The Passed Prop--The Morelville Cozies--Book 1

by Anne Hagan

  I jumped up from my chair and ran to hug them both. Jesse was all smiles too from his recliner in front of the television in the family room. He made to get up but Marco waved him back down.

  “I’m coming in there.” Marco told him. “Your couch is far more comfortable than the chairs in the stuffy title office we’ve been sitting in for the last couple of hours.”

  We all moved into the family room and found seats.

  Chloe collapsed into a side chair. “I’m so relieved that part’s over with.”

  I just smiled and shook my head.

  “What?” Marco asked, looking squarely at me, “What are you thinking?”

  “Honestly? I just wasn’t sure you’d go through with it. You,” I looked pointedly back at him, “were pretty skeptical about the deal and...and about...”

  “And about the stuff going on around here, I know,” he said. “Your daughter got that all figured out though and those guys are all going to pay sooner or later.”

  Chloe shot me a ‘shush’ sort of look so I chose my next words carefully. “The investigation is rolling along, so I hear,” I said. “Pierce King copped to the whole thing right here on the farm and implicated the other three. The third intended victim identified him and two of the others. She’s actually back home and only the mend now.”

  “From what I’ve heard through the grapevine that Kimber has said, only Frank Lee wasn’t there that night but, Mel got a warrant and raided his property the day they took them all into custody here. She turned up the missing prop from the haunted house. They were able to hold him too based on that. Tony Flores has since caved in and he’s trying to work a deal with the DA for his testimony but they’re all being held in the lockup for now which, I’m sure, is a relief for Kimber.”

  “It’s a relief for me,” Marco said.

  “See honey,” Chloe told him, “this may be a tiny little village but don’t discount the effectiveness of the local law. Everyone knowing everyone else around here has some advantages.”

  “That’s obvious now but you can understand my concerns before can’t you?” He looked around at the group of us.

  “Sure, sure,” I told him. “It was a crazy time. We were all worried.” In more ways than one!

  I directed a breath out so hard and upward, my bangs fluttered. “Let’s say we talk about more important stuff now though. That’s all water under the bridge, after all.”

  Everyone nodded and so I dove right in, “When do you two think you’re going to get going with the store?”

  Chloe said, “I’m pretty much done with what I can do with Barb’s house until spring and a break in the weather. I haven’t been taking any nail work clients back in Pittsburgh while we’ve been running around trying to get all of this wrapped up. I referred them all out. It’s just as well now.”

  Jesse broke his usual silence, “so you’ll be hanging around the village then working on getting that back open?”

  “Some,” she replied. “I’ll be going back and forth to help Marco close out our house in McKeesport and get it on the market. There’s stuff to clean there, licenses to file for now, stock to order...I honestly don’t expect that we’ll have it all squared away until just after Christmas.”

  “You’re assuming too,” I said, “that all those government agencies and whatnot will be on the stick right around the holidays when those folks would rather be anywhere else but work.”

  “True that. I hadn’t even thought about that. Well, I’ve got all the paperwork done, I just have to send stuff in. Hopefully, it all shakes out before the end of the year. That will make tax filing for this year a whole lot easier!”

  Marco shook his head ruefully, “You know, just because you said that, it probably won’t come together and we’ll have a nightmare on our hands.”

  “Marco, think positive!” Chloe snapped her fingers at him.

  “Anyway,” she said as she looked back and forth between us, “If it’s alright with you, I’ll stay here some of the time I’m here until our place sells back there and we can buy a place here.”

  “Just some of the time?” I asked her.

  “Well, I’d like to spend some time with Dana too, especially with the holidays coming. Since we’re...going to be boxing up the house to stage it for sale...no fun in a Pittsburgh winter, I’m sure...we, ah, we’ve pretty much already told the boys to make plans strictly with their in-laws this year. Nick says they’re closing the plant down for a few days so now that he knows we’ll be in transition, they’re thinking about doing a family ski vacation.”

  “You can stay out here as much as you want, both of you,” Jesse told them. Looking directly at Chloe, he said, “On one condition...”

  “What’s that?”

  Looking at her but pointing a skinny finger at me, he admonished her, “You keep her busy and out of trouble!”

  About the Author

  Anne Hagan is an East Central Ohio based government employee by day and author by night. She and her wife live in a tiny town that's even smaller than the Morelville of her fiction novels and they wouldn't have it any other way. Anne's wife grew up there and has always considered it home. Though it's an ultra-conservative rural community, they're surrounded there by family, longtime friends and many other wonderful people with open hearts and minds. They enjoy spending time with Anne's son and his wife, with their nieces and nephews and doing many of the things you've read about in her books or that will be 'fictitiously' incorporated into future Morelville Mysteries and Cozies series books. If you've read about a hobby or a sport in either series, they probably enjoy doing it themselves or someone very close to them does.

