Category: humorous mystery

Guest Blogger ~ DeAnna Drake

~ patyjag ~ 2 Comments

When the Sidekick Steals the Story—and the Readers
by DeAnna Drake

Every mystery writer starts out knowing exactly who the main character is supposed to be.

We spend hours shaping her voice, refining her backstory, and placing her at the center of every twist and turn. She’s the one asking questions, following clues, and ultimately restoring order to a world that’s slipped just slightly out of balance.

What we don’t always expect is who our readers will fall in love with.

In my case, it wasn’t the sleuth. It was the cat.

Not just any cat, of course, but a talking cat.

When I first introduced a feline companion into my cozy mysteries, she was meant to be exactly that: a companion. A touch of charm. A quiet presence curled up nearby while the investigation unfolded. She added warmth, a hint of whimsy, and just enough personality to make the world feel a little kinder.

At least, that was the plan.

That first cat was Aneksi—an immortal talking kitten who once walked the halls of Cleopatra’s court before finding her way into the modern world. With her calm, observant nature and a perspective shaped by centuries of experience, she brought something unexpected to the Purr-fect Relic Cozy Mystery series from the very beginning.

Even then, I didn’t realize how important she would become.

Readers, however, had other ideas.

They wanted to know everything about her, and then some. It started with a few comments. Then emails. Then more emails that all circled back to the same question:

When would we be seeing more of her?

At first, I smiled and took it as a compliment. Of course they liked her. I liked her, too. But she had a role to play, and I thought I understood what that role was.

It turned out readers had a much bigger vision.

As the Purr-fect Relic series grew, so did Aneksi’s role. And then something happened that took both the story—and reader enthusiasm—to another level.

In the third book of the Purr-fect Relic series, Aneksi met her long-lost sister, Kheppy. The moment they shared the page, something shifted. Readers immediately connected with their dynamic—the contrast between Aneksi’s quiet wisdom and Kheppy’s sharper, more outspoken nature—and their enthusiasm for the pair sparked an idea I hadn’t anticipated.

A spin-off series.

Kheppy stepped into a starring role in the Laguna Bay Midlife Witch Cozy Mysteries, bringing her distinct personality—and her strong opinions—into a new setting filled with new characters and new mysteries to unravel.

And it all began with a cat I thought would stay in the background.

What I came to understand through this process was both surprising and, in hindsight, entirely natural.

As authors, we begin with a vision of the story we want to tell. We map out characters, arcs, and outcomes. We know who the hero is supposed to be and how the journey is meant to unfold.

But the best storytelling doesn’t happen in a vacuum.

When I started paying attention—really paying attention—to how readers were responding, something shifted. Their enthusiasm for Aneksi, their curiosity about her world, and their excitement when Kheppy entered the story opened doors I hadn’t even realized existed.

Following that thread didn’t just change the direction of the series. It changed the way I approached my cozy mysteries.

It made the stories richer, more layered, and more connected to the people reading them.

Just as importantly, it made a difference beyond the page. Reader engagement grew, and the connection between story and audience deepened in ways I hadn’t expected.

In the end, I came to understand something simple but powerful: paying attention to those reactions can reveal where a story wants to grow.

Sometimes the characters we think are supporting players are the ones carrying the story’s deepest spark.

I may have started the story, but listening to my readers helped it become something more.

Candy, Cauldrons, and a Corpse (Laguna Bay Midlife Witch Cozy Mystery Book 1)
by DeAnna Drake

A spellbinding Halloween cozy mystery with a talking cat, small-town secrets, and midlife magic.

Boo Boudreaux’s Halloween Boo-tique in quirky Laguna Bay has seen its share of trouble—but nothing like a rival shop stealing her customers and threatening her chance at the Top Haunt Window Contest.

When that rival turns up dead—face-down in a witch’s cauldron—all eyes turn to Boo.

With her reputation on the line, Boo must rely on her instincts, her loyal friends, and her opinionated talking cat to clear her name.

But as she digs deeper, Boo uncovers dark secrets beneath Laguna Bay’s sunny charm, and realizes some ghosts refuse to stay buried.

