Embroidered Lies and Alibis (An Anastasia Pollack Crafting Mystery) by Lois Winston

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Embroidered Lies and Alibis (An Anastasia Pollack Crafting Mystery)
Cozy Mystery
15th in Series
Setting – New Jersey
Independently Published
Publication date ‏ : ‎ February 10, 2026
Print length ‏ : ‎ 199 pages

A Stitch in Time Could Save a Life…

When Anastasia’s mother Flora is offered a free spa vacation from Jeremy Dugan, a man connected to her distant past, Anastasia and husband Zack suspect ulterior motives. After all, too-good-to-be-true often spells trouble. Their suspicions are confirmed when the FBI swoops in to apprehend Dugan. However, Dugan isn’t who he claimed to be, and his arrest raises more questions than answers.

The Feds link Dugan to a string of cons targeting elderly single women across the country, but his seemingly airtight alibi leaves investigators stumped. Then, shortly after his release on bail, he’s kidnapped. A certain segment of New Jersey’s population is known for delivering deadly messages, and the FBI believes Dugan received one of them.

Meanwhile, bodies begin showing up in the newly created public garden across the street from Anastasia and Zack’s home. With two baffling crimes, no clear suspects, scant evidence, and every possible motive unraveling, both the FBI and local law enforcement are once again picking Anastasia’s brain. This time, though, her involvement is far from reluctant. Will she stitch together enough clues before she or someone she loves becomes the killer’s next victim?

Craft project included.

Keeping an Ongoing Series Fresh
By Lois Winston

“Only the names have been changed to protect the innocent.” That was part of the intro to Dragnet, a police procedural from television’s infancy. Maybe you’re not old enough to remember it, but you’ve probably seen reruns on one of the retro TV streaming services. That same statement, with a slight modification, could also apply to the show’s plots. They followed a standard script with only minor tweaks each week.

However, today’s lovers of mystery are more savvy consumers. We watch and read to solve the puzzle, to figure out whodunit. We don’t want to come away from an episode or book feeling the story simply recycled a previous plot by making a few minor changes to how the victim died, where the body was discovered, or which friend/relative of the sleuth is being wrongly accused of the crime.

As readers, we want the familiarity of the voice and style of a favorite author and her sleuth, but we also demand fresh content with each book. For a longstanding series, this can become a challenge. It’s one I’ve faced as I continue writing my Anastasia Pollack Crafting Mysteries. With the release of Embroidered Lies and Alibis, the series is now at fifteen novels and three novellas.

I’ll admit, when I began writing about Anastasia, I didn’t give longevity much thought because I’d only previously written standalone novels. My first two sales were a chick lit novel (Talk Gertie to Me) and a romantic suspense (Love, Lies and a Double Shot of Deception.) However, shortly before the sale of my first novel, my agent asked me to try writing a humorous cozy mystery series with a crafting theme. She knew an editor looking for one. With Talk Gertie to Me, I’d already proven I could write humor, and with my background as a crafts designer and editor, my agent thought I’d be the perfect person to write such a series.

Current events and human-interest stories had inspired the plots and subplots of my seven previous novels. Although using real events can date a book, I find them great for inspiration. I’m a news junkie and have used stories I’ve read about or seen on the evening news as a springboard by wondering “what if?”

Being a Jersey girl and writing about a Jersey girl, I often incorporate organized crime into my books. Not only did I go to school with Mafia offspring, but my grandfather was instrumental in putting many of their grandfathers behind bars. I’m also a diehard eavesdropper. As a child, I grew up overhearing stories about my grandfather’s exploits when the adults thought I was off playing with my dolls. How could I not tap into that rich family heritage?

The “what if” method I employ when developing plots often derives from actual murders or other crimes. For instance, the murder in Handmade Ho-Ho Homicide was inspired by a double-murder that took place in a nearby town. The plot of Guilty as Framed sprang from my fascination with the unsolved 1990 art heist at the Isabella Stewart Gardiner Museum in Boston. A court case involving Munchhausen by Proxy planted a seed that led to A Stitch to Die For.

Sometimes, though, the “what if?” is simply a random news story or something I observed while running errands. For instance, a feature about Vajazzling became a clue in Decoupage Can Be Deadly. A visit to a Tennessee winery inspired the plot of A Crafty Collage of Crime, and a former neighbor’s eccentricities became the catalyst for Seams Like the Perfect Crime. Even overhearing a woman on her phone while doing the necessary in a mall ladies’ room found its way into a scene in Assault with a Deadly Glue Gun, the first book in the series.

Although I’ll never insert politics into my books, I have been inspired by some timely current events, such as the proliferation of A.I., which made an appearance in the storyline of Sorry, Knot Sorry. For Embroidered Lies and Alibis, my latest Anastasia Pollack Crafting Mystery, the plot came to me after reading about a 2024 carjacking with a cryptocurrency connection. That led me down the research rabbit hole of cryptocurrency scams, especially those perpetrated on the elderly.

Have you ever read a mystery and had that aha! moment where you realized what inspired the author? Post a comment. I’d love to hear your thoughts.

About Lois Winston

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 fifteen 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-four 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. To learn more about Lois and her books, visit her at www.loiswinston.com. Sign up for her newsletter to receive an Anastasia Pollack Mini-Mystery. She also blogs regularly at The Stiletto Gang and Booklover’s Bench.

Author’s Links
Website: http://www.loiswinston.com

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

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

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