"My Neighbor's Keeper," the first in a series, is centered on retired paramedic Mrs. Charlotte Henson, aka Charlie or Mrs. H. She's sixty years old and a widow. Her husband, a former police officer, was run down by a drunk driver three years before.
Charlie befriends shy six-year-old Bert, from next door. One evening, Bert comes to her door, dirty, tattered and crying. His mother won't wake up and his two younger sisters, he says, are hungry. Charlie runs to the rescue, and ends up embroiled in a murder. Bert's mother is crumpled at the foot of the cellar stairs.
When Charlie realizes she's under surveillance, she sneaks out the back door and down to the river, where her canoe is kept. She gets out on the river, at night, in a rain storm, goes upriver and travels to a cabin hidden in the woods in order to buy time to solve the crime.
Along her journey, she makes friends, and also gets help from her husband's niece, Louise.
This is the first in the Charlie Henson series.
