Riddles, Rogues and Murder

Posted on March 4, 2026 by Dianne Ascroft

Christa Nardi, author of Riddles, Rogues and Murder, a Stacie Maroni mystery, is visiting Ascroft, eh? today to share with us what makes a cozy mystery.

Welcome, Christa. I’ll turn the floor over to you –

An author friend of mine (C.B. Wilson) once described the cozy mystery as a Hallmark movie on steroids. I’d agree with the broad description and obviously so does Hallmark as more and more cozy authors’ books have been made into movies and are on the Hallmark Mystery channel. For example, some of Joanne Fluke’s Hannah Swensen mysteries, Kate Collins’ Flower Shop mysteries, and Charlaine Harriss’ Aurora TeaGarden mysteries have been adapted and are available to watch.

What are the key elements that differentiate a cozy mystery from a traditional mystery or other genres of mystery? What makes them cozy?

First and foremost, the expectation is there is no explicit violence or gore, no graphic sex, and no profanity. Still, if there was a murder, there is some violence. The characters are not chaste, but there’s no description, it sex doesn’t occur on the page, and it’s mostly innuendo. Again, although there might be a “heck” somewhere or “@$%!” to express a reaction, there is generally no profanity.

Part of what sets cozy mysteries apart from traditional mysteries, is that the MC has a job that is not being a detective, PI, or police, but is an amateur or accidental sleuth. What makes it “cozy” is that the mystery unfolds and the amateur sleuth has a regular life in a small town or small microcosm. Cozy mysteries are more character-driven. Unlike a police procedural or traditional mystery, there is more involvement of friends, family, and relationships that support the story. The characters are relatable, living normal lives – well, except for the dead bodies.

Still, the MC doesn’t work alone. Aside from friendships, in many cases, the MC is married to, in a relationship with, or somehow connected to someone in the local police department or similar. The small town feel, and the relationships, add warmth to the story. That it’s cozy, however, doesn’t preclude surprises, twists and turns, action, and suspense.

Across cozy mysteries, there are many sub-genres – faith-based cozies, paranormal cozies, culinary cozies, pet and animal cozies, book/library cozies, craft and hobby cozies, garden and nature cozies, travel cozies, senior and retirement cozies, and of course, seasonal cozies. I’ve also enjoyed a few cozies related to wineries, though I’m not sure which category those would fit in. Some are much lighter than others, though all include some element of humor and romance, but not as the main focus. Some contemporary cozies may have an edgy feel, reflecting some social issue.

Needless to say, the MCs vary in age (i.e., the senior sleuths), potentially tapping a different target audience and with characters facing different challenges. Others, may be focused more on middle age, though how that is defined seems to vary. For the Stacie Maroni mysteries, Stacie and her friends are in their thirties to forties, though some characters are younger and some are older.

The motive varies and in contemporary cozies, many of the motives reflect issues people face everywhere – betrayal, infidelity, money issues – not too much different than other variations. Another difference is that you even though you may be into the story and keep reading to the end, it’s not likely you’ll have nightmares. Cozy mysteries tend to be lighter than other genres. Regardless, the “HEA” is that the bad guys always get caught and the good guys always win. Enjoy your next cozy mystery!

Thank you for sharing this with us, Christa, and good luck with Riddles, Rogues and Murder, the latest book in the Stacie Maroni mystery series. Readers can learn more about Christa Nardi by visiting the author’s website and her Facebook, Goodreads, BookBub, Pinterest and Instagram pages. You can also follow her on Twitter/X.

The book is available online at Amazon

About Christa Nardi: Christa is an avid reader with her love of mysteries beginning with Nancy Drew and other teen mysteries. Her protagonists are smart, intelligent women sleuths. She authors four mystery series;  Stacie Maroni Mysteries, Izzie Di Sante Mysteries, Sheridan Hendley Mysteries, and Cold Creek Cozy Mysteries. Her writing is best characterized as cozy mysteries with an edge. The stories do address negative issues, but consistent with the cozy genre, there’s no graphic violence or sex on the page, and no profanity. Characters may get knocked down or shot at and there are murders. Christa is a member of Sisters in Crime. When not reading or writing, Christa and her husband live in Texas. Christa enjoys traveling and playing with her dogs and granddaughters. She supports animal rescue and other efforts to help others.

Posted in Archives, March 2026, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , | 1 Comment

Something Prowling in Paradise Park

Posted on March 3, 2026 by Dianne Ascroft

Kate Tessler is visiting Ascroft, eh? to tell us about Something Prowling in Paradise Park, the latest novel in the Accidental Detective mystery series.

Welcome, Kate. Let’s get started, shall we?

Tell us about the novel that you live inside. Is it part of a series? If so, please tell us about the series too.

I’ve been solving mysteries for a while now. I became an “accidental detective” in Something Shady at Sunshine Haven. Before that, I was a journalist specializing in covering wars and natural disasters. I spent thirty years traveling the world, especially the Middle East, reporting dangerous stories. Then I got too close to a bomb. Shrapnel damaged my leg, and I discovered I didn’t bounce back as quickly at age 49 as I did when younger. I returned home to the Phoenix area and moved back in with my father. I expected to be there a couple of months while I recuperated, but it’s been a year and a half.

I can’t really claim to be an accidental detective anymore, since I’ve solved quite a few mysteries now. My sister, Jen, is partly to blame. My return home to Arizona coincided with her midlife crisis, so she decided we should become detectives. Turns out getting a PI license is more challenging then we’d realized, but that doesn’t stop us from meddling unofficially when people want help. My journalism background is helpful in investigations.

In Something Prowling in Paradise Park, I tackle three cases: Squatters who took over a snowbird’s house while the owners were away for the summer, the thefts of local pedigree dogs, and smash and grab burglaries at local pot shops.

