Christmas Cakes and Kisses Read online

Will murder get in the way of love? If murder doesn’t, will life in a house with children or a political campaign keep them apart? Can Mel solve two major crimes and keep her former job on the road loving girlfriend happy in a tiny town?

  DANA’S DILEMMA: THE Morelville Mysteries – Book 3 – The relationship matures between Mel and Dana in an installment that features a breaking Amish character, an ex-girlfriend, a conniving politician and murder.

  Elections and Old Loves Combine with Deadly Results in a Romantic Mystery Featuring Sheriff Mel Crane and Special Agent Dana Rossi!

  What happens when Mel runs for Sheriff, an Amish girl runs away from home and Dana runs – er, limps - for cover? Can anything else possibly go wrong for these two ladies of law enforcement? Sure it can and it will!

  Can the two sometimes lovers work it all out once and for all and finally have a happy life together or will more crime, murder and mayhem get in the way?

  HITCHED AND TIED: THE Morelville Mysteries – Book 4

  Mel and Dana attempt to bring their growing romantic relationship full circle but family, duty and family duties all conspire to get in the way.

  A victim with close ties to the Cranes escapes a deadly assault with his life only to die from his injuries minutes later. Mel has few clues to find the fighter turned murderer and the further she goes with her investigation, the more the situation deteriorates. Meanwhile, Dana’s trying to plan their wedding but the family is resisting both her efforts and the wishes of the couple while focusing more on her sister and her traditional relationship.

  Family angst, violent crime and more than a few Holstein steers abound as Dana and Mel fight against the odds to solve Mel’s case and find their own happily ever after.

  VIVA MAMA ROSSI!: THE Morelville Mysteries – Book 5 – The 5th tale in the Morelville Mysteries and the book that gives fans a full introduction to future Morelville Cozies series sleuths Faye Crane (Mel’s mom) and Chloe Rossi (Dana’s Mama). The two series stand-alone but they’re certainly better together. For just the back story on Faye and Chloe and how they came to team up to solve mysteries, Viva Mama Rossi! is a quick and entertaining read. The synopsis:

  A delayed honeymoon getaway takes a deadly turn for newlyweds Mel and Dana; meanwhile, two meddling mothers won't let sleeping fisherman lie in the latest Morelville Mystery.

  Does an unsolved shooting death far away from Morelville have local ties? Did a fisherman really drown or was there something more sinister afloat?

  All Mel and Dana wanted was to enjoy a nice, relaxing honeymoon in the Smokey Mountains, away from the strains of life in the public eye. Instead, they end up involved in a case local law enforcement has completely written off. Things are no better back home where their own mothers are stirring up an all new hornets’ nest that they think Mel and her own department have written off.

  If there is going to be any rest for anyone, something is going to have to break in one case or the other...

  A Crane Christmas: The Morelville Mysteries – Book 6

  Is it the Christmas season or the ‘silly season’?

  All Sheriff Mel wants to do is close out the year and spend a joyful first Christmas with Dana and with their extended families. She’s even hired a new detective, Janet Mason, to ease some of the workload for her and her only other detective, Shane Harding. Things were shaping up great for her and Dana for a relaxing holiday season. Too bad it just wasn’t meant to be...

  The local criminals want it all too and a string of burglaries in high class county enclaves have Mel and both of her detectives stymied. Throw in a bunch of disappearing dogs, some designer sheep, a lonely woman and an unsolved murder case, and the good guys are at their wits end. Meanwhile, back in tiny little Morelville, things aren’t much better; the village is buzzing over Dana’s family taking over the store but Dana herself isn’t so sure that’s a good thing.

  Can Mel and her team resolve everything before Christmas dinner comes out of the oven? Will Janet Mason fit in at all? Will Dana find a balance between work and family that works for her in time to enjoy her first Christmas with Mel?

  MAD FOR MEL: THE MORELVILLE Mysteries – Book 7

  Rival gangs will stop at nothing to gain sole control of the drug trade in Muskingum County and they’ve picked Valentine’s week to create a firestorm of murder and mayhem as they battle each other for supremacy.

