Katherine O'Connor often spends her days at a cozy café on Blossom Street in Seattle--where she writes Christmas letters for other people. She's good at making their everyday lives sound more interesting. More humorous. More dramatic.

But for Dr. Wynn Jeffries, who also frequents the café, Christmas means lies and deception. In fact, the renowned child psychologist recommends that parents "bury Santa under the sleigh."

The sheets were damp and cold as she climbed into bed, and as she lay shivering, she ached with loneliness. . . . Cassie lay listening to the creaking timbers of the old hotel, and tears slid down her face.

It doesn't matter what answers I find, she thought. Nothing will ever be the same.

It was in that twilight between wakefulness and sleep that she wondered how she could find any answers when she didn't even know the questions.

Cassie

Susan Michaels was once the hottest reporter on the Beltway Beat until a major scandal ruined her life and left her writing stories about alien babies and Elvis sightings. Life as she once knew it is over, or so she thinks, but then she gets a lead on a story that could salvage her extinct career. She heads to the local animal shelter, expecting a hot news tip, which she gets in the form of a major police cover-up . . . for a ring of soul-sucking