Guest Post ~ Handmade Ho-Ho Homicide by Lois Winston... #books #cozymystery #crafts #bookblogger
From Designing Crafts to Designing Ways to Kill People
Life’s journey is rarely a straight line. It certainly hasn’t been for me. Way back when I was working toward my BFA in graphic design and illustration, I never would have imagined that someday I’d be writing novels. Since graduating from college {{cough! cough!}} years ago, I’ve worked as a layout artist for two advertising agencies as well as the world’s oldest department store, an illustrator for the publications and alumni departments of two major universities, a freelance designer of needlework kits, a designer and design coordinator for a major manufacturer, a craft book editor, and a magazine freelancer. And that was all before I got the crazy idea to write my first novel.
Even then, my career didn’t proceed along a straight line. I started out writing romance, and now I’m killing people for a living—but only in my novels! I also spent twelve years as a literary agent, working for the agency that represented me. Is your head spinning yet? Mine is just thinking about my rollercoaster of a professional life!
I’m now a retired designer, a retired literary agent, and a retired romance writer. Truthfully, I find killing people (on paper) far more fun than writing sex scenes. I spend my days getting my reluctant amateur sleuth, Anastasia Pollack, into trouble while sitting at my computer recording her antics as she attempts to thwart my efforts.
I don’t think Anastasia likes me very much, but I can hardly blame her. Before I came along, she was leading a typical middle-class life in the suburbs with her husband and two teenage sons. About the only not-so-typical part of her life was the Shakespeare-quoting parrot she’d inherited from her great-aunt.
That all changed when I decided to kill off Anastasia’s husband prior to the opening pages of the first book. Unbeknownst to her, the two-timing louse was having an affair with Lady Luck. He gambled away all their money, leaving her to deal with staggering debt, his communist mother, and a demanding loan shark. You can read all about it in Assault With a Deadly Glue Gun, the first book in the Anastasia Pollack Crafting Mystery Series.
I’ve had so much fun tormenting Anastasia that I’m now up to Book 8 in the series that bears her name, and there are also three connecting novellas.
An Anastasia Pollack Crafting Mystery, Book 8
Two and a half weeks ago magazine crafts editor Anastasia Pollack arrived home to find Ira Pollack, her half-brother-in-law, had blinged out her home with enough Christmas lights to rival Rockefeller Center. Now he’s crammed her small yard with enormous cavorting inflatable characters. She and photojournalist boyfriend and possible spy Zack Barnes pack up the unwanted lawn decorations to return to Ira. They arrive to find his yard the scene of an over-the-top Christmas extravaganza. His neighbors are not happy with the animatronics, laser light show, and blaring music creating traffic jams on their normally quiet street. One of them expresses his displeasure with his fists before running off.
In the excitement, the deflated lawn ornaments are never returned to Ira. The next morning Anastasia once again heads to his house before work to drop them off. When she arrives, she discovers Ira’s attacker dead in Santa’s sleigh. Ira becomes the prime suspect in the man’s murder and begs Anastasia to help clear his name. But Anastasia has promised her sons she’ll keep her nose out of police business. What’s a reluctant amateur sleuth to do?
Kindle | Kobo | Nook | Apple
Handmade Ho-Ho Homicide (An Anastasia Pollack Crafting Mystery)
Cozy Mystery
8th in Series
Independently Published
Print Length: 212 pages
Digital ASIN: B07VG2QZXV
USA Today 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.
Author Links
Website: www.loiswinston.com
Newsletter sign-up: https://app.mailerlite.com/webforms/landing/z1z1u5
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 -
Kindle - Kobo - Apple - Nook
a Rafflecopter giveaway
TOUR PARTICIPANTS
October 15 – A Chick Who Reads – REVIEW
October 15 – Babs Book Bistro – CRAFT POST - Reading Is My SuperPower
October 16 – Brooke Blogs – CRAFT POST
October 16 – Escape With Dollycas Into A Good Book – SPOTLIGHT
October 17 – The Book Decoder – REVIEW October 18 – Hearts & Scribbles – GUEST POST
October 18 – LibriAmoriMiei – REVIEW
October 19 – FUONLYKNEW – SPOTLIGHT October 20 – Cozy Up With Kathy – AUTHOR INTERVIEW
October 21 - Here's How It Happened – CHARACTER GUEST POST
October 22 – Mysteries with Character – AUTHOR INTERVIEW
October 22 – StoreyBook Reviews – GUEST POST
October 23 – Laura's Interests – SPOTLIGHT October 23 – Baroness' Book Trove – REVIEW October 23 – Eskimo Princess Book Reviews – SPOTLIGHT October 24 – Celticlady's Reviews – SPOTLIGHT
October 24 – My Reading Journeys – REVIEW
October 25 – I Read What You Write – SPOTLIGHT
October 26 – Literary Gold – SPOTLIGHT
October 26 – Escape With Dollycas Into A Good Book – AUTHOR INTERVIEW October 27 – Elizabeth McKenna - Author – SPOTLIGHT
October 28 – My Journey Back – CHARACTER GUEST POST
Have you signed up to be a Tour Host?
Click Here Find Details and Sign Up Today!
