Interview & Giveaway with Emelle Gamble, author of STRANGER THAN FICTION

Stranger Than Fiction (A Classic Romantic Suspense Series)

by: Emelle Gamble

Series: Classic Romantic Suspense

Genre: Romantic Suspense

Release Date: August 8, 2015

Publisher: Posh Publishing

Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Goodreads

Set in New York City and Narragansett, Rhode Island in 1990, meet Claire Kennedy, successful mystery book editor at Cauldron Press. Her most famous client, the reclusive Sarah Winesong, has written her first new novel in five years, and Claire is ready to break out the champagne!

And then, in walks Tony Nichols. He’s gorgeous, angry and full of accusations that start with “Cauldron Press stole my book” and end with “Sarah Winesong is a fraud”.

This contemporary cozy mystery has a stellar cast of would-be villains and one real one who will stop at nothing to eliminate his nefarious scheme from coming to light, including stalk and try to kill Claire and Tony!

Hi Emelle.  Welcome Read Your Writes Book Reviews.  How are you?

Doing lovely, thank you very much. Hubby Phil-the-fist and I were blessed with our first two grandchildren this year, Abigail on June 8 and darling Ruby in London on November 26. Heads spinning, but what a wonderful year! I also released for the first time in electronic format five books I did for Harlequin Intrigue in the 1990s. These classic romantic suspense novels were my first work, and I think they hold up well. I elected not to update them into 2015 because I liked the 1990s vibe, and enjoy the somewhat sweet, by today’s standards, of the romance that grows stronger because of  intelligent conversation, not sexual techniques.

I've seen Stranger Than Fiction classified as a romantic suspense and as a cozy mystery.  Which genre would you classify it as?

When I wrote it for Harlequin Intrigue in the 1990s, it was very much the standard romantic suspense. A tight romantic arc and solid suspenseful plot that kept the heroine in jeopardy. Over time, I think it probably fits more closely now to the somewhat more eccentric character driven cozies. Lots of interesting and complicated secondary characters, an interesting ‘closed-world’ setting in Naragannsett, Rhode Island, and an overall tone of secretiveness which says cozy to me.

How do you write your books?  Do you plan out an outline and stick to it, or do you go where the characters take you?

I always start with a clear idea of what the book is about thematically, how it ends, and what the title is. From there, chaos. HA! Just kidding, but not totally. I do outline, but often the characters take control of the steering wheel and off we go.

Was there anything about Stranger Than Fiction that surprised you?

It was the first book I sold to a publisher, and what surprised me was that they wouldn’t let me keep the original title, MURDER BY MANUSCRIPT. “We can’t use the word murder in a romantic suspense,” the senior editor said. What a difference a few years makes!

When and where do you write?

Only at home, at night from 8-11 and off and on all weekend. I have a day job, and I think about my work quite a bit then, both consciously and subconsciously, as writers always do.

What do you think Claire and Tony would say about, as their author and creator?

I think they would say, ‘slow the heck down!’ HA! My first editor was big on the ‘punish your heroine’ style of plotting, so there are a series of mishaps Claire and Tony survive while falling in love and unveiling a murderer. I’m sure they would have liked a bit more time to get to know each other in more romantic settings than burning houses and spooky warehouses.

Thanks for hosting today, Kim. I am a huge fan of your blog site and have followed you for years. Please let your readers know STRANGER THAN FICTION is FREE for the next month, and that the other 4 classic romantic suspense novels recently released as eBooks are only 99 cents during that time. I hope your readers enjoy these throwback books where the heroine has to rely on her smarts and instincts instead of cellphones, twitter and the internet to help her find the bad guys!

Purchase Stranger Than Fiction from:

Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Goodreads

You can read an excerpt from Stranger Than Fiction and enter to a $25 Amazon/BN Gift Card here.

You can follow Emelle Gamble’s Stranger Than Fiction Blog Tour here.

Classic Romantic Suspense Books:

(Click on the book covers for more information and/or to purchase from Amazon.)

Emelle Gamble became a writer at an early age. At six years old, she was bursting with the requisite childhood stories of introspection, and this itch to tell tales evolved into bad teen poetry and tortured short works that, thankfully, never saw the light of day, or an editor’s red pen.

She took her first stab at writing a novel in an adult education class in Mobile, Alabama when her kids were in bed for the night. As ‘M.L. Gamble,’ she published several romantic suspense novels with Harlequin Intrigue. She now publishes novels of Ordinary Women in Extraordinary Situations with SoulMate Publishing and Posh Publishing …works ranging from women’s fiction to thrillers and romantic suspense.

Always intrigued by the words ‘what if’, Gamble’s books feature an ordinary woman confronted with an extraordinary situation. Emelle celebrates the adventurous spirit of readers, and hopes each will enjoy the exciting and surprising journeys her characters take.

Emelle lives in suburban Washington D.C. with her hero of thirty years, Philip, and two orange cats, Lucy and Bella. Like all good villains, the cats claim to have their reasons for misbehaving. Her children are happily launched on their own and are both contributing great things to society, their mother’s fondest wish.

Emelle welcomes any reader interested in emailing her at emellegamble@aol.com and hopes they will visit her website, www.EmelleGamble.com or her Author Emelle Gamble FaceBook page.

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