Sometimes the best way to know a person is by asking questions, so let’s meet Missy.

What is your name?
Melissa DuBois, but all friends call me Missy.

How old are you?
Ahem. There are a few things a Southern lady will never tell, and that’s one of them. (Let’s just say I’m north of 30 and south of 40.)

What is your profession?
I’m a milliner who owns a hat store called Crowning Glory. I got my start making hats for the Kentucky Derby in college, and I never looked back.

Do you have a significant other?
Yes, indeed! And we’ve come a long way over the past few years.

What is his name and profession?
Ambrose Jackson, or Bo for short. And he makes custom wedding gowns for brides who choose to get married on the Great River Road. (Some say it’s not a “manly” profession, bless their hearts, but he’s quite famous now.)

Any children?
Heavens, no! We’re not married yet, and we don’t want to eat supper before we’ve said grace, as we say here in the South.

Do you have any sibling(s)?
I wish, but I was raised an only child by my grandparents. (Which gave me a vivid imagination and a strong sense of independence.)

Cats, dogs or other pets?
Not yet, but we plan to adopt a rescue puppy once we settle into married life. (What’s a home without a furball to grace it?)

What town do you live in?
Bleu Bayou, Louisiana. It may be just a dot on the map, but I love it so.

House or building complex?
A cottage, actually. Here in the South we call it a “rent house,” because we’re not the true owners.

Do you rent or own?
See above. . .I’m renting the cottage, but it feels like home.

What is your favorite spot in your house?
Definitely the kitchen. I have an old farm table that’s been in my family for generations, and it’s where Bo and I meet to plan our lives.

Who is your best friend?
A fella by the name of Lance LaPorte. He’s a detective with the Louisiana State Police Department, and we were knee babies together back in the day.

Amateur sleuth or professional?
Definitely an amateur. My day job is making veils and hats for the brides who visit the Great River Road to get married in the beautiful mansions here. Thank goodness Lance is the professional, because he reigns me in!

Whom do you work with when sleuthing?
That would be Lance. We’ve developed a rhythm. He goes by the book and I act on instinct. It’s worked out surprisingly well.

Favorite meal?
Hands down. . .crawfish etouffee and a big ol’ glass of sweet tea.

Favorite dessert?
Hmmm. . .that’s a tough one. I like my beignets powdered to excess, so all that sugar should qualify them as dessert, right?

Favorite hobby?
I enter hat competitions every now and again to try out my new designs. Hotels give out amazing prizes for those things, and I donate mine to the Bleu Bayou Historical Society.

Favorite vacation spot?
Orange Beach, Alabama. Have you seen the sand there? It’s like sugar. (Now I’m getting hungry.)

Favorite color?
Another tough one. Probably pink. Not a sweet pink, but a dusty rose. It goes great with white veils and cream-colored fascinators.

Favorite author?
Harper Lee. But they should’ve left well enough alone and buried the first version of To Kill a Mockingbird, don’t you think?

Favorite sports team?
Since I attended Vanderbilt University in Tennessee, I’d have to say my alma mater. Go, Commodores!

Movies or Broadway?
Probably movies, since I don’t get to New York much. The hat studio keeps me so busy, I feel like I live at Crowning Glory sometimes!

Are you a morning or a night person?
I’d have to say I’m an early riser, because I often get to the studio at 7 a.m. My favorite time of day is when the kiskadees start singing outside my bedroom window and I get to enjoy a cup of Community coffee before the craziness begins.

In a few sentences, what is a typical day in your life like?
I like to get to Crowning Glory nice and early, so I can finish up any last-minute hat or veil projects before I open the doors at ten. Lunch is a quick bite between fittings and whatnot, or sometimes my sweet assistant drags me out of the studio for lunch in downtown Bleu Bayou. But I always make time for gumbo or crawfish (when it’s in season) at Miss Odilia’s Southern Eatery, where I get to gab with my best friend Lance about his latest police investigation, or I talk with my beau Ambrose. It’s amazing how much happens in our little Southern town!

Thank you for spending time with Missy today. She’ll be giving away three eBook copies (Kindle or Nook) of Death Comes to Dogwood Manor, which explores the murder of a cantankerous Louisiana billionaire. Just leave a comment here and you’ll be entered for a chance to win. The giveaway ends August 17, 2018. Good luck!

You can read about Missy in Death Comes to Dogwood Manor, the fourth book in the “Missy DuBois” mystery series. The first book in the series is Murder at Morningside.

Making Southern brides beautiful is top priority for hat designer Missy DuBois, but sometimes her Louisiana studio moonlights as a crime-solving headquarters . . .

While driving to her hat shop, Crowning Glory, Missy accidentally sideswipes a car parked in front of Dogwood Manor, an antebellum mansion being converted into a high-end hotel by the much-reviled property developer Herbert Solomon. Of course, the car is his Rolls Royce. But Solomon is too busy berating his contractor and interior designer to worry about a little fender bender. When Missy returns to check out the mansion’s chapel where her latest client will be married, she finds the developer dead on his property. After an autopsy finds poison in his body, Missy’s shop is then flooded right before it’s supposed to be featured in an article about wedding-veil trends. Now before everything becomes sheer disaster, she’ll have to train her sights on finding a killer . . .

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About the author
Sandra Bretting writes The Missy DuBois Mystery Series for Kensington/Lyrical Underground. A graduate of the University of Missouri School of Journalism, she began her career writing for the Los Angeles Times, Orange Coast Magazine and other publications. From 2006 until 2016, she wrote feature stories for the award-winning business section of the Houston Chronicle.

The Missy DuBois Mystery Series follows milliner and bona fide Southern belle Missy DuBois, who becomes entangled in several murders on the Great River Road in Louisiana. The first book, Murder at Morningside, debuted in 2016, followed by Something Foul at Sweetwater in Spring 2017 and Someone’s Mad at the Hatter in Fall 2017. The fourth book, Death Comes to Dogwood Manor was released June 12, 2018. Readers can connect with Sandra at sandrabretting.com.

All comments are welcomed.