Anastasia Travels to Barcelona—and Winds Up Kidnapped! #TuesdayTravels @Anasleuth

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Anastasia Travels to Barcelona—and Winds Up Kidnapped!

by Anastasia Pollack

A few years ago author Lois Winston traveled to Barcelona, and I tagged along, at least in my imagination and hers. Of course, Lois being Lois, she didn’t exactly let me enjoy the trip. Somehow, thanks to her, I wound up getting kidnapped. Lois then turned my harrowing experience into Mosaic Mayhem, one of the three Anastasia Pollack Crafting Mini-Mysteries, featured in Crafty Crimes.

Barcelona, the capital of Catalonia and the second largest city in Spain, is a gem of a city that sits on the Mediterranean. It’s founding is steeped in legend heralding back to the time of the Romans. Today it contains one of Europe’s best-preserved Gothic-era medieval city centers as well as the whimsical creations of Antoni Gaudi’s Modernista style architecture and modern skyscrapers.

la sagrada familia

La Sagrada Familia, Barcelona

La Sagrada Família, a basilica that looks like it was constructed from wet sand dripping from the heavens, is the most visited tourist attraction in all of Spain. Begun in 1882, the design and construction were taken over by Gaudi a year later, and it’s still under construction today. (If you look at the upper right of the top photo, you’ll see a crane from the construction site.)

Parc Guell

Parc Guell, Barcelona

While working on La Sagrada Família, Gaudi lived in a house situated in Parc Güell, a masterpiece of municipal gardens, mosaic-clad terrace walls, and fanciful architectural elements reminiscent of the witch’s house from Hansel and Gretel.

Parc Guell mosaic terrace

Parc Guell mosaic terrace, Barcelona, Spain

La Rambla is a tree-lined pedestrian boulevard filled with shops and restaurants that runs for three-quarters of a mile through the heart of Barcelona from Plaça de Catalunya to the harbor.

La Rambla

La Rambla, Barcelona, Spain

Barcelona is also home to many wonderful museums, including Museu Picasso which houses an incredible collection of Picasso’s early work and plays a pivotal role in Mosaic Mayhem.

Crafty Crimes Bundle

Crafty Crimes

An anthology of three Anastasia Pollack Crafting Mini-Mysteries, companions to the critically acclaimed Anastasia Pollack Crafting Mystery series.

Crewel Intentions

Crafts editor and reluctant amateur sleuth Anastasia Pollack receives a desperate phone call from former American Woman fashion editor Erica Milano. Erica is now in Witness Protection and living under a new identity in Western Pennsylvania. But someone is stalking her, and Erica has compelling reasons why she can’t go to the police or notify her Witsec handlers. Anastasia is the only person she can trust to help her, and she knows Anastasia won’t let her down. After all, Erica once saved Anastasia’s life. But will Anastasia be able to return the favor before the stalker strikes?

Mosaic Mayhem

So much for a romantic getaway…When cash-strapped mom and reluctant amateur sleuth Anastasia Pollack is offered an all-expense paid three-day trip to Barcelona, her only worries are whether her passport is still valid and arranging care for her semi-invalid mother-in-law during her absence. However, within hours of landing in Europe, she finds herself staring down the barrel of a gun and needing to convince a Spanish crime syndicate they’ve got the wrong person. Why do people on both sides of the Atlantic keep trying to kill this pear-shaped, middle-aged single mom, and magazine crafts editor?

Patchwork Peril

After rescuing her elderly neighbor Rosalie’s quilts from a rainstorm, crafts editor Anastasia Pollack discovers Rosalie unconscious at the bottom of her basement stairs. Rosalie’s estranged niece Jane arrives to care for her during her recovery, but Rosalie suspects Jane’s motives are less than altruistic, going so far as to accuse Jane of trying to kill her. Is Rosalie’s paranoia a result of her head injury, or is there something more to her accusations? And can Anastasia uncover the truth before it’s too late?

Buy Links:

Paperback—http://amzn.to/2Fuvato
Kindle—http://amzn.to/2DkB7Iv
Nook—www.barnesandnoble.com/w/crafty-crimes-lois-winston/1119498704?ean=2940149295081
Kobo—www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/crafty-crimes
iTunes—itunes.apple.com/us/book/crafty-crimes/id879467478?mt=11

About My 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 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.


How To Connect with Lois online:

Website: www.loiswinston.com
Killer Crafts & Crafty Killers blog: www.anastasiapollack.blogspot.com
Pinterest: www.pinterest.com/anasleuth
Twitter at https://twitter.com/Anasleuth

Newsletter sign-up: https://app.mailerlite.com/webforms/landing/z1z1u5

Not Leaving Without Me: My Earliest Memory #MFRWAuthor 52-Week Blog Challenge

2018 blog challenge button

I love to travel so it’s probably not all that odd that my earliest memory is travel-related. I’m not sure how old I was, 4 perhaps. My parents were going away for the weekend and planning to leave me at home with my grandmother. Of course, I wanted to go. I remember waking up really early Saturday morning. Without saying anything, I got dressed and packed my little tiny child suitcase, though I have no idea what I thought I needed for a trip at that age. Toys, probably.

Once dressed, I plunked myself on the top step of the staircas knowing my folks wouldn’t be able to leave without tripping over me.

My devious ploy worked. My folks caved and took me with them, though they soon regretted it. It wasn’t long before I got car sick and threw up in the back seat! No wonder they didn’t want to take me with them!

You know the saying, no good deed goes unpunished.

Later, as an adult, I realized that the problem wasn’t motion sickness so much as my father’s smoking. In general, I don’t suffer from motion sickness, but it tobacco is involved, I quickly get nauseated. So it was really my dad’s fault. That’s my story and I’m sticking to it.

What is your earliest memory? It’ll be fun if people share in the comment area, and not just other authors.

Click on the linky list below for more early memories in Week 2 of the MFRW Author 52-Week Blog Challenge.

Linda