"In southeast Minnesota, down on the Mississippi, a school board meeting is coming to a close. The board chairman announces that the rest of the meeting will be closed, due to personnel issues. "Issues" is correct. The proposal up for a vote before them is whether a local reporter should die. And the vote is four to one in favor. Meanwhile, not far away, Virgil Flowers is doing a favor for a friend by looking into a dognapping, which seems to be turning...

An exploration of the roles flowers play in the production of our foods, spices, medicines, and perfumes reveals their origins, myriad shapes, colors, textures and scents, bizarre sex lives, and how humans-- and the natural world-- relate and depend upon them.

Presents simple techniques for an early spring garden of color profiling 30 hardy annual flowers.

"Pinion, Minnesota: a huge city of all of seven hundred folks who define the phrase 'small town.' Nothing has ever happened in Pinion and nothing ever will... until the mayor of sorts (campaign promise: 'I'll Do What I Can') comes up with a scheme to put Pinion on the map. He's heard of a place where a floating image of the Virgin Mary turned the whole town into a shrine, attracting thousands of curious people and making the townsfolk rich overnight....

"Class reunions: a time for memories--good, bad, and, as Virgil Flowers is about to find out, deadly--in the thrilling new novel in the #1 New York Times-bestselling series. Virgil knows the town of Trippton, Minnesota, a little too well. A few years back, he investigated the corrupt--and as it turned out, homicidal--local school board, and now the town's back in view with more alarming news: A woman's been found dead, frozen in a block of ice. There's...

Add the vibrant colors and exotic blooms of orchids to your houseplant haven! It's easier than you think with the help of Orchid Modern. Marc Hachadourian, the curator of the orchid collection at the New York Botanical Garden, shares his secrets to successfully growing these sometimes-finicky houseplants. Besides the basics, you'll learn his top 120 orchid picks for green and not-so-green thumbs. Ten inspirational, step-by-step projects, including...

While looking for her beloved puppy, Poco, one winter day, young Mia discovers how beautiful the world can be, as well as a way to make her own village of Campamento San Francisco more lovely and her family's life easier.