I'm pleased 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 by Lois Winston. Seams Like the Perfect Crime is the fourteenth book in the series and was released last week.
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My name is Anastasia Pollack, reluctant amateur sleuth of the Anastasia Pollack Crafting Mysteries by author Lois Winston. Sometimes my head spins when I think about the changes that have occurred in my life over the last two years. Not so long ago, I was living the American Dream with my husband, two great kids, a home in the suburbs, and a job I loved as crafts editor of a women’s magazine.
The one fly in the ointment was my cantankerous communist mother-in-law who was living with us while she recuperated from a hit-and-run, but Karl, my husband, had assured me her stay was temporary. He didn’t want her in our home any more than I did.
Then Karl dropped dead in Las Vegas, and life has never been the same. I felt like such a cliché—the clueless wife who knew nothing of her husband’s affair. Only Karl’s affair had been with Lady Luck, and his luck had run out. He left me, not only permanently stuck with his mother but also his loan shark, having gambled away everything—including money we didn’t have. The loan shark didn’t care, which I’ve since learned is SOP—standard operating procedure—for loan sharks. Being a Jersey girl, you’d think I would have known that.
You might also think all the above would be enough of a triple whammy for any clueless wife, right? Far from it. My author saw to that, starting with the day I returned to work after Karl’s funeral and discovered the dead body of our fashion editor glue gunned to my desk chair. Suddenly, I found myself with a second career as a reluctant amateur sleuth. It was either that or wind up railroaded for a murder I didn’t commit.
You know the old saying, if you want something done and done right, do it yourself? I’ve learned the hard way that “most likely suspect” and “actual killer” are often far from one and the same. However, too often law enforcement zeroes in on the former without digging further to find the latter. Since that first murder, there have been so many more dead bodies that I’ve lost count. I’ve also nearly lost my own life on several occasions.
However, life has improved significantly since Lois first introduced me in Assault with a Deadly Glue Gun. Much of that has to do with photojournalist (and possible spy), Zachary Barnes. We first met when I rented the apartment above our detached garage to him. No spoilers here, but let’s just say, in the ensuing books in the series our relationship has progressed well beyond the renter/landlady stage.
However, one thing hasn’t changed. The dead bodies keep coming. In Seams Like the Perfect Crime, the fourteenth book in the series, one occurs right across the street from us. Thanks to my author, I get sucked into the investigation, even though I never even met the guy. He’d only moved in three days earlier.
I’m still trying to figure out what Lois Winston has against me. I asked her once. She said it wasn’t personal and handed me some nonsense, about the need for goals, motivations, and conflict in fiction. When I suggested she’d given me plenty without the addition of more dead bodies, she rolled her eyes.
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Seams Like the Perfect Crime (An Anastasia Pollack Crafting Mystery) by Lois Winston
About Seams Like the Perfect Crime
Cozy Mystery 14th in the Series
Setting - New Jersey
Independently Published (February 4, 2025)
Print length: 285 pages
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.
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 fourteen novels and three novellas. Lois also writes the Empty Nest Mysteries and has written several standalone mystery novellas. Other publishing credits include romance, chick lit, and romantic suspense novels, a series of romance short stories, a children’s chapter book, and a nonfiction book on writing, inspired by her twelve years working as an associate at a literary agency.
Author Links:
Website: http://www.loiswinston.com
Newsletter sign-up: https://dl.bookfunnel.com/dc9t0bjl00
Killer Crafts & Crafty Killers blog: www.anastasiapollack.blogspot.com
Booklover’s Bench: https://bookloversbench.com
The Stiletto Gang: https://www.thestilettogang.com
Twitter/X: 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
Thanks so much for allowing Anastasia to vent today! My character and I definitely have an interesting relationship!
ReplyDeleteThanks for stopping by. You are always welcome to come and vent!
DeleteThat author! She really keeps Anastasia hopping. If you want to read witty narrative and dialogue, unique characters, and the questionable spy who I personally adore, read this series. You’ll love it!
ReplyDeleteAnonymous, whoever you are, I love you!
DeleteWhat can I say? I'm a very devious author, but I do have a lot of fun writing about Anastasia et al. ;-)
DeleteLois, any rebuttal?
ReplyDeleteAny book by Lois is a sure-fire good read.
ReplyDeleteLove you for saying that, Gay!
Delete