Posted in Blog Tour, Spotlight

Spotlight and Blog Tour for Seams Like the Perfect Murder by Lois Winston


Seams Like the Perfect Crime (An Anastasia Pollack Crafting Mystery)
by Lois Winston

About Seams Like the Perfect Crime


Seams Like the Perfect Crime (An Anastasia Pollack Crafting Mystery)
Cozy Mystery
14th in the Series
Setting – New Jersey
Independently Published (February 4, 2025)
Print length ‏ : ‎ 285 pages
Digital ASIN ‏ : ‎ B0DNRBGVSQ
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When staffing shortages continue to hamper the Union County homicide squad, Detective Sam Spader once again turns to his secret weapon, reluctant amateur sleuth Anastasia Pollack. How can she and husband Zack Barnes refuse when the victim is their new neighbor?

Revolutionary War reenactor Barry Sumner had the odd habit of spending hours mowing a small patch of packed dirt and weeds until his mower ran out of gas. He’d then guzzle beer on his front porch until he passed out. That’s where Anastasia’s son Nick discovers his body three days after the victim and his family moved into the newly built mini-McMansion across the street.

After a melee breaks out at the viewing, Spader zeroes in on the widow as his prime suspect. However, Anastasia has her doubts. There are other possible suspects, including a woman who’d had an affair with the victim, his ex-wife, the man overseeing the widow’s trust fund, a drug dealer, and the reenactors who were blackmailing the widow and victim.

When another reenactor is murdered, Spader suspects they’re dealing with a serial killer, but Anastasia wonders if the killer is attempting to misdirect the investigation. As she narrows down the suspects, will she jeopardize her own life to learn the truth?

Craft projects included.

About Lois Winston

USA Today and Amazon bestselling author Lois Winston began her award-winning writing career with Talk Gertie to Me, a humorous fish-out-of-water novel about a small-town girl going off to the big city and the mother who had other ideas. That was followed by the romantic suspense Love, Lies and a Double Shot of Deception.

Then Lois’s writing segued unexpectedly into the world of humorous amateur sleuth mysteries, thanks to a conversation her agent had with an editor looking for craft-themed mysteries. In her day job, Lois was an award-winning craft and needlework designer, and although she’d never written a mystery—or had even thought about writing a mystery—her agent decided she was the perfect person to pen a series for this editor.

Thus, was born the Anastasia Pollack Crafting Mysteries, which Kirkus Reviews dubbed “North Jersey’s more mature answer to Stephanie Plum.” The series now includes fourteen novels and three novellas. Lois also writes the Empty Nest Mysteries and has written several standalone mystery novellas. Other publishing credits include romance, chick lit, and romantic suspense novels, a series of romance short stories, a children’s chapter book, and a nonfiction book on writing, inspired by her twelve years working as an associate at a literary agency.

Author Links

Website: http://www.loiswinston.com

Newsletter sign-up: https://dl.bookfunnel.com/dc9t0bjl00

Killer Crafts & Crafty Killers blog: www.anastasiapollack.blogspot.com

Booklover’s Bench: https://bookloversbench.com

The Stiletto Gang: https://www.thestilettogang.com

Twitter/X: https://twitter.com/Anasleuth

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/722763.Lois_Winston

Bookbub: https://www.bookbub.com/authors/lois-winston

Purchase Links
Amazon Kobo Barnes & Noble Apple Books

TOUR PARTICIPANTS

February 4 – Jody’s Bookish Haven – SPOTLIGHT

February 4 – Ascroft, eh? – AUTHOR GUEST POST

February 5 – Socrates Book Reviews – SPOTLIGHT

February 5 – Sapphyria’s Book Reviews – SPOTLIGHT

February 6 – Cinnamon, Sugar, and a Little Bit of Murder – REVIEW, RECIPE

February 6 – Baroness Book Trove – SPOTLIGHT

February 7 – Reading, Writing & Stitch-Metic – CRAFT POST

February 7 – Eskimo Princess Book Reviews – SPOTLIGHT

February 8 – Boys’ Mom Reads! – RECIPE POST

February 8 – Ruff Drafts – SPOTLIGHT

February 9 – Cozy Up With Kathy – CHARACTER GUEST POST

February 9 – FUONLYKNEW – SPOTLIGHT

February 10 – Elizabeth McKenna – Author – SPOTLIGHT

February 11 – Christy’s Cozy Corners – AUTHOR GUEST POST

February 12 – Novels Alive – REVIEW

February 13 – Jane Reads – CHARACTER GUEST POST

February 14 – Deal Sharing Aunt – AUTHOR GUEST POST

February 15 – Frugal Freelancer – AUTHOR INTERVIEW

February 16 – Escape With Dollycas Into A Good Book – SPOTLIGHT

February 17 – Maureen’s Musings – SPOTLIGHT

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Posted in Blog Tour, Spotlight

