Birthing a Series by Lois Winston

February 10th was the official release date of Embroidered Lies and Alibis, the 15th book in my Anastasia Pollack Crafting Mystery Series. Mindboggling, considering that once upon a time, I’d never even considered writing mysteries. That all changed the day my agent suggested I write a humorous cozy mystery featuring a crafting sleuth. She knew an editor looking for one.

My agent already knew I could write humor. My first sale had been Talk Gertie to Me, a humorous chick lit novel. She also knew that I was a designer in the consumer crafts industry. What she didn’t know was that I hadn’t read an amateur sleuth mystery since my preteen obsession with Cherry Ames.

I didn’t let that stop me. I dove into the genre to learn as much as I could. My other novels were all standalone books – chick lit, romance, and romantic suspense. I now had to create characters and plots that would sustain a series through multiple books. I also had to come up with a series concept that would set my books apart from all the other crafting cozies already on bookshelves.

I decided to make Anastasia the crafts editor of a women’s magazine to draw on my own experiences in the crafts industry, as well as feature different crafts in each book. It also allowed me to place Anastasia in varied settings to avoid “Cabot Cove Syndrome,” named for Murder She Wrote’s sleepy little New England town with more murders per capita than anywhere else on earth.

Assault with a Deadly Glue Gun, the title of the first book, came to me before I’d come up with any characters or story lines – thanks to burning my finger on my glue gun. Then I set about creating a series overview:

Crafts and murder don’t normally go hand-in-hand, but normal deserted magazine craft 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. Now she’s juggling debt greater than the GNP of Uzbekistan, while stuck with her husband’s loan shark, her communist mother-in-law, her self-proclaimed descendant of Russian nobility mother, and her two teenage sons. Not to mention the first of what will turn out to be a growing number of dead bodies as the series progresses.

Living in New Jersey and having a grandfather with a background in law enforcement, I decided organized crime would play a large part in many of the crimes Anastasia encounters. All those stories I’d heard growing up were too good not to include in my books. Those, coupled with my news junkie persona, have fueled the plots of my novels.

Since most cozy and amateur sleuth mysteries include pets, I decided both Anastasia’s mother and mother-in-law would have fur babies that reflected their personalities. For good measure, I gave Anastasia a Shakespeare-quoting parrot because…why not?

Once I had the first draft of Assault with a Deadly Glue Gun written, I realized something was missing. Poor Anastasia needed a counterbalance to all the murder and mayhem I had dropped into her life. Since an ongoing theme of the series would be her need to find ways to whittle down her massive debt, I had her rent out the apartment above her garage, which had previously housed her home studio.

Enter Zack Barnes, photojournalist and possible government operative. Zack becomes that counterbalance. As the series progresses, so does their relationship. Hey, you can take the author out of the romance genre, but you can’t take the romance out of the author.

Assault with a Deadly Glue Gun released in January 2011. Fast forward to the present. Nearly two years have passed in Anastasia’s world over the course of fifteen books and three novellas. At this point, Anastasia and I are joined at the hip. I still love writing about her and will continue to do so for as long as readers want to read about her. On to Book Sixteen…

Have you ever thought about writing a novel based on some aspect of your own life? Post a comment for a chance to win a promo code for a free audiobook of any of the available Anastasia Pollack Crafting Mysteries or Empty Nest Mysteries.

Embroidered Lies and Alibis

An Anastasia Pollack Crafting Mystery, Book 15

A Stitch in Time Could Save a Life…

When Anastasia’s mother Flora is offered a free spa vacation from Jeremy Dugan, a man connected to her distant past, Anastasia and husband Zack suspect ulterior motives. After all, too-good-to-be-true often spells trouble. Their suspicions are confirmed when the FBI swoops in to apprehend Dugan. However, Dugan isn’t who he claimed to be, and his arrest raises more questions than answers.

The Feds link Dugan to a string of cons targeting elderly single women across the country, but his seemingly airtight alibi leaves investigators stumped. Then, shortly after his release on bail, he’s kidnapped. A certain segment of New Jersey’s population is known for delivering deadly messages, and the FBI believes Dugan received one of them.

Meanwhile, bodies begin showing up in the newly created public garden across the street from Anastasia and Zack’s home. With two baffling crimes, no clear suspects, scant evidence, and every possible motive unraveling, both the FBI and local law enforcement are once again picking Anastasia’s brain. This time, though, her involvement is far from reluctant. Will she stitch together enough clues before she or someone she loves becomes the killer’s next victim?

Craft project included.

Find Buy Links here.

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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. 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 . Sign up for her newsletter to receive an Anastasia Pollack Crafting Mini-Mystery.