#CRAFTS WITH ANASTASIA--PAPER BAG SNOWFLAKE AND A CHRISTMAS NOVELLA FROM AUTHOR BETHANY MAINES

Bethany Maines is the award-winning author of action-adventure and fantasy tales that focus on women who know when to apply lipstick and when to apply a foot to someone’s hind end. She can usually be found chasing after her daughter or glued to the computer, working on her next novel or screenplay. Learn more about Bethany and her books at her website where you’ll also find links to other social media accounts.

Holiday Cheer

This month as I geared up for the release of my Christmas mystery novella, Winter Wonderland, I found myself moving straight past Thanksgiving at the speed of Santa’s sleigh. I am more than ready for some holiday cheer, and I’m relieved that the calendar is about to hit December and I can officially fly the holiday flag AKA don my Nakatomi Towers Christmas Party shirt. I’m not always so Yule inclined but this year, like my heroine Larissa Frost, I want ALL the Christmas. I want cookies, crafts, and enough candy canes to build a fence. Unfortunately, my family are more in the category of my hero, Marcus Winters, and have forbidden decorating until December first.

 

I have lured my daughter onto my side with crafts, but my husband is unswayed by glitter. He knows that decorating means that at some point there will be the struggle to have an upright Christmas tree and sees no reason to rush into such things.

 

I can’t blame him. Verticality is both the hallmark and bane of a Christmas tree. If we wanted them to remain upright, we really should stop chopping them down. In the past, we've had two trees that decided to lodge complaints with management and went for a more recumbent position. They have a right to protest, of course, but it seemed unfair to take the lights and ornaments with them. 

 

I also understand the hesitation to launch into the extra work that the holidays take. Some years I don’t have the energy to invest in the full holiday extravaganza. (See pandemic years 2019-2021.) But this year I feel like I've got a few extra bars of battery life and I could manage a gingerbread house and an extra batch or six of cookies. 

 

If all you're up for is a soothing re-watch of Die Hard and White Christmas, then I salute you and wish you a warm couch, a good beverage, and a toasty dog for your feet. However, if you are also ready for some holiday cheer and would like a quick and easy craft, see below for instructions on how to turn paper sandwich bags into an oversized snowflake. This one is fun and good for kids who are of glue gun handling age. Younger kiddos can participate by pre-decorating the bags and letting their big people handle the gluing. 

 

Note from Anastasia: Using a low-temp glue gun or tacky glue will allow full participation by the young ones. Just make sure to allow the tacky glue to dry completely before cutting out the shapes.

Paper Snowflake

Materials: 9 paper lunch sacks with flaps, hot glue, scissors, twine, hole punch. (optional ruler, pencil, Xacto knife)

 

1. Glue the bags together, one on top of another, with the bottom fold flap side facing down. Make a T-Shape with the glue across the bottom fold and then 3/4 of the way up the seam toward the top of the bag.

 

2. After all the bags are glued together, cut out simple geometric shapes along each long side above the folded bottom portion of the bags the way you would have when creating snowflakes out of folded paper. You can first draw the shapes before cutting if you choose. 

 

3. Unfold and glue the final edges together. Sometimes it helps to stick your hands all the way into the bag, but be careful. Hot glue is…hot!

 

4. Use a hole punch to make a hole. Thread with twine or ribbon and knot ends together for hanging.

 

Additional ideas: Add glitter or spray paint or have the kids color on the bags ahead of time.

 

Winter Wonderland

A Rom-Com Mystery

 

Marcus "Bag Humbug" Winters is hiding from Christmas, and the rest of his life, when he gets an offer he can't refuse—the chance to photograph a top model with the enormous 70-karat Hartford Diamond. The Hartford Diamond shoot is also an answered prayer for set designer Larissa "I Love Christmas" Frost. But while she needs the job to pay for her brother's unexpected hospital bills, she does not need the headache of a demanding photographer who keeps calling her Larry. But when they finally meet on set, Larissa is unprepared for Marcus to be a hunk, for him to apologize profusely, or for the Hartford Diamond to be stolen. Now Marcus may be the only one who can keep Larissa from going to jail for a crime she didn't commit. For Larissa and Marcus, this Christmas is anything but a Winter Wonderland.