Spotlight and Blog Tour for Sorry Knot Sorry: An Anastasia Pollack Crafting Mystery by Lois Winston


Sorry, Knot Sorry (An Anastasia Pollack Crafting Mystery)
by Lois Winston

About Sorry, Not Sorry


Sorry, Knot Sorry (An Anastasia Pollack Crafting Mystery)
Cozy Mystery
13th in Series
Setting – New Jersey and New York City
Independently Published (June 4, 2024)
Print length ‏ : ‎ 300 pages
Digital ASIN ‏ : ‎ B0CXTY8D76

Magazine crafts editor Anastasia Pollack may finally be able to pay off the remaining debt she found herself saddled with when her duplicitous first husband dropped dead in a Las Vegas casino. But as Anastasia has discovered, nothing in her life is ever straightforward. Strings are always attached. Thanks to the success of an unauthorized true crime podcast, a television production company wants to option her life—warts and all—as a reluctant amateur sleuth.

Is such exposure worth a clean financial slate? Anastasia isn’t sure, but at the same time, rumors are flying about layoffs at the office. Whether she wants national exposure or not, Anastasia may be forced to sign on the dotted line to keep from standing in the unemployment line. But the dead bodies keep coming, and they’re not in the script.

Craft tips included.

About Lois Winston

USA Today and Amazon bestselling author Lois Winston began her award-winning writing career in 2006 with Talk Gertie to Me, a humorous novel about a small-town girl in Manhattan and the mother bent on bringing her home. That was followed by the romantic suspense Love, Lies and a Double Shot of Deception. Lois wrote her first mystery thanks to a conversation between her agent and an editor looking for a crafting-themed cozy series. Thus, was born the Anastasia Pollack Crafting Mysteries, which Kirkus Reviews dubbed, “North Jersey’s more mature answer to Stephanie Plum.” The series now includes thirteen novels and three novellas. To date Lois has published twenty-two novels, five novellas, several short stories, one children’s chapter book, and one nonfiction book on writing, inspired by the twelve years she worked as an associate at a literary agency. Learn more about Lois and her books at http://www.loiswinston.com.

Author Links

Website: http://www.loiswinston.com

Newsletter sign-up: https://landing.mailerlite.com/webforms/landing/r2e9v1

Killer Crafts & Crafty Killers blog: www.anastasiapollack.blogspot.com

Booklover’s Bench blog: https://bookloversbench.com

The Stiletto Gang blog: https://www.thestilettogang.com

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/722763.Lois_Winston

Bookbub: https://www.bookbub.com/authors/lois-winston

Purchase Links

Amazon Kobo Nook Apple Books

(Paperback and Hardcover links available 6/4/24)

TOUR PARTICIPANTS

June 10 – Maureen’s Musings – SPOTLIGHT

June 10 – Sapphyria’s Book Reviews – SPOTLIGHT

June 11 – Mystery, Thrillers, and Suspense – SPOTLIGHT

June 12 – Jane Reads – AUTHOR GUEST POST

June 12 – Ruff Drafts – SPOTLIGHT

June 13 – Christy’s Cozy Corners – CHARACTER GUEST POST

June 14 – Reading, Writing & Stitch-Metic – CRAFT POST

June 15 – StoreyBook Reviews – AUTHOR GUEST POST

June 16 – Celticlady’s Reviews – SPOTLIGHT

June 17 – Literary Gold – SPOTLIGHT

June 18 – Elizabeth McKenna – Author – SPOTLIGHT

June 19 – FUONLYKNEW – SPOTLIGHT

June 20 – MJB Reviewers – SPOTLIGHT

June 20 – Baroness Book Trove – SPOTLIGHT

June 21 – Ascroft, eh? – CHARACTER GUEST POST

June 22 – Boys’ Mom Reads! – AUTHOR GUEST POST

June 22 – Escape With Dollycas Into A Good Book – SPOTLIGHT

June 23 – eBook Addicts – SPOTLIGHT

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Posted in Cozy Series, Guest Post

Character Guest Post by Anastasia Pollack from The Anastasia Pollack Crafting Mysteries by Lois Winston

On Being a Reluctant Amateur Sleuth

By Anastasia Pollack

It isn’t easy when an author hijacks your life for her own literary purposes. One day you’re minding your own business. The next thing you know, your husband drops dead in Las Vegas, leaving you up the wazoo in debt with a loan shark breathing down your neck, your communist mother-in-law as a permanent houseguest, and a dead body glued to your office chair. That’s what happened to me nine books and three novellas ago when author Lois Winston decided to forsake writing romance and began killing people for a living. My name is Anastasia Pollack, and thanks to Lois, I’m the very reluctant amateur sleuth of the Anastasia Pollack Crafting Mysteries.