Does the writer control what happens in the story or do you get a say too?

What are you talking about? I am the story. Okay, maybe the writer lives out her alternate reality fantasies through my actions. She likes to pretend she could have been me if she’d chosen a slightly different path in life. Let’s leave her to that delusion.

How did you evolve as the main character?

I thought I’d be bored staying in Arizona, living in my childhood home with my father. I thought I’d miss the excitement of being a war correspondent. Turns out there’s plenty of drama here. I’ve faced down everyone from Russian mobsters to human traffickers. And those villains were easy compared to dealing with some of my friends and family.

Do you have any other characters you like sharing the story with? If so, why are you partial to them?

I have Jen, who’s desperate for adventure and determined to drag me with her. My father’s friends Clarence and Arnold are chaos personified. They’re more like rambunctious toddlers determined to get into everything. Eighty is the new three? I complain, but the truth is I adore the three of them and appreciate the excitement.

They make it easier for me to enjoy the quieter times. I have my boyfriend, Mayor Todd Paradise, and his sweet teenage boys. My father has turned out to be an ideal roommate. We had to negotiate a bit in the beginning, but now I love his company and the fact he’s not constantly pestering me to investigate some bizarre crime he’s uncovered, like Clarence does.

What’s the place like where you find yourself in this story?

Phoenix is a huge city. That has its advantages, like any type of food you could possibly want, and disadvantages, like crime. Or maybe for our group, that’s another advantage, since we won’t run out of people who need our help. We also have our smaller community within the greater Phoenix area, which has more of a small town feel. It’s warm in winter and hot in summer, and everything in the desert wants to stab you.

Is there anything else you’d like to tell readers about you and the book?

In Something Prowling in Paradise Park, my senior pals introduce me to the Standishes, snowbirds who came home early and found strangers living in their house—with forged lease papers. Legal eviction can require months and money, so my found family and I start investigating the squatters to find any dirt we can use as leverage.

Meanwhile, my boyfriend’s teenage sons bring me a case of their own: a rash of dog thefts sweeping the neighborhood. Then one of my friendly computer experts introduces me to neighboring business owners at a marijuana dispensary. They suffered a burglary when the thieves crashed the car through their front wall.

Things really heat up when a late-night stakeout ends in a shocking discovery—a dead body. Was it a freak accident… or a murder?

As the publisher says, “Filled with twists, humor, and heart, Something Prowling in Paradise Park delivers the perfect blend of cozy mystery, female sleuth suspense, and found-family crime solving. Fans of J.A. Jance, Elly Griffiths, and Ann Cleeves will love this page-turner set against Arizona’s sunbaked secrets.”

Thank you for answering my questions, Kate, and good luck to you and your author, Kris Bock, with Something Prowling in Paradise Park, the latest book in the Accidental Detective mystery series.

Readers can learn more about Kate and her author, Kris Bock by visiting the author’s website and her Facebook, Goodreads, Bookbub, Instagram and Tiktok pages. You can also follow her on BlueSky and Mastodon.

The novel is available at the following online retailers:

Amazon    B&N     Apple     Google Books   Kobo
Publisher with links to all retailers    Universal link      Series universal link

About Kris Bock: Kris writes mystery, suspense, and romance, often with smart, snarky heroines finding adventure (sometimes against their will) in the Southwest. Learn more at KrisBock.com. Sign up for the Kris Bock newsletter and get short stories from the Accidental Detective and the Reluctantly Psychic series, a cat café novella, aSweet Home Alabama romantic comedy story, and other freebies. Then every two weeks, you’ll get fun content about pets, announcements of new books, sales, and more.

In the Reluctantly Psychic Mystery series, a quirky loner who can read the history of any object with her touch gets drawn into mysteries at the museum of oddities where she works.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.”

The Furrever Friends Sweet Romance series stars the employees and customers at a cat café. Watch as they fall in love with each other and shelter cats. 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.

Posted in March 2026 | Tagged , , , , | 3 Comments

The Case of the Christie Curse

Posted on February 26, 2026 by Dianne Ascroft

Eliza Baker is visiting Ascroft, eh? to tell us about The Case of the Christie Curse, the latest novel in the Detective Club mystery series.

Welcome, Eliza. Let’s get started, shall we?

Tell us about the novel that you live inside. Is it part of a series?

The books are called The Detection Club Mysteries. They revolve around the real-life Detection Club and its most famous members, including Agatha Christie and Dorothy L. Sayers. The first adventure begins in London at the Club’s early gatherings, when tempers flare over Agatha’s The Murder of Roger Ackroyd. After that, we find ourselves on the Orient Express (it’s Agatha’s first trip aboard), at archaeological digs in Mesopotamia (where Agatha meets Max, who becomes her second and best husband), on the Isle of Skye for Agatha’s wedding banns, and even along the Nile for her honeymoon.

Each book is a self-contained mystery, but the larger story is about inheritance… of secrets, of reputations, of love, and of the past we cannot quite escape.

Does the writer control what happens in the story, or do you get a say too?

Officially? The writer controls everything.

Unofficially? I’ve wrestled the pen away more than once.

I’ve refused to faint when it was convenient. I’ve withheld forgiveness when it was premature. I’ve resorted to foot-fighting and jujitsu when necessary. And I’ve insisted on examining the body myself rather than standing back like some decorative lady with a handkerchief.

The author may arrange the clues. But I choose how to see them.

How did you evolve as the main character?

When I first stepped into these pages, I was cautious to the point of cruelty (just ask some reviewers). I trusted evidence, not people. But I had good reason. I grew up without a father. And my mother died in poverty when I was young. I survived by my wits on London streets before Captain Hall intervened and redirected my life. Actually, he caught me picking his pocket and gave me an ultimatum.