 

Buy Link 

AUTHOR CHRISTINE CLEMETSON ON HOW A CHRISTMAS COOKIES-THEMED CD INSPIRED A MYSTERY ANTHOLOGY

Growing up in a small beach town in NJ, Christine Clemetson wouldn’t have been caught on her beach towel without a good book. From that, she caught the fire of creativity and now pens edge-of-your-seat thrillers and mysteries. Learn more about Christine and her books at her website. 

How Christmas Cookies Inspired Me to Write a Mystery

Do you bake Christmas cookies? When I was young, our family had a traditional Christmas cookie weekend. We mixed and kneaded cookie dough one day, and then baked the next. To bring in the holiday cheer, we would play all the classic tunes in the background. We filled big plastic tins with all different kinds of cookies, but my favorite was SUGAR! I loved using the cookie cutters and decorating with sprinkles, and especially liked making the small snowflake shapes with the cherry in the center.

 

With the cookie baking tradition being a big part of my growing up years, having a story in the Christmas Cookies Mysteries anthology was a perfect fit for me! This anthology includes fourteen mysteries inspired by the songs of The Oak Ridge Boys Christmas Cookies CD; my story is inspired by the song Little Annie’s Christmas Wish. 

 

The story starts out at a Christmas fair, where Anne Cooper doesn’t believe the tea leaf reader’s ominous words that danger is coming. But when Anne embarks on a harrowing journey Christmas Eve to uncover her past, she faces unexpected events. The desolate road in which Anne travels was inspired by a night last October. With the crisp air and the moon so high and bright against the dark sky, I knew a story was talking to me. I translated this into a blood moon as the backdrop for this story’s setting.

 

My favorite part about writing Little Annie’s Christmas Wish was giving the characters their voices, learning who they were, and how they would confront situations. To do this, I started by asking Anne lots of questions. What do you want to learn most about your past? What if you had to come face to face with the villain? I would take notes on what she told me, including her biggest fears, and then I moved to the other characters and did the same detective work. Sometimes the answers arrived when I was cooking or driving, or even cleaning (gasp!), and not always when I was sitting at the keyboard. There were also many surprises the characters told me along the way, which brought even more magic into creating this story.

 

I hope you enjoy finding out if Anne’s wish comes true. In the meantime, I’m hoping all of your wishes come true this holiday season!  

 

Christmas Cookies Mysteries

An Anthology Inspired by The Oak Ridge Boys Christmas Cookies Album

 

Everybody loves Christmas … and mysteries. And now the two of them have been combined. We hope you’ll enjoy this fun little project revisiting the Christmas Cookies CD. — Joe Bonsall, The Oak Ridge Boys

 

Christmas is magical and includes many traditions like decorating the tree, giving gifts, baking cookies … and murder and mayhem?!?! Join in the fun this season and create a new holiday tradition with mysteries from more than a baker’s dozen of award-winning authors—all inspired by the songs of The Oak Ridge Boys' Christmas Cookies CD.

 

Hark the Herald Angels Sing—Patricia Bradley

Ollie Bramlett—Joseph S. Bonsall

From Love to Love—Lisa Preston

Away in a Manger —Beth Pugh

Aunt Elvira’s Jewels (aka Hay Baby)—D. L. Havlin

Little Annie’s Christmas Wish—Christine Clemetson

I’ll be Home for Christmas—Don Bruns

Blessed Be the Day of Our Savior’s Birth—Kathy Harris

Jingle Bells Murder All the Way—Kelly Irvin

Ordinary Days—Delores Topliff

Uncle Luther Made the Stuffing—Vanessa M. Knight

Back to Tennessee—Danielle M Haas

The Warmest Night of the Year—Kaye D. Schmitz

O, Come All Ye Faithful— M.M. Chouinard

O Come All Ye Faithful (Reprise)—Mindy Steele

 