Since turnabout is fair play, I decided to hijack this guest post she was supposed to write and give you my side of the story for a change. Believe me, I would have been perfectly happy to maintain my predictable suburban life. I had two great teenage sons and a job I loved as the crafts editor of a women’s magazine. Granted, it’s not easy raising teenagers, and editors at third-rate women’s magazines don’t make the big bucks, but life was comfortable.

Or so I thought. Lois had other ideas. You see, we characters don’t come with self-determination. We’re putty in our authors’ hands. Now, along with being a widow with debt that rivals the GNP of many Third World nations, I’m juggling a malevolent communist mother-in-law and Manifesto, her French bulldog (I ask you, who names a dog after a political treatise?)

You’d think that would be enough, right? Heck, no! Now, every time I turn around, Lois has me tripping over dead bodies! Does she think I’m New Jersey’s version of Jessica Fletcher? Apparently so.

At least Lois decided to write humorous cozy mysteries. In her prior writing life, she wrote some really gritty romantic suspense that would keep her readers sleeping with one eye open at night, thanks to the extremely evil villains she created. She wrote me into a genre of mystery where readers would protest if she penned plots similar to those of her romantic suspense books. I have it bad, but what she did to poor Emma Wadsworth in Love, Lies and a Double Shot of Deception…All I can say is thank goodness cozy readers would revolt if she tried to pull that stuff on me!

And I’ll admit, she even has me laughing at times—when she doesn’t have me staring down a killer. You wouldn’t believe the cast of supporting characters Lois has given me. Along with my nasty communist mother-in-law and her dog, there’s my much-married mother, who claims descent from Russian nobility, and her haughty Persian cat, Catherine the Great. And lest I forget (not that he’d allow me to), there’s Ralph, the Shakespeare-quoting parrot. I inherited him from my great-aunt Penelope Periwinkle. We’re all crammed into my tiny mid-century suburban rancher. At least I don’t have to share my bedroom with either my mother or mother-in-law!

Over the course of the series, Lois has also introduced some new characters, one of whom has been driving me bonkers from the moment he entered my life. Ira Pollack, my husband’s previously unknown half-brother, showed up with his three spoiled kids in Revenge of the Crafty Corpse. That was bad enough, but in Drop Dead Ornaments, Lois has him moving from across the state to across town!

When I saw what Lois had planned for me at the start of the series, I staged a revolt, demanding that if she was going to give me so much grief, she had to give me a little light within all the gloom and doom. After all, she’s got me two steps away from living in a cardboard box on a street corner. And believe me, no matter how big a carton, that would be one crowded box! She finally gave in and created Zachary Barnes, the photojournalist who rents the apartment above my garage, and allowed us to develop a relationship.

But we’re talking Lois here. She couldn’t leave well enough alone, and right from the start she has me wondering if Zack is really just a photojournalist or if that profession is cover for a more covert one. Which brings us to A Sew Deadly Cruise, the latest Anastasia Pollack Crafting Mystery. Lois has finally gotten around to revealing some of Zack’s backstory in this book. And believe me, it’s not what I ever expected!

A Sew Deadly Cruise

An Anastasia Pollack Crafting Mystery, Book 9

Life is looking up for magazine crafts editor Anastasia Pollack. Newly engaged, she and photojournalist fiancé Zack Barnes are on a winter cruise with her family, compliments of a Christmas gift from her half-brother-in-law. Son Alex’s girlfriend and her father have also joined them. Shortly after boarding the ship, Anastasia is approached by a man with an unusual interest in her engagement ring. When she tells Zack of her encounter, he suggests the man might be a jewel thief scouting for his next mark. But before Anastasia can point the man out to Zack, the would-be thief approaches him, revealing his true motivation. Long-buried secrets now threaten the well-being of everyone Anastasia holds dear. And that’s before the first dead body turns up.

Craft projects included.

Buy Links

Amazon: https://amzn.to/3fwHR7X

Kobo: https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/a-sew-deadly-cruise

Nook: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/a-sew-deadly-cruise-lois-winston/1137427499?ean=2940162697930

Apple iBooks: https://books.apple.com/us/book/a-sew-deadly-cruise/id1526052822

Bio:

USA Today bestselling and award-winning author Lois Winston writes mystery, romance, romantic suspense, chick lit, women’s fiction, children’s chapter books, and nonfiction under her own name and her Emma Carlyle pen name. Kirkus Reviews dubbed her critically acclaimed Anastasia Pollack Crafting Mystery series, “North Jersey’s more mature answer to Stephanie Plum.” In addition, Lois is a former literary agent and an award-winning craft and needlework designer who often draws much of her source material for both her characters and plots from her experiences in the crafts industry.