That sort of childhood doesn’t encourage softness.

Over the course of the series, I’ve had to learn that independence and isolation are not the same thing. I’ve had to learn that partnership is not weakness. Theo—more on him in a moment—has forced that lesson upon me in the most infuriating way possible.

I still trust facts over feelings. But I no longer distrust feelings outright.

That’s progress.

Do you have any other characters you like sharing the story with?

Yes.

Theo Sharp. Always Theo.

He’s my chess partner, a philosopher and a would-be-novelist. He’s also the son of an English earl who would prefer he inherit an estate rather than chase murderers across continents. He sees the world in metaphors and moral dilemmas. I see it in footprints and motive. Between us, we usually arrive at the truth.

I am also partial to Agatha herself. There is steel beneath her quiet composure and a sense of adventure. People underestimate her. They always regret it.

And Dorothy, who is sharp as a blade and loyal in ways that are sometimes inconvenient.

If I am honest, I like sharing the story because it means I am not alone in it.

What’s the place like where you find yourself in this story?

It changes with each book.

London drawing rooms thick with cigar smoke and literary rivalries.
A train corridor rattling through Europe in the dark.
A desert dig house where the wind carries sand through every crack.
Scottish moors where fog swallows sound.

But wherever we are, the atmosphere is always the same. Tension beneath civility. Someone lying. Someone afraid. Someone about to die—or already dead. The means, motive, and opportunity change, but human nature prevails, for better and worse. And my time at Scotland Yard made me a keen observer of human nature.

I notice who looks at whom. Who flinches. Who stands too still.

That is my home territory.

Is there anything else you’d like to tell readers about you and the book?

Yes.

These stories aren’t merely murder mysteries. They’re about what we inherit, from names, debts, expectations, to secrets. Theo wrestles with a title he doesn’t want. Agatha wrestles with fame she didn’t foresee. I wrestle with a past I didn’t choose.

And yet, we choose who we become.

If you walk into our pages, don’t expect drawing-room puzzles alone— although you’ll get plenty of twists and turns and brain-teasing mysteries. Expect ambition, espionage, love that arrives inconveniently, and truths that cost something.

I’ll be there, observing.

And I promise you this, I don’t miss much.

Thank you for answering my questions, Eliza, and good luck to you and your author, Kelly Oliver, with The Case of the Christie Curse, the latest book in the Detective Club mystery series.

Readers can learn more about Eliza and her author, Kelly Oliver by visiting the author’s Amazon page and her Facebook, Bookbub, Instagram @kellyoliverbooks and Pinterest pages.

The novel is available at the following online retailers:

 Amazon  Amazon CA  Amazon UK  Amazon AU   Amazon IN

About Kelly Oliver: Kelly Oliver is the award-winning and bestselling author of four mystery series: The Jessica James Mysteries, The Pet Detective Mysteries, The Fiona Figg Mysteries, and The Detection Club Mysteries.

Kelly is the Past President of Sisters in Crime National, current Education Coordinator for SinC Guppies, and a Distinguished Emerita Professor of Philosophy at Vanderbilt University.

Posted in Archives, February 2026 | Tagged , , , , | 1 Comment

Have You Seen Him

Posted on February 24, 2026 by Dianne Ascroft

Kimberley Lee, author of Have You Seen Him, the first book in a new trilogy, is visiting Ascroft, eh? today.

Welcome, Kimberley.

Tell us about your novel. Is it part of a series? If so, please tell us about the series too.

When I was in law school, I’d get up early to read John Grisham’s latest book, prioritizing that before reading the cases assigned for my classes. I think I knew deep down I wanted to someday parlay my background in law to writing fiction. Publishing this novel is a dream come true. Have You Seen Him is a thriller with lots of suspense, the genre I love most. David, the main character, is an attorney who is kind of listless and unfulfilled. The adventure begins when he sees his face in a missing child ad. Although his early years were tough, he didn’t know someone was looking for him. He goes in search of the truth about his origins and encounters all kinds of mayhem—corporate villains, murder victims, accidents that aren’t really accidents—along with suspicions about the people who’ve raised him. He gets help from his no-nonsense girlfriend Gayle and a stranger with his own secrets.

Have You Seen Him is the first in a trilogy, so now it’s back to my notebook to work on the second installment. Pen to page. In the next book, Gayle and Violet, two characters from this one, will go on an adventure in search of someone else, tying up some of the subplots that I left open in Have You Seen Him.

Where did the idea for the mystery that is central to the story come from?

Soon after we meet the book’s main character, David, he’s sifting through mail and sees the missing child ad with his own face. The inspiration for the book is a scenario somewhat similar to that—I was sorting through my mail and saw an ad for a child who went missing when he was 10. The computer-progressed image showed him in his forties. I thought about how this boy’s family had been searching for over three decades, never giving up. The faces haunted me. I tore it out and carried it around in my bag for a while, then sat down to write a story.

Is there a theme or subject that underlies the story? If so, what prompted you to write about it?

Looking back over my writing, whether flash fiction, creative nonfiction, and now this novel, the theme of belonging always emerges. We’re all searching for answers to “Who am I” and “Where do I fit in?” The missing child ad was perfect for these themes, and a thriller—along with a romantic subplot—was a wonderful genre for exploring it in an imaginative way. 

How do you create your characters? Do you have favourite ones? If so, why are you partial to them?

The main character, David, is inspired by the image mentioned above. A huge part of my creative process involves writing with images. I see an image—a work of art, a photo, something striking—and my imagination fires up, often developing a backstory or extrapolating into the future. Writing with images is a primary way I access my creativity and the stories that want to be told.

