From the story “Cinderella at Midnight” as it appears in Malice, Matrimony, & Murder

Hey, I’m Lyla. Boy, do I have a lot to share with you! But first, I need to slip my shoes on. I’m getting ready to catch the school bus. Go ahead and grab a pop tart, and then we can get to the really juicy stuff.

And the bus stop.

The kitchen is so clean, isn’t it? Bea, my caretaker, really is the best. See? She has my unicorn backpack ready to go on the counter. I could show you my vocabulary list, my subtraction facts, notebooks with moonbeam stickers, and my snack cakes, yum, inside my sack but you probably already know what that looks like. And I don’t want to tempt you with those little vanilla sponge sweets.

So, today I’m pretty nervous. Not because it’s my turn to show and tell…I’m conjuring a black portal and sucking my stuffed bear through it. I think. Did I mention I’m a six-year-old demon detective? A little demon, mind you. I don’t get to do the big assignments, but I get to do a few things. More important things than making soft fluffy puffs disappear. That’s why my nerves are a roly poly lump of Play Doh right now.

Let me explain.

Tonight is my most important assignment so far. The wedding of Andrina Brownstone and Vincent Booker. I have to make sure the love birds get down the aisle and hitched by midnight. Or the world will come to an end. My overseers don’t want that to happen. Not yet anyway. So, this is huge! I’ll tell you more as we walk to the bus stop.

Oh, look! Katie Johnson and Suzie Santiago are riding the bus today. We giggle through lessons with Mrs. Archer, our kindergarten teacher, and play chase and monkey bars at recess together. I’ve never told them about my origin story. How could I? Even if I did, kindergarteners tend to take everything with a grain of salt. They’re more interested in jib jabbering about their annoying siblings or having big feelings about their last scary dream or their parents most recent rejection of a visit to the zoo or Chuck E. Cheese so…

Now that we’re at school, I’ll put my backpack in my cubby, the one with LYLA above it, and get ready for puppy family. And keep an eye on Mark Chen. He may come off as studious and minding his own business, but he sneaks up and pulls ponytails out of nowhere. I have afro puffs, so he pretty much leaves me alone because the last (and only time) he tugged my coily curls, I made his fingers cramp something fierce. Now he just says hi and keeps walking.

Bea is picking up my dress from the dry cleaner’s for tonight so all I have to do is think about ways to keep the nuptials on track. I have to admit, it’s stressful thinking of all the scenarios that could go wrong between now and the midnight ‘I do’s’ because some guests could spell trouble.

In particular, Miss Marion, a friend of Andrina’s Aunt Sylvie, had a hand in hiring the wedding coordinator, Corky, an old, CLOSE, friend (if you get my meaning) of the groom. I hope I won’t have to conjure a black portal for Corky, but I guess I’ll have to wait and see.

It’s nap time so I have to find my mat and my Star Twinkle blanket. And my snack cakes! Okay, let’s get some shut eye. We have a very long night ahead of us!

Malice, Matrimony, and Murder: A Limited-Edition Collection of 25 Wedding Cozy Mystery and Crime Fiction Stories
Genre: Short Story Cozy Mystery Anthology
Release: November 2023
Format: Print
Purchase Link

The bride wore an orange jumpsuit…

Everyone loves a good wedding–and a good mystery. Combine the two and what do you get? Malice, Matrimony, and Murder!

Over two dozen authors have teamed up to offer you this wedding-themed collection of brand-new cozy mystery and cozy crime fiction stories that will keep you wondering whodunit and what’s next from the first page to the last. Between bad bridesmaids, conniving caterers, greedy guests, ill-mannered in-laws, savvy sleuths, and vengeful villains, this anthology has it all! All of the stories are clean and fun, with a general feel-good tone. If you read to be entertained, surprised, and uplifted, then this collection is for you!

Plus, the anthology as a whole contains an overarching wedding whodunit woven throughout. As you’re reading, collect the clues, identify whodunit, and access a special ebook filled with bonuses and extras. Inside you’ll find recipes, character interviews, bonus stories, and more!

If you’re drawn to shorter mysteries that are light on gore and language, and high on humor, entertainment, and happy endings, then you don’t want to miss out on Malice, Matrimony, and Murder. But this collection is only available for a limited-time, so grab it now before it’s gone forever!

Contributing authors: 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.

Meet the author
P.M. Raymond hails from New Orleans but currently lives on the East Coast with 27 cookbooks and an imaginary dog named Walter. You can find her enjoying a café au lait and indulging in the storytelling mastery of Shirley Jackson, M.R. James, Nuzo Onoh, Sara E. Johnson, and S.A. Cosby. Her work has appeared in Flash Fiction Magazine, Kings River Life Magazine, Dark Fire Fiction, Pyre Magazine, The Furious Gazelle, Dark Yonder, and Illicit Motions anthology from Unnerving Books. She is named to the 160 Black Women in Horror. You can find her at pmraymond.com.