Website: www.loiswinston.com

Newsletter sign-up: https://app.mailerlite.com/webforms/landing/z1z1u5

Killer Crafts & Crafty Killers blog: www.anastasiapollack.blogspot.com

Pinterest: www.pinterest.com/anasleuth

Twitter: https://twitter.com/Anasleuth

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/722763.Lois_Winston

Bookbub: https://www.bookbub.com/authors/lois-winston

Posted in Cozy Mysteries, New Releases

Spotlight for Drop Dead Ornaments, an Anastasia Pollack Crafting Mystery by Lois Winston

Drop Dead Ornaments (An Anastasia Pollack Crafting Mystery)
by Lois Winston

About the Book


Drop Dead Ornaments (An Anastasia Pollack Crafting Mystery)
Cozy Mystery
7th in Series
Self Published
Print Length: 209 pages
ASIN: B07GMZ2H4B

Anastasia Pollack’s son Alex is dating Sophie Lambert, the new kid in town. For their community service project, the high school seniors have chosen to raise money for the county food bank. Anastasia taps her craft industry contacts to donate materials for the students to make Christmas ornaments they’ll sell at the town’s annual Holiday Crafts Fair.

At the fair Anastasia meets Sophie’s father, Shane Lambert, who strikes her as a man with secrets. She also notices a woman eavesdropping on their conversation. Later that evening when the woman turns up dead, Sophie’s father is arrested for her murder.

Alex and Sophie beg Anastasia to find the real killer, but Anastasia has had her fill of dead bodies. She’s also not convinced of Shane’s innocence. Besides, she’s promised younger son Nick she’ll stop risking her life. But how can she say no to Alex?

About the Author


About the Author

USA Today bestselling and award-winning author Lois Winston writes mystery, romance, romantic suspense, chick lit, women’s fiction, children’s chapter books, and nonfiction under her own name and her Emma Carlyle pen name. Kirkus Reviews dubbed her critically acclaimed Anastasia Pollack Crafting Mystery series, “North Jersey’s more mature answer to Stephanie Plum.” In addition, Lois is an award-winning craft and needlework designer who often draws much of her source material for both her characters and plots from her experiences in the crafts industry.

Author Links

Website: www.loiswinston.com

Killer Crafts & Crafty Killers blog: www.anastasiapollack.blogspot.com

Pinterest: www.pinterest.com/anasleuth

Twitter at https://twitter.com/Anasleuth

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/722763.Lois_Winston

Newsletter sign-up: https://app.mailerlite.com/webforms/landing/z1z1u5

Purchase Links

Amazon B&N Kobo iTunes

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DROP DEAD ORNAMENTS TOUR PARTICIPANTS

October 22 – The Avid Reader – REVIEW

October 22 – Lisa Ks Book Reviews – REVIEW, AUTHOR INTERVIEW

October 22 – Babs Book Bistro – SPOTLIGHT

October 23 – Mallory Heart’s Cozies – REVIEW

October 23 – A Blue Million Books – AUTHOR INTERVIEW

October 23 – Christa Reads and Writes – SPOTLIGHT

October 24 – 3 Partners in Shopping, Nana, Mommy, & Sissy, Too! – SPOTLIGHT

October 24 – The Ninja Librarian – REVIEW, AUTHOR INTERVIEW

October 25 – FUONLYKNEW – SPOTLIGHT

October 25 – A Chick Who Reads – REVIEW

October 26 – Laura’s Interests – REVIEW

October 26 – A Wytch’s Book Review Blog – REVIEW, CHARACTER INTERVIEW

October 27 – T’s Stuff – AUTHOR INTERVIEW

October 27 – Mystery Thrillers and Romantic Suspense Reviews – SPOTLIGHT

October 28 – Readeropolis – CHARACTER INTERVIEW

October 28 – Island Confidential – SPOTLIGHT

October 29 – Ruff Drafts – SPOTLIGHT

October 29 – Cozy Up With Kathy AUTHOR INTERVIEW

October 30 – Jane Reads – REVIEW, GUEST POST

October 30 – Mysteries with Character – AUTHOR INTERVIEW

October 31 – StoreyBook Reviews – CRAFT POST

November 1 – Celticlady’s Reviews – SPOTLIGHT

November 1 – The Pulp and Mystery Shelf – GUEST POST

November 1 – I’m All About Books – SPOTLIGHT

November 2 – The Montana Bookaholic – CHARACTER GUEST POST

November 2 – The Book’s the Thing – REVIEW

November 2 – Brooke Blogs – SPOTLIGHT

November 3 – My Reading Journeys – CHARACTER GUEST POST

November 3 – The Self-Rescue Princess – REVIEW

November 3 – Here’s How It Happened – REVIEW

November 4 – My Devotional Thoughts – REVIEW, AUTHOR INTERVIEW

November 4 – Melina’s Book BlogREVIEW

November 4 – Curling Up by the Fire – REVIEW

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