Can she unmask the killer before she becomes the next target?

BUY LINK: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0FVH89JXP

DeAnna Drake writes cozy mysteries powered by magical cats, tea, and a touch of whimsy. She is the author of the Purr-fect Relic Cozy Mysteries and the Laguna Bay Midlife Witch Cozy Mysteries, and enjoys sharing bonus scenes and cozy extras with her readers on Substack. https://deannadrake.substack.com

FACEBOOK: https://www.facebook.com/DeAnnaDrakeWrites

INSTAGRAM: https://www.instagram.com/deannadrakeauthor

Guest Blogger ~ Greta Boris

~ patyjag ~ 4 Comments

The Lighter Side of Death

Greta Boris

It was March 19, 2020, and I was in San Diego at the Left Coast Crime Convention. I was just leaving my first (or maybe second) panel discussion when an announcement came over the loud speakers. The conference was being cancelled. The governor had just shut down the state. I grabbed my bags and headed for home.

During lockdown a lot of authors shut down just like the country. Their stories dried up. They were too distracted by the pandemic and all it’s accompanying fears to write.

Not me. Writing became my sanity.

There are two basic ways people deal with difficulties. Some are internal processors. They need to sit quietly and think things through. This is the kind of person I wish I was.

I am the second kind, however. I’m an external processor. Often, I don’t really know what I think about things until I get them out of my brain into the atmosphere.

Thankfully for my husband, I’m also a writer. Talking works, but so does writing. It’s saved our marriage. He can only handle so much of my mental meanderings.

Anyway, back to 2020. I was sure, like the rest of you, that this whole pandemic thing would be over in a hot minute. As the weeks of isolation dragged on, however, I realized I was going to have to do something with the growing fear within.

At the time, I was wrapping up book five or six of a seven book psychological suspense series now titled The Almost True Crime Series. It’s written as a if its a true crime podcast with each book representing one season of the show. My podcaster, Molly Shure, delves into the minds of the killers, trying to understand the “whys” behind the crimes. This is a topic that fascinates me, but it’s a little on the dark side.

In the middle of COVID, with all the darkness that it brought, I felt the need for something lighter and brighter. Being the kid that did NOT pull the covers over my head when something went bump in the night, I knew I had to tackle the current zeitgeist head on. I had to find the lighter side of death.

Coincidentally, my daughter had recently introduced me to a YouTube channel—The Ask a Mortician Show. Caitlin Doughty, an actual mortician, was funny and real and so, so interesting. She tackled topics like embalming procedures for people who’d died in various gruesome ways, strange burial rituals from around the globe, and why green burials were the wave of the future.

She, I thought, would make an excellent amateur sleuth. But how or why would a mortician be privy to things the authorities weren’t? By the time she got her hands on a corpse, medical and law enforcement professionals would have already investigated if an investigation was warranted.

Then, I remembered a conversation I’d had at the salon back in the good old days when we were allowed to groom ourselves. A stylist told me about another stylist who moonlighted in mortuaries doing hair for the dead.

What if my character got a request to style a deceased client for that client’s funeral? What if she discovered a hitherto unknown talent when she did? What if she could feel the final emotions or sensations of that person when she touched their hair? And what if the person demanded justice by haunting my main character until the murderer was exposed?

That had legs. I had an interesting protagonist with an interesting gift, a reason she would know things the police and coroner wouldn’t, and most importantly, a reason for her to encounter lots of dead people. No shade on Miss Marple, I love those stories, but the murder rate in St. Mary Meed was hard to swallow.

Thus To Dye For, book one in The Mortician Murders was born. I’m currently writing book nine in Imogene Lynch’s story. She’s found more than a gift and a slew of murderers. She’s found family, a legacy of power, an arch enemy in the Orange County Medical Examiner, and an evil cult she must ultimately confront. She’s also found love with Greener Pastures Mortuary’s hunky night watchman, Elmore Leonard Brown, who later in the series becomes an Orange County Sheriff.

