WHO WANTS TO BE A CHARACTER?

By Lois Winston

Stitch, Bake, Die!, the tenth book in my Anastasia Pollack Crafting Mystery Series, is now up for pre-order with a release date of October 4^th. In celebration of the upcoming release, I’m running a contest for a chance to become a character in the next book in the series. I can’t tell you what the plot of that book is yet because the idea is still incubating in my gray matter. However, I have dropped a few hints about the overall theme of Book 11 in Book 10.

 

I’ve periodically run a naming contest in the past and have found that readers love them. Some even ask to be the victim or the killer! If you’d like to place your name in the running, all you have to do is sign up for my newsletter. The next issue, which will come out Sept. 7^th, will give directions for entering. Of course, I hope you won’t unsubscribe once the winner—or winners—are chosen. I may even wind up choosing more than one name. The winner(s) will also receive a paperback (U.S. residents only) or ebook copy of the book once it’s published next year and be mentioned in the Acknowledgments.

 

Stitch, Bake, Die!

An Anastasia Pollack Crafting Mystery, Book 10

 

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 NJ 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 find 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?

 

Crafting tips included.

 

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MYSTERY AUTHOR LEV RAPHAEL ON HOW RESEARCH CAN BE MURDER

Lev Raphael is the author of 27 books ranging from mystery to memoir. He edits manuscripts, teaches writing workshops, and coaches writers at Write Without Borders. Learn more about Lev and his books at his website.  

Research Can Be Murder

In Department of Death, the latest Nick Hoffman mystery set in the wilds of academia, Nick has become chair of his university's English Department--but nobody reading the series could have predicted that would ever happen. It's definitely not something that Nick ever wanted. 

 

I introduced Nick to mystery readers in Let's Get Criminal as an English professor who wasn't respected in his Midwestern department for way too many reasons. To start with, he was a spousal hire, which meant he got his position only because the university wanted to hire his partner. Giving him a job, too, sweetened the deal.

 

Spousal hires at a university can arouse a lot of animosity in their new colleagues even when they're well-qualified, because they're basically just part of a package deal. In most cases, they would never have been hired on their own at that point in time. Other professors will feel they're intruders, unworthy of joining the rarified club whose membership they guard so zealously. And let's face it, it doesn't take much to anger highly combustible professors anyway in an environment where grudges flourish like feral hogs, walking catfish, Burmese pythons, and other invasive species that are ruining the Everglades.  

 

Nick was also looked down upon because he enjoyed teaching the most basic course the department offered: composition. His peers would do anything to avoid being stuck with it. That kind of course put him at the level of graduate assistants and adjuncts, and liking the hard work involved in helping students strengthen their writing skills created suspicion and even contempt: who was he trying to kid?

 

And then there was his scholarship: Nick is a bibliographer. A bibliographer of Edith Wharton. That means that he's not only read every single book, story, review, and essay that Wharton wrote, he's read everything that's ever been written about her. In every language. The project took him four solid years. He's annotated each item and created multiple indexes for the bibliography which is a splendid guide for anyone doing research about the American author who was the first women to win a Pulitzer for Literature.

 

That might sound significant, but to his new colleagues, it's grunt work, uninspiring--and worse than that, his book is useful. Unlike their own books which are written in abstruse critical jargon that only appeals to miniscule audiences.  

 

I chose this focus for Nick's scholarship because my college writing mentor was a Wharton bibliographer and I wanted to honor her years of research. And it appalled me how that book did not get her promoted to full professor when she should have been.

 

Nick has had a different path, pockmarked by murders of course. He did get promoted to full professor; a visiting authors' fellowship was established in his name by a grateful student who struck it rich; and through a bizarre twist of fate in the 10^th book of the series, he's heading up a department filled with people who loathe him more now than ever.

 

He regrets having agreed to become chair before the first week in his new position is over. What happens? Nick is unexpectedly privy to a bribery scandal that threatens to blacken the name of the university. Nick himself is the object of intense administrative harassment and spying. And of course, he becomes involved in yet another murder. 

 

Can his research skills and his love of crime fiction help him out of this tangle of problems? They always have, no matter how little respect they've earned him from his colleagues.

 

In classic mystery form, the murderer and motive are revealed at the very end of the book amid a scene of crazy academic chaos unlike anything Nick has ever witnessed or dealt with before. 

