Kathleen Maule Holen

A young woman looks forward to her trist with a married man until she treats herself to a free Valentine's Day Manicure.

Little did John Hooker know when he invited a struggling playwright, whose work has been panned by critics, to an intimate dinner party with his neighbors Frederick and Ernestine Dreiling, that the tragic events of the evening would inspire a classic story that has survived the ages and never, never seems to grow old.

A scientist is ridiculed and ignored when she warns a community of fire danger, therefore, no safety measures are in place when a major conflagration rages across the Thumb of Michigan in 1881.

A woman is haunted by her Irish Herritage until she learns its true value.

Jill Hudson, blinded by grief, must try to find love but learns the pitfalls the hard way. Jill takes the advice of the office secretary Bev Lane and seeks new interests. A lecture on dinosaurs? Soon she is fantasizing that her infatuation with an eminent scientist is reciprocated. After stalking him for a week, she attends his lecture with high hopes, but a wardrobe malfunction turns her dream date into a nightmare.

A grandmother passes the family history to the next generations through stories held by Cristmas ornaments,

Molly’s Dad, Mike Peacock came home early from work almost too excited to speak. He’d won first prize in a raffle and he couldn’t wait to tell Ellen, his wife, that they were going to Paris for three weeks, all expenses paid! Unfortunately, Ellen thinks of three good reasons why they can’t go, Molly, Paul and Sophie their dog. Who would take care of them? When Grandma unexpectedly arrives for a visit the problem seems to be solved. But Grandma says she can’t be away from her garden for three whole weeks and Paul has a fit about leaving his friends for the biggest part of summer vacation. Finally, everyone agrees that Mom and Dad deserve their special trip and the kids, and the dog will spend three weeks with Grandma. Molly and Paul are bored by life in the country and look for ways to make time pass. Paul and Sophie become heroes when they help Grandma’s neighbor Mr. Fetzer find his lost calf. Grandma surprises them with a yard sale find that looks like a video game but turns out to be a Time Machine and the adventure begins. Will the kids get back in time?

The story of the would be Snowbirds continues as Dave and Eileen move into their vintage trailer rental. Unfortunately the tables turn on Dave who discovers Glamping is too much work while EIleen is having the time of her life. Bernie steps up with another cunning plan that backfires and nearly incites a riot among the residents of Desert Haven.

When Beth suggested a destination wedding Tom had no clue it involved time travel, of a sort. Their honeymoon begins at the Jorvik Inn a Medieval manor house in England converted to a B&B where the historical figures she studies lived and died. It’s a dream come true, for Beth anyway. To her astonishment, Beth discovers a journal that she believes will solve one of history’s most perplexing mysteries. Historians still argue about what happened to the Princes in the Tower after more than five hundred years. Beth’s discovery could solve that mystery, change history and send her right to the top of her profession. Yet somehow, it seems like it’s just too good to be true.

Detective Roger Weston and his partner are initially baffled by the sudden death of Dave Hendrickson. The victim’s wife June and all his friends are convinced Dave died of natural causes. But why was he eating his birthday cake before his surprise party and what really happened between him and his wife at the Thrift Shop? Arlene spills the beans about June’s plans for divorce and the grudge neighbor Larry has against Dave. In fact, based on flashback scenes from the past, all three of them seem like suspects when its discovered that Dave was poisoned. When a second mysterious death links Dave’s to a twenty-two-year-old cold case, Weston decides the only way to solve the crimes is to replay Dave and June’s wedding reception.

A woman is forced to confront her Christmas past and present, and envision her future, when she
meets Santa afterhours.

Many people in Canyon City, still suffer in November of 1944 under the burdens left by the Great Depression. None more so than the Brown family. WWII drags on and every family in the county has a relative serving overseas. Adding to the Brown family’s hardship is the diagnosis of pneumonia Dr. Furness has given the head of the family, Walt Brown. The family’s oldest son, William, is serving in the Army stationed in Italy. John, the next oldest has stepped up to take charge of the ranch with help from his little brother Andy. Sarah Brown, Ma, has made the tough decision to send her middle son Tom to Denver to work for her brother-in-law. She hopes that the money he sends home will help pay the medical bills and keep the ranch afloat. Once in Denver, Tom is taken under the wing of his conniving uncle and quickly learns the ropes. Ropes that may hang him if he doesn’t take the way out that suddenly presents itself. Alone and facing the freezing streets of Denver, Tom is led to take refuge with an impoverished Italian American family. In return, he helps them and makes a discovery that lifts both families out of poverty.

Two people have a rude encounter on a city bus that spills over into a Veterinarian’s waiting room where their differences disappear when they discover how much they love their dogs.

A wonder she maintains her grip.

