Dee Ernst

Ellie Rocca hated Halloween, but that didn't stop her from taking charge of the very first Mt. Abrams Halloween Scavenger Hunt. Mary Rose Reed, organizer extraordinaire, wanted to supply the entertainment, a juggling clown named Mr. Scarecrow, and Ellie knew it was easier to let Mary Rose have her way than even begin to argue. But when Mr. Scarecrow turned up dead, Mary Rose was more than willing to let Ellie take over. Trouble was, Ellie had sworn...

Andy Williams. Yoga. Twitter. Costco. What do these things have in common? Well, at one time or another, I blogged something about each of them. As a writer, you are often told to write what you know. This should tell you a lot about how glamorous and exciting this writer's life is. I've put together a number of short essays on these and other fascinating subjects, most of them previously published on one of my blogs, and am offering them as a...

"That is not a ghost story. That is the RiverCliffe legacy." She looked at me, her eyes gentle. "Do you find that hard to believe?"Three years after her divorce, Risa Armitage is still trying to get back on her feet. Living in the basement of her mother's brownstone with three kids, one bathroom and no cross ventilation is not her-or her three kids'-ideal. When the family of the father that she never knew leaves her a surprise inheritance, RiverCliffe,...

Founder's Day weekend was always a big deal in Mt. Abrams, and not even the discovery of along-buried skeleton in Emma McLaren's garden was enough to cancel the yearly celebration. But when a newly murdered corpse was found dumped in a rowboat the morning of the Founder's Day Parade, everything came to a screeching halt Ellie Rocca was convinced the murders were connected, but how? Detective Sam Kinali had taken the lead on the case, and politely...

Grace has sworn off good-looking men. As soon as she starts dating one of them, she transforms from a mature, confident woman to a needy teen-aged girl. So when she meets Seth, the best-looking man she's ever seen, she makes the right choice - forget all about him. But a neurotic golden retriever and a broken elevator keep bringing them together. Is the world working against her... or maybe the gods are finally smiling?

Sixteen-year-old Carrie Fleming thought she was doing a good deed when a charming Frenchman claiming to be a prince crashed the wedding she was working. All she wanted to do was make sure he didn't get into any trouble. And, since he seemed infatuated with her older sister, Sara, it just made sense to ask Sara to help. Sara Fleming just wanted to make it through her senior year and get into a great music school. She didn't care about friends or boys...

When Aladdin rubbed the magic lamp, things went pretty well for him. But a few thousand years later, the world has changed and the genie is old, cranky, and doesn't play fair. Young Alison thinks she's found the answer to all her prayers, but instead finds that having wishes come true isn't all it's cracked up to be. This short story originally appeared in the anthology, Through a Tangled Wood, as written by Marijon Braden

A delightful work of women's fiction about a best-selling author who goes to Paris to overcome writer's block, and in the process rediscovers family, independence, and love. All Maggie Bliss needs to do is write. Forty-eight years old and newly single (again!), she ventures to Paris in a last-ditch effort to finish her manuscript. With a marvelous apartment at her fingertips and an elegant housekeeper to meet her every need, a finished book - and...

Dee Ernst's Lucy Checks In is a delightful work of romantic comedy about a disgraced hotel manager who travels to Rennes to rebuild a hotel and her own life in the process.Lucia Giannetti needs a fresh start. Once the hotel manager of a glamorous NYC hotel and intimately involved with the hotel's owner, Lucy had her entire future planned out. But when the owner disappears, taking millions of dollars with him, Lucy's life as she knows it falls apart.Two...