No craft-themed post today. Instead, I want to tell
all of you about some exciting news—especially for those of you who love
receiving free books. (Is there anyone reading this who doesn’t?)
Author Lois Winston, my doppelganger and she who
writes about me, has been invited to join the wonderful mystery authors over at
Booklover’s Bench, where she’ll blog once every six weeks about all things book-related.
Booklover’s Bench is not just another book blog, though. Their tagline is
“Where readers are winners” because once a month they hold a drawing to give
away a free book from their Book Vault, a place where their authors deposit a
book each month. Blog visitors can enter the monthly Rafflecopter, and the
winner gets to choose one of the books in that month’s vault. Cool, huh?
Lois will be posting her introductory blog at
Booklover’s Bench on May 23rd.
Today I thought I’d take the opportunity (at Lois’s suggestion) to
introduce you to the other Booklover’s Bench authors. Some of the names may be
familiar to those of you who are frequent visitors to Killer Crafts &
Crafty Killers because they’ve often appeared as our guests.
Southern author Maggie Toussaint writes mystery
and suspense. She’s won two Silver Falchion Awards, the Readers’ Choice Award,
and the EPIC Award. She has been a finalist twice for Georgia Author of the
Year. Her series include the Dreamwalker Mystery Series, the Lindsey & Ike
Series, the Cleopatra Jones Series, the Guardian of Earth Series, and the Mossy
Bog Series. Maggie is on the board of Southeast Mystery Writers of America and
is Vice-President for Low Country Sisters In Crime.
She lives in coastal Georgia, where secrets,
heritage, and ancient oaks cast long shadows. Yoga, beachcombing, and music are
a few of her favorite things.
Nancy J. Cohen writes the Bad Hair Day Mysteries
featuring South Florida hairstylist Marla Vail. Titles in this series have made
the IMBA bestseller list, been selected by Suspense Magazine as best cozy mystery, won a Readers’
Favorite gold medal, and earned third place in the Arizona Literary Awards.
Nancy’s instructional guide, Writing
the Cozy Mystery, is an Agatha Award finalist. A featured speaker at
libraries, conferences, and community events, she is listed
in Contemporary Authors, Poets & Writers, and Who’s Who in U.S.
Writers, Editors, & Poets. When not busy writing, she enjoys fine
dining, visiting Disney World, cruising, and shopping.
Diane A.S. Stuckart is the New York Times bestselling author of the Black Cat Bookshop Mystery
series (written as Ali Brandon). She’s also the author of the award-winning
Leonardo da Vinci historical mysteries, as well as several historical romances
and numerous short stories. Her upcoming new cozy mystery series are the Tarot
Cat Mysteries from Midnight Ink (November 2018 launch) and the Georgia B&B
Mysteries from Crooked Lane (May 2019 launch—writing as Anna Gerard).
Diane is a member of Mystery Writers of America and
has served as the 2018 Chapter President of the MWA Florida chapter. In
addition to her mystery writing affiliations, she’s a member of the Cat Writers’
Association and belongs to the Palm Beach County Beekeepers Association. She’s
a native Texan with a degree in Journalism from the University of Oklahoma, but
has been living in the West Palm Beach FL area for the past dozen or so years.
She shares her “almost in the Everglades” home with her husband, dogs, cats,
and a few beehives.
Cheryl Hollon writes full-time after an engineering
career designing and installing military flight simulators in England, Wales,
Australia, Singapore, Taiwan, and India. Living the dream, she combines a love
of writing with a passion for creating glass art in the small studio behind her
house in St. Petersburg, Florida. Cheryl is President of the Florida Gulf Coast
Sisters in Crime, a member of Mystery Writers of America, International
Thriller Writers, and Novelists, Inc.
Judge Debra H. Goldstein is the author of One Taste Too Many, the first of
Kensington’s new Sarah Blair cozy mystery series. She also wrote Should Have Played Poker and 2012 IPPY
Award winning Maze in Blue. Her short
stories, including Anthony and Agatha nominated “The Night They Burned Ms.
Dixie’s Place,” have appeared in numerous periodicals and anthologies including
Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine, Black Cat Mystery Magazine, and Mystery Weekly. Debra serves on the
national boards of Sisters in Crime and Mystery Writers of America and is
president of SinC’s Guppy Chapter and the Southeast Chapter of MWA.
And of course, our very own…
USA Today bestselling and award-winning author Lois Winston
writes the critically acclaimed Anastasia Pollack Crafting Mysteries and the
Empty Nest Mysteries. She’s also published in romance, romantic suspense, chick
lit, women’s fiction, children’s chapter books, and nonfiction. A
Book-of-the-Year nominee from ForeWord
Reviews, Assault With a Deadly
Glue Gun, the first book in her ongoing Anastasia Pollack Crafting Mystery
series, also received starred reviews from both Publishers Weekly and Booklist.
Kirkus Reviews dubbed Anastasia,
“North Jersey’s more mature answer to Stephanie Plum.” Lois would like the
quote etched on her headstone, although she hopes the need for such a monument
will be decades in the future. Lois is also 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.
We hope you’ll add Booklover’s Bench to your weekly
blog-reading list for a chance to get to know these wonderful authors and their
books. And don’t forget to enter the Rafflecopter each month for a chance to
win a free book.
ReplyDeletethanks for talking about us today -- so glad to have you as a members of the bench!
Thank you for spreading the word and welcome to the Booklover's Bench. We're so happy to have you!
ReplyDeleteSo nice to have Anastasia and Lois give Booklover's Bench a shout-out! We love readers at the Booklover's Bench site, and we would love to have you visit us as often as you like. And, like Anastasia said, there is a new blog post every week on Thursday and a new book giveaway contest every month from the 1st to 18th of each month. We know you enjoy killer stories and the books Lois writes and we hope you'll branch out and see what our stories are like. Anyway, come on over anytime. The door's always open.
ReplyDeleteLois says to tell you all, thanks for the welcome!
ReplyDeleteAnastasia (and Lois), thanks for the shout-out! :)
ReplyDeleteThanks for the feature, Lois. We are thrilled to have you join us on the Bench!
ReplyDelete