near the lemonade stand and one beneath the gazebo, the latter located chiefly through the efforts of Biscuit, who is credited with cornering the animal and then sitting down beside it in a spirit of evident goodwill. Mrs. Keller has offered her apologies and a basket of soap to the affected vendors. Lisa, this editor is told, did not see it coming—a remark she has asked the Gazette to print, and which the Gazette prints without comment.

THE MATTER OF THE WINDOW

This week—Belle's antique shop, Main Street

Officer Markle was dispatched Thursday to Belle's antique shop, where Charlene had stationed herself on the public sidewalk in protest of an item displayed in the window, which she holds to be a family heirloom improperly sold. Belle produced a bill of sale, a provenance card, and an account of having purchased the piece, in good faith, from an estate two counties over.

Officer Markle, this editor understands, determined that walking on a public sidewalk with a sign is no crime, that selling a lawfully acquired antique is no crime, and that the department's powers do not extend to settling which of two very similar objects is the real one. He advised both parties to keep the sidewalk clear and the volume reasonable, and departed. The protest continues. The item remains in the window. Belle has, this editor notes, raised the price.

📋 COMMUNITY NOTICES

BREWED AWAKENINGS—A TREAT FOR THE HEAT

Brewed Awakenings on Main Street announces, in advance of next week's forecast, the return of its summer cookie ice cream sandwiches, available in several flavors and assembled to order while supplies and patience last. The proprietor wishes patrons to know that one variety is made with the café's gluten-free cookies, so that no one need stand at the counter doing the sad arithmetic of what they cannot have. The café asks only that customers eat them quickly, "as physics, in this weather, is not on anyone's side."

GORDON'S HARDWARE—SPRINKLER SALE

Gordon's Hardware has announced a sale on sprinklers, hoses, and assorted summer cooling apparatus, timed to the coming heat. Mr. Gordon, who has correctly anticipated every weather-driven run on his inventory since last summer's regrettable business with the hearing protection, advises residents to come early, as he has "seen this movie before and knows how it ends." The Gazette passes the advice along without embellishment.

FIRST METHODIST CHURCH—ICE CREAM SOCIAL, JUNE 17

The congregation of First Methodist warmly invites the whole of Maple Grove to its annual Ice Cream Social on Wednesday, June 17, beginning at 5:00 p.m. on the church lawn. There will be ice cream in generous variety, there will be lemonade, and there will—Pastor Elliot is pleased to confirm—be seating, the folding chairs having been located in good order and well ahead of the event this year. All are welcome. The Gazette understands the heat is expected to have broken by then, though the church advises bringing a fan regardless.

🏛️ HISTORICAL NOTE

This will not be the first summer Maple Grove has had to reckon with. The Gazette's predecessor records a heat wave in the summer of 1936 so severe that the church social, then held indoors in the fellowship hall, was moved at the last hour onto the lawn after a parishioner observed that the hall had become, in her words, "an oven in which we are the social." The lawn has hosted the social ever since. Tradition, the archive reminds us, is often only good sense that survived a bad afternoon.

This editor has also recovered, from the market records of 1962, the minutes of a Vendors' Committee meeting convened after a goat belonging to one of the dairy families "conducted itself in a manner unbecoming" among the produce stalls. The committee resolved that livestock at market should henceforth be "tethered, supervised, and discouraged from opinions." This editor offers the precedent for whatever comfort it may provide, and notes that it does not appear to have been consulted of late.

🔍 Fellow Sleuths Worth Following

One pick this week, fellow sleuths—and it could not be more in tune with the season if it had been planted on purpose. Pour something cold and pull up a chair in the shade.

🌱 Murder She Sowed—Cora Finch

Bonnie Reed signs on for a quiet stretch of farm-sitting—a peaceful place, some opinionated animals, a dog named Ziggy at her side—and instead finds a man face-down in the flowers before her morning coffee has had a chance to do its job. What follows is exactly the kind of mystery I love finding in summer: a small town called Riverbend that smells like lavender and isn't entirely sorry the victim is gone, a tangle of land deals and old grudges, and a heroine with good instincts she keeps pretending not to trust. There are two suspects who both look guilty and neither quite fits—which, in my experience, is when a cozy gets really good.