  Sheriff Mel Crane is blindsided by looting, murdering and marauding bikers at a time of year when most Harley’s are tucked safely away from the effects of Ohio winters that come rife with snow and ice. They’re rolling out, they’re out of control and she can’t stop them. On the home front, she’s feeling guilty about spending so much time working and hardly any time with Dana, especially when she knows Valentine’s Day is right around the corner...or so her mother-in-law keeps reminding her.

  Dana just wants Mel to be safe; she has her own problems to worry about. Her attempt at novel writing isn’t going as well as she hoped and she’s bored. She got a little taste of what it was like to be an investigator again and she misses it. What to do?

  HANNAH’S HOPE: THE Morelville Mysteries – Book 8

  A young mother with a troubled past seeks help from Mel and Dana but is their effort to assist her too little, too late?

  Hannah Yoder appears on Dana and Mel’s doorstep late one night with her teenage friend Katie and Katie’s newborn baby in tow telling the couple the girl and child are in trouble and have no place else to go. Dana and Mel offer refuge for the night and a firm promise to talk about the future. Plans are barely made when first one mysterious tragedy strikes and then another leaving Mel, Dana, Hannah and the Crane and Rossi families with few clues and little hope.

  Mel knows there’s a killer out there; she just doesn’t know where to start looking. She’s stonewalled at every turn and running out of time. Somebody knows something that will unlock the mysteries swirling all around, but who?

  THE TURKEY TUSSLE: The Morelville Mysteries – Book 9

  The old-fashioned country village of Morelville holds a secret.

  Faye Crane has the perfect life as a homemaker, farmer’s wife and grandmother...or she did until her daughter-in-law Dana went and stirred up a mysterious murder, never resolved and long buried in the Lafferty family lore – before Faye ever became a Crane. Now she’s been reminded of some startling questions about her families past that she’s not sure she wants to know the answers to.

  Dana knows to tread lightly around Faye. Their relationship is far from perfect but she just can’t help herself; she’s certainly intrigued by the unsolved case. The down to earth, gentle residents of the village are more than happy to fill her in on all of the old gossip too. She even gets an education in oil drilling and backroom poker along her way to trying to clear the Lafferty family name and bring some closure to her mother-in-law. The question is, can she figure it all out and, if she does, will the Lafferty’s and the Crane’s be better off or far worse?

  A SPIN-OFF FROM THE Morelville Mysteries series, The Morelville Cozies series feature meddling mother sleuths Faye Crane and Chloe Rossi getting mixed up in mysteries all their own.

  THE PASSED PROP: THE Morelville Cozies – Book 1

  Chloe Rossi wants to retire with her husband and move away from suburban sprawl to bucolic Morelville; the only trouble is, Morelville is experiencing its worst crime wave ever and Marco Rossi wants no part of a move there. What to do?

  Faye Crane would like nothing more than to have her good friend Chloe move closer to her and to Chloe’s own daughter. She’s got Chloe convinced it’s a smart move but Marco is a tougher nut to crack. A string of brutal crimes around Halloween with no witnesses and little evidence to work with has her own Sheriff daughter and her entire department stymied. Marco is second guessing even taking his retirement since Sheriff Mel can’t get a handle on it all and bring peace and well-being back to the tiny village.

  Someone has to root out a killer. Can Faye and Chloe nose around and figure ou
t what the police can’t to solve the crime? If they do, will Marco still waver or will he consent to move?

  OPERA HOUSE OPS: THE Morelville Cozies – Book 2

  Murder and other sinister goings-on at a vacant 1800’s era opera house in Morelville and a modern-day property developer that wants to raze the historic building for his own gain have the residents of the village all tied up in knots and Faye Crane trying to play savior to history.

