The Amateur Gourmet

Gini Anding and Amy Page first met in a pastry shop on the main street of the Ile Saint-Louis in Paris. It was a chilly, rainy evening, and both were wearing the same navy blue raincoat and carrying identical black umbrellas. At the counter, they both ordered two slices of quiche Lorraine and four small palmiers. Simultaneously, they burst out laughing. While one is slightly shorter and plumper than the other, both are blondes and also Americans. "We could be taken for sisters!" one of them exclaimed. From this chance encounter came a magical friendship and The Amateur Gourmet. Sometimes in the world of fiction, a character takes off and the author loses control. So it is with Gini Anding and Amy Page in the Witness series of romantic mystery novels: Witness on the Quay (2005), Witness at the Bridge (2006), Witness in the Square (2006), and a work in progress, Witness by the Church. Amy is the protagonist in these novels, and she is writing a cookbook, a project that many of her friends thought she'd never finish because of her constant additions and revisions. Even her creator began to despair of having her find the last period. Fortunately, it just so happens that Gini shares Amy's love of cooking and interest in all things culinary. It was only natural that Gini take over and make Amy's cookbook real, proving once and for all that creations of the imagination exist in our concrete everyday reality.