Dave was pretty sure he had spent his last winter shoveling snow until he shared his plans with his wife Eileen. Can neighbor Bernie’s cunning plan to turn the tables on Eileen convince her to spend all winter in the desert?

He’s Not Santa, He’s My Roommate, is a parody about the writing of the poem, “A Visit from Saint Nicolas” came to be written. The comedy has a cast of five and a running time of approximately thirty minutes and includes a reading of the iconic poem. A young writer is forced to take in a mysterious old man after causing him to lose his memory. Could this forgetful old con man actually be Santa Claus? Only time will tell. It was performed at Christmas in 2019 by Southern Hills Community Theatre-Second Stage as a Readers Theater and by Hays Community Theatre as part of the play within a play Keeping Christmas.

A woman must fight for the return of a family heirloom after her husband donates it to a thrift shop.

A retired nurse recalls a memory from Nursing School.

A wise sea turtle tries to help a young man find an answer to the question, “Why are we here?” and suggests that the source of human survival is our ability to take care of each other.

Nobody Kills Sherlock is a comedy about the annual awards banquet of the Wheaton Book Club. This year the president of the W.B.C., has planned a fantastic evening where the winning novelist will receive a cash prize from an actor impersonating Sherlock Holmes. The evening becomes a fiasco. The two novelists take their rivalry embarrassingly public, the guest speaker is shocking and the evening almost ends in murder.

Not until her death do Rose's sister and brother learn who she really was.

Rhubarb pie stirs memories for an elderly woman.

Two people with opposing political views find the value of working together when they face a devastating problem.

A woman turns to solving a crossword puzzle because she can't sleep for fear of Zombies.

It is the day before Halloween and local witches Angelica, Morgan and Elredde are in big trouble. Elredde has misplaced their Book of Spells which means that this will be the first year that they will not be able to cast a spell to ensure perfect weather for the annual Halloween party. The problem is even bigger because this year the party is scheduled to happen outdoors, and weather is unpredictable unless magic is involved. They’ve searched everywhere for the Book with no luck and the witches conclude that their book was stolen. The towns people have become angry and blame the Mayor for the rash of Halloween tricks that have suddenly begun. When the Mayor blames Angelica, Morgan and Elredde it’s time for extreme action. The witches conjure the most famous witch of all time to come to their aide and solve the mystery of who stole the Book of Spells.

Lifelong weight reduction battles are finally won when a group of women learn to look outward instead of inward.

Roy Rodger hasn’t even left the funeral home with his father’s ashes when he is faced with some tough choices. Should he remain in his hometown, live in the family home and continue to run the family business? What about the job offer in South Dakota? And should he comply with his father’s strange last wish that his ashes be spread in Bethel, New York? Meanwhile in Canyon City, South Dakota, Becca is plotting to sneak off to Woodstock 5.0. Her BFF Joyce can’t believe Becca’s going to disobey her mother, Cressie, and skip out on the Miss South Dakota Pageant in order to pull off the caper of a lifetime. Grandma Kit knows all about adventures like that. She went to the original Woodstock in 1969. Kit could throw a monkey wrench into Becca’s plans but only if Cressie finds out. In a field in Bethel, New York, surrounded by the racket, mud and smoke of Woodstock 5.0, the family is confronted with the events that have divided them for fifty years.

Detective Weston’s Last Case: The Suspicious Death of Brenda Babcock is a parody of television murder mystery and detective shows featuring a retirement age couple, Detective Roger and June Weston, battling over when he will finally make the decision to retire from police work. June decides to force his hand by betting him that she can solve the suspicious death of Brenda Babcock before Roger and his partner Ken Leightner can. As the case unfolds, June must use her skills as a genealogist and with the help of Mrs. Rushford, a very active ninety-two-year-old, she uncovers a family secret that seems to be the motive for at least three people to commit murder. When Roger is made to look foolish by his inept attempts to solve the case, he decides it’s time to quit and turn things over to Leightner. June finds out she should be careful what she wishes for and Roger finds out he’s not washed up quite yet.

Beth Murray hasn’t won a Pulitzer yet, but she’s trying despite the fact that she’s hanging onto her job by the skin of her teeth. Tracie McConnell has enlisted Beth’s help to uncover the mystery of her aunt, controversial archaeologist, Hanna Easterling, who disappeared without a trace in 1996. They team up with Robert Hedlund, archaeologist, who has clues to the existence of Hanna’s unexcavated archaeological site. He leads his motley excavation crew straight into Harmes Way where he hopes to make a major archaeological discovery. What are petty thefts and buried equipment meant to cover up? The crew begins digging up the broken bones of a mammoth, and the mystery surrounding Hanna’s disappearance is uncovered.

A man is clueless as to why his compulsive use of idioms is causing his life to fall apart.