 

Department of Death

A Nick Hoffman Mystery, Book 10

 

Nick Hoffman has been unexpectedly installed by his dean as chairman of his English department. It's a wildly unpopular choice and Nick is now the focus of more animosity from his colleagues than ever before. He can't seem to make anyone happy and can't get a handle on his myriad new responsibilities as an administrator, a position he never wanted. Tragedy strikes when someone seeking his help is murdered, and Nick becomes a prime suspect. Hounded by campus police, the local press, and social media, Nick wonders if this could finally be the end of his career—and if he can manage to stay out of prison. Department of Death is Lev Raphael's most blistering satire yet of the perversities of academic life.

 

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AUTHOR S. LEE MANNING WRITES A THRILLER WITH A UNIQUE SETTING

Award-winning author S. Lee Manning is a reformed attorney who now writes full time. Her novels reflect a lifelong interest in espionage and in Russia. Learn more about her and her books at her website. 

The Perfect Street

A number of years ago - I'd prefer not to disclose just how many  - my family went on a vacation in a little town in the Eastern Townships of Quebec, just north of the Vermont border. It was a pleasant vacation, except that the water in the house we'd rented smelled like rotten eggs and the house had been falsely advertised as being on the lake. It wasn't. But we managed to get ourselves to the lake; we practiced our French, and we had a lot of great meals. 

 

A bonus: my husband and I found an intriguing street in the town of Beebe Plains, close to where we were staying. One side of the street is in Vermont, and the other side is in Canada. Driving down the street, I could see US flags and Canadian flags waving at each other from yards on either side. Farther down, in neighboring Stanstead, is a library that straddles the two countries. The entrance is in the United States. The parking lot - Canada. Inside the library, a black line marks the border.

 

I talked with border agents, and then drove slowly from Beebe Plains to Stanstead, noting where the houses stopped and the fields began.

 

Border agents told me that neighbors couldn't even cross the street to say hello without checking in at the station. If you drive along the street, you're in Canada, but if you pull into a driveway on the Vermont side - unless it's been cleared, you'll get a visit from a US patrol very quickly.

 

Previously, goods of various sorts were frequently smuggled across the border, usually cheaper American products like jeans, sometimes drugs, but with 9/11 and increased security, smuggling became less frequent. It still happens - it just takes a little more skill not to get caught. 

 

I write spy thrillers, and I was fascinated - what a perfect location for something nefarious.

 

Canada is an easy drive from our home in Northern Vermont, where we moved a few years after that vacation. Before the world shut down, my husband and I would visit the Quebec towns near the border every few months. We found small and wonderful restaurants and kind people willing to endure our pathetic attempts at speaking French.

 

We also revisited the area that I had marked down for a future novel. Eventually, I wrote a description. I just didn't yet have the story to go with it. Of course, the story would have to involve smuggling - but what was being smuggling, who was smuggling it, and why - wasn't clear to me -  yet.

 

Fast forward: last year, I wrote Nerve Attack, the sequel to my award-winning novel, Trojan Horse. I needed to accomplish several things in this novel. Aside from the usual list of intricate plotting and in-depth characterizations, my protagonist Kolya Petrov, who had resigned at the end of the first novel, had to be enticed back into the spy game. Could I do all the above, and still use that fascinating street in Beebe Plains?

 

I came up with an idea: What if a smuggler brought something that could kill many innocent people - a poison - into the United States and what if the only person who had the contacts to stop the attack refused to work with anyone but Kolya? I had the perfect person to demand Kolya's return: Dmitri - Kolya's childhood best friend, whom he'd put in prison ten years earlier. 

 

I had the beginning of the plot and the perfect reason to insert Beebe Plains into Nerve Attack.

 

It took several drafts and eight months, but everything came together, plot, characters, locations. While Beebe Plains only plays a small role in the novel, it sets the tone - and I finally got to use the description I'd written.

 

Now that the border is finally open again, I can't wait to go back.

 

Nerve Attack

A Kolya Petrov Thriller, Book 2

 

Former U.S. intelligence operative Kolya Petrov, struggling with the physical and psychological aftereffects of kidnapping and torture, is drawn back into the game when Dmitri, his childhood best friend, holds the key to stopping an attack by terrorists armed with a deadly nerve agent. Working with Dmitri, however, is complicated. While their friendship had been forged during their years in an abusive Russian boys' home, the two men's lives took very different paths. Dmitri had headed the North American branch of a Russian gang until Kolya, working undercover, put him in prison. Ten years later, Dmitri's cooperation is essential to finding the smuggler of the nerve agent, and he refuses to work with anyone but Kolya.