Buy Links

paperback 

ebook 

BOOK CLUB FRIDAY--AUTHOR JODI RATH'S LATEST IRON SKILLET MYSTERY

Moving into her second decade working in education, Jodi Rath has decided to begin a life of crime in her Cast Iron Skillet Mystery Series. Her passion for both mysteries and education led her to combine the two to create her business MYS ED, where she splits her time between working as an adjunct for Ohio teachers, educational writing, marketing consultant work with authors, and creating mischief in her fictional writing. She currently resides in a small, cozy village in Ohio with her husband and her eight cats. Learn more about Jodi and her books at her website.   

Seasons Greetings! I started prepping for the holidays back in July of 2020 by playing carols loudly in our home, streaming holiday reruns, and setting up a small tree in the corner of my office. I love the holidays, but this was to get myself in the mindset to write a holiday book for my series. While I’ve always enjoyed the research part of any of the writing that I do, this book was special in that I got to go back in time to learn about the origins of the tiny village where I reside, the Underground Railroad, and delve into many sites, articles, and books on different cultures and religions that hold celebrations and events in December.

 

It was interesting to see the role Ohio played in the Underground Railroad, especially along the Great Lakes leading to Canada. In my research, what I was most inspired by was that other people didn’t work to save the enslaved people, they saved themselves. This idea wasn’t emphasized in history class in school. The bravery, determination, faith, and resolve that I read about left me with the utmost respect. I learned so much from reading books like Sweet Clara and the Freedom Quilt and Under the Quilt of Night, both written by Deborah Hopkinson and illustrated by the brilliant James E. Ransome. Yes, I am aware these are kids’ books, but stories with illustrations always draw me in. I read them in combination with books like A Drop of Midnight: A Memoir by Jason Diakite and it helps me connect with the material more than my high school history book that was taught to me by white men. 

 

While I don’t fancy myself to be much of a history buff, I do love those cold case shows and books that involve a dated murder to solve. There’s something about getting justice for those that never received it that appeals to me. What I found most interesting about writing a cold case story was how all of my characters remembered the past so differently while being positive their version of the truth was the correct one. Talk about things we can all relate to! 

 

Yuletide Cast of the Iron Skillet takes Jolie and Ava on their first cold case adventure when they stumble upon tunnels dug below the village of Leavensport, a buried skeleton, a bag of teeth, plus an unexpected villain redeems himself and the double-wedding everyone was waiting for gets turned upside down!

 

Welcome to Leavensport, Ohio, where DEATH takes a DELICIOUS turn!

 

Yuletide Cast of the Iron Skillet

Cast Iron Skillet Mystery, Book 5.5

 

Holiday folly—LITERALLY! Alongside a murder comes another new little addition to the human race in Leavensport, Ohio. Not to mention a broken-off engagement, a double wedding, and buried bones in the village chapel cellar. The Martinez family is back in town to observe Nochebuena with Ava as the Tucker family gears up for their Christmas feast. Leavensport community center is abuzz with preparations for the village multi-cultural shindig until the discovery of an old unresolved crime casts a dark shadow over the town. Will Jolie and Ava solve their first cold case in time to save the holiday celebrations—and will they both survive it?

 

Buy Link 

BOOK CLUB FRIDAY--CHRISTMAS WITH ANASTASIA

Have you started your holiday shopping yet? I suspect more and more of you are doing most of your shopping online this year. Maybe by next year life will return to normal, and we’ll be able to shop in and enjoy the holiday decorations in all the local stores—assuming there are any brick and mortar stores left.  