Gayle is a composite of and tribute to several resilient, brilliant women in my family, some of whom, like her, are teachers. Alejandro and Violet were inspired by two close friends who are strong, loyal, and full of compassion. 

I love them all and they feel real to me!

How do you bring to life the place you are writing about?

This book is somewhat of a love letter to Los Angeles and its cultural scene and diverse neighborhoods. I’ve been to most, if not all, of the settings where the book takes place, and I revisited a few to take note of additional details. One action scene takes place aboard the Queen Mary, a historic ship permanently docked in Long Beach, California. I felt the story called for a high-energy chase, but I hadn’t written one before. I really wanted my words to paint a detailed picture that readers could visualize and feel invested in. I’d toured the ship several times before, but before writing the chapter I went on a Julia Cameron-inspired “artist’s date” to visit it again. I dined at the restaurant, saw the exhibit, and wandered around taking notes about the layout. The excursion gave me both the confidence and the details to make the chase scene feel authentic.

What research do you do to provide background information to help you write the novel?

Not to give too much away, but I read The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks and similar books, and spoke with my husband, an MD, about the hospital scenes and accurate medical terminology. I used my own background as an attorney to inform scenes in the courtroom and David’s office. I’m close to a couple of people who were adopted. Everyone has a different experience and I would never make any generalizations, but some of the feelings they’ve expressed influenced how I wrote about David.

Is there anything else you’d like to tell readers about the book?

I think we can all imagine what it would be like to be in David’s position—seeing our computer-progressed face in an ad, not knowing we were considered missing. The prologue starts with an intriguing, high-octane event, and then readers go on the journey by David’s side as he searches for the truth. As one reviewer put it, “I had to know why he was missing.” Once readers begin the story, they will be compelled to find out. I worked on this book for roughly ten years and the first draft was twice as long! I hope readers enjoy the final version!

Thank you for answering my questions, Kimberley, and good luck with Have You Seen Him, the first book in a new trilogy.

Readers can learn more about Kimberley Lee by visiting the author’s website and her Goodreads and Instagram pages.

The novel is available at the following online retailers:

Amazon, B&N, Bookshop

About Kimberley Lee, JD: A versatile writer, editor, and creativity coach, she has a passion for nurturing the imaginative spirit and helping others reveal their own inner wisdom. Kimberly holds degrees from Stanford University and UC Davis School of Law, along with certifications from the Center for Journal Therapy, Amherst Writers & Artists, SoulCollage®, Guided Autobiography, the Center for Intentional Creativity, and The Path Meditation. Recent collaborations include Esalen Institute, Hollyhock Retreat Center, Omega Institute, The Huntington, the Expressive Therapies Summit, Arts and Healing Initiative, and West LA Veterans Administration. Kimberly’s stories and essays have appeared in numerous publications and anthologies, and she has served on the staffs of Literary Mama, F(r)iction, and Carve magazines. She lives in Southern California with her husband and three children.

Posted in Archives, February 2026 | Tagged , , , , | 1 Comment

Embroidered Lies and Alibis

Posted on February 19, 2026 by Dianne Ascroft

Anastasia Pollack is visiting Ascroft, eh? to tell us about Embroidered Lies and Alibis, the latest novel in the Anastasia Pollack mystery series.

Welcome, Anastasia. Let’s get started, shall we?

Tell us about the novel that you live inside. Is it part of a series? If so, please tell us about the series, too.

Author Lois Winston brought me to life in Assault with a Deadly Glue Gun, the first book in her long-running Anastasia Pollack Crafting Mystery Series, currently at fifteen novels and three novellas.

From the moment Lois wrote me into existence, she’s been messing with my life. She used to write romance, and I certainly wouldn’t have minded being the heroine of a romance novel. Lois’s agent had other ideas, though. She wanted Lois to write a humorous amateur sleuth series with a crafting theme.

On top of that, before the first page of the first chapter of the first book, Lois killed off my husband, then informed me he’d gambled away all our savings and left me with more debt than the GNP of Uzbekistan!

Amateur sleuths go around sticking their noses into murder and mayhem. So, I suppose I should have expected to stumble across a dead body at some point. It didn’t take long. The next thing I knew, I found myself staring at a corpse sitting in my office chair. It’s been one dead body after another since then. And now that we’re up to fifteen novels and three novellas, that’s a lot of dead bodies! (Although Lois did give me a reprieve in the novellas. No dead bodies. Only stalkers, identity thieves, and kidnappers. Can you guess who got kidnapped? Yours truly!

Does the writer control what happens in the story or do you get a say, too?

Lois likes to think she controls the narrative of my life, but I’ll go just so far before I put my foot down. I’ve discovered if I threaten to organize all the other characters into a general strike and take her muse hostage, she gives in.

For instance, when I complained about how I was burning the candle, not only at both ends, but also in the middle, to keep a roof over our heads and pay off all that debt, she began to realize she needed to toss me a few breadcrumbs. All work and no play makes Anastasia an extremely grumpy sleuth. And I certainly have a right to be grumpy. Did I mention she also saddled me with a nasty communist mother-in-law as a permanent houseguest? Rumor has it, Lucille Pollack was patterned after Lois’s own communist mother-in-law.

Anyway, Lois got the brilliant idea to add a little romance into my life. She created photojournalist Zachary Barnes, a man whose DNA swam around in the same primordial soup as George Clooney and Pierce Brosnan. Except Lois being Lois, she also made me believe that Zack might also be a member of some government alphabet agency. And can you blame me? The guy is always flying off to places like Madagascar, and he owns a gun. Zack claims I have an overactive imagination, but who goes to Madagascar other than cartoon characters? It’s not exactly a tourist hotspot. It’s on the State Department list of Enter-at-Your-Own-Risk Countries.

