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What happens when fiction becomes reality? In the corruption-infested Queen City, danger lurks in every shadow, but Lydia Pelton refuses to stay silent. She writes under a pseudonym, E. A. Dupin, crafting crime novels to exact justice and right the wrongs she sees in society. When a serial killer decides to be the sword to her pen, Lydia is confronted with the consequences of her words. Four men are dead, and the city blames her.

With murders on the rise, Officer Abraham Hall's only lead is Lydia's fiction, and he is thrust into an investigation with the "Killer Queen of Romance." Despite his misgivings about the woman, he realizes that even with his reputation for catching elusive criminals, he needs her help. But his unexpected attraction to Lydia proves as difficult to manage as the woman herself.

As the mystery unfolds, Abraham and Lydia race to rewrite the ending, not only for Cincinnati's citizens, but for their own hearts too.

Crystal Caudill is the author of “dangerously good historical romance.” Her debut novel, Counterfeit Love, was a 2023 Carol Award finalist, and her novella, “Star of Wonder,” won the 2024 Christy Award for short form. She loves history, hot tea, all things bookish, and the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. She is a stay-at-home mom, caregiver, and chaos organizer. When she isn’t writing, Crystal can be found hanging with her family and playing board games at her home outside Cincinnati, Ohio. Find out more at crystalcaudill.com.

What is something interesting readers would enjoy learning about you?

I’m totally a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle fan and have been since I was a kid. When other girls were playing with Barbies, I was kicking butt with Mikey, Leo, Donnie, Raph, Sensi, Casey Jones, and April. Even better, when I grew up, married, and had two kids, I ended up in a “family” of TMNT. My husband is most like Donatello, my oldest son is most like Raph, my youngest son is like Leonardo, and here I am, rocking the Michealangelo life. I love it. One of my favorite pictures was when we went to Mellow Mushroom either before or after seeing the (then) newest TMNT movie. It wasn’t my favorite movie version, but I love the picture of all four of us wearing our TMNT masks with pizza sitting in front of us.

What makes up your ideal reading environment?

As a caregiver, mother of two teens, a wife to a husband who works in the same office space and is always on a call . . . I crave a quiet reading space. We have a library downstairs with built-shelves (filled with Christian fiction of course), two plush leather chairs, and a side table for my tea. The only problem with the space is it’s not well let enough to comfortably read. I hope to fix that, but as long as everyone is upstairs, that is my ideal space. I’ll prop my feet on the plush footrest, have a blanket tossed over me, my hot tea next to me, and the light from the glass doors behind me to warm my skin. 

What does a day in the life of your characters look like?

Usually they groan when I sit down at the computer because they just *know* that I’m going to try and put them through the wringer. Then they get all devilishly smart and mischievous and turn the tables on me. Everything I plan goes out the window and they wreck their own havoc in the story. We are constantly wrestling for control of the plot and most often they win. I think the count may be 195,360 (them) to 1 (me).

What was your favorite scene to write in this story? And why?

So I loved poking fun at all the romance scene tropes in this book. By far, my favorite scene was the “teach the girl to shoot” scene. Detective Abraham Hall teaches Lydia the rules for shooting: 

1. Don’t look down the barrel of a gun, even if you think it’s empty. (She does it right off the bat and scares the hair off his head.)
2. Never point the muzzle at something you don’t intend to shoot. (She gets that theoretically, but isn’t paying attention and ends up pointing the gun at her foot.)
3. Keep your finger off the trigger until you have your sights on your target and you’ve made the decision to shoot. Not one moment before. (Guess where her finger likes to hang out?)

There are other rules and explanations he gives her, but in the end he realizes all his visions of teaching her to become the best markswoman in the country was downright fantasy. I had sooooo much fun writing that scene. And honestly, it was a great way to put real rules out there so all readers know the do and do nots of holding a gun in your hand.

I still recommend everyone go through a gun safety course at least once in their life, even if they never intend to shoot a gun. The knowledge alone is gold and can be life-saving. There used to be a program with Eddy the Eagle that was great for kids and teaching them to immediately go for help and not touch a gun if they found one unattended. Oops. I’ll stop there. You can tell gun safety is a passion of mine. 

What unique research was required to write this story?

I actually had to do a lot of research on the history, societal impact, and economics of dime novels. I read a lot of them too. It was really fascinating to discover that dime novels are essentially the reason we have genre fiction and subscription books like Love Inspired. I also had to do a lot of research into the political corruption of Cincinnati, and an incredible amount of research into the history of the Cincinnati police. Until 1886, they were held at the whims of political leaders and it was a very difficult job in so many ways—maybe even more so than today. I had the blessing of visiting the Greater Cincinnati Police Museum and talk with a historian and former chief of police.

What was the inspiration behind your story?

I’ve long loved the trope of stories being brought to life, and so that was my initial spark for Written in Secret. My heroine is a dime novelist who writes under a pen name and is determined to correct the injustice of her world by rewriting public cases where the criminals got away in to stories where the criminals faced deaths similar to the crimes they committed. So the question arose, what would happen to her if those criminals started turning up dead and the police blamed the author.