Lois Winston, my author, hasn’t yet dropped the bombshell about the demise of Lord & Taylor. The chain was still hanging on by a thread when she finished writing A Sew Deadly Cruise, the latest Anastasia Pollack Crafting Mystery. When Mama learns of the iconic department store’s demise, it will send her reeling. My mother’s relationship with Mr. Lord and Mr. Taylor has lasted far longer than any of her marriages, including the one to my father. I’m assuming Mama will learn of the bankruptcy in the next book Lois writes about me. If I’m lucky, she’ll make sure I’m out of town when Mama hears the awful news.

 

Anyway, since most holiday shopping this year will occur on our smart phones, tablets, and laptops, that leaves more time for holiday reading, which is less fattening than doubling your usual Christmas cookie output. (This pandemic is making the Freshman Fifteen look like a fond memory!)

 

There are two books in the Anastasia Pollack Crafting Mystery Series that take place during the holidays, Drop Dead Ornaments and Handmade Ho-Ho Homicide. The two books are available individually, both as ebooks and in print, but they’re also bundled together in one ebook set. They’ll go great with a cup of hot cocoa, tea, or coffee and a few Christmas cookies. 

 

Drop Dead Ornaments

An Anastasia Pollack Crafting Mystery, Book 7

 

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?

 

Buy Links
Paperback

Amazon 

Kobo 

iTunes
Nook 

 

Handmade Ho-Ho Homicide

An Anastasia Pollack Crafting Mystery, Book 8

 

Two and a half weeks ago magazine crafts editor Anastasia Pollack arrived home to find Ira Pollack, her half-brother-in-law, had blinged out her home with enough Christmas lights to rival Rockefeller Center. Now he’s crammed her small yard with enormous cavorting inflatable characters. She and photojournalist boyfriend and possible spy Zack Barnes pack up the unwanted lawn decorations to return to Ira. They arrive to find his yard the scene of an over-the-top Christmas extravaganza. His neighbors are not happy with the animatronics, laser light show, and blaring music creating traffic jams on their normally quiet street. One of them expresses his displeasure with his fists before running off.

 

In the excitement, the deflated lawn ornaments are never returned to Ira. The next morning Anastasia once again heads to his house before work to drop them off. When she arrives, she discovers Ira’s attacker dead in Santa’s sleigh. Ira becomes the prime suspect in the man’s murder and begs Anastasia to help clear his name. But Anastasia has promised her sons she’ll keep her nose out of police business. What’s a reluctant amateur sleuth to do?

 

Buy Links

Paperback

Amazon 

Kobo 

Barnes & Noble  

iTunes 

 

Anastasia Pollack Crafting Mysteries, Books 7-8

Amazon 

Kobo 

Barnes & Noble 

iTunes 

A CHRISTMAS MYSTERY WITH AUTHOR MARILYN LEVINSON

A former Spanish teacher, Marilyn Levinson writes mysteries, romantic suspense, and novels for kids. As Allison Brook she writes the Haunted Library mystery series. Other mysteries include the Golden Age of Mystery Book Club series and the Twin Lakes series. Learn more about Marilyn and her books at her website. 

In Read and Gone, it's mid-December in Clover Ridge, Connecticut, where my sleuth, Carrie Singleton, lives. The temperature is falling and the days are growing shorter, but Carrie doesn't mind. For the first time in as long as she can remember, her life is close to perfect. She's living in a charming cottage near the river, has a great job in the Clover Ridge Library as head of programs and events, and has a loving boyfriend.  And then in the early morning hours, after celebrating her thirtieth birthday, Carrie is awakened by her father, whom she hasn't seen in years.

Handsome, charming Jim Singleton is a thief by trade. Growing up, Carrie adored her father and missed his presence because even when he wasn't in prison, he usually stayed away from the home she shared with her mother and older brother. Jim has returned to the town where he grew up for a reason. He wants Carrie to help him retrieve his half of a heist that Benton Parr, the local jeweler and his partner-in-crime, has been holding. Carrie is both shocked and outraged and refuses to help her father. Jim takes off but calls Carrie a few days later. Parr has been murdered and Jim is Suspect Number One. Carrie doesn't approve of her father's life style, but of one thing she's certain—that Jim Singleton would never kill anyone—and she sets out to prove his innocence. 