How did you evolve as the main character?

Lois was singled out to create the series because of all her agent’s clients, she was the one author who had the credentials to write such books. Her agent was already shopping around Talk Gertie to Me, a humorous chick lit novel, which became Lois’s first sale. Plus, Lois knew crafts. In her day job, she worked as a designer in the consumer crafts industry, specializing mostly in needlework and fabric crafts.

What Lois’s agent didn’t know was that Lois hadn’t read a cozy mystery since her preteen obsession with the Cherry Ames books. But Lois had read those more for the nursing than the mysteries. At the time, she thought she wanted to grow up to become a nurse.

When Lois set out to research crafting-themed cozies, she found that most of them centered around a sleuth who owned a crafts shop or worked in a specific craft. She decided to set her series apart by making me the crafts editor at American Woman, a monthly women’s magazine sold at supermarket checkouts. Each book would feature a different craft.

Do you have any other characters you like sharing the story with? If so, why are you partial to them?

Well, of course I’m partial to my two sons and now Zack. With a few exceptions, most of my coworkers are great, especially Cloris McWerther. I consider her my BFF. As the food editor at the magazine, she not only keeps me well supplied with baked goods, but she’s also saved my life on several occasions.

Then there’s Detective Samuel Spader. Our relationship started out adversarial when Lois first introduced him in Revenge of the Crafty Corpse. Now he’s become family. And I once thought Tino Martinelli was a killer, but I was wrong. The guy would take a bullet for me.

What’s the place like where you find yourself in this story?

Lois is a Jersey girl and created me as a Jersey girl, placing my home in an actual New Jersey suburb. She chose New Jersey because within a short drive, her characters can be in the mountains or down the shore, in the countryside or in Philadelphia or New York. This gives her lots of places for me to trip over dead bodies.

Along with setting the stories at her magazine and in her hometown, she’s also had me working a trade show, teaching arts and crafts at a rehab center, judging and teaching crafts at a conference for retirees, guesting on a morning television show, and even traveling to Tennessee for one of Zack’s photoshoots. One of the novellas takes place outside of Pittsburgh. Another in Barcelona, Spain.

Is there anything else you’d like to tell readers about you and the book?

Although the series debuted in 2011, and with the publication of Embroidered Lies and Alibis, we’re up to fifteen novels, in my world only two years have passed. Much has happened in that time, though. Yes, there have been countless bodies and murders to solve, but life has also been looking up recently. However, you won’t get any spoilers from me. Both Lois and I hope you’ll read the books to find out all about everything that has taken place in my world since she brought me to life.

Thank you for answering my questions, Anastasia, and good luck to you and your author, Lois Winston, with Embroidered Lies and Alibis, the latest book in the Anastasia Pollack mystery series.

Readers can learn more about Anastasia and her author, Lois Winston by visiting the author’s website and her Goodreads and Bookbub pages.

The novel is available at the following online retailers:

Amazon     Kobo    Barnes & Noble   Apple Books

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.

Posted in Archives, February 2026 | Tagged , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Teddy Bears and Ghostly Lairs

Posted on February 18, 2026 by Dianne Ascroft

Heather Weidner, author of Teddy Bears and Ghostly Lairs, a Jules Keene Glamping mystery, is visiting Ascroft, eh? today to introduce us to her sleuth in the series.

Welcome, Heather. I’ll turn the floor over to you –

Jules Keene is the owner of the Fern Valley Camping Resort, home to vintage trailers and tiny houses. She first appeared in Vintage Trailers and Blackmailers, and she’s the star of the Jules Keene Glamping series (Vintage Trailers and Blackmailers, Film Crews and Rendezvous, Christmas Lights and Cat Fights, Deadlines and Valentines, and Teddy Bears and Ghostly Lairs).

Here are 15 things that you may not know about my amateur sleuth.

  1. Redhead
  2. Drives a Silver Jeep Wrangler
  3. Born in 1983
  4. From Fern Valley, Virginia
  5. Graduated from James Madison University in 2004
  6. Earned a degree in Interior Design
  7. Likes hiking and camping
  8. Named after Demi Moore’s Character in St. Elmo’s Fire
  9. Named her dog after the classic Bijou movie theater in town
  10. Divorced the Idiot in 2010
  11. Her parents bought the Fern Valley Camping Resort in the 1970s
  12. Her boyfriend Jake is named after the heartthrob in 16 Candles
  13. Crafts in her spare time
  14. Savvy with social media
  15. Appears next in Hazardous Links and Hijinks

Thank you for sharing this with us, Heather, and good luck with Teddy Bears and Ghostly Lairs, the latest book in the Jules Keene Glamping mystery series. Readers can learn more about Heather Weidner by visiting the author’s website and her Facebook, Instagram, Goodreads, Tiktok, Pinterest, LinkedIn, BookBub and YouTube pages. You can also follow her on Threads, BlueSky and Twitter/X.

The book is available online at the following retailers:

 Amazon – B&N – Bookshop.org 

About Heather Weidner: Through the years, Heather Weidner has been a cop’s kid, technical writer, editor, college professor, software tester, and IT manager. She writes the Pearly Girls Mysteries, the Delanie Fitzgerald Mysteries, The Jules Keene Glamping Mysteries, and The Mermaid Bay Christmas Shoppe Mysteries.

Her short stories appear in the Virginia is for Mysteries series, 50 Shades of Cabernet, Deadly Southern Charm, Murder by the Glass, First Comes Love, Then Comes Murder, and Crime in the Old Dominion, and she has non-fiction pieces in Promophobia and The Secret Ingredient: A Mystery Writers’ Cookbook.

