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Crystal is also starring in a web-based series called "Venice" -- and it's been getting quite good reviews. Congrats, lady!

Known currently as one-half of the mega-popular "Otalia" pairing on "Guiding Light," actress Crystal Chappell will soon bid Springfield a fond adieu. But Crystal fans, fear not! As we've earlier reported, she'll return to the airwaves just a few weeks later on "Days of our Lives" -- after a 16-year hiatus! -- as the no-stranger-to-misfortune Carly Manning. Crystal recently talked with TV Guide Magazine about what exactly brings Carly back to Salem on October 2nd. Most important to note? It involves MURRRRRDER ... and it could also spell disaster for "Days" supercouple Bo and Hope Brady.

Oh, and just FYI: Some of her answers make us want to be her best friend 4-ever. She sounds like a hoot! Now, on with the highlights:

On what it was like to return to the "Days" set after an almost two-decade-long absence:

"There were some familiar faces, but everything and everyone -- most of the cast and crew -- seemed largely new to me. Then again, I've had too much wine between 1993 and 2009 to remember how things used to be!"

One what brings Carly back, and why her former lover Bo may be the only guy to help:

"[She] has committed a murder and she's on the run. When we first see her, she's in [Monaco] and trying to make her way back to Salem. Because of what she's done, there are other people in danger, too -- and she needs help from Bo ... [he] is the only person Carly can trust; the only man who has ever really been there for her ...  "

So what was Carly up to in Monaco ... besides MURRRRRDER:

"Slowly over time, you'll see what has happened to Carly during the 16 years away, although isn't everything comparatively boring after being buried alive? There have been some good years and some not-good years for her, and obviously it's ended on kind of a sour note."

Seeing as how Bo and Hope's marriage has been on the rocks since (well, even before) Ciara's kidnapping, we're pretty sure Carly's return won't go over very well in the Brady household. So set those DVRs -- or VCRs, if you're kickin' it old-skool -- for October 2nd to see just want kind of drama Ms. Manning brings with her to Salem.

Do you think Bo will be willing to help Carly?