An Anastasia Pollack Crafting Mystery: Book 12
Publication Date: June 16, 2023
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.
What a way to spend one’s honeymoon! Being a sleuth in a murder mystery in Lois Winston’s 12th book in her Anastasia Pollack Crafting Mystery Series, A Crafty Collage of Crime.
Anastasia seems to always be in the wrong place at the wrong time and just stumbles on these crimes.
This is the first Anastasia Pollack Crafting Mystery Series book I’ve read, and it could be read as a standalone. However, readers may not understand some inside jokes and references if they haven’t read the previous books.
Anastasia and Zack had good chemistry on the pages. They had great banter and dialogue. They played off of each other’s strengths and weaknesses. Anastasia was strong and independent but listened to her husband when he advised her to stay safe.
Zack is a mystery and is just so intriguing. Anastasia thinks he’s a spy or works for the CIA or the FBI. He knows how to handle a gun and stays cool under pressure. He denies working as a spy, but who knows? I think his past will come back to bite both of them in the…never mind.
The Sherriff investigating the murder was a great secondary character as he kept the story moving and eventually helped catch the bad guy. Anastasia wasn’t fond of him, but he didn’t bother me.
A Crafty Collage of Crime was a cute, fun, and entertaining read with independent, engaging, and delightful characters, and the mystery was outstanding, too! 
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.
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Lori, thank you for featuring A Crafty Collage of Crime on your blog and for your fabulous review!