When the police release Jim for lack of solid evidence, Carrie allows him to stay with her. She's surprised and secretly pleased when her father buys a Christmas tree and ornaments to celebrate the holiday, something he was never around to do when she was younger. But true to form, instead of trimming the tree as he promised, Jim leaves  on one of his "secret missions," which lands him in the hospital. Carrie is unaware that Jim is trying to find Parr's killer. Exasperated and disappointed, she refuses her father's overtures to mend their relationship. She insists on calling him "Jim" and not "Dad" as he wants her to. But over time he manages to prove that he really loves her. Moreover, he is willing to make huge changes in his lifestyle. In the true spirit of the holiday, Carrie allows her father into her life.

Read and Gone

A Haunted Library Mystery, Book 2

Twenty million dollars' worth of missing gems bring Carrie Singleton's long-lost and larcenous dad back into her life and it's up to Carrie to clear his name.

A devoted dad is as precious as diamonds, but Carrie Singleton wouldn't know since her dad Jim's been on the lam most of her life. In an unusual family reunion, she finds Jim breaking into her cottage in the middle of the night. The fun really starts when he begs her to help him recover his half of a twenty-million-dollar gem heist he pulled off with the local jeweler, Benton Parr. When she refuses, Jim takes off again.

Buy Links

hardcover 

ebook 

MYSTERY AUTHOR HEATHER HAVEN ON WRITING A FEMALE PI IN 1940S MANHATTAN

Heather Haven is a multi-award winning mystery author. Her work includes the Silicon Valley based Alvarez Family Murder Mysteries, the NYC trail-blazing WWII lady shamus of The Persephone Cole Vintage Mysteries, a stand-alone mystery noir, and an anthology of stories. Her latest endeavor is Christmas Trifle, Book One of the Snow Lake Romantic Suspense Series. Learn more about Heather and her books at her website.

It’s uncanny how a set of circumstances can give birth to a series. The Persephone Cole Vintage Mysteries came about after years of research for my stand-alone circus noir mystery, Murder under the Big Top. I didn't want all of the knowledge I'd gleaned of the nineteen-forties, particularly in New York City, to go to waste. Plus, I’d been challenged to write a mystery with a protagonist who wasn't an ideal beauty, i.e. young, svelte, and beautiful.

So I came up with Persephone (Percy) Cole, a character living and working in New York City during the early nineteen-forties, and one of Manhattan’s first female private investigators. Percy is thirty-five years old, considered middle-aged at the time, five-foot eleven, and a full-figured gal who loves her pistachio nuts. 

I discovered because I created a character larger and stronger than many men of seventy plus years ago, I was free to have a typical shamus of the time, only female. But this detective uses her brains as well as her brawn. Percy Cole is one smart cookie. She fits into a man’s world at a time when few women did.

My redhead gumshoe has the same hard-boiled, take-no-prisoners attitude as Sam Spade, Lew Archer, and Phillip Marlowe, with the addition of a wicked sense of humor. I wanted to give the character some softness, too, show another side of this tough lady sleuth. So enter her eight-year-old son Oliver, a child who gives her life meaning. 

As the author, these character attributes give me tremendous latitude. All of it makes perfect sense to me now, but it was one step in front of the other during the creative process. Frankly, that’s a writer for you. We often don’t know what we’re writing until we’ve written it. 

Pounding the streets of Manhattan with one of its first female detectives keeps me on my toes. Sometimes what I find out about the time period is surprising. For instance, the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade has taken place every year since nineteen twenty-four. The only exception was nineteen forty-two, the year the United States entered the war. The parade was cancelled out of respect for the gravity of the situation. 

