An abridged version of the story of young Caroline Quiner, who would grow up to become Laura Ingalls Wilder's mother, as she and her family have new adventures as the frontier outpost of Brookfield, Wisconsin, grows into a bustling town.

"Anna and Felty Helmuth's zest for matchmaking is unstoppable--and with grown-up grandchild number three on her way to their home in lovely Huckleberry Hill, Wisconsin, what better reason to put their talents to work once more?... When Mandy Helmuth hears that her best friend Kristina's heart has been broken, she decides to visit her grandparents and cheer her up. Mandy never liked Noah Mischler anyway, with his rough exterior and outspoken ways....

When Harley Jackson finds a calf in his barn bearing the image of Jesus Christ, he hopes to keep it to himself to avoid a scene, but word gets out anyway, and Harley has to decide how to deal with the media circus, and save his Wisconsin farm from developers.

Then the quiet was broken. The baby reached up a hand and jerked at the tablecloth. A spoon hit her on the head, and she started to cry. Bertha Schuler stuck her head out the door and called that dinner was ready. The clock in the hallway struck the half hour. And the first shot was fired.
The unsolved murders at a remote Wisconsin farmhouse half a century ago have receded into time. But one deranged man will do anything to make sure that...

Wisconsin winter weather plays as important a role as any individual in this nicely paced tale of domestic abuse and murder. Claire Watkins is still adjusting to life in little Fort St. Antoine when she notices the bruises and stiff gait of a local woman named Stephanie Klaus. Small town or big city, Claire knows the signs of abuse when she sees them.

Stephanie, however, won't talk, even when her new boyfriend, Buck, is tied into his car, driven

...

"Esther Larson has been cooking for funerals in the Northwoods of Wisconsin for seventy years. Known locally as the 'funeral ladies,' she and her cohort have worked hard to keep the mourners of Ellerie County fed--it is her firm belief that there is very little a warm casserole and a piece of cherry pie can't fix. But, after falling for an internet scam that puts her home at risk, the proud Larson family matriarch is the one in need of help these...

It's Lew Ferris's first day as the newly-elected Sheriff of McBride County, and already things are heating up in the Wisconsin Northwoods. The tragic drowning of a teenage girl draws an eerie parallel to the unsolved murder of another teen thirty years earlier, but one of Lew's new subordinates--Alan Stern, Chief of the Deer Haven Police Department--has ruled it an accidental death by drowning. Lew is up against a wall of sexism and subterfuge: not...

The war has taken a toll on the Christiansen family. With food rationed and money scarce, Charlotte struggles to keep her family well-fed. Her teenage daughter, Kate, raises rabbits to earn money for college and dreams of becoming a writer. Her husband, Thomas, struggles to keep the farm going while their son, and most of the other local men, are fighting in Europe. When their upcoming cherry harvest is threatened, strong-willed Charlotte helps persuade...

Arriving at a deserted lake house to investigate an aborted call to police, Deputy Anna McCafferty walks into the middle of a heinous crime and is deprived of her weapon, car, and phone, forced to flee, along with the twenty-five-year-old daughter of the murdered couple, into the surrounding forest to escape the perpetrators who must eliminate any potential witnesses.