Murder She Sowed was release on May 26, 2026 and is receiving great reviews with an average of 4.6 stars.

👉 Meet Cora and grab the book →

FREE READS—JUNE TITLES NOW LIVE

Willow's June Free Books are live and waiting on the website. A fresh batch of free cozy mysteries has just gone up on the Free Books page — perfect for loading up the e-reader before the heat sends you indoors with the shades drawn and the fan going. Help yourself:

Browse June's Free Books →

✍️ Behind the Scenes

I'm writing this with iced tea that started as hot tea I forgot about—which, honestly, is the most efficient I've been all week. Hotter than Coffee is still on the operating table, and I'm still taking the time to get the bones right rather than rush it back to you half-mended. The title is feeling a little on the nose this week, weather-wise. Stay cool out there, fellow sleuths. I'll be in here with the shades down and the fan on, where the only thing overheating is the plot.

Willow 🌿

Meet Willow

Author, School Board member, and gluten-free baker. I write the Jenna McGregor mysteries from my home in Michigan, fueled by coffee and Peloton PRs.

Want to stay in the know? Get the Weekly Notebook

Maple Grove Gazette - May 30, 2026

Maple Grove's Only Newspaper of Record — Vol. 1 No. 7—Edited by Mr. Ellison, Town Archivist & Historian

FROM THE EDITOR'S DESK

This editor is pleased to report that spring has, at last, committed. The gardens of Maple Grove are up—some with more conviction than others—and the strawberries have arrived in earnest, which by long local custom means that for the next three weeks roughly half the town will smell faintly of jam and the other half will be waiting to be handed a jar.

It is also, this editor must note, aN election year, and the mayoral race has overtaken both the weather and the strawberries as the chief topic of conversation at the café, the hardware store, THE DINER, and—to the visible discomfort of at least one member of the clergy—the fellowship hall. The town has, with characteristic thoroughness, divided itself into camps. Lawn signs have appeared. Words have been exchanged. A debate was held. The Maple Grove Police Department has been called upon more than once to remind residents that civic disagreement and personal property damage are, in the eyes of the law, two different things.

This editor, as is his long-standing policy in matters of active controversy, takes no position whatsoever. He reports the record. He draws no conclusions. He has, for the duration of the campaign season, stopped attending coffee hour.

📋 COMMUNITY NOTICES

MAYORAL DEBATE — MAPLE GROVE COLLEGE AUDITORIUM

The two candidates for mayor met Thursday evening in the main auditorium of Maple Grove College for the season's first public debate, moderated by Professor Jack Donovan of the college faculty, who is said to have prepared a great many thoughtful questions and managed to ask nearly three of them.

The format called for two-minute responses. This editor is told the format did not survive the opening remarks. Professor Donovan is widely credited with keeping the proceedings civil, a feat he accomplished chiefly by speaking very calmly into a microphone that the candidates could not turn off. Attendance was high. Opinions, by all accounts, were not changed.

FIRST METHODIST CHURCH — A WORD ON FELLOWSHIP

Pastor Elliot wishes the congregation of First Methodist to know that the doors remain open to all—including, this editor quotes, "those who have, this season, found themselves seated rather farther from their usual pew than is customary."

The Gazette understands, without wishing to inflame the matter further, that the congregation has divided along the same lines as the town—Charlene and her circle firmly behind one candidate, and a considerable portion of the remaining membership behind the other. Pastor Elliot has asked that politics be left in the parking lot. He has, this editor is told, asked this four times. Coffee hour continues, for now, under what one attendee described as "a fragile truce and two separate urns."

MAPLE GROVE GARDEN CLUB — A POINT OF ORDER

The Garden Club reminds members that the spring growing season is well underway and offers its usual standing invitation to those uncertain about what, exactly, is coming up in their beds. The reminder follows a report—submitted with what this editor would describe as great delicacy by Mrs. Hanover—that one member appears to be cultivating an entire raised bed of common weeds under the impression that they are salad greens. The member in question maintains that they are heritage greens, that they were planted on purpose, and that Mrs. Hanover should mind her own rows. The Garden Club takes no position. Neither does this editor, though he notes the weeds in the bed are described as "thriving."