  Faye Crane and Chloe Rossi are back in a second Morelville cozy mystery. This time, sinister goings-on including the discovery of a dead body at a vacant late 1800’s era opera house in Morelville have the residents of the village all tied up in knots. When what first appears to be an accident turns out to be murder, the duo of meddling mothers quickly gets enmeshed in another round of crime solving. It doesn’t help that, everywhere they turn, a property hungry developer with more money than sense, wants the land the building sits on and he’ll seemingly stop at nothing to get it.

  Is there really another killer in their midst? Is the same person responsible for all of the strange occurrences? What will it take to make the crimes stop, make a developer go away and to save the historical building for future generations?

  THREE multi-eBook boxed sets of the first 8 of the Morelville Mysteries works by Anne Hagan are also available for purchase.

  The Morelville Collection is an eight eBook set that includes all of the full length Morelville Mysteries novels featuring Sheriff Melissa ‘Mel’ Crane and Special Agent Dana Rossi.

  The Morelville Mysteries Full Circle Collection is a five eBook set that contains the first four Morelville Mysteries novels and an exclusive Companion Guide that is only available with this set.

  THE MORELVILLE MYSTERIES: Books 5-8 Collection is a four eBook set that contains the most recent additions to the ongoing Morelville Mysteries series.

  An excerpt from the short story:

  Loving Blue in Red States: Birmingham Alabama

  Thursday, March 2nd

  “Where are you?”

  “I got off later than I wanted to. I just found a parking place up the block. There must be a lot of people there.”

  “Yeah, you could say that. Gram’s here, Izzy.”

  “Great. Just what we needed.”

  “We should have figured that she would be. Just try and be polite, okay? Try not to provoke her.”

  Isabella sighed. “I might as well just say I’m sorry now, then.”

  “Why? What now?” Aslyn was already annoyed that Izzy was late and her mother was giving her hell about it. She didn’t want to deal with anything else. She scanned the sidewalk leading away from the house and up the street, looking for her girlfriend.

  “For starters, for anything that comes out of my mouth that she takes offense to. But...also...I’m in my cammies still. I didn’t have time to change.”

  “Damn it Iz! I told you...” She watched as the other woman walked into her view and then stop. Her voice came over the phone again.

  “Do you want me to go home and change? Or maybe just go home?” The last bit sounded almost hopeful, to Aslyn.

  She waved an arm at Izzy in a ‘come on’ motion while speaking into her phone, “Not on your life. You’re not leaving me alone to deal with these people.”

  “Um, they’re your family.”

  Aslyn didn’t respond. She hung up and, impatient, continued to motion to Izzy.

  When the other woman joined her, Aslyn took her by the hand and led her into her always chaotic family home.

  “You’re all dressed up!” Izzy said through gritted teeth. She self-conscientiously swept the mandatory flight squadron ball cap off her head.

  “It’s a birthday party.”

  “For a one year old.”

  “What part of my grandmother is here didn’t you get? You know how it is when she’s around. Everyone has to be ‘presentable’.” Aslyn dropped Isabella’s hand and made air quotes up, over her head.

  Izzy just shrugged and kept going, resigned to whatever happened.

  Aslyn pulled open the screen door and ushered Izzy inside.

  The house was so full, even in the March chill outside, it felt sweltering hot inside, Izzy thought.

  “Here she is mama,” Aslyn called out. “She got tied up at work, but she made it.”

  Olivia Carter turned and gave Izzy the once over. “So good of you to come dear but you needn't have bothered if you had work to do.” With that, she turned away from the two young woman.

  Izzy shot her girlfriend a look.

  Her lover ignored it. “Come on,” she said instead. “Come see the birthday boy.” Taking Izzy by the arm now, she tugged her into the dining room where her 17-year-old sister, Alisha, was holding court over the unwrapping of gifts that had been bestowed upon her toddler.

  “My gift,” Izzy said. “I forgot about it. It’s in the trunk. I’ll just go get it.” She tried to pull away.

  Aslyn tightened her grip of her arm and stopped her. “It’s okay. You can go after it later. He’s already swamped with stuff.”

  “Who do we have here, Missy?” A woman’s voice called out from the left side of the crowded room. Izzy knew the voice well and she knew the speaker, Aslyn’s grandmother Rose Carter, knew exactly who she was.

