Laci Duvall from the Malice, Matrimony, & Murder story “Charm City Wedding” is visiting Ascroft, eh? to tell us about her story and the collection of 25 wedding cozy mystery and crime fiction stories in Malice, Matrimony, & Murder.

Welcome, Laci. 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.

Hi! I’m Laci Duvall, or more specifically, I’m Special Agent, Major Laci Duvall of the Air Force Office of Special Investigations. I’m excited to be here today and chat with you. My world is in Charm City or Baltimore, MD. The novel I live inside is Charm City Crab Puff—and yes, it’s a series.

Air Force OSI, like I told my roomie Cassy, is kind of like the FBI but with random bits of terror thrown in. It’s a good thing I keep a fresh supply of sweet tea in my fridge at all times. It helps ratchet down the terror level. OSI does everything from criminal to cyber investigations. There are also times we work with local police to help them with one of their investigations.

Charm City Crab Puff is an instance where we work with the local police to discover who killed a fellow OSI agent and my ex-husband. Baltimore City Police Detective Antonio Desio heads the local investigation, and I work closely with him. Detective Desio also happens to be the man I was going to marry before I married my ex—the one who’s dead.

We’re just getting started with the series, and from what I’ve heard, the second one is going to be just as great and funny as the first. The short story in this anthology actually takes place after the second book. My writer got ahead of herself with introducing us, and we’re a little out of order, but that just means you have to jump up and buy the book when it releases on April 1, 2024.

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

My writer is pretty good at balancing what I say or want with what she has planned. Sometimes, she has it all plotted out, and I throw a kink in the works. I like to keep her on her toes that way.

How did you evolve as the main character?

In the beginning, I was all set to be by myself. Just me, Boo—my cat, and my beagle Needles and all the sweet tea I can handle. Then my tea with lemon dead ex-husband sent his wife, Sammie, and their twins to live with me, and my house was no longer my castle. There was whining and crying, and that was just me—I’m kidding. It was the twins, but they grew on me. Soon after, Baltimore City Policewoman Cassy Davis joined our household because of chicken pox, if you can believe that.

I didn’t have the silence I thought I wanted anymore. Instead, I had more. I just didn’t know that all along that’s what was missing.

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

I share my space with Sammie and the twins, Cassy and Antonio. Surprisingly enough, Cassy, Sammie, and I just gelled. We clicked right away and got along like we’ve known each other for years. We’re honest with each to a fault and won’t take crap from each other. It’s refreshing and surprising at the same time. Desio—yeah. Antonio is the fine wine to my sweet tea in a red cup. He and I go way back. We’ve known each other since we were teenagers, and back then, we planned on being together forever. Then life happened. So, here we are twenty-plus years later, bumbling around like teenagers on a first date. All the butterflies are there, which is surprising since I’m in my early forties. I thought those days were over, but it just goes to show that love can be found at any age.

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

I was asked as a favor to Antonio to sub as a bridesmaid in his brother Giancarlo’s wedding. What they didn’t tell me was that it wasn’t the bridesmaid. It was the maid of honor. For someone I’ve never met. Now, my stomach is a mess—I’m in the church I grew up in, and memories are swirling everywhere. Then bang, not only is there an unconscious wedding planner, but there’s a hysterical bride-to-be and her soon-to-be husband trying not to take it as a bad omen when he sees her at the rehearsal. It’s me and Antonio again tracking down the person who wanted to take out the planner.

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

It’s wedding-themed! I mean, how great is that? It’s a fun idea, and there are some fantastic stories in this anthology.

Thank you for answering my questions, Laci, and good luck to you and your author, Pamela Kyel, with “Charm City Wedding” in the Malice, Matrimony & Murder collection.

Readers can learn more about Laci and her author, Pamela Kyel by visiting the author’s website.

The cozy mystery and crime fiction collection Malice, Matrimony & Murder is available at the following online retailers:

Amazon     Barnes & Noble     Apple Books     Kobo    Smashwords    Books2Read Universal Link   GoodReads Link 

Malice, Matrimony, and Murder is a Limited-Edition Collection of 25 Wedding Cozy Mystery and Crime Fiction Stories by Joslyn Chase, Charlotte Morganti, P.M. Raymond, Paige Sleuth, Teresa Inge, Sally Milliken, Rebecca Olmstead, Nikki Knight, Shari Held, Barbara Howard, Ashley-Ruth M. Bernier, KD Sherrinford, Stephen D. Rogers, Elaine Togneri, Lynn Hesse, Margaret S. Hamilton, Stella Oni, Robert Petyo, Pamela Kyel, Karen McCullough, Wil A. Emerson, Jack Bates, J. Aquino, Sharyn Kolberg, and Becky Clark.