She is a member of Sisters in Crime: National, Central Virginia, Chessie, Guppies, and Grand Canyon Writers, International Thriller Writers, and James River Writers, and she blogs regularly with the Writers Who Kill.

Originally from Virginia Beach, Heather has been a mystery fan since Scooby-Doo and Nancy Drew. She lives in Central Virginia with her husband and a crazy Mini Aussie Shepherd named Cooper.

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That Other Family

Posted on February 17, 2026 by Dianne Ascroft

Lis Angus, author of That Other Family, a domestic thriller, is visiting Ascroft, eh? today. This is her second novel. I really enjoyed her first novel, Not Your Child, so I’m looking forward to hearing about her new book.

Welcome, Lis.

Tell us about your novel.

It’s a domestic thriller featuring Julie Walker, an Ottawa librarian who’s living an ordinary life with her husband and three teenagers. Then a stranger tells her that her late father had another family, another wife and children. Julie at first refuses to believe it, but then unpleasant incidents start happening.  As these incidents escalate, it becomes clear that her entire family, including her mother and children, are in peril. She has to fight to keep them safe, while not knowing who to trust for help.

Is it part of a series?

No, it’s a standalone novel, though it takes place in Ottawa, like my previous book, Not Your Child. When I was thinking of a second book, I guess I didn’t have the heart to subject my first novel’s characters to another set of terrifying challenges. For the kind of novel I write, where threats and danger emerge from a core part of a family’s backstory, I think it’s difficult to have a second story with a similar kind of drama emerge from that background. And as the story in That Other Family took shape, it was clear that it needed a completely different cast of characters.

Where did the central idea for the story come from?

Val McDermid says that question never has a simple answer: ideas spark from many places.  One of the sparks for this novel was a true story about a former mayor of Toronto, who was discovered to have had a second, secret family, with two sets of children who were unaware of each other’s existence. But the characters in That Other Family are entirely fictional, with their own story and trajectory. I think what caught my imagination was simply the image of a stranger showing up and claiming that Julie’s father had a secret double life. Then I had to figure out what could have led to that, and what impact that backstory could have on her life in the present-day.

Is there a theme or subject that underlies the story? If so, what prompted you to write about it?

While I didn’t deliberately set out to write thematically, now that I have a bit of distance from both books, I see that they both revolve around family, secrets, love and deception, identity, and the challenges of parenting while facing menace and danger. These are themes that appeal to me— and I think they also resonate with a lot of readers, evoking feelings connected to our most personal experiences and fears. Those themes run through a lot of novels considered domestic thrillers or domestic suspense, and I think that’s why.

How do you create your characters? Do you have favourite ones?

My characters emerge in the writing. Both books feature the viewpoints of multiple characters, and I try to show the characters’ thoughts and emotions as closely as I can. So I imagine myself inside the character and try to convey their experience in a way that readers can feel them too. But I have a limited ability to imagine myself inside a character I have nothing in common with.  So it’s no coincidence that the protagonists in both my books are mothers and that the stories deal with mothers and children: those are issues and relationships I’m familiar with. Both books have characters at three stages of life —adolescents, a middle-aged protagonist, and an older character. Having lived all three ages, I’m no longer a middle-aged mother or a teenager, but I still vividly remember how I felt at those ages and can imagine how I’d react in those situations.

How do you bring to life the place you are writing about?

My setting in both novels is Ottawa, a city I’m familiar with. I’ve walked those neighbourhoods and often I take photographs. I try to get enough detail on the page that the reader can picture the setting. But I try to leave room for readers to use their own imagination. If someone knows Ottawa, I think they enjoy encountering familiar places; but readers who have never visited the city should be able to picture things for themselves and feel at home in the story.

What research do you do to provide background information to help you write the novel?

I do a lot of googling and online research, but I don’t obsess with perfecting every detail. I like the word “verisimilitude” — events should seem believable and plausible, but I don’t go out of my way to, for example, interview police officers about how they’d act in a given situation. I don’t want readers to trip over something that’s clearly incorrect, but so far I seem to have trod a good middle ground, as I haven’t had anyone complaining about inaccuracies.

Is there anything else you’d like to tell readers about the book?

I think if you like stories where ordinary people have to confront extraordinary situations, and you are intrigued by family dynamics, you’ll enjoy this book.

I have a bonus download for new subscribers to my newsletter, with “outtakes” from That Other Family: scenes that didn’t make it into the final version, but give a flavor of the characters and story. Readers can sign up at https://lisangus.com/sign-up. And That Other Family has its own Facebook page, where I post reviews and other book news as it comes in at https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61582944595750.

Thank you for answering my questions, Lis, and good luck with That Other Family.

Readers can learn more about Lis Angus by visiting the author’s website and her Facebook, Instagram and BlueSky pages. The novel also has its own Facebook page.

The novel is available at your favourite retailers:  https://books2read.com/thatotherfamily

About Lis Angus: Lis Angus is a suspense writer living in Eastern Ontario. She grew up in Alberta, then lived in Germany for two years before moving to Ottawa to study journalism and social sciences.

She has graduate degrees in psychology and business from York University in Toronto. Her early career was spent working with children and families in crisis, and in her later career she was a telecommunications consultant and policy advisor, conference organizer, business writer and editor.

She’s a member of Sisters in Crime, International Thriller Writers, Crime Writers of Canada, and Capital Crime Writers. She and her husband have two daughters and two grandchildren, and live in a small town south of Ottawa.

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Dying to Live Here

Posted on February 13, 2026 by Dianne Ascroft

Emma Stewart is visiting Ascroft, eh? to tell us about Dying to Live Here, the first novel in the Estate Sales mystery series.

Welcome, Emma. Let’s get started, shall we?

