Assault with a Deadly Glue Gun

An Anastasia Pollack Crafting Mystery, Book 1

By: Lois Winston

Narrated by: Alexandra Bitton-Bailey

Length: 8 hrs and 20 mins

Publisher's summary

When Anastasia Pollack’s husband permanently cashes in his chips at a roulette table in Vegas, her comfortable middle-class life in New Jersey craps out. She’s left with two teenage sons, a mountain of debt, and her hateful, cane-wielding communist mother-in-law. Not to mention stunned disbelief over her late husband’s secret gambling addiction and the loan shark who’s demanding 50,000 dollars.

Anastasia’s job as crafts editor at American Woman magazine proves no respite when she discovers a dead body glued to her desk chair. The victim, fashion editor Marlys Vandenburg, collected enemies and ex-lovers like Jimmy Choos on her ruthless climb to editor in chief. But when evidence surfaces of an illicit affair between Marlys and Anastasia’s husband, Anastasia becomes the prime suspect. Now she's in a race to find the killer, not only to clear her name but to catch him before he strikes again.

©2011 Lois Winston (P)2022 Lois Winston

Assault With a Deadly Glue Gun

The cops are inept, her children are in danger, her late husband has bankrupted her with gambling debts and she’s being framed for a bizarre murder- so craft magazine editor Anastasia Pollack steps up to solve the crime. Using skills learned from TV detective shows, this sassy, resourceful, feisty sleuth faces challenges boldly and can’t be intimidated. Lots of memorable minor characters add a dash of social satire and dry humor to the plot.

Feisty NJ woman recovers from husband's death

While the first in this humorous craft-related cozy mystery series was first published in 2010, the audiobook was first published in 2022. With a New Jersey-accented narrator making this completely authentic, we learn that Anastasia Pollack has just been informed of her husband’s death in Las Vegas. Problem is, Anastasia had no idea her husband was in Las Vegas nor that he had a gambling problem. He had plowed through their nest egg, ravaged their home equity, cancelled the kids’ college funds, maxed out the credit cards, and borrowed from a loan shark who now wants to collect. Anastasia’s grumpy, Communist mother-in-law Lucille and her growling dog were currently living with her since her apartment and life savings hidden there had recently burned down. To make matters worse, Anastasia’s mother and her cat arrive on her doorstep, newly widowed herself with nowhere to live.

With Janet Evanovich’s character Stephanie Plum as a role model, and no one to rely on but herself, Anastasia returns to work as crafts editor at the New Jersey offices of American Woman magazine. There were plenty of shenanigans going on there as well with the fashion editor considering herself way out of anyone’s league. On this particular day, she breezed in several hours late and dressed to kill, including diamonds on loan from a New York jeweler.

Anastasia is called home to rent the apartment over the garage to a well-known photographer happy to find a place close to the city yet far enough away that neighbors don’t accuse him of running a meth lab rather than a dark room. Returning to work to prepare for the morning’s photo shoot, Anastasia finds the fashion editor sitting at her desk with hot glue dripping from her body and minus the diamonds.

Since the glue gun was hers and she found the body, Anastasia is high on the list of suspects and rallies her co-workers to help her investigate. Meanwhile at home she’s just trying to get her mothers and their pets to do more than growl at each other and help with her two teenage boys. She’s called home, again, to find the house ransacked by Ricardo, the loan shark, looking for his 50 G’s. Now the police were involved, just what she was told not to do.

Anastasia’s efforts to get out of this pickle had me laughing out loud. But her situation got worse, much worse, before she found relief. The author managed to keep the sarcasm light enough to be funny and the consequences livable. I enjoyed this tale very much and will await the second in the series to come out on audio. The narrator has agreed to read the entire series, always a plus in my book. In the meantime, I hope Anastasia’s family stops squabbling!

Superb

What a fast moving story. With the Narrator’s help we feel Anastasia trying to solve a mystery. An amazing beginning to a new series

Perfect addition to the book

I love Anastasia. Suburban mom with a caring heart and a little bit of an edge. And this audio book makes it fun all over again. The narrator really captures what makes the New Jersey characters special. More audio books please!

Made me walk an extra mile!

I enjoy listening to audio while I’m walking. What’s not to like about Anastasia Pollack? When her scoundrel of a husband dies, leaving our feisty heroine in debt and with his cranky mother to deal with, Anastasia digs in, boldly facing challenges. Witty dialogue coupled with a compelling mystery kept me coming back for more.

Fun!

Delightful cozy mystery with memorable characters and intriguing story. Can’t wait to listen to the next installment in this entertaining series!

Hilarity with murder?

This is a great get-away book for when you need a break from … well, everything. It’s well-paced, keeps you turning pages. There are some laugh out loud moments, particularly when you are first introduced to each character - including their names.

Mystery with a big serving of humor

I read Assault with a Deadly Glue Gun a few years ago and enjoyed it immensely. So when I saw that it was now available in audio, I couldn’t wait to listen to it. Not only did I find that the story was just as intriguing, I enjoyed it even more. Lois Winston’s dialogue is witty and the mystery will keep you guessing. Alexandra Bitton-Bailey does an excellent job narrating the book and brings the characters alive.

Lots of drama

The narrator does a good job with a story that is full of disasters. Anastasia Pollock loses her husband, who left her in massive debt. She has crazy coworkers. She gets stuck with bother her mother-in-law and dog and her mother and cat. The story was in such a frenzy most the time that the reader never got a sense of rest between disasters. Everything is dramatic all the time.

Cute Cozy Mystery

This was my first experience with Lois Winston's work, and it was entertaining. The mystery was intriguing. The main protagonist was a middle-aged woman with two sons and a mountain of debt. Anastasia Pollack was intelligent and artsy. She was drawn into a murder investigation as she was the one that found her boss' body. There was some humor and the possibility of a romance on the horizon. I'm looking forward to the next book in the series. Alexandra Bitton-Bailey's narration was good, and she kept my attention with her performance. I was given a free copy of the audiobook and I have voluntarily posted this review.