Whipped and Sipped Mystery Series Author Interview and Book Giveaway
I am pleased to participate as part of the Great Escapes Virtual Book Tour for G.P. Gottlieb’s Whipped and Sipped culinary cozy mystery series , But I am even more happy that Author has taken time to answer a few of my questions about her work.
Also, the author is offering a tour wide GIVEAWAY with an ebook or audiobook of the winner’s choice. So make sure you enter the Giveaway at the end of the post.
Interview with G.P. Gottlieb
Q. Galit, I love your unique culinary cozy series. Thank you for taking a few minutes to answer my questions.
A. Thank you so much for signing up for my website and for doing all the book promotions you’ve worked on for several years now. So many authors are grateful to you!
Q. You had a long career in music, why start writing?
A. I was weakened by a cancer battle and didn’t have the strength or stamina to perform or teach, so I had turned to creating in a different way.
Q. The road to publication isn’t an easy one. How did you finally find your first publisher?contract!
A. It’s such a frustrating process! After getting ghosted or rejected by nearly 100 agents, I submitted the manuscript of Battered to an online publisher’s contest. I won a publishing
Q. I understand that there were eventual difficulties with that publisher. Just six years later, your first book was rereleased by a different publisher. What happened?
A. After my first publisher died of a sudden heart attack at 57, his successor stole the proceeds of all his authors and only returned our rights after a legal battle. I had started querying for agents and publishers when an author friend (Kathleen Kaska) suggested I submit to her publisher’s annual contest. I didn’t win the Anamcara Press $1000 Amity Prize, but it felt like a win because they offered me a publishing contract!
Q. What was your inspiration for the Whipped and Sipped café? It was Alene and Ruthie’s dream, but did you have a dream cafe?
A. Although I love spending time in cafés, I have never dreamt of being in the food business. I’ve always enjoyed inventing recipes, and after taking some classes at the French Pastry School in Chicago, where everything was made with butter or cream, I thought it would be fun to create recipes for a café-based culinary mystery.
Q. Ruthie, the pastry chef only creates vegan dishes. Are you vegan too?
A. No, I prefer eating vegetarian, although I admire my vegan friends. I like the challenge of baking vegan, but for me it’s more health-related because dairy is a fickle friend.
Q. You love to cook and the book has so many scrumptious sounding healthful recipes. Most of the recipes in the book are vegan, they are also nut free and some are gluten free as well. Tell me about that.
A. Like Ruthie, the Whipped & Sipped pastry chef, I love to have friends and family over for Friday night dinners, and many of our guests are plagued with serious food allergies. I’m always very careful in preparing meals and often create recipes especially for specific guests.
Q. Alene has her plate full juggling a business, an ailing father and an immature ex-husband who seems bent on undoing everything she tries to do raising the children. Is any of her experiences based on your life?
A. Alene’s experiences are based on a variety of friends and family members’ experiences, although nobody I know runs a café and nobody’s ex-husband was a car salesman. And my father lasted until he was 93 after surviving a quadruple bypass in his sixties. But I have friends whose parents suffered from autoimmune diseases like Cal, Alene’s father. Side story: Neal doesn’t come off all that well, but in Battered, I mentioned that he likes infusing vodka. One of my younger brothers, who loves infusing vodka with herbs or fruit, was sure I based Neal on him.
Q. In so many ways, Alene and Ruthie are opposites. Alene is impatient and quick to suspect people; Ruthie is a ray of sunshine who tries to give everyone the benefit of the doubt. Which character have you modeled after yourself?
A. If I’m totally honest, I strive to be more like Ruthie, who is a blend of my kindest, loveliest friends, but Alene and I share some of my least admirable character traits.
Q. Anamcara Press has already released Battered and Smothered. Book 3, Charred is scheduled for publication on May 30th. But I understand that book four in the series will be released this summer. What can we expect?
A. It looks like it’ll happen sometime in October, and as soon as the publisher let’s me know, I’ll start getting the word out!
I can’t wait to read it!
The Whipped and Sipped Cozy Mystery Series
Welcome to Whipped & Sipped—where the pastries are guilt-free, the coffee is strong, and the gossip might just get you killed.
Murder is on the menu—served warm with muffins and lattes.
Storybook Lady
Review
I’ll spill the tea-herbal of course. The Whipped and Sipped Mystery Series is a delectable treat. This culinary cozy series centers on a cozy cafe that caters to people who seek a little healthier menu. Alene has a head for business and owns the cafe. Her best friend, Ruthie is the pastry chef. Everything is vegan and some items are gluten free as well. The food may be healthful, but alene’s life isn’t so safe. In the first book, Battered, when the former owner is found dead, Alene can’t help but start snooping. In true cozy mystery style, it may be her first murder mystery, but it isn’t her last. The books are full of fun characters- many of them flawed and anyone could be the guilty party. With plenty of clues and red herrings and a community of interesting characters, this series is sure to hit the spot. For extra fun the books have several recipes in the afterward!
About G.P. Gottlieb
G. P. Gottlieb has been a musician, teacher, and administrator, but she’s happiest writing recipe-laced murder mysteries and inventing mostly vegetarian recipes that are nothing like what she learned in courses at Chicago’s French Pastry School. Gottlieb is active in Sisters in Crime (Chicago and Colorado) and has interviewed over 275 authors as a host for New Books in Literature, a podcast channel on the New Books Network. She writes stories and essays that are published in a variety of journals and blogs, is a mother and grandmother, and lives with her husband in a Chicago high-rise that is strikingly similar to the building portrayed in the Whipped and Sipped Mystery series.
Learn More about G.P. Gottlieb
Find out more about Author and her books at www.gpgottlieb.com
Substack: Recently started – https://substack.com/@gpgottlieb
Purchase Links
- BATTERED Bookshop.Org, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Apple, Kobo, Smashwords, Thalia, Fable, Palace Marketplace, Vivlio, or Everand
TOUR PARTICIPANTS
April 8 – Jody’s Bookish Haven– SPOTLIGHT
April 9 – Christy’s Cozy Corners – CHARACTER GUEST POST
April 9 – Storybook Lady– REVIEW (All 3 Books) – AUTHOR INTERVIEW
April 10 – Because I said so – adventures in parenting – REVIEW
April 11 – Sarah Can’t Stop Reading Books – REVIEW
April 12 – FUONLYKNEW – SPOTLIGHT
April 13 – Sarandipity’s – AUTHOR INTERVIEW
April 14 – Books, Ramblings, and Tea – SPOTLIGHT
April 14 – Guatemala Paula Loves to Read – REVIEW
April 15 – Salty Inspirations – AUTHOR GUEST POST
April 16 – Sapphyria’s Book Reviews – SPOTLIGHT
April 17 – StoreyBook Reviews – AUTHOR GUEST POST
April 18 – Escape With Dollycas Into A Good Book – SPOTLIGHT
April 19 – deal sharing aunt – CHARACTER INTERVIEW
April 20 – @bibliophile_foodie – REVIEW (All 3 Books) – Recipe
April 21 – Cozy Up With Kathy – REVIEW (Book 1), RECIPE
Want to read more of my reviews?
I have a Goodreads shelf dedicated to Cozy Mysteries. Want to read my reviews for books in other genres? I’ve got you covered. There are almost two thousand reviews on Goodreads. Just check out Julie Ditton on Goodreads.
GIVEAWAY!