Tell us about the novel that you live inside. Is it part of a series? If so, please tell us about the series too.

My name is Emma Stewart. Dying to Live Here is about the crazy events that happened when I got the idea in my head that it would be fun to live in my best friend, Laura’s neighborhood. Laura lives in a cozy coastal neighborhood, so it seemed like an excellent idea. I know my dog, Hopper, would love to walk on the beach every day. Stumbling over a body during our first house viewing kind of threw a wrench into that plan, however. When all the suspicion landed on her, she begged me to help her track down the real killer. One of the places we looked for clues was an estate sale. Estate sale shopping is one of my hobbies. By the conclusion of our investigation, Laura came up with an idea for the two of us to start an estate sale business together. In future installments, you’ll find out about what happens during our early efforts to run our own estate sales. Lets just say we find more bodies than bargains.

Does the writer control what happens in the story or do you get a say too?

Sometimes it’s hard to tell. Over the course of our friendship, Laura has always tried to take credit for the really great ideas, but I have the feeling that we’re swept along by the story we find ourselves in.

How did you evolve as the main character?

I have a tendency to make a joke out of everything. Sometimes life can be challenging, and being able to laugh at circumstances make them a whole lot more pleasant to muddle through—even when the circumstances involve a murder investigation.

Do you have any other characters you like sharing the story with? If so, why are you partial to them?

Laura is my ride-or-die best friend. We may be different, but I know we’ll always be there for each other. We’ve been through a lot together, and she’s helped me through some difficult times.

What’s the place like where you find yourself in this story?

Harbor Shores is close to the beach, which is my favorite place to be. Like any location, though, it has it’s ups and downs. Here in North Florida, we enjoy beautiful weather for most of the year. Sure, we ride out the occasional hurricane, but everything has its trade-offs. Laura’s neighborhood has some HOA drama, for sure. I could do without that.

Is there anything else you’d like to tell readers about you and the book?

I have a good feeling about this guy I met in Laura’s neighborhood named Sam. He’s handsome, funny, and my dog loves him. Over the course of the coming months, who knows? He could be someone I might be able to fall for. But first, I have to be certain I can trust him.

Thank you for answering my questions, Emma, and good luck to you and your author, Shelley Marsh, with Dying to Live Here, the first book in the Estate Sales mystery series.

Readers can learn more about Emma and her author, Shelley Marsh by visiting the author’s website and her Facebook, Instagram and TikTok pages. You can also follow her on Twitter/X, Threads and BlueSky.

The novel is available online at Amazon

About Shelley Marsh: Shelley writes laugh-out-loud mysteries set along Florida’s sun-splashed coast. Her forthcoming debut, Dying to Live Here (Feb 10 2026), launches the Estate Sale Mysteries series, pairing clever puzzles with a hint of romance. When she isn’t prowling estate sales for story fodder, Shelley combs beaches and bookstores, searching for treasure.

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Trailbreaker

Posted on February 11, 2026 by Dianne Ascroft

Prairie Nightingale is visiting Ascroft, eh? to tell us about Trailbreaker, the latest novel in the Prairie Nightingale mystery series.

Welcome, Prairie. Let’s get started, shall we?

Tell us about the novel that you live inside. Is it part of a series? If so, please tell us about the series too.

I’m here today to talk about Trailbreaker, which is the second book in the series named after me, Prairie Nightingale. And, look, I know that my name is a lot. My parents are hippies who named me “Prairie Lovesummer.” They let me choose my own last name when I was thirteen and deep in a hyperfixation on Florence Nightingale. Do I regret it? Not exactly, but I do get it that my name is a lot to get used to. The truth is, I’m a lot to get used to, so it fits. The first book about me is Homemaker, which tells about how I asked too many questions about Amber Jenkins’s purse in the schoolyard while waiting for my younger daughter to come outside and ended up helping the FBI catch a murderer. It’s also the story of how I became a private investigator. Trailbreaker is about my new agency, Prairie Hawk Investigations, and how we did with our first big case. Like, Dateline big.

Does the writer control what happens in the story, or do you get a say, too?

I like to think of us as a great big collaborative family. My writers, Ruthie and Annie, write all of the books together, side by side at the dining room table on their laptops, passing the writing baton back and forth as they’re continually interrupted by children, dogs, cats, or any one of the dozens of things that throws a mom off track on any given day. It’s not so far off from my own busy life juggling investigation, parenthood, and my brand-new probably-happening situationship with the widower FBI agent I met on the Lisa Radcliffe case. The writers listen to me, I listen to them, we all listen to the editors, and hopefully readers get the best possible book out of the deal.

How did you evolve as the main character?

I started as an idea—or, really, as a question my writers had. Wouldn’t the very best detective be a mom? Because moms notice everything. Moms have to notice everything in order to take care of people, and to take care of their communities, and to take care of the world. We expect moms to be able to take the emotional temperature of a room or a situation, to know the right questions to ask, to know who is safe and who isn’t, to keep our community history, and to turn observations into narrative every single day. That’s a detective, right? The person who notices, who analyzes, and who makes a story. So Annie and Ruthie started talking about what would happen if a mom who had it all together—a homemaker to end all homemakers, who always had posterboard and a trifold in the closet for a last-minute school project and never failed to turn in her kids’ permission slips on time—found herself in a position to discover things about a missing woman in her circle of friends. And what if this brand-new amateur sleuth was someone who had a little bit of a problem with curiosity? And an hangup about always doing the next right thing? That’s me. That’s how they invented me. The rest, we did together.

Do you have any other characters you like sharing the story with? If so, why are you partial to them?

