Short Stories

Not every day in Oakridge Harbor comes with a body.

Sometimes the coffee is hot, the harbor is quiet, Reagan has found something she absolutely should not have, and the biggest problem on Water Street is finding the right book for someone who doesn't know what they want.

These short stories are little visits between the mysteries—ordinary days with Jess, Sarah, Reagan, and the people who call Oakridge Harbor home.

Stay awhile. Nothing terrible is scheduled.

Visit Oakridge Harbor

Snow Day

We got the first real snow of the year on Thursday, and Jess did a thing I didn't understand until later, which is becoming the pattern of my whole apprenticeship here: she does a thing, I don't get it, and then three hours later I get it and feel like I've learned something they don't teach you anywhere.

Sarah Roberts

Dec 3

A Matter of Shelving

Harold Ames does not browse. Harold Ames arrives.

Jess Hollis

Oct 22

Mrs. Lessard's Umbrella

It started raining Wednesday afternoon, the serious kind, the kind that comes straight off the water and means it, and at about half past three Mrs. Lessard came into the store to wait it out.

Jess Hollis

Oct 21

Reagan Goes to Work

Reagan had a job on Friday, and he took it more seriously than I take most of mine.

Jess Hollis

Sep 18

The Book Nobody Would Buy

There is a book that has lived in my front window for eleven months, and I have decided to tell its story before I lose my nerve and mark it down.

Jess Hollis

Aug 14

The Beach Book

By the second week of August, I had developed a system for tourists. This is not something Jessica knows about.

Sarah Roberts

Aug 11

The Recommendation

A man came in Saturday and asked me to recommend a book, and I have been thinking about it ever since, because I got it so wrong and then so right that I'm still not sure which part to be proud of.

Sarah Roberts

Jul 18

The Spider

I am not proud of Wednesday. I'm going to tell it anyway, because a person who only tells the flattering stories is a bore, and because it involves the single most humiliating thing that has happened to me in my own place of business, and those you have to get out in the open before they fester.

Jess Hollis

Jun 10

The Wrong Order

A box came Monday with somebody else's books in it.

Jess Hollis

May 14

The Ladder

There is a light bulb over the history section that has been out since roughly the Truman administration, and on Monday I decided, with the reckless energy of a woman who has had two cups of coffee and no customers, that today was the day.

Jess Hollis

May 4

Reagan and the Vacuum

I bought a vacuum cleaner. This is the whole story, more or less, but the whole story turns out to be bigger than the vacuum, the way these things do.

Jess Hollis

Apr 9

First Warm Day

On the first warm day of spring, Jess takes the long way home and finds a few quiet hours that belong entirely to her.

Jess Hollis

Apr 8

The Regular I Never Met

There's a woman who comes in every Tuesday and I have never once spoken to her, and Jess says that's exactly right and I should keep it that way, which took me a while to understand.

Sarah Roberts

Mar 17

Closing Shift

Jess left me to close on Friday, which she does now, which still feels like being handed the keys to something I'm not old enough to hold.

Sarah Roberts

Jan 16