Embroidered Lies and Alibis blog tour is through Great Escapes Virtual Book Tours and includes a super fun character interview and a giveaway. Find out more about the book, interact with a new character, share on social, comment, follow.
Embroidered Lies and Alibis
(An Anastasia Pollack Crafting Mystery)
by Lois Winston
Rating –
This latest installment in the Anastasia Pollack Crafting Mystery series was such a fun and twisty read right from the beginning. I loved how the story balanced humor with suspense.
~bibliophile_foodie
I read this so quickly, pulled into the story immediately and not stopping until the very end. I’d be remiss if I did not mention the humor sprinkled throughout. Never over done or mad-cap – just the right amount to add to my reading enjoyment.
~Sarah Can’t Stop Reading Books
About Embroidered Lies and Alibis
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
Digital ISBN-13 : 978-1940795812
ASIN : B0FZDBKCJD
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.
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
Purchase Links
Amazon Kobo Barnes & Noble Apple Books
TOUR PARTICIPANTS
February 11 – Jody’s Bookish Haven – SPOTLIGHT
February 12 – Books, Ramblings, and Tea – SPOTLIGHT
February 13 – Baroness Book Trove – SPOTLIGHT
February 14 – Elizabeth McKenna – Author – SPOTLIGHT
February 14 – FUONLYKNEW – SPOTLIGHT
February 15 – Cozy Up With Kathy – CHARACTER GUEST POST
February 16 – @bibliophile_foodie – REVIEW
February 17 – Jane Reads – AUTHOR GUEST POST
February 18 – Boys’ Mom Reads! – SPOTLIGHT
February 19 – Ascroft, eh? – CHARACTER INTERVIEW
February 20 – Reading, Writing & Stitch-Metic – CRAFT PROJECT
February 21 – Maureen’s Musings – SPOTLIGHT
February 21 – Escape With Dollycas Into A Good Book – SPOTLIGHT
February 22 – Sarah Can’t Stop Reading Books – REVIEW
February 23 – Sarandipity’s – CHARACTER GUEST POST
February 23 – Sapphyria’s Book Reviews – SPOTLIGHT
February 24 – Christy’s Cozy Corners – AUTHOR GUEST POST
Character Interview
My Author Made Me Do It
By Anastasia Pollack
Sometimes my head spins when I think about the changes that have occurred since
author Lois Winston decided to usurp my life, transform me into an amateur sleuth, and
plop me into a cozy mystery series. Before Lois, I was living the American Dream with a
husband, two great kids, a home in the suburbs, and a job I loved. The one fly in the
ointment was my cantankerous communist mother-in-law who was temporarily living
with us while she recuperated from a hit-and-run.
What I didn’t realize was that Lois had decided to kill off my husband Karl prior to the
first sentence of Assault with a Deadly Glue Gun, the debut book in the series. When
the story opens, he’s already dropped dead in a Las Vegas casino.
After that, my life was never the same. Lois turned me into a cliché—the clueless wife
who knew nothing of her husband’s affair. Except Karl’s affair had been with Lady Luck,
and his luck had run out. He left me, not only permanently stuck with his mother but also
dealing with his loan shark. Turns out, Karl had gambled away everything—including
money we didn’t have. The loan shark didn’t care, which I’ve since learned is
SOP—standard operating procedure—for loan sharks. Being a Jersey girl, you’d think I
would have known that.
You might also think all the above would be enough of a triple whammy for any clueless
wife, right? Far from it. Ever since Karl’s death, the dead bodies keep piling up around
me. I guess that was Lois’s plan all along. After all, what’s a sleuth without a crime to
solve? And what better crime than murder? No one wants to read about a sleuth who
goes around finding lost keys and misplaced eyeglasses. Besides, I had no choice
when it came to solving that first murder. The victim was killed with my glue gun. In the
eyes of law enforcement, that made me the prime suspect.