🏛️ HISTORICAL NOTE

This is not the first mayoral race to divide the town along the center aisle. In 1971, a contested election split the First Methodist choir so thoroughly that the sopranos and altos sang from opposite ends of the loft for the better part of a year, a period the church bulletin of the era referred to only as "the difficulty." Order was restored, the archive records, not by reconciliation but by the arrival of a new hymnal nobody had strong feelings about.

This editor has also located, in the town fair records of 1984, the minutes of a Preserves & Pickles Committee meeting that ended in a formal protest over a disqualified entry of strawberry jam. The protesting party's letter, preserved in full, contains the line: "A jam that runs is not a jam. It is a sauce, and it knows it." The authorship is unsigned. This editor declines to speculate.

✉️ LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

The Gazette prints letters as received, lightly corrected for spelling, and entirely uncorrected for tone.

To the Editor—

I am told it is my civic duty to choose between two candidates for mayor. I have heard them both speak. I have read their campaign statements. I attended the debate. I would now like to formally decline voting for either.

One of them cannot finish a sentence. The other finishes far too many.

I arrived at the debate with three questions. What is the actual figure budgeted for road maintenance this year, and how much of it is left? Who is responsible, by name, the next time the culvert on Beech Lane backs up—because it will. And what, precisely, does either man intend to do that the last administration did not? Professor Donovan, to his credit, tried to get them there. Neither candidate answered. One of them spent four minutes explaining why the question was a good one.

A person who cannot give a straight answer in a quiet auditorium will not give you one in a crisis. I have no further questions, because I now have my answer.

Vote as you like. I will be watching what gets done, not what gets said.

— Mildred

This editor offers Mildred's correspondence without comment, as is the Gazette's policy, and notes for the record only that the Beech Lane culvert did back up twice last spring.

🔍 Fellow Sleuths Worth Following

Two picks this week, fellow sleuths, and I'll be honest—when I saw the second title, I laughed out loud, because the universe clearly read this week's Gazette before I did. Pull up a chair and a jar of something that holds its shape.

🎿 Biathlon and Betrayal—Nina Hunt

👉 Meet Nina and grab the book →

🍓 Petals, Preserves, and Peril—Neela Snow

👉 Meet Neela and grab the book →

✍️ Behind the Scenes

I'm still elbow-deep in Hotter than Coffee, and I'll be straight with you: this revision turned out to be a much bigger job than I bargained for. I'd rather take the extra time and get the bones right than rush a book back into your hands half-fixed—so it's taking longer, and I've made my peace with that. Foundations first. The fun stuff comes after, and I promise it's coming.

Willow 🌿

Meet Willow

Author, School Board member, and gluten-free baker. I write the Jenna McGregor mysteries from my home in Michigan, fueled by coffee and Peloton PRs.

Want to stay in the know? Get the Weekly Notebook

Maple Grove Gazette - May 9, 2026

Maple Grove's Only Newspaper of Record — Vol. 1 No. 4 — Edited by Mr. Ellison, Town Archivist & Historian

FROM THE EDITORS DESK

This editor extends the Gazette's warmest regards to the mothers of Maple Grove on the occasion of Mother's Day weekend. The weather is cooperating. The lilacs have, for once, accepted their assignment without complaint. The town's florists, bakers, and clergy are all reporting their usual Mother's-Day-weekend levels of quiet panic, which by long-standing local custom signals that everything is on track.

It has also been, this editor must report, an unusually active week for civic complaint. Charlene has filed two formal complaints in seven days—one concerning the curricular choices of the Maple Grove High Agriculture Club, who in her words "grew far too many marigolds and not a single lisianthus," and one concerning what she has alternately described as "vandalism," "destruction of personal property," and "an act of coordinated horticultural terrorism." A police investigation followed.

The investigation has concluded. Findings are reported below. This editor offers no commentary beyond the historical record, as is his policy in matters of this weight.

