This is a collection of 5 Doreen Sizemore Novelettes: 

Murder on The Texas Eagle 

Murder at the Buckstaff Bathhouse 

Murder at Slippery Slope Youth Camp 

Murder on the Mississippi Queen 

Murder in the Mystery Mansion 

 

Doreen Sizemore is an opinionated old Kentucky woman who stumbles over an unsolved homicide every time she travels to see her extended family--and it's starting to get on her nerves! 

 

---Back Cover Blurb---  

 

Doreen Sizemore is tougher than an old hickory stump and more opinionated than a pulpit-pounding preacher. The only thing Doreen hates worse than stumbling over another dead body is finding a rattlesnake sunning itself in her bean patch. Her hardscrabble life in South Shore, Kentucky makes her an unlikely sleuth, but every time Doreen leaves home she ends up embroiled in another murder mystery.

In this tongue-in-cheek short story, Doreen Sizemore, an elderly and opinionated Kentucky woman who seldom leaves her small town, visits a niece who works as a Mary Kay consultant in Little Rock, Arkansas. Her niece has a special surprise for her after she arrives—a nice, long, soak in the mineral waters of Hot Springs, Arkansas at the historic Buckstaff Bathhouse. Doreen is feeling quite the lady of leisure…until she discovers that a murder occurred while she was luxuriating in her first spa treatment.

 In this tongue-in-cheek short story, Doreen Sizemore, an elderly and opinionated Kentucky woman who hasn't been outside of home town since her senior class trip, gathers her courage and boards the Texas Eagle train bound for her brother's home in Texas. She is feeling quite the brave adventuress...until she discovers a murder on the train.

 In this tongue-in-cheek novella, reluctant amateur sleuth, Doreen Sizemore, vows to never leave her home in South Shore, Kentucky ever again. She’s afraid of discovering another dead body since murders only seem to happen when she travels. Her vow to stay home is broken when a newly rich relative offers her the dream of a lifetime—a trip up her beloved Ohio River on the Mississippi Queen. Doreen is thoroughly enjoying her trip until another murder lands her in jail!

 In this tongue-in-cheek short story, Doreen Sizemore, an opinionated seventy-one-year-old Kentucky woman, leaves the comfort of her hometown to help cook for a Christian youth camp on an island in Ontario, Canada. Doreen ends up in the middle of yet another murder mystery giving proof to her strongly held belief that "it just don't pay to travel."

The Civil War has ended, but in Katie Calloway's Georgia home conflict still rages. To protect herself and her young brother from her violent and unstable husband, she flees north, finding anonymity and sanctuary as the cook in a Northwoods lumber camp. The camp owner, Robert Foster, wonders if the lovely woman he's hired has the grit to survive the never-ending work and harsh conditions of a remote pine forest in winter. Katie wonders if she can keep her past a secret from a man she is slowly growing to love.

With grace and skill, Serena Miller brings to life a bygone era. From the ethereal, snowy forest and the warm cookstove to the rowdy shanty boys and the jagged edges of the saw, every detail is perfectly rendered, transporting the reader back to the time when pine was king, men were made of iron, and rivers were choked with logs on the way to the sawmills. Readers will have a hard time leaving the Northwoods when they turn the last page.

Grace Connor, a military nurse formerly stationed in Afghanistan, hopes that moving to a farm in rural Ohio will help her recover from the ravages of war.

Levi Troyer finds his pacifist beliefs challenged when he discovers his stepfather has been killed and his mother wounded by an unknown intruder. Levi and Grace are thrown together when she comes to his family’s rescue and saves his mother’s life. A deep attraction develops—even though a relationship between them is strictly forbidden.

Levi belongs to the most conservative and isolated of all Amish sects—the Swartzentruber Amish. Even before meeting Grace, Levi had begun to question some of their teachings. He has considered leaving, but knows he will be banned forever from contact with his younger siblings and widowed mother—who need him to survive. He is torn between his love for Grace and his responsibility to his family.

Grace considers leaving her beloved farm and reenlisting rather than continuing to live near the man she loves but cannot have. Levi must confront the Bann if he pursues Grace. And a murderer must be caught. When lifelong allegiances are tested, can love and justice prevail?

Ingrid Larsen, a young Swedish immigrant, arrives in Michigan in 1871 to search for her brother who has disappeared into the woods to work the dangerous lumber camps. Destitute and barely hanging on to hope, she encounters a newly-widowed farmer who is struggling to raise five children on his own. Marriage would solve both of their problems, and so Ingrid proposes to a man she barely knows. She will fight to protect her new family--but the hardest battle of all will be winning the heart of her new husband.

Readers who loved The Measure of Katie Calloway will be pleased to find more of Miller's emotive and descriptive writing here--and to discover that love is more than words.

Amish fiction author Serena B. Miller takes you "behind the barn door" in this true e-short account of her experience of attending an Amish wedding.