Oh, for sure! I’m a collaborator—I couldn’t do any of this on my own. In fact, every single one of the people who helped me solve my first mystery is now part of my team. I started Prairie Hawk Investigations as an equal partner with Joyce, my ex-mother-in-law, who still lives in an apartment connected to my house and retired from a career at the Department of Natural Resources; Marian, who used to be my personal assistant and now runs our office with terrifying efficiency and connections to everyone in Brown County, Wisconsin, who could possibly be useful to us; and my daughter Anabel’s former crush, Emma Cornelius, a recent high school graduate with a true crime podcast who is terrifyingly smart. We get occasional help from the FBI agent I mentioned, Foster Rosemare, who may or may not be my boyfriend—I’m still trying to figure that out. (And my kids pitch in now and then, although I do try to stop them.)

What’s the place like where you find yourself in this story?

I live in Green Bay, Wisconsin, which is the kind of small city that people only live in if they’re from here. I’m not. My ex-husband, Greg, grew up here, and when I was pregnant with our first kid, Anabel, he accepted a job and moved us across the country from Seattle without so much as consulting me. (There’s a reason we’re divorced.) But that was fifteen years ago, and I’ve made friends with my adopted city. There’s a lot to love about a flyover state like Wisconsin, even if a city the size of Green Bay rarely makes it into stories that aren’t about football!

Is there anything else you’d like to tell readers about you and the book?

There’s something a book reviewer recently said about me that stuck in my head. She said that the thing my former friends can’t forgive me for isn’t that I’m nosy, it’s that I’m right. She wrote: “And Prairie being right about something being wrong has a tendency to expose a whole lot of ugly secrets and dirty little lies that people around her have been pretending not to notice” (Marlene Harris at Reading Reality). I love this, and I think it’s true. I grew up in a rural Oregon cohousing community that was basically a commune by another name. I believe in community. I love people. I’m a women-centered, justice-focused midwestern mom of two daughter’s who’s constitutionally allergic to pretending not to notice the ugly secrets and dirty little lies that prop up the worst of the systems that hold people down—and if that sounds like a private investigator you can get behind, I’d love for you to give the series a try!

Thank you for answering my questions, Prairie, and good luck to you and your authors, Ruthie Knox and Annie Mare, with Trailbreaker, the latest book in the Prairie Nightingale mystery series.

Readers can learn more about Prairie and her authors, Ruthie Knox and Annie Mare by visiting the authors’ website and their Facebook: http://facebook.com/ruthieknox and https://www.facebook.com/anniemareromanceauthor and Instagram: @ruthieknoxromance and @spinsterpress pages.

The novel is available at the following online retailers:

Amazon – Bookshop.org – Barnes & Noble

About the authors: Ruthie Knox and Annie Mare write critically acclaimed, bestselling mystery and romance, usually (but not always) together. They are the authors of the Prairie Nightingale mysteries and the TV Detectives mystery series. If you want more of their stories, check out their queer romances co-written as Mae Marvel, as well as solo work by Ruthie Knox (het romance), Annie Mare (grounded queer paranormal romance), and Robin York (Ruthie’s pen name for New Adult romance). Ruthie and Annie are married and live with two teenagers, two dogs, multiple fish, two glorious cats, four hermit crabs, and a bazillion plants in a very old house with a garden.

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Case of the Curved Staircase

Posted on February 6, 2026 by Dianne Ascroft

S.K Derban, author of Case of the Curved Staircase, a Macaroni on Wheels mystery, is visiting Ascroft, eh? today to share with us the inspiration for her series.

Welcome, S. K.. I’ll turn the floor over to you –

Before moving to the Little Italy neighborhood of San Diego, my husband and I spent many a delightful evening in this vibrant community. We also enjoyed the local Farmers’ Market on Saturday mornings. Little Italy called to us, and before long we moved into a condominium almost directly in the middle of the main boulevard.

The ground floor of the condo project featured two restaurants, an Italian market, and a delightful coffee shop. The restaurant Buon Appetito opened during the very first year, and rapidly became one of our favorites. By this time, Little Italy continued to fill my thoughts as a potential location for my next book.

One evening while dining at Buon Appetito we were having a lovely conversation with Antonino Mastellone, the restaurant owner. When he asked about my latest book, I told Tonino of my intention to write a cozy mystery series set in Little Italy. He smiled, and said, “You should name it Macaroni on Wheels!” And so I did.

Of course, I gave credit where credit was do, and dedicated book one, Case of the Bayfront murder, to Mr. Mastellone. If you ever visit Little Italy in San Diego, please be sure and dine at Buon Appetito. You will be in for a treat!

Thank you for sharing this with us, S. K., and good luck with Case of the Curved Staircase, the latest book in the Macaroni on Wheels mystery series. Readers can learn more about S. K. Derban by visiting the author’s website and her Facebook, Pinterest, Bookbub and Instagram pages. You can also follow her on Twitter/X.

The book is available online at the following retailers:

Kindle – Paperback – Audio 

About S. K. Derban: S.K. Derban resides with her husband in Southern California. Although born in the United States she moved to London within the first three months, and remained in England until the age of five. Her father, an American citizen, was a decorated veteran of the Second World War. Her British mother was involved with the London Royal Ballet Company, and a great fan of the arts. After returning to the United States, Derban’s life remained filled with a love of the theatre, and a passion for British murder mysteries.

S.K. Derban’s personal travel and missionary escapades are readily apparent as they shine through into her characters. Readers are often transported virtually across the globe. She has traveled to Hong Kong on five separate occasions to smuggle Bibles into China, and has been to Israel on seven missionary trips. Derban’s other adventures include visits to Bangkok, Greece, Egypt, Italy, and the Caribbean.

Beginning with her faith in the Lord, S.K. Derban relies on all aspects of her life when writing. She hopes her books will allow readers to go on holiday without having to pack!

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