Zack Barnes is involved with the sleuth in the “Anastasia Pollack Crafting” mysteries. One of the best ways to learn about a person is by asking questions. So, let’s get to know Zack.

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What is your full name?
Zachary Barnes but my friends call me Zack.

How old are you?
I was forty-five when author Lois Winston created me in Assault with a Deadly Glue Gun, the first book in her Anastasia Pollack Crafting Mystery Series. Over the course of nine books, it’s now a year later, so I’m currently forty-six.

What is your profession?
I’m a photojournalist, but if you ask Anastasia, she’ll claim that’s a cover for my real job—a covert operative for one of the alphabet agencies. That’s because I’m always traveling to D.C., as well as places like Guatemala and Madagascar. The woman has a wild imagination. I go where the photo assignments take me.

Do you have a significant other?
I fell head-over-heels for Anastasia Pollack the moment I met her, but I played it cool for a while. After all, at the time she was newly widowed.

What is their name and profession?
The aforementioned Anastasia Pollack. She’s the crafts editor at a women’s magazine and also a reluctant amateur sleuth.

Do you have any children?
No biological kids but I’ve come to think of Anastasia’s sons Alex and Nick like my own. They’re great kids.

Do you have any siblings?
No.

Are your parents nearby?
If I answered this, I’d have to give away too much of the plot of A Sew Deadly Cruise, the latest Anastasia Pollack Crafting Mystery.

Who is your best friend?
That would have to be Anastasia, but over the last three books in the series, I’ve been developing a close friendship with Shane Lambert, Alex’s girlfriend’s father.

Do you have any pets?
Ralph, Anastasia’s African Grey parrot, has adopted me. She inherited him from her great-aunt, a Shakespearean scholar. The bird has an uncanny knack for uttering situation-appropriate quotes from the Bard.

What town do you live in?
Westfield, NJ. It’s a suburban Manhattan commuter town.

Type of dwelling and do you own or rent?
I had rented the apartment above Anastasia’s garage because I wanted a quieter setting than my Manhattan high-rise apartment. Little did I know life would be anything but quiet, given the dead bodies Anastasia keeps finding. Anyway, once our relationship matured, I moved into the main house, a mid-century rancher. You can see an architectural drawing and floor plan here.

What is your favorite spot in your home?
Other than the bedroom? My darkroom. I really prefer old-school photography. It’s more of an art than digital, although I mostly shoot digitally nowadays.

Favorite meal and dessert?
Tough question. It really depends on what I’m in the mood for.

Do you have any hobbies?
My “hobby” is my profession, but I also enjoy cooking. I’ve pretty much taken over meal duty at Casa Pollack.

What is your favorite vacation spot?
Another tough question. I’ve traveled the four corners of the earth and enjoyed aspects of just about everywhere I’ve been. I’d say anywhere I go with Anastasia, but both times we’ve taken a vacation, we’ve wound up dealing with kidnapping and murder. The woman seems to attract dead bodies, but I suppose that’s a given when you live within a murder mystery series.

What music do you listen to?
I’m a jazz guy.

Do you have a favorite book?
My favorite book would have to be Assault with a Deadly Glue Gun. We wouldn’t be having this conversation if author Lois Winston hadn’t created me in that book.

What is your idea of a really fun time?
Doing anything that doesn’t involve murder and mayhem.

If you were to write a memoir, what would you call it?
*** The Parrot Made Me Do It *** You’ll have to read Handmade Ho-Ho Homicide to understand that one.

Amateur or professional sleuth and whom do you work with?
I’m not the sleuth, but I’ve been dragged into more than one murder investigation trying to keep Anastasia safe and out of trouble. I’ve managed the former. Haven’t had much luck with the latter.

In a few sentences, what is a typical day in your life like?
As a photojournalist, my days are decidedly untypical. On any given day I might be hopping the train down to D.C. for a meeting at The Smithsonian, the World Wildlife Fund, or National Geographic. Or I could be flying off on assignment to traipse through the jungles of Madagascar in search of pochards, record calving glaciers in Northern Canada, or document indigenous people along the Amazon. As I mentioned earlier, I go where the assignments take me.

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A Sew Deadly Cruise is the ninth book in the “Anastasia Pollack Crafting” cozy mystery series, released October 1, 2020.

Life is looking up for magazine crafts editor Anastasia Pollack. Newly engaged, she and photojournalist fiancé Zack Barnes are on a winter cruise with her family, compliments of a Christmas gift from her half-brother-in-law. Son Alex’s girlfriend and her father have also joined them. Shortly after boarding the ship, Anastasia is approached by a man with an unusual interest in her engagement ring. When she tells Zack of her encounter, he suggests the man might be a jewel thief scouting for his next mark. But before Anastasia can point the man out to Zack, the would-be thief approaches him, revealing his true motivation. Long-buried secrets now threaten the well-being of everyone Anastasia holds dear. And that’s before the first dead body turns up.

Craft projects included.

Purchase Link

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About the author
USA Today bestselling and award-winning author Lois Winston writes mystery, romance, romantic suspense, chick lit, women’s fiction, children’s chapter books, and nonfiction under her own name and her Emma Carlyle pen name. 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.

Visit Lois at loiswinston.com and sign up for her newsletter here. You can also find Lois at the Killer Crafts & Crafty Killers blog, on Pinterest, on Twitter, on Goodreads and on Bookbub.

All comments are welcomed.