"Celebrating her forty-fifth birthday at her local pub, popular podcaster Alix Summers crosses paths with an unassuming woman called Josie Fair. Josie, it turns out, is also celebrating her forty-fifth birthday. They are, in fact, birthday twins. A few days later, Alix and Josie bump into each other again, this time outside Alix's children's school. Josie has been listening to Alix's podcasts and thinks she might be an interesting subject for her series. She is, she tells Alix, on the cusp of great changes in her life. Josie's life appears to be strange and complicated, and although Alix finds her unsettling, she can't quite resist the temptation to keep making the podcast. Slowly she starts to realise that Josie has been hiding some very dark secrets, and before she knows it, Josie has inveigled her way into Alix's life-and into her home. But, as quickly as she arrived, Josie disappears. Only then does Alix discover that Josie has left a terrible and terrifying legacy in her wake, and that Alix has become the subject of her own true crime podcast, with her life and her family's lives under mortal threat. Who is Josie Fair? And what has she done?" --Page [4] of cover.

Katie has bought a box of chocolates for her mom's birthday, but when they go to open it the box is missing, and Katie and Pedro set out to track down the thief.

Katie's birthday is tomorrow, but she just cannot wait to find out what her present will be, so she and Pedro follow Katie's parents as they go shopping, but none of the places they stop seem present-worthy--Katie is disappointed, but when she gets home a big surprise is waiting for her.

"October 31 is just around the corner and Emily Westhill's Boston cream donuts, carved with a scream, have made an indelible impression on local eccentric Rich Royalson. So much so that he's ordered three dozen, with no screaming faces and twice the fudge frosting, for his seventieth birthday--a special event in more ways than one. It's to be held on fog-shrouded Lake Fleekom where, twenty years ago, his wife mysteriously drowned. But the next day, when Emily arrives with her Boston cream donuts, she stumbles upon Rich's corpse. The poor guy wanted a unique birthday bash--just not one to the side of his skull. With a guest list of possible perpetrators left at the scene, Emily soon discovers that the Royalson closet is rattling with skeletons. As the fog thickens, motives mount, and the tricks outnumber the treats, Emily fears that Rich may not be the last one in Fallingbrook to go out screaming."--Provided by publisher.

An anthology of six previously uncollected stories explores the memories, emotional machinations, rationalizations, dreams, and desires of people who get away with the perfect murder or who help keep information about a killing secret.