 

Kolya reluctantly agrees to undertake one more mission, but to succeed, he must come to terms with the past. Can he trust Dmitri not to take revenge for the betrayal of their friendship? Can he rely on his own judgment and abilities, despite a leg injury and ongoing PTSD, to survive an elaborate plot that threatens his life and that of his fiancee, as well as the lives of hundreds of innocent people?

 

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BOOK CLUB FRIDAY--CRIME FICTION AUTHOR LUKE MURPHY ON RESEARCHING MURDER

Luke Murphy is the international bestselling author of The Calvin Watters Mysteries and The Charlene Taylor Mysteries. Murphy played six years of professional hockey before retiring in 2006. His sports column, “Overtime” (Pontiac Equity), was nominated for the 2007 Best Sports Page in Quebec, and won the award in 2009. He has also worked as a radio journalist (CHIPFM 101.7). He is also a teacher and lives in Shawville, QC with his wife and three daughters. Learn more about Luke and his books at his website. 

Crime Research

A lot of people ask me about where I get my book ideas from, and to be honest, there isn’t one sole place where I retrieve my ideas. I’m constantly listening, speaking with people, observing behavior, and monitoring stories in the news. The majority of my ideas stem from a story I’ve heard or, even though my books are fiction, something that has happened in real life.

 

I always knew that I wanted to continue the Calvin Watters series. Calvin has become such a fan favorite character since I published the first book of the series, Dead Man’s Hand, in 2012. People seem to have a soft spot for the Vegas leg breaker turned private investigator. So writing a new Calvin Watters novel was priority number one.

 

Since I started writing crime novels, I have had many personal chats with my family doctor (he is one of my main resources). We are constantly talking about methods of death, and ways in which people can be murdered, without any proof or evidence left behind (I know, creepy, right?). Sometimes my mind even scares my own wife. LOL!

 

My doctor happened to mention a rare case he’d heard about surrounding a famous American heiress and socialite from the seventies and eighties—Martha Sharp "Sunny" von Bülow. Her second husband, Claus von Bülow, was convicted in 1982 of attempting to murder her by insulin overdose, but the conviction was overturned on appeal. A second trial found him not guilty, after experts opined that there was no insulin injection and that her symptoms were attributable to over-use of prescription drugs. 

 

But it got me thinking. 

 

Once we discussed this case, I started researching the story and it proved to be a very interesting idea. The story was dramatized in the book and movie, Reversal of Fortune. Sunny von Bülow lived almost 28 years in a persistent vegetative state, from December 1980 until her death in a New York City nursing home on December 6, 2008.

 

This got the wheels turning, and the thinking process kicked in.

 

I took this idea of insulin injections and ran with it. In my opinion, it was such a remarkable case, that writing about it became a fun fascination. Of course, as a fiction writer, I had the creative freedom to use my imagination and add to the story. But there were endless possibilities here, and I was able to follow through in developing an entertaining book. Or at least, I hope it’s entertaining for readers.

 

Finders Keepers

A Calvin Watters Mystery, Book 4

 

To beat the streets…

 

Calvin Watters spent three hard years on the Vegas streets, working the depths of the red-light district. When a string of escort murders surfaces and the LVMPD has no answers, they realize that there is only one man they can turn to for help.

 

…you have to know the streets.

 

Calvin vowed to never return to his former life, but this new case pulls him back in. As he hits the streets, his honed survival skills kick in, and the PI must call upon his past experience to outwit a worthy opponent.

 

Caught in the crosshairs.

 

When Calvin killed Derek Baxter, he added fuel to an ever-growing fire inside Baxter’s longtime sniper partner, Jackson North. Now North is out for revenge, but how far will the hitman go to leave his mark on Calvin’s life? 

 

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AUTHOR SASSCER HILL ON HOW A HORSE RACE LED TO A BOOK CONTRACT

American Pharoah

Author Sasscer Hill was involved in horse racing as an amateur jockey and racehorse breeder for most of her life. Her mystery-thrillers portray the world of horse racing, and the skullduggery that big money and gambling so often attract. Learn more about Sasscer and her books at her website. 

In June of 2015, the incredible happened! St. Martin’s Press showed interest in publishing my manuscript, Flamingo Road. But the sales and marketing department worried that it would be difficult to sell a horse racing mystery.