Somehow, I overlooked that fact and had a sentence in the first book where Percy mentions attending the parade. A reader emailed me of the error – bless you - and I corrected it. Ever since then I try even harder to get the details accurate. It’s not a hardship, because I love learning the history of the time. And readers seem to be enjoying the Percy Cole series. I love that even more.

So far, I’ve penned three books in the Persephone Cole Vintage series, The Dagger Before Me, Iced Diamonds, and the latest, The Chocolate Kiss-Off.

On a personal note, I only wish I had Percy Cole’s self-assuredness. She never asks permission to do what she does. Like Davy Crockett, her philosophy is “First be sure you’re right—then go ahead.” What a woman!

Iced Diamonds

A Persephone Cole Vintage Mystery, Book 2

In late December 1942, Persephone (Percy) Cole, one of Manhattan’s first female PIs, has been hired to find out who killed a Santa Land elf and left his body in the storefront window of a swank 5^th Avenue jewelry store. Was it the spoiled heiress whose big buck handbag was found on the scene? Or was it the rat who broke out of the big house to settle a score? Shortly after, the corpse of the Christmas Angel is discovered stuffed in Mrs. Santa’s workshop. Will Santa Claus be next? 

With a penchant for Marlene Dietrich suits, pistachio nuts, and fedora hats, this working mother finds diamonds to the left of her, diamonds to the right, and skullduggery aplenty. Armed with her noodle and a WWI German Mauser, Percy is determined to solve these crimes or it just might be the “kiss off” for Christmas.

Buy Links

paperback 

ebook 

#CRAFTS WITH ANASTASIA--MURDER, MAYHEM & CHRISTMAS CRAFTS GALORE!

It’s December. Have you started your Christmas crafting? Need some quick and easy projects to decorate your home and give as gifts? Drop Dead Ornamentsand Handmade Ho-Ho Homicide, books 7 and 8 in the Anastasia Pollack Crafting Mystery Series, offer projects even the most novice and cash-strapped crafter can create with professional looking results. 

In Drop Dead Ornaments you’ll find ideas for creating pricey glass ball ornaments for pennies. The crafts in Handmade Ho-Ho Homicide utilize all those Christmas cards you’ve kept stashed away in a box for years because they’re too pretty to toss in the recycling bucket.

And in-between crafting, shopping, and baking Christmas cookies, you can grab a cup of coffee or tea, settle into your favorite reading chair, and see what sorts of trouble author Lois Winston has gotten me into in the two latest books about me. 

Plus, as a holiday gift to our readers, for a limited time the ebook edition of Drop Dead Ornaments is on sale for only .99 cents!

Drop Dead Ornaments

An Anastasia Pollack Crafting Mystery, Book 7

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?

Buy Links
Paperback

Amazon 

Kobo 

iTunes
Nook 

Handmade Ho-Ho Homicide

An Anastasia Pollack Crafting Mystery, Book 8

Two and a half weeks ago magazine crafts editor Anastasia Pollack arrived home to find Ira Pollack, her half-brother-in-law, had blinged out her home with enough Christmas lights to rival Rockefeller Center. Now he’s crammed her small yard with enormous cavorting inflatable characters. She and photojournalist boyfriend and possible spy Zack Barnes pack up the unwanted lawn decorations to return to Ira. They arrive to find his yard the scene of an over-the-top Christmas extravaganza. His neighbors are not happy with the animatronics, laser light show, and blaring music creating traffic jams on their normally quiet street. One of them expresses his displeasure with his fists before running off.

In the excitement, the deflated lawn ornaments are never returned to Ira. The next morning Anastasia once again heads to his house before work to drop them off. When she arrives, she discovers Ira’s attacker dead in Santa’s sleigh. Ira becomes the prime suspect in the man’s murder and begs Anastasia to help clear his name. But Anastasia has promised her sons she’ll keep her nose out of police business. What’s a reluctant amateur sleuth to do?