In her years of researching her Amish novels, Serena Miller has gotten to know several Amish families in Holmes County, Ohio. When she was invited to attend the wedding of one of her friend’s daughters, she expected it to be a casual affair: muck out the barn, throw a potluck together, send the bride and groom off on their honeymoon in a buggy with a Just Married sign hung on the back. But when the young bride shyly brings her a formal, professionally printed invitation, she realized everything she thought she knew about Amish weddings was wrong.

From the hand-arranged centerpieces—made from flowers the bride grew herself—to the portable kitchens the family rents to the elaborate and formally served meal, she realized that every detail of this wedding has been carefully and beautifully orchestrated by a bride and a society that cares very deeply about marriage. On the day of the wedding, Serena sits through the three-hour sermon preached entirely in German, after which the ceremony itself lasts under two minutes. She sees the grace with which the bride cooks for and serves her guests, and then stays to clean up after everyone has gone home. She is inspired by the way every member of the community seems to have some role to play in the event.

Serena, a pastor’s wife, has attended hundreds of weddings, and draws comparisons between the overblown weddings she normally attends and this “simple” wedding. She is inspired by the immensity of the vows this young couple is making—not just to each other, but to their community—and the faithfulness of the community that puts the focus on the marriage far more than the wedding itself.

When Amish widow Claire Shetler is attracted to the man who caused her fiancé’s death, they must both heal deep wounds to discover God’s hidden mercies.

At seventeen, Tobias Miller smashed his cousin’s car into a tree, killing his brother only four hours before he was scheduled to marry Claire Shetler. Unable to live with his father’s bottomless grief and anger, Tobias left the Amish church and ran away to join the Marines. Twenty-seven years later, Tobias, now called Tom, returns to Mt. Hope, Ohio, a wounded, decorated Marine helicopter pilot, and rents an apartment over Claire’s workshop.

A widowed Amish midwife, Claire is struggling to support her family. When Tom rents her room she does not recognize the disfigured soldier as the boy she once knew. She only sees the money as a godsend, though she is nervous about having a strange man so close by. Claire never dreams that she will end up falling in love with a battle-scarred soldier.

As Claire and Tom fight their way through the traumas of the past, they discover the tender mercies God has hidden along the way—including a loving father who has been praying for his prodigal son to come home and a God who makes all things new.

Just a few days after she gives birth alone in the Northwoods, a recently widowed young Chippewa woman stumbles into a nearby lumber camp in search of refuge and sustenance. Come summer, the camp owner sends Skypilot, his most trusted friend, to accompany Moon Song and her baby on the long and treacherous journey back to her people. But when tragedy strikes off the shore of Michigan's Upper Peninsula wilderness, Moon Song and Skypilot must depend on each other for survival. With every step they take into the forbidding woods, they are drawn closer together, until the tough questions must be asked. Will she leave her culture to enter his? Will he leave his world to enter hers? Or will they walk away from a love that seems too complicated to last?

With evocative descriptions of a breathtaking landscape, Under a Blackberry Moon will sweep readers into a wild realm where beauty masks danger and only the truly courageous survive, even as the sweet love story along the way tightly grips their hearts.

Ingrid Larsen, a young Swedish immigrant, arrives in Michigan in 1871 to search for her brother who has disappeared into the woods to work the dangerous lumber camps. Destitute and barely hanging on to hope, she encounters a newly-widowed farmer who is struggling to raise five children on his own. Marriage would solve both of their problems, and so Ingrid proposes to a man she barely knows. She will fight to protect her new family--but the hardest battle of all will be winning the heart of her new husband.

Readers who loved The Measure of Katie Calloway will be pleased to find more of Miller's emotive and descriptive writing here--and to discover that love is more than words.

The Civil War has ended, but in Katie Calloway's Georgia home conflict still rages. To protect herself and her young brother from her violent and unstable husband, she flees north, finding anonymity and sanctuary as the cook in a Northwoods lumber camp. The camp owner, Robert Foster, wonders if the lovely woman he's hired has the grit to survive the never-ending work and harsh conditions of a remote pine forest in winter. Katie wonders if she can keep her past a secret from a man she is slowly growing to love.

With grace and skill, Serena Miller brings to life a bygone era. From the ethereal, snowy forest and the warm cookstove to the rowdy shanty boys and the jagged edges of the saw, every detail is perfectly rendered, transporting the reader back to the time when pine was king, men were made of iron, and rivers were choked with logs on the way to the sawmills. Readers will have a hard time leaving the Northwoods when they turn the last page.

Grace Connor, a military nurse formerly stationed in Afghanistan, hopes that moving to a farm in rural Ohio will help her recover from the ravages of war.

Levi Troyer finds his pacifist beliefs challenged when he discovers his stepfather has been killed and his mother wounded by an unknown intruder. Levi and Grace are thrown together when she comes to his family’s rescue and saves his mother’s life. A deep attraction develops—even though a relationship between them is strictly forbidden.

