Drop Dead Ornaments

An Anastasia Pollack Crafting Mystery, Book 7

By: Lois Winston

Narrated by: Alexandra Bitton-Bailey

Anastasia Pollack’s son Alex is dating Sophie Lambert, the new kid in town. For their community service project, the high school seniors have chosen to raise money for the county food bank. Anastasia taps her craft industry contacts to donate materials for the students to make Christmas ornaments they’ll sell at the town’s annual Holiday Crafts Fair.

At the fair, Anastasia meets Sophie’s father, Shane Lambert, who strikes her as a man with secrets. She also notices a woman eavesdropping on their conversation. Later that evening, when the woman turns up dead, Sophie’s father is arrested for her murder.

Alex and Sophie beg Anastasia to find the real killer, but Anastasia has had her fill of dead bodies. She’s also not convinced of Shane’s innocence. Besides, she’s promised younger son Nick she’ll stop risking her life. But how can she say no to Alex?

©2018 Lois Winston (P)2023 Lois Winston

Excellent Cozy Mystery with first-rate narration.

I read many cozies. Anastasia Pollack is my new favorite. I love her, boyfriend Zach, and her relationship with the local police.

Although her life is busy, between keeping track of her commie ex-mother-in-law, her on-the-prowl -for-a-new-husband mom, and her two boys, Anastasia still manages to solve crimes and save the day.

Looking forward to the next in the series.

Excellent!

Wonderful storytelling. Extremely appealing characters and a great plot. Kept me guessing about the villain.

Drop Dead Ornaments

These books are so funny. I love her and her family. Once again she gets mixed up in a murder investigation and does a great job.

Drop Dead Ornaments keeps is a fun read

This is the first book I have read by Lois Winston. Although this is book 7 of the Anastasia Pollack Crafting Mystery series, I had no problem getting caught up to speed on the characters of Anastasia, her boyfriend, her sons, mother, and mother-in-law. I got the impression that there always seems to be a murder mystery surrounding Anastasia that she needs to help solve. She has a special relationship with the local detective, Spader, to help solve these murder mysteries. Ms. Winston is a good story teller with a whimsical sense of humor that kept me interested through the story. The characters are well developed and I certainly felt like I knew the entire family and their quirks be the end of the book, including Mephisto the devil dog and Ralph, the parrot. Although I thought the narrator did a good job with most of the narration, I thought Sophie’s and her mother’s voices were a bit over the top and could have been a bit more subdued for realism's sake. But that is just my opinion and it would not stop me from reading other books narrated by Bitton-Bailey. Overall, it was a fun read.

A Complex Murder

I enjoyed book seven as much as the other books in the series. I have always enjoyed the family relationship which Anastasia had with her sons, and in this story her oldest son, Alex, was dating. When Alex's girlfriend's dad was accused of murder, I understood why they turned to Anastasia to ask her to help clear Sophie's dad's name. I was entertained by the complexity of the murder mystery. I liked all the twists and turns and flights of imagination which added a humorous element to the story. I enjoyed Alexandra Bitton-Bailey's narration, and I felt that her performance added to my enjoyment of the story. I was given a copy of the audiobook. I volunteered, without financial gain, to post this review which reflected my honest opinions regarding this audiobook.