Buy Links

Paperback

Amazon 

Kobo 

Barnes & Noble  

iTunes 

BOOK CLUB FRIDAY--GUEST AUTHOR KASSANDRA LAMB

Kassandra Lamb is a retired psychotherapist/college professor turned mystery writer. She spends most of her time with her characters in an alternate universe, the magic portal to which (i.e., her computer) is located in Florida, where her husband and dog catch occasional glimpses of her. Learn more about Kassandra and her books at her website. 

An Ice-Skating Rink in Florida for the Holidays... What Could Go Wrong?

I love holiday-themed stories! So around Book 3 of my Marcia Banks and Buddy series, cozies about a service dog trainer and her sidekick mentor dog, I decided to incorporate some holiday novellas into the series.

Most of the books focus on the military veterans for whom Marcia trains her service dogs, but I decided the holiday stories would focus on the tiny fictitious town in which she lives, Mayfair, Florida.

I had so much fun writing this story! It features some of Mayfair’s quirkiest residents, especially the two elderly matriarchs—Edna Mayfair, the sister of the now deceased founder of the town, and Sherie Wells, Marcia’s next door neighbor and head of the only African-American family still living in what is barely more than a ghost town.

The story opens as these women, with Marcia’s later-regretted encouragement, are establishing a local Chamber of Commerce, in order to plan a Christmas extravaganza for the purpose of attracting tourists to the town.

And the first thing the new Chamber decides to do is build an ice-skating rink—in Florida. What could go wrong with that?

The titles of the books in this series are all variations on classic book or movie titles, so I tentatively titled this one A Mayfair Christmas Carol. I’m a pantser, as in, I write by the seat of my pants, so I don’t always know where a story is going until it goes there. But as this story unfolded, that turned out to be the perfect title for it.

The ghost of Christmas past definitely gets stirred up for the Mayfair founding family when a thirty-year-old skeleton is unearthed during the excavations for the skating rink.

Marcia’s hunky, almost-live-in boyfriend is the detective assigned to the case, and as usual, Marcia (pronounced Mar-see-a, not Marsha) drives him crazy by butting into the investigation. It wasn’t my initial intention (remember, I’m a pantser), but the story ends up exploring the darker side of the history of Mayfair.

But don’t worry, it has a happy ending, as one of the town’s matriarchs receives a Christmas present beyond her wildest dreams.

A Mayfair Christmas Carol

A Marcia Banks and Buddy Christmas Novella

Mayfair’s newly minted Chamber of Commerce has gone off the rails. They’ve decided to build an ice skating rink—in Florida—for a Christmas Extravaganza. Excavation for the rink is barely started when a decades-old skeleton is uncovered, and its secrets threaten more than the town’s Christmas plans. 

Feeling responsible since the let’s-attract-more-tourists idea was hers initially, service dog trainer Marcia Banks is determined to help her police detective boyfriend solve the mystery, whether he wants her help or not. Maybe she can wheedle more out of the townspeople than he can.

Will she and her Black Lab, Buddy, keep the ghost of Christmas past from destroying what is left of Mayfair’s founding family, or will her meddling make things worse?

Buy Link  (currently on sale for .99 cents)

TWO CHRISTMAS MYSTERIES ARE BETTER THAN ONE

Do you know what day it is? It’s forty-nine days until Christmas. Can you believe it? Have you started your Christmas shopping? What about your Christmas reading? This time of year many readers like to curl up with seasonal books. And what goes better with Christmas than a little murder? At least if you’re a fan of cozy mysteries.

Lois Winston, that devious author who’s always getting me involved with killers and dead bodies, now has two books that keep me from kicking back and enjoying the holidays. You’d think she’d give me a break, at least on Christmas, right? No such luck for this reluctant amateur sleuth. However, you can kill two proverbial birds with one stone. (Note the murder mystery-appropriate metaphor.) Those books about me make great holiday gifts for anyone on your list who enjoys a little murder with their egg nog and gingerbread. 

And don’t forget to give yourself a cozy murder or two for the holidays!

