Emma Pivato Boeken

And Along Came Alexis is a book about choices and consequences. The author's youngest daughter, Alexis, was born in 1978 with multiple disabilities, including blindness, an intractable seizure disorder and spastic quadriplegia. The choice to keep her at home despite medical advice resulted in a limiting of career opportunities for her parents and educational and other enrichment opportunities for her siblings. However, it also introduced the family to a whole community of earnest and interesting people dealing with similar challenges that they would never have known otherwise, and it provided rich perspectives on a different way of living. As for Alexis, she thrived far better than had been predicted and developed into a sweet, trusting person with a clear sense of self and an appreciation for the people in her life. The book describes the story of her life to date from her mother's viewpoint: its victories and setbacks, its grim moments and its funny moments. Overall, it is a positive story, demonstrating what is possible, even under very challenging circumstances.

Claire Burke brings her disabled daughter Jessie to school only to witness the horrific death of Jessie's assistant as the young woman falls from a second-story landing. Claire soon suspects that the assistant's death is no accident. She and her buddy, Tia, set out on another of their risky adventures to track down a killer. Along the way, Claire must find another school helper for Jessie, and her attempts to do so lead to some major disruptions in Claire's life. The fact that Jessie's assistant must also be responsible for another special needs student named Nico who has major behavior control issues and an overbearing mother, creates an even greater dilemma for Claire in trying to find a replacement for the dead woman. Claire is also busy with her new job as coordinator of a group home and helping its three residents--Roscoe, Bill, and Mavis. However, in her quest to find the killer, it seems that Claire may have an unexpcted ally in her handicapped daughter, when she discovers that Jessie seems to possess certain instincts about potential suspects, and what Claire cannot determine herself, she soon realizes how grateful she is for what Jessie knows.

When Hilda Boaz' husband Gary and her mother Marion are killed on Highway 2 on their way to the airport, it seems like a tragic accident. But Hilda's friends, including amateur sleuth Claire Burke and her band of accomplices, suspect that the deaths are not accidental and more likely a crime. So Hilda begrudgingly joins Claire's team to help them track down her family's killer. The group are especially saddened at the death of Hilda's mother, Marion McKay, former group member and advocate for Bill, one of three residents of a group house to which all the sleuths are personally connected. When one of the team members--Augusta or "Gus" Kalline--goes out fishing for possible suspects at the dead husband's business, she bumps into a former boyfriend who whisks her away on a cruise and a precipitous marriage. But Gus' head is not so easily turned and even on her honeymoon, she engages the skills of her new husband to help the team in their search for Gary and Marion's killer. The clues eventually lead the group to a local motorcycle club, but just when things are heating up, they take a strange turn.

Yet again, someone in Claire Burke’s life is murdered. She is determined to find the killer but there are many obstacles in her false leads, an uncooperative ‘friend’ and a huge personal distraction. Tia cannot help much either between the demands of her job and her toddler daughter. But one hair-raising adventure leads to another and finally Claire is sure she is on the right track. Tia comes to her aid and in the end they face a terrifying choice. Do they risk confronting the killer or stand by and watch another murder take place?

Who could be killing off patients in an extended-care hospital? The only clue is that all the victims complained a lot. Surely, that's not the reason for murdering them, argue Claire Burke and her pal Tia. But when the local police in Edmonton--Inspector McCoy and Sergeant Crombie--seem unable to solve the mysterious crimes, Claire and Tia set up a complex plan to catch the killer in his or her tracks. And as Tia's mother is a patient at the hospital in question, the women are doubly motivated. Of course, Claire has a lot on her plate with managing her co-op for disabled adults, and Tia is a new mom with a breast-feeding infant. Two more unlikely crime fighters you couldn't find, but that won't stop Claire and Tia--and, it turns out--practically an entire village of supporting players. Will they find this murderer before another elderly patient succumbs? Or before their husbands have major fits? Have no fear, Claire and Tia are unstoppable and are convinced they can stop this villain from DEADLY CARE.

Claire Burke is itching to get back into the swing of things following her maternity leave. But that is rather hard to do with her newborn twins to care for as well as her husband, Dan, and her disabled daughter, Jessie. But Claire decides to start out slowly by attending a “mommy” group, where she meets other new mothers and hears about the struggles some of them are having in adapting to this new lifestyle. However, a few weeks later there is a double murder involving one of the group members who is assumed to be the murderer. Claire is convinced from what little she has seen of this woman that she would not be capable of such a crime and she sets out to prove it by finding the real murderer. She begins investigating and along the way, she acquires a few assistants who also join in her journey. But it is Claire alone who finally comes face to face with the killer.