Stranger Than Fiction
by Emelle Gamble
Emelle will be awarding $25 Amazon or B/N GC to a randomly drawn winner during the tour. Please use the RaffleCopter below to enter. Remember you may increase your chances of winning by visiting the other tour stops. You may find those locations here.

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Interview:
Crystal: I'm so excited to have you here today Emelle. I so enjoy when you stop by for a visit. Welcome back! Would you please tell us a little bit about you?
Emelle: I am writer, mom, wife, new grandma for the first time in June, second grandbaby due any day! I’m a California girl transplanted twenty years ago to the East coast. I love books, readers, cats, Sees candy, George Clooney movies, the beach, and a good red wine.
Crystal: What is next for you? Can you tell us a little bit about your next release?
Emelle: I have two books done which I am shopping around, one a romantic suspense with heavy women’s fiction issues called KISS ME TWICE. It is about the heroine’s first love coming back unexpectedly into her life at the same time her dearest relative, her mom, is fighting the losing battle with Alzheimer’s. It’s about love and memory, family and trust, and a bad guy who has a shocking secret.
The second book I’ll say little about, except I love it and it is very, very weird. It is set in Los Angeles in 1951 and stars a blonde, an ex-GI turned journalist, and an antagonist who just might be a….sorry, can’t say. HA!
Crystal: Do you have a favorite scene from Stranger Than Fiction that you would like to share with us?
Emelle: I love the scene with Tony Nichols and the shower curtain. No, no nudity. But plenty of suspense!
Crystal: How do you celebrate release day?
Emelle: Wine. Chocolate. Pats on the back from anyone who will give me one. And smiles. It’s a little like having a baby…once the pain is over, its all good.
Crystal: What is your favorite decadent treat that you like to indulge in?
Emelle: HGTV. Jonathan and Drew. Hilary and David. The Rehab Addict. Sometimes I marvel that I ever get any writing done.
Crystal: What is the strangest fun fact you have ever found when researching for a book?
Emelle: That movie icon Cary Grant was married five times. When I was researching DATING CARY GRANT, I was astounded to find that someone I regarded as “Mr. Perfect” had so much turmoil in his personal life. Things that make you go hummmmmm.
Crystal: If you won a dream vacation where would you go?
Emelle: London. Darling daughter lives there and I love everything about it. The age, the people, the history. But most of all, that girl.
Crystal: Thank you for visiting with us today. Is there anything else you would like to share with us?
Emelle: Stranger Than Fiction is the first book I sold back in the 1990s when I was under contract with Harlequin Intrigue.
They are set in that time period, with complicated plots, a great romantic attraction but little sex. These books have heroines who are coming into their own as the smart, resourceful driving forces of the action. Plus, there was no internet, cellphones and cable TV. Therefore, way more romance! HA!
I hope you enjoy Claire and Tony. For the term of my book tour with Goddess Fish, I am making my Romantic Suspense re-issues available for only 99 cents each at all major online retailers! Go get you one! And please let me know what you think.
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BLURB:
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!
GENRE: Romantic Suspense
Buy Links:
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EXCERPT:
Tony had not shown up to get her at the inn, nor had he called with a message. She had checked the inn not more than a half hour ago. Was his lack of punctuality further proof of his criminal makeup, she wondered?
Her determination not to be manipulated propelled her up the stairway to the second floor. The lighted hallway was empty of any security guards, secretaries or students to direct her. Turning away from the stairs, Claire walked toward a closed office with English Department stenciled on the frosted glass and knocked.
There was no answer. A lectern stood next to the door, and .the black notebook on it listed the instructor’s office hours. Turning hastily to the Ns, Claire found the entry.
Nichols, A.A. (Tony), Assoc Prof, Creative Writing #319.
The space for appointments was crossed through with a large black X.
She ought to just go see Sarah Winesong, Claire thought as she hurried down the hall. If Mr. Harrison and Tillie had not babied the author all these years, Cauldron Press might not have been in this predicament. And she would not be chasing around after Tony Nichols.
Claire took the stairs up to the third floor, pausing out of breath on the landing. A black arrow with the numbers 311-321 led her to the left.
That hall was dark, the only illumination coming from the gray sky visible through a single window at the far end of the corridor. All the offices appeared locked and unoccupied.
There was no lettering on the frosted glass of room 319 other than its number, and the small metal nameplate holder above it was empty. Claire’s stomach churned. She rapped loudly and waited.
Nothing. “Tony? Are you in there? It’s Claire.”
Her inquiry was met with silence. Rubbing one hand with the other, Claire looked around. Though everything was silent, she had the feeling that someone was nearby. Gingerly she put her hand on the brass doorknob and turned it. It opened easily, into almost complete darkness.
“Tony?”
The instant she spoke his name, the shrill cry of the telephone rang out like a startled sentry’s gun. Clutching her chest, Claire gasped and stepped back.
With a sigh of exasperation, she decided to answer it and groped for the light switch. As she did so, she noticed the room was dense with the odor of Tony’s tobacco. Inhaling, she tried to ignore the vivid pictures that rose to mind. She found the switch and flicked it and the room lit up.
The first thing Claire saw was the blood pooled on the dingy carpet just inside the office door.
She froze. Dully she realized the phone had stopped ringing. Then her ears picked up a new sound. In the hallway she had just vacated, she heard the creaking of a door hinge followed by footsteps.
Footsteps that were coming closer.
Frantic, Claire snapped off the light and moved deeper into the small office. Her hands groped in the dark for a weapon. Heavy, leather bound books were everywhere. Gripping the smooth surface of a large, anonymous text, Claire raised it above her head and waited.
A bulky silhouette filled the doorway as the hallway light tumbled into the room. Though Claire had made no sound, it was clear she had been spotted. Without a word, the figure lunged across the small office at her. She brought the book down squarely on the intruder’s face and the corner of it stabbed into his cheek.
She was tackled and thrown against the edge of the desk while her attacker howled a curse at her blow. Claire struck him repeatedly with the book.
As they both crashed to the floor, Claire beat him with every bit of adrenaline pumping into her body. Then, quite suddenly, she knew who it was cursing her in the dark. She recognized the strong hands that hugged her waist, the wavy hair brushing against the tender skin on her arm.
Her body identified her captor even when her terrified mind had not. “Let go of me, Tony. You’re hurting my arms.”
He was straddling her hips. She could now clearly see his eyes in the dim light from the hall.
“Claire, what are you trying to do, kill me?”
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AUTHOR Bio and Links:
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.
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Nicholas La Cour loves money. In the game of betrayer and betrayed he thinks his sister Lacey is the prefect target for his manipulative schemes to keep his financial ruin a secret.
