NEW ANASTASIA POLLACK CRAFTING MYSTERY BUNDLE

Guilty as Framed and A Crafty Collage of Crime, the 11^th and 12^th books in the Anastasia Pollack Crafting Mystery Series, are now available as a 2-ebook set.

Guilty as Framed

An Anastasia Pollack Crafting Mystery, Book 11

 

Inspired by the true-crime cold case of the largest art heist in history

 

When an elderly man shows up at the home of reluctant amateur sleuth Anastasia Pollack, she’s drawn into the unsolved mystery of the greatest art heist in history. 

 

Boston mob boss Cormac Murphy has recently been released from prison. He refuses to believe Anastasia’s assertion that the man he’s looking for doesn’t live at her address and attempts to muscle his way into her home. His efforts are thwarted by Anastasia’s fiancé Zack Barnes. 

 

A week later, a stolen SUV containing a dead body appears in Anastasia’s driveway. Anastasia believes Murphy is sending her a message. It’s only the first in a series of alarming incidents, including a mugging, a break-in, another murder, and the discovery of a cache of jewelry and an etching from the largest museum burglary in history.

 

But will Anastasia solve the mystery behind these shocking events before she falls victim to a couple of desperate thugs who will stop at nothing to get what they want?

 

Crafts projects included.

 

A Crafty Collage of Crime

An Anastasia Pollack Crafting Mystery, Book 12

 

Winner of the 2024 Killer Nashville Silver Falchion Award for Best Comedy

 

When an elderly man shows up at the home of reluctant amateur sleuth Anastasia Pollack, she’s drawn into the unsolved mystery of the greatest art heist in history. 

 

Boston mob boss Cormac Murphy has recently been released from prison. He refuses to believe Anastasia’s assertion that the man he’s looking for doesn’t live at her address and attempts to muscle his way into her home. His efforts are thwarted by Anastasia’s fiancé Zack Barnes. 

 

A week later, a stolen SUV containing a dead body appears in Anastasia’s driveway. Anastasia believes Murphy is sending her a message. It’s only the first in a series of alarming incidents, including a mugging, a break-in, another murder, and the discovery of a cache of jewelry and an etching from the largest museum burglary in history.

 

But will Anastasia solve the mystery behind these shocking events before she falls victim to a couple of desperate thugs who will stop at nothing to get what they want?

 

Crafts projects included.

 

Wherever crafts editor and reluctant amateur sleuth Anastasia Pollack goes, murder and mayhem follow. Her honeymoon is no exception. She and new husband, photojournalist (and possible spy) Zachary Barnes, are enjoying a walk in the Tennessee woods when they stumble upon a body on the side of a creek. The dead man is the husband of one of the three sisters who own the winery and guest cottages where Anastasia and Zack are vacationing.

 

When the local sheriff sets his sights on the widow as the prime suspect, her sisters close ranks around her. The three siblings are true-crime junkies, and thanks to a podcaster who has produced an unauthorized series about her, Anastasia’s reputation for solving murders has preceded her to the bucolic hamlet. The sisters plead for her help in finding the real killer. As Anastasia learns more about the women and their business, a host of suspects emerge, including several relatives, a relentless land developer, and even the sisters themselves.

 

Meanwhile, Anastasia becomes obsessed with discovering the podcaster’s identity. Along with knowing about Anastasia’s life as a reluctant amateur sleuth, the podcaster has divulged details of Anastasia’s personal life. Someone has betrayed Anastasia’s trust, and she’s out to discover the identity of the culprit.

​

Craft projects included.

 

Buy Links

Kindle

Kobo

Nook

Apple Books

Books2Read Universal Link to Other Sites

LOVE COZY MYSTERIES? CELEBRATE VALENTINE'S DAY WITH FREE COZY READS!