 

I found out later that my St. Martin’s editor struggled to secure their permission. In the middle of this, the awesome racehorse American Pharoah was on his way to breaking a drought where no horse had won the Triple Crown in twenty-seven-years.

 

At home, I was on pins and needles waiting for St. Martin’s to decide. On May 16, American Pharoah raced in the final leg of the Triple Crown. When he blasted down the stretch on the lead, I yelled so loud, the dog and cat fled from the TV room. The horse won, and in tears, I turned to my husband and said, “I’m going to get that deal with St. Martin’s!” The next day American Pharoah’s win appeared on the cover of every newspaper, and on every morning TV show. The day after that St. Martin’s sent me a two-book contract for the Fia McKee series. 

 

I immediately finished writing The Dark Side of Town and sent the manuscript to St. Martin’s. That book was shortlisted for a Claymore Award.

 

I was thrilled that my lifelong love of horses and my thirty plus years of breeding and training the almost spiritual Thoroughbred racehorse had led me to a publishing contract with one of the “Big Four” publishers, MacMillan who owns St. Martin’s Press.

 

I wanted to base my third Fia McKee novel at Santa Anita Racecourse where HBO filmed the ill-fated series “Luck.” During HBO’s filming, too many horses died from film crew ignorance and mishandling. The show was canceled. Fia McKee would be hired to protect the horses in a fictional horse racing movie. I have friends in the horseracing industry, and since it’s not what you know, but who you know, in 2016, I flew to Los Angeles and headed North to Santa Anita racetrack. I’d obtained an invitation for lunch and a tour by the track’s Special Operations manager, Pete Siberell. 

 

Astonishingly, my lunch companion turned out to be the point man who dealt with HBO when they were filming “Luck.” Pete told me everything I needed to know to write my novel, but sadly, the first two books in the Fia McKee series were not selling well and St. Martin’s dropped me like a hot potato. In April of 2018, Flamingo Road won the $10,000 Dr. Tony Ryan Award for Best Book in Horse Racing Literature, beating Felix Francis’s Pulse. St. Martin’s Press was unimpressed.

 

So, I did what authors often do and started a new series. I completed the novel Travels of Quinn, A Quinn O’Neill Mystery, but my agent barely tried to sell it, saying that my poor sales with St. Martin’s made me a nonstarter. I self-published the book, and in July of this year, it was shortlisted for a Silver Falchion Award for Best Mystery of 2020.

 

Unwilling to give up my Santa Anita novel, I turned it into the fifth book in my Nikki Latrelle series, Shooting Star. It debuted in July and has received great reviews including one from The Midwest Book Review.

 

I do hope mystery readers will take a gamble, give this novel a test ride, and catch a Shooting Star!

 

Shooting Star

A Nikki Latrelle Mystery, Book 5

 

When Nikki’s ex-lover Will hires her to protect the horses used to film a movie at Santa Anita Racetrack, she learns evil is alive and well in Hollywood.

 

Keeping Thoroughbreds safe from a director who doesn’t know a horse from a hamster is tricky. More difficult are the unresolved feelings between her and Will, especially when sexy, young movie star, Jamie Jackson, sets his sights on Nikki.

 

But when a sniper’s bullet shatters the brain of a cameraman close enough that she can smell his blood, Nikki’s need to protect the film crew overrides everything. Her sleuthing unearths a trail of corruption and when she must lie to Will to protect his life, she’s on her own. Can she identify the evil behind the scenes before she and Will become the next victims?

 

Shooting Star is the fifth rocket-paced story in the award-winning Nikki Latrelle mystery series. If you like protagonists with heart and courage, unexpected twists, and a thrill ride to the finish, you’ll love Shooting Star.

 

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AN INTERVIEW WITH COZY MYSTERY AUTHOR GEORGIANA DANIELS

Today we sit down for a chat with cozy mystery author Georgiana Daniels, who claims "Busy" is her middle name. However, if she does find a nugget of free time, she enjoys knitting, reading, and fumbling around on the piano to the dismay of others. Though previously published in romance and women's fiction, she's dipping an anxious toe into cozy mysteries--because she's decided that murder and mayhem are so much fun! Learn more about Georgiana and her books at her website. 

When did you realize you wanted to write novels?

First, thank you for hosting me today, Lois! I’m so happy to hang out on your blog.

