My guest today is popular author Roberta Gately. Roberta is going to talk to us about her writing journey, and her latest book. So grab yourself a cuppa, get cosy and let’s get chatting to Roberta.
BIO:
Roberta Gately, a nurse, former aid worker and author, lives in Boston where she works at a busy inner-city hospital. She has written for several nursing journals including The Journal of Emergency Nursing as well as a series of articles for the BBC World News Online and the Huffington Post. She speaks regularly on nursing issues and the plight of the world’s refugees and displaced. She has appeared both locally and nationally on TV and radio programs to discuss her novels.
The author of LIPSTICK IN AFGHANISTAN and THE BRACELET (published by Gallery/Simon & Schuster), both were based upon her experiences in Afghanistan. Her memoir – FOOTPRINTS IN THE DUST (published by Pegasus Books) was released in 2018. Her nurse/detective series included DEAD GIRL WALKING, THE FROZEN GIRL and HER MOTHER’S CRY.
THE AMBASSADOR’S WIFE is Gately’s sixth novel and seventh book.
Find out more about Roberta at: www.robertagately.com
Welcome to my blog, Roberta. Your books sound fascinating. Can you tell us about your writing journey?
I am an accidental author. Though I’ve been reading since forever, and writing since I was seven years old, I’d never thought of myself as a writer. It wasn’t until I began writing articles chronicling the stories of my aid work for a nursing journal that I began to wonder if maybe I could do more. When I was in Iraq shortly after the U.S. invasion there, a freelance reporter with the New York Times told me that I should write a book, and, thoroughly besotted with the very idea, I began to scribble out notes. Later, while I was in Darfur, I was lucky enough to be tapped to write a series of stories for the BBC News Online (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/4007353.stm) about the situation there, and I knew a book was in my future.
I tackled first a non-fiction book and then abandoned that to write a novel. A novel gave me the freedom to use my imagination to make a story richer than the reality of it might be. But writing a book, as so many will tell you, does not guarantee that it will be published. I’d been told that less than 0.01% of aspiring writers are published, although these days, with the glut of self-published books, that statistic has likely changed. Still, writing is only the first step in a long road to publication. Finding an agent is as daunting a task as anything I’ve ever done, but dogged persistence pays off, and today, I am represented by the best agent in the business.
Ahh, so finally – a publisher wants you, news that is at once both exciting and fearful. Lipstick in Afghanistan, my first novel (even that phrase sends a tiny thrill through my veins!) was published by Simon & Schuster in 2010, but the real work of being a writer was just beginning. And the worries piled on. Will people read my book? Will Oprah call? (If you’re wondering, she hasn’t, at least not yet. But ever the optimist, I still believe that anything is possible.) My second novel, The Bracelet, was released by Simon & Schuster in November 2012, and so for me the cycle continued. Will people read my book?
My third book, Footprints in the Dust came, is a chronicle of my days spent in third world war zones providing medical care to those forgotten and lost in the chaos of world crises.
And finally, I turned to writing the types of books I love to read—mysteries. As an inner-city ER nurse, I cared for countless victims of crime—murder, assault, robbery and rape victims and was a daily witness to true crime. And out of those ER experiences was born my detour to writing mysteries.
My first mystery series, the Jessie Novak series, follows ER nurse Jessie as she untangles threads of evidence to find the real killer putting herself in the killer’s sights. Creating a character who lives in more than one books is gratifying and much like finding a new friend in an unexpected place.
Will my book sell? Will readers like it? These days, I still hope that my books sell and that readers love them. Meanwhile, I’m busy promoting my books, and working on my next, and the thrill of it all hasn’t worn off. And, thanks to readers, I can’t imagine it ever will.
So the next time you curl up with a fabulous book that keeps your eyes glued to the pages, I hope you’ll pat yourself on the back, and know that somewhere an author is whispering thank you.
The Ambassador’s Wife
At thirty-five, Nora Buckbee fears she’s destined for a lonely, single life. Then she meets handsome State Department employee John Fielding. They marry quickly—and next thing she knows she’s moving to Thailand with him, where he’ll be serving as ambassador.
It’s an exciting adventure—for a while. Then she learns that the last ambassador’s wife disappeared without a trace, and there seems to be little interest in learning what happened. John, who’s often away on secret missions—odd, she thinks, for an emissary—seems as unfazed by the mystery as everyone else. But when Nora starts volunteering for the same group with whom the last wife worked, she begins to realize that nothing here is as it appears to be . . . including her new husband. Determined to peel away the layers of lies and secrets that surround her, Nora finds herself in a race to discover the truth. But can she figure it out before she meets the same fate as the previous wife?
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More of Rebecca’s books:
I beg the young woman to breathe as I desperately try to save her life. I catch a glimpse of her face and it’s like looking in a mirror. We have the same chestnut hair, the same heart-shaped face. She is gripping rose petals, like she had been holding a bouquet. Wake up, please, you could be my sister…
My mother disappeared when I was a child, and my father refused ever to speak about her. When I’m called to the scene of a crime and look into victim Ann Hart’s pretty face, it sends shivers up my spine. I’ve never met her before, but we could be related.
Am I investigating the murder of my own little sister?
I know I will never rest until I find the person who did this, but it seems that Ann’s killer is not done yet. First someone breaks into my apartment when I am asleep. And then he sends me a bouquet of blood-red roses just like the ones Ann was clutching…
I’m leading the case, but am I also the next victim?
Just when I think I’ve got a handle on Ann’s killer, he strikes again. I am standing in the freezing morgue as the white sheet is pulled back. It’s Bert Gibbons, my close friend and a local journalist who was investigating Ann’s death. I know it’s a warning: don’t come any closer or you’ll be next.
Can I catch this deadly killer or am I just a dead girl walking?
The young woman’s mouth is slightly parted, as if waiting to speak. Her body is frozen in ice and her blue eyes stare at the sky, perhaps wanting to look at the stars one last time…
When the body of a woman is found in the frozen Neponset River, just where it meets the sea, Jessie Novak rushes to the scene. She is shocked to see a flash of a familiar silk scarf and realizes that the woman in the ice is Sheila Logan, with whom she worked closely for years at Boston City Hospital. Jessie desperately wants to find out how this young and talented nurse ended up an innocent victim.
Searching through Sheila’s belongings, Jessie realizes she was having an affair with a colleague and may have been pregnant. Jessie’s own mother walked out when she was just a baby—she must use her past demons to track Sheila’s killer. But then Jessie uncovers a cold case; another dedicated nurse strangled with a scarf and thrown into a freezing river.
Jessie is the only one who can see a lethal pattern forming, and she must act fast. But the killer is one step behind her and after a terrifying attack, Jessie knows she’s being warned off the case. With the killer in her sights, Jessie must take the deadliest risk of her life to make sure no more innocent lives are taken…
Karen King 