Drop Dead Ornaments (An Anastasia Pollack Crafting Mystery)
by Lois Winston

About the Book

Drop Dead Ornaments (An Anastasia Pollack Crafting Mystery)
Cozy Mystery
7th in Series
Self Published
Print Length: 209 pages
ASIN: B07GMZ2H4B

Anastasia Pollack’s son Alex is dating Sophie Lambert, the new kid in town. For their community service project, the high school seniors have chosen to raise money for the county food bank. Anastasia taps her craft industry contacts to donate materials for the students to make Christmas ornaments they’ll sell at the town’s annual Holiday Crafts Fair.

At the fair Anastasia meets Sophie’s father, Shane Lambert, who strikes her as a man with secrets. She also notices a woman eavesdropping on their conversation. Later that evening when the woman turns up dead, Sophie’s father is arrested for her murder.

Alex and Sophie beg Anastasia to find the real killer, but Anastasia has had her fill of dead bodies. She’s also not convinced of Shane’s innocence. Besides, she’s promised younger son Nick she’ll stop risking her life. But how can she say no to Alex?

Interview with the Author

RH: What is your favorite part about writing a mystery book? What is your favorite part about reading them?

LW: When I’m writing a mystery, I love the challenge of creating a plot where I keep readers guessing whodunit. As the story’s author, I know whodunit. So it’s never a certainty that I’ve created a mystery that will keep readers wondering throughout the book until I begin hearing from them. When they tell me I’ve succeeded, that’s the best compliment a mystery author can get.

As a mystery reader, it’s pretty much the same thing but from the standpoint of the reader. I want the author to keep tossing red herrings in my path so I don’t figure out whodunit early on. A truly successful mystery, in my opinion, is one where I don’t figure out whodunit until the sleuth solves the mystery. However, the culprit has to be a character that’s played an integral role in the story. Too many mysteries end with the guilty party being a very minor player in the story. To me, that’s cheating the reader out of a satisfying read.

What inspired you to write a Christmas mystery book?

In the Anastasia Pollack Crafting Mysteries there are seven novels and three novellas to date. They’ve taken place over the course of slightly less than a year. The first book, Assault With a Deadly Glue Gun, begins at the start of the year. Drop Dead Ornaments, the newest addition to the series, opens in early December. Given the timeline, a Christmas mystery seemed like a no-brainer. I had also always wanted to set one of the stories around a crafts fair, and holiday craft fairs and bazaars are a staple of the Christmas season.

What is your favorite family tradition during the holidays?

Our family traditions have changed through the years, but this is one of my favorites from the past: Thanksgiving weekend always meant a drive to the Christmas tree farm where we’d march through the fields until we found the perfect tree and tag it for future pick-up. A few weeks later we’d return to claim the tree.

On the way home we’d stop at a Christmas shop where our sons were each allowed to pick out one new ornament. While they headed next door with their father to order take-out for lunch, I’d stay in the shop (under the guise of browsing) and purchase a nutcracker, which I’d hide in the car before the boys returned with the sandwiches. When they became adults with homes of their own, I divided the nutcrackers between them.

How do you think the writing market has changed for writers in the past few years–benefits and challenges? How have you learned to deal with those challenges?

I started writing in the mid-1990’s. Back then there were many more publishers, many more bookstores, and no e-books. If you were lucky enough to sell a book, you had a team of people working to make sure your book was a success. Royalty advances, even for first-time authors, were decent (for the most part.) Self-publishing was a dirty word, a last resort for those who couldn’t sell their books to “real” publishers and wound up becoming the victims of unscrupulous vanity presses.

All that has changed. Now there are far fewer publishers and bookstores. E-books represent a huge percentage of book sales. Many publishers no longer offer advances, or if they do, the amount won’t buy you more than a week’s worth of groceries, and unless you’re a huge bestseller, most authors are expected to do their own marketing and publicity at their own expense. (Once upon a time, the general rule of thumb was that an author should never spend more than 10% of her advance to promote her own books!)

But something else also changed with the rise of e-books. Authors now have the opportunity to take charge of their own destiny. In 2013 I walked away from traditional publishing, leaving two contracts on the table. I gained the rights back to my previously published books and entered the world of self-publishing, thanks to opportunities offered by Amazon, Kobo, Nook, and iTunes. I’m no longer at the mercy of bean counters or publishing house politics. I get paid monthly instead of twice a year, and I’m making more money than I ever did when I was traditionally published. Yes, it’s more work that takes time away from my writing, but for me the pluses far outweigh the minuses, and I have never looked back with regret.

