On a charming cul-de-sac in suburban Connecticut, three close-knit couples find their long-cherished harmony undone when a lovely, younger neighbor, widowed a year ago and presumably still unattached, turns up pregnant. Who is the father? Could it be one of the husbands? One by one, the couples turn inward, taking stock of their marriages and of the loyalties that perhaps have been taken too much for granted. In each case, this close scrutiny reveals...

Meg Langslow is pregnant with twins when Michael asks if she wouldn't mind having a houseguest. One of his doctoral students is directing his new translation of a play by a minor Spanish playwright, who has agreed to come to town for the production. Surely they can spare some room for such an important academic cause? Senor Mendoza turns out to be a partygoer who loves to spend raucous evenings among adoring students...at Casa Langslow. Into this...

From the New York Times bestselling author of The Midwife Murders comes a twisted psychological thriller about a mother-to-be trying to find proof that she's being stalked, even when everyone around her distrusts her mother's intuition. Emily Atkinson leads a complicated life in New York City. She's a successful marketing executive who lives in a luxury apartment and enjoys a glamorous existence until she lands in the hospital with a double diagnosis:...

"Carrie is at the top of her game, with a dream career, a baby on the way, and a handsome screenwriter husband. But Carrie's perfect life begins to unravel as Emma, the ambitious temp hired to cover Carrie's maternity leave, appears obsessed with Carrie's life and husband in this psychological thriller"--

Ivy and David Rose, happily married high school sweethearts and expecting their first child, are plunged into a growing web of suspicion when a young, pregnant high school classmate disappears and David's past is exposed in this tale of obsession.

"Trudy has betrayed her husband, John. She's still in the marital home--a dilapidated, priceless London townhouse--but John's not here. Instead, she's with his brother, the profoundly banal Claude, and the two of them have a plan. But there is a witness to their plot: the inquisitive, nine-month-old resident of Trudy's womb. Told from a perspective unlike any other, Nutshell is a classic tale of murder and deceit from one of the world's master storytellers"--...

Mria's Synopsis: The California sunshine's not quite so bright for three sisters who get dumped in the same week... Finola, a popular LA morning-show host, is famously upbeat until she's blindsided on live TV by the news that her husband is sleeping with a young pop sensation who has set their affair to music. While avoiding the tabloids and pretending she's just fine, she's crumbling inside, desperate for him to come to his senses and for life to...

"When a woman and her husband, desperate for a baby, find themselves unable to conceive, they decide to take further steps. Since it is the husband who is infertile, the heroine decides to use a donor. And all seems to be well. Three months pass and she is happily pregnant. But a shocking revelation occurs when she discovers that a man arrested for a series of brutal murders is her donor - the biological father of the child she is carrying. Delving...

The two works included in this collection--"Bluebird Winter" by Howard and "Naughty or Nice?" by Bond--bring together the joy of Christmas and the wonder of love.