Cozy Wednesday with Gail Oust – Author of Ginger Snapped – #GuestPost / #Review / #Giveaway – Great Escapes Book Tour @MinotaurBooks

Welcome to the 1st Cozy Wednesday of 2018!
I am pleased as punch to welcome Gail Oust back to Escape With Dollycas Into A Good Book today!

A DAY IN THE LIFE:  THE CASE OF THE REVOLVING EDITORS
by Gail Oust

Two books, five editors.  How did I get so lucky?  Or should make that unlucky?  The saga began when Anne Brewer, my dream of an editor, made an offer for two more books in my Spice Shop Mysteries—Curried Away and Ginger Snapped.  I was elated at learning this while visiting family in Michigan over the Christmas holidays.  Sadly, Anne decided after returning from maternity leave to depart Minotaur/St. Martin’s for another publishing house.  She left me in the capable hands of her assistant who I’ll refer to as Editor B.  B came on board just in time to request revisions on Curried Away.  Unfortunately, the request came at a time when we were eight hundred miles from home due to a family medical emergency.  I invariably travel with my computer as though it’s attached by an invisible umbilical cord–but not this time.  The life-or-death emergency had prompted us to hastily throw essentials into the car and head north.  I prevailed—make that begged, pleaded—family members to help me out of this predicament.  Help came in the form of my granddaughter’s mother-in-law, Deb.  I rolled up my shirtsleeves and went to work.  It wasn’t the revisions that left me frustrated—B’s hand with the red ink was mercifully light—it was the fact Deb used a totally different Windows Office from which I was accustomed.  In spite of afternoons and evenings spent at the hospital, mornings were devoted to revisions.  Thanks to Deb I was able to complete and return everything on schedule.

Shortly afterward, B informed me she, too, was leaving Minotaur.  Editor C became my new editor.  By this time, I had begun the final book of my contract.   I haven’t the foggiest idea of what happened to her, but Editor C lasted only two months before replaced by Editor D.  D jumped in with both feet and promptly changed the title.  I have to admit her idea was terrific.  When it comes to titles, it was easier naming my children. D ably guided my baby, now titled Ginger Snapped, through all its stages of growth and development:  revisions, copyedits, page proofs, cover copy, and cover design. I really liked D and felt bad when I learned she, too, was moving on to newer pastures.  At that point, E, my fifth and final editor, appeared on the scene.  Editor D didn’t leave much behind for E to do on Ginger Snapped, but she answers all of my emails promptly and seems enthusiastic on my behalf.  I’m not dissatisfied.

At times I wonder how this game of revolving editors has impacted my writing career. To be honest,  I’ve seen some differences between the first three books in the series and the last two.  Could these be the result of editor turnover?  On the other hand, these changes could also be the result of business strategies far beyond my control.  I remind myself that you can’t control what you can’t control.  I also like the adage that when life gives you lemons, make lemonade.  So, here’s to lemonade and Ginger Snapped!

~Gail

Thank you so much, Gail, for visiting today!

Piper Prescott and Police Chief Wyatt McBride might have gotten off on the wrong foot but, over the past year, their interactions have evolved into a friendship of sorts. And when the body of Shirley Randolph is found floating in a fishing hole, their relationship reaches entirely new territory.

Shirley, the town’s Realtor of the Year, was also Wyatt’s suspected romantic interest, and now the residents of Brandywine Creek are speculating that Wyatt is responsible for her death. As the town council moves to suspend the handsome lawman, Piper springs into action to save his reputation and possibly his freedom. She enlists the aid of her BFF, Reba Mae Johnson, along with Wyatt himself, to help solve the puzzle and find Shirley’s real killer.

Pointing them toward high-powered real estate tactics and possible affairs, the investigation soon becomes personal when Piper’s shop, Spice It Up!, is burglarized, and she’s forced off the road late one night, narrowly escaping serious injury. Realizing that she must be close to uncovering the truth and that the evidence against Wyatt is no longer circumstantial, Piper resorts to drastic measures to prevent a grave miscarriage of justice.

Friends often accuse Gail Oust of flunking retirement.  While working as a nurse/vascular technologist, Gail penned nine historical romances under the pseudonym Elizabeth Turner for Avon, Pocket, Berkley, and Kensington.  It wasn’t until she and her husband retired to South Carolina that inspiration struck for a mystery.  Hearing the words, “maybe it’s a dead body,” while golfing with friends fired her imagination for the Bunco Babe Mystery series originally published by NAL.  In conjunction with Beyond the Page Publishing, the Bunco Babe series has been republished in digital format as the Kate McCall Mysteries complete with new titles and a whole new look.  Gail has written five Spice Shop Mysteries for Minotaur/St. Martin’s.  Her favorite pastimes are reading, traveling, and hanging out with friends.

 Author Links

Webpage –  Gail Oust Author on Facebook, and Goodreads.

Purchase Links
Amazon B&N  Google Play

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Tour Participants – Be sure to visit all the stops! 

January 3 – Babs Book Bistro – SPOTLIGHT
January 3 – Escape With Dollycas Into A Good Book – COZY WEDNESDAY 
January 4 – Valerie’s Musings – SPOTLIGHT
January 4 – Bibliophile Reviews – REVIEW  
January 5 – Teresa Trent Author Blog – INTERVIEW
January 5 – Lisa Ks Book Reviews – REVIEW, GUEST POST WITH RECIPE
January 5 – A Chick Who Reads – REVIEW
January 6 – Laura’s Interests – REVIEW
January 6 – Brooke Blogs – REVIEW
January 6 – The Montana Bookaholic – SPOTLIGHT
January 7 – Varietats – REVIEW
January 7 – Readeropolis – SPOTLIGHT
January 8 – fundinmental – SPOTLIGHT
January 8 – View from the Birdhouse – SPOTLIGHT
January 8 – Island Confidential – INTERVIEW
January 9 – Jane Reads – GUEST POST
January 9 – My Reading Journeys – REVIEW
January 9 – StoreyBook Reviews – SPOTLIGHT
January 10 – The Self-Rescue Princess – REVIEW, CHARACTER INTERVIEW
January 10 – Book Babble – REVIEW
January 11 – Books a Plenty Book Reviews – REVIEW
January 11 – Moonlight Rendezvous – REVIEW
January 12 – Melina’s Book Blog – REVIEW
January 12 – A Holland Reads – SPOTLIGHT
January 12 – Community Bookstop -REVIEW

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Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the publisher. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. Receiving a complimentary copy in no way reflected my review of this book. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 : “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”