The Mortician Murder world has been a respite for me from the tumult of the 2020s. The scary things Imogene has braved have helped me face my own fears during COVID and beyond. Through her, I’ve discovered a secret weapon—laughter. As hyperbolic as it might sound, writing this series has taught me that embracing the lighter side of death helps to diffuse the power of darkness.

Viva la Cozy Mystery!

To Dye For – A Ghostly Mortician Murder

Death is Permanent. Unless It’s Not.

Imogene’s client has an unusual request. The only problem? She’s dead.

Hairstylist Imogene Lynch agrees to do a simple, if creepy, favor—styling the hair of her favorite client for her funeral. Things take a chilling turn when the body refuses to stay still. Either Imogene is losing her mind, or something far more sinister is at play.

Determined to untangle the mystery, she joins forces with the mortuary’s infuriatingly handsome night watchman. What do they uncover? Turns out her client’s death, like her hair color, wasn’t exactly natural. And worse—she’s not the only victim.

Someone is thinning out the population of Liberty Grove, and if Imogene isn’t careful, she’ll be next.

For fans of reluctant heroes, ghostly mysteries, and murder with a side of dark humor.

Buy link:  https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09WG2SVDC

Greta Boris is the USA Today Bestselling author of The Mortician Murders, a ghostly mystery series, and The Almost True Crime series, stories of psychological suspense. She hails from sunny Southern California, where—based on her books, which are all set there—things are darker than you’d expect. 

She’s also a popular workshop instructor with books and online courses on a variety of writing topics.

Author Links:  http://gretaboris.com and  https://www.facebook.com/greta.boris

Guest Blogger ~ CB Wilson

~ patyjag ~ 5 Comments

Beyond the Teacup: Cozy Mystery in the Modern World

Maybe it’s just me, but I’ve always been the one asking, “What if?” What if the rules could bend just a little? What if the story ventured further than expected? What if a cozy mystery—beloved for its comfort and familiarity—could also genuinely surprise you?

My relationship with mystery began early and rebelliously. I was the kid who read her first Nancy Drew book, then promptly rewrote the ending. Not because I disliked the story, but because I craved something sharper, deeper, perhaps a touch more dangerous. Nancy opened the door to mystery, but Agatha Christie sealed my fate. Once I discovered intricate puzzles, layered motives, and the quiet brilliance of intelligent women navigating hostile worlds, my reading preferences were forever transformed.

That tension between comfort and risk? That’s exactly why cozy mystery resonates so powerfully. At its heart, cozy mystery has always rested on a solid foundation: an amateur sleuth; a close-knit setting; quirky, memorable characters; and a crime that disturbs but doesn’t overwhelm everyday life. Readers seek that familiarity, that sense of place, and the reassurance that justice will ultimately prevail. But here’s what excites me: cozy mystery is evolving.

Today’s cozy readers welcome more complexity. They want adventure that challenges their protagonists. They appreciate emotional depth that reflects genuine human experiences. They enjoy romance that feels real to the characters rather than formulaic. Most importantly, they’re drawn to strong female protagonists who think critically, adapt resourcefully, and sometimes make mistakes while holding their ground.

When I created The Gem Hunters Mysteries, I deliberately chose to push beyond the traditional cozy framework while honoring its essentials. My protagonist isn’t a baker or bookstore owner who stumbles into crime—she’s a diamond investigator whose job is to recover stolen gems. She operates in a world where money, power, and obsession collide, where the stakes carry genuine weight. She’s smart, she’s tough, and she’s navigating a dangerous, high-stakes environment typically reserved for thrillers while maintaining the heart and accessibility that cozy readers cherish.

For me, this isn’t about breaking the rules. It’s about expanding them.

Diamonds, much like mysteries themselves, are inherently layered. They carry history, symbolism, and powerful motives. They inspire obsession, loyalty, betrayal, and sometimes murder. Using gemstones as the driving force behind a cozy mystery allows me to explore global intrigue, family secrets, and personal risk while keeping the focus squarely on character development, relationships, and puzzle-solving.