It was obvious to everyone in the family that Christopher was not enjoying the family Christmas
party. Nobody, not even Aunt Millie, was sure why. Maybe he acted so sullen and bored because
he had to leave his friends and drive six hours with his squabbling parents only to discover that
he’d be joining his cousins at the children’s dinner table. What a way to waste the holiday
weekend. When he decided to entertain himself by telling his younger cousins that there is no
real Santa Clause, his Aunt Millie came down on him like a ton of bricks. His cousins Lindy and
Curtis dared him to prove it with an investigation that taught him a lesson about the true spirit of
Christmas.

Barbara must try to salvage her fiftieth wedding anniversary celebration when her husband George strongly suggests that her surprise make over makes her look like “ mutton dressed as lamb”.

A black kitten with four white paws named Boots. It’s the only gift Molly Mae Peacock wants for Christmas. Dad says, “No cats!”, but Molly writes her Christmas wish to Santa and hopes for the best. Just days before Christmas Molly hears something crying at her front door and there is the kitten she has asked for. She thinks her wish has come true until she hears more crying coming from the porch. It seems Boots has two sisters. All the kittens are black but Boots has four white paws, Mittens has two white paws and Sugar Foot has one white paw. Dad finds out about Boots and it takes lots of tears and pleading before Dad agrees that Molly can keep him. No one knows about the other two kittens and Dad can’t tell if the cat loose in the living room is Boots or one of his sisters. But Molly knows she won’t be able to hide three naughty cats for long so she asks Grandma to help. Molly learns why Dad hates cats and decides to change his mind so she can keep three cats for Christmas.

Love’s Labour’s Lost & Found is not an adaptation of a Shakespeare play. Instead, it is a story about people who love Shakespeare plays and become obsessed with the controversy over who wrote them.
Laura, a librarian from Kansas, becomes caught up in a mystery involving lost manuscripts, secret codes and a search for an unknown First Folio when she inherits her great uncle’s Manor and moves to a small English village to claim her inheritance. Laura’s first encounter with village locals results in uncertainty. Her real estate agent, Alan, is suspiciously ingratiating and immediately hits on her. The nosy, pretentious neighbor, Lady Abigale, who is a former bar maid elevated to the peerage by marriage, takes every opportunity to search the house. It seems she knows more about the Manor than she’s willing to share and she warns Laura that she’s not in Kansas anymore. Afterall, there’s more to learn about English culture than the difference between cookies and biscuits.
Laura only knows she’s experiencing culture shock and fears she may have taken on more than she can handle. Every room in the house is filled floor to ceiling with old books which she feels the need to organize. Great uncle Charlie has left a coded cataloging system that is completely foreign so Laura decides to seek help from Henry, the local librarian. They meet at the Library and it’s love at first sight, for him anyway. Library patrons, Lord and Lady Worth Benton greet Laura politely, share their keen interest in the works of Shakespeare but continue their research on the Library’s copy of the First Folio. Henry promises to work on cracking Uncle Charlie’s coding system which he has never seen before either. Definitely not Dewey Decimal.
Henry breaks the code and he and Laura are joined by Lord and Lady Worth Benton and Lady Abigale in ransacking the Manor in search of lost manuscripts. Little does anyone suspect that Lady Worth Benton secretly plans to destroy the original manuscripts which have the potential to resolve the Shakespeare authorship controversy to the embarrassment of her family. Just before she burns them in the fireplace Lady Abigale saves the day.
The romantic interlude between Laura and Henry is curtailed when Laura figures out that the only place they didn’t search was the kitchen. She finds the missing copy of the First Folio disguised as a cookbook. The authorship question remains unresolved.

The First Step tells the story of how four women were changed for good by a secretive young man who became their personal fitness coach. For the past fourteen years Dotty Paulson and her three friends, Cassie French, Brenda Underhill and Susan Marcus, have been driving to the top of Veterans Hill on New Year’s Day. They salute the dawn of the new year, cook breakfast on a grill and affirm their resolutions. They affirm the same ones every year—lose weight, quit smoking, cut back on drinking, get more exercise—and promptly break all of them. Finally, they admit that they are middle-aged and out of shape. But 2014 is going to be different if Dotty has anything to say about it. She’s met the new personal trainer in town, Glen Duncan, and signed herself and her friends up for fitness training. Now all she has to do is convince them to forget their worn-out resolutions and make just one: by next year they will be strong enough to climb the steps to the top of Veterans Hill. Glen may not be the perfect trainer. After all, his motto is “do as I say, not as I do”, and it’s obvious he has some serious emotional baggage. Why else would he be taking large doses of pain killers with alcohol? Despite his dangerous personal habits, over the next nine months he sets all four women on the path to strength, both physical and emotional, and then tragically leaves them but not without an enduring sense of purpose.