📜 POLICE BLOTTER

THE CHARLENE FLOWER BED INCIDENT

Wednesday, May 6; Elm St.—Maple Grove

Charlene reported, at 6:14 AM on Wednesday, that her front-yard flower bed—recently planted with tulips, pansies, and petunias and tended, this editor is told, with a degree of attention bordering on fussy—had been "destroyed overnight." She filed a written report at the police station before her morning coffee, which residents of long memory will recognize as a benchmark for the seriousness with which she viewed the matter.

Officer Wilson was dispatched. Initial assessment confirmed that the flower bed had, in fact, been thoroughly worked over. Petals were identified at a distance of up to fifteen feet from the bed itself. Two of the petunias were unaccounted for entirely.

Charlene named several initial suspects, all human and all by name. Officer Wilson—exercising what this editor would describe as professional restraint—declined to make any formal accusation and instead requested permission to review residential security camera footage from the three neighboring properties. Permission was granted, in writing, with what witnesses described as "considerable eagerness."

The footage tells a different story than the one Charlene had prepared for the Village Council. At approximately 4:47 AM, a group of rabbits—described variously in the report as "five to seven in number," "operating with discipline," and "absolutely shameless"—were observed entering the flower bed and remaining for approximately twenty-three minutes. The rabbits departed at 5:10 AM in what the report describes as "no particular hurry."

Final Disposition: The matter has been classified by the Maple Grove Police Department as a non-criminal event. The rabbits have been cleared of all charges. Charlene has indicated, on the record, that she finds the conclusion "unsatisfactory." The flower bed will, by all accounts, be replanted.

In a related and unrelated matter, this editor is told that Gordon was overheard in the café discussing that he had placed a special order this week for wire mesh, a quantity of corrugated metal in a non-standard length, and several galvanized J-feeders. Gordon, when asked, confirmed the order. He declined to elaborate. This editor declines to draw any conclusions.

📋 COMMUNITY NOTICES

METHODIST CHURCH — CHILDREN-LED MOTHER'S DAY SERVICE

The First Methodist Church of Maple Grove will host a children-led service this Sunday morning in honor of Mother's Day. The Gazette is told the order of worship has been "almost entirely surrendered" to the church's Sunday-school program, a decision Pastor Elliot described—without elaboration—as "the right call, made for reasons."

A brunch will follow, hosted, organized, and (this editor is assured) cooked by the Men's Group, who report themselves "cautiously optimistic." A photo booth will be available in the fellowship hall for family portraits. Special music will be provided by The Barber Shop Boys, the town's a cappella quartet, fronted by Luke and Evan Wilson—the two of whom are, this editor is reminded, also Mrs. Wilson's sons, and have been informed in advance that their mother will be in attendance.

BREWED AWAKENINGS — MOTHER'S DAY BASKET

Brewed Awakenings on Main Street is offering its annual Mother's Day Basket through Sunday. Each basket includes four Lemon Spring Sunshine Scones (gluten-free), individual egg soufflés (also glute-free), a half-pound of the café's house coffee blend, and a half-dozen French macarons—the small, chewy meringue cookies, this editor is firmly instructed to clarify, and not the coconut sort, which are an entirely separate dessert and on which the café declines to take a position.

Supply, the Gazette is told, is "limited but reasonable." Pre-orders have kept the Brewed Awakenings team busy. This editor will note, for the record, that one basket has already been ordered in his name, by a party who did not consult him, and he is making peace with this development.

MAPLE GROVE THEATRE DEPARTMENT — MAMMA MIA!

The Maple Grove College Theatre Department will present Mamma Mia! this weekend at the main campus auditorium. Performances are scheduled Saturday at 2:00 PM and 7:00 PM, and Sunday at 2:00 PM and 7:00 PM. Tickets are available at the door.

This editor has been informed that the production is, by long-standing small college-musical tradition, "more energetic than precise." Mothers, it is felt, will not mind.

🏛️ HISTORICAL NOTE

This is not the first time a Maple Grove flower bed has fallen victim to local wildlife. In 1977, a similar incident on Beech Lane resulted in the formation of the short-lived Citizens' Committee for Garden Defense, which met three times and disbanded after its members concluded that "the rabbits had simply been here longer." The committee's final report, on file at the town archive, contains the line: "We were never going to win." This editor has consulted it twice this week.