I’m the crafts editor at a women’s magazine. Art school didn’t exactly prepare me for
searching out clues to whodunit. That hasn’t stopped Lois from getting me involved in
murder investigations, though. After all, she’s the author, which makes me the reluctant
amateur sleuth—emphasis on reluctant. I had no choice in any of this. I suppose I
should be honored that I’m now part of a long and illustrious line of cozy mystery
amateur sleuths. Honestly, though, I wish Lois had written me into existence back when
she was writing romances. I’ll take a happily-ever-after over murder and mayhem any
day. Again, though, I had no choice.
Thanks to the backstory Lois created for me, within the first few chapters of the first
book in the series, I found myself widowed, permanently stuck with my nasty mother-in-
law, moonlighting to keep from having to move my family into a cardboard box over a
subway grate, and trying to solve a murder to prove I wasn’t the person whodunit.
Since that first murder, there have been more books and more dead bodies. With the
recent release of Embroidered Lies and Alibis, we’re up to fifteen books and three
novellas. As far as dead bodies, I’ve lost count.
However, I’ve learned you can take the romance author out of the romance genre, but
you can’t take the romance out of the author. I don’t know if Lois planned this all along
or if she succumbed to my constant whining about how unfairly she’d treated me, but I
was extremely happy when she introduced the character who would become my second
husband in a future book.
Except she couldn’t leave it at that. Because she’d already given me trust issues over
Karl’s deceit, from the start, I worried that Zachary Barnes wasn’t exactly who he
claimed to be. Yes, I knew he was an award-winning photojournalist. But was he more
than that? I began to worry that photojournalism was a cover for his real job as a
government operative. After all, he’s always heading down to D.C. or off to some less-
than-tourist-friendly country. Plus, he’s got a mean-looking gun. Not that I mind the gun.
At least not since he’s used it to save my life on more than one occasion. Still…I do
wonder.
Zack laughs off my paranoia, claiming he’s an open book. He insists that what you see
is what you get and teases me about my overactive imagination. However, isn’t that
what all spies would say?
Besides, my overactive imagination has worked in my favor on more than one occasion.
Take the latest murder and mayhem Lois forced upon me in Embroidered Lies and
Alibis. Right from the start I suspected something was up with Jeremy Dugan. And I was
right. Even Zack agreed this time.
What about you, readers? Have you ever had a sixth sense about someone or
something? Post a comment. I’d love to hear your thoughts.
USA Today and Amazon bestselling and award-winning author Lois Winston writes
mystery, romance, romantic suspense, chick lit, women’s fiction, children’s chapter
books, and nonfiction. Kirkus Reviews dubbed her critically acclaimed Anastasia Pollack
Crafting Mystery series, “North Jersey’s more mature answer to Stephanie Plum.” In
addition, Lois is a former literary agent and 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. Learn more about Lois and her books at her
website www.loiswinston.com. Sign up for her newsletter to receive an Anastasia
Pollack Crafting Mini-Mystery.
EMBROIDERED LIES AND ALIBIS TOUR PARTICIPANTS
February 11 – Jody’s Bookish Haven – SPOTLIGHT
February 12 – Books, Ramblings, and Tea – SPOTLIGHT
February 13 – Baroness Book Trove – SPOTLIGHT
February 14 – Elizabeth McKenna – Author – SPOTLIGHT
February 14 – FUONLYKNEW – SPOTLIGHT
February 15 – Cozy Up With Kathy – CHARACTER GUEST POST
February 16 – @bibliophile_foodie – REVIEW
February 17 – Jane Reads – AUTHOR GUEST POST
February 18 – Boys’ Mom Reads! – SPOTLIGHT
February 19 – Ascroft, eh? – CHARACTER INTERVIEW
February 20 – Reading, Writing & Stitch-Metic – CRAFT PROJECT
February 21 – Maureen’s Musings – SPOTLIGHT
February 21 – Escape With Dollycas Into A Good Book – SPOTLIGHT
February 22 – Sarah Can’t Stop Reading Books – REVIEW
February 23 – Sarandipity’s – CHARCTER GUEST POST
February 23 – Sapphyria’s Book Reviews – SPOTLIGHT
February 24 – Christy’s Cozy Corners – AUTHOR GUEST POST
Giveaway
Giveaway for this tour. Prize – 3 digital copies of Embroidered Lies and Alibis