Happy Valentine's Month! My author, Lois Winston, has been taking part in monthly Bookfunnel promotions to grow her newsletter list. Subscribe to any or all of the authors' newsletters featured in this month's promo to receive a thank-you gift of a free cozy mystery by that author. Click here for the participating authors and their books.

FOURTEEN AND COUNTING + A VIRTUAL BOOK TOUR WITH RECIPES, CRAFTS, AND GIVEAWAYS

Today is the official release day for Seams Like the Perfect Crime, the fourteenth book in that series author Lois Winston writes about me—otherwise known as the Anastasia Pollack Crafting Mysteries.

My author has always created stories about me based on real-life events she’s either read about, seen on the news, or experienced. For instance, in Guilty as Framed, the eleventh book in the series, she wove a plot around the actual 1990 unsolved museum heist at the Isabella Stewart Gardiner Museum in Boston. To this day, it’s the largest theft of artworks in history and none have ever been recovered.

 

A Crafty Collage of Crime, the award-winning twelfth book in the series, was inspired by her move in 2021 from New Jersey to Tennessee. Many of our readers wanted to know when I would also move to the South, but being a diehard Jersey Girl, I dug in my heels and threatened to kidnap her muse if she dared transplant me. We compromised by Lois sending me on a trip to Tennessee wine country (yes, it’s a thing) and, of course, within hours of arriving, I stumbled across a dead body.

 

In Seams Like the Perfect Crime Lois once again gave me one of her own experiences, this one involving some very odd neighbors who used to live across the street from her back in the late 1990s and early 2000s. These neighbors were so odd, that Lois didn’t have to do much in the way of embellishing what she saw from her own window. When you read the short synopsis of the plot, your first reaction will be, she had to have made up those people. Trust me, she didn’t. 

 

Well, she did make up some of the tertiary characters in the book, and none of the real-life characters were ever murdered, but many of the characters in this book are a perfect example of truth being stranger than fiction.

 

Seams Like the Perfect Crime

An Anastasia Pollack Crafting Mystery, Book 14

 

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.

 

Buy Links

Amazon

Kobo

Nook

Apple Books

Lois and I will also be on a Great Escapes Virtual Book Tour Feb. 4-17. Visit each stop on the tour for some fun posts, recipes, and crafts and to enter the Rafflecopter for a chance to win a copy of Seams Like the Perfect Crime.

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 

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

JOIN ME ONLINE MONDAY EVENING FOR MURDER, MAYHEM, AND COZY MYSTERIES!

This coming Monday evening, January 27th at 7pm ET (6pm CT, 5pm MT, and 4pm PT), I'll be the guest of the Cozy Mystery Party Facebook Group, hosted by Heather Harrisson and Shawn Stevens. If you'd like to join in for a fun hour + of all things murder, mayhem, and cozy mysteries (there will be prizes and surprises!), join the group ahead of time at https://www.facebook.com/groups/cozymysteryparty. Hope to see you there!

CRAFTS WITH ANASTASIA--NASHVILLE ZOOLUMINATION

Zoolumination at the Nashville Zoo is billed as "the country's largest lantern festival, featuring magical scenes of more than 1,000 custom-made silk lanterns," some 100 feet long and 50 feet high. You'll find everything from mythical creatures to wildlife to flowers and even an outdoor skating rink! Each year the event grows bigger and more spectacular. If you're anywhere near Middle Tennessee through February 9th this year, it's a not-to-be-missed evening of awe.

And for another special evening, join author Lois Winston on Monday evening, January 27th at 7pm ET (6pm CT, 5pm MT, and 4pm PT), where she'll be the guest of the Cozy Mystery Party Facebook Group, hosted by Heather Harrisson and Shawn Stevens. If you'd like to join in for a fun hour + of all things murder, mayhem, and cozy mysteries (there will be prizes and surprises!), join the group ahead of time at https://www.facebook.com/groups/cozymysteryparty. Hope to see you there!

HAPPY HOLIDAYS!

