Today Maizie Albright is visiting Ascroft, eh? to tell us about 18 ½ Disguises, the latest novel in the Maizie Albright Star Detective mystery series.

Welcome, Maizie. Let’s get started, shall we?

Tell us about the novel that you live inside. Is it part of a series? If so, please tell us about the series too.

I live inside a novel? As far as I know, I live in Black Pine, Georgia.

I used to live in Hollywood, although we’d moved around whenever Vicki —  my ex-manager/still-mother — wanted new digs, but it was always in the LA area: Hollywood Hills, Beverly Hills, Malibu. But now I live in Black Pine, Georgia, a lake resort town in the North Georgia Mountains. Black Pine was created by rich Southerns and rich carpetbaggers looking for the Gilded Age version of air conditioning — fresh mountain air. The lake came later during the WPA when they also wanted a lake view for their mountain homes and a place to park their baby yachts.

There are still rich people who resort in Black Pine, but now many of them are from Hollywood like me. However, they are here because the industry moved many studios and filming locations to Georgia where the taxes, land, and labor are cheaper and you still get good weather most of the year.

I moved to Black Pine because that’s where I was born and where my father still lives. Also because a nice judge told me I couldn’t stay in California.

Nine months ago, I moved to Georgia and approached Wyatt Nash of Nash Security Solutions about giving me a job. He was the only private investigator in town, and I had ten days to get a job in something that had nothing to do with the entertainment industry. This was also part of my probation by Judge Ellis. I had starred in Julia Pinkerton, Teen Detective when I was younger and loved acting as a detective. Now I wanted the chance to become one as a second career.

That’s where we began. With me asking (begging) Wyatt Nash to hire me. Then me losing the woman our client asked him to watch.

That episode, I mean case, is called 15 Minutes.

Nash and I progressed from there. From mentor-mentee to dating. He refused to date me while we worked together. Fortunately/unfortunately, he lost his business and I now work for someone else.

I’m also a much better investigator now. So much so, I’m on my first independent case. Mainly because I found my murdered friend, a costume designer.  Unfortunately, I had my other friend with me when we found her and she demanded I find this killer before they find her.

Does the writer control what happens in the story or do you get a say too?

The only person who’s had control over me was Vicki, my ex-manager/still-mother. To be fair, I was a child actress and she’s the Queen of Negotiations. I’m more like a Princess of Non-Confrontation and as such, easily subject to her.

How did you evolve as the main character?

My ex-therapist Renata and I have worked very hard at my evolution into a self-actualized, self-assured woman. I’m still working on it. Getting out of Hollywood helped. Getting out of my contracts with Vicki really helped, although I still technically work for her. I’d say with each case (now I’m on number 7) I’ve grown as an individual and as an investigator. My relationship with Nash is growing, too.

Also my waist size but that’s because I now live in Georgia and saturated fats are kind of a way of life here.

Do you have any other characters you like sharing the story with? If so, why are you partial to them?

Wyatt Nash of Nash Security Solutions, of course. He’s my original boss and now we’re dating so he still gives me advice and helps me on cases. Lamar, an ex-cop who owns the donut shop that houses Nash Security Solutions, is usually around to give me advice, too. Lamar also gives me donuts and hugs, which I like even better.

My two Black Pine besties, Tiffany and Rhonda, work at LA HAIR, but I see them not only as stylists but as my Black Pine life coaches. They like to “keep it real” which can be painful, but pain is good for the soul, right?

Vicki, my ex-manager/still-mother, is always somewhere nearby. Usually, a whiff of Chanel No. 5 alerts me to her presence because it tends to make my stomach clench.

And I live with my father and his family, including my six-year-old half-sister Remi, so they’re usually around, too. Daddy is the founder and CEO of DeerNose, the hunting apparel company. Unique to the fashion world because the fabric is scented. Scented with deer pee, which makes it even more unique. Unfortunately.

What’s the place like where you find yourself in this story?

The story begins in my old friend, Lorena Cortez’s, adorable bungalow in historic downtown Black Pine. Lorena is a retired costume designer, and when I was in high school, we worked together on the set of Julia Pinkerton, Teen Detective. My friend Rhonda and I walked over from the Queen Anne home next door to bring Lorena to her new charitable foundation’s kick-off event, a masquerade gala.

Unfortunately, Lorena never made it to the gala.

Is there anything else you’d like to tell readers about you and the book?

I hope they enjoy my seventh case! Thanks so much for having me here!

You’re welcome, and thank you for answering my questions, Maizie. Good luck to you and your author, Larissa Reinhart, with 18 ½ Disguises, the latest book in the Maizie Albright Star Detective mystery series.

Readers can learn more about Maizie and her author, Larissa Reinhart by visiting the author’s website and her Facebook, Goodreads, Bookbub and Pinterest pages.

The novel is available at the following online retailers:

Amazon – Barnes & Noble – Kobo

About Larissa Reinhart: A Wall Street Journal bestselling author, Larissa writes the award-winning Cherry Tucker Mystery, Maizie Albright Star Detective, and Finley Goodhart Crime Caper series. She loves to tell funny stories about women, looking for love (and dead bodies) in all the wrong places.

Larissa, her family, and Cairn Terrier, Biscuit, lived in Nagoya, Japan, but have returned to Peachtree City, Georgia. You can see them on HGTV’s House Hunters International “Living for the Weekend in Nagoya” episode. Larissa loves books, food, and traveling with her family. You can often see her adventures on Instagram (and her little dog, too).