  Anne and her wife are the co-owners of a haunted house: Hagan's House of Horrors. Much as her dream has always been to write fiction, her spouse's dream has been to create it through the medium of horror. They took their haunt operation fully commercial in 2015. Watch them as they grow!

  The Passed Prop is the first book in the Morelville Cozies series by Anne. If you enjoyed this one, please watch for future books in this series. Also, if you’re interested in slightly ‘darker’ fare and if alternative lifestyles don’t bother you, please consider checking out the first five books in the Morelville Mysteries series, Relic, Busy Bees, Dana’s Dilemma, Hitched and Tied and, especially, Viva Mama Rossi!, to see where it all began with Sheriff Melissa Crane, her able spouse and sidekick, Dana Rossi Crane and both of their wonderful, meddling mothers. All of the mysteries in both series stand-alone but they’re certainly better together.

  As always, thank you for reading!

  Also Written by the Author

  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 the latest 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?

  Originally released as a serial mystery in ten episodes, this latest cozy crime drama from the Morelville Cozies series goes great together with Book 1 of the series, The Passed Prop. To get all of the Crane and Rossi families back story, you should check out that book but this bo
ok can also be read as a stand-alone mystery.

  Anne Hagan is the author of the bestselling Morelville Mysteries series featuring Sheriff Melissa ‘Mel’ Crane and United States Customs and Border Protection Special Agent Dana Rossi. The 5th book in that series, Viva Mama Rossi!, is a crossover between a typical slightly darker mystery and a cozy mystery that more fully explores the personalities of their mothers Faye Crane and Chloe Rossi and gives the two family matriarchs a case of their own to solve. The Morelville Cozies are a result of the fast friendship and the love of a good mystery the two older women share.

  DISCLAIMER: The Morelville Mysteries series is a mystery/romance series featuring two female leads, Mel and Dana, who form, over the course of the first four books, a loving same sex relationship. Books three and four contain a couple of scenes each of consenting adult women in sexual situations. Book five (described above) contains one such scene and books six and seven each contain one such scene. If that is distasteful to you, please don’t read the series. The cozy mystery series stands alone with cases that run concurrent to cases in the other series.

  Relic: The Morelville Mysteries – Book 1 – The first Dana and Sheriff Mel mystery and the first book in the Morelville saga. It is widely available as a free download wherever eBooks are sold. Please click the link above which will take you to Anne’s website where you can obtain a link to get the book at your retailer of choice.

  Cases collide for two star crossed ladies of law enforcement...

  Customs Special Agent Dana Rossi was forced to start her life anew after a bad breakup with her former girlfriend and the loss of job that she loved. These days, she spends life on the road, moving from one case to another until one day when runs run right into the path of Sheriff Mel Crane. The feisty, sexy butch cop is as determined to uncover a counterfeiting ring in her county as Agent Rossi becomes to stop a stalker obsessed with Mel and hot for her company. Dana is under the added pressure of conducting an undercover investigation of her own with a tight deadline: finding and then stopping a ring of smugglers bringing high end designer knock-offs into the states.

  Could their cases be related? When repeated vicious attacks on Mel and on her home accelerate the danger for her and also their attraction to each other, they become desperate to find the truth and solve the two mysteries. Can they find a way to work together to resolve both cases while coming to terms with their growing feelings for one another? Can Dana move beyond her jilted lover past and find true happiness with a small town Sheriff?

  Busy Bees: The Morelville Mysteries – Book 2

  Romance and Murder Mix in the Latest Story Featuring Sheriff Mel Crane and Special Agent Dana Rossi!

  Customs Special Agent Dana Rossi is down but not out after being shot and seriously injured during her previous assignment. Will romance blossom or will sparks fly when she agrees to shack up in Morelville with the beautiful butch Sheriff Melissa ‘Mel’ Crane and her extended family while she recovers?

  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 the Newest 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 littl
e 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?

  ~~~

  Three multi-eBook boxed sets of the works of 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. Please click the hyperlink just above for a page at Anne’s website where you can get a link to the retailer who carries this set.

  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 set is available for $3.99 at multiple outlets. Some carry it with the 3D cover on the left, others with the 2D cover on the right. Please click the hyperlink just above for a page at Anne’s website where you can get links to all the retailers who carry 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. The set is available for $3.99 at multiple outlets. Please click the hyperlink just above for a page at Anne’s website where you can get links to all the retailers who carry this set.