Lois Winston has joined me to tell you about her Anastasia Pollack series:

Crafts and murder don’t normally go hand-in-hand, but normal deserted magazine crafts editor Anastasia Pollack’s world the day her husband permanently cashed in his chips in Las Vegas and her comfortable middle-class life crapped out. Anastasia knew nothing of her husband’s gambling addiction. Now she’s dealing with debt greater than the GNP of Uzbekistan. She’s also stuck with Lucille, her semi-invalid Communist mother-in-law and leader of the octogenarian Daughters of the October Revolution.

Lucille is forced to share a bedroom with Anastasia’s mother Flora, a much-married, self-proclaimed descendant of Russian nobility and member of the Daughters of the American Revolution. The remainder of the occupants vying for space within Anastasia’s cramped suburban New Jersey home include her two teenage sons Alex and Nick, not named for Russian czars, although Lucille believes otherwise; Catherine the Great, her mother’s white Persian cat; Manifesto, her mother-in-law’s French bulldog; and Ralph, the Shakespeare-quoting parrot.

In Assault with a Deadly Glue Gun, the first book in the series,Anastasia returns to work after her husband’s death and discovers the body of the magazine’s fashion editor glued to her office chair. When evidence surfaces of an illicit affair between her and Anastasia’s husband, Anastasia becomes the prime suspect. Suddenly she’s not only dealing with her husband’s loan shark, but she’s also thrust into the role of reluctant amateur sleuth to clear her name.

In each book in the series, now at eleven novels and three novellas, Anastasia takes on various moonlighting jobs to pay down her debt, only to find herself constantly tripping over dead bodies, forcing her to continue sleuthing.

The latest book in the series is Guilty as Framed, which incorporates a real-life cold case into the plot.

Guilty as Framed

An Anastasia Pollack Crafting Mystery, Book 11

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 doesn’t 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?

About Lois Winston:

USA Today and Amazon bestselling and award-winning author Lois Winston writes mystery, romance, romantic suspense, chick lit, women’s fiction, children’s chapter books, and nonfiction under her own name and her Emma Carlyle pen name. Kirkus Reviews dubbed her critically acclaimed Anastasia Pollack Crafting Mystery series, “North Jersey’s more mature answer to Stephanie Plum.”

In addition, Lois is a former literary agent and an award-winning craft and needlework designer who often draws much of her source material for both her characters and plots from her experiences in the crafts industry. Learn more about Lois and her books at her website www.loiswinston.com where you can also sign up for her newsletter and follow her on various social media sites.