Drop Dead Ornaments

An Anastasia Pollack Crafting Mystery, Book 7

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?

Buy Links
Paperback

Amazon 

Kobo 

iTunes
Nook 

Handmade Ho-Ho Homicide

An Anastasia Pollack Crafting Mystery, Book 8

Two and a half weeks ago magazine crafts editor Anastasia Pollack arrived home to find Ira Pollack, her half-brother-in-law, had blinged out her home with enough Christmas lights to rival Rockefeller Center. Now he’s crammed her small yard with enormous cavorting inflatable characters. She and photojournalist boyfriend and possible spy Zack Barnes pack up the unwanted lawn decorations to return to Ira. They arrive to find his yard the scene of an over-the-top Christmas extravaganza. His neighbors are not happy with the animatronics, laser light show, and blaring music creating traffic jams on their normally quiet street. One of them expresses his displeasure with his fists before running off.

In the excitement, the deflated lawn ornaments are never returned to Ira. The next morning Anastasia once again heads to his house before work to drop them off. When she arrives, she discovers Ira’s attacker dead in Santa’s sleigh. Ira becomes the prime suspect in the man’s murder and begs Anastasia to help clear his name. But Anastasia has promised her sons she’ll keep her nose out of police business. What’s a reluctant amateur sleuth to do?

Buy Links

Paperback

Amazon 

Kobo 

Barnes & Noble 

iTunes 

RELEASE DAY FOR HANDMADE HO-HO HOMICIDE

No recipe today. I’m giving Cloris the day off and taking over her usual Tuesday spot because, as I mentioned yesterday, today is release day for Handmade Ho-Ho Homicide, the eighth book in the cozy mystery series that’s about yours truly, reluctant amateur sleuth Anastasia Pollack.

Those of you who are regular readers of this blog know that author Lois Winston upended my extremely comfortable middle class suburban life back in 2011 with the release of Assault With a Deadly Glue Gun, the first book in the Anastasia Pollack Crafting Mystery Series. She hasn’t stopped messing with my life since, not even giving me a respite for the Christmas holidays, as you will see in my latest adventure.

Suspense Magazine called Handmade Ho-Ho Homicide“a laugh-out-loud, well plotted mystery from a real pro! A ho-ho hoot!” 

And from Dru’s Book Musings: “Once again, the author knows how to tell a story that immediately grabbed my attention and I couldn’t put this book down until the last page was read….This was one of the best books in this delightfully lovable series and I can’t wait to see what exciting adventures await Anastasia and her friends.”

I hope all of you will pick up a copy and take pleasure in the way Lois torments me. If so, as a Christmas present, maybe she’ll split the royalties with me so I can dig my way out of the financial mess she created for me. 

Hey, a girl can dream, can't she?

Handmade Ho-Ho Homicide

An Anastasia Pollack Crafting Mystery, Book 8

Two and a half weeks ago magazine crafts editor Anastasia Pollack arrived home to find Ira Pollack, her half-brother-in-law, had blinged out her home with enough Christmas lights to rival Rockefeller Center. Now he’s crammed her small yard with enormous cavorting inflatable characters. She and photojournalist boyfriend and possible spy Zack Barnes pack up the unwanted lawn decorations to return to Ira. They arrive to find his yard the scene of an over-the-top Christmas extravaganza. His neighbors are not happy with the animatronics, laser light show, and blaring music creating traffic jams on their normally quiet street. One of them expresses his displeasure with his fists before running off.

In the excitement, the deflated lawn ornaments are never returned to Ira. The next morning Anastasia once again heads to his house before work to drop them off. When she arrives, she discovers Ira’s attacker dead in Santa’s sleigh. Ira becomes the prime suspect in the man’s murder and begs Anastasia to help clear his name. But Anastasia has promised her sons she’ll keep her nose out of police business. What’s a reluctant amateur sleuth to do?

Buy Links
Paperback

Amazon 

Kobo 

Barnes & Noble 

iTunes