  “It’s me, Mrs. Carter, Isabella,” she said as she tried to control the irritation she could already feel beginning to surface.

  The old woman looked her up and down the same as Aslyn’s mother had. She pursed her lips and shook her head slightly during her overlong inspection. “So nice of you to finally join us dear. We didn’t think you were coming. You had Aslyn in quite the tizzy.”

  Izzy didn’t dare look at her watch or at the clock on the wall but she knew she couldn’t be more than fifteen or twenty minutes late. She ignored the barb and said instead, “Work ran a little long but I really had hoped to be here in time to see Clayton open his gifts. I guess I assumed ya’ll would eat first.”

  “Nonsense child! Everyone knows you wait to eat until after the gifts and that you serve the cake immediately after the meal. You may do it backwards in your family, but tradition is that...”

  Izzy tuned the old woman out then. She stood her ground several feet out in front of her and nodded as the old woman attempted to lecture her about how ‘non-traditional’ her family must be because they didn’t know the proper way to do things. She knew if she waited long enough, the fact that she had a white father would even come up. It always did.

  Aslyn finally tugged her away from the holier-than-thou woman asking, “I thought you wanted to see Clayton?”

  “Thanks,” she mumbled low for Aslyn’s ears only. Out loud, she said, “He looks a little busy.”

  At dinner, Rose insisted on saying grace. She held court for a few minutes over the assembled crowd until Clayton started kicking up a fuss his mother couldn’t quell, cutting her short.

  When she finished, everyone in the room called out a hearty amen but Izzy who’d always thought of prayer as a more private matter. Rose took note and chose to comment but in a roundabout sort of way. As everyone helped themselves to sandwich meats and cheeses and Olivia’s homemade potato salad, she looked to her right at Aslyn, down a couple of seats from her place at the head of the table.

  “We’ve been missing you in church on Sunday, child.”

  “Grandma, I go to church...sometimes.”

  “Where? Not to no church that I’ve seen!”

  “It’s downtown. Sometimes Izzy and me both go.”

  Izzy sat there wishing Aslyn had kept her out of the running family argument.

  “That ‘alternative’ place?” Rose Carter scoffed. “That’s not a church.”

  Izzy bristled. She wasn’t ‘good enough’ for Aslyn because she was a woman and a mechanic and because her father was white. Aslyn wasn’t good enough either because she was gay and vocal about it and because she didn’t go to the right church...it just went on and on. She looked over at the teenage mother, Alisha,
who sat there, smug, just taking in the abuse that was always heaped upon her older sister.

  ‘Hypocrites!’ Izzy thought.

  “Do you know how much I love you?” Aslyn circled her arms around Izzy’s waist and pulled her in close. She attempted to kiss her but the other woman pulled back.

  “What’s wrong?”

  “Do you really?”

  “Love you? Yes. Why would you even ask that?”

  “If you do, then why won’t you move in here with me?”

  “Iz, you know I can’t.”

  “Can’t or won’t? You’re over 18. You have a job. You’re a big girl. You could still start school, you know. You wouldn’t even have to pay for anything here. Between my job and the Guard, I’ve got it all covered.”

  “I would if I could but Mama needs me at the house to help out with Clayton. She’s dead set that Alisha’s going to finish school.”

  “What about your schooling?”

  “The hospital’s going to cover everything. I’ll be in class during the day and I’ll work evenings and weekends.”

  “And how does that let you help your Mama and sister with Clayton?”

  “I won’t be working every day. There will be time with him and time with you too; don’t you worry.”

  “You’re forgetting you need time to study too. RN training is going to be a lot harder than learning to be a patient care tech was.”

  “I know that. But, baby, I can’t live here. I want to, but I can’t. Don’t you see? Besides, it’s not even finished.”

  “Dad and me are working on it,” Izzy said as she spread her hands, “most nights and every weekend. It’s livable. The kitchen’s almost done and the bathroom and the bedroom are just fine. It’s going to be really nice when it’s all done.”