FEATURED AUTHOR: LOIS WINSTON

ABOUT THE BOOK

The adventures of reluctant amateur sleuth Anastasia Pollack continue in A Stitch to Die For, the 5th book in the Anastasia Pollack Crafting Mystery series by USA Today bestselling author Lois Winston.

Ever since her husband died and left her in debt equal to the gross national product of Uzbekistan, magazine crafts editor and reluctant amateur sleuth Anastasia Pollack has stumbled across one dead body after another — but always in work-related settings. When a killer targets the elderly nasty neighbor who lives across the street from her, murder strikes too close to home. Couple that with a series of unsettling events days before Halloween, and Anastasia begins to wonder if someone is sending her a deadly message.

OTHER BOOKS BY LOIS WINSTON

Assault with a Deadly Glue Gun
Death by Killer Mop Doll
Revenge of the Crafty Corpse
Decoupage Can Be Deadly
Crewel Intentions
Mosaic Mayhem
Patchwork Peril
Definitely Dead
Talk Gertie to Me
Elementary, My Dear Gertie
Love, Lies and a Double Shot of Deception
Hooking Mr. Right
Four Uncles and a Wedding
Finding Hope
Lost in Manhattan
Someone to Watch Over Me
Once Upon a Romance
The Magic Paintbrush
Top Ten Reasons Your Novel is Rejected
Bake, Love, Write
House Unauthorized
Romance Super Bundle
Romance Super Bundle II: Second Chances
Romance Super Bundle III: Always & Forever
Love Valentine Style
Finding Mr. Right

INTERVIEW WITH LOIS WINSTON

Lois, what would your main character say about you?
Without a doubt she’d complain vehemently about me. After all, I gave her debt out the yin-yang and saddled her with the communist mother-in-law from hell. And if that weren’t bad enough, I keep having her stumble over dead bodies.

How long is your to-be-read list?
You know the saying, “so many books, too little time?” Let’s just say I’d need several clones to stand any chance of ever making a dent in that list.

How do you feel about Facebook?
I have a real problem with Facebook and have vowed to be the last person on the planet not on it. Many people have told me I’m crazy, but I see too many downsides to FB — the arbitrary way the site plays around with your privacy settings (notifying you after the fact,) the perverts and child molesters who troll for victims on it, the bullying that occurs (some of which has led to children committing suicide), and the ease of hacking into it.

Do I sell fewer books because I’m not on FB? Maybe, but there are other ways to interact with readers. I’m always happy to chat with readers via email. I answer every piece of fan mail I receive. I also send out a newsletter several times a year and offer special contests and freebies to my subscribers. Want to subscribe? Click here.

For what would you like to be remembered?
For being a wonderful parent, an awesome grandparent (didn’t think I was that old, did you?) and a true friend.

What five things would you never want to live without?
My husband, my cell phone, my computer, wi-fi, and coffee.

Who would you want to narrate a film about your life?
James Earl Jones. That deep baritone would lend such gravitas to my story.

3D movies are . . . incredibly frustrating. The special effects are awesome, but I become so focused on them that I’m pulled from what’s going on in the story. When I go to a 3-D movie, I need to go back and watch it again in 2-D to see what I’ve missed.

If you had a swear jar, would it be full?
I’m a Jersey girl. What do you think?

Do you spend more on clothes or food?
Definitely food at this point. I’m not buying any new clothes until I get rid of the 15-pound muffin top that suddenly appeared one day and refuses to leave no matter how much I exercise or how little I eat.

What is the most daring thing you've done?
I backpacked across Europe.

What is the stupidest thing you've ever done?
I put the Mississippi River on the wrong side of Iowa. No one caught the error in the book before publication — not my three critique partners, not my agent, not my editor, not the copy editor. A week after the book came out a reader from Iowa emailed me about it.

What choices in life would you like to have a redo on?
I’d like to go back and major in something other than art in college. No one ever told us back then how hard it would be to support ourselves as artists or that few ever do. If I knew then what I know now, I would have chosen a more practical major.

What’s one of your favorite quotes?
One that would have to go into the swear jar, so I’d better keep it to myself.

You can be any fictional character for one day. Who would you be? 

Supergirl. I’d love to have all those superpowers, especially the flying part.

What’s the worst thing someone has said about your writing? 
I was told I had no talent and I’d never get published. Success is definitely the best revenge.

Who would you invite to a dinner party if you could invite anyone in the world?
Neil deGrasse Tyson. The man is not only a genius, he’s incredibly funny, and he explains the universe in a way that’s easy to understand, even for us art majors.


How many hours of sleep do you get a night?
Nowhere near enough. I have this habit of writing scenes in my mind and can’t get my brain to shut down. Add to that my husband’s snoring, and if I’m lucky, I get four or five hours a night.


What is your favorite movie?
Shakespeare in Love

Great movie. How about a favorite book that was turned into a movie? Did the movie stink?

Reading the Stephanie Plum books is my guilty pleasure. I love books that make me laugh, and Janet Evanovich never fails to do that for me. I was really looking forward to the movie version of One for the Money. What a disappointment! Terrible casting. Awful script. What could have been a fabulous franchise will probably never see another movie made from the series.

Do you sweat the small stuff?

I try not to. I don’t always succeed.

If you had to choose a cliche about life, what would it be?

Stuff happens; deal with it.

How long is your to-do list?

Long enough that it has it’s own to-do list.

I hear you. What are you working on now?
I have a second amateur sleuth series, The Empty Nest Mystery series. Definitely Dead was the first book in the series. I’m about to begin writing the next one — as soon as I can come up with a plot. Guess I won’t be getting much sleep for a while . . .

Lightning round:
Cake or frosting? Cake
Laptop or desktop? Laptop
Chevy Chase or Bill Murray? Bill Murray
Emailing or texting? Emailing
Indoors or outdoors? Indoors
Tea: sweet or unsweet? Unsweet
Plane, train, or automobile? Plane but only if I can go first-class (which I’ll probably never be able to afford!) Otherwise, train.

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. Visit Lois/Emma and Anastasia at the Killer Crafts & Crafty Killers blog. Follow everyone on Tsu, on Pinterest, and on Twitter.

Connect with Lois:
Website  |  
Blog  | 
 Twitter  |  
Goodreads