Levi belongs to the most conservative and isolated of all Amish sects—the Swartzentruber Amish. Even before meeting Grace, Levi had begun to question some of their teachings. He has considered leaving, but knows he will be banned forever from contact with his younger siblings and widowed mother—who need him to survive. He is torn between his love for Grace and his responsibility to his family.

Grace considers leaving her beloved farm and reenlisting rather than continuing to live near the man she loves but cannot have. Levi must confront the Bann if he pursues Grace. And a murderer must be caught. When lifelong allegiances are tested, can love and justice prevail?

Rachel Troyer. Great cop. Loving wife. Adoring mother. A perfect existence. Until a monster from the past forces her into the fight of her life. Can revenge be satisfied and Rachel survive? Or will her family have to pay the price?

When an Amish woman falls for the New York crime writer who buys her family farm, she must decide whether to follow the longings of her heart or the rules of her faith.

When an Amish woman falls for the New York crime writer who buys her family farm, she must decide whether to follow the longings of her heart or the rules of her faith.

When Hope Yoder loses her husband, she is left trying to support her two small children—and one on the way—however she can. She ends up taking a job as a part-time housekeeper for the Englisch man who has bought the farm that once belonged to her family.

Logan Parker is a bestselling crime fiction writer from New York City who accompanies his fiancée on a trip to Holmes County, Ohio, but the trip takes a strange turn when he sees an Amish farmhouse for sale. Intrigued by a strong sense of familiarity, he enters the house and is overcome with a feeling of deep peace. He’s never been to Ohio before, but something in this house feels right, and he purchases the farm to use as a retreat. Something about the peacefulness of the house frees him from the crippling writer’s block that threatens to ruin his career, and something about the quiet Amish woman who comes to clean his home makes him less and less excited about returning to New York and the woman he is supposed to marry.

Slowly, Logan and Hope are drawn together, and when they discover that they share a strange past, they must decide how that affects their future. Will Hope overcome her fear of embracing love again?

When Amish widow Claire Shetler is attracted to the man who caused her fiancé’s death, they must both heal deep wounds to discover God’s hidden mercies.

At seventeen, Tobias Miller smashed his cousin’s car into a tree, killing his brother only four hours before he was scheduled to marry Claire Shetler. Unable to live with his father’s bottomless grief and anger, Tobias left the Amish church and ran away to join the Marines. Twenty-seven years later, Tobias, now called Tom, returns to Mt. Hope, Ohio, a wounded, decorated Marine helicopter pilot, and rents an apartment over Claire’s workshop.

A widowed Amish midwife, Claire is struggling to support her family. When Tom rents her room she does not recognize the disfigured soldier as the boy she once knew. She only sees the money as a godsend, though she is nervous about having a strange man so close by. Claire never dreams that she will end up falling in love with a battle-scarred soldier.

As Claire and Tom fight their way through the traumas of the past, they discover the tender mercies God has hidden along the way—including a loving father who has been praying for his prodigal son to come home and a God who makes all things new.

Originally published as Love Finds You in Sugarcreek, Ohio. Republished as Love's Journey in Sugarcreek: The Sugar Haus Inn (Book I)

 ---Back Cover Blurb--- 

Policewoman Rachel Troyer has always looked after her three elderly Amish aunts, proprietors of a farmhouse inn near Sugarcreek, Ohio. The idyllic town is popular with tourists, who come to sample its famous Amish goods. But one thing is clear to Rachel - Joe Matthews is no tourist. When the bearded stranger lands on her aunts' doorstep, begging shelter for himself and his young son, Rachel is suspicious. Will she be able to uncover Joe's secrets despite her aunts' - and her own - growing affection for him?

In the tradition of Bringing Up Bebe and Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother, an in-depth look at the practices and principles of Amish parents and how they raise children who are self-sufficient, hard-working, and remarkably happy.

The more time Serena Miller spent in Holmes County, Ohio, doing research for her popular Amish novels, the more she began to notice something—Amish children were the happiest children she’d ever seen. Despite not having modern toys and conveniences, they are joyful, serene, calm, and respectful—not to mention whipping up full meals and driving buggies before most of us will allow our children to walk to school alone. And yet, when she started asking questions about what these parents were doing differently, she was startled to learn that happiness is not a goal Amish strive for at all.

In More Than Happy Miller uncovers many surprising insights, including the significance of real responsibilities, the wisdom of unplugging from technology, the value of unstructured time to play, the importance of firm rules, and the importance of each teenager’s freedom to decide what is best for their future.

Full of practical takeaways, More Than Happy shows you how to apply the basic principles and parenting techniques the Amish use, so you can raise happy, well-adjusted kids.

 No one fought the war on drugs with as much determination as county prosecutor, Blake Ramsey, until he died of a cocaine overdose. His wife, Erin, and teenage daughter have to live with the shame of his hypocrisy until Erin starts digging up information that others in their small town do not want revealed. Suddenly she and her daughter are in great danger and forced to run. Their only ally is the last person Erin ever expected to trust, a man her husband once convicted of murder.