I'm happy to allow Anastasia Pollack to take over Cozy Up With Kathy today. You can find Anastasia on the pages of the Anastasia Pollack Crafting Mystery series. A Crafty Collage of Crime is the twelfth book in the series and was released last month.
The Characters Strike Back
By Anastasia Pollack
Sometimes I wish I could get together with my fellow cozy mystery sleuths. It’s not easy living in a vacuum, not knowing if other fictional cozy sleuths deal with the same sort of problems that I have with Lois Winston. She’s my author, and to date, she’s written twelve novels and three novellas about me. And every single one of them has put my life in jeopardy!
How do other fictional sleuths feel about these puppet master writers pulling their strings and forcing them to put their lives on the line to satisfy the appetites of cozy mystery readers? I have a feeling we’re all of a like mind on this.
I’m sure our writers care about us. After all, we’re the protagonists of their books. You’d think for that reason alone, they’d want to protect us.
I have this recurring dream that what I think is my life, is really a nightmare. Eventually, I’ll wake up to find my author never segued from writing romance to writing cozy mysteries, and that I’m really the heroine of one of her romance novels. But then I wake up and find myself plucked into the middle of Lois’s next mystery where I’m stumbling over yet another dead body.
I think we fictional sleuths need a support group. Or better yet, a union. I wonder how all those writers would feel if we amateur sleuths suddenly grabbed picket signs and went out on strike. We should demand to set up some rules that our authors have to abide by.
In a perfect world, we could do away with stumbling over dead bodies, but I doubt our authors would ever agree to that. After all, dead bodies are their bread and butter. There are other crimes—kidnapping, embezzlement, harassment, fraud, armed robbery—but cozy readers are conditioned to expect dead bodies, even when the mystery centers around other crimes. This is the case in A Crafty Collage of Crime, the latest Anastasia Pollack Crafting Mystery. After all, there’s got to be a reason the bad guy kills. It’s never just for the thrill of it. Serial killers belong in an entirely different genre. I suppose I should be happy Lois isn’t writing suspense or thrillers.
Of course, this is all a pipedream. I’m at the mercy of my author, as is every other cozy amateur sleuth every written. But a girl—even a fictitious one—can dream, can’t she?
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A Crafty Collage of Crime (An Anastasia Pollack Crafting Mystery) by Lois Winston
About A Crafty Collage of Crime
Cozy Mystery 12th in Series
Setting - New Jersey and Tennessee
Independently Published (June 16, 2023)
Print length: 258 pages
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 project included.
About Lois Winston
USA Today and Amazon bestselling author Lois Winston began her award-winning writing career with Talk Gertie to Me, a humorous fish-out-of-water novel about a small-town girl going off to the big city and the mother who had other ideas. That was followed by the romantic suspense Love, Lies and a Double Shot of Deception.
Then Lois’s writing segued unexpectedly into the world of humorous amateur sleuth mysteries, thanks to a conversation her agent had with an editor looking for craft-themed mysteries. In her day job Lois was an award-winning craft and needlework designer, and although she’d never written a mystery—or had even thought about writing a mystery—her agent decided she was the perfect person to pen a series for this editor. Thus, was born the Anastasia Pollack Crafting Mysteries, which Kirkus Reviews dubbed “North Jersey’s more mature answer to Stephanie Plum.” The series now includes twelve novels and three novellas. Lois also writes the Empty Nest Mysteries, currently at two novels, and one book so far in her Mom Squad Capers series.
To date Lois has published twenty-one novels, five novellas, several short stories, one children’s chapter book, and one nonfiction book on writing, inspired by her twelve years working as an associate at a literary agency. To learn more about Lois and her books, visit her at www.loiswinston.com where you can sign up for her newsletter and follow her at various social media sites.
Author Links:
Website: http://www.loiswinston.com
Newsletter sign-up: https://landing.mailerlite.com/webforms/landing/r2e9v1
Killer Crafts & Crafty Killers blog: www.anastasiapollack.blogspot.com
Pinterest: www.pinterest.com/anasleuth
Twitter: https://twitter.com/Anasleuth
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/722763.Lois_Winston
Bookbub: https://www.bookbub.com/authors/lois-winston
Purchase Links: Amazon Kobo Barnes & Noble Apple Books
Sounds like a great read.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Rita!
DeleteKathy, thanks so much for hosting Anastasia today!
ReplyDeleteThanks so much to both of you for stopping by!
DeleteLOL, Lois. Anastasia dreams she's really a character in your ROMANCE novels, only to wake and find she's the star in your MURDER MYSTERY novels. Hysterical! Thanks, this was fun.
ReplyDeleteGlad you enjoyed it, Pam! Thanks for stopping by and commenting.
ReplyDeleteSounds like great fun!
ReplyDeletePoor Anastasia. I'm hoping she never turns on you and commits her own crime! Lois, you are so talented, funny, and prolific.
ReplyDeleteHilarious!
ReplyDelete