 

As to when I first realized I wanted to write, the truth is, I can’t remember a time where I didn’t want to pen fun stories. It was probably the summer before 7^th grade when I got serious, and that’s when my grandmother gave me a typewriter. (Showing my age here!) It was so cool, because she let me make a little office for myself where I could work whenever I was at her house, and I’d spend hours in that little room writing stories. 

 

However, life took a lot of detours when I became an adult, and it wasn’t until our middle daughter was born that I took up the pen again.

 

How long did it take you to realize your dream of publication?

Good gravy—it took entirely too long! I spent a few years of serious writing before I landed that first contract, then four more years to get the second, and another four or so to get the third. I turtled along for so many years.

 

Are you traditionally published, indie published, or a hybrid author?

Now I’m indie, thankfully. Crumbs of Passion is my first indie project, and I’ll never go back to traditional. I love having full creative control, as well as my own production schedule. There’s a steep learning curve, but the cool thing is, there are so many other authors out there willing to help! 

 

Where do you write?

The question for me is, where don’t I write? Ha! My mobile office is a running joke, but the truth is, I do a lot of my creative work on the road. Since we still have two kids at home, I spend a ton of time zooming here, there, and everywhere for every activity under the sun. Never underestimate the power of a pen and notebook, when all else fails.

 

Is silence golden, or do you need music to write by? What kind?

Silence, silence, silence…and yet…I rarely have that luxury. Man, I need a door on my office! Recently, I invested in a pair of noise-canceling headphones. We’ll see how that goes.

 

How much of your plots and characters are drawn from real life? From your life in particular?

Since murder is the name of the game now, I really hope there’s nothing drawn from real life. LOL! That said, I suppose there’s always an element of reality, especially in my characters. However, the real-life bits are mostly cobbled together to make Franken-characters. 

 

One element that’s real in the KC Crumb Mysteries is the gang of older women. The same grandmother that gave me a space to work also had a posse of gals, and whenever I’d spend time with Grams, I was also with the gang.

 

Describe your process for naming your character?

Fun question! Sometimes the names just come to me, like KC Crumb. But last week when I was visiting my sister and her family, I asked my nephews who they absolutely couldn’t stand, and I took elements of those names and came up with the victim in my next book.

 

Real settings or fictional towns?

Always fictional, simply for the fact that I know I couldn’t nail down details to get a real town right. That said, I often find inspiration from real places. When developing the town of Beaver Bluff for the KC Crumb Mysteries, I spent a lot of time looking at Oregon coastal towns and hammered some of those details together.

 

What’s the quirkiest quirk one of your characters has?

Amateur sleuth KC Crumb is relocating from L.A. to her small hometown, where everyone wears plaid and loads and loads of flannel. Meanwhile, KC is rocking summer dresses and heels all the time…and she happens to wield a heel quite well when she has to save herself.

 

What’s your quirkiest quirk?

Tough question! My youngest politely informed me that I’m embarrassingly normal. However, my sister pointed out that I happen to say wildly inappropriate things pretty often, simply because I’m completely ignorant about current slang. Oops!

 

If you could have written any book (one that someone else has already written,) which one would it be? Why?

Pride and Prejudice, for no other reason than I’d love to have had Colin Firth play the lead in my enduring novel. It could still happen, though. Right?

 

Everyone at some point wishes for a do-over. What’s yours?

That’s easy—I would not have switched genres eight thousand times. Seriously, I’ve written everything! Now that I’ve gone indie, I’m going to stick to what I do best, which is light humor. Even if no one else gets my weirdo sense of humor, I have fun cracking myself up.

 

What’s your biggest pet peeve?

People who drive slowly where they’re not supposed to. It’s like dude, this isn’t your lane.

 

You’re stranded on a deserted island. What are your three must-haves?

A trunk full of books, notebooks, and office supplies (with which I have a long-standing love affair), sunglasses, and a bottomless supply of Flamin’ Hot Cheetos.

 

What was the worst job you’ve ever held?

The worst was the first. I was the salad bar attendant at a chain restaurant, and every time I’d get all the bowls filled up to look nice and pretty, they’d get decimated. It was kind of defeating. 

 

But guess what? I have the coolest job on the planet now! I’m a part-time librarian, and after I graduate with my library and information science degree in December, I hope to eventually work full time. I get to geek out on books and technology all day long. Who could ask for anything more?

 

What’s the best book you’ve ever read?