 

MY AUTHOR BLEW IT AT KILLER NASHVILLE

It's a Major Award!

No, I’m not talking about that infamous, cringe-worthy leg lamp from A Christmas Story. 

 

Three weeks ago, author Lois Winston, she who writes about me, attended the Killer Nashville Writers’ Conference where A Crafty Collage of Crime, the twelfth book in the Anastasia Pollack Crafting Mystery Series, was a finalist in the Comedy category of the Silver Falchion Awards. Much to Lois’s surprise and my own, she won!

 

Lois never expected to win. The woman has never even won more than $7 on a lottery ticket! So although she’s racked up quite a few nominations over the years, she fully expected to come up short once again.

 

Have you ever watched an awards show and fantasized about winning an Oscar, Emmy, or Tony? As you sit in front of the TV, listening to all those acceptance speeches, haven’t you thought about who you’d thank for your success? Being a theater geek, my author only watches the Tonys, but she records the show so she can fast-forward through all the winners thanking everyone from their toddler dance class instructors to the guy who monitors the stage door. You’d think she would have prepared an acceptance speech on the slim chance she might win, but she didn’t.

 

Cut to Lois being asked to say a few words. Did she have the presence of mind to utter a sentence or two about this winning book where she sent me to Tennessee wine country, only to have me stumble across more dead bodies? She did not. In front of a captive audience of about 400 mystery lovers IN MIDDLE TENNESSEE, she gave what one of her friends later proclaimed was the shortest acceptance speech in the history of awards. And didn't even mention anything about me or the book!

KILLER NASHVILLE EXCITEMENT AND A SALE!

As much as I hate all the murder and mayhem my author Lois Winston throws me way, I have to admit that sometimes…just sometimes, there are moments when I don’t mind being the center of attention. Now is one of those times. 

A Crafty Collage of Crime, the twelfth book in the Anastasia Pollack Crafting Mystery Series, is a finalist for a Killer Nashville Silver Falchion Award for Best Comedy as well as a finalist in the Readers’ Choice Award. Winners will be announced on August 24^th at the Killer Nashville conference.

 

Lois will be attending the conference and will be on participating on six panels. 

 

In addition to the conference, there’s a bookstore that’s open to the public August 23^rd-25^th. Book signings are held throughout Friday and Saturday until roughly 5:30pm and on Sunday until 2pm. If you’re in the greater Nashville area, stop by The Embassy Suites, 820 Crescent Centre Drive, Franklin, TN. Lois would love to meet you. (Tell her I sent you!)

Lois is also running an End of Summer sale. From now through September 9^th, Anastasia Pollack Crafting Mysteries, Books 9-10, the 2-ebook bundle featuring A Sew Deadly Cruise and Stitch, Bake, Die!, the ninth and tenth books in the series all about me, is on sale for only .99 cents. Talk about a bargain! Each ebook normally sells for $5.99. Both books were previous Killer Nashville Silver Falchion finalists. Stitch, Bake, Die! was also #1 on iTunes Top 100 Paid Books Chart.

 

A Sew Deadly Cruise

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.

 

Stitch, Bake, Die!

With massive debt, a communist mother-in-law, a Shakespeare-quoting parrot, and a photojournalist boyfriend who may or may not be a spy, crafts editor Anastasia Pollack already juggles too much in her life. So she’s not thrilled when her magazine volunteers her to present workshops and judge a needlework contest at the inaugural conference of the New Jersey chapter of the Stitch and Bake Society, a national organization of retired professional women. At least her best friend and cooking editor Cloris McWerther has also been roped into similar duties for the culinary side of the 3-day event taking place on the grounds of the exclusive Beckwith Chateau Country Club.

 

The sweet little old ladies Anastasia is expecting to meet are definitely old, and some of them are little, but all are anything but sweet. She’s stepped into a vipers’ den that starts with bribery and ends with murder. When an ice storm forces Anastasia and Cloris to spend the night at the Chateau, Anastasia discovers evidence of insurance scams, medical fraud, an opioid ring, long-buried family secrets, and a bevy of suspects.