The response? Readers have enthusiastically embraced this expanded vision. What I’ve learned about the genre is thatcozy mystery isn’t fragile. It doesn’t collapse when you introduce international travel, genuine danger, or a heroine carrying emotional scars. Instead, the genre shines brighter when writers trust both the framework and their readers enough to ask challenging questions. What if the amateur sleuth brings professional expertise to her investigations? What if the small-town setting connects to a much larger, more complex world? What if comfort doesn’t require predictability?

I still love the classics, and I honor the genre’s roots every time I write. But I also firmly believe cozy mystery has room to grow, stretch, and reflect the realities of modern women—women who simultaneously juggle careers, relationships, fears, courage, and insatiable curiosity. While the cozy mystery genre has always celebrated intelligence, community, and justice, I’m discovering that it can also celebrate ambition, expertise, and courage in the face of genuine danger. These additions don’t diminish what makes cozies special. They enhance it.

So yes, perhaps it’s simply who I am: the explorer, the one who rewrites endings, the one who views cozy mystery not as a restrictive box but as an invitation. After all, isn’t that where the real mystery begins? In the space between what is and what could be? In the questions we dare to ask and the boundaries we’re brave enough to test?

The beauty of cozy mysteries is that they welcome us home while encouraging us to venture a little further each time. That balance—between the familiar and the unexpected—is exactly what keeps readers turning pages and writers like me pushing the envelope.

And I wouldn’t have it any other way.

Every diamond has a story… but some are worth killing for.

When Sunset Peak’s legendary Peak Diamond disappears during the town’s glittering centennial gala, Taylor Hunter knows one thing: this was no ordinary theft. As a renowned “Diamond Detective” and reluctant heir to a family legacy of jewel thieves, Taylor has solved high-profile cases around the globe—but this time, it’s personal.

The stakes spiral when a perfect replica of the diamond is found, a notorious diamond broker turns up dead, and her twin sister Hope’s fingerprints are discovered at the crime scene. With Sunset Peak’s future—and her sister’s freedom—on the line, Taylor must partner with the one man she swore she’d never trust: Police Chief Rocky Rockman, her ex-husband’s dangerously charming best friend.

Armed with her expertise, her sharp instincts, and Glimmer, her diamond-sniffing dachshund, Taylor races to unravel a tangled web of stolen gems, buried secrets, and hidden betrayals stretching far beyond her small Arizona town. But someone is willing to kill to keep the truth buried—and if Taylor’s not careful, she could be their next target.

Perfect for fans of Janet Evanovich, Ellery Adams, and Jenn McKinlay, The Fire Diamond is a fast-paced cozy adventure mystery where family secrets cut deep, small-town gossip hides deadly truths, and every diamond comes with a price.

BUY links:

Amazon: https://mybook.to/TheFireDiamond

Barnes & Noble:https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-fire-diamond-cheryl-wilson/1148442601

Apple: https://books.apple.com/us/book/the-fire-diamond/id6753361681

Kobo: https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/the-fire-diamond

Award-winning author, CB Wilson, writes two beloved cozy mystery series: the Gem Hunters Mysteries—beginning with The Fire Diamond—and the Barkview Mysteries, set in the dog-friendliest town in America. A GIA-trained gemologist and lifelong dog lover, she fills her books with sparkling clues, warm humor, and unforgettable canine sidekicks. She lives in Arizona, where she writes stories rich with diamonds, danger, laughter, and loyal dogs.

Facebook page: www.facebook.com/cbwilsonauthor

Goodreads:  https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/137800079

Bookbub: https://www.bookbub.com/profile/c-b-wilson

Instagram: www.instagram.com@cbwilsonauthor

Linktree. https://linktr.ee/cbwilsonauthor

YouTube:  https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC1HfOVqN7aBccTW70_wlL0w

tikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@author.cb.wilson

Guest Blogger ~ Kris Bock

~ patyjag ~ 3 Comments

Kris Bock on Two Very Different Heroines in her Mystery Series

My two mystery series have first-person (past tense) narrators, so I’m writing from their close point of view and the reader gets their thoughts. A novel, being fiction, doesn’t merely copy people from real life, of course. Still, an author might use bits and pieces of several people to create some characters, and completely make up others. We might also use personal experience – a great way to develop characters who feel authentic!