So many to choose from! Funny thing is, the most memorable books I’ve read aren’t even in my favorite genre, which is cozy mystery. Some of my favorites tend toward darker moods and settings. The Historian, by Elizabeth Kostova is one of my faves, and one of the only novels I’ve read more than once. And the other one is The Secret History, by Donna Tartt.

 

Ocean or mountains?

Ocean, hands down. The deep salty smell and the sound of the waves rolling in makes my heart go pitter-pat. That said, I’ve lived the majority of my life in the mountains and those are pretty cool too.

 

City girl/guy or country girl/guy?

Oof, tough question. We basically live in the country, but I just got back from visiting the big city and absolutely loved all the amenities. Did you know there are whole stores devoted to paper? I was blown away.

 

What’s on the horizon for you?

So. Many. Things. 

 

I’ll be releasing the second book in the KC Crumb Mysteries, which is called Crumb and Punishment, in the next month or so. And now I’m working on A Crummy Way to Die, which will come out early next spring.

 

Meanwhile, it’s my last year of homeschooling, so we’re working on all the really fun (insert sarcastic grunt) subjects like physics and calculus. Also, I’m down to my last semester for my master’s degree. There’s never a shortage of projects around these parts!

 

Anything else you’d like to tell us about yourself and/or your books?

I’m super excited about all things reading and literacy, because life is just better with books! I’d love to hang out with your readers wherever they hang on social media. You can find all my social media links on my website. 

 

I also hope you’ll take a look at Crumbs of Passion. I’ve had a blast writing about KC and the gang. You never know what they’ll do next!

 

Thank you for hosting me today, Lois. It’s been fun!

 

Crumbs of Passion

A KC Crumb Mystery, Book 1

What do you get when you cross a jilted ex, a dead body, and a killer canine named Pooh Bear?

When social media manager KC Crumb is fired from her bougie job in L.A., she returns home to Beaver Bluff, Oregon only to discover a dead body in her new rental. Unfortunately, the body belongs to her philandering ex-boyfriend—a man she publicly threatened before she left town 15 years ago. Now all eyes are on KC, including those of hunky officer Antonio Hamson.

 

With the help of her new best friend, who happens to be a jiu-jitsu expert/librarian, and a gaggle of gung-ho ladies from her aunt’s bakery, KC and Pooh Bear set out to track down the real killer. Half the town is under suspicion, including a shady car salesman and a preening personal trainer, causing the clues to mount faster than the followers on her newly single social media profiles. And when her life is mysteriously threatened, KC has to sniff out the murderer…before the handsome officer hauls her in for homicide.

 

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#CRAFTS WITH ANASTASIA--STITCH, BAKE, DIE!

 

Lois Winston, the author who always delights in placing me in situations where I find myself dealing with murder and mayhem has done it again. While everyone else spent the pandemic learning how to make artisanal sourdough bread, she was hard at work on the next book in the Anastasia Pollack Crafting Mystery Series--the 10th! This time she's got me dealing with dead bodies at a conference where I'm teaching needlework workshops and judging a needlework competition.

 

Stitch, Bake, Die! will be available Oct. 4^th, but you can pre-order your copy now. 

 

Stitch, Bake, Die!

An Anastasia Pollack Crafting Mystery, Book 10

 

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 NJ 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.

 

Marlene Beckwith, wife of the multi-millionaire pharmaceutical magnate and country club owner, is both the chapter president and conference chairperson. The only thing greater than her ego is her sense of entitlement. She hates to lose at anything and fully expects to win both the needlework and baking competitions.

 

When Anastasia and Cloris arrive at the conference, they discover cash bribes in their registration packets. The Society members, few of whom are fans of Marlene, stick up for the accused and instead suggest that Marlene orchestrated the bribes to eliminate her stiffest competition. 

 

The next morning when Marlene is found dead, Anastasia questions whether she really died peacefully in her sleep. After Marlene’s husband immediately has her cremated, Anastasia once again finds herself back in reluctant amateur sleuth mode. 

 

With the help of Cloris, Marlene’s personal assistant Rhetta, and a laptop someone will stop at nothing to find, Anastasia soon unravels evidence of insurance scams, medical fraud, an opioid ring, long-buried family secrets, and too many possible suspects. And that’s before she stumbles over the body of yet another member of the Stitch and Bake Society. 

 

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

 

Crafting tips included.

 

Pre-order now. Available 10/04/21

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