 

Can she piece together the various clues before she becomes the killer’s next target?

 

Craft projects included.

 

Buy Links

Kindle

Nook

Kobo

Apple Books

SORRY, KNOT SORRY VIRTUAL BOOK TOUR

Today marks the start of the Great Escapes virtual book tour for Sorry, Knot Sorry, the 13th book in the Anastasia Pollack Crafting Mysteries. Join me and my author at each of the participating sites for some fun posts and a chance to win a copy of the book by entering the Rafflecopter at each stop. The more sites you visit and enter, the greater your chance of winning one of copies author Lois Winston will be giving away at the end of the tour.

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 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 – Ruff Drafts – 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

You can also find all the information on the Great Escapes Tour Page. 

Sorry, Knot Sorry

An Anastasia Pollack Crafting Mystery, Book 13

 

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.

 

Buy Links

Amazon 

Kobo 

Nook 

Apple Books

Books2Read Universal Link to Other Sites 

FROM MID-CENTURY MODERN TO PODCASTS TO AI, OH MY!

Today marks the release of Sorry, Knot Sorry, the thirteenth book in the Anastasia Pollack Crafting Mystery Series. Lucky number thirteen for my author, not so lucky number thirteen for me because once again, author Lois Winston has wreaked havoc in my life with yet another dead body. This one, gunned down in front of my house. Right after the guy left my house! So, it’s not like I can shrug my shoulders and say there was no connection between the two of us.

Lois is a news junkie who likes to draw on current and newsworthy events when developing the plots for the books in the series about me. In Sorry, Knot Sorry she weaves together such disparate topics as podcasts, artificial intelligence, and the current trend for all things mid-century modern, including a nod to tie-dye and macramé. After all, this is a crafting cozy series.

 

Speaking of artificial intelligence, did you hear about my author’s experiment, using me as a guinea pig? When AI hit the news full force several months ago, worry began to mount among authors. Would they all become obsolete in the not-too-distant future? Lois decided to ask Chat GPT to create a novel for the Anastasia Pollack Crafting Mysteries. She wanted to test just how intelligent this artificial intelligence is to see if her days as an author really were numbered.

 

Now keep in mind that you can find information about me, as well as the stories Lois has created about me, all over the Internet. A short synopsis of each book, along with the first chapter, are not only available on her website, but also on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, iTunes, Books-a-Million, Audible, and countless other e-tailers. You’d think with all that available information, Chat GPT would scan the Internet cosmos and come up with something that bore some resemblance to me, my family, and the world Lois has created for us.

 

Think again! The results were so off base that they were laughable. The not-so-intelligent artificial intelligence transformed Ralph, my African Grey parrot into my uncle. My mother’s Persian cat, Catherine the Great, morphed into my employee. Instead of working as the crafts editor at a women’s magazine, AI made me the owner of a knitting shop. Worst of all? There was absolutely nothing funny in any of the pages that AI had generated. Lois writes humorous amateur sleuth mysteries. I get through all she dumps on me by relying on my sense of humor. But apparently, this new technology lacks a funny bone and is both incapable of seeing humor or generating it.

 

This has turned out to be a good news/bad news situation. Good news for Lois because she now feels she can rest easier, knowing her career won’t be usurped by a bunch of algorithms anytime soon. Bad news for me, though, because Lois is already plotting how she can wreak more havoc in the life of this reluctant amateur sleuth for Book Fourteen. And you can be sure, there will be more dead bodies.

 

Sorry, Knot Sorry

An Anastasia Pollack Crafting Mystery, Book 13

 

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.

