by Anne Hagan
I yanked the door open but looked over my shoulder first when I heard a noise beyond the entry arch into the kitchen. Dana was up too.
Turning back, I realized it was Hannah Yoder on our doorstep with her girlfriend Jamie right behind her. In my shock to see them there at such a late hour, I almost forgot to let them in until Dana asked who it was.
“Hannah and Jamie,” I said and, as I looked beyond them, “and another woman with a baby.”
“Are you going to let them in? It’s cold.”
I opened the screen and stepped aside, motioning for them to enter.
“Hannah, what’s wrong?” Dana asked her.
“I’m so sorry for waking you but we didn’t know where else to go and I knew Mel would know what to do.”
“What’s going on?” I asked her.
“This is Katie, a friend of ours.” Hannah nodded toward the third young woman. “She’s in trouble and her and her baby have no place else that’s safe to go.”
Classic Chicken Cacciatore
Ingredients
3- to 3 1/2-lb cut-up whole chicken
½ cup all-purpose flour
¼ cup vegetable oil
1 medium green bell pepper
2 medium onions
1 can (14.5 oz) diced tomatoes, undrained
1 can (8 oz) tomato sauce
1 cup sliced fresh mushrooms (3 oz)
1 ½ teaspoons chopped fresh or 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano leaves
1 teaspoon chopped fresh or 1/4 teaspoon dried basil leaves
½ teaspoon salt
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
Grated Parmesan cheese, if desired
Directions
Coat chicken with flour. In 12-inch skillet, heat oil over medium-high heat. Cook chicken in oil 15 to 20 minutes or until brown on all sides; drain.
Cut bell pepper and onions crosswise in half; cut each half into fourths.
. Stir bell pepper, onions and remaining ingredients except cheese into chicken in skillet. Heat to boiling; reduce heat. Cover and simmer 30 to 40 minutes or until juice of chicken is clear when thickest part is cut to bone (170°F for breasts; 180°F for thighs and legs). Serve with cheese.
Red Velvet Molten Lava Cake
Recipe as adapted from the ‘Red Velvet Lover’s Cookbook’ by Deborah Harroun and photograph from Spache the Spatchula who hold all rights to said visual content.
Ingredients:
8 tbsp (1 stick) unsalted butter
4 ounces’ white chocolate
1 cup confectioners' sugar
2 large eggs
2 large egg yolks
1 tbsp red liquid food coloring
2 tbsp natural unsweetened cocoa powder
6 tbsp all-purpose flour
confectioner's sugar, for dusting
melted dark or semi-sweet chocolate, to decorate (optional)
raspberries or sliced strawberries, for serving
Directions:
Set a rack in the center position and preheat the oven to 450 degrees. Spray 4 6-ounce ramekins with nonstick cooking spray.
Melt the butter and white chocolate in the top of a double boiler, stirring until smooth. When completely melted, stir in the confectioners' sugar. (I melted my white chocolate and butter in the microwave in bursts of 15 seconds.)
Lightly whisk the eggs and egg yolks in a large bowl. Stir in the red food coloring and melted chocolate mixture.
Whisk the cocoa and flour in a small bowl to combine. Add to the batter and stir until just combined.
Divide the batter evenly among the ramekins. Place the ramekins on a baking sheet and bake until the sides of the cake are set but the centers are still soft, 14 to 15 minutes. Let the cakes rest for 2 minutes, then invert them onto dessert plates.
Serve the cakes immediately, dusted with confectioners’ sugar and with berries on the side. (fresh raspberries or strawberries.)
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 Mystery 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!
As always, thank you for reading!
Check Anne Out on her blog, on Facebook or on Twitter:
For the latest information about upcoming releases, other projects, sample chapters and everything personal, check out Anne’s blog at https://AnneHaganAuthor.com/ or like Anne on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/AuthorAnneHagan. You can also connect with Anne on Twitter @AuthorAnneHagan.
Also Written by the Author
Broken Women – Anne’s first romance novel
Can two women, unlucky in love, find solace in each other?
Where do you go when you lose everything? Who do you turn to next when nobody seems to want you for more than a causal fling?
When death unexpectedly takes the love of your life, the best you can do is to try to cope and to hold on to the good memories. When your beloved’s family takes everything else you have, hope is all that’s left...if you can hang on to that.
You’ve been smitten more than once. You’ve even been in love a time or two. The trouble is, your feelings are always only yours. Cupid’s arrow always fails to land.
Can two love weary people, from different worlds, find strength together? Can they find more and even a happily ever after?
Fans of the Morelville Mysteries mystery/romance series may recognize these two characters, who played supporting roles in those books but this novel stands alone.
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 site where you can obtain a link to get the book.
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 sh
ot 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 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 Passed Prop: The Morelville Cozies – Book 1 – The first book in the Morelville Cozies series featuring meddling mother sleuths Faye Crane and Chloe Rossi.
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 out what the police can’t to solve the crime? If they do, will Marco still waver or will he consent to move?
This is the first book in a spin off series from the Morelville Mysteries series by Anne Hagan. The book stands alone but, if you’re interested in getting all of the Crane and Rossi families back story, you should check out the fifth book in the first series, Viva Mama Rossi!.
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 book can also be read as a stand-alone mystery.
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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.
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. Most carry it with the 3D cover on the left. 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.