Mother + Mother-in-Law = Conflict

by Lois Winston

Mama here. Yesterday was the official release day of Revenge of the Crafty Corpse, the third book in author Lois Winston’s eponymous mystery series about my daughter – the Anastasia Pollack Crafting Mysteries. Lois left us all hanging at the end of Death By Killer Mop Doll. That nasty communist, otherwise known as my daughter’s mother-in-law Lucille, wound up having a stroke.

I was hoping we’d be rid of her at last. But apparently, Lois has no intention of relieving the Pollack household of that huge nuisance. She claims conflict is good for fiction. It might be good for fiction, but it’s wreaking havoc on my social life. After all, I’m the one who has to share a bedroom with the pinko prude. She may not have had sex since Eisenhower was in the White House, but I’m too young to give up such pleasures.

At least I’m rid of her for a month while she recuperates from her stroke and subsequent surgery. Good thing, too, because I’ve met someone special.

Things are looking up, though. Less than twenty-four hours after Lucille is settled into the Sunnyside of Westfield Assisted Living and Rehabilitation Center, someone does away with her roommate. And because someone overheard Lucille threatening to strangle the woman, she lands at the head of the suspects list.

Now if I could only convince my daughter to mind her own business and let the police handle the investigation...

But no. Anastasia decides Lucille might be a lot of things – none of which are remotely admirable – but she’s not violent and definitely not a killer. I suppose she’s forgotten about that time the Bolshevik attacked me with her cane.

Anyway, I’m hoping for a decidedly different outcome this time around. But even if Lucille doesn’t wind up behind bars for the rest of her life, I just might have found myself a new husband. You’ll have to read Revenge of the Crafty Corpse to find out.

Blurb:

Anastasia Pollack’s dead louse of a spouse has left her with more bills than you can shake a crochet hook at, and teaching craft classes at her mother-in-law’s assisted living center seems like a harmless way to supplement her meager income. But when Lyndella Wegner—a 98-year-old know-it-all with a penchant for ruffles and lace—turns up dead, Anastasia’s cantankerous mother-in-law becomes the prime suspect in her murder. Upon discovering that Lyndella’s scandalous craft projects—and her scandalous behavior—made her plenty of enemies, Anastasia sets out to find the real killer before her mother-in-law ends up behind bars.

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Award-winning author Lois Winston writes the critically acclaimed Anastasia Pollack Crafting Mysteries series featuring magazine crafts editor and reluctant amateur sleuth Anastasia Pollack. Assault With a Deadly Glue Gun, a 2011 release, was the first book in the series and received starred reviews from both Publishers Weekly and Booklist. Kirkus Reviews dubbed it, “North Jersey’s more mature answer to Stephanie Plum” Death By Killer Mop Doll and Crewel Intentions, an Anastasia Pollack Mini Crafting Mystery, were released in 2012. Revenge of the Crafty Corpse is a January 2013 release. Lois also writes romance, romantic suspense, humorous women's fiction, and non-fiction under her own name and as Emma Carlyle. Visit Lois at http://www.loiswinston.com, visit Emma at http://www.emmacarlyle.com, and visit Anastasia at the Killer Crafts & Crafty Killers character blog, www.anastasiapollack.blogspot.com.