 

Buy Links

Amazon

Kobo

Nook

Apple Books

WEIRD NEIGHBORS MAKE FOR GREAT CHARACTERS

Artwork from Depositphotos and Pixabay

My author, Lois Winston, has recently penned the next book in the series she writes about me. Sorry, Knot Sorry is the thirteenth book in the Anastasia Pollack Crafting Mysteries. Thirteen novels and three novellas, and that woman hasn’t let up with the murder and mayhem.

The other day, I asked her to explain why me? Why not pick on someone else for a change? She shrugged and said, “Sorry, not sorry.” Or perhaps she was trying to be funny. Lois has a thing for puns.

 

She also has a thing for weird, interesting people and often puts them in her books. Look no further than the communist mother-in-law she saddled me with, based on her own communist mother-in-law. Other characters have been inspired by various people she’s either known or observed, but usually they’re a composite of several people molded into one character.

 

Now that the latest book is finished and up for preorder, Lois is looking ahead to the next book in the series. In one of the previous books, the house across the street from me was torn down and replaced with a McMansion. That plot thread began in A Stitch to Die For, the fifth book in the series, and has been mentioned in various other books, most recently in Sorry, Knot Sorry. However, I have yet to meet my new neighbors.

 

Recently, I’ve noticed Lois is thinking quite a bit about the neighbors who used to live in the actual teardown across from where she lived. Since I know what goes on in her brain, I now know the full story.

 

Years ago, when Lois and her husband purchased their home in New Jersey, she suspected an elderly, infirmed couple on a limited income lived in the dilapidated house across the street. Much to her surprise, she discovered the owners were a couple in their late thirties or early forties.

 

She began to refer to them as the Stoop Sitters because they’d camp out on the top step of their landing for hours at a time, either together or individually. Just sitting and smoking and often drinking beer, but never conversing with each other. Often the husband would remove his shirt and lie back on the concrete porch, his massive stomach pointing heavenward. He’d remain that way for hours, apparently napping.

 

When Mr. Stoop Sitter wasn’t sprawled bare-chested on the landing, he’d spend hours mowing his lawn. Except, the “lawn” was a barren patch of packed dirt and weeds. Yet, he’d constantly walk behind his mower, trimming the nonexistent grass of his extremely small front yard. Back and forth over the same square footage until the mower ran out of gas. The next day, after refilling the mower, the scene would repeat. This went on every day except during rainstorms or winter snows.

 

Lois assures me she’s no voyeur. She worked from home in an office at the front of her house, her desk positioned in front of the window. It was impossible not to notice the Stoop Sitters.

 

One day, her concentration was broken by a cat fight. Not a cat fight between two cats, though, but between two women. And it was over a man. Mrs. Stoop Sitter was accusing the other woman of trying to steal her husband.

 

The scene was right out of a reality TV show, minus the camera crew. Eventually, Mrs. Stoop Sitter hurled one last warning, stormed up the steps and entered her house, slamming the door behind her. The other woman turned around and walked down the street. 

 

Lois assures me Mr. Stoop Sitter was no one’s idea of a catch, but the scene outside her window proved otherwise. Obviously, there’s someone for everyone.

 

Eventually, the Stoop Sitters sold their house to a developer who tore it down and built a McMansion on the postage-size plot of land. I have a feeling Lois is mulling over introducing Mr. and Mrs. Stoop Sitter to the world in her next book. Will I wind up investigating their deaths? Or perhaps the death of Mr. Stoop Sitter’s girlfriend? There are lots of ideas churning around in my author’s brain. I guess I’ll have to see what she comes up with this time. All I know for sure is I’ll be involved, whether I like it or not.

 

Have you ever come across people you think would make great characters in a mystery? Post a comment for a chance to win a promo code for a free audiobook download of one of the first nine Anastasia Pollack Crafting Mysteries currently available.

 

Sorry, Knot Sorry

An Anastasia Pollack Crafting Mystery, Book 13

 

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.

 

Buy Links (preorder now. Available June 4^th)

Amazon

Kobo

Nook

Apple Books

Paperback and Hardcover editions available after June 4^th.