In the Accidental Detective humorous mystery series, a witty journalist solves mysteries in Arizona and tackles the challenges of turning fifty. I wrote it as I was facing fifty, and Kate has some of the same concerns, such as perimenopause and aging parents. I drew on my experience with chronic back pain, which sometimes throws off my walking stride, in order to write about Kate’s bombing injury and use of a cane.

Those things bring Kate to life, but she’s not me. I’ve been a full-time freelance writer for nearly 30 years, but I’m definitely not a war correspondent. Kate is me if I’d gone into journalism instead of other forms of writing – and if I was much more outgoing and fearless.

My new mystery series, The Reluctantly Psychic Mysteries, star Petra, who can touch an object and sense the emotions people have left behind. To create her character, I tried to imagine what it would be like growing up with a “gift” like hers. She avoids friendships so she won’t have to explain her psychic power or feel like she’s spying on people. Because she’s such a loner, she has many pets. She went into geology because it typically doesn’t force her to handle objects that have emotional residue from prior handling.

In some ways, she’s less me. She’s younger than I am, at thirty. I have no psychic powers. But I drew on the more anxious, cautious parts of myself in creating her, and used plenty of imagination to explore what it might be like to grow up with a challenging psychic power.

Extrovert or Introvert

Because these two characters are so different, they investigate mysteries in very different ways. Professional journalist Kate is used to interviewing people. She’s had practice seeking out the truth. People ask for her help, and she craves the adventure.

Loner Petra has childhood trauma due to neglect, abandonment, and betrayal from both family and friends. She tries to understand people’s behavior so she can protect herself. Her caution and fear mean she overanalyzes everything, but that works pretty well for an amateur detective.

Readers seem to like both characters. People think Kate is fun. They enjoy her eccentric sidekicks, including her sister, her father, and a couple of her father’s wacky friends. Many people would like to be like Kate – or they identify with her attempts to start over in midlife. Readers have said:

“I so related to Kate and her struggles to get back to her regular life. Can’t wait for the next book in this series!”

“A fifty-year-old who is wondering what she wants to do when she grows up? That’s more like it! Bock’s story offers proof positive that no one outgrows the need for more maturity and self-discovery.”

“I loved her smart world traveler, foreign war correspondent heroine. I loved reading a story where the heroine is so fascinating, as fascinating to me as the mystery.”

Something Shady at Sunshine Haven (the Accidental Detective book 1) is FREE this month at all E-book retailers!

From Isolation to Friendship

Most people don’t want to be Petra, but they sympathize with her (and often identify with her caution and anxiety). Book reviews have said:

“What truly resonated with me was Petra’s emotional journey. Her anxiety about being discovered, her cautious approach to forming friendships, and her affection for her pets (the cats! the ferrets! my heart!) made her character incredibly relatable. I found myself laughing, gasping, and perhaps shedding a tear or two.”

“What wrecked me emotionally was Petra’s struggle with trust. She’s spent her life pushing people away to protect herself, but now she has to rely on others to solve this murder. That slow, painful opening-up? The tentative friendships? I felt every second of it… Petra’s journey is one I won’t forget.”

“Petra is such a compelling lead. Her psychometry isn’t just a plot device—it’s a curse that’s shaped her entire life… And her journey from isolation to finally letting people in? Perfection.”

I’m sure most readers don’t have psychic powers. (If you do, please tell me all about it!) So why do people respond so much to Petra’s isolation? Maybe because we can feel isolated for so many reasons: neurodiversity, gender nonconformity, being artist types in a corporate world, feeling out of tune with our community’s or country’s politics … Who among us feels “normal”?

Petra masks her true self most of the time, for her safety, but she craves connections with people who understand and accept her. Don’t we all feel that way some (or much, or all) of the time?

Maybe Kate and Petra represent reasons readers turn to books: We want to identify with characters and believe they would like us too, or we want to feel what it would be like to be entirely different – or sometimes a bit of both.

