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| Lois Winston |
Lois is talking New Jersey; good stuff, and I couldn't agree more. On a trip a few years ago, my husband and I stayed in several "beach towns" along the Jersey Coast from Cape May to Ship Bottom to Asbury Park to Atlantic Heights. In fact, if I wasn't so happy about being from Texas, I'd want to be from New Jersey. After all "The Boss" (Springsteen) is from New Jersey, and so is Anastasia Pollack. I'm sure you know Springsteen, but read on to learn more about Anastasia. She's not a rocker, but she's just as entertaining. Stop by and tell us why you love New Jersey.
Anastasia
is Jersey Strong
When you grow up in New Jersey, you learn to put up
with a lot of caca from the rest of the country. We’re the butt of many a
late-night comedian’s joke—even those who happen to live here. I have no idea
why. I’ve been to most of the other forty-nine states in the U.S., and in my
opinon, many of them fall far short of New Jersey.
Out-of-staters think we’re nothing but strip malls.
To them I say, come visit Westfield or Haddonfield or Princeton or Summit or
Chatham…I could go on and on. We have dozens and dozens of quaint towns, many
of which have been used as settings in movies and TV shows. And no matter where
you live in New Jersey, within a relatively short period of time you can be in
the mountains or down the shore. (Yes, we call it down the shore. Other people go to the beach or the seaside but not
those of us from the Garden State.)
We have culture, sports, and cow pastures. Horse
farms and high-rises. We’re home to the famous and the infamous. We probably
have more authors per capita living in New Jersey than any other state.
We even legally own the Statue of Liberty, but try
telling that to New York. However, since they usurped our national landmark, we
took their beloved football teams. That’s right, folks, for those of you who
live in other parts of the country, both the New York Giants and the New
York Jets play in New Jersey.
However, because we’ve had to put up with so much
negative press and razzing for so long, those of us from New Jersey have had to
develop a tough hide. We’re also known for our sense of humor, which runs more
toward snark than Minnesota Nice. That’s why I set my Anastasia Pollack
Crafting Mystery series in New Jersey. Anastasia has had to channel her inner
Jersey Strong to cope with what I’ve dumped on her—murder, kidnapping, Mafia
loan sharks, a communist mother-in-law—and she does it all with Jersey fortitude
and a biting sense of humor.
There are now four full-length Anastasia Pollack
Crafting Mysteries in the series and three Anastasia Pollack Crafting
Mini-Mysteries. Patchwork Peril, the
third mini-mystery, is the latest release.
After
rescuing her elderly neighbor Rosalie’s quilts from a rainstorm, crafts editor
Anastasia Pollack discovers Rosalie unconscious at the bottom of her basement
stairs. Rosalie’s estranged niece Jane flies east to care for her during her
recovery, but Rosalie suspects Jane’s motives are less than altruistic, going
so far as to accuse Jane of trying to kill her. Is Rosalie’s paranoia a result
of her head injury, or is there something more to her accusations? And can
Anastasia uncover the truth before it’s too late?
All of the full-length novels are available in both
print and ebook formats. The mini-mysteries were previously only available as
ebooks, but after countless people asked when they’d be available in print, I
recently bundled them together into Crafty
Crimes, a Trio of Anastasia Pollack Crafting Mini-Mysteries.
If you’d like to learn more about the real New Jersey
and read about an amateur sleuth with Jersey ‘tude, I hope you’ll get to know
Anastasia.
Buy Links:
Patchwork
Peril
Crafty
Crimes, a Trio of Anastasia Pollack Crafting Mini-Mysteries
Award-winning author Lois Winston writes mystery,
romance, romantic suspense, chick lit, women’s fiction, and non-fiction 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 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. Visit Lois/Emma at
www.loiswinston.com and Anastasia at the Killer Crafts & Crafty
Killers blog,
www.anastasiapollack.blogspot.com. Follow everyone on Twitter:
https://twitter.com/Anasleuth.
Labels: female sleuth, mystery, New Jersey