About the Author

About the Author

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 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

Killer Crafts & Crafty Killers blog: www.anastasiapollack.blogspot.com

Pinterest: www.pinterest.com/anasleuth

Twitter at https://twitter.com/Anasleuth

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/722763.Lois_Winston 

Newsletter sign-up: https://app.mailerlite.com/webforms/landing/z1z1u5

Purchase Links 

Amazon   B&N   Kobo   iTunes

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Drop Dead Ornaments by Lois Winston
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I was sent a copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. I was not financially compensated, and all opinions are 100 percent mine.

First of all, this is a cozy mystery with no real problems as far as content as language. Yes, a murder happens, but no details are given that should be disruptive. A case could be made that the Lord’s name is used inappropriately once, but even then, I don’t tend to think that is how it is intended. I can’t think of anything that would cause a cozy mystery lover to skip this book.

Secondly, this is the seventh book in the series, and while the author does a decent job of catching the readers up with the various characters, I think reading this book out of order can be somewhat confusing. I have not read any other books in the series, and while this can be a standalone book, I highly recommend looking up the series from the beginning as I felt a little lost, especially at the beginning. But that is not the fault of the author.

As far as the story and the mystery goes, this was pretty good. I would have preferred a bit more action at times, but I thought Anastasia was delightful and engaging. And the fact that this was a crafting mystery as opposed to a cooking or baking mystery made this one stand out for me. I enjoyed the characters a bit more than the mystery itself, but that is just a personal preference on my part. I didn’t find the mystery too terribly difficult to solve, but the end was a bit surprising when I realized some of my first instincts were actually right. I think that going back to the first in the series and reading the books in order would be a fantastic idea for me because I want to understand these characters in greater detail. Also, this is a Christmas-themed mystery which makes it pretty interesting as well. As far as authors go, I would say that Lois Winston is above average, and at least I’ve been introduced to her series in this seventh book featuring this crime sleuth.

View all my reviews

DROP DEAD ORNAMENTS TOUR PARTICIPANTS

October 22 – The Avid Reader – REVIEW

October 22 – Lisa Ks Book Reviews – REVIEW, AUTHOR INTERVIEW

October 22 – Babs Book Bistro – SPOTLIGHT

October 23 – Mallory Heart’s Cozies – REVIEW

October 23 – A Blue Million Books – AUTHOR INTERVIEW

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October 24 – 3 Partners in Shopping, Nana, Mommy, & Sissy, Too! – SPOTLIGHT

October 24 – The Ninja Librarian – REVIEW, AUTHOR INTERVIEW

October 25 – FUONLYKNEW – SPOTLIGHT

October 25 – A Chick Who Reads – REVIEW

October 26 – Laura’s Interests – REVIEW

October 26 – A Wytch’s Book Review Blog – REVIEW, CHARACTER INTERVIEW

October 27 – T’s Stuff – AUTHOR INTERVIEW

October 27 – Mystery Thrillers and Romantic Suspense Reviews – SPOTLIGHT

October 28 – Readeropolis – CHARACTER INTERVIEW

October 28 – Island Confidential – SPOTLIGHT

October 29 – Ruff Drafts – SPOTLIGHT

October 29 – Cozy Up With Kathy – AUTHOR INTERVIEW

October 30 – Jane Reads – REVIEW, GUEST POST

October 30 – Mysteries with Character – AUTHOR INTERVIEW

October 31 – StoreyBook Reviews – CRAFT POST

November 1 – Celticlady’s Reviews – SPOTLIGHT

November 1 – The Pulp and Mystery Shelf – GUEST POST

November 1 – I’m All About Books – SPOTLIGHT  

November 2 – The Montana Bookaholic – CHARACTER GUEST POST

November 2 – The Book’s the Thing – REVIEW

November 2 – Brooke Blogs – SPOTLIGHT

November 3 – My Reading Journeys – CHARACTER GUEST POST

November 3 – The Self-Rescue Princess – REVIEW

November 3 – Here’s How It Happened – REVIEW

November 4 – My Devotional Thoughts – REVIEW, AUTHOR INTERVIEW

November 4 – Melina’s Book Blog – REVIEW

November 4 – Curling Up by the Fire – REVIEW

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