A Stone Cold Murder: The Reluctant Psychic Murder Mystery book 1: Petra Cloch has the gift, or curse, of psychometry – she can sense the emotions people had while wearing or using objects. Now she’s starting a new job at a quirky private museum in smalltown New Mexico. When she picks up a rock in her new office, she feels flashes of rage, fear and death. Everyone says her predecessor died in a car crash, but what if he was murdered? If he died because of the job, she could be next.

Purchase link: https://tulepublishing.com/series/reluctantly-psychic-murder-mystery/

Readers say:

“[A Stone Cold Murder] is both heartwarming and suspenseful. For those who appreciate mysteries that offer depth, a distinctive supernatural element, and a protagonist to cherish, A Stone Cold Murder is an essential read.”

“The murder mystery is fantastic. The idea that a museum curator was killed with a rock (how chillingly ironic) and that Petra is the only one who knows? Genius. And the small-town setting? So atmospheric. The Banditt Museum feels like a character itself, full of hidden corners and whispered history.”

Kris Bock writes mystery, suspense, and romance, often with Southwestern landscapes. The Accidental Detective humorous mystery series starts with Something Shady at Sunshine Haven, which is FREE this month at all E-book retailers!

Sign up for the Kris Bock newsletter and get an Accidental Detective short story, a Reluctantly Psychic short story, and other freebies. Then every two weeks, you’ll get fun content about pets, announcements of new books, sales, and more.

Kris’s romantic suspense novels include stories of treasure hunting, archaeology, and intrigue. Readers have called these novels “Smart romance with an Indiana Jones feel.”

As for Kris’s romance, the Furrever Friends Sweet Romance series features the employees and customers at a cat café. Watch as they fall in love with each other and shelter cats. Start the series for free at all e-book retailers!

In the Accidental Billionaire Cowboys series, a Texas ranching family wins a fortune in the lottery. Who wouldn’t want to be a billionaire? Turns out winning the lottery causes as many problems as it solves.

Kris also writes a series with her brother, scriptwriter Douglas J Eboch, who wrote the original screenplay for the movie Sweet Home Alabama. The Felony Melanie series follows the crazy antics of Melanie, Jake, and their friends a decade before the events of the movie. Find the books at all E-book retailers.

Find Kris:

Website

Kris Bock newsletter signup

GoodReads Author Page

BookBub

BlueSky

Amazon US page or Amazon UK page

Guest Blogger ~ Lois Winston

~ patyjag ~ 8 Comments

Truth is Stranger than Fiction

By Lois Winston

First, a little literary history regarding the expression, “Truth is stranger than fiction.” It’s been around for a long time. In 1897 Mark Twain published the travel book Following the Equator: A Journey Around the World. Chapter Fifteenth included the epigraph, “Truth is stranger than fiction, but it is because Fiction is obliged to stick to possibilities; Truth isn’t. — Pudd’nhead Wilson’s New Calendar.”

However, Twain wasn’t the first to come up with some version of the saying. Seventy-four years earlier, Lord Byron had Don Juan opine, “’Tis strange — but true; for truth is always strange; Stranger than fiction; if it could be told, How much would novels gain by the exchange!”

Why am I telling you this? It’s because I’m not only a news junkie, but I’m also a diehard eavesdropper. I developed that skill at a very young age, learning all sorts of interesting stories while listening from behind closed doors. The adults in my life thought I was off playing with my dolls or watching cartoons, but I quickly realized that far more interesting tales were being told around my grandmother’s kitchen table. I became Harriet the Spy, well before Louise Fitzhugh ever dreamed up Harriet.

My grandmother, aunt, and great-aunts loved to gossip. Consequently, I learned some fascinating stories about my relatives and their private lives. Little did I know at the time that much of what I overheard would eventually wind up decades later as inspiration for characters and plots when I first got the itch to write a novel.

Much of what I heard involved my grandfather, who had a decades-long career in law enforcement during the heyday of organized crime in the New York metropolitan area. By the time I came along, he’d risen to captain of a major metropolitan police force. However, back in the day, he was personally responsible for the apprehension of many mobsters. But get this: one of his brothers was a bootlegger! And one of his wife’s brothers was romantically involved with a woman whose family was in the Mafia! I wound up going to school with two of her nieces. Mind-boggling, right?