In 1992, the Village Council briefly entertained a proposal to construct rabbit-proof fencing around the perimeter of certain residential gardens. The motion was tabled when the new council was voted in that fall and a particularly opinionated garden enthusiast was voted off. The issue has not been revisited.

This editor offers the historical record without further comment.

🔍 Fellow Sleuths Worth Following

Two picks this week, fellow sleuths — both with a particular soft spot for the small-town-with-secrets setup, and both featuring a sidekick I would let into my kitchen at any hour. Pull up a chair.

🐾 Clues, Chaos, and a Cat — Becca Garner

Hazel Merriweather walks into a cluttered coastal animal shelter wanting two things: a cat, and maybe a fresh start. What she walks back out with is one unconscious volunteer, a regret-tinged ghost only she can see, and Edgar — a sharp-eyed gray cat who has decided, with no input from Hazel, that she is now his person. When the attack on the volunteer is shrugged off as an accident, Hazel and Edgar start asking questions, and the answers lead them to a conspiracy-obsessed janitor with a grievance, an evasive grant writer with secrets, a missing rescue dog, muddy pawprints into the coastal fog, and a box buried in the sand. If they can't crack the case in time, the shelter falls and the past stays buried with it. New author, big-hearted debut, exactly the right level of cozy paranormal nonsense. I am here for Edgar.

👉Meet Becca and grab the book →

🎭 Cue the Catastrophe — Sloan Foster

Retired English teacher Marnie Devlin loans her vintage costume collection to the Players Community Theater expecting sawdust, slapstick, and the pleasant chaos of a small-town production. Instead, the show's notoriously cruel director takes a chandelier to the head — in front of an audience that, for several long seconds, thinks it's part of the bit. Armed with a real police consultant's badge, an English teacher's instinct for what doesn't fit, and a nine-pound Chihuahua named Taco who has never once been wrong about a person, Marnie starts pulling threads. The scorned actress with a broken engagement and a freshly padded bank account looks guilty. The silver-haired theater legend whose life's work was stolen looks guiltier. And then a second body turns up — and evidence lands in Marnie's own boutique trunk. I want to live in this book, and I want Taco to like me.

👉 Meet Sloan and grab the book →

🧁 The Main Course

Christmas in Maple Grove.

I'm sitting in one of my favorite scenes of Book 5, and I am taking my time with it. It's Christmas Eve. The church is full. The candles have just been lit. Lisa is holding one—and anyone who has spent time with Lisa already knows what I am about to spend the next several pages on.

I'm not telling you what happens. But I will tell you that Pastor Elliot does not see it coming.

Maple Grove at Christmas is a love letter to the kind of small town that I grew up in and exists mostly in our better memories. There is snow on the church steps. A children's choir that is mostly on key. Mildred, holding her candle with typical Mildred precision. A grown up Dan Harper is in attendance with his wife and young children. Mom and Dad in the third pew on the left, the way they have been for forty years. And there is Lisa. With a candle. Both hands. Concentration.

I'll let you guess how it goes.

In the meantime, Ghosts Don't Use Blueprints continues to find its readers, and the reader notes coming in have been, every single one, a reason to keep going. If you haven't yet met young Jenna, Lisa, Joe, Dan, and Winston — the door's still open.

Get your copy of Ghosts Don't Use Blueprints →

And to every mother reading this—and every person who has loved a mother, missed a mother, or is the mother who is, right now, holding the entire weekend together—I am grateful for you, this Sunday and every other.

✍️ Behind the Scenes

Charlie has rediscovered the deck. She is not, despite repeated suggestions, burning off any winter belly—but when a chipmunk has the audacity to exist, she covers fifteen feet of cedar in under a second and, unlike the dog, sounds like a herd of elephants the whole way. This Mother's Day is the annual greenhouse run with my girls—Mom is in Canada with my sister, so we'll save her a seat—and I cannot wait to get my hands dirty.

Willow 🌿

Meet Willow

Author, School Board member, and gluten-free baker. I write the Jenna McGregor mysteries from my home in Michigan, fueled by coffee and Peloton PRs.

Want to stay in the know? Get the Weekly Notebook