Is it any wonder Anastasia Pollack, my Jersey Girl reluctant amateur sleuth so often finds herself tangling with Mafia henchmen?

To date, I’ve published twenty-three novels and five novellas. The plots and subplots for all have been drawn from events I’ve either observed, overheard, or read about—going all the way back to those early childhood days of listening with my ear pressed up to the kitchen door.

However, in Seams Like the Perfect Crime, the fourteenth and most recent book in my Anastasia Pollack Crafting Mystery Series, I didn’t draw on memories of conversations from my childhood. Instead, I looked no further than across the street from a former house my husband and I bought in 1998.

Over the years, I’ve had some very strange neighbors. Many of them have made their way into my books, but the couple who lived in the house across the street from us back then tops the Strange Neighbors List.

In Seams Like the Perfect Crime, readers meet the very odd Barry Sumner, a half-naked man who spends hours each day mowing his postage stamp-sized yard of weed-infested packed dirt. When the mower runs out of gas, Barry settles onto the top step of his porch, downs a six-pack or two, and passes out. Every day, year round, weather permitting.

And here’s where truth being stranger than fiction comes into play. The characters of Barry Sumner and his wife are based on the neighbors who lived across the street from my husband and me twenty-seven years ago, including the same strange mowing obsession and beer guzzling habit, as well as his wife’s suspicions regarding some hanky-panky. Luckily, this former neighbor didn’t meet the same fate that awaits Barry Sumner in Seams Like the Perfect Crime.

Seams Like the Perfect Crime

An Anastasia Pollack Crafting Mystery, Book 14

When staffing shortages continue to hamper the Union County homicide squad, Detective Sam Spader once again turns to his secret weapon, reluctant amateur sleuth Anastasia Pollack. How can she and husband Zack Barnes refuse when the victim is their new neighbor?

Revolutionary War reenactor Barry Sumner had the odd habit of spending hours mowing a small patch of packed dirt and weeds until his mower ran out of gas. He’d then guzzle beer on his front porch until he passed out. That’s where Anastasia’s son Nick discovers his body three days after the victim and his family moved into the newly built mini-McMansion across the street.

After a melee breaks out at the viewing, Spader zeroes in on the widow as his prime suspect. However, Anastasia has her doubts. There are other possible suspects, including a woman who’d had an affair with the victim, his ex-wife, the man overseeing the widow’s trust fund, a drug dealer, and the reenactors who were blackmailing the widow and victim.

When another reenactor is murdered, Spader suspects they’re dealing with a serial killer, but Anastasia wonders if the killer is attempting to misdirect the investigation. As she narrows down the suspects, will she jeopardize her own life to learn the truth?

​Craft projects included.

Buy Links

Amazon: https://amzn.to/49KvjaG

Kobo: https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/seams-like-the-perfect-crime

Nook: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/seams-like-the-perfect-crime-lois-winston/1146583329?ean=2940184679983

Apple Books: https://books.apple.com/us/book/seams-like-the-perfect-crime/id6738502932

Books2Read Universal Link to Other Sites: https://books2read.com/u/3LXa1e

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 determined to bring her home to marry the boy next door. 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 fourteen novels and three novellas. Lois also writes the Empty Nest Mysteries and has written several standalone mystery novellas. Other publishing credits include romance, chick lit, and romantic suspense novels, a series of romance short stories, a children’s chapter book, and a nonfiction book on writing, inspired by her twelve years working as an associate at a literary agency.

Learn more about Lois and her books at www.loiswinston.com where you can find links for her other social media sites and sign up for her newsletter to receive a free download of an Anastasia Pollack Mini-Mystery.

Website: http://www.loiswinston.com

Newsletter sign-up: https://dl.bookfunnel.com/dc9t0bjl00

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

Booklover’s Bench: https://bookloversbench.com

The Stiletto Gang: https://www.thestilettogang.com

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

Bookbub: https://www.bookbub.com/authors/lois-winston